Danica Peck's Blog, page 3

Bon Jour Paris!

Here is what I think of when I think of Paris. The Louvre. Moulin Rouge. The Eiffle Tower. The Notre Dame. Where they signed a peace treaty in a World War. That is about it. I don't know many french words, except the ones that Joey from Friends taught me. Which isn't the best way to go around France. We arrived early morning, off an over night train. It was time for croissants and other pastries.  While in Pariee you feel fancy, we went and saw the Eiffle Tower, took some fancy poses and then rode the elevator up and had dinner on the Eiffel tower. I felt so posh and classy. The following day we went to the catacombs, a labyrinth of bones under the city. It was eerie and cold, so many bones. It was almost an hour walk, half of which was skeletons as walls. We then did a segway tour around the city, seeing some of the best sites. Note to self: wear a sports bra when riding a segway, playboy bras do not work. A must go restaurant: Laudrèe. Champs Elysees. Best Macaroons in France. I died and went to desert heaven. Along that street I also found a restaurant called: Danica Flora. Which excited me since my name is Danica Florence. The Notre Dame was more beautiful than my mind ever imagined, but I didn't see mu hunchback ringing the bells. And I was deeply disappointed to find the Love Lock Bridge was no more, but the Shakespear Book shop was a dream place!We also saw the Arc de Triomphe, its a must see of Paris, and yes its beautiful but whats the point behind it? We spent a few hours getting lost in the Louvre, because you can't not go here. And our last day in France, we went to the Palace of Versailles, the hall of mirrors, where the peace treaty was signed, I've always died to come here and it was magnificent. "Don't dwell on the past. But never forget our history. Just live in the present moment. For your future is yet to be written" 

Lets Drive the Great Ocean Road

It was a Sunday afternoon when I was packing my bag to head to the airport. Sunday, the day everyone rest because tomorrow is Monday and that means back to work. For me? It was my Friday and I was going to jump on a plane and go for an adventure. The destination was only a two hour flight away, Melbourne.When I landed, I jumped on a bus that took me to the city and met my cousin for dinner and drinks at a Spanish restaurant. We could have kept drinking, bring on the Sangria's but no. Tomorrow is when the real adventure began.As everyone was getting up to go to work on a Monday morning, Smurf and I walked the city of Melbourne to find a car to hire. It was going to be an old fashioned road trip, well almost. No GPS, no phones, just a good old fashioned map.And just to make things more interesting, Smurf decided to torture me with her control over the radio. Instead of some good tunes to dance and sing to, she decided to educate me with the, 'Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording'.Hours passed. Miles continued. The Broadway continued, it was now singing about some affair. I decided to take the radio into my own hands, which ended up in Smurf insisting I was torturing her because YouTube Artist covers aren't cool enough. But at least we were finally on the Great Ocean Road.First stop, or what was meant to be the first stop was Bells Beach."What are you doing?" I yell when I realized, or at least felt like we were lost. "Get back in the map."Few more miles down the road..."Turn. Turn. TURN! You missed it!" Smurf exclaimed."Where was I meant to turn?" I insisted."Where the big sign said, 'Bells Beach' that way!" Smurf argued back.We decided instead of turning around we'd do it on our way back to Melbourne, so we took the next turn instead which lead us to a chocolate factory! We decided to go Oompa Loompa hunting.With no luck of finding Oompa Loompa's, we continued our road-trip, stopping at all the good beaches who's signs I manage to see and follow. Smurf reckons I don't notice road signs, which is probably correct. I'm not always the most observant.We even stopped at Split Point's Lighthouse. The beaches are stunning. I don't even know how to describe them in words. But the Moana song very much describes how I feel about the ocean, it just calls me. I believe the ocean cures all moods, its one of the three things I believe in, I don't choose to believe in religion, but I do choose to believe in the ocean, the stars and music.We'd been driving almost five hours, not including our beach stops, and we finally reached the 12 apostles. A collection of limestone stacks that hold a breathtaking view at Loch Ard Gorge. They are very high tourist place, though I have yet to see all twelve. I didn't manage to count that many. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm sure there is twelve, but its just like playing hide and seek. We decided to sleep the night at Port Campbell, a town just a few more miles down the road. And what a sunset it showed over the ocean.It was my intention to get up and see the sunrise, but alas I am not an early riser. But it was indeed and unfortunately time to drive back to Melbourne."Are you in the map, I need you to direct me?" I said, when already driving in the direction I assumed was the right way."I think you were meant to go right at the roundabout back there, not straight.""No, we're going the right way because arent the apostles just down there?""Oh yeah, I didn't even notice the ocean over there." Smurf exclaimed.How we did this road trip without getting lost is beyond me, though we arent at the end yet, so I better not jinx myself. As we drove Smurf looked at the back of the map we had and it had two recommended activities. One was another lighthouse which you could walk to the top, the other a tree top walk. We figured with my track of not reading signs, we'd just see which one I managed to find."Turn," Smurf demanded out of the blue.I turned, "but the tree top walk was back the other way," I insisted.For once it was Smurf not noticing the signs, so we had to u-turn to get back on the correct road to the tree top walk. Though as we continued to drive I doubted if I'd read the sign correctly because there was a lot of open country but not many trees, well not enough to have some great tree top walk.Eventually we did find it but. I didn't doubt us for one second.If you have a fear of heights, be warned. That tower I'm standing in front of, it moves in the wind. Not a lot, but enough to make you feel sick if you're terrified of heights. Like me, I panicked, a lot.However it was nearing the end of The Great Ocean Road, this time I did find Bells Beach rather than pass it. And even though this was only a two day adventure, it was still amazing and so much fun.It was now time to re-pack and sleep because I was to get up at four in the morning to get to the airport in time for my flight home."And out of all the places and faces I have seen there is one place I know I want to be. Just take me far away to my home out by the sea. We're living life the easy way, it's easier than it seems. Home is where the heart and my heart is by the sea." Matt Graham - The Sea Song

