21/05/02 - 30/05/02 Singapore - Perth- Cairns

21/05/02 Singapore
Today was sight seeing day in the expensive city. It cost 6 euro for a glass
of beer last night. didn't realise until the bill arrived so thankfully i
only had two. We choose to visit setonsa island which is supposed to be
SIngapores answer to Disney land. It's a poor answer, i think we could have
all come up with a better one, but for now the only answer i can give is
dont compare it to Disneyland. It did have good points though. " Underwater
world" ( no prizes for guessing what thus is) was enjoyable. You walk in a
glass tube under water whilst all the marine life swim above you. No great
whites were present ( probably because they eat everything else) but there
was an abundance to see...colours shapes and sizes. After this caught the
dolphin show and left.
dinner was a bit of a bum note. The waiter said they would cook us anything
we wanted so we ordered, then he came back and told us the chef recomended
something else for us.... sounded nice so we went along with it under the
condition we got boneless chicken. The boneless chicken arrived with the
bones and the food was exctly what we were trying to avoid. It was like the
henry ford school of ordering.. you can have colour you like as long as its
black type thing...you can have anything you weant as long as it number 22
or 23.
Home to bed, packing and sleep, flight to Oz tomorrow morning.

22/05/02 Perth
A quick 6 hour flight which included the count of monte christo and we were
in Perth. The first big difference is the temp. It felt like a septembers
day back home and i was wearing flip flops and 3/4 length shorts while the
rest of the country was covered up.
There we were complaing about the heat in Asia and now i swear ill never do
it again.
Went for a little walk...it looks a nice place.

22/05/02
Well it got cooler last night...to be honest it was bloody baltic and we
clung on to each other for body heat.
Up and at em, down to central Perth. It's compact like Dublin and it has
everything in one main CBD ( central business district for all you non
geography people)... walked around for a while and quickly discovered that
there's nothing to see or do here. Watched some head the ball talk about his
new invention "Rapid running" where you rotate your arms in a circular
motion to help you run quicker and to slow down move them in the oposite
direction. As he approached us we did some 'rapid walking' where you ignore
any head the ball coming toward you by walking quickly but normally in the
oposite direction. I think my invention was more popular today !!
Bought a sim pack, received calls and mails about the Roy Keane saga... down
tools and hit the boozer..this is bad !!

24/05/02
Discovered what my 'well being' was last night. A sign on the vending
machine reads ' protect yourself and your well being'.
took another look around the town to make sure we didn't miss anything...
nope unfortunately we didn't.
There's nothing to see here. Time for a move. No rats, No Lizzards, no men
who adore mountainous regions ( situated on the upper half of Kelly's body)
so much that they just freely stare at them , no temples...No fun !!

25/02/02
Delayed the move by another day as we met a lad from Naas who was going to
take us surfing today... i tried it and liked it even though i never managed
to stay up on the thing at all. it's real embarassing when you have little
10 year old whizzing around you showing you how it's done. similar to how
parent might feel at christmas with their kids playing with the new
computer...or even trying to work the video !!.
THere i was just paddling around, thinking that to a shark, it is possible
that i COULD be mistaken for a baby seal... but there was plenty more seals
in the sea, as they say... and all of them should look a bit more attractive
than me. Who ever heard of a baby seal with freckles. Thought of a better
excuse to go back in to shore,,, 3 adams apples in the throat....freezin!!

26/05/02
"Peter in room nine , your boyfriend called and said that the test came back
negative but that you should go and get yourself checked out anyway" That
was the intercoms morning announcement from reception. They're funny and
nice people running the place but the humour isn't enought to stay in Perth.
For all it's beauty it doesnt offer much to do or see.
" Peter your boyfriend rang back again, he said he's still like to see you
tonight if you wanted too"

Lyod from Naas offered us a lift to Freemantle which is just outside Perth
but nearer a beach... great !! no need for a train! ... Not so great as we
spent half an hour trying to dig his can out of a sand trap. didn't know
we'd have to work for the lift. Thankfully a typical helpful australian
stopped and pulled a 4 X 4 out of his sleve. The people are just so
friendly... got to "Free'o" and just chilled out.

