KK - KL - Athens

Day: 24 from home

Location: Paros, Cyclades, Greece

Exams finished up and after a few preparations for leaving Tom and I were off to Borneo to climb Mt.Kinabalu, which we did. The day after arriving we were up early and on a bus to the entrance to the national park, then we arranged our compulsory guide and hiked the 6km to the base camp at Laban Rata at 3233m. After early dinner we slept for a 2am wake-up. The ascent was steep and it became progressively colder, sapping more of our energy as the air thinned. It was still pitch-black when we reached the summit at 4095m and we tried, against our guide’s preference to stay until sunrise. Unfortunately the cloud we were in was cold and persistent at obstructing our view so we headed down. Some of the cloud cleared, revealing an incredible from the face we were walking down.

Summit

After the unusual wake-up and strenuous climb a big rest was in order. The next few days we enjoyed Kota Kinabalu (KK) and our beds at the hostel. KK is a great town with an excellent fresh seafood market by the water at night as well as some cool restaurants that have popped up in the last 18 months. With the Mountain, jungles and other places that we didn’t have time to get to within reasonably close proximity it makes for a good base for other exploration too.

Four months at Monash Sunway have passed and it was, of course only in preparation for leaving that I fully realised how familiar and comfortable I had become with the people, the area and the lifestyle we had there. The last day was a struggle to pack up after very little sleep and mixed emotions about leaving. It had been difficult to say goodbye to all the people I’d enjoyed the company of over the semester with some leaving before we came back from Borneo and others shortly after. I will look forward to seeing those that I can back at home and others on future trips overseas.

The flight to Athens went via Bankok and Cairo and landed at the last destination at 1pm. We found our way to the bus into the city and then the accommodation which was at the foot of the Acropolis. I was instantly amazed by the design of the streets and how cool the shops within them were. It almost felt a little bit like home. A definite highlight of that afternoon was sovlakis for 2.20 Euro. We started with one but quickly realised two were required. A 360­º view of the city that evening begged questions about the lack of high rise buildings which is supposedly to preserve the dominance of the Acropolis in the landscape.

The next day we had to get all of our Athens sight seeing done. It also happened to be my Birthday. Of course with a day like that planned it will be a memorable one. We visited the Acropolis, the Panathenaic Stadium – birthplace of the Modern Olympics and then the Athens nightlife.

Acropolis

*Local salad

Panathenaic Stadium

Again on minimal sleep we set off for Paros yesterday where we have found a campsite-like set up on a small beach with refreshing, glistening blue water, cloudless skies and relaxation-inducing lounge chairs and music. Sorry if you’re reading this from Melbourne.

Ben x

Aus

Sun-away

Day: 35 from home

Location: Monash Sunway Campus (but not for much longer)

Uni is all finished for another semester but this time this means saying goodbyes to people as they check out and head for a variety of destinations whether that be home or another place of travel. Because the departures are staggered it makes for a fairly anti-climactic end to what has been a great semester.

With a whole week to study in SWOT vac a group of us went to Perhentian Islands to ‘study’, dive and avoid any possible stress that exams can bring. We were successful. The diving course that we took gave us an open water licence and involved three unexpectedly tiring days of lame PADI videos, skills sessions and four open water dives. As hard as I tried, I was not able to be productive (in terms of uni work) so we begrudgingly came back to Sunway on the Thursday of SWOT vac.

While we were away I received some exciting news about an internship I had applied for. I was not able to start immediately after this semester in the position but was offered a place between September and December and as such, will most likely be returning to KL sooner than expected and taking a break from formal study for a semester which will be a first. This also means that posts will continue here because I will once again be ‘ex-Aus’.

The campus had a visit from the new Victorian Premier Denis Napthine and some other members of his South East Asian trade delegation on Sunday and because of our handsome looks, intelligence and wit Tom and I were asked to represent some of the students on campus and greet the dignitaries. The two hour visit involved a lot of meeting and shaking hands but was worthwhile overall, plus we saw into the mysterious med faculty classrooms which for two arts students is a rare opportunity.

The plan from here goes like this:

15:15 today – fly to KK, climb part of Mt.Kinabalu tomorrow and the rest on Friday morning before sunrise. Spend the rest of the week in Sabah.

25/6 – return to KL and Sunway for one night.

26/6 – fly to Athens

27/6 – arrive in Athens. In Mykonos on the 1^st and then to Ios, Naxos and Santorini before going to Turkey on the 14^th.

22/7 – fly home, stopover in KL for 9 hours.

23/7 – Melbourne, bring jumper.

Ben x

Aus