Magic of Ubud

Ubud I felt was my place, it was very spiritual and natural and didn't feel overall touristy. We spent the days walking around town, getting massages, eating local food which was like a dollar after the exchange rate. It just needed beaches and it would become my favorite place.We hired a driver for two days to get around a bit easier.DAY 1:We started at the Tegalalang Rice Fields, honestly you should have been there and heard me trying to pronounce some of these names. It was beautiful, we began to walk to fields but got a little lost when it started raining and we couldn't really see in front of us so we just turned around and walked the way we came. We were covered in rain and mud when we got out but totally worth it.Down the road was a plantation, were they make coffee, which comes out of an animal. Yeah I found it gross also, they feed this animal a certain bean and then they digest it and then they clean and roast the beans and it becomes coffee. Sarah made me try it, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Luckily for me though, they also made tea's and they let us taste test all of them also and I wanted to buy half the flavors, we were there for over an hour just trying to narrow down which tea's to buy, I settled for cinnamon. I was very devastated when I ran out.We then ended our driving tour at the Saraswati Temple where a dog photo bombed my picture with it, but I think it made the photo better. Down the road from this was another market place which we sussed out.DAY 2:This was our day for chasing waterfalls. Here is another tongue twister name, we started at the Tegenungan Waterfall. Which is a zillion steps to get down to and then its balancing over rocks to get to the waterfall which has a sign in front of it saying, 'be sexy but no naked' which of course we got a photo in front of. Our  driver for this day was quite funny, he just kept taking photos and getting us to do different poses, it was like having our own professional photographer.Since we were already wet from this waterfall, we jumped over to the next one. Kanto Lampo. The driver was surprised when we asked to go here, because it isn't as touristy yet, but if you only have time to do one, go to this one because its just so beautiful. You can climb it and take photos on the waterfall. It was magic.We needed to dry off so we went to a chocolate factory to make chocolate elephants, though once we were there I may have gotten a little bit distracted. We saw a honey bear in an enclosure so I ran down to have a look at him, he was so cute, and I just wanted to hug him, the lady said I wasn't allowed but. Sarah then went to the bathroom leaving me alone staring at this bear, the trainer then walked into the enclosure and I asked if I could hug him and he said YES. Sarah returned from the bathroom to find me sitting in the bear enclosure with this beautiful animal sitting on my lap. So we spent the afternoon hugging a bear, best experience ever.We ended the day walking along the Campuhan Ridge, a beautiful relaxing walk that would be perfect with some yoga mats. We are definetely coming back to Bali again so stay tuned for the next adventures here.

