letstakeakelfie

[letstakeakelfie]

let's climb a volcano they said, it will be fun they said

Currently in the Philippines with two weeks to go until I get home so thought I would recap on my goings on.

Well for starters I absolutely love this country, the people, the wildlife here, the climate, everything. One of the first countries where I feel safe walking around on my own plus have I mentioned that it's a stunning place to be :)

When I first got here I decided to head straight to my first place which was a trip and a half to get there from where I flew in and by the time I had got a taxi, bus, ferry, another bus, another bus and a motorbike to the place I was going to it had taken most the day and I had no way of getting online. So of course by the time I got online the next day my mum was this close to calling interpol and reporting me missing :p

Whilst at thads place where I spent a week before heading to where I am now, I got to do some pretty cool cheap diving even though I am not entirely convinced the equipment will be reliable in case of an emergency. At the same time I arrived at camp there was another girl there who we both decided it was a great idea to hike a 1900m volcano (supposed to be a 2 to 3 day hike) in one day. Because apparently I am fit enough to do this.

Oh....my....God I actually thought we wouldn't make it back off thus mountain. Woke up at 4, spent an hour and a half getting to the start point via a million buses and a small habbal habbal which started to roll backwards down the hill with us on it. Oh and the way we found the guide to take us was Rose finding a guy online who then said he would go outside and find someone random who ended up being a lad called demster. So we arrived at this place with no idea who this guy was, about to put our lives in his hands for the day to find a very small guy waiting for us. So off we go entering at 6.30 in the morning into the dense jungle which covers the entire of the mountain range.

7 hours. ...7 hours of scrambling up through dense jungle to reach the summit  and hands down this was the hardest thing I have ever done (and we still had to get back again). The views at the top were amazing and the last push up the summit was pretty cool in that you had to scramble through,  under and around tree roots and up stretches of vertical rock to get there. But wow....the view actually rendered me speechless and anyone who knows me knows I am not often left with no words :p

Of course now we had to get back and by this point I had already reached what I thought was my limit but no I still had some more to give. Off we went on our return which took just as long and possibly a little longer because my legs refused to behave and roses shoes were not the best grips so we had to take it slower.

Aiming to get out before it got dark we quickly released this wasn't going to happen as it got to 6 and we still had 3 hours to go so thankfully we had brought our lights with us and even though I was seriously considering sleeping in a hut in the jungle we plodded on throughout the night.

If this wasn't bad enough, spiders decided to come out to play at this point and not little ones either. One liked to take massive leaps which freaked me out so I tried to run past until I realised I couldn't run as legs still were all wobbly. Apparently there was a much bigger one but thankfully rose didn't clue me in on that :)

Finally after what seemed like actual years we made it out (after a brief run in with a friendly bull) at 9.30 pm which was 15 hours after we first entered.  Let's just say I wasn't able to walk properly for a few days after that :)

Moral of the story - don't go along with any of mine or roses ideas

[letstakeakelfie]

Better get this post in whilst I have working Internet

So quick update to bring you all up to speed and to assure you that no, I am not kidnapped and/or dead :p

So last time I left you at my arrival into Phuket, where I was dropped off without hassle at the front of my dad's hotel and seeminglessly made the transition from the bus into the all you can eat buffet :)

So I was here for just over a week and it was very nice to be in a little bit of luxury for a while so I chilled out for a couple of days, went diving in koh phi phi which was pretty good. Saw two black tipped reef sharks that swam past us in some pretty shallow water (for all those who think they stick to deep water). Also took a trip out to James bond island which in a nutshell was a tiny little island full to the brim with about a million people holding their hands up in a gun shape.....good day out though where I got to sit right at the front of the speedboat in my happy place :p

Then it was time for Songkran festival, which saw me and two girls I made friends with on the first night, going innocently into town (they had straightened their hair, makeup, the whole shebang) to not even make it into the main town without getting drenched.  Cue the next three hours of me buying a water gun, and running around channeling my inner child like we were in a zombie apocalypse shooting children in the face, shouting 'I don't care that you are a child!'

On the bus on the way back me, two kids and their dad was the ones at the back standing guard and protecting the vehicle attack...so much fun. So of course the next day I went back out, with Lindi and dad. teehee so much fun watching my dad get drenched.

So after a action packed couple of days and a couple of complete opposite in that they were chilled, my dad and lindi moved on as did I to the notorious party filled patong beach.

So this is where the story takes a slightly darker turn in that within one hour of me being at the hostel we were all hustled out of our room to stand in the corridor as police and the ambulance men came running in. Turns out that a guy had been lying dead in his bunk and had to be carried out on a stretcher with all his belongings. Thankfully wrapped up but still pretty freaky to think I had walked past him whilst lying there dead. RIP

So after all the tourism and death I am quite happy to leave Thailand and tbh won't be coming back.

