I Made IT!!!!!

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Before I start talking about all the things that happened to me whilst I was in Perth I just feel the need to say, I made it! I’m here in Australia. It’s only taken me 8 months 17 countries, 17 flights, countless boats, trains, coaches, buses and even a Marshrukta ride! I’ve had 40 degree heat and minus I don’t know what with snow, rain, hail and lots of wind (sometimes a little bit too much)

If I’m honest now that I am here I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to do with myself. I put so much effort into planning my trip here that what happened when I actually arrived is a little bit of a blank for me. Still I’m here now so instead of planning what I’m going to do next instead I’ve found this map thing which builds my itinerary so I’m going to look at where I’ve been. Least that way I actually know what’s going on.

So to pad out this post a little bit I’m going to make myself smile and have a little think about my trip and then try to summarise it  with some of my either favourite bits or just the stuff I remember the most. Even if this is for all the wrong reasons. If I can

Numerous visits to Italian Hospitals to try and sort out my dislocated jaw. Apparently in Italy dentists and healthcare professionals don’t work during the summer. Mainly because people don’t get ill in the summer. So when it was August and I dislocated my jaw it took a great deal of research and patience to try and get it sorted. Quite a surprise too when I was refused an x-ray until I had paid for it. I clearly wasn’t at deaths door : ) Oh yeah and great friends but I take that as a granted now J

Germany –BBQ’s and car crashes in Saarbrucken.  Walls and street jaegermister in Berlin. Jasmin, why must we always meet in Germany?

Sticking to the same theme, a day in a Belgian hospital in Brussels, although I did learn to pay for this treatment, makes you really appreciate the NHS.

Staying in a school in Brussels.

First Thai in I don’t know how long in Antwerp. And a million beers I could never dream of trying them all.

We went to Amsterdam? I don’t remember that. Ik hou van dike svarte pemils

Northern France, Underground cities,’ without sky scrapers?’ how strange. Peddalows on the lake and I’m sure I was the only one using my legs; )

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Lost phones and union jacks in Tel Aviv (I still can’t believe you made me walk all the way back to Natanya from Tel Aviv) and an Israeli night out in Jerusalem. Oh Oh Oh and a few tinnies whilst floating on the Dead Sea in the midday sun.

Almost being refused entrance to Jordan (ok maybe an exaggeration but as far as I’m concerned that’s my luckiest passport stamp ever).

Sharm el Sheik shits, too many chips and pyramids.

Istanbul with a great guide, a clean hostel and a little feeling that I was actually going away. Strange how it took 7 months for me to realise I actually was going to Australia.

How do I say that name???????? I eventually learned how to say Tbilisi, and a little stalker called Lisa Stansfield.

Armenia and Yerevan was probably the biggest shock for me on my journey. Great wifi connection! Saturday night out Yerevan style and Gangham style follows me; it was like a choreographed night club.

Dubai airport clearly loved my suitcase so much it had to keep it!

I wanted to visit this ashram in India on my way and because of flight prices and visa issues etc I ended up not going via India and instead had a day in Sri Lanka and it really got me thinking about how we treat people. My thought process had been questioned in Armenia but when I arrived in Sri Lanka my thought process was challenged even further. I think the west has so much they could learn from Eastern customs, and the west is supposedly more developed. (If I’m honest this question came up in Istanbul but I don’t think I wrote about it at the time.)

By the time I got to Singapore I’d lost interest in this travelling malarkey. I wanted a bed, in my own room, some crunchy roast pork and had to settle for some fast food equivalent. I’m just glad that Singapore airport has free wifi otherwise I could have fallen asleep and missed my flight to Australia completely.

Ok so now I’ve recapped and made myself want to start making my way back home already I’ve got a rough plan of what I’m going to do next.

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Get this there train from Perth to Adelaide, have a few days, then Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and finally Brisbane in time for Christmas with family. Then to finish the year where else should i be other than Sydney!  I’ve not booked any of these yet, but sure it shouldn’t be an issue haha

Pork, Indicating and Driving on the Left

Singapore 27th November

So you join me after my second sleepless night. I had a full row of seats to myself but somehow still only managed an hours’ worth of sleep from Sri Lanka to here. Once of the plane I started to perk up a little bit, it’s amazing what an airport does with free wifi to my spirits. It had somehow also given me a crazing craving for crispy pork. Clearly not in the worst possible place I could be for wanting crispy pork I toddled off into the city to go and find myself some. I walked around for a long time. I marvelled at the fact I was in a city again that had huge skyscrapers. That all the cars drive on the left. That people actually used indicators here. I looked at all the Christmas decorations and it suddenly dawned on me that Christmas wasn’t that far away.

