Jason Wallace

Well on Monday I had promised to cook my CS hosts in Frankfurt some real New Zealand food, so what did I make them? Lamm aus Neuseeland (Lamb from New Zealand), smashed potato and peas! They didn't have any mint sauce which was a shame but never mind. Also the only lamb that I could get was frozen in a box! My cooking skills are pretty non-existent so the potato was cold, the peas were hard and the lamb was gooood! They appreciated the thought anyways, I think. Though afterwards we went to the schnitzel house on the corner of their street so obviously New Zealand portions aren't quite manly enough for Germans! Had a good sleep other than having to get up at 6am to get the bus to Frankfurt Hahn Airport, an hour and a half away so shouldn't bloody well be called Frankfurt anyway! Ewa was really nice and got up early to say goodbye! So ended my first experience of being hosted and it was great!
My Ryanair flight from Frankfurt to Edinburgh was really great, yeah ya don't get anything free on it (not even coffee or tea) but whos complaining when the flights are almost free! Uncle Sandro picked me up from the airport and we sped back home to relax. Aunty D and Uncle Sandros house is really nice and just like in Germany always baking hot! Hung out with Christina and Naunty (Sandro's aunty, who is like a nana to Christina and Lloyd so they call her Naunty) while Aunty D and Sandro went to the hospital then had some din dins and a chat and then went to bed. The Wednesday I got woken up by Christina and Lloyd but it was ok cause theyre cool! Went into Dunfermline town and it was absolutely amazing! The streets are sooo old, they haven't really been modernized at all! We had a coffee and muffin at Naunty's house and then headed home to await BINGO! BINGO is so different than in New Zealand, held at a proper huge BINGO hall that is just for BINGO. Won 1 cash game which was £10 and a box of chocolates and 1 line game in actual bingo which was £6 (later on they were winning £50 for a line!) it was really good fun anyway and pretty intense...not just for old ladies after all!
Yesterday was a huge day, got up and went into Edinburgh city. From the moment we left the train station I was in awe! Walked up the steps and come out to see a whole row of Castle like buildings to your left with Edinburgh Castle right at the end of them all, it can't be explained but it is definitely the nicest city I have ever been to (sorry Frankfurt). Went on a tour on a double decker bus which was really cool, there's no modern part to the city (except for the Parliament which is shithouse) the whole city is just breathtaking! During the tour there was really good historical commentary and I think I learnt something..eww.
Just as a wee side note - Went to McD's for lunch and had the best burger ever, chicken fiesta! Got to try it!
Afterwards we went to the Scotland Dungeons which was really really cool and went on a bit of a tour under Edinburgh learning about Cannibalistic incestuous families and graverobbers turned murderers. Was pretty scary there was always random frights and you never knew where the next person was gonna jump out from, was really a lot of fun and got a cool photo which will upload eventually. After the underground we had a couple of beers, Scottish beer is not bad at all. Went to a place called Pizza express for dinner, had an 'American Hot' which was pepperoni and jalapenos. One thing which Im slowly learning is that jalapenos everywhere else are a hell of a lot hotter than subway in NZ. A hell of a lot hotter! After dinner we had another couple of beers which were setting us back about $10 nzd per beer! Then went on a witchery tour which was a walking ghost/witch/historical tour of ancient Edinburgh, it was so cool and really funny too. Got a photo of the place where people were hung and where a guys head was skewered as a warning to everyone else not to mess with the hardass king! We were going to go into the winter wonderland which is a fair/German xmas market/Christmas lightup but the lines to get in were huuuuge!
Overall Edinburgh is a really amazing city and I could see myself living here! But if you were going to come to Edinburgh for any length of time you would need to have a work permit because spending NZD here is fucking expensive! Didn't really spend too much the first couple of days but managed to catch up on my budget yesterday! Could easily spend $300 a day! So lucky that I have somewhere to stay and people feeding me and taking me places, so thanks Aunty D and Sandro! Going to the supermarket today so we can buy some cheap booze and food to take on the ship to Amsterdam but not going to do too much as thinking Ill need money for Amsterdam! Its going to be so awesome. If you have any special present requests like hookers from Holland then let me know now!

