City of Angels

What is happening today?
Boat to Nadi in 4 hours
bus from harbour to airport in 7 1/2 hours
Plane to Los angeles in 11 1/2 hours

So yea ive got a very exciting travel day today, which i guess is good considering the pooring rain here in Fiji at the moment! not the ultimate goodbye weather, but it does make it easier to leave the paradise islands behind ; )! Other than that, i just finished the second of Stieg Larssons Millenium books which just left me craving for the third one! Better keep it ready and waiting at home ; )!

Now im gonna enjoy my last hours on the lovely island of Naviti and learn some more fijian phrases that i will not get to use for a long time.... but hopefully not for all eternity!
toodles

Nadi, Kuata and Korovou, Fiji

So i made it to my third and last island, where i will spend my last two days in Fiji. Now my Fiji visit isnt the longest but it is amazing nonetheless. Ive spent the first night in Nadi, the main island, and the third and second night at Kuata where they shot some of the 'cast away' movie with Tom Hanks. All before arriving today at the island of Natvi, where i stay at the Korovou eco tour resort! Now for activities and things ive done in fiji, a few come to mind beside just lying on the beach or in a hamick sleeping or reading. Second night for example we did the summit treck to the top of Kuata where we could see loads of the nearby islands along with a distant sun sinking from the sky and lighting up another( one of the most beautiful things ive seen). The day after this we spent half the day snorkeling the nearby reef and feeding white tipped sharks, which was quite interesting and at certain moments a bit scary but harmless nonetheless. I mean the locals did say they were friendly sharks and if the do come towards you nibbling away at you, just say Bula(hello in fiji) and stay calm). That same night we also learnt how to do the famous Bula dance which was a lot of fun, followed by a game of musical statues, which me and this German girl Jana won surprisingly enough... seeing as we didnt know what we were doing until halfway through the game.
On the cultural side, The Kuata island village retain their Rugby trophy from the neighboring waya lai lai island which meant celebration and singing. But the most outstanding thing on Fiji, must be the simple meaning of 'Fiji Time', which means that everything in Fiji moves a lot slower... No Worries basically, the complete opposite of a speeding City like Stockholm where everyone runs on high gear through town on caffein ; )!
So all in all, Fiji is relaxing, fun, joyful and a necessity to any traveller that needs a break within a break just to relax away from the hectic speeds of tourism and sightseeing!
With that ill leave you till monday and the arrivall of me in Los Angeles!

p.s ill be travelling backwards on monday and relive the 30 of mars 2009 in LA after having spent the 30 of april 2009 in Fiji....pretty cool ey : )!

FIJI....highfive

so ive just landed on the island of Nadi, Fiji which i will leave for the smaller islands in the morning. Now id like to tell you that it is a paradise and yiddi yiddi yada but its been dark since i came and its dark now so cant say that much besides the fact that musquitos are eating me alive!
What i can tell u about is the great flight i just had. I Was supposed to go economy class all the way with a screaming and kicking kid behind me, but sitting by the exit door with a flight attendant right infront of me seeing how disturbed and annoyed i looked... i was told to pack my things and follow her. now little did i know at the time, that i was going straight to the awesome new business class. I mean in my mind, i thought id just be taken a couple of rows up. To my excitement and disbelief, i was taken straight to business class which was friikin' awesome. So what i can say so far on my island trip, is that pacific airlines is one hell of a joy.
On another note, dont know how internet works on the smaller islands, as i dont have any phone reception on the big one. So if you dont hear from me in a while, dont worry to much as there probably just isnt a way to get a hold of me!'
Cheerio

