Back in the cold embrace of Cumbria

Normality, a state of mind? a state of life? Having spent so much longer here at home than on the otherside of the world its easy to slip back into feeling like i have never left- at the same time it doesnt quite seem real. I have dreamed of what it would be like coming home for the past week.
I sit here in the sofa after waking up at 5am from jetlag thinking what do i do now? wheres the rough guide to home?

Homeward bound

Our last night- sharing a room- in a foreign country- in our seriously comforable beds. sad face. For me I swing between excitement and nervousness, arg! Home ; what is that? Next day after one last dip and checking out we headed up to (another) large and famous temple- and found a slightly modern one in downtown Hongkong- This turned out to be quite interesting as it was authentic and not touristy at all! On the way back we came across the original temple we were trying to find on the 3rd attempt. Never have i been choked by so much insense- nearly every worshipper had about 10 sticks now that is surley thats dangerous (im guessing theres not so many buddist asthmatics) . Finally it was time to collect our bags from the concierge and start the long journey home- I can say wholeheartedly that i am thoroughly and incredibly sick to the bones of airports! 24 hours and many security checks, nervous squeals of 'oh my goodness' and 'dont make me go back' we were touch down in heathrow. very strange hearing english voices again- you know when people do impresions of the english voice all upper class and totally over the top? well they dont exaggerate- this is actually to our surprise what English people sound like! After another hour we were running through manchester airport to meet our very excited familys leaping up down with a big ballooon! Home.

HongKong

On refelection we are pretty sure we stayed in a brothel. I will spare you the details but it was definitly the worst place we have stayed bar none. Still after exploring kowloon at night (yet more markets) we really love Hongkong, it has the cleanliness and efficiency of singapore with the relaxed bustle of Bankok. The hotel we are now staying at puts our worn out and saggy clothes to shame as we try and blend- impossible what with my bright red fishermans pants we stick out like hippys at ascot. still they cant stop us from using the roof top pool , hot showers and fresh towels *bliss*. Really the first full day was dedicated to lounging..and cake..and a wonder called television. In the evening we met up with Doug from Nz and he showed us the ferry over to Hongkong island, the best place for pubs and stuff then back over to kowloon for one of it famous currys. We had such a good time reminising and catching up it really was a perfect timing for the end of our trip!
Next day was time for some full scale touristing- we took an incredibly long esculator up the levels in hongkong- it went for miles and must have taken us at least 40 mins to reach the top! the ultimate city accessorie- in the mronign it runs downwards in the afternoon runs upwards- sweet as. From here it SHOULD have been an easy stroll to the tram line- as it was us it involved an hours detour up hill in a vague direction through some backstreets where we eventually ended up following the tram line downwards to find the station so we could go back up again. Even the ride its self was bizzarre- the hill so steep we had to come down backwards; going forwards would mean falling out of your seat! Once again incredible views and a grand day out!

Finger Tapping

The past 48 hours i can only liken to stnading in a very short que for a bus you dont have to take until the next day. we spent 2 hours watching a film but the next 22 consisted of re reading our books..making an ELLE magazine from a piece of scrap paper as we couldnt afford the real thing and trying not to become an icecube in the airports over active air conditioning. As mind numbing as it was it wasnt that bad- at least we were both pretty tired from the night train (another mind numbing 14 hr journey) i just spent the whole time thinking about home now- it feels like one mega 5 day journey just to get there even though we have stopped here in hongkong - like we are just waiting for the next flight..a giant (uber cool) transit lounge! we have checked in to a room i have christened stig of the dump until we can change in to the hotle ems mum has booked us tommorrow..i only need one phrase to provide you with the jist of this place and that is- you can pay by the hour. loverly. Still its only one night and we even have the first tv i've seen in ages (although all it shows is stocks) ..tomorrow tomorrow!

Complications

The day before yesterday we were supposed to head up to Pai unfortunatley Em came down with a horrible virus sickness /thing..next day we were going to head to Pai..then i came down with a horrible virus sickness/thing. Today we were going to head to Bankok but because theres huge demonstrations and protests there right now theres no buses running..brilliant. Thankfully we have managed to get a train down which will arrive the day before our flight - but because of the protests we are going to have to go straight to the airport to avoid it all and generally stay safe. This means a 24 hour stint in an airport for an hour flight. To cap this all off just found out BA airline crew is striking on the days we are supposed to be flying back to the uk..this looks ominous!
On the plus side we have just bumped into a friend we met in singapore and kl! small world..in the meantime what else can we do but fill up the hours with massages..shucks!

