No Posts Lately. Been Ill.

I felt really tired and worn down on Friday night after going to the Sydney Aquarium that day with Hannah and Chelsey from Essex U.K. These two are a laugh riot, I kept telling them that they needed to have their own show. They were constantly teasing each other and telling the best/worst stories about each other and then trying to out do the other with who did the worst thing after drinking. Anyway, we got home after being on the go since about 10 AM until 5 PM. We went to dinner and then I went back to the dorm room to lie down. I was beat. About an hour later they come into the room with a burst of laughter and arguing, as they do everywhere, and kept haranguing me to come out and dance with them. No, no, I'm tired and getting a headache. Please, come on, we'll buy the first shout (round of drinks, which you are supposed to reciprocate). Who am I to deny women who want to buy me drinks and dance with me? I'm just not that strong. Needless to say the next day I felt like utter shit. I got some kind of flu. Fever and achey joints, but my appetite is fine. Go figure. I feel better today, but I'm not over it yet. But I couldn't let my blog readers down, now could I? Hannah and Chelsey.
The Sydney Aquarium. A great place to spend the day. At the end of the walk through there is a very large tank with all kinds of fish including sharks, rays, and other big ass fish. It was worth the price of admission.
Believe it or not, but this is a Ford Falcon. These car/truck things are all over the place. I'm surprised Ford hasn't tried to sell these in America again. I like them.
This is my friend Mathias (Mah-tay'-is) of Hamburg Germany. We did quite a bit of traveling around together while he was in Sydney. We first met while in Maui and ran into each other at the Sydney Airport. He is doing a literal around the world trip and his ticket cost him about $2600 U.S.

Regardless of the recent illness I've really been enjoying my stay in Sydney. As soon as I am well enough I plan to either buy or long term rent (they call hire) a motorcycle and tour this big country. We'll see how it works out.

Thanks for all your comments and support it's all really appreciated. Even the ones from Mary. But what are sisters for huh? Love ya Mary!

G'day From Sydney
My first impressions of Sydney are of a very clean city. You can hardly find garbage anywhere on the ground. Also this is a very cultural diverse city. Walking down the street you can hear the Aussie accent, then Japanese, Chinese, Israeli and Hindi. I really like it here. I can easily see myself living in Sydney it is so beautiful and there is much to do.

Random shot of downtown Sydney. Notice the cultural and architectural diversity.
Hans from Norway, me, and the lovely and talented Debbie from Manchester U.K. BTW if you are from Manchester you are called a Mancurian. Hans is 19 and is a club DJ. He's very bright fellow. Debbie is now two years out of University (in Europe they call it Uni) with a degree in Fashion Design, is a hell of an artist with Acrylic paint on canvas, and is in Sydney doing a kind of trial work program with Sass and Bide Fashion. The 3 of us went to the Sydney Opera House and also the Royal botanical Gardens. 3 can be so much a crowd.

I want to let everyone know that there are so many young people out there traveling the world. Hans has been to Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, New Zealand, Tasmania, Australia, China, South Korea, and Russia. Hostels are full of people his age. The biggest cost is the plane ticket. My suggestion to everyone is to get off your ass, don't spend your money on a car, but save it to travel. My 'round the world ticket cost me $2300. I went past a travel agency this morning advertising RTW tickets for $1777! Once you are on the road it really is not all that expensive. Many hostels (almost everyone that I have stayed in) has a kitchen to keep food costs down so it will not cost you more than say 50 dollars a day and this is in Sydney Australia, a major world city.

Plus there are very few Americans traveling the world. I have only met one other American and he was in Fiji. What gives? Come on out into the world, the air is fine.

Fiji Pictures Drinking Kava at a ceremony.
Went to the island of Rci. I was lucky enough to get the gas tank between my legs. This idiot British woman next to me asked if I minded if she smoked. I just pointed at the gas can and said "Yeah, I kinda do mind."
This is Gus, well part of him, the captain of the boat to Rci.
I'm not sure, but I believe this is Jim doing a fire dance. These guys on this island had me completely fooled. By day they do odd jobs around the island but then by night they play with FIRE!