ROOM 103

Is it chance, is it Karma, maybe its luck, frankly i have not the slightest idea what it might be but as always at WAKE UP Sydney! i have landed in no other room but the infamous room 103. Now its only my second time being there, but i have been supposed to change beds twice when i have stayed there, making it a smashing four time streak to get to stay in room 103. So with relief, i feel really at home in that room, which has been essential in having my last two days of mellow and chilled out rest in AUS. Taking some time to rest and just be is an essential i havent really used in the last months as ive been running from place to place and country to country, and in the end it deffinetly catches up with you, so now that im cleaned up and washed up(clothes that is) i am definetly ready for the three last stages of my journey, being fiji, California, and New York with a visit to my old homestead of hartefeld where i spent 3 and a half years of my life and havent really had the chance to revisit since i left. So that will definetly get me excited and pumped up to get to see what has happened to the old neighborhood.
Now for todays activities, being along the lines for cleaning, washing, and plain relaxation, i had the best weather ever, with clear blue skies and shining sun for a quick walk over to hyde park where i for the first time in a long time got to just sit down and read the second book in Stieg Larsson intriguing book series of the journalist Mikael Blomqvist and his adrenaline kicking and suspenseful adventures! Now for those who have not been to sydney or hyde park, it is very similar to that of central park and Djurgarden in stockholm as it is a bit of an oasis in a crowded city, and with the most beautiful weather, it is never wrong to move away from the hectic city lifestyle to these wonderlands for a quick ice cream, read in your book, lunch or even a nap. As there where plenty of suited up Aussies who just dropped dead for a nap on the lawn or bench! you gotta love it ; )!
Now being the last night in sydney, i gotta leave you at this as i head up to pack the gear, check the details and make a last social round with the people ive meet before i hit the hay and fall into heavy dreaming mode before i start screaming at the alarm clock for waking me up as i have to stress away to catch my fiji flight and the coming days in an island paradise ; )!
So incase i dont see ya, good morning, good evening and goodnight

this and that

Adrenalin rushes

So i know ive been absent with stories of legendary proportions, but it has been hard getting the hold of a computer or telephone reception in the last couple of days as ive just spent five days surfing along the coast up to Byron Bay. For those who didnt know, surfing is something which i very much like after having tried it for the first time in Hawaii some distant ammount of years ago, and now getting to do it on some really amazing waves and about 8 hours a day i must say i like it even more! It might sound all but very much like a cliche but ones you start riding waves, you can hardly stop.
Now you might wonder why i have not had a computer or any cellphone reception, i can only tell you that the places we went there wasnt really much of that nor any other form of high technology. The first couple of nights we spent at a beach house in crescenthead, a very remote location with a population of 1000 ppl or so. So as you can imagine, there wasnt really much to do around there except surf on a deserted beach with the third best wave in AUS according to our surf leader morgan who is ranked 90 something the world.
The second place we spent the last two night, was called spot-X, and is propably one of the most known surf spots in all of australia, and from the ammount of good waves people managed to catch there, there is no doubt as to why so many people go there to surf.
Now i know it is hard to get a picture as to how this whole lifestyle was to live for a week, but im gonna try to paint you just that picture. On any normal day, we would wake up at around 7.30 for a quick breakfast and then head over to the beach for the 4 hour morning session. After that first session, we'd head for lunch and a couple hours break before heading back out for the afternoon session. Now after this one we'd head for the showers which was always a pain as the warm water was retrieved using solar panels, meaning that the warm water would most likely run out fairly fast. Followed by the showers came our large portioned sinners which was usually past, hamburgers, or sandwishes. Given that we did not overload on dinner or need an early sleep, most people went for the beach fire where we'd just hang out and listen to music and have a good time only to wake up just as early the next day for a continuance of the surfer saga ; )
So there you have it, that is what amazing things ive done this week, added with the swimming with the wild dolphines after one of our morning sessions and the 14,000ft skydive i did yesterday morning over byron bay!!!
Hope it was legendary enough, all the best

p.s heading to sydney tonight and then Fiji on tuesday, which means im back in sweden within 3 and a half weeeks! !!!!!!!!!!!