27/05/02

will he wont he, it's so hard to keep in touch with the Roy Keane situ,
costing me a bloody fortune on the internet. Thanks to John for keeping me
posted with the news and mails by the minute.. you're my own detective.
Took a look around free'o, its a really quaint little place but has
potential for some night life down by the marina. Not much else.
Our next flight isn't till the 7th june and thats when i expect things to to
pick up. The real way to see Oz is by road in a car of your own. That way
you are free to to choose where you want to go plus you can carry more
things like surf boards and stuff...duuuuuuuudeeeess !!
The flight will take us to warmer and more lively (hopefully) cairns and ill
do the scuba diving course there... much to look forward to.

28/05/02
Once again logged on , Keane interview with RTE has turned the tables back
on mick McCarthy...can't see things changing much though...but how i wish
they would..for now il just have to wait till Saturday for the match like
everyone else!! ill be in a pub by the way !! As we are 7 hours ahead i
promise not to ring home and spoil the result for everyone else. Then again
i wont get to see the match till 2:30pm and you'll all see it at 7:30am...so
maybe nobody should ring me !!
Going out with the whole hostel tonight down to "the bog".Everything is
based on toilets around here. Pubs called the bog, alcohol known locally as
'piss'...hmmmmm! sounds nice !
I was in a public toilet the other day ( some useless info on the way),
where i noticed they promote the disposal of syringes, heavy sh*t man !!
you're standing (or sitting) two feet from a syringe bin...aids and sh*t.
In my case it was going to be sitting ( told you it was useless info) but
some weirdo kept trying to peep over the foor..big bloke too!
Kinda freeked me out a little so i put it to him what did he think he was
doing. Lets just say he offered to look after my 'well being'. I decided to
take my business ( pardon the pun) else where... i didn't know if this bloke
was serious or not but it wasn't my idea of toilet humour so i legged it!

29/05/02
THe bullet proof miss buckley woke up this morning feeling a good bit less
bullet proof. Never again..blah blah blah... but in between the mumbling
came up with a good idea to try and change our flight and bring them forward
to Cairns so we could getout of here quick. My reasons were out of boredom,
Kellys to escape embarrasment!1 I dont know why everybody( myself included )
quite liked her addition to the floor ( in between the two vending machines0
it added character about the place. None the less the idea was born and so
was the day so off we went back to perth on the train to arrangeit. super
stuff..direct flight available at 7:30am tomorrow...done !! Beautiful place
but nothing to miss about it, never been to a city that wont allow standinf
on the streets. I'd say its ghard to police. ' You there stop standing'...
"i wasn't, i was walking....slowly"
Or instead of getting a photo of you speeding they'd send 10 flics at 3
second intervals as proof that you didn't move in all that time... oh god am
i that bored that i have to think of things like this to keep me going

30/05/02 Perth to Cairns.

The Flight took us over Ayrs rock which is great news because now i know
what it looks like and i don't plan on driving a million miles just to see
it again. It's just a rock, im sure the locals would try and give you some
speel on how important the rock is but come on... lets just call a rock a
rock here !!
Cairns is nice and cheaper and warmer... great stuff indeed. It's more
crowded, reminds me of Florida.

.......
Well thats the update folks... i know it wasn't as interesting as the Asia
ones but i am back in a westernised country now.. To think that only a week
ago i sent a mail back saying that Mick McCarthy should have been elected to
legendary status...i'd like that statement stricken from the record now
please !!
Enjoy the world cup... and im now nine hours ahead so please now ringing to
spoil results !!

Gav.

13/05/02 - 21/05/02 Ko Phangan - Sinagpore

Some traveling was done i can tell ye... try and stay awake reading this it
may be good... i certainly had a good week.

