View from Victoria Peak, Hong Kong

First World Country, Developing World Telecommunications

The telecom situation in Australia is appalling. Some things you can't help like the size of the country versus the population distribution. But seemingly simple things like setting up a landline are absolutely infuriating. I've done a bit of research and it's pretty obvious to me that there are 2 parties to fault for this sad situation, Telstra and the government. Telstra used to be the government owned national telecom company. Over the past 15 years or so Telstra was privatised in stages. The Australian government still owns a share in Telstra today. I can't say whether it was the craftiness of Telstra or the general failure of the government but today Telstra has a monopoly over all physical telecom lines. If you want a line setup, you have to call Telstra.

You would think that since the government owns a part of Telstra and the fact that Telstra has a monopoly the government would implement some oversight and regulatory authority over Telstra but that hasn't been the case. It seems that Telstra merely does whatever it wants when it wants. And due to this situation, Australia is extremely disconnected due to Telstra's monopoly and exorbitantly high rates. The government here has authorized billions of dollars to build out a national broadband network (NBN) with one of the big mandates that it connect over 93% of the Australian population. Telecoms were invited to submit proposals to win the bid to participate in creating the NBN. Telstra's proposal only included 90% of the population so they were not included in the final list of proposals that were accepted. Ever since then Telstra has been making moves to stall the NBN and screw over customers further by raising rates.

Telstra is known throughout the country for charging outrageous rates and having very poor customer service. They also have the most reliable service and best mobile coverage, however this mainly due to their monopoly and never-ending efforts to make it extremely difficult to use other service providers who are forced to use Telstra's lines since there is no other option. I really can't see why the government hasn't broken up Telstra's monopoly already.

I've been trying to get broadband access in my flat for weeks now and finally was able to one setup without having to contact Telstra. The order was put in on 12 Apr, our provider then requested Telstra to setup our phone line. Telstra didn't respond till 18 Apr and said the earliest they can setup the line is on 28 Apr. 6 days till Telstra responded only to say that they couldn't come for another 10 days! WTF! The fact that this is standard practice in Australia is downright appalling. I know people who live in developing countries who got their broadband lines setup in half the time.

Telstra, thank you for screwing over the Australian public and leaving the country's telecom infrastructure in a very sad state. 

Overland from Chiang Rai, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos

Getting a ride from Chiang Rai to the border is very easy. The are many local buses that depart from the bus terminal in the centre of town. The bus ride takes about 2hrs. At the border town Chiang Khong tuk tuks are waiting to take people to the border crossing for a fixed price of about 60 baht.

At the border it takes no time at all to get stamped out of Thailand so long as you have the proper documents and didn't overstay your visa. For about 30 baht per person you take a small motorised boat across the Mekong river to Laos. The ride only takes about 10 minutes. If you go to the Lao immigration on a weekend or after 4pm you'll be charged an additional fee of 1usd. At this borderyou can get a visa on arrival after filling out the immigration forms and paying the visa fee (30usd for most nationalities).

The Laos border town doesn't have much to offer other than the very highly rated Flight of the Gibbon eco-zipline experience. The weather wasn't good when we were there so we skipped on it. Most people take the slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, we took the overnight bus. It left from the bus park at about 5pm and took about 15hrs to get to Luang Prabang. The roads in Laos are in pretty bad shape and wind up and over mountain passes. It's almost impossible to driver faster than 50kph due to all the twists and hairpin turns.

There's a common scam at the the border where people say the boat isn't running and you end up spending night after night at the border. Don't be fooled!

