Thursday 1 December 2011

England

I go to England A LOT! It is my second home as my family live there and I just love London, it is such an amazing city!

In the past 5 years I have lived there for 3 years...I just can't seem to get enough! Obviously there are ups and downs, you don't get paid enough there and the public transport can do your head in but the good always over ways the bad...by a mile!
I have met some FANTASTIC people in England...they will be my friends for life and everyday i think about them and always want to go back to have some fun! Here are three things that i totally recommend doing while you are in England

1. Thorpe Park
Thorpe Park is like Dream World over here.. a little bit smaller I think but with equally as scary rides! I went there last year for the first time in years and years and forgot how much fun it was! I went with a good friend i met in England, Rachel and a mate from back home Tristan...we were all slightly hung over that day and it was pouring with rain so we were mighty determined!
 They had a new ride called the Saw horror Maze..it was SOOOO scary! you had to walk through this dark warehouse holding on to the person infront of you as it was too dark to walk by yourself and actors inside would be all dressed up in character scaring the bejesus out of you, was mighty fun!
One of the rides i did not participate in because looking at it freaked me out! it was so steep and high that I could not bring myself to get on it...I used to be so good with going on any rides, the older i am getting the bigger pussy i am turning in to :( This ride was called 'Stealth' and went from 0-80mphs in 2.3 seconds!! Rach and Tristan went on it and said it was amazing!


2. Brighton

When i am in England my mum usually comes to visit to see her family and of course me! Last year we took a little trip down to Brighton for a few nights, it was really nice! Of course it was freezing but exploring all the little lane ways Brighton has to offer and the pier, it was just so nice!
My Auntie came with us for the first day (it is only 45 mins from London so easy for a day trip), we had a great lunch and looked in the cutest shops, there isn't too much to do in Brighton apart from explore the shore, shop and eat so that is what we did! It is so pretty and some of the building are so old (and probably haunted!) it's so nice to walk past them and check out the architecture!


3. Notting Hill Carnival

The three years i have lived here i have been to Notting Hill Carnival...it is such a great day when you go..just to be sure to leave before the sun goes down!
Last year I went with my close friend Siobhan and her friend Sam. We had the funniest time ever! It can get a little scary as sometimes we were surrounded by big groups of people that looked like they wanted to fight but otherwise you walk around the streets of Notting Hill just enjoying the music, the parade and drinking on the street is always fun!
 At one stage we found a park that many people were sitting in and you could buy laughing gas...now that was hilarious! everyone was laughing so we joined in! We were all enjoying ourselves, smoking the funny stuff and doing the laughing gas when about 20 cops walked through the park!! They didn't seem to mind as they had other things to worry about like people getting stabbed!
The music on the day is so good...everyone is jamming and there is just a good feel in the air, damn i miss it, I want to go back next year for it!


There you go, three things that would definitely need to do when you are in England! It is such a great country and there is always something to do!

Have you been to England? Where have you been?

Thursday 17 November 2011

Table Top Mountain

Hi guys!

Today i do not feel like writing much, I'm a little sad...2011 has been a pretty shit year for me :(

Instead I am going post pictures of me on Table Top Mountain in Capetown...it is the most spectacular view, absolutely incredible, hopefully one day you will get to go there or if you have you will know what I mean!


Going up in the cable cars...it gets so steep..so scary!

It was so hot that day, i wish i could have jumped from the top into the sea!!

 Camps Bay
Top of the mountains that go all the way to Cape Point

 Capetown

 The Stadium they used for the World Cup
 Robben Island (Where Nelson Mandela went to prison)
 You can hike up the mountain...I took the easier way out

 Lions Head
Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Peace xx

Thursday 10 November 2011

brasil Part 2

Hiya!!

Back talking about Brasil...how could you not! I could write a million posts about this country..but I won't, because I can't remember it that well as it was 2 years ago :(

Before leaving Arlei to go to Rio (oh yeah Rio!) he and his friends took us on more adventures. We went to this cute little town that had a massive river running through it so we went swimming and explored! I'm not going to publish pictures of myself as I had got my clothes went from falling in a fast paced river earlier in the day so I had to use what we had in the car and it was not pretty...a bright green sarong and an overly big black t-shirt...I looked like a butch.
The river was so nice, people even had houses coming off it and they had this river in their backyard! how amaze would that be! This one woman was sitting by the river for hours reading and it just looked so relaxing and nice!