I got to hold one of the birthday torches for a womans birthday singing. They sang a fijian song and then the happy birthday song. It amazes me how some things, especially music, can become so cross cultural.
This is Nice (nee-say) she is so damn cute. I flirted with her all the time, but she is married. *sigh*

Sun set on Rci.

Fiji Pictures The Fijians from l to r Aggie, Ishaley, Mitch, J.P., Laci, Lex

Fiji money. They use the dollar and cents system. The golden coins are 1 dollar and the small copper is 1 cent, the larger is 2 cents.
The lovely and funny Una.

Sitting in a basement cafe drinking a mango fruit beverage called Fru Nu. Later I drank a Fiji Bitter. Mmm Fiji bitter.
Downtown Nadi, Fiji.
From the lounge at the "Resort Hostel".
I still get a kick out of the Fiji phone booths.
This is Seru (Say-ru *roll the r*). he is head of security at the hostel. A very interesting fellow. After work we went his cousins house, Toni, who lives next door to the hostel and had a few Fiji Bitters and then drank Kava until very early in the morning. That was probably the most fun night that I had in Fiji. We talked, drank kava, talked, drank kava, joked around, drank kava.

Bula!

Where do I begin... It's been a very interesting few days and I wish that could upload photos. (BTW this computer and keyboard are functioning at the best they can so forgive the mistakes).

Last time I was about to head into the town of Nadi (pr: Nahn-dee, where the extra N came from I don't know.) As soon as we got out of the taxi me and two other fellows were bombarded with shop owners saying "Bula, come into my shop." Many of them wanting to shake your hand and know your name. I was Neal for the day, it just came to me. When you do enter their shop and if you tell them you are from America, they all said, "You from America? I give special deal for you." which means I'll jack up my price 100% but come down 50% and you'll still think it's a deal. the town of Nadi was my first experience with a second, close to third world, town/city. there is a main drag and it might be about 6 blocks long. I was kind of scared, a little nervouse, and totally intrigued by what was going on around me. I wanted to got back, but today is sunday and most everything is closed. At the end of the maind street is a marketplace where villages, and some other islands have a small shop to sell their wares. Here, at least, the money goes to local artists instead of the crap shops on the drag.

FYI the Fijhi dollar is .65% of our dollar, or 1 American = 1.45 Fiji. Not too bad. Alos consider that there is about 60 to 70% unemployment here and they are getting very low wages. For example the receptionist at this "resort hostel" get paid $2.20 an hour and I just bought a Fiji bitter beer for $4 and internet access at $4 an hour.

At the end of this main street was a fabulous Hindu temple. So pretty and so many colors. A small donation of $3.50 and you get a personal tour guide and a blessing from a priest.

It's hot and muggy here. the average temp is around 32 degrees celcious about 90 F. The one word that will describe my trip to Fiji SWEAT!

I've said it many times to other travelers, that the beautiful country and warm ocean waters (about 28 c.) are great, but it's the fiji people who really have made my trip here so worth it. they are jolly and fun loving and are contantly joking with each other. Plus, they remember tyou name. You tell them your name once and *snap* they know it. I'm still having a hard time remembering my middle name. So I've been trying very hard to remember their names and it's not easy because you meet a few Fijians and their names will go like this : Nice (nee-say), Ishialey (eesh-ee-aye'-lay) , Una (oo'-nah), Mike, flex, and Jim. But friendly and fun people. But they are not into drinking alcohol, they are into drinking Kava.

Kava is THE drink in Fiji. It means the world to these people. It is not olny ritualistic, but they drink it every day around a kava mixing bowl, a matt to sit on and bowls to drink out of. Kava is makde out of the root from the kava plant. The older the plant the more potent the kava. It is pounded and mixed with 3ater to produce tan/dirty water liquid. when drunk, and you must drink the entire contents of the cup in one go. You can take your time to drink it, but it is very insulting to not drink it completely. It tastes like ever so slightly sweet earth. So people canot stand the taste at all. but I found it to be okay and tolerable. It produces a mild numbing effect on your lips, toungue, gums, and body. slightly similar to marijuana but not nearly and mind numbing. The more kava you drink the more relanxed and body numbness you feel. The natives will drink 10, 20, or more cups in an evening. But be careful, because if you drink too much you will want to do nothing the next day and will not ber able to "perform" that night.

