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Andre Tardiff <AndreTardiff-canada>
"Gap Year Canadian, eh!"


Current global location: Tokyo Japan

Traveller's Path:
July 8th 2008 -Vietnam's capital Ha Noi
to Halong Bay;
to Ha Noi;
to Hoi An;
to Nga Trang;
to HCMC;
Cambodia - Phonm Penh;
to Siem Reap (Ankor Wat)
to Sihanouk ville;
to Phonm Penh;
to Malaysia?!?!? (lay over)
to Hong Kong;
to JAPAN! (Tokyo)


Polls
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Vote for your favorite Gap Year Traveller:
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Gender  
Male
Last ActiveProfile Views
10 hours18420 times
Share the Luv
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Hometown
Brandon, Manitoba
Andre Tardiff's URL
http://www.bebo.com/AndreTardiff-canada
Member Since
April 2008

Andre Tardiff says:
"There's only a few days left to enter the competition to win a Canon digital SLR camera! Enter now at www.bebo.com/thegapyear" (1 day ago) me too!

Traveller's Path - Thailand & Laos
*** May 22nd 2008 *** The Gap Year Begins - From Brandon to Winnipeg Manitoba (Canada) * Yo London UK * To Bangkok Thailand * To Phuket Province & Paton * To Ko Phi Phi * To Koh Tao * To Koh Samui (less than 24 hours) * To Koh Pha-Nang * To Bangkok & flight to Laos * Thailand Adventure Concludes *** June 22nd 2008 Laos adventure begins *** To Luang Prabang * To Phan Savan * To Vang Vieng * To Vientiane * Back to Vang Vieng * Return to Vientiane to fly to Vietnam *** July 8th 2008 the Laos experience concludes.
Movies
City of God, the Indiana Jones Trilogy, Gladiator, Pulp Fiction, Narnia (favorite childhood story book, c'mon is nostalgic), Away from here (Canadian film). Hah i have tons more I just can't think of them right now. I really like epics and not so hollywood ending movies.
Sports
I like watching Basketball Live, I play Ultimate Frisbee and Soccer. Mt. Biking, Snowboarding, Scuba diving, wake boarding, etc.
Scared Of
Heights! But they don't stop me! The most exciting thing I did last summer as a hot air balloon adventure over london Ontario!
Happiest When
Meeting new people, having something to look forward to, being in the company of intelligent and good natured people, eating delicious foods, being with friends, sleeping, exercising and playing sports, painting, photography, good tv series, good cartoon series, exploring new things, and anything creative, intelligent, and imaginative, etc etc.
Books
"Flower of Algernon" by Daniel Keyes, "Watership Down" by Richard Adams, "Odd Thomas" and "Forever Odd" by Dean Koontz, "To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee, "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, "Animal Farm" and "1984" by Geoge Orwell, and "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk.

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  • How should I celebrate my Birthday?

    1. Eat a giant Birthday Cake
    2. Buy myself a huge present (or many many small ones)
    3. Spend it at the children's Shelter and celebrate with the boys (where I volunteer all this week)
    4. Get crazy drunk and party all over Ho Chi Min City (in Vietnam)
    5. Chill out with a glass of a wine, a few friends, and a huge meal at a classy restaurant.

    5 Comments

  • Where should Andre go first?

    1. Head South to visit the USA, Mexico, and South America
    2. South East to Australia, and New Zealand
    3. Head to Europe - Iceland, France, Ireland, UK, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, etc.
    4. Visit many of Africa's countries
    5. Head East to Japan, Singapore, China, India, Thailand, Russia, etc

    7 Comments

 

Blogs

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August 19th - Still Jet lagged but getting off my butt
Just to update since I last wrote... this is still an event on the evening of the 18th:

I have to share how intimidating it feels walking into a restaurant ALONE where you don't even recognize the characters and symbols on the building or menu! It's not even the roman alphabet so it's like an alien language to me. Having someone to go with helps alot... I guess even going to eat out alone in your own country is awkward let alone a foreign one.

