MCA REDEVELOPMENT..

MoMa, Centre Pompidou, Tate Modern – watch out. Work recently began to extend Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art – both its physical space and its creative scope. On the cards is the addition of an eye-catching annex to the original museum building, an increase to the gallery's size of almost 50 per cent that will incorporate expansive multi-level galleries and a range of educational and research facilities for contemporary art aficionados.

Source.

SNOW IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS..

Light snow on the NSW ranges in the past 24 hours has been falling on the Blue Mountains and as far north as Guyra on the Northern Tablelands.

Source

THINGS YOU LEARN THROUGH TRAVELLING..

"On March 13, 2007, I handed over the keys to my house, put my possessions in storage and headed out to travel around the world with nothing but a backpack, my laptop and a camera.

Three and a half years and 70 countries later, I've gotten the equivalent of a Ph.D in general knowledge about the people and places of Planet Earth."

Check out the stories of Gary Arndt.

BURKE & WILLIS COMMEMORATIVE STAMPS..

The 150th anniversary of the Burke and Wills expedition, the first South - North crossing of the continent is celebrated with the release of this special stamp issue.

On 20 August 1860, the Burke and Wills expedition left Melbourne for the Gulf of Carpentaria. The explorers hoped to be the first Europeans to cross Australia from the south to the north.

While the explorers reached the Gulf, the expedition ended in tragedy. Physically exhausted from their journey, they hoped to find William Brahe and much needed help and supplies at Cooper's Creek. Their expectations were dashed when they learned that Brahe had left Cooper's Creek only hours before their arrival. Burke, Wills and King then set off towards Mt Hopeless, in South Australia.

Despite offers of help from local Aboriginal people, Burke and Wills died on Cooper's Creek in June 1861. The only person to survive was John King, who was found in September by a search party sent from Melbourne.

From Australia Post

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: 15-21 AUG..

• 1786 The decision is made in England to colonise New South Wales with convicts from Britain's overcrowded gaols
• 1839 Louis Daguerre invents the daguerreotype photographic process, allowing an image to be chemically fixed as a permanent picture
• 1842 Hobart Town, the main settlement in Van Diemen's Land, is proclaimed a city
• 1857 121 people die when the ship, the 'Dunbar', runs aground at The Gap, Sydney
• 1930 The two halves of the Sydney Harbour Bridge are joined
• 1980 Two month old Azaria Chamberlain disappears while on a family camping holiday at Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia

TOUR INQUIRY: A GROUP OF 20..

"I have 20 people in a group. Do you have a van or a bus that will fit all of them? They are going on a cruise so they want a half-day tour around Sydney. They want you to pick them up at the airport and drop them off at the ship port terminal after the tour. Is this okay? Please let me know.
Thank you."

As someone who only specialises in small tour groups - max 4 - I can't say I wasn't a bit surprised to receive this inquiry this morning. For one, I don't have a bus... for which I'm currently in the process of getting my Driver Authority License which will enable me to take public passengers in a bus-like vehicle. And secondly, I am nowhere near confident projecting my voice and keeping twenty sets of eyes focused on me at all times.

Cruise passengers are of course the best people to take on a tour, because they are all about leisure and having things pointed out and they take a photograph. But picking up from the airport requires so much planning and assisting. 

Appreciate the business, but no thanks...

ANGRY FLIGHT ATTENDANT SLIDES TO FREEDOM..

This made my day! (Flight attendant slides to freedom)

And the Taiwanese have created a 3D reenactment to illustrate the seriousness of abusing passengers before sliding down the exit slippery dip. They should show this in flight attendant training school as a what-to-do in stressful situations scenario.

I wish all jobs had some sort of dramatic emergency exit device... where one can grab a beer (or entire booze cart) before skipping town... but I'm too demure and have way too much integrity to go out on a limb like this...

TIME OUT SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL..

Oops! Didn't mean to let this one slip passed me. Time Out Sydney have requested I renew my subscription to their magazine - which so far has been a great source of information for current events and things I didn't know about in Sydney. But what do you know, I can't for the life of me find my subscription number to get a hold of their offer for another 6 issues at $6.

$6 bucks though, what a bargain!

Considering in the newsagents, this magazine is $3.95 for each issue I should really get a tissue for my issue, and shouldn't be whinging that I have to pay the subscription cost of $13.90 for renewing... but I'm Aussie... I'll complain about anything...

I love their tagline though, 'We miss you.' Please, did they really believe I was ever gone?

NEED ONE: CAMPERVAN..

I'm having trouble securing a campervan from Ayers Rock Airport back to Ayers Rock Airport. All the campervan companies seem to be in Alice Springs, with only three rental car companies - Hertz, Thrifty and Avis - at the airport we're flying into.