[letstakeakelfie]

In sickness and in health

It's been one of those things, where I have been telling myself to do my next blog entry and I keep putting it off, and as I am currently lying here with a slightly pulled back and a bruised head (hit myself with a water gun) it seems like a good a time as any :)

So what have I been up to since my last entry? Well in a nutshell, I escaped the super quiet volunteer placement where me and a random french dude set off with all the bravado of hitch hiking to where we needed to go, but in reality managing to stop a public bus :p

Once in khao lak I wandered into my hostel, met an aussie girl Jess who I invited to the beach and got myself an awesome travel buddy for the next two weeks. After a bit of a disagreement with a moped on her part we spent a few days exploring Khao Lak and the ever elusive turtle conservation area (convinced this does not exist). I turned 29 which was celebrated first by a very random cabaret show and secondly by about two drinks (such a lightweight) or maybe the two drinks came first? and our next destination was decided (koh phi phi).

After initially deciding to stay here about 3 nights we arrived via the ferry and set off to find our hostel (lucky dorm) which was somewhere among the maze of streets. Luckily we only booked the one night, as after locating it down a back street we checked in to be led through a side curtain into one room full of beds. Row after row of what I can only describe as prison cots with incredibly high upper bunks (which is where I was) that needed more agility than I can muster to get up there. Let's just say neither me or Jess got much sleep (I attached mozzie net to the aircon and it broke it off during the night and I was enveloped in a giant net and Jess got a wakeup call from a cat on her head, a cute cat but still not what you want at stupid o'clock in the morning) and I woke up with a random creepy child appeared from nowhere at the bottom of my bed.

So koh phi phi is a pretty cool place, however the photos I posted are not a good representation of what tourism has done to these places. A typical night here consists of getting drunk and dancing the night away on the beach which lasted me about two night before I was the second to succumb to a mysterious virus that knocked me out for 24 hours and quickly moved along our group one by one. Thus our stay was extended as the island tried to keep us forever :p oo must mention all the cats too, so many cats, I was in cat heaven. I became my own kind of crazy cat lady.

In an attempt to escape the craziness we decided to move on the minute we were all well and after last time I came to Thaialnd I had my heart set on railay beach, so in the most awkwardly timed ferry ever (3.30pm) we finally escaped after about a week. However my second visit to Railay was quite disappointing as it's gone downhill since I was last here and been overrun by tourists. Decided to only stay here two nights before jess moved up to chiang mai and I went to meet my dad so we did everything there was to do (which wasn't much) including a visit to the good old penis cave where they were all lay down so no posing with statues for me, a random wander around some caves (one with a man who just appeared from behind a rock and scared the life out of me, because who just stands behind a rock) kayaking around the coast and a proper rock climbing, scrambling mission to climb up to the viewpoint.

Then we parted ways which felt strange as even after two weeks it feels like I have known her for years but it was onwards to meet the father which was a nice easy long boat, ferry and then minivan ride to the hotel with no problems or delays :)

I will leave this one for now but Phuket is the next entry :)

[letstakeakelfie]

Snow, sun and wrinkly bums

It's been 10 days since I left the UK which seems to be more like years to be honest.  Really missing people back home but starting to settle into the life of a nomad again. Travelling alone is way different to having a friend with you I have come to realise :)

So what have I been up to. Well there was the 5 days I spent wandering around oslo, couchsurfing firstly at a guys for 3 nights who was nice (made of lot of killing jokes) and the first night he took me to a 1920's themed potluck. Now only having a 35l backpack with me I did not really go dressed up but apart from a couple of girls in flapper dresses, no one else did :)

Was a really good night and ran into someone from westhoughton ha which was random but after a little bit of vodka, rum and possibly a sambuca shot it was time to call it a night.  So spent my first proper day in norway nursing a hangover.

By the time I recovered I then spent the next few days wandering around in the snow. Well, floundering as graceful people unlike myself skied past and on their merry way.

Then came my 10 hour flight to bangkok. oh bangkok...what can I say. You have to experience it for yourself to truly understand bangkok. In a nutshell, got there, got to hostel, had a nap and woke up to the wrinkly view of an old thai guys arse who apparently likes to spend all his time naked (was in a dorm room).

Met two lads from essex who after a couple of drinks decided it was a good idea to visit one of the infamous ping ping shows which for the great value (rip off) of 10 quid showcased someone the age of my nana pinging it into a shotglass and was located in a back alley in the sleaziest part of bangkok. Too old for this :p

After one night there, I decided enough was enough and set off (on the last sleeper berth on the last train out of there) on to the next leg of my journey. Surrathani then khao sok national park.

Been at my volunteer placement 3 days now and settling in although all the creatures of thailand like to perform their very own orchestra under my cabin at night to keep me awake. So thoughtful.

Explored the local area a little bit on my 2nd day here, where me and the other two very quiet volunteers embarked on a 13km walk to go see a big tree. Needless to say as usual I underestimated how tiring it is to do any form of physical movement in 35 degree heat, and a mere 1km away from camp I stopped at a little shop to get water and even tho they spoke no English a lovely thai couple took pity on me and drove me the last bit.