I think the biggest intimidation is the feeling of looking foolish and getting confused and not being able to communicate. Restaurant after restaurant I passed by, too put off by the language barrier to venture in (it's exhausting dealing with language barrier and I had a head ache, no energy, and was jet lagged) so I simply did not want to deal with complications... Finally I walked by one place where an older woman, past her middle age, gave me a HUGE friendly smile through the window... I took a few more steps, stopped, and doubled back. That was the restaurant I wanted to venture into.

Inside I was pleasantly surprised to find some basic english on the menu. Sitting down i found the staff was warm and friendly and I managed to order enough food to satisfy my hunger. I think it was a low end restaurant though, Japan's version of fast food (though they have real fast food too).

Anyway I believe I failed to relay the sensation of the invisable barrier I felt every time I considered a restaurant... That feeling that prevented me from entering so many restaurants I passed before. I would look at the pictures on the outside, the plastic version of the dishes some have in their windows... and then peer inside and see a room full of Japanses and no Westerners... and just chicken out... Just a lack of confidence combined with unfamiliarity and just not having the faintest idea what to do with a bit of low energy. Now today is a different story, the Jet lag is gone, sleep is caught up, and I'm adapting to the admosphere... I'm ready to tackle Japan! Oh I should also mention many menus have pictures weather there's english or not you can always point and smile with japanses menus.

I should also include that while hanging out in my hostle... I noticed even though groups of travellers had each other... they'd opt for a 7-11 or 'family mart' food and prepare their instant noodles meals with boiled water, not even having the nerve to go out and try the restaurants... so even in groups Westerners got intimidated

Chris has a less favorable experience with a pictureless menu... ordering some wierd jelly substance by accident that nearly made him ill, but that is a story for him to tell.

___

As for the actual 19th;

Woke up early hoping to sight see, still felt jet lagged. Instead continued to study and read up on activities/rest a bit. Waited for Chris who arrived at 12:30 and we went out to teach me how to use the metro and subway. Incredibly easy now but the first 15 minutes was confusing as hell. I got the hang of it at least.

Our real objective however was the Indian Embassy to get us our India Visas taken care of. The surface of Tokyo proved more challenging than the subways since they have a very slack and loosely organized addressing system... asking people on the street for help is 1. difficult because of the language barrier, and 2. no one knows where anything is based on an address written on paper... they respond better to visual maps. Most were as confused as we were but all put in alot of effort to help.

Those who did know where we were heading tried to point us in the right direction... but couldn't tell us how far to walk cause it's all undistinguishable words to me... so we finally ended up finding a taxi to take us there only to discover the Embassy was the wrong place to go and it was too late in the day to get to where we were suppose to go... We'll have to leave it for tomorrow morning. Nearly an afternoon wasted but I learnt alot a
1 Comment 7 hours ago
August 18th - Tokyo Day 1 -> Gray Sky and Jet Lag
The weather today was gray, and so was my mood. A group of about 5 in the dorms had an early 5 or 6am departure, not exactly sure what time it was but it was early. A few were in adjacent 'fridge boxes' (see last blog for referrence) to me and therefore I had a very broken sleep. Not as comfortable as a proper hotel bed... I have slept in worse conditions and like I said before, it reminds me of camping when I was young so it's cozy.

Because of Hong Kong's 6am start to catch our flight yesterday, then staying up untill about 12 mid night only to be woken up at 5am by other travellers I didn't end up getting out of bed untill 12 noon today with a head ache. I also haven't left the hostel yet. Maps, locations, and transportation is incredibly confusing here in Tokyo but I've been reading and studying for hours and I do believe I'm developing a good understanding on how to combine my lonely planet with some metro/subway maps as well as a few 'main area' tourist friendly maps into one understandable system on how to get to whereever the heck i'm trying to get to... I've also stayed in the hostel because my budget doesn't even afford me 1 meal a day let alone metro/subway fare, showering, and laundry... but I gotta eat so I've been living off a few 7-11 snacks during the day and I'll just eat a big supper in the evening to tie me over till the next day. See how that works untill things get sorted out.