Kava is drunk mostly by men and they sit around telling stories, drink some kava, talk some more, have a cigarette, drink some kava all night long. Very communal and great to be a part of the group. Good people to be with.

Anohter interesting thing too. the Fijian men shake hands differently from Americans. they Put hands together as if they are going to hake but only lightly clasp hands and then slide their hands back to themselves and then curl their fingers to again slide through, whereas we would clinch and hold the fingers, as many african americans do, but they do not hold the shake. when they do what we know as a handshake it is rather slight clasp. Not "fishy" just a ptting together of the hands and there is not real shake, just a light clasp.

One more thing before my time expires, I was taling to this bloke from Quebec and he was saying how odd it was that people can ask you where were you on the morning of April 18th? I we can honestly say, "That morning did not exist for me." Because of our plain trip across the international dateline.

On to Australia tomorrow.

Bula! From Fiji

Bula = warm hello! My first impressions are of a very friendly people. I'm about to head into town to have a look around and I'll find out more. *Not able to upload photos from here either.* The guy sleeping in the bunk next to me is going with me to have a look around in the city which is about 5 KM away. The bus cost s 65 cents to take you into town on about a 15 min. trip. I think getting back will be the realy challenge.

Last Days in Honolulu
There's something about older couples on the beach that makes me smile.

Store your surfboard right by Waikiki beach. Bring your own lock.

Catch a wave and you're sitting on top of the world.

Writing post cards in the hammock at the Polynesian Hostel. A really good place to stay.

Boobies.


This very friendly woman talked with me about Hawaiian customs and the meaning of different flowers in Leis and that she has been in the International Market for over 10 years making leis for people from all over the world. She was in the process of making a bunch for a wedding.

My next post may not be for a while. I'm not exactly sure what I can expect internet wise from the country of Fiji. I leave the hostel at 8:45 AM (11:45 PAC), leave for Fiji at noon on the 18th, arrive in Fiji at about 6:30 PM on the 19th, due to the International Date Line. FYI, there was a big to do between Fiji and Tonga as to which country would actually be the first to declare it was 2000.

Thom

Aloha Maui, Aloha Oahu and Honolulu

You never know what you've got until it's gone and such as it is with Maui. Once you get into Honolulu Int'l Airport you know you are in a different atmosphere. Whereas Maui is very laid back and cool and rather open. Honolulu is go go rush rush big city and TONS of tourists. I'd say 75% are Asian. It's a crazy mix. I prefer Maui and the cities and towns there over what I have seen of Oahu.

I also said goodbye to my many new friends who I hope to keep for as long as possible. Machteld, Lorein, Frank, Frabrizio, Gerardo, Lizzie, Aaron, Andreas and many of the people who work and make up the Banana Bungalow crew. Good folks there.

I want to thank Clayton A.K.A. pablo for being so generous as to help out a fellow brother of the leaf (I'm talking cigars here). Not only did he pick me up from the airport, but he took me to the hostel to get my room and he showed me the sites and a great place to eat, The Rainbow Drive In. He also gave me an Opus X #2 to smoke while he showed me around. Really, I can't thank him enough. Thank you Clayton!

In other news, Renter Attempts Self Decapitation with Rental Car Door. I hit the fucking top corner of the door as I was cleaning out a bunch of sand. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as it looks, but like with any head wound it bled, and bled, and bled. Plus it happened just before I was about to go to the airport too. Damn, sometimes being tall is tough on ya.

Chicks dig scars, right?

Thanks to all who have been commenting on this blog. It's good to read them. Keep it up. If you haven't posted, well, you've got nothing to lose. So comment away, maybe even start a conversation with someone. Aloha and mahalo.

Good Fun Stuff

Frank had a great idea to have a fire on the beach, or has he calls it a loggafuer sp? (pr. log-uh-foyr) or a fire with friendship, with some beers. We scoped out a couple of beaches and found one on the west side of Maui that had a few trees and we were able to see quite a bit of wood and sticks that was dry as paper. The group consisted of Frank, Mactald (mach-told) and Laurien (lo-reen) of Holland, and Geraldado and Fabritzio of Argentina, and Andreas of Sweden. It was quite a nice time with good friends, drink, a fire, and an almost full moon.

