Enough from me for now :)

[letstakeakelfie]

Mountain shenanigans

Been a while since I have wrote anything in here, as my life has been that exciting. But almost 2 months ago I had a burst of motivation and started doing more healthy stuff and eating healthier. Which brings me to my current hobby of climbing mountains and hiking. Something which I have never really explored in the past if you don’t count the time in Indonesia where I almost died from the exertion.

So been keeping it quite small with walks around Rivington near where I live and Dove stone reservoir...until last week when I was invited to hike for 8 miles around Haweswater in the lake district. Of course I was slightly apprehensive but I went along and found to my surprise I actually really enjoyed it and managed it quite well. The highlight being Sophie somehow ending up falling in a bog =P

In my mind now I am now an experienced hiker which can deal with any challenge. This is the only explanation as to why me and Sophie then decided to try and conquer an 11 mile hike called the Kentmere Horseshoe a week later. Not quite sure at which point it went so wrong =P Started off quite well and as we ascended the hills, the fact we could not see the tops at all due to the fog didn't bother us at all. How little we knew.

Our view allll day. Sometimes it got worse to like 5 metre visibility. 

When one of the few people we saw that day passed us on the way down saying it would be a struggle to continue, still we did not pay heed to the warnings. Looking at the map I have posted at the bottom of this post the point where we really shouldn't of carried on was in the top north western corner of the walk as we walked over high street on roman road. The fog descended even more along with 50/60 mph icy winds and we were walking alongside a narrow edge where you could not even see where you would fall to your death. 

But no, we persevered thinking it would stop on the other side...haha how wrong we were as these lovely winds then stayed with us for the rest of the time we were up in the mountains. We followed the right path up until a certain point were we got a bit disorientated in the fog and turned down the wrong path which took us well out of our way and we ended up in the complete wrong valley on the other side of a mountain range from where we started from. All could of been lost but having knocked on someones door to see whether they could tell us where we were they then offered to take us back to where we needed to go! Which was like a 50 minute drive away from where we were...

So moral of this story....respect the mountain and stop being stubborn and just turn back! =)

[letstakeakelfie]

Sun, sea and extra sweet sangria =)

Been back a couple of weeks from mine and Ash’s portugal trip and havent done a blog entry in like forever...so here goes =)

So went to Lisbon to go visit Joana =) who we havent seen in about 5 years so it was great to catch up again. So the initial flight over went without any hitches (for once) and got surprised at the airport by Joana woop after having forgotten the instructions on how to get to her house. Maybe one hitch =P

Of course there was the major forest fires like the week before so with that in our minds we visited Sintra on the first day there. Accidently took the scenic bus which took twice as long but the view was pretty good until we got to the famous landmark where the land meets the sea. Course due to heavy fog (initial fear of fire) only realized that it was the famous landmark later on in the day from a photographic postcard. But technically we visited it...ish via a bus.

Got to Sintra, and we decided to actually pay to go see a landmark...which is something we never do. So we went up the incredibly tiring hill, in an air conditioned bus =P but then walked around the castle walls which was tiring enough but had stunning views

To cut a long story short, the next couple of days included Ash taking charge of navigation in Lisbon, and leading us for miles up Lisbon in the wrong direction in search of a park. Followed by an African music concert =) then a lovely day on the beach which resulted in incredibly sunburnt legs and back, because for some reason the pasty british girls thought the sun wouldn't affect them =P The final days shows I can do a mean Forest Gump walking impression. Lovely street party on the final evening where we danced to a band which were the Portugese version of the Baghdaddies. 

So along comes Friday - travel day. Travel day with incredibly sunburnt legs is not fun. So on goes the leggings, and oo lets put talc down my leggings to stop them from chaffing on sunburn. So 1 train, 2 undergrounds later we arrive at the airport where for some reason I now decide to set off the security bleeper thing. So I am stood there with black leggings on, where talc has decided to leak out of like I had been trying to smuggle drugs out the country in the crooks of my knees. Asking the lady not to pat my legs down because I am sunburnt and it hurts. She did it anyways. No mention of talc funnily enough. 

So all in all - holiday was a nice break. Moral of story - you WILL get burnt on a windy beach in 35 degrees sun with no suncream =) And extra strawberries in Sangria is a winning combination

[letstakeakelfie]

Road trip, riding the bull and pretty views

So got back from our mini road trip around the South Island in NZ yesterday and it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! It included a LOT of driving (on Rochelle’s part) but we made it back alive. I feel like I have to also mention my arrival into NZ where after waiting for AGES to get through customs I was happily heading towards freedom when I was pulled over by a sniffer dog. Didn’t find anything in my bag so they let me go, but when I got out I realized there was a large stowaway African grape hidden in my bag (fruit not allowed with possibility of $400 fine!).

