Oliver

Our daughter made us proud grandparents with the birth of Oliver,born 4.30a.m September 3rd 2010 7lbs 6 oz

Back to Lao for another tour

We left the gold coast 9.05am on the 17th February 2010 bound for a over night stop in Kuala Lumpar at the new Tune hotel ,which is just outside the airport within walking distance,this would be are first trip to Lao and Vietnam on our own without are good friends Deb 'n' Al'. The Tune hotel room was very small and basic,but it will do as it is only a overnight stop before the real adventure starts,you could only walk around the bed sideways without touching the walls!,are evening meal was a 2 min noodle from the 7/11 in the foyer of the hotel,yum!

We boarded the flight in the morning for Vientiane Lao arriving 9.40am,we hadn't booked a hotel so had to get the taxi to take us around a few until we found one good enough and cheap enough! It was in a good spot close to the Mekong river,It turned out are hotel window was opposite a karaoke bar!,thank god it didn't go on to late in the night! We had a meal at a local place,where it is a sort of do it yourself spicy salad wrap things! all served by friendly smiling kids.

The next day we had to go and hire a bike to take us north to Luang Phrabang,we used Jules again,and despite a mix up on reservation we got a Suzuki 200cc Van Van bike again,we had it for a week and hired for just one way. We spent the rest of the day exploring Vietianne and rode out to the Budda park on the outskirts of town,it was an amazing place,full of statues made out of concrete!,we were quite surprised how good and peaceful it was there with lots of colorful dragonflies we took countless photos.

The next morning we loaded up the bike for the ride to Vang Veing,

this time we would try and find the back road that we missed last time that takes the scenic way out around a picturesque dam,it was an awesome place to have lunch that we brought with us,fresh french loaf,cheese, tomatoes and onion. It was very undeveloped and only used by the locals for there holidays,it was like the tourists haven't discovered this place yet.It was hot and we made good time to get to Vieng Vang the scenery was spectacular. We rode around just out of town away from the backpack rat race to a quite little hut on stilts with a little balcony,it was only when we were unpacking we noticed little pile of sawdust everywhere,the place was infested with termites!but it was cheap! I had pizza for tea and i picked up a dose of food poisoning! The next day i had the shites and we decided to move in to a better room.We went for a walk to some local caves and got conned into having a kid for a guide who did a whistle stop show of the cave and has soon has we finished he put is hand out for a tip,it was hilarious the way he did it.

The next day i got worse and couldn't move to far from a safety of a toilet,despite popping Imodium ,we were booked on a sunset cruise on the river and i had to pull out at the last minute,that night i shook it off with a sweaty fever or i thought i did,because the next day we had the winding road up in the mountains to Luang Phrabang

My son Simon and Kayla's wedding

My son finally got married today 27/8/10  up on MT Tamborine,a great day,and I was really proud.

and his beautiful wife Kayla

Peel Island Leper Colony

The leper colony was opened in 1907 and closed in 1959 it was also used for the Inebriates (alcoholics). There were a total of 85 inmates being made up of white male and females,male and female aborigines and some Chinese. There were also five children on the island the youngest being only seven. The place is slowly being claimed back by nature but thre is an effort to restore some of the huts.

Wolston mental asylum

Wolston mental asylum was opened in 1865 and closed in the 1930's,t stands next to the Brisbane river and at the time when it was built it would have been in the middle of nowhere.It had a very disturbing history,but stands has a great decaying building ,where it would be a crime to just let it crumble away.There are no floorboards left so walking around the upper floor a very risky business,but it is a photographers delight,with endless photo opportunities. Taking our time walking around inside the place held a very indescribable presence!

2nd tour of duty Kuala Lumpur

     26/2/09 Kuala Lumpur.

we arrived at night so the first thing we did was to walk into the main centre where the Petronia's towers were ,they were awe inspiring and huge! i wouldn't like the electricity bill to flood light them though. Inside they were just has impressive,swish shopping center.we had a coffee and watched people going about there business,this was a real Muslim place with a lot of the women dressed in full on ninja gear! Outside the towers lit up the clouds,which was all to surreal.                               

We had to come back during the day to get tickets to go up to the bridge that connects the two towers together.

This was our cool mirror in our budget tune hotel room

A plate of flavored dried carrot for breakfast,i had to try it, there would have been more taste from a plate of sawdust!

It was quite high on the bridge and because of earthquakes and the like the bridge has to move to side to side,the guide showed us how far it moved when that big tsunami hit,at least a 100 mm, f@#!ing  hell!

There were some nice water gardens around the towers .We also went and had a look at some other gardens where there were some geocaches

We had a pack of monkeys guarding one cache!

We had high tea,buffet at the K.L.tower which revolves,the food was really good they put on a good spread with all sorts of food and the view was awesome,especially when there were rain showers coming across the city

doing the paperwork at the airport for departure.

Just a reminder on a wall near a prison in the city!