October 22, 23

Sunday was uneventful, I basically crept around Cairns trying to avoid sun or having anything touch my body. I drank so much water (several litres I'm sure) to stay hydrated and I kept stopping to spray aloe on my body. I'm sure I was a sight to see with my roasted, red skin and pained look on my face. At one point after I had reapplied some aloe to my body some Australian guys took pity on my (they were sitting at a nearby cafe/pub) and offered to buy me a beer, I settled for a cappaccino instead (alcohol is dehydrating) and sat with these random "blokes" for about an hour.
Monday I flew to Brisbane on Virgin Blue, which Richard Branson owns. There are pictures of him on the plane and in the in-flight magazine and a "note" from him saying he hopes we enjoy our flight. Which I did (although if he had been there to personally invite me to his private island, Necker Island, that would have been even better). In Brisbane I went to the airport shuttle desk to get a shuttle to my hostel, the first sign that I wasn't staying at a good place was when the guy at the desk asked why I was staying there. When I booked it, I thought I was booking a nicer place because it was a little more expensive (by about $4) and the picture looked quaint and it seemed to be more like a "guest house". When the shuttle dropped me off I was standing in front of a small car park with several Asians outside cleaning some cars. I tried to ask one if this was Valley Verandas and she motioned to a door. Inside the small reception room/desk an Asain man checked me in (I'd already paid! no turning back now) and handed me some sheets, sold me a towel ($2), and showed me to my room, which I was sharing with a girl from Japan, a girl from Korea ("South Korea?" I ask, "no, north, ha, ha, ha, you don't like North Korea, ha, ha, ha" she ended up being from South Korea), and another Asian girl (I haven't met her yet). WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO!?!?! I just had to laugh as the reception guy showed me around the place (after I asked him where everything was). There is one shower and two toilets on each of the two floors. They are not very nice. Several Asains were milling around as I did some laundry. None are really scary, just Asian. Around 4pm I decided to walk around to see the area I was staying in. Surprise, surprise, I'm a block away from Chinatown! I got some wonderful green curry vegetables for lunch/dinner and then walked back the hostel. I popped my head into the TV room to see if I could watch "Home and Away" at 7 pm (it was 6:30 ish) and one of my roommates was watching Simpsons and she said "but I watch Simpsons" and I said, no, at 7, and she says "Oh, okay" (this story is better when you give all the Asians the Asian accent when reading what they say). "Simpsons my favorite". When I went back in to watch TV there was a Scottish guy in there. I could have hugged his neck! We both laughed about this place being over-run with Asians and he said that he's been there a while and there used to not be so many, that there were Canadians there as well. So, we hung out, while a few of the Asians would silently pop in and out of the room.
This morning (Tuesday), I woke up early to go to a yoga class down the street. It was great (despite the few moves that stretched sunburned areas)! Now, I'm just using the internet before I go out for the day.