13/05/02.. Phangan(Thailand) to Penang ( malaysia)
The route planned is by boat from Phangan to Surat Thani, train to Hat Yai,
change train for Penang. Sounds simple but even the best laid plans...
Up at 5:30 to make it on time for the ferry, very smooth crossing once
sailing once again. It all started to go pear shaped though once we has
docked and picked up our bus to transfer us near a train station.
THere was a pushy little conductor on the bus trying to make us by tickets
to Malaysia. He claimed the ttrain only leaves at night time and our only
option was by bus. His voice can on be described as sounding like that of a
fly hanging around your ear. If i had a paper he would have been swatted,
Instead i was armed only with a mini disk which gives the power of instant
deafness...but not even the deaf are safe from this fuc**r. Turning his
attention to Jade and Mark, Myself and Kelly both discussed the best way to
kill him.
A quick reference to the bible pointed out that he was not lying about the
train, but i didn't really want to buy a ticket from this freak. THe only
plus points were that this bus would bring us all the way to where we wanted
to go so we wouldn't have to get off and go to another bus etc... plus he
promised that he was getting off. The latter was true, but within 10 mins we
were parked and had to get off the nice big air con bus and wait for
another. In the mean time we were brought into and office two by two and had
our passports checked, told we needed to have 330 euro eqiv in malaysian
dollars to cross the border. How nice of them to offer a currency exchange
!!
Smelled the scam and told them we had money falling out of our ears and
hopped on our small mini bus where knee rubbing off the next person was
unavoidable...for the next 13 hrs.

The french bloke who was rubbing off my right knee was done by the scam.
Kelly and myself were like two kids at mass trying not to laugh when the
frog laster fell asleep and started druling on himself. Then his head
started to role around with every bump. He must have smacked his head off
the window 10 times and still didn;t wake up.

Half way through the journey we changed buses again and said goodbye to
diggers and Jade...we'll really miss the laugh with them. Finally arrived in
Penang after midnight and booked into a nice cheap hotel.

14/05/02
Woke up to a beautiful view out of the 7th floor window overlooking the
Island of Penang. It's a huge cove outlined by Skyscrapers, and very much
likle the pictures i've seen of Rio de Janero.
Went to visit a temple in Penang hill which is the biggest temple in
Malaysia, and took 20 years to complete... Im not surprised. For a start the
hill was a mountain and i'd say 15 of the 20 years were spent laying the
steps up to it. But what a temple !! complete with hundreds of turtles
inside and built into the 'hill'.
Found a shopping mall and another, Kelly was in her element... me too !!(
star wars premier is on tomorrow night!!) Went for walk through the town
that night but turned around after suspected rats p*ss hit my foot. At first
glance i swear i thought it was a large cat...Huge !!!!
Had to wash it off...

15/05/02
Went to visit the botanical gardens today.... which was nice !!
Monkeys roam freely around and so too do the fully grown Lizzards (iguana's
or monitors!!) compared to the Lizzards back in Samui these boys were
massive. I tried to get a few snaps of a 5ft iguana but he ran off in the
other direction ...kelly went the other way. Honestly i could start to take
this running away business personal!! The monkeys were a lot more helpful
though. Once again a waterfall was out of action.
Saw stars wars at midnight...what a film. I think it was the best one ever
made, maybe it's b'cos im away and not listening to the critics ?????

On the walk home my sidekick Kelly the creature spotter ( she's great for
that) pointed out loads of rats either side of us, but before i could get
the camera out i heard the sound of size 4's legging it the other way. The
rats held their ground though. as even the cars were going the other way(
honestly!!) it made sense to do the same.But not matter what street we tried
it was the same...flanked!!
Caught a rickshaw home and got one snap of a rather large rat who sat up and
said cheese.
Absolute winner of a night as the champions league final was just starting
when i got to the hotel room...result!!!
Made a mental note not to try and bargan the rickshaw drivers down as they
are so old and nice and we end up wanting to get out and let them sit in the
car while i drive us home... really nice men...but they all seem to be
monkeys!!

16/05/02 Phangan to Perhintian Islands..

As the bust doesn't leage till 9pm and checkout of the bargan hotel was at
12 it meant hanging around for most of the day... at the mall. I really
liked Penang in spite of the rats. It's such a nice place and well worth the
visit. But there's more to see...such as the Perhintian Islands which are
located at the north east of Malaysia. Total oposite side of where we are
now.