Some Goodies

Minivan- Thailand to Malaysia

Patronas towers- Kuala Lumpur

Melaka- last dinner

KL-Raggae Bar

Sydney
All pictures put on facebook

Another sunny day in Sydney

So i am now on my fourth day in sydney and im getting quite bored and need to get a move-on to other things. Not that i dont like it here, because it is a great city with some really funny people, but travelling in a city can only or shall i say should only last for a certain ammount of time. Because the way i see it, when you are travelling, you can only stay in a city for such a long time that allows you to explore it and get a real feel for its culture. Now the time it takes to do this, all depends on what city your going to. For example if you take the cities i have been to, they all take a different ammount of time to explore. Delhi for one takes a bit more time because first you have to get used to everything happening around you before you can even start to comprehend anything you see because you're pretty much in a trans being disoriented and in culture shock. Now bangkok and KL went a bit faster as they were quite a bit more westernized bringing us to Singapore which lands just short of the trophy of being a city one could easily work through in a couple of days. This all in the end brings us here to Sydney. Sydney is a really charming city, with its parks and shopping streets and waterfront views and nice beaches. But this also is what makes it so one dimensional, as it possesses almost all of the things a standard western city has; besides the opera house. Having walked around it for the last couple of days seeing all its parts, it really gives off a mix of reminding pieces to that of an american city which also possesses the british building blocks it was founded on. It even reminds me a bit of Stockholm with the water and the parks next to it bringing back pictures of Djurgarden. So one might say that after a couple of days exploring and seeing everything it offers, i must say i am ready to find out and see what Australia is really about! Now i know im not going to see queens land or the western places like Perth or Darwin, but what i will see on this Aussie trip as i most likely will be back, will be the surfers culture and the lively town of Byron Bay where hopefully ill get a chance to Skydive as i decided not to do it here in Sydney!
So what i guess one might say, is that im ready for the next stage of the trip as im slowly moving towards the NYC airport and home...

Cheers

Beach freak

Today was a good day. Not just because the sun was rediculously hot adding a new definition to me as a brown little child. It was good because i was finally back at a beachbreak consisting of some incredible swells(waves) and an incredible ammount of rediculously good surfers taking part in Australias favourite past time. It was so nice to finally see it and right upfront and centre after having read about it avidly in the stacks upon stacks of SURFER magazines lying around at various spots at home. That truly made my day, and i just couldnt stop starring at wave after wave that made its way towards the pile of heads and bobbing in the water hungry for fullfilling adrenaline kicks and 10 second rides.
So what happened today, I now consider myself a beach freak.

On another note, being a food lover of great proportions, i finally used the kitchen at the hostel making myself a good size pasta portion with a special pasta sauce taught to me by none other than my parents. So i guess im finding my place in sydney slowly as i awaite the 5 day surf tour up to byron bay which leaves on monday. Till then i have planned to sky dive, go to a few arts museums, and hang at manly and bondi beach.

cheers

Wake up! wake up! wake up!

Heres the deal ok. So ive just finished my first day in sydney and started the morning on my second one. Im staying at this hostel called wake up sydney, which is really nice and very very crowded, which is also quite nice. The one funny thing however is the fact that it feels like there are about 75% norweigans currently occupying the place and in doing so sparking some interesting conversations as one has to concentrate like never before just in order to understand them! But i quite enjoy challenges so its all good ; ) Now the other really quite funny thing is that everymorning and a couple of times during the day, the place is filled up by an aussie voice making announcements from the speakers around the hostel, yelling " wake up wake up wake up.... followed by whatever announcements he has, which is usally activities and happy hour specials down at the side bar. Not that i mind it, but it really makes you feel like you've landed in a high school movie, like grease, where at a certain time everyday a person decides to yell out announcements over the speaker!
Now if you're wondering what ive done, and will be doing, it is not that hard to tell! Sydney isnt the most commanding city and its not to hard to do what people say you have to do. For one you obviously have to see the opera house, which ive done, along with walked most of the inner city! After that its basically just going to the different beaches around sydney, like manly and Bondi beach etc. So as you can see i have quite a dilemma when it comes to activities that i have to do! I mean granted i go to all the beaches, then i can run through quite a lot of time. But after that what will i find myself doing, as ive already walked most of the streets one is to have walked. Now i do have lonely planet and i have decided to pick out a couple of museums that i want to go to, so ive got that sorted. But what is something amazing that i have to do and dont know about, besides skydiving(which im now thinking of most of the time)? If you happen to have any suggestions, please let me know! So there you have it... i really need to wake up wakeup wake up and find a lot of things to do as i have till monday before i start the surf tour to byron bay!
Cheers

