Hola!

So while most of my French students spent their holidays in the French countryside, alps etc. I ended up in... Mexico. Makes sense huh! I thought so too. But first there was a little trip to Barcelona to warm up the 3 words I know in Spanish... I haven't been to Barcelona in 9 years and wow has it changed, either that or I'm losing my memory (a distinct possibility I know... you guessed it, the 3 Spanish words I know are cerveza, sangria and tequila).

So after a delightful 6am flight which involved getting the bus from my place at 3.30am (yay for cutprice flights huh) Joris and I arrived for the weekend. The weekend pretty much comprised of wandering around checking out some of my favourite Gaudi sights, drinking beer and sunning on the beach and moving from tapas bar to tapas bar.

Now that is my ideal way to eat... cheap little plates of stuff so you can try as many things as you like... including the fried chillies, so much yummier than expected, and nowhere near as hot... but avoid the fat juicy ones! Lesson learnt there... The Spanish also know how to make a killer cup of hot chocolate, take chocolate and cream, melt, blend together and serve...so thick your spoon almost stands up but man is it good!

So after realising that my 3 words of Spanish were far from sufficient to communicate with the locals,I steeled myself for Mexico and hoped that the close proximity to an English speaking country and vast amount of tourism that the country attracts. Oh could I have been more wrong! If I was hoping to find a warm and welcoming country accustomed to tourists then Mexico City was definitely the wrong place to start! I'd heard mixed reports about Mexico city, some saying it was wonderful and full of culture and sights etc and others saying it was dirty, crowded, loud and not worth visiting. After spending 3 days there (probably 2 too many) I am inclined to agree with the later. The charming behaviour of the locals certainly didn't make me feel any warmer about the place... I have never felt more unwelcome or been treated more disdainfully than I was here, eye-rolling, grunts and sighs.. almost everyone we dealt with made it clear they wanted nothing to do with us.

Luckily as we headed away from Mexico City further through the Yucutan peninsular the people got better and a couple were even nice to us. We left the city for Oaxaca on a night bus and here I was definitely impressed. Travelling around Mexico by bus is comfortable, easy and well organised. Wherever we wanted to go there was a direct bus at a time that suited all organised through one central booking agency with clearly listed prices, no haggling, being ripped of or running around to find the best deal... it was heaven.

Oaxaca was a much nicer town with a lively central square and colourful streets. We started off on a tour of the nearby ruins, but after an hour of driving around in circles it turned out that access to the site was blocked due to a protest by the taxi drivers... so no cigar there.

The ruins of Palenque

From Oaxaca we headed out on a tour to Palenque, a Mayan ruin site. After debating and gathering information on whether to try and get there by ourselves and hire a guide or go with a tour we opted for a tour, which seemed the easier option and better value. At least it would have been if we hadn't been woefully misinformed.

After spending more hours than expected visiting a couple of nice but not spectacular waterfalls we arrived at Palenque with only 1h45m to check it out before the place closed. Nor were we happy to find that after asking about whether a guide was included in the tour and being told no, that there was indeed a guide... in Spanish, which was fantastic for everyone else in the group except the Aussie and the Frenchie. The guide also spoke French but didn't feel like helping us out there, so left us standing at the gate gapping at the Guide pricelist with a starting price of $60USD... so having decided against a guide we raced around the boiling hot site trying to cover as much of it was we could before the place closed.

We managed 2/3rds of it before the imminent thunderstorm and site closure forced us to give up. Still, even though under-informed about the history of the place I was amazed at the scale of the ruins and their beautiful location.

From there we headed to San Cristobal de las Casas, which is a really cute little town with stone paved streets and more colourful buildings set in the mountains. More time was spent wandering the streets and avoiding the rain in a great little jazz bar, where I had one of the best cocktails I've ever had... huge, green, lethal and delicious. Wish I'd written down what was in it...

After SC we moved on to the most anticipated part of the journey... the beach! And finally some sunshine... what a relief after the disastrous Paris 'summer'. Thankfully despite only being an hour south of Cancun, Playa del Carmen is developed but not overly so. 4 lovely days were spent swimming, sunning, strolling, snorkeling, relaxing, eating and drinking...the typical beach vacation.