American Hotdogs

So on Friday I made it to the old town no problem as mentioned in my earlier blog...unfortunately getting home again wasn't quite as easy! I got my ticket ok and got on to the tram ok and that was about it...couldn't remember which stop I was meant to get off at so took a bit of a guess, bad idea! Hopped off the tram and nothing looked familiar, figured I must have got off the tram a bit early so decided that I would just head in the general direction that I thought was the way home...an hour later and a few wrong turns I had finally arrived somewhere which looked vaguely familiar. Unfortunately it only looked familiar because I had been there with my host whanau the night before so I still wasn't really sure where I was meant to go. Decided to just walk and see what would happen since my phone is expensive to use and had very little battery left. Finally stumbled upon the tram station which I had left that morning which I knew was very close to home, that only made it even more frustrating when I walked around for an hour trying to find home. I remembered on the first night I arrived Marc and I had driven up a street and had to squeeze past a truck to get around a corner, so I knew it was around a corner after coming off the main street!! After searching for bloody ages I finally gave in and called Ewa to find out the address and I was standing just around the corner from it...literally 50 metres away! Turns out that because the street was a one way street that when you came into it from the way I was walking you didnt have to go around any corners...so I had walked right past the house about 3 times...not cool but ahwell I was just glad to be back in the warm!

Friday night we were meant to be going to a gig at Cocoon club which is apparently one of the hottest clubs in Germany...however that didnt end up happening which was fine with me because it saved the €10 cover charge and €8 euro drinks! Instead we stayed at home had a few beers and played some poker for Gummi Bears. Twas a good night!

Sunday I got to sleep in nice and late, until about 11.30 when we got up and went to a mall to get some Currywürst for breakfast. The mall was crazy big and people were walking round all inside smoking and stuff...weird. The currywürst was awesome...dunno if its meant to have the ü but Im using it just because I can! Spent the rest of the day just hanging at home until a couple of Marcs friends arrived who were staying the night also. We had a few drinks then headed out on the town. Did a bit of an Irish Pub circuit and met a few people from New Zealand. 2 were cool and the other 1 was a right wanker! Drinks were quite expensive but I was having a good time anyway. Unfortunately Alex wasnt feeling too well so we called it a night quite early and headed back home. Taxi home cost €14 plus €7 late night fee and it wasnt even that far, luckily there were quite a few of us in the taxi so wasnt too expensive! In New Zealand when youre done in town generally it means youre done for the night. Apparently thats not the way it works over here, headed home and struggled to stay up a while later while unable to understand the German television. Sunday morning got up and went to get Schnitzel for breakfast...stupid Schnitzel place wasnt open, infact barely nowhere is open on Sundays. Pretty much like xmas or easter in NZ but its every Sunday in Deutschland! Got some food from the petrol station anyway and Ewa made some awesome buns with salami and ham and cheese. Good thing I like Salami because its everywhere over here!

Today I got up and came to old town again, had a look around and planned to hit a few museums...unfortunately theyre all closed on Mondays! Bloody hell! Ahwell has been a good day anyway...good food, good company (just me) and a good country to be in! Oh and I got a Sausage and Bun from a guy wearing a Barbecue like on Tony Hawke playstation game! Twas sehr gut!

Wow, what a crazy few days...left Singapore at 11.59 pm on the biggest plane I have ever been on, the damn thing was huge! It was the one thats was the biggest before the A380, 747 I think. Lufthansa is pooz, not that the flight was bad but no entertainment and im pretty sure the air host guy hated me because I cant speak German! Sat beside a nice dutch couple and the guy flew for Lufthansa for 40 years so told me all about flying and stuff. They fly for 10% of the cost for the rest of their lives! So usually they fly first class but it was full! Apparently if all the engines went out it would still take 20 mins to get to the ground from cruising altitude! I always thought youd fall pretty quickly.

