Travelling tips

I haven't had too many backpacking experiences to share but I thought that Ill share my little acquired knowledge with you guys because it might just come in handy one day.

Planning

As mentioned in my previous post, the best website to hop on to search for backpacker hotels would be www.hostelworld.com. It's very user-friendly. After you choose the country and the city you'll be travelling to, a list of hostels would appear, ranked by its 'availability', 'rates' or 'price'. By default, the page will list the hostels rank by availability. These hostels are not necessary the best rating ones. So what I usually do is, after I briefly scan through the list of hostels, I will then click on the 'rates' link. 'Rates' are the scores independent customers would give the hostel they have patronised. Even though those hostels do not appear on the 'availability' page, it does not mean that there are no available rooms. It might just be that certain specific rooms are not available (for example, 8-bed female dorms are available but 6-bed female dorms are not available).

Next, check the reviews given by the customers. Ask yourself these questions:
- How many reviews have been given? (was it 5 reviews or 500 reviews?)
- Why did this particular customer rate the hostel badly? Look at the comments. Is it because there are bed bugs? Was it the inconvenient location? Was it because it was simply 'not fun'.

After you have done your preliminary research, try googling the hostel name. Perhaps the hostel might have its own website and usually its slightly cheaper for you to book directly from the hostel rather than from hostelworld.
On the flip-side, hostelworld offers this 'cancellation refund' whereby you pay a few dollars extra and they will refund you the full cost if you decide to cancel your booking.

Things to bring
Many hostels offer bedsheet and linen. However, to be safe, you might prefer to bring your sleeping bag or even just a silk sleeping bag liner.
- Bring a padlock. Most hostels offer lockers in the room to store your stuff but they might not provide a padlock.
- Bring a torchlight. If youre planning to have a big night out and come back late into the night, it will probably not be a good idea to turn on the dorm light as there might be other people sleeping in the room. A torchlight might come in handy.

Caffeine - Brother Baba Budan

Just had my second cup of coffee tonight. Hm...yum =)

Here's a cafe that I patronise on a frequent basis. It has the best coffee in town (in my books anyway)

Brother Baba Budan
359 Little Bourke St
Melbourne






Notice the chairs attached to the ceiling?

Short update

weeee......caffeine overdosed....palpitations, tremors and a racing mind. Not good.

Anyway, I had a little bit of a panic attack yesterday as I was trying to plan my one-day Perth trip. I haven't organised any accommodation, transport etc. My initial plan was to spend the night in the airport. Horrors of horrors. The domestic airport does not operate 24-7~!!! What???

Okay, plan B. Sleep in the international airport lounge. I checked the Perth Airport terminal map. Its definitely not walkable~! Based on a brief study of the map, the terminals were kilometers apart. No can do.

Okay, plan C. Find a backpackers inn. Hop onto my most favourite website in the world (okay, I'm lying. One of my favourite websites. I web surf lots~!) www.hostelworld.com. There were only 18 hostels in Perth. Out of which, probably only 9 were in the city. And out of which only half had a decent rating. And out of which, some of them required a minimum of two night stay. Oh no. Panic attack. Plus, I wasn't sure whether I was allowed to check in as such a late hour considering that I'll be arriving in the city at about 1.30 am.

That left me to fend for myself in streets. Plus, i remembered that Perth is a small city unlike Melbourne. I wasn't even sure whether they had 24-7 Hungry Jacks or Mcds. And do I lug my backpack around???

I finally found ONE hostel near the city centre that had a decent rating and did not require a minimum of two night stay. I called up today and the receptionist said I could check-in at anytime of the day. Phew. Very relieved.

So, I now need to figure out whether airport-city shuttle buses operate after midnight and the good places to eat in the city~! I cant wait to just curl up in a cafe and read a book. I've got tons of unread books sitting in my apartment. I bought 4 books last week and 4 books the week before. I even bought a book on basic sewing. I've been patching up clothes, sewing dropped-buttons and even altering dresses the past month. I might as well do it the right way. And while I'm at it, I might as well get a sewing machine. But before I turn too ambitious, I'm gonna start by studying that book. (trying to be a domestic goddess??? eek)

......

oooo....I might be getting my scuba diving license in a few weeks time~!!!!!!!!! To be honest, Im a little afraid of sea creatures. I think that they are either slimy or dangerous. The first time i snorkeled, I jumped off the boat into a huge school of angelfish. Eek. They were so slimy...I didnt like them brushing against my skin. My brother and I were screaming our heads off. Back in high school, I used to have a weekly swimming routine on Wed nights. I'm usually the only one in the olympic size pool. I always imagined sharks swimming beneath me. I blame the movie 'Jaws'. But, I'll brave my fears and will try to get my license (that is if mum allows. She thinks scuba diving is dangerous)

......

On a side-note, do check out www.hostelworld.com if you plan to travel. Click onto the 'guide' section. They have many useful tips, travel podcasts that you can listen too, travel pocket guides and even sample itineraries for the big cities. Its pretty useful if you just need basic tips on a city/country.

