Creative!
För flera år sen så köpte jag en MP3 spelare, en Creative Zen V, den var perfekt! Den var liten, söt, enkel att använda och funkade skitbra.
För typ 1-2 år sen började den bli lite seg, det gick inte att zappa utan den bara spolade. Jag var så upprörd, jag älskar ju den MP3 spelaren. Så jag började leta efter en ny men hittade ingen. Det var ju bara iPods överallt. Jag ville ju inte ha en iPod jag ville ju ha en Creative!
Men ja det gick ju inte att använda den. Bibbi var så snäll och gav mig hennes gamla iPod och ok, den är bra, den har varit snäll mot mig och jag fick ju plats med mycker fler låtar på den än min Creative (som bara hade 1 GB), men ja den var ju inte en Creative :)
Så jag har letat i varje land jag har varit i efter en Creative MP3 spelare, hittade ingen i England, Australien, Nya Zeeland, Hong Kong eller på någon av de många flygplatser vi har varit på. Men igår hittade jag en! På Malaysias största IT varuhus. Jag var så lycklig! Ok jag kommer fortfarande spara min iPod, den är ju bra men ja nu har jag äntligen en Creative igen :)
Several years ago I bought a new MP3 player, it was a Creative Zen V, it was perfect. It was small, cute, simple to use and worked perfectly!
For about 1-2 years ago it started to get a bit broken, I couldn't flick as much as I wanted cause it just fastforwarded the songs instead. I was so upset, I loved that MP3 player. So I started looking for a new one but couldn't find it. There were just iPods everywhere! I didn't want an iPod, I wanted a Creative!
But what to do? The player didn't work and luckily Bibbi was nice and gave me her old iPod and yes it's good and I could fit a lot more songs on it, my Creative was only 1 GB the iPod is 8, but it's not a Creative :)
I've looked in every country I've been to, but couldn't find one in England, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong or at any airport I've been to (which has been a few). But yesterday I found one! In Malaysia's largest IT mall. I was so happy! Ok I'll still keep my iPod, it is good, but now I finally have a Creative again :)
On the left: The Creative Zen V, on the right: Creative Zen Style M300
Hanoi
Nu är vi i Hanoi, det är helt galet här! Trafiken är helt hysterisk, alla tutar, man kan inte gå på trottoarerna så man måste gå på gatan och det är helt galet men jag tror att vi har lärt oss hur man gör när man ska gå över gatan utan att bli hjälkörd :)
Igår åt vi jättegod middag, Pho Bo (biff nudelsoppa), bästa än så länge. Sen när vi skulle tillbaka till hotellet gick vi lite vilse, det är många gator och vi var ju så fokuserade på att inte bli påkörda när vi gick ut. Men vi hittade en bar som serverade goda och billiga drinkar, kokosmojiton va såååå god, en vodka och Sprite kostade 10 kr och en öl 5 kr. Det är billigt att va full här.
Idag har vi promenerat nästan halva dagen. Vi gick runt Hoan Kiem Sjön, stannade och åt lite lunch, shoppade lite fina saker och gick omkring lite till. Vi gick så mycket att jag var tvungen att pyssla om mina fötter lite med en pedikyr.
Facebook funkar inte här, det verkar vara blockat, vet inte varför och det går tydligen att ta sig runt det på nåt sätt men än så länge är vi inte så beroende av Facebook att vi orkar ta reda på hur man gör, men ja om ni har försökt kontakta oss på FB så går det inte, ni får maila istället :)
We are now in Hanoi and it's crazy. The traffic is completely mental! There is no space to walk on the sidewalks so you have to walk on the streets and there are mopeds everywhere and cars and bikes and stuff, everyone are beeping their horns and it's just mental! However, I think we have figured out how to cross the street without being killed :)
Last night we had the best Pho Bo (beef noodle soup) so far! On the way back to the hotel we got lost, there are a lot of streets here and we had spent most of our time focusing on not being run over. We did find a bar with really nice and cheap drinks, the coconut mojito was sooo nice and a vodka and sprite cost 90 pence and a pint of beer 45 pence, yep PENCE! It's cheap to get pissed here.
Today we have walked for most of the day. We walked around Hoan Kiem Lake, had some lunch, did some shopping, walked some more and after all that walking I had to treat my feet to a pedicure.
