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<channel><generator>iloblog 1.0</generator><title>reisen Feed</title><link>http://reisen.athinga.net/</link><description>It is time to be a tourist, &lt;br/&gt;traveller, earth walker.. &lt;br/&gt;whatever the word, it is now what I am. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;</description><item><title>West Australia</title><link>http://iloapp.athinga.net/blog/reisen?Home&amp;post=7</link><description><![CDATA[ 18 days on the road, and I am finally back in cold-cold Perth. Prepare yourself for a long story of a single girl on the road...   Perth  My plane landed at 4am, I should have done what everyone else did, slept on the airport. But, I took a taxi to my hostel, which was closed, so I had to go to another one. My taxi driver took me to YHA, and then he took 30dollars. This was only the first of many many things that would cause me to break my budget by more than double :p    Shopping, walking, coffees, shopping, walking, eating. Perth is nice, but colder than I thought. On one side it´s nice to be in the "western world". Nobody staring, nobody wishing you "Welcome to my country, where you frooooom?". On the other side, everything costs a lot of money. And me being derived of shopping facilities for such a long time went kinda crazy :p   Perth - Exmouth  I got my Wicked Van, filled it with gas and started driving. Without really knowing where I was going. So I stopped at Subway, checked out my map and saw that I was on the right way. I drove a few hours, looked at some pinnacles and stayed the night in Cervantes.    I drove the 1500km to Exmouth, I stopped in a few places, but tried getting there as fast as possible. I met some people, ate some food. Had some long stretches of driving.   I felt a bit lonely at times, I started talking to myself, and I sang songs like "How to Live" really loud and actually lost my voice due to loud singing. I would´ve liked to have done the trip with someone, but I don´t think anyone I know would´ve been able to listen to me screaming to my roadtrip cds for such a long time.  Anyhow, Exmouth was nice and warm, but the sea I went diving in wasn´t. Although I had a 5mm wetsuit I was freezing. Luckily one of the guys from the Sydney Diving Club that was on the boat lent me a hood. Awesome.       I went all the way to Exmouth to go on a 3-day liveaboard with  Ningaloo whaleshark n dive,  and they delivered. It was brilliant diving from the very first plunge. Nudibranchs, sting rays, sharks.. you name it, we saw it :) Our guide, Coki was just excellent, and it seemed he knew where everything would be at the excact time we went there. And he was really good at navigating too. The bonus on the trip was the Whaleshark we found, and swam with :) Awesome!  The only thing I didn´t like about the liveaboard was the enourmous amount of delicious food they kept serving all the time. When it comes to food like this I have no self control, and ate so much the wetsuit became really really tight.. :p   Back on land I managed to go to the doctor, he told me I have ANOTHER ear-infection, and so my planned (and already paid for) whaleshark safari had to be cancelled. However, once again, the nice guys at Whaleshark n dive gave me a break, and my money back. Excellent.      The nice guys from Sydney invited me to go kayakking with them, so I stayed another day in Exmouth and had a great day on the water with  Capricorn Kayakking . We saw loads of turtles, and again, ate way too much food. (I need to get out of here before I won´t fit into my new jeans anymore).   Exmouth - Perth  I started my trip back to Perth early morning, and got to Coral Bay just a little while after. I was just going to stay here one day, but liked it so much I stayed a bit longer. This is where I met the "pot growing gold digger" from California. Interesting guy. He was actually both a pot grower, and a gold digger. Interesting choice of occupation. Now he was driving around Australia picking up strangers wherever he found them.     