I want to walk through the Christmas Tree

I really like her bag

What sort of grotto is this?

With all this going through my head and that fact I’d crossed 4 time zones in 2 days without a decent night’s sleep, I hadn’t noticed it was 7 am and no bloody buggery place would serve me my crispy pork. It was a long wait. Site seeing had taken its toll on me and I gave in, I bought a coffee from a cafe with free wifi and I sat and I rested, and I fought to keep my eyes open.  OK so I’m lying. I actually did the proper backpacker thing, I sat outside the cafe and stole its free wifi whilst drinking the free water i got from the fountain

Mr Cranky Pants

I wish I could write you some incredibly witty report about how much I loved Singapore and how much I really want to go back. But I can’t because I didn’t think any of those things. In fact the only things that went through my head the entire time I was in Singapore was ‘Get me to Australia so I can sleep in a bed.’

Wow Floor Arrows!

Bleh

Never one to quit a challenge I found a place which served me my crispy pork at 10 am. It was disappointing, but satisfied with my achievement I caught the train back to the airport. I caught a few seconds of sleep on the journey, each time my slumber would be disturbed by head slipping of the window I had adopted as my pillow. Back at the airport, I did all you can do at an airport. I waited (and prayed for no delays) until I would finally be on my last plane journey for quite a while.

They drive on the left??????

Sri Lanka - Negombo November 26th

I write this at probably the lowest point of my trip (well so far it isn’t over yet) its 0530 on 27^th November I’ve been up all night, my flight arrived into Sri Lanka an hour late and I was worried that my driver would have lost interest and gone home. As I’m sat at the baggage claim belt I’m filled with that dread feeling you never get when you fly Ryanair with hang luggage only. The baggage carousel stopped moving and my suitcase hadn’t appeared. The next hour was spent trying to explain the exact description of my suitcase (navy blue with white poco dots, thanks mum) to the Sri Lankan Airports Ground Staff. Once this was clear I had to explain how I was in Sri Lanka for a short time and would be leaving for Australia in a matter of hours. I had completed my loss report form I was assured that once in Perth my baggage would be able to be traced and delivered to my place of residence. I just had to survive a few days without clothes. 

Clearly Not My Suitcase

How grateful I was to be back in tropical weather. After a week and a half of cold weather I was not properly attired for the 30 degree heat I walked out into, and I don’t even know where to start describing the humidity. I was wearing trainers, jeans and a long sleeved top. I was sticky I was sweaty and I wanted a bed. Did I mention I was wearing a leather coat too and had been up all night, as you can guess Mr Cranky pants most certainly did not get lost with my suitcase. Once through customs I couldn’t help but grimace at all those lucky passengers whose suitcases had been selected for search by customs authorities. Sure a little inconvenient to have a stranger playing with your dirty knickers, but at least they owned more than the one pair. I was stuck with the few possessions I had on my back, majority of those being wires. I like to think of this part of the trip as me practising my turtle impression.

My House, Clearly a Backpackers Place

Once through immigration I struggled to find my driver, great I thought, he’s done a runner. I was almost about to set up camp in the departure lounge ready for my flight that evening when I found him, clutching a printed sign with my name on. He turned out to be my knight in shining armour. He drove me to the house where I would be staying and gave me a bicycle so I could come to his home to use the internet. Once suitably rested he also offered to drive me into Negombo Centre to a shop where I could buy some clothes a little more suitable.  It turned out to be the Sri Lankan version of Primark, I loved it. Treating myself to a few pairs of underwear and t shirts I was already too excited for the world to see my new look :). After the visit to the shops He asked me if I would like to visit a local meat market and vegetable market. 

Secret Market Picture

He explained he had to buy some ingredients because tomorrow was a poi day. This is a full moon day and on these days a family would cook a huge meal and share it with those less fortunate. He quickly saw the puzzled look on my face and said, like homeless people. My eyes began to haze as I started to wonder about how we treat our homeless back in the UK. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone making them a home cooked meal and inviting them in once every lunar cycle. This led me to thinking again, if we in the west are supposedly more developed, why we seem to treat people worse than they do here in the supposedly less developed east.

