SE Asia Goodness - an edit by HRS

After months of studying film techniques I have finally applied my assimilated knowledge and bashed out the following which captures and conveys many of the fun times we* had in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
http://youtu.be/s3M8hKcfg0M
Enjoy :)

*Craig, Morgan, Dustin, Tom, Anna, Motts and myself

Into The Blue Mountains - Paddling at Penrith

We start back in travel mode from my flat in Bondi Beach, Craig surfing the Internet  idea scouring, me busying myself with food, and Natasha off somewhere, likely bringing home the bacon either metaphorically or literally. With a couple of days free in Sydney the Blue Mountains seem a logical destination for the armature tourist such as myself - I have recently been inspired by Bill Bryson's writings to at least have a look.

We set off in the morning to the local rental shop, moderately hazy from the tiring day before, and score a schnazzy little Carolla. I seem to have acquired navigational duties which in any other city would be quite trivial, but for Sydney seems an unhealthy challenge; sign posts here always seem to give you nine tenths of the information you need, and leave the rest to a general assumption of familiarity with the roads - five lanes and zero warning that you have 3 meters to cross them all before the lanes split off seems to be an all-too-common occurrence. After much apologising, and a small fortune in road tolls, we are finally cruising along the motorway towards Penrith to see our first, and probably our favourite, sight, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games White Water course. 

We were immediately impressed. The course is crowded with rafters drifting carelessly down on ominous yellow rafts, police rescue training for river rescues, slalom paddlers defying the flows and carving up stream, and a few dozen paddlers of varying ability throwing their boats around in epic waves. It's about the same time as I saw a polo ball drift past down through the rapids that I realise I have found paddling Mecca. 

A quick survey of the course shows us that there are a few challenging sections making this a solid grade three, and that there really are zero consequences from swimming. We sign up and head to the gear hiring shed. We are helped by a good Ozzy bloke in the gear shed, friendly and banterful; I complained at the lack of Bliss-Stick kayaks available, and I was called "old school" in response. We settle on two poorly-fitting Jackson play boats. Before too long we're on the water and practising our roles in preparation. Our righting-abilities significantly proven, we paddle to the conveyor which takes us to the top (!!). We perform a couple more rolls to prove we're worthy and we're off, bouncing down the river. Past the police I stop to catch my breath in an eddy. Turning I see Craig's boat is upside-down and he's already swimming. Not the best start. I continue down through the thrashing white water alone now, unsteady as a newly-born fawn first learning to walk. We repeat this exercise, each gaining in abilities: I became more stable, and Craig became a faster swimmer. Eventually by the end of our 90 minute session we were nailing the course, carving in to eddies, and racing through raids. It's a pretty ace place.

Sadly our time at the white water course draws to an end and we must press on to the Blue Mountains. As it turns out we all lack in the planning department, and we end up returning to Bondi Junction to collect our third musketeer. It takes us several hours before we reach and pass Penrith, from where you can actually see the Blue Mountains not too far away.

It's dusk as we cruise along, a backburn haze fogging the distance, wondering about the dozen road toll phone numbers we were supplied, and starting to ponder dinner. As the road climbs and winds each passing  mile changes the Australia we are seeing. I'm impressed with the greenery, especially since my perception of Australia is conveyed nicely in every map I would've ever drawn as a child - each country a lush green with blue rivers, but then just a solid yellow for this big island. It's not just the scenery which is changing at these depths. Starving, we stop in for dinner at a big roadside Chinese restaurant. It's the kind of place which is over staffed with a ratio of 2:1 staff to patrons. We wait politely at the entry while a few staff have a little chat with each other. After a minute I interrupt to enquire whether we might be seated. Startled they look up and all gesture at the restaurant in an 'of course' and 'help yourself' kind of way. Ordering was entertaining, with Tash being a little fussy on the food side we need a lot of knowledge from the waiting staff. They were nothing short of extremely friendly and fun, but were definitely lacking on the content side relating to what we needed to know then and there. After ordering water - this is truly one of my highlights - I was asked whether I wanted that in a glass, in a question which abruptly trailed off.

Tired and full with average kai we push on. Arrive in Katoomba. Track down a motor lodge. Go for a brisk evening walk to the Three Sisters - these lit up at night time are quite impressive, especially with the odd bat darting in front of the flood lights. And then proceeded to enjoy good rum and good conversation in equal quantities.