Lets be mermaids on Gili Trawangan

We caught a small boat and rode over on the roof to Gili T. It was one of three small Gili Islands, and when I saw small. I mean small. You can walk from one side of the island to the other in twenty minutes, and I know that for a fact because we did it, while drunk. There are no cars, no motor bikes or any kind of motor vehicles on the island, transportation options are. Bicycles. Horse and carriage. Or the simpleness or walking. It is a breath of fresh air, this island.It was raining on our first evening on this beautiful island, but that didn't stop us from borrowing an umbrella from the hotel and walking barefoot around the island, in the rain, splashing in puddles. Never let the weather ruin your holidays. We even jumped in the pool for awhile cause well, your already wet, so why not.The following day was thankfully, well not exactly sunny, but no rain. We journeyed along the beach front taking photos on Gili T's famous beach swings. Some are on little decks, some are in the ocean.  We took photos at like seven different swings.We then hired out biked, for free, from the hotel and rode around the island. And I finally get the saying, its like riding a bike. Excluding cycle classes at the gym, I haven't rode a bike for almost ten years, and it was super easy to jump on and just ride. We rode to the other side of the island, enjoyed some cocktails on the beach and then rode back to get ready for... wait for it. A full moon party. Oh yeah, we timed this right. Gili T is very much known as the party island, and it lived up to its reputation.We got to the full moon party, kicked off our shoes since the dance floor was a beach, had a few drinks and didn't leave the dance floor till 4am. It's a shame we couldn't stay awake for a few more hours because that would have been a nice sunrise.Them hangover no sleep feels. Never fun. We walked the island, a little slower than the day before and found a small dodgy looking restaurant and ordered some delicious local food and watermelon juice, just like that hangover gone. But since it was party island, why not check out the backpacker night clubs tonight. We checked out a Jamaican live music bar, lost our borrowed umbrella at one of the clubs, table danced at another club, and got kicked out at 3am.If your looking for a destination to relax and enjoy the ocean by day and then party by night, Gili T is definitely the place for you.

Shopping and Temples of Seminyak, Bali

"collect memories, not things. Because in the end we regret the chances we didn't take."It was the longest flight ever, though we had our starburst to entertain us. We are a perfect match, pink is Sarah's favorite, and red is my favorite. No fighting over a shared flavor. But yes, you'd think a six hour flight would go quickly, but no. It went ridiculously slow, I could almost count the minutes.When we finally landed it was midnight so it was to the hotel, ride the bubblegum smelling elevator and to bed it was. For the adventures began tomorrow.DAY 1:We began the day by finding our way down to Poppies Lane in Kuta. It is markets upon markets upon markets of shopping, we spent all morning, window shopping or batering for goods we wanted. We saw a Fish Spa which we were very tempted to check out but there are a lot of health warnings in Kuta so we didn't risk it.And my god, the wolf calls.Hey beautiful.Do you want a Bali boyfriend?Ya-da Ya-da Ya-da. Do you really think that is going to get a girls attention? It just makes us run away to be honest.After shopping till we dropped, or at least our wallets did. We went back to the hotel to restock our wallets to began to the next location.We jumped in an Uber and went to Uluwatu. It was one of the must see temples in Bali according to the travel guide, its almost meant to have Balinese dancing at sundown but we went in wet season so no dancing. It was still a beautiful place, we walked along the brick path that was beside the ocean and got all views of the temple that was possible, the temple isn't much but that view. Take a good camera.The monkey's were a little bit scary. As we were walking back to the entrance of the temple we had them surround us a bit, for a moment I thought I was going to die, but we managed to run out of there. We had to walk to long way back but it was worth it, in exchange for not being murdered by monkeys.The night had fallen and we were now starving after a day of exploring. We looked up the best night life of Seminyak area and Ku De Ta was one of the names that popped up so we thought why not and checked it out. If you are reading this, it is a must see! Its not a night club or anything, its a restaurant which has day beds facing the ocean. I mean what a perfect view which having dinner with the company you take to Bali.Sarah and I just lay there listening to the waves while we waited for our food and cocktails to be delivered and I don't know if it was just because we we're hungry but that food was delicious.We continued to lay there playing, I spy... until we started getting to comfortable that we were going to fall asleep. But it was just breathtaking, the photos I took of this place can't even do it justice, its just to amazing.DAY 2:As well as Uluwatu... Tanah Lot was another temple that was recommended to see. Unfortunately it was low tide when we went, but it was still worth seeing. Its a temple on a rock formation in the ocean, the beauty of it is that when it is high tide, you need a boat to get over to it.It was a good experience going here except, what is with Asian's wanting to take photos with randoms? We had at least a dozen people we didn't know ask to take photos with us. It was a little bizarre and hard to get away, they just kept taking photos.After Tanah Lot we found a small local restaurant because we wanted to try some authentic Balinese food. There were a few other tourist in this restaurant so we spent the time guessing what everyone's accent was, we were probably incorrect with most of them but it is still a fun time passer. We spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around Seminyak, that's part of the fun in travelling that a lot of people forget. Everyone plans itineraries and does the must see place tourist places, but why not just walk around the neighborhoods and see what the country is like its natural places.When you search Seminyak nightlife, there is A LOT of options, I mean, a lot, a lot. We looked at the websites of a few and decided on La Favela. It was a good choice. The haloumi entree, yum. The hazelnut mousse dessert, oh my god. And that is just the food. The place alone was gorgeous. When you walk in, it is like walking into a forest. Once your inside the restaurant, its like being in a pirates of the Caribbean bar with Spanish and steampunk influence. The soap in the bathroom is spirit bottles, there are bicycles on the roof, a river and a bridge out the back. It is a photographers dream, so have a full memory on your camera and go have fun."Into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul"