Ooops, i misunderstood the exchange rate

Still pondering my last question a new question came over me, Should I become a vegetarian. I was in a Sri Lankan meat market and I was literally watching a man carve up a piece of beef in front of me. That seems relatively ok, even watching the next man behead a dead chicken and carve him up didn’t make me want to say yes to that question. However when I saw the box of live chicken behind him that were clearly waiting for their turn to become a curry, I was on the verge of swearing off meat forever. Thankfully the vegetable market was much easier on my senses, and it was far enough away that the smell of freshly carved meat was no longer wafting its way up my nostrils. Back to my house (yes the room I had booked was full so I was given a two bedroom house to stay in) had it not been monsoon season, and had I had a few more changes of clothing I would have loved to have stayed and explored the Island more. I managed to force myself to venture to the beach (ok force might be a little strong) and I take in my first ocean view of the trip. If I hadn’t been so tired and despondent I might have felt the need to play in the water, instead I treated myself to a beer and a chicken tikka kebab, well, it’s more local than a burger:) As you can tell my tiredness was getting to me now and I just wanted to be some place I could sleep without disruption, for an entire night, I’d only done one night flight and lost one bag, I don’t half whinge.

Beer and Beach

Beer done with I cycled around my local estate and watched the sunset over the tropical palm trees. It took my until this point to notice the most bizarre thing of all. Everyone on the road here drives on the left. I’ve only had 9 months of driving on the right and now I’m getting all confused on which way to look.

My Ride to the Airport

Back at the house  I packed up my one remaining bag, with the addition of my Sri Lankan goodies and watched a little only fools and horses (the house owners not mine) whilst waiting for my tuk tuk to take me to the airport. It was my most obscure trip to the airport, in the back of a motorised tuk tuk but it was cheap and let’s be honest, it’s not like I needed a lot of room for my baggage.

Yerevan

The 2012 UNESCO World Book Capital (what every that entails)

After my first impressions of the boarder personnel I was expecting a very Russian city and to be honest, I’m not quite sure what I got. You see I’d not spent a huge amount of time thinking about what I would do in Armenia. Like most places on the trip I had heard the name, thought ‘Oh that sounds good’ and hurried off to visit the place, with a general Australiany direction all I needed in terms of Justifications. 

They even empty the bins are

After my first walk around Yerevan the Armenian Capital I was very impressed. The city is covered in 4G mobile signals and wifi is available for free practically all over the city. The entire centre of the city is (or at least the bits I should see) were all concentrated in an inner ring road around the city. Then roads are set in grid fashion to allow for easy navigation. The boulevards are tree lined and wide enough to easily compete with the Parisian style it imitates so brilliantly. I couldn’t help but think that Yerevan could actually be a little Paris, without the Eiffel tower (and without the dirt).

Accompanied by Tiko (my local guide) I was shown the impressive Republic Square, which I’m told is one of the most beautiful public squares in the world. Having just 24 hours ago been looking at Tbilisi Republic square It wasn’t difficult for me to believe this to be true.  We saw different churches which could really be missed if blinked, to be honest if I hadn’t have had Tiko with me to point them out I probably wouldn’t have realised they were churches at all. We passed by the major attractions of the City, The Yerevan Museum, and The Yerevan Opera House and obviously waved at Mother Armenia. I was surprised to see, in the country which prides itself on being the first place a Christian Church was build, numerous mosques, maybe I’d had too many preconceived ideas about what I would expect to find in this Ex Soviet Republic. I learned about the governments future plans to grow the city and how the country as a whole hopes to be accepted into the European Union soon and as such the visa restrictions will be being altered from January 2013; and Yerevan is rated as one of the fastest developing capitals in region.