Anyhow, I kept going south, it kept getting colder and the annoying face-flies got fewer and fewer. (If you have been to northern west australia you know that everytime you stop at a P sign, your face is full of annoying face-flies).      I stopped at Carnarvon (easy), Monkey Mia (dolphins!), Kalbarri (beautiful), Port Denison (sleepy), and finally Perth Central (cold!).   Now I am checked in at Grand Central Backpackers. I have to get up at 2am to go to KL on a 6.30 flight.   Reasons why I liked doing this trip alone: 1. I could sing as loud as I wanted 2. I could play the same song over and over 3. I could go to bed as early as I wanted 4. I could eat as much junk as I wanted 5. I always got the answer I wanted when I asked myself something 6. I could have tomatosoup with eggs and macaroni every day for dinner 7. I can lie about things that happened on the trip and nobody will ever know...       Things I learned about myself while doing this trip: 1. I have no self control when someone puts good food infront of me 2. I cannot walk into a gas station without walking out with either; starburst, coke, chips, chocolate or all of the above 3. My left butt cheek hurts after driving for 90 minutes 4. I hate flies 5. I am such a brave girl for driving all those kilometers alone 6. I have no self control when put close to shopping (hence the new jeans, sweater, shoes, 4 singlets, dress and cap) 7. I don´t pay attention to gas prices and therefore spend more than I needed too 8. I hate flies 9. I prefer diving in 30+ degrees 10. I need to travel with someone because I always make the wrong (most convenient and often most expensive) choices          
 ]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2010 11:57:52 +0200</pubDate><category>Australia</category></item><item><title>Ubud</title><link>http://iloapp.athinga.net/blog/reisen?Home&amp;post=6</link><description><![CDATA[ We arrived in Ubud on a rainy afternoon and was stuck at Tourist Information for a much longer time than I wanted to. So I ran out into the rain to find a hotel, and even though hotel Pradha was a bit pricey, it had free wifi, breakfast, hot water, ac and a pool, so I went for it.     Andy and I spent three days in Ubud, we walked, ate, sat at coffee shops and went to yoga. And everyday it rained around 2pm.   When Andy left for Kuta to catch his flight back to Norway, I stayed in Pradha hotel for a night, and then I moved to Dewi Ayu, for a small sum of 100 000 you get a nice room, hot water, a pool, a nice garden and breakfast. And appearently an extremely high fever.     Luckily I didn´t have Dengue this time either, but it´s still the third time I had to go to the doctor in two weeks. I am getting sick of being sick. And because this time I had a new ear infection and of course, my favorite, a throat infection I had to cancel my trip to Tulamben to go dive the Liberty Wreck.   My very expensive doctor gave me a bunch of pills and miraculously I was feeling better the next day. However, not in the mood to get sick again, I didn´t dare do anything but eat, walk and hang out in coffeeshops.   Suddenly, Andy showed up again, he is what we in Norway call "askefast" which translates into "ash-stuck". The nice volcano on Iceland managed to extend his holiday for a week and the lucky bastard now gets to go diving in Tulamben while I have to stay on land.     The french instructor from SDS, Sylvain is coming to Bali today, so I decided to go to Sanur to hang out with him and the faboulous underwater photographer Tom, untill my flight to Australia. So, that is my plan for today. After hanging out at the Art Kafe for 4,5 hours.   At least I get to do some blogging...   
