New Term

Hey guys,

Sorry about the lame amount of posts lately.
Just moved into my new house over the last couple of weeks and trying to ease into 3rd year Psychology which looks like it's going to be hell. All the hard work better pay off.
If I haven't posted in a while it's because I'm swotting away in the hope of a 1st at the end of it all.
Anyways, there's a new Nepal post so enjoy!

Jessxo

Update on normal everyday life.

After being in various parts of Scotland over the last fortnight I am finally back in my cosy family house where the mother, the father and the family dog and cat roam free.
Forgive me for not putting up a post every day as currently I am trying to decode these scribbles in my travel diaries that call themselves words. As I was writing most of my journals on buses or on top of something moving, needless to say my handwriting in these books are dire.
Count yourself lucky you have the luxury of having everything typed up for you...
On another note, I got a call from Extras NI today requesting that I'm in for a costume fitting on Monday to work as an extra for 12 hours on Tuesday. They request that I "wear underwear, don't cut my hair, wear fake tan or put on/lose any weight" 
Darn it, and there I was thinking that I would go in and give them all a shock by wearing nothing under my clothes but a smile, shaving my head and dressing up as an obese oompah loompah for the day.
Right,
I really should go to bed now but I'm all buzzing after watching BBC's Sherlock with a glass of Merlot. I'm going to have some dreams tonight....

Talk soon!

Jessxo

Is there anybody out there???

The title says it all....
I know that this may not be the most thrilling of reads and I know that travel blogs are probably not for everybody but I'm just wondering who out there is actually reading me?

If there are, could you at least drop me a comment?
I feel like I'm writing into space here and although these rants and ramblings are for my enjoyment, I'm wondering if anyone else is enjoying them as well. So, if you have anything to say, just drop me a post, light a beacon or something, send me adoring flowers if you like (well, you don't have to, that's a bit over the top.).

Anyways, off to bed here as my bf plays with his iphone-_-

Laters!!!

Jessxo

*sings quietly to herself "All By Myself" (On blogspot)*

Hey Everyone!

My name is Jess and I am, like you a naive and sometimes clueless traveller.
Being a student for the last 2 years has allowed me with the luxury of getting 3 whole months off during the summer in which I have taken full advantage and have decided to take the time to go to all the places that you hear about on TV and wonder if Rough Guide and Lonely Planet were really telling the truth.

The world is our playground and it is there so that we can enjoy it.
I learned this through a series of volunteer projects and assisting with English Foreign Language classes.
The best way to see a country is through the eyes of a person who lives there.
In today's society we have to be careful not to fall into the commercialisation that the western society has brought upon us and fall into the trap of getting the same thing everywhere that we go.
Every has it's own personal identity and what makes a country unique are the people that live there and it's history.

I have started this blog due to some many of the same conversations with friends coming up which usually go a little like this:

1:"Hey Jess, so what are you doing this summer?"
J:"I'm off to Nepal (2009)/ Romania (2010) to volunteer"
1:"Whoa! I wish I could go out to places like that"
J:"Why don't you?"
1:"I'm skint!"
2:"I'm too scared to do that sort of thing!"

Now, I am a student.  Which means that I am no millionaire. I am however, careful with my money and book things in advance and the more out of the way and obscure places you choose, the less money you will spend. For example, 7 1/2 weeks in Nepal is cheaper than 3 weeks interailing in Western Europe and that's staying in hostels and living off bread and cheese most of the time!


In the last 2 years I have learned three major things (excluding money and the clothes on your back) you cannot leave home without:

1.A soap bag which has all the medications under the sun in it(especially if you are going out to one of the tropical regions)
2. Baby wipes.
3. An open mind.*

When I say an open mind, I mean, don't be surprised if you are driving along and see cattle walking along the side of the road in the middle of the city and don't be traumatised if you are shown to a hole in the ground when you ask for the toilet.

Anyways, I better head here although most of my travels for this summer are over I will see if there is a way of putting up my posts which I wrote in my journal during my time in  different  places of the last 2 years.

Peace out!

Jessxo

(*Note: this list is only from my experience, others opinions may differ. Which is why I would like people to leave me comments and tell me the top 3 things that they would unable to travel without excluding their passport, money and the clothes that they are wearing at the time.)

Dancing And The Wild...