Greece, the home of the best Gods.

Greece is so different to what my mind had imagined. Especially Athens, it is a remarkable place. One minute you are strolling through a shopping market district and then you turn a corner and bam, ancient ruin right before your eyes. The first night we had in Greece we jumped on a train and went and saw my cousin from Malaysia, as she was in town and at her in-law’s house. We had a delicious tradition Greek meal with a sweet wine with this family. They were lovely people and it was a great atmosphere they had, the family all coming to town at the same time. Before I knew what happened, the father had bought out a bottle of Ozzo and was telling stories and must see things around Greece. I really hope my cousin gets married soon because her in-laws seem like a lot of fun and people I would love to see again. We pretty much saw all of Athens in a day, we started at the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, an old theatre, and when I say old I mean, not like QPAC its old school, grand play kind of thing, and it is still used to this day. Acropolis and Parthenon were stunning, better than what I imagined, the Parthenon was unfortunately under construction and there were SO many tourist it was a little annoying. If you want to get lost in a labyrinth of delicious food, go to Plaka in Athens, we found some delicious places to eat, and what was awesome, ever restaurant in Greece gave you something at the end for free, desert or alcohol generally. There is alot of street art in Greece, I know I should use the word graffiti but I think it is art, some of the stuff is beautiful and makes the walls. We decided to have some down time and jump on a Ferry over to Santorini. It was beautiful, have you ever seen, 'Sisterhood of the Travelling pants' - it shows off Santorini beautifully. We caught a little bus up the windy hill and down to Perivolos, where our stay was, a air bnb, lovely little set up. Also great location, it was less than a five minute walk to one of the black sand beaches. We lay under a straw umbrella and drank cocktails on the black sand beach, it was a brilliant afternoon. We then walked along the shore line and looked at the restaurants, we chose one towards the end and hands down, best cocktails, creme burlee in Greece, we went there again the following night because it was that good. The following day we also went down to the Red sand beach which was a bit further away.  The last day we had in Santorini we decided to be pirates, we jumped on a ship, it kinda looked like a pirate ship, less flashy. We sailed to a small island and hiked to the top where there was a volcano, not due to erupt for another thirty days, the tour guide said if we didn't make it up and back in thirty days then we deserved to die - had a good laugh at that. When we found safety on the boat again without burning to a crisp, we sailed around the island to the hot springs, and jumped off the edge of the boat into the ocean. It was so fun. We then sailed around to Oia, rode a donkey up the four hundred stairs and enjoyed Sangria while watching the sunset. It was one of the best views in the world. There was definitely not enough days in Greece. 