On a free tour from the hostile we went to see the Haleakala (haw-lay-ah-kah-lah) National Park and took a 2.5 hour hike through a bamboo forest. It was a marvelous site. Also the cool mist was nice after taking a long hot hike, just as I was enjoying the mist it began to downpour and the group was ready to leave. Good thing I was wearing my Tilley hat is very functional and great piece of workmanship. The brim would get more firm the wetter it got. Aaron, one of the guides was very impressed by it after I told him all of it's functions. Check out the link for details.


















This is a picture of Andreas of Sweden, he's a sports nut. Yesterday he went and played tennis all by himself. He even brought his own racquet!






The tour group also went to Red Sand beach. The sand is literally red with black rocks. Got to go this is costing me a fortune.

Fire, Nudity

Last night we, a tour from the hostel, went to Makena beach to go to a drumming circle and fire dance. There are really two beaches there, one called big beach, because well, it's big, and of course little beach. Little beach is where the drumming and dancing was held. This is a clothing optional beach and there were many, including myself, who were showing what god gave them. It is a very nice beach and everyone was very chill. I think little beach is nicest beach that I've been to and I've been to about 10 different beaches so far. Anyway this place was filled with island hippies and tourists and locals.

--This is a picture of little beach I got of the 'net---

As the sun was setting the drums were beating heavy and loud and fast *Bip doodlebob, bip doodlebop, bip doodlebop, bip doodlebop*. Those close to the drumming were waving their arms in the air as if to wave goodbye to the sun. The whole beach was thick with the smell of the ocean, patulli, unwashed hippy, incense, and ganja. As the day turned to night people came into the circle to perform feats with fire. They were twirling batons, and some had a chain with a ball of fire on the end, others had what appeared to be fire fans. Like one would use to keep yourself cool on a hot day or is used in the Orient. Even others were fire breathers. The air was then thick with lamp oil and the heat from the flames washed over me whenever they came near. I have some pictures, and video, but I cannot upload pictures from these computers at the hostile. *sigh*

The people at this event were most friendly. I found a man playing a digeridoo and asked if I could play it. He said it wasn't his, but he would introduce me to the fellow who made it. John lives on Maui and part of what he does to get by is to make Diges for a company called Gundi Arts in Cairns Australia. At this place they will take you out and let you pick the wood to make your digeridoo. I'm going to go here and do this. At least I think so right now. John also told me to tell them "Hang loose from Maui John."

More adventure is outside. I must go and meet it head on.

Maui Pics


I am finding that staying in a hostel, Banana Bungalow Muai, is a very rewarding experience despite the, let's call it lackadaisical upkeep. For $24.50 a night you get a bed in a dorm room and access to communal showers and bathrooms. For what a hostel lacks in amenities it makes up for in company. The people who stay at hostels (at least my experience at this one and from what others tell me) are more open to new experiences and meeting new people.

Not only that but they are from all over the world. I've met people from Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Quebec, Argentina, France, Canada and Los Angeles. I'm staying in a "dorm room" that has four beds as two bunks and am in the room with 2 other guys; Frank Kline of Germany and Andreas (I could barely say his last name much spell it) from Sweden. I told Andreas that my Mother's maiden name was Andreas and he said, in a pretty thick Swedish accent "Ya, maybe you mother has some Swedish background." I said that no we are 100% German. He said, "Well if her maiden name is Andreas maybe she has just a little bit of Swedish, the good bit."

Frank and I have gotten along very well. He and I are just a couple of years apart in age. He works as a toxic cleanup manager for British petroleum in Germany. His German I.D. makes him look like he works for the German Secret Service so we tease him about that and he just gives us dirty looks. He's a good fellow.

People in the hostel are always asking "What's your plan for today (or tomorrow)?" And I tell them what my plan was when I started "I don't know. All I know is that I have to be in Honolulu to catch a plane to Fiji on April 18th."

The beaches and sand and weather are amazing. I burned the holy hell out of my back on Thursday. Not only is it a burn, but I had one of the Netherlands girls put sun screen on my back but she put it on in stripes so I've got these striped burned skin streaks down my back. I've been wearing shirts ever since.

But overall I'm not having any problem meeting new people and making friends. I'm really enjoying myself.