Driving to get anywhere is Brasil you drive through big mountains that are covered in Rain Forest, even though it is not technically the Amazon it still feels like you are in it! the mountains and rain forest roll on forever and there are so many side road stands selling fruit that people grow around the mountains!

When we left Arlei it was a sad day as we had spent so much time with him but at the same time quite nice just to have time to ourselves. We caught a bus to Rio De Janeiro which took about 6 hrs, not too bad!
We arrived in Rio and stayed in a hostel in Copacabana - it was so exciting staying there as i love the song and have always wondered what it is like! It is so stinking hot in Rio it's a joke... the hostel had no air con..just a fan..for 10 people, please! we went to the beach nearly every day but we must have come at the wrong time because the waves were so huge they would easily dunk you and that is a fear of mine. We just couldn't win apart from perving on them sexy brasilian men walking around in a little thong bikinis! loved it!

Our hostel had planned a trip to the biggest favela in Rio (Shanty Town) so we definitely went with them. It was pretty exciting as I had never seen anything like this before and was so curious. We all took a bus to the bottom the the Favela, the tour guide who was taking us had made friends in the Favela so we were not in any danger. We met quite a few guys who lived in the Favela at the bottom of the mountain and we had to get on the back of their motorbikes and they took us up to the very top (so scary). The Favela looks like it is in a valley but starts at the top of a mountain and makes it way down to the bottom
You can see those big buildings at the bottom - That is wear the richest people in Rio live...it is such a big contrast to their neighbours who look down on them.
Once we got to the top our tour guide told us to not take any photo's when we saw guys waking around with big guns and walkie talkies - these were guys in the gang that was ruling the Favela at the time and they did not like photo's as the police did not know who they were. We were also told if we see or hear a loud bang it is a flare going off warning everyone that the police are coming up the hill. The gang ruling the Favela are called ADA, i'm not sure what it stands for but someone tagged it on a wall and I got a photo of it.
As we were walking through the buildings (making our way to the bottom) we met some wonderful people, they were so nice. They had their own shops selling whatever they could and I bought as much as I could without making myself poor! We were told not to give any money to little kids that asked for it...the tour guide has been teaching them to do something for their money so we had a few performances which was cute and we gave them a few coins, they were ever so grateful!
 The whole time you are walking through their tiny streets, stepping over rubbish, toilet smells over powering your nostrils we couldn't help but feel so sorry for these people...this next picture is something that was in every corner without fail, kids playing in it and picking up whatever they wanted.
At one stage a group of guys around my age were smoking the good stuff up on a roof...I nearly lost the tour because I wanted to hang out with them! ha!
After weaving in and out of tiny streets, going up and down steep stairs, meeting some lovely people and seeing guys from ADA with big guns and mean stares we had such a great day, we learned so much and it really was the biggest eye opener! If you are ever going to Rio do this tour, it is great! could not recommend anything better.



Peace xx until next time

Thursday 3 November 2011

Brasil Part 1

I don't know why I wrote about Peru and Bolivia before Brasil since we went to Brasil first...strange...but I am strange.

Sammy d and I landed in Sao Paulo from London and left straight away to get down to a town called Curitiba, we had met a guy in Spain from there and he told us when we come to Brasil we can stay with him...so we did!

We spent 3 weeks in brasil, it was amazing. We stayed with Arlei for 2 weeks in his apartment and we travelled around the south of Brasil, he and his friends showed us some great places that only the locals new! yeah!
Curitiba was such a cute little town with old buildings and the vibe was just great, people out until late, enjoying each others company and just so friendly. One night we went to a salsa night, it was so funny. Trying to move your feet so quickly and so many brasilian guys coming up to you wanting to dance! mmm sexy brasilian guys, yes please!
Arlei and his mates were so nice, always wanting to take us to different places and showing us the wonders of Brasil.


One day Arlei decided to takes us down to where his mum lives for a few nights, something different and new things to explore and see! She lives in this tiny town on a beautiful beach that is essentially a university town and it is full of students partying all the time! we stayed there for a couple of days and it was so much fun, the food, drinks and long walks on the beach we had were just divine, I can not complain! After a few days of hanging with mum and some of Arlei's friends she dropped us off at a boat as we were going to stay a couple of nights on an Island...I wish I could remember what this Island was called but it was so tiny and cute!