Just a bit chilly in Scotland

As my head pounded from the night before, my mind also repeated a sign I'd read at the nightclub, "Your life, your rules." What excellent advice. We all wear mask and be who society expects us to be, and that is why I believe I am most free when I travel, I be who I want to be without the fear to follow expectation.With the need for nurofen, I climbed down from my bunk and relieved my headache with drugs and water, lots of water. It was then time to gather all my belonging and drag myself down to Kings Cross train station, I boarded my train, found my seat and then rested my head against the window with my headphones in.Throughout the four hour journey to Scotland I went in and out of consciousness, but what I saw of the country side was beautiful.When I finally arrived in Edinburgh, I found my backpackers, the St Christopher, settled my stuff in and then set off to explore the town, and can I say with no lies, I felt like I was in a fairy tale town, it was beautiful.I spent the day wondering around Edinburgh's fairy tale village, there were a lot of stairs, I definitely did like three days worth of cardio while exploring town. I even went to the statue of that man and touched his gold toe, I'm not sure what the point of that is but apparently it is for good luck. I even saw a few Scots walking around town in kilts and playing the bagpipes, it was all very fascinating and not what I expected, like its what you imagine Scotland to be but when you travel it is never what you imagine so when it is better than what you imagine, its not what you've expected.Now, for you Harry Potter fans, Edinburgh is where she wrote the first draft of the Philosopher's Stone. It was in this small cafe kind of place in the center of town, and I went there, with my copy of the first Harry Potter book and sat in there reading.Now I only had two days in Scotland, day one, I jumped on a bus that stopped in some other smaller towns outside of Edinburgh, but I kinda jumped over the boarder into England again, to go to the Alnwick Castle, because as you've well noticed, I'm a Harry Potter nerd and this is where they did some of the filming for the first two movies, remember that scene where Ron gets hit in the face with his broom stick when say, 'up'? Well that was one of the scene's filmed at this castle, and its a castle, they are fun to explore.The next day, I decided to see a bit more of Scotland, so I jumped on a train and went to a small town called Dundee, there wasn't really much there, but it was a lovely town to wonder around and I caught up with a old pen friend from high school, which was lovely to finally put a face to the name, well a face outside of the photos.It was now time to return to England to meet with Smurf so our Europe adventures could begin. Though we had one day in England before we flew out, so she took me to some super fancy restaurant where its menu was the most bizarre thing I had ever seen, like it had crocodile and weird animal organs and that, so I chose Pigeon, it seemed the most normal on this list, it was actually nice, not as bad as I was expecting. We also did a tour of the Harry Potter Warner Bro Studio which was just magical, I was like a child in a candy shop, so much excitement that its not even funny.

London, this is where I am meant to be.

