Tuesday, October 03, 2006

October 2006 Travels

Dear friends,

Nemaste !

I will be away in india & nepal for ~3weeks , for cycling, backpacking & visiting!

3-14oct : shimla-manali cycling
15-18oct : tbd , hopefully a manali-leh roadtrip (dependant on weather)
19-23oct : travels with Sharon & friends
23-26oct : Kathmandu
27oct : Arrive Singapore

Until 13oct, i will be quite uncontactable.. basically cranking up & whizzing down mountains. During this time, will check sms once a day. From 14oct onwards, i will have some access to the internet and email.

~~

Australia - melbourne n its vicinity

There's plenty of ways to get from sydney to melbourne, i opted for the rail and its worth the journey! Countryside scenery in comfortable carriages.. it is abt aus100 oneway.

Melbourne is compact, and well connected by a network of trams. There is a vibrant student culture, and one of the best places i found was the victoria state library where there's free n fast internet in a classical building. At the hostel, it costs like aus5 for 30min.
Food is expensive. The city is cultural & arty.
Every 20steps or so, i could almost be accurate to say i spot hear a spore-msian accent !

I had a chance to meet up with friends, AK, HB, AF :) , as well as Barry who is building his own house up in the mountains.

Explorations over 2 weekends :
Great ocean road - rugged coast n rock, sprayed by ocean mist !
Dandenong range - Gorgeous bush forest, and also a very noteworthy william ricketts sanctuary.
The Prom - Outjut peninsula near philips isle, isles inlets n funny names.
The Great Stupa - initial foundation works at bendigo, beautiful exhibits

I spent a bomb on natural toiletries, australia has such a commendable and inspiring range of formulations! Afterall, (i heard.. yet to verify) it takes 50kg of raw material and100L of water to produce 100ml of essential oil, i guess quality does come at a price.

~~