We got to our little hotel we were staying in and dumped out bags and went exploring...as we were walking through bush Arlei decides to tell us that there are bugs on this Island that bury into your skin....yup....was not happy, I was constantly moving my feet and would not stay still, who wants a bug buried in their skin, NOT I!
This Island was so nice, we went on a walk that took us around the whole thing, it was so stinking hot but going in and out of the water was so nice, oh I wish I was in delicious water right now. boo.

As Caiprinha's are Brasil's national cocktail we had soooooo many of them...everyday we had at least one, they have cachaca (alcohol) lime, sugar and ice, it is very delish and the way the brasilians make it is even better! Sitting in a chair, in the sun with one of these bad boys in your hand is heaven!
Sadly the island adventure had to come to an end :( it was so lovely but we had to go back to cars and tall buildings.We got an old rickety boat back, bought some icecream to cheer us up and went back to a busy lifestyle that we so enjoyed not being a part of!
Brasil is a pretty amazing country and I am jealous of everyone that gets to go there, I know I have been there but I want to go back! There is so much to see and do! I could write so many posts on everything we did, the waterfalls we walked to, the kilometers of rain forest we saw and the great food we ate..they love their buffet's!

Peace until next time xxxx

Thursday 27 October 2011

Bolivia

Last week I told you all about my time in Peru! After Peru (Cusco) we all took a 25 hr bus ride to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, lake Titi is in Peru and Bolivia but we heard from travellers that the best bit to go to is called Punto which is on the Bolivian side.
The Bus ride was hell as usual, comfy seats, but the only toilet on board was absolutely disgusting and at one stage we had to swap buses and had to wait for it for about 6 hrs....FML. Crossing the Peruvian border in Bolivia was a little scary! There were so many different areas you had to go to and I had lost a tiny piece of paper at the start of the trip that apparently I was supposed to hold on to which then cost me $40 for loosing it, mother f*****s...they really know how to rip you off in these countries if you are not careful!!

When we arrived at Lake Titicaca it was so beautiful! It is the highest lake being 3,811 m above sea level and the largest lake in South America.

We found a little hotel to stay in and went exploring! There really is not much in Punto.. very very small and there are no ATM's!! The bank is only open 1 day a week there and none of us had money so we had to wait two days before we could get some!! Lucky the people in Punto were very trusting as we had many IOU's!!
Our nights were typically all the same, drink, go out and be naughty...I won't get into too much or I would get in trouble..but you know how South America is! We loved the way the Peruvian and Bolivian women dressed, it was very cute with their little bowler hats!


After a few days in Punto we got a little bored so we decided to head to Isle Del Sol, This is a little Island in Lake Titicaca that we heard was really beautiful and something different. We caught a boat there and we really didn't have a clue what we were getting ourselves into! This View from the boat is pretty amazing!
When we got to Isle Del Sole, someone who lived on the Island greeted us at the bottom...then he started walking up this steep hill and we thought oh maybe he is grabbing the car to put our packs on and we are getting a lift up....oh no...we had to walk with our heavy packs on up the steepest mountain ever for about an hr...it was hell!!! 
We finally got to the top where everyone lives and in everyone i mean about 10 families!! It was the tiniest little town ever, we found a place to stay which was $3 a night and went exploring...there were a few animals, one restaurant, many steps leading back down to the bottom and amazing views.
 We had a nice time here but it could have got pretty boring if we were there for more than one night!
After getting back on the boat to Punto we then caught another long ass bus ride to La Paz.. Party Town!!

We were all pretty excited about getting to La Paz, we had heard amazing things about it and couldn't wait to have some fun. If you have ever read Marching Powder then you would have wanted to go to the La Paz jail like we did...we set off one day to go there and were so excited about going inside but when we got there, there were guards out the front with big guns telling people to go away...you want to know why? because a stupid American had taken a video while inside the jail and put in on YouTube and ruined it for all of us...I was so annoyed.
The way La Paz is set out is pretty cool, its in a big round bowl so when you are at the bottom you can see all the sides around you and just millions of homes
Now for people going to La Paz anytime in the near future make sure you go to Route 36...I can't tell you anything about it and people in La Paz will pretend not to know about it...either ask the people that work at the hostel or ask your taxi drivers...some may say they don't know what Route 36 is but you will find one that does and you must go!
The fun that I had in La Paz is indescribable...everyone needs to go there and check out the history, the people are gorgeous and the food is pretty damn good! They have excellent hostels that will take care of you and you can go on great day trips.
Peace x