Tuesday 30 November 2010

Tim has left me for a load of monks

What more is there to say?!  I'm temporarily going it alone whilst Tim gets stuck into 10 days of silent meditation.  I'm mildly terrified for his sanity, but he has promised to call me if it gets too bad..  Any spare positive vibes, please send his way!

Katt's in Bangkok on a massage course, and I'm nearby but sensibly back by the sea.  I'm going to get back under water tomorrow and do some diving.  It's been too long - I hope it comes back to me OK!  I met a nice American guy called Eric at the hostel I'm staying at who was conveniently also needed a dive buddy, so that's come together nicely!

Monday 22 November 2010

Thailand, fireworks & lady boys

Hey!  I return with added energy after hearing that loads of people are logging in :) Leave me some comments, otherwise I feel a bit like I'm talking to myself!  (& you obviously, Mum!!)

Anyway, so been in Thailand for just over a week now.  I'm sure I missed off the end of Goa, but it was a bit more of the same - chilling on and around beaches.  Can't knock it!  Thailand is a different kettle of fish, almost literally.  Saying that, I think the mad frustrations of long distance travel in India, and getting a bit accustomed to a different pace of life and, unfortunately, quite a lot of poverty, has helped adjust to here pretty quickly.  The fact that Bangkok is a truly amazing place to shop though came as a surprise, and the budget has suffered a bit of a kick!

It was great to meet up with Katt at Bangkok airport, even though I felt pretty much like death after an insanely long journey from Goa to Mumbai, a mad day in Mumbai and a sleepless night flight.  Bless her, she'd also got up at the crack of dawn to meet us.  Lots of catch up on, but we've covered quite a lot of ground since then!

Katt knows a couple who live in Bangkok, and they were amazing hosts - giving us a quick tour of some local food, sights & rude entertainment options!  (Sorry Mum, I've seen some interesting things that, shall we say, were not necessarily as nature intended.  When you come to Bangkok I'll give you the tour!!)

Bangkok is fun, energetic and crazy.  Food being sold on the street everywhere, which really adds to that.  I was determined to try loads of crazy looking stuff, but so much is truly beyond recognition.  It's quite a stretch for anyone which vaguely vegetarian tendencies!  Still, plenty of time for lapsing.

The last couple of days we've spent in Chang Mai, north Thailand.  There's a crazy festival going on which requires (terrifyingly) constant fireworks, thousands of lanterns being lauched into the sky and candles floated out into the river.  What's kind of ironic about it is that the festival exists to apologize to the river for polluting it during the year.  I'm not sure how much this helps, but maybe that's my English cynicism! 

We've all been suffering a lot with mozzy bites, & in some pretty indecent spots, but other than that all is pretty well.  Tim seems to be quite a hit with the boys here, but I'm not too worried!  We're heading off again tomorrow I think, up to the Myanmar border to get out of cities for a few days and maybe see some tribes folk. 

Big love going back to England, xxx

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Hampi: ruins, boulders & stuff

I gather it's now Wed, & our last day at Hampi (overnight bus from Goa inland - crazy missions!)  It transpires you can get to anywhere in India for practically no money if you can handle long distance buses/trains, and have plenty of time on your side.  Having figured this out, I feel like I could happily spend months here, travelling about and eating local grub.  However, Thailand beckons in a couple of weeks.  We've done pretty well and managed to do most of Goa, and Hampi has been a good tip (thanks, Lilly!)  A couple more weeks to check out a bit more of India before we head on!

This place is massive ruins, monuments and big red bouldery landscape everywhere.  Also, heaps of palm trees and paddy fields where we're staying, so it's very beautiful.  Tim and I have fallen into a massive chill out here - I got a great 75min massage yesterday for about 9 pounds which was amazing!  Tempted to get one every few days!!  Still, the money goes much further on food (thalis, veggie curry (of course) and dosas, my new favourite thing, big savoury pancakes with coconut/potatoe curry dips). 

Tomorrow we're going to mission a couple of buses and head back to the coast, Gokarna, which is a hindu pilgrimage spot.  The festival of light, Diwali, is on 5th Nov, and apparently that will be a good thing to see.  hopefully we've picked a good spot for it!