Anyway tomorrow i plan to actually venture out into Tokyo, starting with the Pentax Forum which is nearby to where I am. I will then move on to various other locations. I'm still formulating a list of 'to do' sights and activities but the Sony building is in there later this week along with the Tsukiji market. As for the rest... I'm still doing my research. Should be fun! Hope the clouds go away too.
0 Comments 1 day ago
August 17th - Tokyo Japan!!
Chris and I were up bright an early, 6h30 am to catch our flight out of Hong Kong... It's becoming a routine now, early wake ups, cabs, buses, flights on to the next location so there wasn:t anything eventful to share.

I find international airports exciting though... you feel like you:re in the center of something big... so many people, so many on agendas, missions, objectives to their reasons for flying and all going in different directions and destinations. Many on business but most on Vacation. You can:t help but feel like you:re in the center of the world with so much diversity and languages all around. Oh the language especially! In North America it's English all over but out here where the majority of speach is unfamiliar to me, including the signs and symbols all over the airport, it feels as if I:m in a StarWars movie if I close my eyes... strange dialects and language all over... as if I walked into that bar in 'SW: A New Hope'... The Cantina on that desert planet (Sorry for the star wars reference... I was a big sci fi geek as a kid)...

Anyway...

Don:t have much to say about Tokyo yet other than it feels safe here and the people are super friendly and smile but not much English... oh and the metro is not very translated into English... first nation on this trip where there isn't some easy english speaking solution (Thai, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia all were Western tourism friendly). The metro was confusing and Chris and I would have had no idea how to get to our guest houses and it would have taken us hours to figure it out if it wasn't for Emili... the girl who made an appearance in two of my Vietnam videos (Agent Orange and my Birthday moonshine vid). Emili volunteered with the same program I volunteered in at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and to much luck is American-Japanses. So she was in Tokyo this weekend and greeted us at the Airport to lend us a hand and quickly turned into an incredibly valuable guide and translator. Sadly she had to head home this same evening, living outside of the city... but even for dinner after we had checked in we realized just how helpful having someone who speaks Japanses is as she translated our meal orders for us.... Without her I:m seriously going to have to just point and smile and hope whatever I just ordered taste good cause I cannot make heads or tail of any of it! hah

Lastly... this place is EXPENSIVE!!! I paid 40$ tonight for a box in a wall... no not even a POD hotel that is so famously known... this is a youth hostel, the cheapest option possible... and it is literally a rectangular wooden box in the wall... similar to a catacomb except bigger... not wait! After further inspection I would now like to compare it to a big refridgerator box... yah thats much more like it. I'll take a picture, you'll see!

It:s unbelievable how just last week I was renting an ocean side with ocean view bungalo in Cambodia for 5-10$ a night... where here I have to pay 1$ extra every time I want to take a shower... and 335ml bottles of water from the corner store costs me 1.5$! Thats the smallest water size. High costs aside though I have without a DOUBT Japan will be my favorite visit throughout my gap year... I can just feel it. It's got so much to do and see and is a really well kept country.

Back to the accomodations though there:s about 28 in a room stacked side by side and 2 layers high so everyone has to be quiet) and despite my catacomb/fridge box appearance comment it's really quite enjoyable once you get over the fact its 40 dollars. It is very cozy, reminds me of camping when I was younger (we had bunk beds that were more rectangular compartments going into the main structure of the camper similar to these), and the mattress and pillows are very clean and comfortable... As long as my neighbors don:t snore (too late... the guy above me is rumbling away) I:m really going to sleep amazingly here! I would have really liked to have found nice clean places
3 Comments 2 days ago
 

The Travellers


Cara Cioni
Lewis Whaitiri
Roxanne Hughes-Monteiro
Amy O' Connor

Dave Brett
The Gap Year

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Weirdest Local Challenge - Andre
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canada
Happy B-Day Joe 0 Replys
My attempt
Not too bad.
Seeing as I was using the touch pad on the laptop haha.