After lying in the blistering heat for about 3 and a half hours straight I summoned up enough energy to get up and have what resembles a shower. (A bucket of water over the head job).
We then gathered up and off we went on the jeep safari and it was so worth summoning up all the energy in the world in in the midst of the days heat.

First off, our guide pointed out an eagle and a crocodile (which were both massive by the way). We then saw some wild boar and some deer.

The best bit was saved til last when the jeep pulled to a halt and our guide pointed out something in the river about 20 feet from where we were sitting and hissed "TIGER! TIGER!"

We looked and sure enough sitting there in the water was a tiger watching every move we made.

 All of a sudden, it jumped out of the water with a mighty roar and ran off into the long grass making us and the guide jump out of our skins.

I can't believe how lucky we are. People go though an entire lifetime without seeing a tiger and there it was 20 ft away from us. The guide told us that 15 days ago he saw a mother with 3 babies so it could be prowling around looking for fresh meat.....I'm glad this one didn't think that we would taste very good.

By the time we got back to our hotel it was dark and we headed off to a traditional Nepali dance where Phil, Christina, Debbie and I got up on the stage and took part.
The guys I must say, were pretty handsome.

The dancing was mainly done with sticks clashing together to the beat of a drum but the rhythm was amazing and after picking up the dance moves we had an awesome time whilst the other tourists watched us.

When Christina and I got back to our room there was no electricity which could only mean one thing. No fan. So after dying for a while in the horrific heat we eventually got to sleep in the starfish position.

Goodnight all,

Jessxo

.....

It's now 15:15 and I haven't moved from this spot. It's too hot to move. Now I know how the lizards feel. I've now ditched the t-shirt and pants and I'm currently sitting here in a makeshift toga made from bed sheets.

I wonder what Milo's up to tonight... Probably just woken up as it's 10AM over in the UK. Or maybe he's still snoozing... Beginning to kinda miss him...

Too much energy being used up writing.

Jessxo

Dehydration and Elephants

Oh god I think I’m actually dying. 

I’m sure I’ve sweated about half of my own body weight and I’m pretty convinced that I have the shits despite not passing anything out yet because I’m just sweating it all out.
My thoughts right now are that it’s just a big cycle of being so dehydrated that there is no water left inside me to have diarrhoea.

I’m feeling ill after drinking 4 litres of water and it’s only 12. Earlier on was worse though, at least I’m currently lying underneath a nice fan in underwear and a t-shirt. When I get back to Kathmandu I’m getting linen clothes and lots of them! Otherwise, I will not be able to survive in this heat for the full 7 ½ weeks.

Woke up at 6AM to an amazing breakfast. The chefs at Chitwan serve really good food here :)
They also take good care of us for 3 days for $150 (activities included!)

We then headed down to the riverside in search of crocodiles which apparently are more aggressive than Australian ones and attack people on a regular basis. Our guide had nicknamed one of them “Mass Murderer”. Comforting.

Eugh, I constantly feel things creeping on my back that aren’t actually there.
Whilst in the canoe for the crocodile safari I thought “This is it, I’m getting heat stroke” as I began to feel ill, dizzy and very sleepy. I fell asleep a few times and the sun was just beating down on me. I forgot my hat. I am a tube.
It wasn’t until we got in the shade and I had another litre of water that I felt well enough to walk again for the jungle trek.
Really worried about what trekking is going to be like because strenuous exercise in this heat is going to kill me.

The jungle trek was worth it in the end as we emerged from the jungle into the elephant breeding camp.
This place is amazing, they breed elephants and use them to detect wild elephants and rhinos to monitor their health and help people out of floods.
Apparently, there used to be 300 types of elephant in the world but now there are only 2. (I wonder if the woolly mammoth was included in that count...) But, these ones are used to help save their own species by tracking and monitoring their health.
They are so beautiful. They were really tame so we got to feed them. They are also just like petting a horse. A big, bulky, grey, long nosed horse... I was just amazed at how they use their trunks as hands and would occasionally pat you on the back like a person would do. Later on, we came to find out that they also use their trunks as snorkels when under water. I wanted to steal the twin baby elephants and take them home but I can’t imagine that they’d like Aberdeen or Carrickfergus very much. So I’ll leave them to enjoy the sun with their mummy. It’s established, elephants are cool...

Fun Fact for the day: Also read that when erect, an elephant’s penis is 1 metre long and 16cm thick. Ouch!
Anyway, off to go and sweat my weight again and listen to music... Laters!!

Jessxo