andresworld.co.uk

Hello

Today, I have mostly been riding around on a motorbike engaging in near scrapes and getting sunburnt.

This is Shaun [i'm sure its thats spelling....] and Esta, who I have had the pleasure i spending the last couple of days with.



On the road



Man and Machine



Mountains



Off to bangkok to get my suit, then the islands then mad rush to singapore.

Laterz

Andre/w

Dear All

Here are a few pictures to sum up my time in South East Asia so far....

Singapore at Night



Khoa San Road



Dinner With French Canadians



Boots the Chemist on Khoa San Road



Allied War Cemetaries [Kanchanaburi - Bridge over the river kwai]



Bidge Over The River Kwai

Me at the Erawan Water falls

Elephant Treking

Bamboo Rafting

Rinsing off at a waterfall

Hell Fire Pass

Reclining Budha

Why did the monk cross teh road?

Standing Budha

My bed for the night on the way to Chang Mai

Thats it for now folks

See you all in a couple of weeks.

Andre/w

Dear All

Well first off I'd just like to point out what a small world it is.

In Melbourne I caught up with Vicky and Gemma, two girls who both went to Leeds uni who I met 4/5 weeks earlier in the cook islands.

In Sydney I tracked down Ian and Lindsey, [in order to get the hat] a couple who I had been with during the first half of my travel in NZ on the Stray bus network.

In Byron Bay I had a double wammy, on my first night after a very quick check in i was racing towards the shower when I heard "Andrew!!!" I turned round and there was Lauren and Eve, two girls I had met in the Cook Islands some 6 weeks previous [at teh same time as Vicky and Gemma].

Also in Byron Bay after doing some body boarding on the beach I was taking my board back to the hostel when Ellie casually walked across the road. She was a girl which i walked most of teh Tongariro Pass chatting with, I also did a sky dive at the same time as her, except she was in the plane before me.

On my birthday night out in Cairns, I'd just come down the stairs from eating a very nice t bone steak when before my eyes were Jennie and CLaire, two sisters who I had done alot of new zealand with but we'd gone our seperate ways at the Skotel resort at the base of mount Ruapahue. We shared a drink or two and then they ere off....

Yesterday, while i was in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, the home of the bridge over the river kwai, i was walking down the road in the dark when some one from the other side of teh road shouted my name. I went over, recognised one of the faces but coulnt recollect a name. Then they told me, it was Lesley from way back in New Zealand, a girl who had actually jumped out the same plane as me in Taupo when I did my skydive - also one to say i was bricking it. We'd not seen eachother in like 2 months!

Finally today, while i was looking at the possibl the laziest mutha budha on the planet [the reclining budha of Wat Pho] I bumped into a couple of scouse girls who I'd last seen in Byron Bay/Brisbane.

Its a very very small world indeed.

Dear All

Righty, I'm in Singapore. And if this isnt the most mashed up republic of cultures and races then I dont know what is. So far I've got here, pansied about the airport and checked into a YMCA. I did fly here tho, on Singapore Airlines - my god they are superb. Own personal TV - with gameboy games, on request TV, Movies, and audio. A seat which not only reclines but has another buttom for doing something i couldnt quite figure out. Bags of leg room, nice food, attentive service, just generally proper bo. I managed to see Cold Mountain, Pay Check and the Butterfly Effect - not bad for a days work - and to think i was going to go to the cinema in Cairns.

Anyways. Its absaloutely sweltering here, i mean i flew in at 4pm, it was 31 degrees and it was cloudy - u normally get that type of temperature in britain only if theres been sun all day! It reminds me of Bali when I was younger, the air has this heavy [muggy] quality, and unlike tobago the air almost tastes sweet - slighly fruity. Singapore itself is just one big fat city - a mass or urban sprawl. There are high rised flats and office buildings everywhere - even when u step out of the airport ure already crowded. The cultures here are facinating - there are malays, koreans, thai, other south east asian nations as well as indians [really dark skinned indian people not like indian people back home] and philipinos. But then all around there is dashes of western faces, whether they be workers from abroad, back packers like myself, or the tell tale remenants of Singapores colonial past - western features shyly showing themselves on an eastern face.

The other thing is teh construction, every where there is scafolding, cranes, cement mixers, workers in dirty jeans. Its as if the place is building itself closer to the heavens. I went into a mall and it was dead weird because it wasnt like a western mall, although it was filled with western shops. The shops were all furniture and furnsihings shops, a sign that leisure really cant take an outdoors aspect partly because all there is is urban and not rural. this was exentuated when i went into a maccy ds just to ponder over the price of a milk shake - but of course they dont sell them - i mean where is the milk gonna come from eh?

Other little things i've noticed. Dirty old western men with young malay women. The sweat patched which will almost definetly appear on teh backs of shirts no matter what ure ethnicity. The pollution. The fact that every one speaks english - or should need to because all the signs and stuff are in english - weird eh.

Catchas

Andre

Dear all,

I'm back in Melbourne again, unfortunately this time without Scot. And its cold.

The last few days have been good. On friday i treated myself to a snorkelling and SCUBA trip to the great barrier reef, which was nice. The corals are absaloutely tremendous and the fish and animal life is unbelievable. I had a really good time, which continued when I got back, and me and Scot went out for a big one that Friday night. I had a really nice steak -as u would expect from australia, and did a little boogying on the dancefloor.

My day on the reef and subsequent night out can be summarised in the following photographs:



The Diving



The Boomnetting



The Cake



The Dancing



The Contemplation



The Kebab


I'm off to Singapore tommorrow and then Bangkok the day after that. I might buy a suit.

Catchas

Andre