GAP YEAR CANADA :P
I Like Mooses Aye 0 Replys
a cow!
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Roxanne Hughes-Monteiro
hey Andre, thanks sooo much for that comment it was sooo nice!really means alot! all the places i seem to go dont have flash player so i havent seen any videos in a while!so ill have to catch up, bali isnt really known for its internet!!:L

the next challenge should be wel funny, im looking forward to watching everyones!!

hope alls well thanks again....xx
16 hours ago
Nik
He maybe in his twenties but he only looks 19!!!!
17 hours ago
Jacqualine B
not much... lol. do u lyk travelling i do i loved it in da uk! i wanna go bak. omg i wanta go 2 japan itd b so cool! bt i reali wanna go 2 america lol.... wel wb luv ya
23 hours ago via Mobile
Lisa H
Good to hear! Missing home yet??
1 day ago
Paintballer
hey what'zz up hows it going huh where y at later man
1 day ago
Jacqualine B
Hay wat doin babe luv ya
1 day ago via Mobile
Kenzie Kelly
YOU ARE HOT!!!!!!!!
1 day ago
Sexey Lebo Candy
Hey Thanks for that yeah I'll get in touch with Dave. Gosh not too many more countries left to go. I would seriously be nervous about India..... like the disease and pollution etc I guess when you get back to Canada you will have missed it SOOOOOOOOO much like when i came back to NZ I my eyes were wide open the whole 6 hour drive home......... (normally im asleep after 30 minutes maximum in a car lol) I just couldn't believe my country still existed...... after having lived in a totally different world for so long. Anyway I hope you stay in some places where you get a decent night sleep ! you dont seem to have had the best luck on finding good places to stay where you can have a peaceful sleep.
1 day ago
Sexey Lebo Candy
Hey Andre Yeah I am following whats happening with the Gap Year but...... lol do you have any idea how much time it takes to watch all those videos and read the blogs and keep up with whats happening !!! LOL

I think its so awesome that you do the videos and the blogs though like when its all over you have everything recorded so you dont start to forget.

You've gone to some interesting countrys... I hope you go somewhere in the Middle East. My boyfriend is Lebanese and honestly Lebanon is awesome lol its right on the shores of the mediterranean and its a really great country to visit most the young people all know how to speak english and french even though the official language is arabic.

Im from New Zealand. If you come to New Zealand let me know maybe we could meet up we honestly have some of the most amazing scenery here and some really awesome bush walks. I live in Hastings, Hawkes Bay which has the best weather and is not big and not small but just the perfect size :-)
1 day ago
Lisa H
Hey!

How are you??

Lis xx
2 days ago
Muramasa
hey hey :D
2 days ago
Ursixfeetunder Imgonnawalkoveryou
hey what next after hong kong?
3 days ago
Anthony Peters
I get you cheap suit, cheap watch, anything you like!

Dont forget to look at the massage page in the phone book if you need a good laugh.
4 days ago
George R Langley.
lol
4 days ago
Holly O'Donnell
Hey!
Well i'm kinda looking for a sorta cultural experience I suppose - I don't want to just feel like a tourist!?
Ankor Wat looks amazing!
6 days ago
Dave Brett
alright so you dont no of any online tutorials around?

yer i broke my flash because it kept poping up and hitting my hat off lol, i fixed it with some ducktape and a swiss army kinfe, go scouty dave haha.

so you having a good time?

your birthday looked fun with the mafia, its when they get the snakes blood out i run away lol
1 week ago
Paintballer
hey what'zz up hows is it going later
1 week ago
Dave Brett
loving the photos, so did you take online classes, can you shout me the link so i can go all micro on your ass haha :D

talk soon dude!

hope all is well in asia,

you watching the Olympics on the telly?

great bar entertainment :D

1 week ago
Brandon Cronin
If you decide to take a trip to Kamakura, or Nikko, be sure to take some photos for me to look at ;) :P
1 week ago
Holly O'Donnell
Hey, jst to say ur videos are great!
I'm heading off on my gap yr soon and hope to visit Asia next yr - anywhere you recommend?

1 week ago
 
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