Republic Square

With a couple of days here to relax my time didn’t feel so precious and so I was able to do that one important thing I hadn’t done much of during my time in the Istanbul and Tbilisi hostels, Sleep! I had treated myself to a private room, No dorm! How exciting! I even had a lie in, with breakfast and a film! Oooh the wonders of having a private room will never cease to amaze me! On a brisk and dry afternoon after a long lie in, I decided I would visit the Cafesjian Museum of Art. This trip involved my attempt at using the subway here. I had previously used the Tbilisi subway and was grateful for their dual English/Georgian Script signs, and I, wrongly, assumed I would be able to find similar signs on the Yerevan underground. I bought my ticket, which wasn’t a ticket at all but a plastic coin which I placed into a barrier much like the ones you see on the London underground and I boarding the escalator to descend into the world of the Yerevan Subway system. The decoration were very ornate and much more attention had been paid to the aesthetics of the public transport station, however all sigs, all announcements were in Armenian language and script. I guess since I was in Armenia, this is something I should expect after all, Market Street Tram Stop in Manchester only displays text in English script. Either way I was under ground or I was going to use this underground train system, even if I would be guessing where I was going, after all isn’t getting lost half of the fun? The gods of luck were clearly on my side and after two stops I found myself exactly where I wanted to be, outside the Cafesjian Museum of Art (but modern art).

Does My Bum Look big is this?

 I had passed this earlier with Tiko but had not ventured up it. The Museum of Modern art was bizarre. The entire design has incorporated a massive stair case to either side of the building which gave way to many terraces. On these steps and terraces where many statues, installations, art pieces (whatever you want to call them really) set against a back drop of the city far below. It was here I saw my favourite monument; a big fat naked woman lay on the floor without a care in the world. She must have been freezing, I had a leather jacket and gloves on and my nipples could still have cut ice, but she didn’t seem to care. She was a trouper! Once at the bottom of the gallery, I was approached by a young boy, maybe 12 or 13 who was trying, hopelessly to sell hand painted impressionist style pictures of the gallery building. As nice as they were I explained that I was not interested in buying any (if only I knew the Armenian for I don’t have a wall to hang it on) when he laughed at me, shook his head and gave me one, telling me it was his gift to me. A little sceptical I questioned him a little more until I felt I was on the edge of looking ungrateful and I took the gift he had given me. I now need to find me a wall to hang it on!

Later that night, being a Saturday, I had been invited out to go clubbing with Tiko. A Saturday night Armenian style, an opportunity not to be missed. Isn’t it strange how some traditions (such as Saturday nights out) transcend all cultures (or sometimes it feels like it)? We made our way down stairs into the first club and I was quickly approached by a ‘Canadian’ with the worst Canadian accent I had ever heard. I later found out he was Russian and pretending to be Canadian, can’t say I really understand why but let’s face it you can get strange folk anywhere. We had a few drinks and attempted to gain access to the dance floor. However when ‘Gangam Style’ came on there was no chance either of us would find room to strut our funky stuff. Our next bar wasn’t so great so we didn’t stay long and instead began walking into a multi story car park, just before I could question where we were going I saw my question being answered in front of me. A club existed with its entrance off the car park, a very good idea as you couldn’t hear any noise from the streets above. With it being my turn to go to the bar I attempted to order 2 vodka and lemonades, unsuccessful I came back with 2 vodka and lemon juices but at a little of £1 each, I didn’t mind the lack of ade in my vodka and lemon(ade) : )The clubs I experienced in Yerevan where surprisingly similar to the ones I had visited in the UK with the main difference being people smoked and that the people would generally dance without the need to be wasted, neither of which I think will catch on in the UK. One major difference I experienced though was the lack of cloak rooms. When Tiko placed his jacket on the table by the clubs entrance my first question was, will it not get stolen? A knowing smile formed on his face and I was told ‘Not in Armenia.’

This is the strangest thing that I’ve found about this place and by strangest I mean the best but it’s just so far removed from what I have been used to. Strangers are genuinely nice to me and to others, despite how easy it would have been for me to have been taken advantage of, being clearly a visitor in the country and speak (nor reading) any Armenian.  The man on the marshrukta who freely gave me his phone to use, the other man who taught me some useful phrases, even if my pronunciation was not correct, I can’t imagine that happening in the UK. Even on a night out, the idea of leaving a bag or coat on the side, or on a hook by the side of the bar would not be conceivable on a Saturday night out in Manchester. Even during my taxi ride to the airport when I was leaving the city the taxi driver offered me some chewing gum and a cigarette, he clearly didn’t like the smell coming from my breathe and wanted to change it but at least he was polite about it.

Being a non smoker and non chewer I kindly declined and when I left the car at the airport and waved him off with a tip in his pocket.