Facebook doesn't work here, it seems to be blocked, don't know why. Apparently there is a way to get around the block but to be honest we're not that addicted to FB so we can't be bothered figuring out how to get round the block. But if you have tried to contact us via Facebook it will take quite a while before we will be able to get the message, so if you want to get in touch with us, just send an e-mail :)
Me near a temple on Hoan Kiem Lake
Andrew shopping
Belts, Bowls, Gravestones, Flipflops? They have everything
Bye bye Hong Kong
Igår va sista dagen i Hong Kong, vi åkte till Temple Street Market men den var sådär, tyckte det var mer på Ladies Market. Vi kollade även in Time Square Mall och kollade i typ 70 elektronikbutiker.
Vi köpte inte så mycket, Andrew köpte lite kläder och ätpinnar för nybörjare och jag köpte en solfjäder och lite annat.
Klockan 20 va det dags för ljusshowen, vi stod vid Avenue of Stars och kollade. Vädret va lite pissigt, duggregn och molnigt men det var ändå häftigt.
Nu är vi på flygplatsen igen, ska vidare till Vietnam :)
Yesterday was our last day in Hong Kong, we went to Time Square Mall, had a look in loads of electronic shops, then went to Temple Street Market but to be honest Ladies Market seemed bigger and better.
At 8 pm we watched the Symphony of Light down by Avenue of Stars. The weather was a big crappy, very cloudy and a bit of a drizzle but it was still good.
Now we're att he airport, going to Vietnam :)
Having some lunch
Symphony of Light
Hong Kong
Lämnade Perth igår kväll kl 22, eller ja vi blev lite försenade för precis innan vi skulle flyga iväg så märkte dom att det var nåt fel på planet så vi fick åka tillbaka till gaten så dom kunde fixa det.
Vi landade i Hong Kong 6.30, nästan alla gick omkring i täckjackor och mössor, man blev lite fundersam eftersom dom sa att det var 18 grader ute. Men ja folk va bara lite mesiga, jag och Andrew hade t-shirt/linne på oss, många kollade på oss som om VI var konstiga.
Vi kom till vårt vandrarhem runt kl 9 (stannade en stund på flygplatsen och använde gratis internet). Vi kunde inte checka in än så vi tog en promenad på stan. Vi såg några gamlingar i parken som spelade fotboll och dom var bra! En del andra gjorde lite tai chi eller kampsport. Sen hittade vi IKEA! Så vi var ju tvugna att gå in men det var en otroligt stor besvikelse! De hade inga dammsugare eller kokosbollar, ingen daimtårta, inget godis alls (förutom lite choklad) i Sverige shoppen och i bistron fanns det inga bord men jag beställde köttbullar och gissa va förvånad jag blev när jag fick 5 köttbullar i en liten nudelask med lite sås och sylt i och en pinne att äta med. Katastrofalt dåligt IKEA! Men men får väl vänta några veckor till innan man kan äta lite svensk mat.
Efter vi hade gått omkring i 4 timmar va vi båda hysteriskt trötta men rummet var fortfarande inte klart! Jäkla dåligt, dom visste ju att vi skulle komma och checka in kl 7, jag hade tom mailat dom ett par dagar sen och det var ok. Så vi satt i receptionen och väntade i en timme, båda somnade. Tillslut fick vi vårt rum som låg några byggnader längre bort men rummet är skitfint, större än de andra och väldigt fint.
Vi däckade direkt och sov i ett par timmar.
Vi bor i ett område med väldigt lite turister, vi såg inte många icke-asiater när vi va ute och gick men det är bara bra, ville vi åka till ett västerländskt land så hade vi ju gjort det :) Så till middag tänkte vi äta lite kinesisk mat såklart, de flesta ställena hade bara menyer på kinesiska och ja vi skippade de ställena. En del andra ställen hade konstiga saker på menyn, typ färska testiklar, senor, brosk etc. Va inte så sugen på sån mat. Sen hittade vi ett vietnamesiskt ställe och vi åt lite Pho Bo, som är nudelsoppa, det var skitgott!