Arrived at Frankfurt anyway and the airport was pretty average, difficult to find my way around and no customs again..guess they just really dont care in the rest of the world! Asked a lady where to get an arrivals card and she must of only heard arrivals and sent me all the way back to where I had arrived which was not cool because I was bloody tired! Had a nap in some nice lie flat chairs in the airport before attempting to make my way to the central station. Asked a policeman to get my ticket for me which he did so that was nice. Central station was huge and amaying architecture, took photos but will have to do a big upload at aunty Ds as this takes too long at a net cafe. I thought once I was at the central station that perhaps it was a bad idea to be wearing shorts and jandals but had already locked my bag away and I wasnt paying another $8 just to get shorts. It wasnt that it was really cold (sort of cold but not too bad) but the looks I got from people I thought they were going to stab me just for wearing shorts. There are some really angry/scary/weird people in Germany but most of the younger people are very nice and a couple of hottys asked me if I needed any help, then I slept with them both, except not that last bit. Spent a while looking through all the shops at the station which had reasonably priced food by New Zealand standards. I certainly wasnt shocked and appalled like I had expected. Infact I was pleasantly suprised it was pretty cheap really.

After looking through all the shops twice and still having 7 hours until I met the CS hosts I decided I would see if there was somewhere nearby where I could lie down for a bit or atleast sit without fear of being kicked out. Found Hostel Frankfurt which was awesome and full of OZs and a cool chick from Wellington. Had a couple of drinks with them which were only €1 each for Becks Gold, which is pretty bloody good beer. At 5.30 I went back to the station as the CS hosts said they would call about 6 to meet me there, turned my phone on at 5.30 and waited..and waited...and waited until about 10 to 7 when they called for apparently the second time and then Marc came and met me at the station. Both him and Ewa are awesome and really friendly and welcoming. Even got a hug from Ewa on arrival! Went to the stupidmarket to get some food and I was appalled by the prices! Well not so much the prices but the fact that everyone has always said Europe is expensive, the food was dirt cheap and drinks are cheap and its €3.49 for a 6 pack of 500ml bottles of Becks, which is twice as much as any other beer! Went home and chatted with Marc and Ewa for a bit then hit the hay...never slept so well in my life it was amazing.

Today I got up at about 8.30 or so thinking I would have to leave when Marc and Ewa did but they were really cool and said just stay make yourself at home, eat, drink, shower do whatever. Marc also gave me directions to the old town using the trams. Had a shower then went out to the supermarket and bought an 8 pack of mini baguettes, 300gram Salami, a pack of gummee bears, 2 chocolate bars and a bottle of pepsi...all for only €4.5 euro so less than $10 which is bloody good. Asked some guys to buy my tram ticket to the right place for me and then arrived in the Old Town centre with no problems. It is absolutely amazing, really finally hit me where I was! Had a look through the history of Frankfurt museum which was €2 for students which wasnt too bad but the Museum was average. Had a walk around checking out some souvenir shops and the like then stumbled upon the building which is in the picture hanging above my desk at RML and it was really surreal that I was now standing in front of it! Went to the tourist centre and bought a tourist map for €.50 and then went to a 200 metre high tower which cost €3,10 to go up but it was well and truly worth it, cant wait to get to Scotland so that I can upload some photos for everyone to see, it was absolutely breathtaking! Had a wee bit more of a wander around and a look at the river before heading here to the net cafe to update you all on the happenings. Im having an awesome time and not regretting the hard-living for a year one bit! Thanks for the comments and messages and remember you can still text me for the same cost as if I was in NZ!

IKEA?!!

So one of the Canadians works for IKEA right, so on Monday we decide to go for a wee trip across town to the IKEA store. I know its not particularly Singaporean but who cares, I'd never been to IKEA before and the way the Canadians talked about it, it's the best place in the world so I was pretty excited! Turns out its just a big department store...plus the best restaurant in Singapore, it's so cheap! Apparently they don't run at a profit theyre just there to keep people in the stores longer. I had an American hotdog for $1 it was amazing. Didn't really do much else that day as the Canadians were leaving so just came back to the hostel for a bit and chilled, after they left I was going to go to the night safari but I wouldn't say I got lost, I knew where I was...I just didn't know where the bus to the night safari was so instead just hung around Orchard Road again.