Singapore sling to end this thing

So after three days in singapore i am happy to give you the message that i do quite like this town. Though you might think it is because of all the multiplexes and complexes standing among giant skyscrapers, it is not. I like it because it brings a sort of calm feeling to me which is harder to describe. I guess it feels very safe and a lot like home being that it is not hard to find yourself around. I mean it literally took me one day before i knew how to get around singapore without a map and the MRT(underground trains) also became a very usable resource for getting around faster without wasting rediculous money on a taxi to get from spot A to B. It was also very nice due to the short or semi short walking distance between the places we went and also the fact that there are sidewalks which eases the feel of not getting run over by cars!
But as we all know the good things always have some bad things attached and in singapore it come in line with the authorities and the quite rediculous ammount of things one can get fined for, like jay walking, chewing gum, litering, eating and drinking on trains or in other areas. I mean it is really intense and the fines along with it as they reach from $500-5000. I also heard stories of how an Aussie got forced to bring drugs into the country and got caught, which resultet in a hanging despite pleading coming from Aussie government. Now i cant tell you if its true but it goes in line with plenty of other stories ive heard. Well i guess its good in the way that the city stays so clean and perfect almost while at the same time making you feel safe and not afraid of any random chap on the street weh you walk about in the night going home from a night on town.
Now i know everyone might be curious as to where and what ive been doing since KL, and what i can tell you is this.
In Port Dickson, following KL we had a two night stay at a resort where we just ended up lying by the pool and having one hell of a good time with eachother as we knew Melaka would pass by quickly, leaving us standing by the queens street bus station in Singapore feeing like we never had a chace to say goodbye. So therefore we had a sandwich buffe which we bought in KL along with some pooltime party to end things off as we stayed up most of the two nights we spent there.
After Port Dickson we headed for Melaka where we spent only one night but still managed to get a tuck tuck tour in with Kemal (an amazing guy whose been doing tours of the city for a long long time) which was awesome as we inbetween stops got to ride these flower and glitter decoraded tuck tucks with laud speakers on the back flowing out tunes to different RnB and Rap artists as i could swear that is all the think western youth listens too. After the tours we ha a bite to eat by the stalls in chinatown followed by some drinks at a kareokee bar to finish our last night off... though me, katie, Dan, and Tom stayed up through most of the night before our morning bus to singapore.
Coming to singapore there were a lot of goodbyes but also a lot of wandering about and takng in the city. Me and Tom who stayed here the longest did all of central singapore and sentose mixed with eating by boat quay, little india, china town, orchard and random but cheap food courts that we found. So there u have it all in all a solid last couple of days as i now only haveabout 11 hours left until my flight leaves for Sydney in the early morning tommorrow. So i must get ready and get some sleep before i skip my first continent, leaving asia behind and entering a country possessed by fires and now a huge cyclone (tropical storm) wish me all the luck!
cheers