Det har varit en väldigt lång dag och det ska bli skönt att sova igen. Imorrn har vi lite mer sightseeing att göra och kanske lite shopping :)
We left Perth at 22 last night, well we were supposed to but just before we were about to take off they noticed a problem with the plane so we had to return to the gate and get it fixed.
We arrived in Hong Kong at around 6.30, everyone was walking around with big thick jackets and wooly hats which made us a bit confused considering they had told us it was 18 degrees outside. It turned out that the people were just a bit soft cause Andrew and I got by in t-shirts. A lot of people looked at us like WE were the ones who were weird!
We got to the hostel at 9ish (we stayed a bit at the airport and used the free wifi) but weren't able to check in so we had a wonder around town. We saw some old men playing football in the park and they were really good! Some others were doing tai chi or martial arts.
Then we found an IKEA! We obviously had to go in but it was a major disappointment. There were none of the nice cakes or sweets in the shop or the bistro! And there were no tables in the bistro but I got some meatballs and can you imagine my surprise when I got 5 meatballs in a tiny noodle box with some sauce and jam and a stick to eat with. What the heck!
After 4 hours of walking we were knackered but the damn room still wasn't ready which was really annoying. They knew were were arriving at 7, I had even e-mailed them to see if it was ok and we had been there for over 4 hours. So we sat in reception and waited, we both fell asleep.
After an hour we finally got our room which was in a different building across the street down another side street, but the room is really nice and the corridor and kitchen is a lot nicer here.
We passed out straight away and slept for a couple of hours.
We live in an area with not a lot of tourist, we haven't seen a lot of non-asian people at all here which is nice I mean if we wanted to go to a western country we would of :)
Anyway we thought we'd have some Chinese food for dinner (of course), we walked past a lot of restaurants where the menus were in Chinese so we skipped those, then a lot of other ones had strange food, for example tripe, fresh testies, cartilage and so on. We skipped those as well.
Then we found this Vietnamese place which served Pho Bo (soup noodle) which was soo good. I had coconut milk to drink, it was sooooo good!
Hong Kong
Scaffolding in bamboo
My meatballs at IKEA
Yummy
Pho Bo and coconut drink (thanks Michael for introducing it to me)
Huka Falls
Here are some pictures from Huka Falls
Me and Andrew in our lovely outfits
Pics Thailand
Klong Prao Beach on a sunny day
Klong Prao Beach on a rainy day
I prefer my snakes like this
Poor monkey baby
Me on a swing
Fire show on the beach
They have weird Pringle flavours here
Thailand
Hi all,
We are now in Koh Chang. The trip here didn't go as smoothly as we would have wished but we made it, and 3 days later so did our bags!
The flight from Stockholm to London was 30 min late but it was ok I mean we had 2 hours transfer time in London. Then we got on the plane and they told us that we might actually be another 45 min late! What the hell! We spoke to the BA staff on the flight and explained that we had another flight to catch in London and that we had to get from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3. They assured us that it was plenty of time and just to ease our minds they would do everything they could to make sure we made our flight. Hmm yeah right. We were approaching London and the steward told us "you better make sure you get off the plane quickly if you're gonna make it". Eh thanks!
Of course we were at the back of the plane and the knobs who weren't in a hurry just stood up and faffed about with their bags for ever! We tried to say that we had another flight to catch but they didn't care.
We got off the flight and started running. We got on the bus to Terminal 3, got off and ran again. It's a lot harder than you think with 10 kg on your back. Luckily Andrew ran faster than me, after a couple of minutes he was gone. I was almost dying! But luckily Andrew held up the gates people and we made the flight and luckily we were now gonna fly with Qantas who are amazing. We love Qantas, they are so nice and helpful and funny.
The flight was fine, food was nice and we had plenty of movies to watch.
Got off in Bangkok and noticed that our bags had not been on the plane. Great!
We filled out the forms and went to the hotel. Had some dinner and drinks, then off to bed it had been a long day!
The morning after we got up at 6.30 to go back to the airport and take the flight to Trat. It was a very small propeller plane! But it only took 45 min and we even got breakfast! Trat airport is the cutest airport I've ever seen! Tiny and so cute.
From there we took a taxi, which took us on the ferry to Koh Chang and drove us all the way to the hotel Ramayana Resort and Spa. The resort even has a gym and we have actually been there and trained!