Our mini adventure began on the Tuesday after I got here where we drove down to Lake Tekapo which was this beautiful blue lake where Rochelle told me her plans to get married there. Then she was like ‘oh lets walk up the hill to the observatory to see the views of the lake, its only a 20 minute walk’.So me (who is not the best hill walker) was like yeah, I can manage that. So an HOUR later we emerge at the top of the hill feeling like I am taking my last dying breath. It wasn't only me either, a woman behind me asked us whether we knew CPR. But anyways the view was worth it as you can see from the photos so all was forgiven.

We then drove to Lake Pukkaki and slept in the car right by the lake which resulted in amazing views over the lake in the morning. But first I must mention the fear of us being killed during the night when we got there in the pitch black. Rochelle, being a slightly nervy camper/sleeper in cars was convinced everyone was a possible murderer/kidnapper. So we parked away from all the other cars and drifted off to sleep. BUT then a giant lorry came trundling into the car park which woke me up. Cue me waking Rochelle up to give her a short five minute relay of what the truck driver was doing. Then immediately passed out to leave her lying there in fear =)) hahaha

The next day we headed over to Queenstown, via the shotover jet which was an overly expensive jet boat ride through a canyon which had amazing views. Of course as per usual, things didnt go quite to plan as they should do. Therefore as we started off we did a cool spin on the water...then promptly beached the boat on a rocky shelf, on my side...exactly where I was sat. Then cue the shouts from the boat driver to his workmates ‘there is too much weight on the left!’ Our plan to go to Maccies after for a quick bite was put on hold.

After this we went up on the Gondola to the luge run at the top of a giant hill. The gondola was incredibly rocky and went up a very steep hill. Poor rochelle, wait...poor kelly almost had her hand broken in two by the sheer force of Rochelle gripping it on the way up. Then she found out we had to go on a kind of ski lift to get up to the luge...haha was amusing.

Then we had our first night out in a LONG time which saw us going to a bar made of ice, riding a bull in cowboys and bumping into someone who I met in Madagascar (small world), drunkenly stumbling to a couple of other bars which ended up in us being chucked out of the final one. I will not point fingers of blame, feel free to draw your own conclusions =P On the way back from the club we came across an extremely panicked girl who had just been attacked by an imbecile, so we took her back with us and made sure she got in a taxi. We have a new name now - angels, saviours...etc you get the picture.

This post is long enough so will continue with the story sometime in the future =)

[letstakeakelfie]

Sharks, bush babies and brain damage

So back on my travels once again (only for three weeks sadly) but having a great time even though I do miss certain people back in the UK =P

Just got back from a three day diving trip in Sodwana bay, which was amazing, even though on the first dive my dad decided to lovingly fall on my head…tank first.  So yes my first dive was spent with the snorkel hitting me over the lovely big bump on the side of my head, but we saw three turtles all in all the first day so I can’t complain too much. Even though, I will now hold it over my dad for all eternity.

The second day diving was equally as good, although it involved waking up at 5.45 to go out which anyone will know, waking up early is not my strong suit. So was a tad grumpy that day. Also could be delayed brain damage from day before =P. But the weather was HOT which resulted in a slightly frazzled left arm (the right escaped for some reason) and (just me and one other) saw a shark on a mission swim past us (cue jaws music) so all in all a very happy Kelly.

Ooo almost forgot, the first night, we were sat in the restaurant guzzling down all the food in the world, when a bush baby jumped out the tree onto the roof next to us which was cool. It didn’t come any closer though =( So after yet another 5.45 wake up this morning, we embarked on our final but BEST dive where we saw 3 different types of rays (woo), then proceeded on the 8 hour journey back to Joburg. Nothing interesting there, I slept the whole way almost.

Tomorrow we are booked into a spa at 12 to ease away all my aches and pains/be lazy for a day. Will update at the end of the week, only 4 days left before I go to New Zealand for a LONG overdue meeting with Rochelle =)

[letstakeakelfie]

Vertigo, men in tutu's and falafel!

Ended up passed out all night on Wednesday which ended up me missing out on free pasta but I think all in all, it was lucky I was in bed when I passed out and not on the street somewhere. The following day we decided to go explore the city and see the famous Sagreda Familia which cost around 20 euros but was pretty damn cool. The outside is covered with scaffolding as it has apparently been being built for the past 100 years! But the parts that were not covered were amazing, the way it was sculpted… Plus whilst in the queue outside there was a security guard who was all stern and grey but there was something about him. Made queuing up quite enjoyable for once =P The inside was spectacular, incredibly high ceiling and we also headed up the tower to have a gander at the view. Got a bit of vertigo and both Ash and I had to have a little sit down as our legs started feeling like jelly.

