Easing into the Working Week

It's been a whirlwind kind of week. I had an interview for a job on Monday, started on Wednesday, continued on Thursday. (Wait, isn't this a Craig David song?)

Anyways, it's all happened way too fast. I mean, it's only been 6 months of holidays. My body can't cope with the "early" starts.

Seriously though, I think this might actually be my dream job. I'm teaching English to International students who have been accepted into various College courses pending passing this 15 week English course. It's already Week 12 so the pressure is on for them (and myself & the main teacher) to get them to pass. There's 11 in the class and they're really decent, hardworking students. I barely know what to do with myself in all the empty silence that's not filled with me shouting; "Sit down, take your books out, the page number is on the board, what do you mean you have no pen, sit down, why are you late, sit down, grafitti is NOT art, take his head out of that headlock, no you can't go to the toilet-you should have gone at lunch, sit down" etc etc... It's all a bit too quiet in the room which freaks me out a little!

But that and the fact that the classes are 4 hours long (4 hours, who can concentrate for that length of time!) aside I know I could really enjoy this work. You know, once I get my head around the campus and the curriculum.

A few of my Favourite things

The delivery of goods from London didn't happen today for reasons best understood by Wridgeways removals and has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning. Yet another early morning (up at 9ish this morning, a record).

So I spent the whole day sorting through old storage boxes at mum's place to see if i can throw anything away or if I have other things I want to put into storage...

It's funny when you go through a life times worth of stuff how much junk you keep. My favourites include:

1. 1 Glow in the dark Mary
2. Not one, but 2 pairs of AmberVision sunglasses
3. A photo of friends & me after we "survived" a pub crawl on the Gold Coast (completely forgot that one)
4. a photo of my first sleep over (11, 12 years old?)
5. Letters from my best friend in Ireland circa late 1980s. Every one. I could probably get blackmail money out of her for them hehe
6. every essay I've ever written for Uni
7. diaries from Year 11 & 12 with invites to parties glued in.
8. a selection of palankas (if you're reading this and you know what these are chances are I have one from you!)
9. crappy 80s art work when i was going through my phase of hand drawing popstars (you'd think we couldn't afford posters)
10. old jewellry I'm gonna keep, not because they'll come back into fashion but because they'll be good dress up
11. my sparkly purple frog that sat on my keyboard during every gig I ever played
12. flyers for gigs for the Heard!!

And that was only the first 4 boxes- who knows what gems await tomorrow...

Arrival. Abba-esque

So tomorrow all our stuff from London is arriving. Woo hoo!! Well, technically it arrived in October last year (aren't we lucky it got there sooooo quickly, they asked)

Anyway, we have arranged to have it delivered to a new self storage place near here so we'll be able to get at all our lovely wedding gifts & clothes & cook books etc any time we like. Oh, and our wigs and 60s outfits which we've been so desperately missing.

The down side is that they will be delivering it a.m. and I haven't been waking up before 12 any mornings this week... hmm, i sense a difficulty.

Also need to get my phone unlocked in good old Springvale (I've been given a contact number to get this done). Must get this sorted out though as I haven't been able to contact anyone for under 52p a text recently.

So many things to sort out. And still no job...

Malaysia - the end... and the beginning (K)

We took two overnight trains from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur (KL). In between we had a few hours spare to take the ferry out to Penang island and potter round the old colonial town of Georgetown and admire the cultural melting pot that contains a mosque, a church, a Hindu temple, a Chinese temple, and a less ethnically-defined Buddhist temple within five minutes' walk of each other. This is also represented in the choice of food: we went for Indian and sampled a fine range of breads, rotis, puris, and a massive (but paper thin) dosa - see below.

In our one day in KL we thought we'd take advantage of our early morning arrival and go up the Petronas Towers. We arrived at 8.30, which is apparently when the ticket office opens. Unfortunately, several hundred people had beaten us to it - we should apparently have started queueing at about 6am to be sure of getting two of the days' tickets. So we went instead to the elegant and impressive Museum of Islamic art. The restriction on figurative art imposed by a theological rationale that is a little beyond me does at least make for some very attractive abstract designs. Plus Arabic lends itself very well to patterns incorporating calligraphy.

We headed back towards our hostel to get some food and got lost in a huge mall sufficiently large to incorporate a small funfair, including roller coaster inside its walls, before 2 nights of train travel caught up on us and we flaked out in our room. the next morning we caught a flight to Melbourne.