Other than that we just go to the beach (Klong Prao), have had some massage, drinks (happy hour from 16.00), good (spicy) food and today we had a so called "skin cut foot". It's as unpleasant as it sounds but I think my feet are now a size smaller :)
Weather is great, we've had a couple of thunder storms in the evenings which is great, it makes it a little bit cooler, so temperature drops to about 32 degrees ;)
Sorry but there will be no pictures at the moment, but maybe later, I'll try and sort it I promise :)
We are now in Koh Chang. The trip here didn't go as smoothly as we would have wished but we made it, and 3 days later so did our bags!
The flight from Stockholm to London was 30 min late but it was ok I mean we had 2 hours transfer time in London. Then we got on the plane and they told us that we might actually be another 45 min late! What the hell! We spoke to the BA staff on the flight and explained that we had another flight to catch in London and that we had to get from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3. They assured us that it was plenty of time and just to ease our minds they would do everything they could to make sure we made our flight. Hmm yeah right. We were approaching London and the steward told us "you better make sure you get off the plane quickly if you're gonna make it". Eh thanks!
Of course we were at the back of the plane and the knobs who weren't in a hurry just stood up and faffed about with their bags for ever! We tried to say that we had another flight to catch but they didn't care.
We got off the flight and started running. We got on the bus to Terminal 3, got off and ran again. It's a lot harder than you think with 10 kg on your back. Luckily Andrew ran faster than me, after a couple of minutes he was gone. I was almost dying! But luckily Andrew held up the gates people and we made the flight and luckily we were now gonna fly with Qantas who are amazing. We love Qantas, they are so nice and helpful and funny.
The flight was fine, food was nice and we had plenty of movies to watch.
Got off in Bangkok and noticed that our bags had not been on the plane. Great!
We filled out the forms and went to the hotel. Had some dinner and drinks, then off to bed it had been a long day!
The morning after we got up at 6.30 to go back to the airport and take the flight to Trat. It was a very small propeller plane! But it only took 45 min and we even got breakfast! Trat airport is the cutest airport I've ever seen! Tiny and so cute.
From there we took a taxi, which took us on the ferry to Koh Chang and drove us all the way to the hotel Ramayana Resort and Spa. The resort even has a gym and we have actually been there and trained!
Other than that we just go to the beach (Klong Prao), have had some massage, drinks (happy hour from 16.00), good (spicy) food and today we had a so called "skin cut foot". It's as unpleasant as it sounds but I think my feet are now a size smaller :)
Weather is great, we've had a couple of thunder storms in the evenings which is great, it makes it a little bit cooler, so temperature drops to about 32 degrees ;)
Sorry but there will be no pictures at the moment, but maybe later, I'll try and sort it I promise :)
En vecka kvar - one week to go
Nu är det bara en vecka kvar tills vi åker. Det mesta är klart, tror jag. Flyget är ju bokat sen länge, boende är bokat för de första 5 nätterna i Thailand och de första 5 nätterna i Melbourne. Och lägenheten är nedackad och uthyrd.
Andrew har mer eller mindre packat sin väska, jag kämpar fortfarande. Hur svårt ska det vara att packa kan man tänka, men det är jätte svårt! Min första teori va att min väska var för liten att det var därför mina saker inte fick plats men nu har jag bytt väska och min teori verkar inte funka. Andrew kanske har rätt, jag kanske har för mycket saker. Men jag förstår inte hur jag ska kunna göra mig av med nåt, jag packar ju typ ändå för ett år!
Hmm får nog ta och gå igenom det igen och se om man kan plocka ur nåt
Only a week to go now until we leave. Most of the things on the list are done, I think. Flight has been booked since ages back, accommodation is booked for the first 5 nights in Thailand and the first 5 nights in Melbourne. The flat has been packed and rented out.
Andrew has more or less packed his bag and I am still struggling. How hard can it be to pack, one might wonder, but it is really hard! My first theory was that my bag was too small to fit all my stuff, but then I changed bags and my theory kinf of fell apart. Maybe Andrew is right, maybe, just maybe, I might have too many clothes (and shoes). But I don't understand how I can get rid of any of the things, I mean I am packing for a year!