Then we went and had falafel…Oh my god. The falafel….This amazing place called MOOZ that had pitta bread smothered with houmous, salad and then you can put as much salad stuff on it as possible. Lets say we ate there the whole time, no word of a lie…every day =)

Managed to get circus tickets and it was the best circus I have ever been too, they were really inventive in their acts and there was two guys sat behind us who Ash earlier on had mentioned she thought they had been put there by the circus to get people clapping. Well she was right about one thing, they were in the circus…and appeared in the final act dressed in tutus doing the can can!

There was also one act which had two women rollerblading on a small little tiny platform. Not your usual idea of rollerskating though, no this had an element of danger too it where one of the girls span around the other in various scary moves. The thing which made us anxious though was the moustached man stood in the background who kept making moves to run forward every couple of minutes. It was not all paranoia either as during one scary stunt they fell off the stage! But overall the whole thing was soooo cool even when the funny clown man made the light people shine the spotlight on me…embarrassing.

Bit of advice, anyone going to see park guell, dont pay the 8 euros to get in the middle bit as it is not worth it. However the surrounding gardens are really nice and we went up to the high part where we came upon a man...with wild hair, leaopard print outfit, sunglasses, playing a guitar and wailing some sort of song. Amusing in itself, but then on the way past he started singing to Ash and making meow noises. Quote "can we make purr, i make purr with you, we make purr together, i love you mwah mwah mwah" funny times. So I videoed it...see when i upload it.

All this has made me want to move to Barcelona…its got it all, city, the sea, mountains (ish) and nightlife.

[letstakeakelfie]

Lack of sleep and mojito madness

Writing to you from Barcelona! Absolutely love it here, everyones so friendly and the city itself is pretty cool =) After over 24 hours being awake, whilst being run down with the worst cold/cough ever, any sensible person would of gone straight to bed upon arrival. Well we all know I have never been mistaken for one of those...

So after a brief nap of 10 minutes where I managed to drool into my ear me and Ash went out with people from the hostel to one of the local bars. Our intentions were initially to stay out for one hour then head back. Course this did not go to plan so we spent a couple of hours in the bar getting free shots and having in credibly strong mojito´s whilst trying to decipher a brazilian models conversation. We gathered he may or may not be a gay model....who knows? Also we made friends with the bouncer outside who kept telling us to hush as it was a residential area so i became his assistant and started telling people to hush. He liked that and was thanking me =) yay

So you would of thought that now we would go back to bed...nope...all piled into taxi´s and headed to schoko, a pretty cool club on the beach which to any normal tourist would set them back a hefty 10 euros. However as we were on an official hostel outing, the lovely leading lady ellie got us in on the guest list. Yay. Cue a fun filled night of dancing around with random people finishing up with us creeping back into the hostel at 3 in the morning.

The following day (didnt think i would actually get up) we embarked on what turned out to be an incredibly long "free" tour around barcelona. I was too tired to actually pay attention but got some cool photos. And made plans to go to the circus on thursday...

[letstakeakelfie]

Last night blues

My last night in Hellville… =( my three months here has gone so fast and now I have to go back to face reality unfortunately. Overall I have had a great experience made so much better by the people involved. Not only the people on camp but the villagers as well. Needless to say I am going to miss them so much plus a couple of the local guys made me leaving gifts (hand carved turtle, dolphin and necklace). Even though camp has some stupid rules against getting too friendly with the villagers (which I do not agree with as they are amazing people) I made some great friends and one of my fave nights of the week is still Fridays at Victors (our boat driver) house. Everyone here are amazing dancers and completely put me to shame and even have some dance routines which I have managed to learn at least one. Problem is, here their songs are incredibly fast paced and usually last around 20 minutes which explains their physiques here. The last Friday night however saw me absolutely drenched with what I wish I could blame on the rain but was definitely sweat so gross Kelly all around.

   My last day here me, Jess, Grace and Mini-muffin (Nick) went driving around Nosy Be on quad bikes once Jess and her amazing French convo finally got us a couple. Took me a while to grasp the driving but was amazing fun even if it had its fair share of my usual drama hah. First of all Jess got completely overcharged for a pear, then the police stopped us asking us for permits (when the rental guys hadn’t told us it was hidden under our seats) then asked for a driving licence when that was shown obviously asking for a bribe but luckily we got out of that. Then on our way to Mount Passot where the crater lakes are we got off the quads way to early to walk there so Jess and Grace went back to get them whilst me and MM walked on. After it seemed like ages the hill started to go down again so we turned back with the fear they had been kidnapped or the bikes stolen. Still no sign as we walk back but then suddenly a man appeared out of nowhere with a large stick and a machete so I was like ‘Nick quick off the road, he will see us’ so we hid. Turned out that one of the quads wouldn’t start but as it was nearing sunset and we could hear far off thunder we were wondering how we could escape with our lives =)

Nearing night it got a bit more stressful but overall had a great last night even though it was tinged with sadness and the following morning I started my long trip back to Tana at half 8 in the morning. So as a bit of a recap of my trip it starts with fun speed boat (so much faster than the town boat), waiting in the boiling heat for 2 hours, meeting a guy from the volunteer place on Komba, look up from reading to see a girl taking photos of me with a pile of about 5 phones beside her, stick tongue out for photo, teach a small small child how to high five, have a cricket thing put on my face by said small small child, when napping have the child try to feed me chicken fat, listen to music with small child, save small child from falling off the seat etc etc then being woken up by a very intense argument going on about god knows what, stopping to use the toilet on a bare wasteland with strands of grass to hide behind (I waited), the combustion of a bottle of salad which sounded like a bomb and splattered everyone in the front row seat with a lot of putrid vinegar smelling salad, nodding off to be awoken by my head nutting the window (might have a bruise now).