The already missed Playa del Carmen

Bidding a sad farewell to the sun and sand we headed on to Chichen Itza, where we learned from previous experience and opted for DIY over the tour group. And happily so, the buses worked out perfectly and we lucked out and met an English speaking couple who'd just hired a guide and wondered if we were interested in joining in and splitting the cost...hell yes we were. Definitely worth it... the site was so much better with an explanation of all the details, fascinating! From the shadow of a snake that appears on the main pyramid twice a year to the sound of an eagle that occurs when you clap we learnt so much.

The new wonder... Chichen Itza

The zocalo of Merida at sunset (yep, I went a little panorama crazy, I know)

And then that was it, on to Merida for a day before heading back to Mexico city to fly out to head back to Paris and back to work :( Luckily there's more travel planned to look forward to Bordeaux, Venice and Prague here I come.

For anyone interested in seeing more photos you can check out my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7620750@N03/

Sunset in Merida

a la Francaise

So... have been a complete slacker and haven't blogged in ages, my apologies.

Donc, quoi de neuf? Pas grand chose....things have been going well, time is flying by very quickly and I'm pretty into the swing of life here now. 3 months has gone by in a heartbeat and unfortunately I think I've learned about 3 new French words in that time... and they're all names for cheese :)

I'm up to a full-time teaching load, so my days are spent discussing topics such as bonds, hedge-funds, inflation, global warming, politics, commodities and mergers with my students... and surprisingly that can actually be more interesting than it sounds sometimes. I've certainly learnt a lot and had some very interesting discussions. I've made a few friends and am spending time getting to know Paris, which I am loving more and more as time goes by.

I've also ventured out a couple of times (sometimes I feel the need to see the sea and breathe clean air.. Paris is gorgeous, but dense!) and had a weekend in Girona, Spain and just came back from a weekend in Brittany.

Girona was cute, it's a little medieval town with some nice buildings, so I spent most of my time wandering around the old walled city and stumbling across the odd sexual deviant in the back gardens of the cathedral... obviously the locals are lacking in alternative entertainment. Either that or he was making some kind of anti-religious protest, it was a Sunday after all.
Brittany is also beautiful, very rugged coast and dramatic landscapes. We went the whole hog with seafood platters and champagne at a coastal restaurant, unfortunately the luxury lifestyle didn't stretch as far as accommodation and after an entire night of non-stop rain we were almost able to turn our tent into a life raft. Mussels grow everywhere here and damn are they good... even though they're tiny little suckers they give the NZ ones a run for their money..mmmm. Yes, so the weekend pretty much revolved around food and several types of galette were also sampled.

So... that's about it, not very exciting, but am planning a few more trips so will hopefully post more soon. In the meantime here are a couple of cheesy shots of Paris....









PS: The froggies are holding these guys hostage... but not to fret a covert rescue operation is underway and they'll be eating Vegemite again in no time.

Oh, and the stereotypes are true...there are scary little rat like dogs everywhere and hence dog shit abounds on the pavements. Between the rat like dogs and the vast flocks of rat like pigeons the pavements can get a little hazardous at times.

Settling in...

Wow, it's been 3 weeks since I arrived in Paris... and yet it feels more like 6, it's hard to believe it's been so short. In that time I have been for multiple job interviews and ended up deciding on 2 part-time jobs (the first of which I started 4 days after my arrival... talk about a running start). Whilst the 2 part-time roles mean a little less security I am hoping they also equate to a bit more free time and more money, so we'll see how it goes. Hours are starting to pick up and by the end of April I should be into the swing of a full working week (have vague memories of what that feels like :)

My French is still appalling... and is even more noticeable when my students get stuck on a word and look to me for the translation of a complicated French business term (especially as I am so intimately acquainted with the world of hedge funds and market derivatives... not). However, my comprehension is definitely improving and I only have to give people the completely blank 'huh??' look about 50% of the time now. Shopkeepers have started speaking to me in French, rather than reverting immediately to English the moment my first few French words come out. So progress must be being made... not that it feels like it.

In addition to jobs I have also secured myself a room for the year and am happily (at least as happily as a person who hasn't received a paycheck yet can be) buying myself curtains and sheets etc and tacking photos up on the wall. Following a year of movement where the longest I spent in one room was 6 weeks, it is a wonderful feeling to know that I'll be here for a while and don't have to put a backpack on!

Next items on the list are getting myself a bank account, social security number and my temporary work permit... all of which will hopefully be well on the way to sorted by next week... oh yeah, and have to learn the language!