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted and dreamed about going to England.If you look at my old social media pages they all say something about getting lost in London, and finally, I am here. It doesn't even matter that I didn't sleep on the thirty hour flight it took to get here. I was wide awake and ready to explore.I was a little bit nervous because it was my first time travelling alone, but I checked into the Generator Backpackers. The first day I spent wondering around the area I was staying in. It took me over an hour to walk into the restaurant to get food because I have this weird fear of eating alone. But I finally did it and was so proud of myself.  The first night I met these two girls from Switzerland and one from Canada and they were all super nice, the Canadian girl was on her second last night so she offered to take me around to all the sights the next day cause she hadn't seen them all either.We had a massive day. It started at like 9am. First we walked to the British Museum, where we spent two hours looking around, mostly at the Greek and Roman things. I reckon it would take a week to see every exhibit in this place. We then continued into Soho, where we got lunch before we did Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Eye of London and finished in Hyde Park. It was 5pm by the time we left the park so we just trained it back, to exhausted to walk back.The next day I did a tour out to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. I wish I'd spent more time in Bath, it was this cute old fairy-tale like town with lots of fudge shops and the main tourist attraction is the roman baths which is like a really old pool, the water is green, its where people used to bath apparently. Windsor was fun, a girl I met on the bus, we were both travelling alone so decided to stick together, we almost missed getting back to the bus on time because we stayed for the march and they close the gates while that's on, but luckily we just made it. Last stop was Stonehenge which was really beautiful and powerful, there was some energy there that was just breathtaking.When I got back to the backpackers that evening there were two new solo back packers sitting in there on their phones. I asked them both if they wanted to head upstairs for food, the Argentinian girl said yes, but the German girl declined.  We headed up stairs and we just clicked, she reminded me of a girl I knew back home and we got along so well. Half an hour later the German girl came and joined us. The night then turned into six rounds of drinks, and four in the morning. The German girl hadn't had a drink in her life before this. We just had so much fun together so spent the next two days and nights just exploring London and partying by night. It was such a fun experience and I really hope I cross path with these girls again, even the Switzerland girls I met on the first night. I met so many amazing people while travelling by myself.After they left, the room was replaced with two German boys, a girl from Perth and some other people I didn't get the chance to associate with. I spent the rest of the week mostly with these three because we were all leaving the same day. The first night however we all went our own separate ways so I went and saw Lion King, in Piccadilly. When I was on the tube home I met this English guy who looked very much like Tom Felton so I went and had a drink with him, it was almost four in the morning when I got back to the back packersHere is the main con about staying in backpackers.An hour after I had passed out, I was awoken from the Perth girl screaming about people being disrespectful and storming out of the room, turning the light on as she did. Turns out some had brought back a girl and they were having sex on their top bunk. He did the walk of shame out of the room, muttering he was sorry, he checked out that morning and didn't come back.The next day I caught up with a friend from Brisbane who was in England for a working visa, we are both awesome nerds, so our day began at Kings Cross Station where we tried to get onto the platform 9 3/4 to catch the Hogwarts express. It then continued onto Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum where we did some fabulous poses with fake famous people and characters, it was a good laugh. We ended the day giving my Mushu Pop Figurine and her Simba one a play date while we had a delicious Indian dinner with some mouth watering cocktails.Just a note for the photo below, I'm a Hufflepuff also, but I lost at scissors, paper, rock.I spent the next day wondering around some parks, oxford street and other places with the girl from Perth, we then went to the Asian restaurant, she says they have it all over the world and she goes to it in each country. I can see why, it was such good food, I still often crave it. We then returned to the room to get dressed up, we joined the German Boys, had a few drinks and went clubbing. The clubs are so much fun, they played Disney music, like what?In one part of the night, the Perth girl had gone home, one of the German boys was flirting and the other was dancing by himself in the middle of the dance floor with his awesome dance moves, so I was by myself dancing and the photographer was going to have the DJ announce I need friends. Luckily some guy heard this and came over and pretended he knew me, the photographer didn't believe us so asked us what each others names were, we both guessed, completely wrong guesses but it was enough to make the photographer let me off the hook.It was a great night, but I was not looking forward to getting up early and hungover to find a train to Scotland.