All in all very very very very long but watching the sunrise over the Madagascar terrain was pretty cool plus it was 150 pound cheaper than flying. 

[letstakeakelfie]

Beach olympics, messy pumpkins and fish rescue missions

Only 2 and a half more weeks left here which is strange as the three months has whizzed by so fast =(. I am kind of looking forward to going home, if only to sit in front of the TV and tickle back and feet with Nic. But I will miss living on camp, there’s always someone to talk too and always someone to rescue from weird old men, even if it’s myself.

So since my last entry we had to beach Olympics which was such a fun day and also made better by the fact I won both my events =) and marine won overall yay. This was basically a day where foresters were pitched against mariners in 18 challenges which saw people sprinting, swimming, glugging Fanta, eating frego’s (extremely dry biscuit kind of things) and in my case being blindfolded and having to find my way through camp to a chair on the beach. Luckily I spent half an hour practicing my routine beforehand of where I would go (with the security guards laughing at me repeatedly walking into the tree), therefore between me and Lulu we got it down in about 1 minute 40, thus topping the forester’s time by about 50 seconds. Hilarious to watch. And I also won my arm wrestle with my left hand yay so intense though.

As you can see...

Then it was Halloween =) yay so fun again I decided to be cat woman so made a hasty costume with a handmade whip. Before I even got a chance to get dressed though I was waylaid by a steady stream of people wanting me to do their face makeup which was fun as it basically involved me chucking a handful of talc in their faces then mixing in a bit of red paint. Then there was apple bobbing, pumpkin carving, photo posing then off to Victors for our tradition of going dancing with the locals. Without a doubt my favourite night of the week we dance with the local community who are some of the happiest people I have ever met. The kids are cute and can dance better than me (which isn’t hard) and its just so much fun interacting with the locals even if I have to save a couple of the volunteers from unwanted attention each week. Without fail though, the only people left up dancing with them at 3 in the morning is me, Grace, Mollie and Olly. Good times.

Still not been diving as much due to the compressor being broken but still managing to have fun snorkelling (think I have been in the water almost every day since I have been here) and I was leading a snorkel out to Home Reef the other day and I found two turtles!!!! Seen as I am normally rubbish at finding things I hope I impressed the new volunteers with my amazing knowledge of finding cool things =)

ooo and we went to Phils (local french guy) for pizza, and we had just sat down when suddenly two of the cutest kittens were thrust upon us. Once my heartrate had calmed down they then suddenly pushed a couple of tiny fat puppies in our hands. Almost had a heart attack then one fell asleep on me for a while. BEST NIGHT EVER!!!!

One other mention is when I was swimming back to camp the other day and was hovering over what I thought was a palm leaf (big) when I suddenly realised it was a GIANT ray which was bigger than am. Still a bit unsure I dived down a bit and it suddenly jumped up and swam away really fast scaring the poop out of me. Then a minute later saw a spotted eagle ray =) and earlier on in the morning we passed humpback dolphins on the boat. yay then I found a long line fishing net with fish caught in it and I felt so bad as they were still alive I swam along it freeing the fish from impending doom whilst slicing my fingers in the process...poor fish.

[letstakeakelfie]

sharkey goodness =)

Finally managed to get online properly after three consecutive weekends of being unable to get online. Some due to exciting things like swimming with whale sharks (will expand later) and some not so exciting such as camp duty. But now I am sat relaxed from my 45 minute full body massage on the beach in a bikini due to the fact I have lost my t shirt somehow and now have to walk back through town with no top. The massage was necessary as last night me and a few of the volunteers were up until 3 in the morning partying in the local village learning local dance moves *the waa cha cha*. So yeah I have not moved that energetically in weeks but on the plus side I have now learnt a new secret handshake – unrelated.

So as a bit of a catch up I will begin with the amazing whale shark trip we went on a couple of weeks ago, where I got to swim with 6 whale sharks that came within like a inch in front of me, narrowly missing my face with its tail. I swear after spending 2 months in Utila where whale sharks apparently are seen year round, and not seeing any, both I and Ash came to the conclusion they do not exist. It is not true though, they really do exist, and I was not prepared for how absolutely beautiful these animals are. *see photo inserted*. And as if this was not enough we then got took to the local island Sakatia to go look for green turtles and I was not disappointed. Even though my photos did not turn out well I managed to swim with two giant green turtles =) yay.