17/05/02 Perhintian Islands

Although the bus journey was fine i just didn't manage to sleep at all. we
had to get off at 5:30 am and wait for local bus at 7. THe wait again for a
speed boat at 8:30. so after 11 hrs of travel we were here. By far the most
picturesk sights we've seen...beautiful. the colour of the water, the remote
beaches, the jungle behind them...lovely. Couldn't get a picture though as i
was too busy using my hands to try and keep inside the speed boat.
The main problem with this place is that the locals kno0w they can over
charge for everything so they do. We paid the same for our hotel in Penang
as here.... but no mini bar ...wouldn't even call it a mini hut.
Got some much needed washing done and ended up falling asleep at 6:30pm and
didn't wake up till the next day. Plus we had already decided we were
leaving on the 18th. So in other words we did nothing here. Pretty long
journey to make just to do some washing... ahh sure there's great drying in
that sun... Plenty more beautiful places to see for less.

18/05/02 Penang - Melaka- Kuala Lumpur
Clothes were still wet...they dry better in the sun, not the shade!! Another
a*s smacking speed boat trip ahead and long haul to K.L. Every bus to K.L.
was full and we were getting pestered by the locals to take their offer up.
Could only imagine what type of bus they would throw us on. So we choose to
go to Melaka, which is about 150k south of K.l. Then catch another bus after
that. It added another 4hrs on to the journey but us hardened (a*s)
travelers can take it.
( i have to keep using the * because some people cant receive bold words in
their jobs...toss*rs)
Managed to sleep the whole way this time.

19/05/02 Kuala Lumpur
Found a very nice hotel in KL and dropped the bags (ehen) off and headed out
to see the sights. we had been traveling with a south African couple and
arranged to meet up with them later for dinner. I haven't met anyone from
S.A. that i didn't like yet, they nyst be the nicest people on the
planet..well apart from winnie and the rest of course... These people are
just so nice.
First impression of KL ...wow!! ( Sven if you thought this place is smelly
wait till you hit Bangkok... they'd bottle your sh*te there and sell it as
an air freshner up there).
WE got to see most of KL in one day, the twin towers ( which are the tallest
building in the world), Medaka (freedom) square ( from the brits in 1956),
the markets, the night sky lit up by what is known as the city of lights
(...so is Tallaght!!) below and of course some shopping malls. Had dinner in
a south african restaurant.
No comparisson to Bang-mickey...this place wins hands down. Would definately
have stayed here longer but there is a flight to catch on the 22nd so onward
we go. (try and check out the Petronas towers in KL on the web ...they're
something else!!)

20/05/02 KL - Singapore

Thought about home...whats the atmosphere like there now coming up to the
world cup?, thought of how Mick McCarthy should be elevated to legendary
status as the only man to Captain and Manage Ireland in the World cup !!,
when big brother starting ? Whats going on in general ??
Realised i have sent postcards from Malaysia...doh !! get you all on the way
back. Finished about a boy on the train... Arrived in Singapore and checked
into a nice hotel. tomorrow We will check out the town and the next day its
off to Oz to take in the world cup.... COME ON IRELAND !!

16 May 2002 - Ko Samui to Ko Phangan

Ko Samui 05/05/02
we delayed our trip to phangan by another day so we could go and see Jade
and Marks friends that were over from Oz. THey were staying in a 250 pound (
convert that to % euro your-o-self) a night resort. I wont bore you with a
detailed decription of the place... just picture paradise and put me in the
middle of it and you'll get the idea. for best results just picture paradise
!!