Oh why did I book our flights so hastily? If we'd flown into Alice Springs this would be a sinch. I'd go for one of those 2-berth vans... but now I'm faced with a conundrum. I've looked at plenty of websites with many campervans within my budget, like Wicked and Jucy Rentals... What to do...

ACCOMMODATION THE BUDGET WAY..

In booking flights to Uluru / Ayers Rock I've completely miscalculated a few things. First thought: I'd hire a car! Easy done, you can pick one up from the airport upon arrival for around $310, a Toyota Yaris or similar and be on your way for the six days not having to answer to any coach or shuttle service. And then I started looking at accommodation, fuck! Average prices are between $150 - $300 per night!

I've always been a backpacker/couchsurfer so luxurious hotels were never something I really looked at when deciding where I'd stay. But this trip is kinda different - it's not for a long time, and it's special being my birthday present to myself, so I would've thought I'd splash out maybe $60 bucks a night on somewhere budget-like. In my research I've learnt Voyages has the monopoly on all the hotels in all price ranges. There is a hostel-like option, but reading reviews on TripAdvisor has deterred me a little. Maybe I could book a campervan? Yeah... that would settle both the transport AND accommodation needs...

ULURU, HERE I COME..

Yay, I've booked flights to Uluru to celebrate my 30th birthday!

This saves answering the question - what are you doing for your birthday? are we having a party, or what? This way, I get to travel again (it's been nearly a year since and I'm feeling the itch nagging at my feet), escape the city for a bit and return feeling refreshed and renewed. After all, isn't that why people travel in the first place?

HIGH MOUNTAINS, LOW VALLEYS..

I feel flat. I need something mountainous. I'm one of those high mountains, low valleys people... and I'm in a low valley in need of a high mountain.

CAIN9INE'S NEW YORK BLOG..

Cain9ine's New York Blog is the second book in a series of photoblogs that chronicle one backpacker/couchsurfer’s experience travelling the world. Compiling vibrant photographs and journal entries, Cain9ine takes new and nostalgic travellers on a journey, now to North America... cutting corners on cost, but not on life experience!

SE ASIA: POST TRIP BLUES..

Sigh! It's been nearly 2 months back home in sunny Sydney! Does anyone really ever recover from going overseas? I think not... I certainly haven't been the same since my first well over 4 years ago. So, I'm putting in a request to make this a full-time occupation...

As a matter of fact, I enjoyed my GAP Adventures tour so much, I filled in their online application to become one of their travelling minions. Creating wanderlust comes as naturally to me as breathing, so I'd love to keep meeting people, having blind massages, eating exotic fruits - all that!

The Roam Cambodia tour I did continued through Vietnam, even though I left in Saigon to explore more of Thailand's islands. It was a nice change for me to have someone organise accommodation, transport, a few meals, etc... usually I'm the one who does all the research along the way.

And as a single traveller, I threw myself into conversation with people (otherwise it was going to be a pretty lonely tour), and that was awesome. A lot of English, which reminded me of living in London. As it so happens, two people I met... well, we hang out regularly here in Sydney drinking beer and complaining about food prices in comparison to Cambodia!

As for the content.. I feel like I wanted more time at Angkor Wat (but then I got food poisoning, so the 2nd day would've sucked)... only because the sunset was pretty underwhelming just going from a dark blue overcast to a light gray overcast. But the temples are pretty awe-inspiring in their own right...
Prices are on their website, but there's usually a local payment that you have to give them at the beginning of the tour as well. I guess your own experience will be unique in itself regardless of what I have to say.. but when you went out as a gorup to a restaurant, they sit you all together and give you your bill depending on where you were sitting. I'd prefer to buy my drinks at the bar, and stand around to mingle.. not be forced to stay seated at a table...

But what can you do... you learn not to sweat the small stuff because hello! you're in freaking Asia man!!!

If I had an Angkor, Chang or Saigon beer in my hands right about now, I'd call a cheers to STA Travel who took me there, and to GAP Adventures who took me around...

SEA ASIA: ISLAND HOPPING..

KO SAMUI

I'm not sure how it happens exactly, but the pace is quick. You glance fleetingly in their general direction, maybe show vague interest in something on display... then POW! you've bargained your way to almost half the price for a Diesel side-pack you sort only half wanted. Such is how it goes down with every store, why? Because I'm a white 'westerner' and I am obviously only in Thailand to buy, buy, buy. Interesting sidenote, the Thai's value lighter skin so much that they factor bleach or something into some products. Ironic really, since we come to these islands to tan up. As you know, I've been reading 'The Beach' and seeing so many Thai, I start imagining I am also as tanned... but alas, like Richard when he puts himself infront of a mirror... he sees that he is still pasty... or in my case, mildly sunburnt.