The best thing about being on the marine programme here is if there are trips to the local marine reserve Tanikely, then I get to tag along for a fun dive. Here is the only place where the diving is around 30m (the camp sites we survey are all between 3-6m), and it is without a doubt the most beautiful dive I have ever done. Visibility was amazing, I saw an octopus, ANOTHER giant green turtle (better photo this time) and just absolutely wow. The pictures speak for themselves.

Unluckily at the start of this week the compressor broke so I have only managed to dive once this week but gone snorkelling every day and also been trying to swim in from Home reef each day which is around 300m. When I tried that when I first got here I almost drowned haha but now pretty much got it down woo. Anyways this Sunday we have an Environmental Awareness Day (EAD) which is where we are preparing a play to do in front of the villagers which aims to kind of educate them on what we are doing there, what we are trying to accomplish etc. So this involves us all running around making fools of ourselves but as I pretty much do this on a daily basis I think I will be okay.

We also have beach Olympics (marine versus forest) which is a couple of hours of competitive sports…yay…I hate running…….more to come……

[letstakeakelfie]

Goodness gracious great chicks of fire...

After a turbulent journey from camp where we broke down in the middle of the sea 3 times, I have made it to town where I will be spending the night going out for a meal and generally relaxing/researching personal project. As much as I love it on camp it’s nice to get out for a night and of course I kicked it off with a cheap but lovely massage on the beach.

   Luckily it seems I have started my job in inter phase which means it’s a lot more relaxed than the rest of the time so I have the next two weeks to be fully trained and ready to survey in time for October when 6 more volunteers are coming. At the moment we only have two mariner volunteers who are nice but one of them is a real pain in the ass and shows no interest in anything and I have not completely ruled out being murdered in my sleep.

But anyways this week I started by going for a dive on Monday to a local site to do my in water invertebrate test. This went wrong quite quickly as the current was that strong the moment Lisa pointed something out to me I didn't have time to see it before we got swept away. Passed eventually but we gave up on that dive. And unfortunately it has now come to light that however amazing (and expensive) force fins are, they are rubbish at surface swims which happens most the time here. So I think I lost about a stone on that one dive. At night time I tagged along on one of the forest walks which was pretty cool as I got to see a mouse lemur (ish) and loads of cool mini chameleons (I forget their name).

As it’s a full moon at the moment this means of course its spring tides so I have taken to holding in my pee at night time as it involves wading across the side of camp that gets flooded and going to bed wet and full of sand, is not pleasant. God forbid if I get ill. It’s coming into the wet season too which means more humidity and more rain…yay…

Well I better get some work done…its not all fun fun fun here =P

oo one more thing I want to add, one of my jobs yesterday was burning the camp rubbish heap and I got rich and fin to help me. All was going well, the fire caught and we stood back. Then a STUPID hen and her 3 baby chicks decided oh I know lets go climb over the burning rubbish heap. So off they peck right next to the burning bit and the guys were like no kelly, its you or the chickens. I had already herded the dogs back (we are not supposed to touch the dogs) and I was like noooo but they are only babies Then a battery or something exploded on them and lets just say I thought chickens don't fly. 

No chickens were harmed in the making of this story.

Plus we had a herd of zebu come running through camp yesterday...quite hilarious seeing everyone running after them.

Anyway...work

[letstakeakelfie]

Blow outs, delays and innapropiate dancing

Second time lucky now, the first time I wrote this it crashed =(

SO anyways I have been here a week now and loving it plus I am tanned already yay. After a shaky start which saw me having a blow out on my car on the way to the airport, stupidly saying my bag looked like it was going to explode (as it was so full) as I was checking my bag in at the airport, booking a flight for when I got to Madgascar for the computer to crash without me noting the booking code down. Cue a stressful 20 minute call to the airline where they did not speak English, the fridges being broken so I couldn’t get an ice cold red bull. THEN when I got to Paris I fell asleep in the wrong area and woke up to find myself cordoned off in a corner in what looked like an abandoned airport. When I finally found people I then found out my flight was 4 hours late so I finally got too Tana at about 4 in the morning where I then had to borrow a taxi mans phone and ring the guy who I was couch surfing with. True to my nature I got ripped off by the taxi man but at that point I would have given him anything to get to sleep.

The next day I didn’t really do much but get a massage and then without much further ado I managed to make it to the airport in the morning and on to Nosy be with only a 20 minute delay. Once I got to Nosy Be in the evening I ended up going to a strange music festival which can only be described as a dance off/rap off that involved 9 year old Malagasy girls twerking on stage with a tiny skirt on. As you can imagine = uncomfortable Kelly.

The highlight of this so called music festival had to be the handmade carousal which looked like thin planks of wood nailed together. And powered by a man pushing it around. I did think at some point that I was going to die. Thankfully I didn’t but still. There was also handmade roulette tables. All in all, pretty cool.