An Asian affair

Urgh. I slept at 7 am this morning and stumbled out of bed involuntarily this noon at the sound of my apartment buzzer. Clara and I were busy preparing for my not-so-young brother's birthday party this afternoon. We had to feed about 20 mouths.We decided to make it an Asian affair. So we had nasi lemak with chicken curry, mee siam and assam prawns(courtesy of D's mum). O, also we complimented the main dishes with Asian desserts~! I bought Asian egg tarts plus Malaysian kuihs =) We started most of the preparations at 1 am this morning as we underestimated the preparation time. The sambal took the longest to make because of the lack of ingredients. We had to substitute the dried chillies for fresh chillies, added in copious amounts of additional sugar, salt, belacan and tamarind paste. And finally about 2 hours later, we were semi-happy with the end result =) It was all good. I'm such a failure at following recipes. I now remember why I dreaded chemistry lab sessions in college. Precision was never my forte.

Phew. So now that is done. Im back to hitting the books. Six more days....OMG, I'm going to be cooped up in the apartment or the library for six more days and it will finally be over....

My grand plan today is to finish up 3 1/2 Admin lectures plus 2 past exam tax papers.

And its 3.30 pm at the moment....omg. But, I will not sleep till its all complete.

Boy in Sapa, Vietnam

Tonight I attempted a sketch. I drew inspiration from one of the photos that I took during my Vietnam trip in Sapa (its a small quaint little town in Vietnam). This little boy was trying to sell us some handmade souvenirs. We gave him some chocolate waffle sticks instead. I think that gesture took him aback. Hence, the puzzled look on his face.

medium used: pencil + charcoal

The past week...

Clara is currently bunking over at my place as she is doing one of her medical electives in Melbourne.

That equates to girly chats, food, food and more food...yum~!



She graciously offered her services to cook dinner for the next 3 weeks~!!



Courtesy of in-house chef.


Loading up on the greens


A meal isnt complete without wine, no?


We were graced by Wing Yan's company =)


My newest winter purchase~! I call them 'exam gloves' because I can use them in the exam hall =)


One word. Finally. After 2 1/2 years of living with him, my brother cooked a meal for me~!! I took a picture because it was worth commemorating this moment. It's his favourite dish, stir-fry pork rashes. Very yummy but its a dish ill never whip up on my own. With every bite into the tender, juicy three layer fat, I imagine my arteries getting clogged up and my cholestrol level hitting the roof.


Finally, a view of Melbourne from my balcony

the bitter pill

In physics, we learn that energy cannot be destroyed. It can only be transferred. Anger can be turned into positive energy or a negative one. When life throws us lemons, we make lemonade. Anger. It’s an emotion that I’m quite used to these days. Being angry at him, her, him, her…and myself. Mostly myself. Because really, pointing fingers would not change the course of our lives. The earlier we swallow the bitter pill, the quicker we move forward.

So the other day as I was walking down the streets of Melbourne, I thought if I could turn back time, what stage of my life would I wind the clock back to? My first thoughts were - 1st year of uni. Then, I thought, actually, I might go back to college. Thinking about it more closely, actually, I might head back to high school. Then, I thought that in fact, I wanted to repeat elementary school all over again. I would have taken up more extra-curricular activities, perhaps join that chess club, take up martial arts, to take up competitive swimming. At the end of my futile exercise, I realise that regrets will always be present in our lives. Simply because we make hundreds of choices every single day. The choice to take responsibility for our actions. The choice to say yes. The choice to say no. The choice to eat that cheesecake. The choice to raise your voice. The choice to tear someone down. The choice to edify someone. The choice to be a deco of the backdrop. The choice to make a difference. I counted the approximate number of years I have left to live. Assuming that I’ll live till I’m 80 (not any later because I don’t want to be left with no friends and to be a burden to my family), I can live three times longer than the life I already lived. That’s a pretty long time. So why look back when there’s so much to look forward to.

I think the biggest procrastinating exercise is wallowing in your regrets without conjuring any solution forward. I call that ‘unstrategetic thinking’. Some call it ‘self-pity’. It’s something I’ve been trying not to do. Why engage in such unnecessary time-wasting exercise.

Choices. It’s a gift we humans been given I suppose.

The world is our playground

I'm contemplating staying a couple of days longer in Perth rather that a measley one day trip considering that I will only need to pay a minimal amount to change my air ticket to Singapore.

That will give me an opportunity to visit the outskirts of Perth etc etc...Travelling solo...hm...

..........


post-edit:

So I was checking out air ticket prices and Im getting more and more confused..initially, I thought of heading to Bangkok. But it cost RM 450 return after tax. I thought that was pretty pricey considering that Bangkok is relatively near KL. SO, I thought for that price, I can travel even further. FOr example, Vientiane, Laos. THen i checked the prices for KL- Manila. Its also, RM 450. Gasp~!!!

COnfused, confused..Ive always wanted to go Philippines. But then again, Ive always wanted to head to Laos and revisit Bangkok.

Oh dear.

The cheapest option would obviously be Laos considering that a meal there would probably cost US 2.

hm......