I have unknowingly moved into the 'little Turkey' area of Paris and am surrounded by many familiar elements. My street is full of Turkish men hanging around tea shops and smoking, posters of cheesy looking Turkish singers adorn the walls and Turkish restaurants and kebap shops abound. There is baklava, simit, ekmek and I have even spotted Midye Dolma (my Turkish favourite - mussels stuffed with rice), although it is on the menu of a classy restaurant and not being sold by a 12 year old boy on a baking hot street corner. Without the risk of serious food poisoning I'm not sure they'll taste at all the same...

My spare time (of which I have plenty at the moment) is spent walking around Paris, weather permitting, getting endlessly lost. I wandered around many strange streets in many cities last year, but none find me quite so baffled and disorientated as the streets of Paris. Any time I think I am heading straight I am certain to be heading along a diagonal street and where I end up is never quite where I expected. Thank god for the metro... I just keep, either intentionally or unintentionally, getting lost and walking until I stumble across the next metro stop where I pause to figure out where the hell I am. So far so good, always manage to find my way home and am stumbling across some great little back streets, markets, shops etc... not that I'll ever be able to find them again, but hey!

I've added some photos and videos to the blog for anyone interested. Hope everyone is well!

Cutie

Awwww....

Ain't this just the cutest! This is the baby moon bear in action and yes, the noise is for real... one of the strangest sounds I've ever heard.

Heading home...

Brrrr....

So, after a brief return to Sydney to sort out my visas and undertake something fairly abhorrent to me (work!) for a little while, I repacked (my bag is like an inverse tardis, things just keep expanding and not fitting back in!) and set of on the road again (and yes, that song keeps playing over in my head every time I get on a plane or bus... 'On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again'... so sad, I know) Thus, cutting it extremely fine on the weight restrictions for British Airways, I winged my way to Bangkok from whence I took an overnight train straight to Chong Mek, the southern border crossing with Laos. From here I crossed through one of the most rambling and disorganised borders I've seen yet into Laos and onto the southern town of Pakse. Over a couple of days in Pakse I explored the Angkor era ruins of Wat Champusak and the waterfalls of Tat Fan. Both of which would have been covered in a single day trip in most countries, however, I learnt the hard way that things go very slowly in Laos, especially the public transport, and that the organised tours, which I prefer to avoid, save a lot of time and headaches. Wat Champusak was 38km outside of Pakse.... not far you would think and so I thought... and yet it took me 2 and a half hours to reach by public bus, stopping numerous times along the way to pick up a bucket of fish from someones house or drop off some thatched roofing at someone else's house. All whilst squeezed amongst 20 or so Laos people in a 'bus' that was the equivalent of a covered ute with bench seats, all staring at the blonde farrang stupid enough not to take the much quicker organised tour with the rest of the farrang. Anyhow, got there in the end and was lucky enough to get a much faster ride back in a tuk tuk with a charming old german gentleman who was talking to his Laos guide about how he was going to pay him....with women - delightful. From Pakse I headed north to Vang Vieng via overnight bus... lovely. Using a squat toilet on a bus whilst ricocheting around the bends of windy mountain roads was added to my list of experiences - definitely under the 'never to do again' column though. Judging by the smell I wasn't alone in finding using the facilities challenging, which made having my bed directly above the toilet even more of an experience. Vang Vieng was lovely though, even if far more touristic than most places and full of bars with travellers laying back watching endless reruns of 'Friends' and 'The Simpsons'. The mountains were lovely scenery and I was smart enough this time to join a tour of the caves with Kayaking and tubing. I obviously hadn't completely learnt my lesson though, as the next day I decided to hire a bike and head out to one of the better caves in the area, something the guidebook assured was easily done. Or not, first mistake was not hiring a mountain bike, which made riding along on unpaved roads (and at one point a patch which I am certain was actually a pebble river bed) feel more like operating a jackhammer than riding a bike. My second mistake was being a gullible twat who, when unsure of which direction to take to Phu Cham cave, asked locals and actually believed what they said. Thus, having taken several wrong turns and paid for entry into two caves which were decidedly not Phu Cham, despite claims from said locals that they were, I finally arrived at Phu Cham hot, dusty, sweaty and sunburned and about 3 hours later than expected. It was worth the visit though, an amazing huge cave with a lovely blue swimming hole outside - into which I jumped fully clothed in preparation for the long, dusty ride back. From Vang Vieng I caught a VIP minibus up to Luang Prabang - I don't want to know what the ordinary buses would be like, the VIP was experience enough. Luang Prabang was lovely, great old buildings, night markets, there was just a really nice feel to it. The first day I signed up for two half day tours, the first to Pak Ou caves and a weaving village - nothing terribly exciting there, but a nice trip down the Mekong all the same. The second was to Tat Kuang Si, which was a gorgeous waterfall with a series of swimming holes at it's base. Very pretty.