Hmm maybe I should have another look through my stuff and see if I can remove anything.
These were our bags last time, how come I have more stuff this time?
Ok here we go
Jaha nu är det snart dags. 31 mars åker vi.
Den här gången bär det av till Australien för ett år. Förra gången vi drog iväg, till Nya Zeeland, så hade vi ju en blogg på offexploring.com men den här gången tänkte vi (varför skriver jag "vi" när det är jag som kommer att sköta bloggen?) prova oss på en "riktig" blogg. Får se hur det går.
Sofie (http://misshiller.blogg.se/) har hjälpt mig och hon har bla gjort designen, rätt snygg va? Men nu tänkte jag prova mig på att göra mitt första inlägg.
Bloggen kommer först och främst att vara för våra familjer och vänner som kanske är nyfikna på hur vi har det och så vill vi ju inte att ni ska glömma oss :) Jag kommer att göra mitt bästa att skriva både på svenska och engelska som jag gjorde förra gången, men vi får se. I NZ så var ju internet rätt så segt så jag kanske inte kommer att hinna, det beror ju även på hur mycket jag har att skriva om.
Jag lovar att försöka lägga upp en massa bilder oxå, jag vet att det är mycket mer intressant än att läsa en massa text, plus att ni vet ju att jag är rätt bra på att skriva en massa skit =)
Näe det får räcka som första inlägg.
Ok here we go again. We fly on the 31st March.
This time we're off to Australia for a year. Last time we were off, to NZ, we had a blog on offexploring.com but this time I thought we'd try having a "real" blog, so here we go.
Sofie (http://misshiller.blogg.se/) has helped me and she has also designed it. I think she did quite a good job :) But now I'm gonna try and figure out how to use this thing.
This blog will first and foremost be for our families and friends whoc might be interested what we are upto and lets face it we don't want them to forget us. I'll try my best to write both in Swedish and English like I did last time, but we'll see. In NZ the internet was pretty slow and I have a feeling it will be the same in Oz, but it depends, I might not even have a lot to write about.
I do, however, promis to try and insert a lot of pics, I know that's a lot more interesting than to read a lot of text and we all know I like to write a lot of crap ;)
Oh well, now I'm gonna do a preview and see how this looks.
Melbourne
Melbourne, huvudstad i den australiska delstaten Victoria, är en hamnstad i sydöstra Australien. Det är Australiens näst största stad med drygt 3,9 miljoner invånare (2008). Melbourne var huvudstad i Australien mellan 1 januari 1901, då federationen bildades, och 9 maj 1927, då parlamentshuset i Canberra togs i bruk. Staden genomkorsas av floden Yarra.
Melbourne och Sydney har i hela Australiens moderna historia varit de två konkurrerande storstäderna och medan Sydney är det ekonomiska centret i federationen, så har Melbourne blivit den kulturella medelpunkten. En annan viktig skillnad städerna emellan är arkitekturen och stadsplaneringen. Sydney har med tiden fått en mer metropolartad struktur, vilket gör den mer oöverskådlig, medan Melbourne åtminstone i stadskärnan behållt mer av den brittiska koloniala stadsplaneringen. Gatorna är raka och geografiskt mycket jämnt fördelade, vilket gör det lätt att ta sig fram. Bland de mer kända byggnaderna i Melbourne kan nämnas Eureka Tower.
Melbourne grundades år 1835 av självständiga nybyggare på stränderna av Yarrafloden. Staden blev snabbt ett viktigt centrum i regionen, och guldrushen i Victoria på 1850-talet gjorde Melbourne till Australiens största och viktigaste stad under andra halvan av 1800-talet, innan rollen övertogs av Sydney. På grund av konkurrensen mellan de två jämnstarka städerna förlades den politiska verkställande makten i den självständiga staten till Canberra, en stad som grundades mitt emellan de båda städerna. Under andra världskriget låg de Allierades huvudkvarter för krigsoperationerna i Stilla havet under några år i Melbourne samtidigt som kriget gav produktionen i staden ett så pass stort uppsving att det blev Australiens viktigaste industristad. Melbourne var arrangörsort vid Olympiska sommarspelen 1956, vilket ytterligare befäste Melbournes position som kulturellt och idrottsligt centrum.
