Day 17

location:Perhentian Islands
summary:In which nothing of major consequence occured
trip:sea04
day:17

Day 17

Unlike previous cities where buying tickets for the public transport had sometimes proved difficult, Rome was a breeze. There was actually a ticket machine in the hostel itself, and there are only three types of ticket – a single journey, a day, and a week. I bought a day ticket, and waited for the bus at the stop outside the hostel.The fact that I had successfully purchased a ticket with which I was allowed to travel on any form of public transport in Rome for one day may appear slightly uninteresting, but this ticket that I had confidently pocketed and thought no more about was not yet legal. Rome, like many other cities, uses a system that I think is unnecessarily complicated. You see, the ticket is not valid for travel until the holder stamps the date and time on it using one of the strategically placed validation machines.

Day 17

Lorna called me at 7:30 so waking up in time turned out not to be such a problem after all. I finished packing quickly, putting everything I needed for our island stay into my day pack and one of the hotel’s laundry bags. My backpack would be left in Wizit’s office in Trang to be picked up on my way back to Bangkok. Our guide for the day picked us and all our island luggage up at nine and we drove to what was described in the Gecko itinerary as a sea gypsy village, but which, for our purposes, simply was the place where the boats were kept. With Sue and Steve sharing one canoe, and Lorna, Charlotte and I in the other, we set off for the mangrove swamps that lie near the coast. We were towed most of the way there, and then released to paddle through the mangroves. The boats were very unstable, so I didn’t take my camera.

Day 17

No journal available

location:Nundle – Sydney
summary:Nothing much
day:17