Since the Canadians left it has been pretty quiet here, not the most social bunch of people so yesterday I went on a trip by myself to Singapore Zoo. It was a good hour train trip away (lucky it only cost $2) then had to take a bus. This was my first experience with the Singapore buses and I assumed they would be like everything else in Singapore, perfect...however after arriving at the bus station I specifically asked if I needed to buy a ticket first or pay on the bus. I was told that I would need to pay on the bus. After waiting half a frickin hour for this bus to come while every other bus came twice I climbed up the steps to the bus and handed the driver $10 only to be told that it was $1.50 and you have to have the right change! I was rather pissed off but searched my wallet and came up with $1.35 which the driver was pretty pissed about but let me away with anyways. Would have been nice if one of the two people that I asked had told me that you had to had to have the correct change!

Made it to the zoo though and it was well worth the trouble. As soon as you walk in there are cotton topped tamarin running around just minding their own business, no cages or anything. Saw all the typical animals but one of the highlights was the Polar Bear feeding, it was truly amazing! Have some pretty cool videos of it. Had KFC for lunch, it's not my fault they don't have traditional food at the zoo! Though the combo does come with a coleslaw (which was funky) and a potato and gravy (goooood) instead of chips. After lunch I watched the Splash World tour which had water animals from all round the world like African penguins, californian seals and those weird things that apparently write family guy (manatees?). It was a really good show. The absolute highlight of the day though was the Butterfly walk...but instead of just butterflys there was ring-tailed lemurs which would come up and grab you, and sloths that would walk on past and bats swooping overhead and some weird tiny deer like things...it was really really cool seeing how the animals act up close and interact with each other. Got an awesome video of a lemur licking my finger!! After a long day at the zoo I headed back to the hostel no dramas with the bus or anything this time. Had a couple of beers and watched some tv then went to bed.

Today I am just doing some washing and then might head out for a bit..am worrying about Frankfurt as haven't had any luck finding a couch yet and don't really want to fork out $45 per night!! One girl said she would check with her flatmate and get back to me, so hopefully her flatmate is cooler about couchsurfing than mine were (just kidding). Heres hoping anyways. Not looking forward to my 12 hour flight leaving at midnight tonight and arriving at Frankfurt at 5.45 am. So unless I can get some sleep on the plane looks like Ill be awake for about 40 hours!

Uniquely Singapore

So the jokes we all made about the fact that I had lived on Marmite and toast for ages so that I could afford to come on this trip only to be forced to eat Marmite on toast, look set to come true. The hostel offers free breakfast which consists of toast and cereal, im not complaining I quite enjoyed my breakfast and its cheap!After breakfast headed with the Canadians to see the Merlion statue at Merlion park, it was pretty cool just a huge statue/fountain but the whole area was nice and had some really good views. Wandered around the area a wee bit before heading to the Singapore Flyer which was huge! Its just like the London eye except not in London. Decided that it would be something better done at night so skipped it for now and decided to head to Sentosa Island. The cable car ride to Sentosa is really something else, so high in the air with amazing views all around. Its like the gondolas in NZ except goes for ages and is suspended right across the water rather than up a hill. Sentosa itself is awesome, it's very fake and touristy but it doesn't pretend that its not. It was really really hot and I think I got a little burnt but figured better soak up the sun before I head to Europe where apparently the sun hasn't been invented yet. Had a nice cold Coke before heading back and taking some time out at the hostel.After having a sit down and letting the old legs recover, the Canadians and I headed out for Dinner at Orchard road, the famous shopping district. The whole place was decked out with christmas lights and there were Louis Vuitton and Chanel shops everywhere. Very cool place and really nice restaurant, though I had an American meal! The canadians got this sweet bowl of icecream where you could pick 5 different flavours, looked amazing but I was really full despite having not eaten much the whole day. Afterwards we went to check out a free tour that the Singapore tourism board is running which tours around all the Christmas lights. I know I hate Christmas starting this early but had to do it anyway...except for that when we got there we couldn't prove we were tourists. Apparently being from another country, having a camera, a guide book and a backpack that says NZ isn't quite enough proof. After a quick trip back to the hostel to pick up our passports we were away. It was very worth it, they really go overboard with the xmas decorations!We were all buggered so headed home, grabbed a 'Premium Indian Beer' called Knock Out on the way, was 650mls of 7.2%alc beer. Wasn't that bad though. Played some cards back at the hostel then hit the hay.All round great day.