Intrepid end

I am now in singapore after the last days buzzing days in port dickson and melaka, and now my intrepid tour has finally come to an end which really sucks at the moment as i had the time of my life with an amazing bunch of people! goodbyes are always hard especially when it is the least of the things you want to do, and when you get to the state where you have to push through it really gets to you and today was no different as Waxy, Dan, Emma, Em, Katie, and tarla all left for their next destinations, leaving me tom and the norweigian girls to make our own travel path in Singapore. Luckily we had eachother to fall back upon making it easier to move on from the absense of the others leaving. Something which will definetly be appreciated over the next days in Singapore before i move on to Aussie land!
Now i wish to write so much more, but i am completely dead after 4 hours of sleep in the last 24-30 odd hours, and i dont really have much of an inspiration at 2 in the morning to write what i hope you will wnjoy and therefore i will wait until the morning to do so!
so without further addu, cheers anf goodnight

Kuala Lumpur with birds and tall buildings

So im situated in the china town hotel 2 (2 being because theres 2 chinatowns i guess) and its pouring down lightning and rain outside even though it was sunny and warm during the morning and mid-day. Weather is just weird and unpredictable! So here is my update to you: spend yesterday in a bus until we arrived in KL at around 4.45 pm and spend the evening walking about the city and going up the menara tower to see the view and the worlds largest twin towers known as the patronas towers. It was a lot of fun and we really quite enjoyed making fouls of ourself in one way or another, with waxi and stine dancing balley up in the Menara tower : )! We also broke our traditional food eating with our first and my first visit to McDonalds in like 2 months! After the McDonalds dinner at the KLCC mall by the Patronas towers we took the tube back to our hotel and settled in for watching the curious case of Benjamin Button which kept us awake for quite a while...though i thought it was well worth it as i liked the movie!
Today we headed out early for the national mosque of malaysia where we had to cover up in purple robes followed by a man trying to convince us to convert to Islam! Quite the start to the morning i must say! This followed by a visit to the worlds largest bird park which was kind of cool but not worth the 40 malay ringgid we paid for it. Now leaving a bit early in their daily birdshow at the park we headed for KLCC and the foodcourts followed by a visit to the liquor store for some preparations for our farewell party at port dickson these coming days as the tour comes to an end with singapore closing in!
The restoring part of my day has mostly been spent at the chinese market outside and now right here because of the rain : (..... i do enjoy writing to you so dont worry if it sounds like im forced to be here ; )! After this however i do hope the rain will lighten up so we can atleast make it to one of the stalls outside and get some noodles and soup! And that is why i also kind of got to jet right now as i need a shower and some time to relax my legs and feet after all the walking that was done today!
cheers and stay classy

Penang, Malaysia

So after 10 hours of a cramped and uncomfortable journey we finally arrived in Penang, Malaysia yesterday. We are staying in the more major city of Penang called georgetown and for those who dont know, Penang is an island ; ) It is also a place for diversed cultures with both chinese, indian, and islamic people living in the same place. Now i could bore you with the many interesting historical things which Penang offers, but i have decided to instead tell you about some of the more awesome things ive done here. One thing in particular springs to mind and that is of course the fact that i went to a snake temple today where i got to hold a python and two other snakes which as i found out afterwards.... were poisonous!!! I also got to touch the king of all snakes which is the King Cobra, now as i had no previous knowledge of snakes, i thought it was quite interesting that the King Cobra(which was huge by the way) is only the king because of the fact that it is the only snake that is immune to other snakes poison while its own would kill them... and it also eats snakes for a living! Beside that i had some great Indian tandoori in little India, apparently the best in Malaysia! also did a tour with this bloke called steven who was one really funny chap as the british call him; )! On the more cultural note we went to the pearl of the city which is this major buddhist temple where three different buddhist forms of religion are practised, Thai, Tibetan, and Indian buddhism is practised(not entirely sure if they were the ones... was extremely hot so hard to pay attention+ all my travelling just kicked in and i am so tired right now). All this was finished off by this aesomely cheap meal we had down at the hawker centre or read dragon as they call it with all its various local food stalls... i actualy ate a sting ray which was quite delicious and spicy!
Now tommorrow we have a 6 hour bus journey to Kuala Lumpur! so gotta go get my sleep and travel on and leave you to get back to work or whatever you were doing before you started reading this ; )!
Cheers and greeting from Penang