The Hong Kong Sevens

The Hong Kong Sevens is the biggest sporting event of the year in Hong Kong. It draws visitors from all over the world into town for big weekend of rugby and partying. The official main event is the special 7 person rugby format, featuring teams from all over the world competing in matches consisting of 7 minute halves and culminating in the final on Sunday evening. The unofficial main is the rampant partying in the stadium and in various parts of the city. While the matches are taking place the place to be is in the south stand in Hong Kong Stadium. Beer jugs aren't allowed in this section but you can purchase 1 litre cups of beer for HK$100. The south stand fills up quickly and is definitely where to go if you want to party and wear a costume. Oh, and occasionally watch some rugby too, the view of the pitch is quite nice from the upper reaches of the south stand.

Lan Kwai Fong

After the day's matches are over everyone grabs some food somewhere between the stadium and Lan Kwai Fong. LKF is usually very busy on weekends but on the weekend of the Sevens you can barely walk through the packed street. It's a massive street party and everyone is on the piss!

Tickets for the Sevens can be bought in advance or on the way to the stadium on match day. There are loads of scalpers right outside the MTR station at Causeway Bay. One would think the scalpers would be a bunch of old Chinese guys but surprisingly they're all Caucasian. The face value is about HK$400, seating is not reserved. Costumes and strong livers recommended. 

View from the KL Tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The best views in Kuala Lumpur are from the KL Tower, which itself sits on top of a hill in a forest preserve right in the middle of the city. It's at least 100m higher than the view from the Petronas Twin Towers' Skybridge and you don't need to queue very long to get to the top.

Koh Tao, Thailand

If you've ever thought about getting your scuba diving certification Koh Tao is one of the best if not the best place in the world to do it. There are dive shops galore offering just about every course available. The PADI open water course costs about US$300 and takes 4 days to complete. The cost usually includes accommodation. Koh Tao is the cheapest place in the world to do the open water course and offers really good dive spots to practice your skills. I did my course with Davey Jones' Locker (DJL). The staff there was really friendly, knowledgeable, and did a great job teaching me the course and keeping me away from the coral underwater.

There are loads of restaurants, dive shops, hotels, bungalows, and bars in the main town in Koh Tao. Just like in the other islands there are nightly fire shows at some of the restaurant / bars on the beach.

I spent my entire time in Koh Tao doing the dive course so I didn't the rest of the island. The easiest way to get to Koh Tao from Bangkok is to book a train + bus + ferry combo at the rail station. There are friendly English-speaking staff there to help you. You can also take a ferry from Koh Samui or Koh Phangan. 

Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

For such a small island, Koh Phi Phi offers quite a bit. For starters, it's easily one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It's one of three places on the planet that have amazing rock formations that rise up out of the water as if they were fingers. The accommodation options on the island range from basic guesthouses that run for about US$20 per night to luxury resorts which can cost in the hundreds. There are no publicly available motorized vehicles on the island, the only ones I saw belong to the guys who haul out the rubbish each evening. 

You can snorkel, dive, wakeboard, banana boat, hike, or just laze on the beach. Oh and you can party like a rockstar every night. There are nightly fireshows on the beach and as the fireshows come to a close the party gets started with free buckets and hordes of bucket-loving party goers. Being able to party on the beach nightly is awesome! There are loads of tattoo parlors where you can get traditional bamboo needle tattoos lining the road to the beach so it's very easy to wake up with a tattoo in the morning. 

We were lucky enough to have enough people to hire our own boat for a tour of the Phi Phi Islands at a cost of about US$20 per person and there were about 15 of us. We went to all the usual stops like Mosquito Island but on our own schedule which was really nice. Although we did have some mechanical issues at one point which led to the boat almost drifting into a limestone karst and me almost drowning cause the boat kept slowing drifting away from me but thankfully my mates helped me get back onto the boat. All in all, it was an amazing day capped off with a spectacular sunset; easily one of the most memorable days I've had while traveling. 

To get to Koh Phi Phi, you can take a ferry from Phuket, Krabi, or Koh Lanta. The ferry is about 1 to 1.5 hours from any of those places. There's an airport in Phuket and in Krabi; in both cases the ferry terminal is not too far away. Oh, and if you've ever seen the movie "The Beach", this is where it was shot.