Singapore Sliiiing

So...I actually managed to get some sleep on the night before I left...a whole 4 hours! Ahwell to be perfectly honest it was more than I thought I would get.

I can see why Singapore Airways is consistently voted the top airline in the world the food just kept coming and the service was brilliant! Had quite a bit of turbulence but the Cap'n was good and kept us up to date with what was going on so I didn't cry too much. Sat beside a lovely retired English couple who had travelled a lot so heard a few stories.

Arrived at Singapore, Changi Airport at 10.30pm New Zealand time, having been awake since 4.30am. First impressions as we were landing weren't really there, couldn't see a lot out the window as I was 2 seats away and from what I could see it didn't look too crazily different to New Zealand. The airport however was a million levels hi gher than Auckland, the whole place was perfectly set out, well organised and efficient at doing what it does, processing passengers. Grabbed so free internet time then headed of course to see how much McDonalds was! A little bit cheaper than New Zealand but nothing like Thailand. I think it was $6.75 for a Big Mac combo so probably almost the same as NZ.

Proceeding through passport control I had to wait behind maybe 2 other people then I was through to customs. I thought I'd be good and go through the "goods to declare" doors just incase Amys stories about Marmite are true!! So went through these official looking doors with big red signs saying "goods to declare" walked a bit further and I was outside! I'm not sure whether I inadvertedly sneaked past customs or what...but looks like the 2 small children and litre of pig semen will make it onto the blackmarket after all!!

Luckily I had written down the directions to my hostel so went to the Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) ticketing booth and just showed the guy and asked how much I would need to buy. He sold me a re-chargeable ticket for $15 which so far has gotten me about 4-5 decent rides and Ive only used half and it only comes with $7 on it!! So the MRT is definitely cheap and efficient to use! I can't even provide any comical stories about arriving at the wrong station in a dodgy part of Singapore as the MRT is so easy to use...and there probably isn't any dodgy parts to Singapore! Though I did learn pretty quickly that its a good idea to hold on while the train takes off when wearing a big backpack...my apologies to the small family of Singaporeans that I took out. I had to walk 15minutes from the station to my hostel though and it is about 30 degrees so by the time I got here I was sweating like nothing else. Lucky the only temperature on their showers is cold haha!

After having a shower I noticed a couple of English guys were talking about heading out so asked if I could join them. So ended up going to Clarke Quay with these 2 pretty cool English guys and a couple of really good looking Canadian girls. A good start with the socialising. Was a bit rushed and forgot to take my camera but Im sure I will go back and will post some pics rather than trying to explain how amazing it is! Had some good cheap local food aswell, should definitely avoid the tourist places in favour of local food.

At about 11.30pm Singapore time having officially been awake for 24 hours I headed back to the backpackers and slept like a baby on drugs! Up quite early this morning but I think I'm pretty adjusted to Singapore time already. Heading out with the Canadians again today as the English fellas left so hopefully will have a good time!

The Final Countdown

Well after 7 months of planning, paying, waiting, dreaming, saving its finally almost here. In just 5 more sleeps I head off on my adventure of a lifetime. Even with 7 months of planning I still feel like im going to forget something or not be prepared...or fall and break my leg.

I guess now is as good of a time as ever to say thanks to everyone who has made this trip possible! Mum and Bernard, thanks for the carepackages etc. Dad and Sheree, again thanks for the carepackages etc. All the rest of the whanau, thanks. Thanks to my flatmates for putting up with the constant talk of travel, remember "travel is my passion". Thanks to everyone!

One more week of working then Im off to Singapore the land thats never a destination only a stopover! Ill be staying at The Hive Backpackers so hopefully I'll be able to get on the net and it won't be too horribly slow and I'll be able to update you with an interesting blog entry.

Peace and keep reading, I promise it will get more interesting! Also remember to check out www.photobucket.com and search for wateveritwas to see some photos!