On the second day I ventured out on a bike again, to visit a second waterfall, Tat Sae. Yep, not only had I not learnt my lesson, I had managed to talk another Aussie girl into going along with me. I had seen the turn off to Tat Sae on the way into town, therefore knew where it was and knew the road was paved and fairly easy going all the way. So we hired mountain bikes (had learnt that lesson) and headed out there. It was hot sweaty work, but much easier on the paved roads with good bikes and we covered the 15kms pretty easily. We took the turn off, headed through the small nearby village, parked our bikes and paid the boatman $1 to cross the river to the waterfall.... to the completely dry, not a drop of water left, full of leaves and bugs, waterfall. Yep, that's right, the guidebook said it can run a little low in dry season, but didn't happen to mention that it completely disappears. Still, it was a good ride and on the way back through the village we caught the attention of a bunch of kids at the local school so had fun showing them photos of themselves, so it was a worthwhile trip.Then, after getting up early the next morning to watch the monks collecting their alms (man those guys walk fast! Perhaps to avoid the hordes of tourists trying to take their photos?) I boarded a slow boat for a 2 day trip up the Mekong to Huay Xai. And no, that's not fog in this picture, it's smoke - the effects of slash and burn agriculture. You pretty much can't see more than 100m into the distance in most of nothern Laos and Thailand at this of year. From Huay Xai I headed off on the 'Gibbon Experience' - 3 days and 2 nights of walking through the forest, zipping along flying foxes and sleeping in treehouses. This was, without a doubt, the absolute highlight of my trip - muchas gracias Lee for the recommendation! After walking a short way into the forest we were harnessed up and clipped on to the first of 3 very long flying foxes - about 300metres long. Wow, I have had issues with heights in the past and was fervently not thinking about what I had signed myself up for.... and luckily it was all good. Yeah, it was high, you're about 40 metres above the forest floor and above most of the canopy for that matter, but what a rush! And the view! Too good for words, it was just amazing and yes, my legs were shaking a tad from the adrenaline rush afterwards, but nothing to be scared of.

This is the final zip line and was definitely one of the highest and it took us straight into our tree house where we were to spend 2 nights. This is Andre, one of the guys in the group, who just liked to go partway along the line and 'hang'. And no, I definitely did not give this a try, zipping along at speed is one thing... the moment it looked like slowing down or stopping... I'll skip that thanks!

Below is our treehouse. It had fantastic views and one of the most noticeable things about being out there in the forest was the birdsong... it was constant and lovely, they even sang right through the night. Unfortunately we weren't lucky enough to see any black gibbons, but we did get to hear them singing on the second morning, quite a unique sound. Despite my past reservations about heights I felt quite comfortable in the treehouse - perhaps with the exception of the toilet... a ceramic squat toilet covering a hole and placed right next to the railing of the house and swarming with large bees (without stings, but still, more company than I usually like when using the toilet).

On the trek back to town at the end of the trip we passed through a hut where many of the Gibbon Experience workers stay and here I had the amazing opportunity to play with a baby moon bear, who had been rescued from poachers. To be able to pick and hold a normally wild animal like this was absolutely amazing. Because it was still so young it was trying to nurse on anyone who passed by, frequently sucking at ankles of people standing around, or in this case my arm. I ended up with a couple of nice big hickies after this! I have a video of it which I will try to get online, but he made the most amazing noise whilst sucking, kinda like a vacuum cleaner.

Anyhow, enough on Laos. From there I headed off to Paris, where I am now sitting, shivering, reminiscing about what sunshine and warmth felt like. Have been interviewing madly for jobs and hope to have something finalised by early next week after a couple more interviews... and then on to finding an apartment. Didn't expect that to be harder than finding a job, but it's proving to be so. Oh yeah, and then the small matter of learning French... piece of cake eh!

Sorry, very long blog, but it's been a while... that's enough for now.