Anyway, so this is the 2nd side-pack I've purchased since being here, but I've only really paid about $45 bucks for the two of them. Not that I regret either purchase really, but surprised at how whenever I truly mean to walk away, and start doing so... the price magically drops and I'm forced to make an offer. How low will he go? But it is customary to bargain, and I accept my fate, that it is necessary to arrive at the correct (or slightly inflated) price. If you're white, the Thai's also view you as wealthy... obviously coming from a country where the currency is well-off, and to make a living the Thai must appeal to you. And so, regardless of the price, or outcome... I like the friendly smile they give me when we exchange baht. Thailand after all, is the 'land of smiles'.

Here on Ko Samui, it's only natural to buy up big before returning home as this is a big tourist mecca. I'm told as a result of the fanny-pack wearing backpackers, that Ko Tao is now the place to be after Ko Phang-nan wore out is 'untouched'ness when the Full Moon Party started attracting the same sorts of crowds. But I'm not fussed really... for the time I've got available I don't mind staying in the already celebrated... I've just chosen to stay away from Chewang, on the quieter Maenam Beach. Besides, its a nice change from Saigon's hustle, and there are plenty of bare bodies to perve on... ;)

I've just stopped in for a Chang, my favourite of the beers, and asked for a glass but received a pitcher in the translation. Oh well, be nice to sit here and write a few postcards before I visit the another Big Buddha. As a person of the camera, I envy the dramatic colours of the horizon so I need to pass time to make my photos magical. Not that it isn't what it claims to be, a big buddha nonetheless is still pretty impressive, but the neverending 'you buy, you buy' philosophy cheapens the spiritual significance a little bit... and I'd much prefer to go into that with a beer head.

KO PHI PHI

I'm not sure how it happens exactly, but the moment it is not convenient, is the moment you so desperately need to. The runs have returned, and it just so happened waiting for the ferry to Phi Phi Island I needed to go... again for the 3rd time. Alert! Alert! All that is available is the eastern squat toilet, in a higenically challenged bathroom. A small Thai woman followed me in when I hesitated looking for the tissue I'd need to wipe with afterwards. Angrily she scolded me, and gave me a quick demonstration of how I'm supposed to clean myself afterwards. This was going to be the most humbling and frightening experience of this trip! Thank f*** that I had some wet wipes in my bag I'd forgotten about... and that's all I'll say on the matter...

... because Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Ley (home of Maya Bay where the DiCaprio film of 'The Beach' was filmed) are certainly breathtaking. All but wiped out from the 2004 tsunami, the town centre has been rebuilt with a respectful memorial to an unchanged affected area if you so desire. But I mainly desired to swim, which I did... end of story. Oh and I chartered my own boat to Maya Bay for the sunrise... glad I did... totally worth it, and you can snorkle with the fishies. I photographed an octopus that was trying to hide by camoflaging into a rock, but it changed colour after the underwater flash went off. Cool huh!?

KO PHUKET/PHANG-NGA BAY

So I was supposed to arrive in Phang-Nga Bay to transfer to a small fishing village on stilts called Ko Panyi, but getting up for sunrise meant I slept through my stop on the bus and playing charades with the driver wasn't on my list of priorities... so I've ended up in Phuket. It's fine though... this often happens when travelling. I've still managed to book a cheap hotel, a trip out to the bay (at sunset no less), and an airport transfer for the day after. I wasn't counting on it all going according to that plan either, as the rain clouds just keep coming... and they did as my little twilight tour descended onto the bay.

There were short bouts of light beaming through the the gray clouds, but otherwise it was a blink n' you'll miss it type of photograph opportunity. Fortunately, after a huge downpour on Ko Panyi, a sunshower meant I could explore through the alleyways and enjoy the simple pleasure of children giggling as they got wet. Straight after, our little longtail boat sailed through rain to what is now known as James Bond Island (locally named Ko Tapu), in honour of the 1974 007 film: 'The Man With The Golden Gun', in which the villain has his lair camouflaged within the area. Of course in the plot, this island exists somewhere in China, but it looks the same as it did in the film (pre-blowing up), as I found out during the bus ride to the bay on which the movie was played for us westerners. I imagine the guide is well and truly over it...

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Anyhow, that's it from me on this here SE Asia trip. I've now completed my transit from Phuket > Bangkok > Sydney and am now safely quarantined and allowed back in my nation's suburbs. I've got a few gifts for a lucky few, so if you're one of those, you'll receive in due course.