Samui to Phangan 06/05/02
Got up to catch the :30 ferry to Phangan. transport here is really cheap, it
cost 100 baht which is about 2 euro for a 45 min crossing. ( well a 45 min
10 sec and 2 10ths of a second according to my new watch ( thanks to
Experience IT). Im going to time how long i can hold my breath under water
later..can't wait.
Crossing was smooth and very scenic. took a while to find accomodation as it
was all too expenisve or too Sh*ty. Can someone tell me is it so hard to
find a place with pool maids, free food and massage for 3 euro a night ??
Eventually the heat got the better of me and it was time for one of us to
mind the bags while the other searched for a place to stay. I told Kelly i
would time her but it didn't seem to appeal...So off i went in search. When
we did get settled the next thing to conquer was the empty bellies and
wallets. Nearest bank machine was in the next town according to the locals,
but we didn't mind seing a bit of the island straight away. shared a taxi
with a nice girl from England who had been traveling alone for a couple of
months. After two mins of listening to talking to her it became obvoous why
she was traveling alone. couldn't get a word in ...didn't need to or want
to. Half way towards our destintation we stopped at the bottome of one of
the many hills to let Dorothy out to trot off down the yellow brick
road...she had to have been staying somewhere like that. THe taxi litterally
stopped for two seconds before he took off in a panic again. There was
another taxi coming down the hill after us, I think they must have known the
driver/car or something as i thought i heard the word 'break' mentioned. Now
thats what i call local knowledge.
I presumed they knew he couldn't stop which was lucky for us really, but not
for miss Mary Poppins as she didn't get a chance to get out of the car. She
was dragged and extra 100 yards or so out of the way but im sure whatever
she was on meant she didn't mind.
As punishment for bringing Kelly to the next town and giving her bumps on
her bumps she shoved me into the hair dresser to get the hair shaved off. "
Ahh sure it will always grow back".. the usual sales line. didn't feel like
mentioning Bobby Charlton (or the great mr Eoin Stokes). In the end it was
good to get to know the real shape of my head. Ill try to send photos back
home for the craic !!
Wasn't brave enough for the number two yet though...takes time !!
Caught a taxi back to our resort where we were dropped off beside a Barber
shop and and ATM !!! Time for a drink and a bite to eat...the waiter kept
using my flip flops to cross the street with but i decided to say nothing as
it was probably his dog i was eating, share and share alike.
Bumped into the Irish crew again...good to see them. 3 sounds lads and an
Arsenal fan ( just joking Graham). They filled us in on the best places to
stay as we were being over priced. It's our own fault though as we wanted
air con.. in the end we didn't even use it. Kelly arranged to meet up with
Graham in the morning where he would take us to the doorms with maids,
pool(swamp) etc. for 250 baht a night ...close enough !!

07/05/02
Was awoken by the delicate sound of thunder (my ar*e pink floyd), our
bungalow shook and then the sound of rain became louder as i opened my
eyes..bit strange thatone. tried closing them then opening them again to
test what i was really using to hear with but it was just a coincidence.
Couldn't see Graham turing up in that rain so we stayed in bed. Mark, Jade,
Paul and Zoe arrived at about1 from Samui. Spent the day catching waves
(dudes) and watching movies in the pubs because of rain. Became depressed
watching Black Hawk down.. aprantley its a true story.
Met the lads again and heard of how Graham got up to meet us at the craic of
dawn this morning... could only happen to an Arsenal fan.

08/05/02 - Moved to nicer apts.
Up early packed the bags and moved to the new accomodation. It's the
business, has an open air foyer where everyone can relax, drink watch T.V.
etc. THe rooms are the nicest i've seen and also the cheapest. If anyone is
planning on hitting Phangan this is the place to stay. Only a short walk
through the town, then through a small section of trees before you hit the
half moon shaped beach ( otherwise known as a cove i supposed !!! Im trying
to get extra points for being descriptive). It's just like you would see on
the T.V. except we had the rain included again today so it was back to the
foyer for T.V. and games.

09/05/02
More rain today so no boat trip around the Islands. THis is day #3 with
rain. I odnt want to leave as we haven't got a chance to do or see
anythingyet but it's time to look at another plan if this keeps up. It's
like an Asian Mosney holiday. Thank god for the foyer. Paul and Zoe have had
enough and have headed back to Samui. Can't see the weather being any
different there as the rain is all over Asia. Sat in and watched Ace Ventura
2.