 The next day I headed to camp via the village boat which took about 45 minutes to get to camp and is the only way to get to civilisation from where we are. Its great and the place is amazing, especially at night as there is no light pollution so the stars are extremely bright. Plus there are lemurs!! I saw my first one on my second night leaping through the trees and when you go up to the long drop (toilet) you can see their eyes reflecting your torchlight in the trees. One watched me pee but it was great!

I have been diving 3 times now and even though the depth is only around 6m you can see a lot, and I am proud to of learnt all the invertebrate species that we survey here and also my benthic categories. Plus I have been looking into doing my own project which will see me measuring fish. Big fish, little fish…

Protreaster lincki (possibly spelt wrong) such a cool starfish though. 

Last night was party night which carried a LOTR theme where unfortunately I did not dress up but a lot of people were extremely inventive. See photo below.

Its the fellowship!!! minus a few members. We have legolas, aragorn, boromir in the back, then gimli at the front, then frodo and an asian sam. 

Fast forward about 3 hours and this is the dancing we started to see after most people went to bed and a few of us went to a little party around the corner in the little village next to us. Again see photo below.

  Well this was a long entry so sorry it went on so long. Until next time =)

 Photo of camp for you to be envious of.

Until next time.

[letstakeakelfie]

What language do you speak here??.....Czech

We lost our euro virginity!! That means our first visit to a European country, both me and ash together (in case mum and extended family start to raise some eyebrows). So Prague was our destination this time and was great. As per usual rather than do the normal tourist things such as the famous bar crawl which is the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions Prague....we chose to go to a strip club, free walking tour and medieval banquet (without the food).

As we were on a budget we chose to do the free walking tour on our first day to have a look around the city in a way which wouldn't involve us getting lost (usually our way of doing things). Saw a gold man, men dressed as angels with parrots and a show involving a large golden chicken. Great fun...once the tour ended however...we got lost. So much for that theory.

That night we decided to go out to find the clubs located near the giant pregnant lego figure...

dont ask (although there was a hole where you could stick your head up it if you felt like it...of course I did). Found one with free entry so we thought...great lets go here...it was pretty empty however after a lovely Rekorderlig mmmmm we just went with the flow and started leaping around the empty dance floor. It filled up later on so we obviously started a trend =) on the way back to the hostel we went into a strip club after being enticed with "free for women" and followed the guy down some stairs. However we quickly changed our minds when he led us down a corridor lined with numbered doors with a red light hanging over our heads...never ran so fast up a flight of stairs before...

The next day we visited the Castle/palace not sure which one it is and wow it was gorgeous. I wont bore you with an explanation, instead here is a pretty picture to show you =)

later on there are no pictures to explain what we did as cameras weren't allowed in the....STRIP CLUB. Pretty cool lion king section which was in cabaret style, however it quickly turned into a lesbian porn show with two girls going at it on the stage. I was just amused at how the guys surrounding the stage suddenly all felt the need to sit up and lean forward =P

Then we hired a boat!!!! as the weather was amazing there we hired a little pedal boat and went out on the river with cider and music!! Good times...however there was one hairy moment where the giant boat was heading towards us and we didn't seem to be moving out of its path...it all worked out in the end though...

and this all relaxed us in time for the medieval banquet which involved snakes, belly dancers, fire shows and me being dragged up by two men in cloaks who proceeded to chuck "holy" water on me as i was obviously a witch and then scrub me up and down with a brush (maybe they thought i was unclean) and decided that I was now re-virginised again. 

Now my next adventure will be Scotland in two weeks and after that Italy in June...keep tuned for more =)

[letstakeakelfie]

Light at the end of the tunnel

So after 4 months of working pretty much every day it seems to be Christmas again. Course the difference between my last Christmas day where me and ash spent it riding an elephant and white water rafting in Thailand is already hitting home as the cold settles in. 

So if anyone wants to know what I have been up to since my return to the UK in May then here it is. I will make it brief as it has not been very interesting and the whole time my heart has had its bag packed for my next travels. So my internship at Frontier where I have been working as a Research and Development Intern ends in the middle of February so 6 months from there in September I will be jetting off to Madagascar on one of their marine projects =) yay

Luckily this is one of the projects I have been overseeing from the office during my internship so I know most the staff who work there and I have a thorough understanding of the project so hopefully I can get diving sooner rather than later as I wont need as much training. Fingers crossed (plus I sneakily have a copy of the training materials)

This weekend just gone me and the other intern Matt visited London zoo for a reef conference which was a laugh as I do have a liking for eccentric old men who have so much passion in their work. Plus we got to go in the zoo for free!!

And there was a moment where I am convinced we were fed zebra sandwiches. Who knows...who knows. 

But yeah...Madagascar in September and then on to South Africa...maybe I wont come back this time =P