Chiang Mai

The journey up north can only be described as unpleasant. We arrived in a garage in the middle of nowhere after a 12 hours on a cramped bus (with broken aircon and no suspension) to be tranferd to some dodgy little taxis which then took us to a hostel in the middle of nowhere from which we had to walk into the centre. It was 7 am by the time we found a hostel but an hour of walking around lost came up trumphs- this place is awsome! Next day we headed straight on on a trek with 5 english guys, to promiscuous dutch girls and a guy from prague- again it was a case of walking in on the meeting and being 'why not?'. It was brilliant- we headed out first to shower under a waterfall then headed over to some hot pools. After this it was a hard four hours walk into the very heart of the jungle, passing through hilltribe villages to where we eventually stopped for the night. This trek was particualerly good because it wasnt big or touristy. The villages genuinly had no electricity apart from the odd solar power..they wash in the river but wow can they cook. In the evening we sat around and drank 'happy water' ( rice wiskey) very potent stuff and sang with the villagers on guitars. Our guide was quite the character and soon had us eating chilli peppers, fresh cucumbers and other bizzar things. next morning we groggly woke up from our surprisingly comfortable floor beds and headed out for our elephant trek.. Such beautiful creatures we named ours dame farnu trumphs-alot she was very amusing and a pleasure to have riiden on her back- these elephants really belong to the village but now in a cadged way..they are free to roam then the villagers track them down when they are needed the next day. Half way down our river path we switched from animal to bamboo raft for a bit of rapid riding. Again brilliant fun, especially as up in arms about the fact that only the guys were supposed to steer i took over control and epic failed as i crashed us into a rock which sent me and 3 ours sprawled flat on our faces in the river and raft wedged so much we had to get our and try and lift it against the current. such a blast a we spent the next 2 hours crashing falling in..tipping the raft ..throwing each other in and trying to do tricks with the bamboo sticks..so much so that our raft actually broke and we had to hold it together!! sadley the trip came to an end as we headed back into chiang mai, all falling asleep in the back of the truck em had us in hysterics as she performed an impression of a nodding dog in her sleep!
Last night we met back up withg the 5 english guys and we headed over to this bar called river side where they had some awsome live music. Back in at 2.30am ( well most of us ) we were up early again this morning to spend the day at a cooking course. This was a mixed bag..the food and instruction was very interesting but we didnt really get properly hands on till later in the day where we had great fun fryinmg with fire (and throwing food about the place) still i can now make a good selection of curries, spring roles padthai and make a flower out of mango skin..useful? hmm still cant wait to try out my new skills!

Bankok

I have to say i actually really like Bankok, It has a nice buzz about it but is far more tame than we expected it to be ( unless you go looking for trouble) . Until today we remained only mildly bemused by the people trying to sell us stuff-they were friendly and just trying to make a living, However we caught a glimpse of the more sinister side as em decided to take us on a 'tuk tuk adventure' Ie she wanted to experience what all the storys about dodgy tuk tuk rides were..so we got on one ( i followed begrudgingly) . He took us to one store on the way to the market we wanted to go (what harm could it do?). I sat and watched as this salesman went from friendly to persausive, to wheedling, to badgering, to acting offened , to becoming postively aggressive..it could have been a horrific situation if there hadnt been so many other people in the store. Personally i cant handle it at all..the reason why i didnt want to do it in the first place.. anyways our escape method was confusing both him and us with our arguments then running for the exit which seemed to be quite effective. The stupid thing was the salesman was actually offering a good deal- if he had let me gone away and though about the dress i wanted made then come back i probably would of..aggressivness is just scary!! ( not worth the half price tuk tuk drive!) The market we eventually arrived at was well worth it though. really really enjoyable! Now just time for one last pad thai before our 12 hour bus ride up to chiang mai!

haggling with time

after 48 hours without sleep we arrive bankok at 5 in the morning in the zone between day and night were drunks sleep on the corners of kosan road and the hawkers are both packing up and setting up. after 4 attempts we find a place to stay albeit it a 'closet' as described by jordi ( who decided to go for the flashpacker route this time) we decided since we were already up that we may as well go sight seeing- temples, the river, a bird being set free just to be eaten by a cat.. me and em were very proud that we got an incredible bargain form a taxi driver to take us to the quantas office to sort out our flights.. so now we have to come home. 2 weeks !! only 2 weeks..itsa crazzzyyyy to quote ems dodgy mario accent. we have decided to stick the rest of our time out here in thailand- there just simply isnt time or money to go to the other countrys pretty gutted but it will give me and excuse to come back! its so strange looking back at how quickly this time has passed.. a month ago today we had just arrived in singapore- 2 months ago we were in nelson newzealand meeting up with iona and 3 months ago we had just got off the plane to auckland. what a trip! but now is not the time for reminisence i have 2 weeks with very little money to spend and adventures still to be had and people to meet! ( we may be seeing doug again in hongkong! yay)

The Island trap

The problem with being in a place such as this is one doesnt want to leave- for 4 days we sunbathed (em sunburnt..tango styleee) snorkelled, icecream..the odd pinocoldada at a rasta bar round the corner ( weve made friends with the bar staff..probably the most laid back staff in the world..a measure is just a shot..they even made us our own cocktail!) sometimes we would head down the other end of the island to catch a fire show ( guys doing show off things with flaming sticks) and for a bit of a boogie- On the 5th day our feet were itching and we were palnning to hit the orad but Jordi, a dutch guy we have been travelling with on the island came down with a very high fever and couldnt even sit up in bed and we could just leave him by him slef so we stayed a couple of extra day until he recovered. I never thought i would get sick of paradise but its just to nice here to be interesting! So anyways since we were here we though we may as well stay for last night which was the full moon party over in ko phananag, Leaving our stuff here in ko toa we trekked over and spent the day there , exploring a far more exploited area. As the sunset we came acroos a tiny resort bar and stopped for pre party drinks , falling in with the crowd there ( some norweigens, an irish couple the smae age as us and a few others) we chatted, watched the dogs chase each other and made merry until we caught the cab over into what i can only describe as a night of mayhem.. People everytwhere ( and body paint everywhere else) by the time we hit the party at midnight there were already people asleep on the floor being danced on or trodden on- waves of people were being pushed out to dance in the sea- so many sound systems the music blurred into one as we clutched our buckets of samsung( potent thai wiskey) and danced away- earlier in the night we had purchased some hippy pants- my camera was in the pocket of these (along with jordis memory card) and unfortunatly bounced out to join the crowd..never to be seen again - and this was before i was actually drunk. Gutted. Totally. i spent ages scouring the beach for it. >useless< still these things happen. The rest of the night continued in an epic but wierd way- i made friendswith some random welsh as our group took it inturns to loose each other... we danced and danced and watched the runrise on the otherside and naked people frolicked in the ocean..we heard the speakers blare out for the after party and still they danced on. What a night.. we arrived nakered, beaten, dirty and covered in flouresent paint just in time for the 8.30 ferry back to ko tao. ledge.