10/05/02
THe plan now is to get out of here as our Irish friends have left also (I
sleep with the hat Al every night and ill feed it and take it for walks
every day...honest!!) Each day we keep saying " maybe the weather will
improve" but still no real change.
I'd like to see Phuket, Phi Phi,Turatao but that is on the west coast of
Thailand and it's now coming into monsoon season there. It's not supposed to
hit the east coast until next month...could have fooled me !! I dont really
fancy heading out of the frying pan and into the fire, or more like out of
the bath and into the lake so the other option now is to head south towards
the malaysian border...not much mentioned in the bible( lonley planet guide
book) about that area. Wasted too much time here now waiting on an
impovement it's time to move on...
....."maybe tomorrow the weather will improve"

11/05/02 - Half moon party
THe sun has got his hat on...hip hip hip hurray !! What a nice way to spend
your last day here... on the beach at last. It's too late to try and
organise any boat trips or rent a jeep. We've just got to accept that we
wont get to see the Island this time around. Plans to return this way soothe
us...
So off down to the beach...and back again 4 hours later..rain. The famous
full moon party is two weeks away now, but not for love nor money am i
hanging around for that. THere is however, a not so famous half moon party
on tonight which i presume is 'half' as good. Wnt for our last supper with
Johnny the swede ( or Sven as Diggers has now christened him). he's a good
skin and we try to do the usual 'lets teaach him some Irish' but end up
learning that "Ta me go maith" means take me old lady in swedish. (Careful
round the grandparents folks.)
Tomorrow we will leave for Songkhla, for reasons unknown as the bible states
it "not worth going out of your way for". A couple of testaments have been
wrong so far... off to the half moon we go.

12/05/02 - the morning after

Great party last night indeed. Sven brought his two mates along from England
plus another couple from Ireland came along( DAve and Orla). Started off
with a couple of drinks on the beach...lost DAve and Orla along the way to
the party. Had to get a taxi there which was eventful !! Diggers was in
flying form and and took the mick out of a bunch of canadians. I don't think
the knew what hit them. He offered them a free taxi ride if they could
explain what a b*ll*x was. After a huddle between them they couldn't do it,
nor could they do the same for the 'craic'.
Good music , good atmosphere but come 5:30 it was time to leave. Jade,
Diggers and Sven stayed on, so not surprisinly here i am writing from
Phangan again.

New route planned...we're going to go for it now and go all the way into
Malaysia into Palau Penang. Jade and Mark are making their way home and need
to get to Kuala Lumpur. Our journey is a good 10 hrs and K.L should be an
extra 5-7 on top of that. One last game of checkers with Sven (and another.
He beat me twice... the boy learns fast) I take my incomponet self to bed.
Take care Sven and enjoy ze world cup, we will beat ze Germans and you vill
beat ze English.

Right well there you go.... Im in malaysia now but i think i leave that
story till next weeks update as i dont want to bore you any more. going to
see star wars tonight..

Gav.

04 May 2002 Samui

Hi all ,
Once again here i an update... for you and me both. The space bar here is
hard to negotiate so you may see a few words stucktogether here and
there.... not to worry. Here we go anyway....

Well it's not the snoring of Kelly or the Cock farm ( steady ladies i mean
of the bird type) that wakes you up in the morning... Its the intense
heat.... Takes a good bit of getting used to but it still wont let you get
away with a decent kip...but who cares anyway. I slide straight out of the
wet bed and into the slightly cooler wet shower...then i dry myself off with
the wet towl and take my wet self onto the dry dry beach... instant
happeness....plus laughter when you read the signs along the beach on how
some owners try to excuse the state of their bars and doorms with things
like "No worry about for decoration"... ahhh shud up a da face ....

This week we decided that we would just take time to ourselves to get ready
for all the traveling thats in store... a mini holiday so to speak of.( i
can see us using that excuse on every Island we get too but as long as i
keep fooling myself i dont mind).. Tomorrow 5th May we will leave ko Samui
for the slightly less populated and hopefully less touristy Island of Ko
Phan-ang ( thats just above Ko Samui Dee Dee...mark it on the map!!)
We've had a fairly eventful week anyway ...the first night we got here it
was all wet a muddy so it was hard to be impressed...Plus we had a few larry
lizzards come in and out of the room which meant kelly was awake ...which
meant i was too...mmmm !!