 ]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:32:11 +0200</pubDate><category>Indonesia</category></item><item><title>Gili Trawangan</title><link>http://iloapp.athinga.net/blog/reisen?Home&amp;post=5</link><description><![CDATA[ 9 days after setting foot on Gili T for the 4th time we finally managed to get away. It was not easy. Everyday we found another reason to stay. I almost did. But I don´t know if I could work in a place where the parties are so often and so good.   We found a cheap guesthouse next to Melati and Flash Internet, ended up paying 130 000 for the two of us including breakfast. Nice place, but very very unstable power. No fan at 7AM is not something I am okay with.  My ears had to give me some trouble with the diving of course, so I only managed to do 3 dives in total. Good for my budget, not so good for my laziness. I have a hard time telling you what I did all day, because I don´t think I did anything.   We had some good parties, spent some time on the beach, reading, walking, drinking, dancing, eating. Basically a good time :)  Can´t get my pictures of my camera, so it´ll have to wait. For now, this ones taken with my iPhone.     I am seriously considering going back to Gili T in May.. after all, I have a lot of time before I go to Norway, maybe I could make use of it and become and instructor.. Or maybe I should wait untill Mexico.. It´s a tough life when these are hte choices one have to make :p   
 ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:40:27 +0200</pubDate><category>Indonesia</category></item><item><title>Kuta, Lombok</title><link>http://iloapp.athinga.net/blog/reisen?Home&amp;post=4</link><description><![CDATA[ Kuta on Lombok is SO much better than it´s big brother on Bali. This place is unspoiled, beautiful and very spread out. So I had to rent a motorbike. It´s been a while, but I still remember how to drive one :p    Anders and I met up with Mark from Rinjani in Kuta, he found a sweet cheap homestay where we only paid 5 dollars a night. Not bad. We drove around, found some awesome beaches, relaxed a lot and cured my sore legs.    We met some locals, were invited to a local Sasak meal and spent a night enjoying a heated pool at one of the resorts because we met some nice Americans.       Kuta is a recommended travel destination, but you have to hurry. The nice beach we found will be a resort in less than five years. I´m glad I was here now and not then.  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:04:25 +0200</pubDate><category>Indonesia</category></item><item><title>Rinjani</title><link>http://iloapp.athinga.net/blog/reisen?Home&amp;post=3</link><description><![CDATA[ So, early in the morning on march 31st, the group of 4 trekkers, two porters and a very sporty guide started the ascent to Rinjani at 600m, we stopped at "the man with the cat and the rice wine" and bought some rice wine and then we walked, and walked, and walked.    At resting point number 3 we stopped for lunch, and as we were waiting for lunch, the rain started. So we had to wait here for four hours. At this point we were very happy that we started so early because the three wet canadians that arrived later that day were not even a little bit happy.   When the rain stopped we started walking again. And we walked and walked a bit more untill we reached 2000m where we made camp. Or, the porters did. We started getting dressed. It was really really cold up here!    My mother had given Anders a package with my rainjacket, two pairs of woollen shirts and two pairs of wollen pants and a pair of wollen socks, and ofcourse, 600grams of chocolate. When I got the package I was thinking "ah.. typically mother, packing way too much". But when I was sitting on 2000m freezing like never before I though "I love my mother, now I am warm and I have chocolate". The fact is, I even think the dutch guy loves my mother, because he was trekking with a pair of jeans and two t-shirts, so of course I gave him a woollen shirt.    So there I was, freeezing in a tropical country wearing both the woollen pants, shorts, pink socks and the wollen socks. Thanks mom, you made the trip very comfortable. And the porters and the guide really liked me once I started handing out chocolate to everyone except the canadians because they were in such bad moods.  Anyhow, next morning at 4am we started walking to the rim at 2600m. This is where my body is telling my mind "what are you doing? you are so stupid, just go back down, you don't like this". But, I didnt, I kept walking and I made it to the top about 4 minutes before the sun came out and my mind instantly changed to "I love you for doing this, this is awesome".         So, we had about an hour photoshoot up here, jumped around, smiled a lot and then we walked down, and now we are in Sengigi, my legs hurt and I walk like an old lady, but it was worth it.   
