2002-2005 (c) GetJealous.com, All rights reserved. http://www.getjealous.com/karlmuller/rss.xml One month in Thailand (One night in Bangkok), Chiang Mai, water festival, beaches, snorkelling, swimming and diving. <br> <br> Then off to South America, two weeks in Santiago learning more Spanish, then south to Patagonia, ice, snow and glaciers, north via Machu Picchu, sailing around the Galapagos Islands, trekking in the Andes, deserts, mountain biking the Worlds Most Dangerous Road, prison tours (as a guest), waterfalls, amazon rainforest, Caracas (Venezuela) with the possibility of a side trip to Aruba, the start of the Caribbean, and everything in between. http://www.getjealous.com/karlmuller http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=680106&go=karlmuller Well tomorrow I'm on the plane back to Brisbane, the end of ten months travelling through Thailand, South America and New Zealand, the end of no job, no fixed accomodation, no income, no plans, and no familiar faces. Well that's not entirely true. I'll still have no job, no income, be sleeping in strange beds or in strange places, will be awake with the first person and to sleep with the last - qu... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=680106&go=karlmuller Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=674343&go=karlmuller After a scenic bus journey south to Te Anau I went for a walk around the small township, walked into an info/booking agency and who do I find working behind the desk but Amy, who was at the parque in Bolivia all those months ago while I was there. We had a laugh and a catch up and Amy got me a discount on a Milford Sound cruise for while I was in Milford.Went to a 'Night Sky Safari' while in Te An... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=674343&go=karlmuller Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=672424&go=karlmuller Well I just survived my first sky dive from the max height of 15,000 feet. Like everyone says it's the initial drop into nothing that gets you - one second you have a perfectly good plane under you and the next second you fall forward, your stomach is making its way towards your chest, you swing upside down and are looking at the sky, then the guide shoot opens and you're up the right way falling ... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=672424&go=karlmuller Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=669495&go=karlmuller Just arrived in Rotorua after a week in a batch (that is a beach house in NZ speak) out on Waiheke Island, a 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland and I think I ate more food in the last 7 days than I have in the last 9 months, plus a healthy (or unhealthy?) consumption of fish & chips and pies along the way.We had a view through Pohutukawa (the New Zealand christmas tree) out over a bay we share... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=669495&go=karlmuller Fri, 8 Jan 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=664093&go=karlmuller My last bus border crossing was as I had read and half expected it to be - having to pay off the dodgy Venezuelan police to not stop and hold up your bus for an hour while they 'searched' it. The Colombian officials in Colombian immigration were grumpy and couldn't care less - it was dark and you never know where the entry countries' immigration is so I asked (in Spanish of course) where Venezuela... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=664093&go=karlmuller Tue, 5 Jan 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=656317&go=karlmuller Yep, the end is near. Nine months travelling, eight of those in South America is almost at an end. My final 19 hour overnight bus into Venezuela and Caracas tomorrow, one night in an (as everthing seems to be in Caracas) overpriced hotel, before a flight via Santiago to Auckland and a month doing something in New Zealand. So no need to get onto those job sites just yet. From what I've heard of Car... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=656317&go=karlmuller Sun, 3 Jan 2010 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=654302&go=karlmuller After arriving back in Santa Marta for the third time, swapping between hostels for a few nights as everything was booked out, I managed to get myself settled into La Brisa Loca (same hostel as last few times) until early January.Christmas dinner at the hostel was great, steaks, salads, and a pig on a spit. I managed to get served first which also meant I was in early for seconds and then thirds o... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=654302&go=karlmuller Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=648906&go=karlmuller Driving the minivan taxi back to Cartagena we saw a funny (but not umcommon) sight - the rear door of a van tied open, a hammock strung up in the back with a guy sitting swaying in it. Mary and I took a taxi out to the local fish market area and were lucky enough to be just in time to be the last two people jammed into an overcrowded fishing boat heading for Islas del Rosario and our destination o... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=648906&go=karlmuller Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=647526&go=karlmuller Four hours or so drive from Cartagena, Santa Marta is definately, although slightly more north, more cooler than Cartagena (if low 30s is considered cool). I decided I don´t want to be rescued by local Colombian ambulance, one we saw was an old converted van with rust and bog filling the holes in the doors and the ambulance attendants having trouble getting the rickety stretcher inside the r... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=647526&go=karlmuller Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=647521&go=karlmuller Arriving in Cartagena it was hot and sticky, feeling a lot more tropical than the capital Bogota. Mary and I took a taxi to a hostel that was booked and ended up at a slightly run down hostel around the corner that I got bitten by bed bugs in, but I wasn't to know that till the next morning. The first night Mary asked if I had a pillow case which I did under my pillow and thought everyone else did... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=647521&go=karlmuller Mon, 7 Dec 2009 12:00:00 GMT