Malaysia is where Ohana is

As the plane begins its landing I look out the window, all the lights from the city are lit up like a Christmas tree as it’s still early enough in the morning to still be dark. I lean back in my seat and close my eyes and get a feeling of being home.I walk into KLIA after disembarking from the bag and begin the long journey through baggage collection and customs, I suppose I should get used to airports and their routines as I will be going in and out of them for the next two months. I drag my bag out of the airport and into the pick-up area where my cousin is waiting for me, before he drops me off at his sisters place I ask him to take me out for breakfast because,A) aeroplane food sucks andB) Malaysian local food is delicious!Dear God!I forgot that Malaysians drove like crazy people! An hour drive took us twenty minutes with my cousins driving. If the ground outside wasn’t so dirty I would have thrown myself from the car and kissed the ground screaming land like the child did in the movie, ‘The Pacifier’.But his attempt to almost kill me with his crazy driving was forgiven, he had brought me to a small local place for breakfast. Excellent.We arrive at his sisters’ place and I’m welcomed with hugs and screams from her two beautiful daughters. I miss them so much when I am not here, they are a large reason why I come back to Malaysia every year. Family is important. Now for the main reason I came to Malaysia for this trip.The hospital.My Uncle had just had his surgery; he was doing well luckily. Mum was already in Malaysia to support her brother through his surgery, so we both got on the trains and I experienced the joys of working out how to navigate Malaysian public transport for the first time.It wasn’t as hard as I expected actually – I got very excited that when you bought a ticket it gave you a coin, how cute is that. A little blue coin is your ticket to transport around Malaysia.We finally reach the hospital after like two hours, it was only meant to take us an hour, but it wouldn’t be a journey with me if we didn’t get lost. Now I know that the big Malaysian hospitals are some of the best hospitals in the world, but they need a serious update. I thought I was walking through a drug lab meets an eighties mental institution from a horror movie. And the room my uncle was in, NO AIRCON! It’s a hospital to get well and it was a small room with six beds, one fan and a malfunctioning machine beeping every few seconds. I would have gone insane if I had to spend a whole day in here. But I was expected to convince my Uncle to stay in here because he needed his bed rest. Yeah, people that know me, know I don’t have a good poker face, what so ever.Despite the horrible situation, it was so good to see my Uncle. It was even better to know he was recovering very fast, which is amazing because I am far from ready to say goodbye to his Mufasa voice. The amount of times I would sneak downstairs when I was a child, into one of his tutor sessions just to listen to him talk, I love the sound of his voice so much.It’s the little things in life that are sometimes the most important, so value everything around you that you love.Now, it was a weekend, and I was on holidays so a little party was in order. A message was sent out to the other side of the family and the drinks began. I spent the early hours of the night drinking gin and tonic fishbowls with the three A sisters. Yes, fishbowls. Well they weren’t called fishbowls on the menu, but considering when I ordered a gin and tonic, and it came out in a glass almost as big as my head… I think calling it a fish bowl is in order. Midnight ticked over and Mum and I went home with M and J, two other relatives that had been out with us.Their house is OH MY GOD! I did not know that houses like this existed in Malaysia. It was five stories high and had its own elevator! What is this? It is crazy! Anyway, when we reached here, the party continued and the Whiskey came out along with the classic old rock music that their son and his friends were playing.5am I decided I was spinning too much to continue so found a pillow and a bathroom and fell asleep on the floor. What confused me most was, when I woke up at 7am, I was in a bed. I have no recollection of moving myself from bathroom to bedroom. But that children, is why you should only drink in moderation. I should take my own advice. Ha, who am I kidding.It was just the party weekend I needed to begin my two month holidays. I went back to my cousins’ house to spend some more time with her and her daughters. The next few days was just a routine of shopping, hospital visits, playing with the daughters, late night drinks and DNM’s with my cousin.Shopping! You must do this in Malaysia. The exchange rate is amazing, and when is shopping for yourself not fun?I did manage to do one tourist thing this week, I went to the Batu Caves. Before you do it, let me say, good luck. It is three hundred, very steep, very small steps up into these caves that hold an Indian Temple. It is worth doing, because it is beautiful. I’ve done it three times, and every time without fail, midway up I will ask myself WHY AM I DOING THIS? But totally worth it, promise. And if it wasn’t worth it, well you just did your workout for the week, so look at the silver lining.The weekend had rolled around again. Excellent – taps fingers together with an evil smile. The A sister picked me up and we went to a bar. I love the nightclubs and bars in Malaysia. Much prefer them over Australian ones. There is less of a sleaze feel when your inside, and they always have live music which is so much funnier to dance and sing to than a DJ with just sounds. The girls did find it highly amusing that the bartender kept coming over to talk to me only, even when they ordered, he’d keep talking to me. Awkward. But let’s skip that part and order more cocktails and shots since we were on a time frame. The youngest sister had a curfew, she was to be home at midnight. Which naturally meant, we got home after two am.In every culture, there is good and bad aspects. In Malaysia, I love that the families are so close and majority of the population is spiritual or religious. The thing I don’t like about Malaysia is some of the relationships, some of the Malaysian men are still quite old fashioned. Old fashioned in the sense that, women are their property. The wives look after the children, clean the house, cook all the meals and still hold full time jobs or study. Yes, women are amazing but they shouldn’t be your slave. The men can also be quite possessive, having to know where the wife is always, and who she is with, can’t go out at night without them, and if they do there is a curfew. What is this? It’s the 2000’s, we left these medieval women have no power stuff behind years ago.As much as I love Malaysia, and love my family. I will never marry a Malaysian man, because I am too much of my own person to become someone’s slave. When I marry, it will be a partnership.It was time to leave Malaysia, a few days stopover in Perth before I head for the real adventure. The reason for my stopping in Perth was my Godfather lived here, and I haven’t seen him for a few months. A visit was well overdue.It became obvious that Perth was my relaxing period for this trip. It was my second day here and I was sitting on the floor colouring in and watching, ‘how to be single’.It’s a very spot on movie, a little ridiculous in some parts, but the overall meaning of the movie couldn’t be more true.We are defined by our relationship status.We are embarrassed to be single so we settle into a relationship, and then when we realise it’s the wrong relationship, we wish we were single and out with our friends.What does that say about us as a human race?We are so obsessed with the idea of being in love that the minute someone gives us attention we give them everything. We let them change us. And then we are no longer ourselves.It’s not a bad thing to be single, it doesn’t make you alone.And another thing we do is hide our emotions. If your upset or angry about something, say so. Don’t bottle it all in until you break down or go crazy.Spread out in the bed.Read a book.Hang out with your friends.Go to a café or walk through the park.Write a bucket list and tick them all off.Travel.Be wild.Be free.Our time to be single is the time to discover who we are and to become our best selves so when we do get into a relationship, we know who we are and won’t change to be what society wants us to be.So, go out, do something crazy.Forget about relationship status’s right now and do something for you.It is your duty in this life to live to your fullest potential.