It all got better the next day when we moved into better accomodation
(without any pets) for the same price.. nice move. Lazed about on the beach
and did the usual thing...for the next two days.
There isn't an awful lot to do on an Island...but we managed ... There was
Thai boxing on in the islands "stadium" so i was straight on for that... off
we went....The stadium was more like a room... not to worry... We looked at
the bill for the night and there was about 8 fights scheduled...super
stuff... Right...lets start the gambling then Diggers... I took the first
name then he took the second and we keep swapping around who we had for the
night...it was the best way to pick the fighters as there was no form cards
to help us...out they came.... The music played and two little helpers
walked forward into the ring...did a lap of honour and then everyone stood
for the national anthem..bit like the Irish one where you get to cheer at
the end...I felt right at home as i didn't know the words to this one
either...
THe anthem was over and no sign of the boxers...im sure they would be along
soon...the little helpers started to do prayers and then strecthes...then
de-robe... No !! I couldn't believe it...the little helper were the main
attraction...they were only 14.. Instant smell of a tourist scam...they
spent the whole of the first round with there gloves stook to their eyebrows
following each other round the ring.... m'yself and diggers were just
laughing at each other... Round two... happy days...the slightly bigger of
the little guys was getting kicked around by my man... hurray for the
littler little fella... i won....Every other fight was just as
entertaining...and it wasn't long before we sussed out that round one was
get the beers in round...which was nice of them i thought....Really enjoyed
the night i have to say.

The next day it was off on a sight seeing tour of the Island...not much to
see really... THe big buddah was just that...big and we drove to another
beach which amzingly enough also sand and water... enough of this lets go to
a waterfall....we did... When we got there it was not like i had pictured it
and was more like the dodder...it was only missing a burnt out car because
it had the locals hanging around drinking... one kid wouldn't shut up crying
....we all wanted to "give him something to cry about"...we left to go to
another waterfall that was aparently 4 times bigger than the last. After a
nice walk up through a mountainous forest we reached the waterfall...or more
like.. we reached "the fall"... Couldn't really see the water, I suppose it
is the summer.
That night we drove to another town had a bite to eat and dragged the ladies
into a go go bar... I think they were impressed with the hospitality !!

So that was enough of the jeep for this Island all we had to do was get some
petrol in it the next morning and leave the keys back by 10....easy !!
Myself and Diggers got up early and went for the fuel.. "Left or right Mark
???"...."... "ahhh lets go right Gav... ok".. and off we went in search of
one of the "many" petrol stations... or so we thought.. As the bank wasn't
open yet we would just have to use marks(diggers) money to get a half a
tank.... 10 towns later and not a sign of a station....it was now about an
hour since we left and just approaching 10... oh shit....nerves were
starting to kick in...thoughts of getting charged an extra day circled the
mind... hurray a petrol station...all was well. We asked for half a tank ,
the dunce put in a full tank... we didn't have enough cash to pay for it.
Not to worry ill just pay with the Credit card...
"No..Mon-ney...Mon-ney...Mon-ney"... Look i only have a credit card.... i
didn't really see the point in telling him weonly asked for a half a tank as
he could barely say money... The only option was to leave my passport there
and go to an atm machine get money..come back pay them and head back home.
Simple plan...but again hard to explain to the little mon-ney man... Of
course there wasn't an ATM Machine for another 10 towns, the only machine
had a man using it who was trying to pay his monthly bills with account
numbers of about 20 digits long...what a dissaster. How hard can it be to
just get petrol and come back...answer...very easy if you turn left instead
of right... Later discovered if that choice was made then we wouldn't have
been gone nearly 2hrs and had the girls thinking we had crashed... Of course
the two of us were just laughing at each other the whole way home...what
else could we do..It was all soon forgotten about later..

I would love to tell you that i got a nice sleep that night but we had a
squatter in our bungalow..well outside our bungalow...biggest lizzard i have
ever seen...easily 2 foot in length...I asked him 'nicely' to move he did
but his memory still lived on with Kelly.... I didn't even try and tell her
not to worry about him...no need to waste my time or hers... THe only thing
for it was a few drinks to settle the nerves so off we went to the beach
with a simple plan...get Kelly drunk so she can sleep!! THe plan was soon
forgotten after we met a few lads from Templeogue...and spent the night
drinking with them...I was the one who ended leg-less... the lads from
templeogue ended up with sore ears from me talking (or dribbling about
football)...(A big Sorry Alan Murphy and Brian...hope the ears recover
soon!)
Spent the next day dying in bed...i was about as useless as an arse without
a hole...and that was it...

right im off...

Cheers,

Gav.