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 02 Apr 2010 06:29:50 +0200</pubDate><category>Indonesia</category></item><item><title>Before Rinjani</title><link>http://iloapp.athinga.net/blog/reisen?Home&amp;post=2</link><description><![CDATA[ After two nights in Legian, Anders and I had had enough of the hassle of being tourists in a "big city". We didn't want massage, Bintang, manicure, sunglasses, necklaces, perfume or anything else that people wanted to sell us.  So, what do people do when tired of city life? Well, you take a boat to the Gili Islands, and we did. I liked the smile on Anders face as we entered the familiar turquoise waters that surrond the island, and tried to remember the feeling I had when I first went there.   We settled into a Dream Divers bungalow and went to Horizontal for a drink, and then we decided to leave the next day.  So, next morning we took a local boat to Lombok, was picked up and taken to Senaru where we meet Rudy. Rudy arranges trips to the Rinjani volcano. He told us that we couldn't go to the top, the reason changed from time to time, sometimes it was because it didn't open untill April 1st, sometimes because of the rain, and sometimes because of eruptions.   Nevermind, I didn't mind "only" climbing to 2600m, so that's what we went for.     The first evening, Rudy called me and said I needed to bring my camera. The volcano had a small eruption and we could see the smoke coming out. Pretty awesome.   We spent two nights in Senaru before starting, where we visited an awesome waterfall, had a massage which meant being smeared in cooking oil and onion... yes, it was weird, but a very good massage.    On the second day in Senaru, we brought a dutch and an american guy to the waterfall. Good idea, not just because it was a beautiful waterfall, but because my trekking shoes (also known as my mothers old aerobic shoes) lost both of their soles. So now I had to rent shoes to climb the volcano. Good idea, because the shoes I got were "real" trekking shoes and not my mothers old aerobic shoes.     And after the waterfall, we had some food, slept early and woke up at 6 to go to Rinjani, but that's another story.  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 02 Apr 2010 06:13:01 +0200</pubDate><category>Indonesia</category></item><item><title>Bali</title><link>http://iloapp.athinga.net/blog/reisen?Home&amp;post=1</link><description><![CDATA[ After arriving in Bali late last night, and having a surprisingly easy time getting through immigration, I checked into the Tune Hotel in Legian.   While Tune Hotel may be a good choice for some, for me it made me almost not sleep. Because I am now on a budget I didn't bother spending 50 000rupiah on AC.. something I did regret. The room is so small, so very very small, and clean and new and whatever. Still, the fan in the ceiling looks and sounds like it will fall down and make me into Norwegian Minced Meat.   So.. it was a hot night, and an early morning.   I had to check out before 10am, so I got up at 7 to start looking for another place to stay. Since I still don't like planning, I went for the familiar. I stayed at Blue Ocean last year when I was here, so I just went back.   For 200 000 a night I get a big cold room with a nice quiet fan. Not bad, and I like it.    After walking around Legian all day I realised I hadn't actually been to Legian before. I may have been to the street that runs along the beach, but that's it. So, now I am even more excited to explore once Anders gets here tonight.    My evening flew by as I was sitting at the lanai restaurant on the beach with my laptop. This new travel blog happened, and I even managed to update it twice in a day. Should be a nice way to tell my international friends where I am and what I'm up to just in case any of you should be around.  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:46:45 +0100</pubDate><category>Indonesia</category></item><item><title>Ko Lipe</title><link>http://iloapp.athinga.net/blog/reisen?Home&amp;post=0</link><description><![CDATA[   What:  A small island just north of the Malaysian border. White beaches, quiet nights, beach bars and good diving.   Three beaches, Pattaya, Sunrise, and Sunset. Sunrise is a quiet beach with resorts that range from expensive to cheap.  Coco Bungalow :Bamboo bungalow w/fan 300B  Castaway bungalow :Two storey bungalow, 2800B   Things to do:  Peace and Love bar: chill out and have a beer at the beach Spidermonkey: local and western food, nice staff Castaway restaurant, bar and diveshop: go diving! 3 dives cost 3800baht. Have lunch in their beachfront restaurant, excellent salads.  Relax in a hammock, enjoy a movie at Pooh´s bar, every night at 6pm.    What about me?  Well, I arrived, checked in to Coco bungalow, and spent three days doing "not much". I walked around, read books in my hammock outside my bungalow, I hung out at the Peace and Love bar, I swam in the sea, I ended up going diving and was really impressed.  And then, I took a speedboat to Langkawi... spent 40 hours in KL and then headed to Bali...   
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:53:43 +0100</pubDate><category>Thailand</category></item></channel>
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