From Brisbane to Sydney: Beach Road Trip

Have you ever noticed that people are so eager to travel, but hardly ever explore there own country?The country you live in is just as beautiful as the one you live in, you just don't notice because you never leave your little bubble of a life and assume that is all that your home is.Well for those who live in Australia, that small part that is your home, is a dot.It was the first day of school holidays and we jumped on the road and drove from Brisbane to Byron Bay.We went to this place called crystal castle and so spiritual and so many crystal, it made my inner hippie very happy.We put coins on Hindi statues, we walked through bamboo trees, we did 'hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil' in front of a buddha, we meditated on rose quartz for good luck in love, that is yet to work.There was also this temple with golden Tibetan Prayer Wheels and if you walked around the temple three times, rolling the prayer wheels it was said your wish would come true. It was a beautiful place and I would love to go here again.We then reached the center of Byron Bay where we had lunch at a local pub on the water and enjoyed the sound of the waves as we ate. We then went and found our backpackers where they told us that there was an event at a local backpackers night club that night, called Cheeky Monkeys, we attended, we table danced and hit on really hot English bartenders, it was great, we were a little out of place being the only Australian's in the place.We went and jumped in the cold but beautiful ocean the next morning to wake up before driving again.The next part of the drive was Byron Bay to Coffs Harbour.Here we wondering the town, hiked up a hill to get to the best view in town, it was worth it once you got up there. It was a bit steep and I regretted not wearing proper walking shoes but I did it.The night life in Coffs wasn't exactly exciting, so it was just a chilled out night and beach visits, oh and we did the tourist thing and went to the big banana. How many giant fruits are there? I've done Pineapple and Banana. How many more in Australia are there because I feel like I should find them all, like a game. The next day we continued on to Nelson Bay. Where we did another hike for another breathtaking view, this time I was prepared and had my joggers on. We also found a jetty to jump off into the ocean, its such a thrill jumping off something and landing in cold water like I don't even know how to describe this rush.We FINALLY reached Sydney where we still didn't really have a night life, this isn't really much of a night life blog. I might just put that out there now. Instead, we did the blue mountains, found the three sister. Sailed over to Manley, walks along the beach. Bought some ridiculous Hawaiian shirts which we wore in our tourist photos in front of the bridge and opera house. We look so beautiful.It was now time to begin the journey back to Brisbane. The first stop back was Port Macquarie and I think I would live here, its just beaches on beaches on beaches and each as beautiful as the next."See the line where the sky meets the sea, it calls me. And no one knows, how far it goes. . . If I go there's just no telling how far I'll go" - Moana, How Far I'll goIt was now our last destination before home. Yamba, a small town three hours out of Brisbane. We stayed in this back packers that was right on the ocean, our room had a shared balcony that looked out over the ocean, so we got up at like four am and watched the sun rise over the ocean, it was so beautiful and worth getting up at stupid o'clock, originally we were planning to go back to bed afterwards but we were just to awake so we walked down to water and saw dolphins, I squealed like such a girl because I adore dolphins, they are in my top three favorite animals. We then decided to end our trip on a thrill, and since we had such fun jumping of the jetty in Nelson Bay we drove to the Blue Rock Pools, its this really high rock wall that you can jump off into the lake. There are three heights you can jump from. We did the lower two, didn't get the courage for the top one, but next time I definetely will.