Thus our journey came to an end. We traveled for 111 days, through 11 countries; stayed in 42 guesthouses, hostels and hotels, but also spent 29 nights on the move in trains or boats; a distance of 26,000km between London and KL, less than 400 of which were by plane. Some of you will know that I am a bit of a trainspotter when it comes to UNESCO world heritage sites - well we managed to fit 29 of them in en route. Some highlights:

Favourite large city: Beijing

Favourite small city/town: Luangprabang (Laos)

Favourite village: Grebbestad (Sweden)

Favourite beers: Kriek, Beerlao

Favorite food: smoked shrimps in Grebbestad, King Crab in Norway, beef strognaov in St Petersburg, 4 season beans in Beijing, mapo tofu in Xi'an, spicy peanut mix in Xi'an, caramel beef rolls in Hanoi, Fanny's ice cream in Hanoi, spicy beef patties in Luangprabang, etc. etc.

But the end is also the beginning - of our new life in Australia. You can read about that on my new blog, whilst Adrienne will continue here. Thanks for reading!

Thailand (K)

We were starting to count down the days as we arrived in Thailand and were keen to fit plenty in. After exploring Chiang Mai's old city, we took a day trip to Thailand's highest mountain, whose slopes feature sparkling waterfalls, verdant market gardens and royal pagodas, one in honour of the current king and the other in honour of the queen. The royal family are held in very high regard in Thailand, and this is enforced via a law that proscribes even the gentlest of criticism of them or their actions. Whilst not temperamentally a monarchist, I have to admit that in the case of Thailand this veneration may have been useful to Thailand over the last 50 years or so, which have seen many coup attempts, several of them successful, by providing some stability at the higher end of society and discouragement to any would-be dictators thinking they could supplant the king. They also do a lot of good work for charidee - the market gardens we saw are part of a project to wean local hill-tribes off opium growing and on to more social acceptable crops. There are over a million members of the hill-tribe ethnic minorities, with many different groups having their own traditions, dress and customs. Many of them are Burmese refugees, with Thailand having absorbed over half a million in the last 20 years or so.

A coupe of hours south was the sleepy town of Lampang, which was a charming place where nearly everyone greeted us. There was plenty to keep us occupied - the horse and cart ride which is the town's signature tourist activity being by far the least interesting of them. The old city on the north side of the river is full of old wooden houses and gorgeous temples with virtually no other visitors; there is a vibrant night market with local handicrafts and food as well as the usual bizarre plastic tat you get at markets everywhere, and a short trip north of the city is an elephant conservation centre. Here you can learn to be a mahout or elephant keeper. We didn't have enough time for that so simply went to watch the show where elephants bow and curtsy, play musical instruments and paint pictures - you can buy an original work of art after the show.

One overnight train later we were down in the teeming metropolis of Bangkok (or to give it its full name: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit). I immediately went out on a tour of the city's lesser known areas by bicycle, guided by the lovely Nok of Grasshopper Adventures. This was a great way to see a city that I've never loved, partly fro its lack of walkability, although it was also hair-raising in places, especially cycling through bustling markets or along narrow paths next to a canal!

We also spent a day out at Ayuthaya, a former capital with attractive red brick ruins of temples and palaces , plus a very impressive museum to give some background to the society that built them. The next day, we boarded a train for Malaysia, our last country before we flew to Oz.

Start as you mean to go on? I hope not

So, I've been a bit slack about writing in this blog since we've returned.
Not just because we've arrived back and have 8 years of gossip to catch up on with good mates. Not just because it's Christmas & New Year's and the busiest time of year.
Not just because we have a million settling-into-a-country jobs to do.
Although, of course all these things have played their part.

But actually because I've been in hospital...I was diagnosed with acute/severe anaemia. Not quite the homecoming I'd had planned.

At first when they did they blood test and I had a haemoglobin reading of 5.4 they thought there must have been something wrong with the test (normal is above 12) as I was clearly still standing up and conscious and functioning. So the second test resulted in a reading of 5.1 which is serious enough that they had to give me a blood transfusion. I didn't really understand all the fuss until one nurse told me that the next step for me was a heart attack as the oxygen would soon be cut off from my major organs... (what?!!) Yeah, sure I'd been a bit tired, of course getting a bit out of breath going up hills, yeah sometimes a bit dizzy if I stand up too quickly. But I'd put all these symptoms down to lack of fitness & travelling for near on 4 months.

So, 2 nights in hospital, 4 units of blood later and I now have a reading of 11.8 and an obsession with blood pressure and haemoglobin readings ((Twilight stars eat your hearts out). Everyone is asking if I feel better but I think once someone official and professional tells you that actually you are quite unwell then you can't fool yourself any longer and you do actually feel unwell!!

But at least we have a name and can work towards getting better...

Happy New Year

We're here*.
It's over 35 degrees
And it's New Year's Eve.

Have a good one!

*Australia

Mrs Butterworth

And so to our last country of the trip; Malaysia.

Overnight train from Bangkok (24 hours including delay!) and we were in Butterworth. We weren't staying though- just for our sins, and as if we hadn't had enough overnight trains* we booked tickets to head straight out of Butterworth to Kuala Lumpur that night. So, just enough time to drop the bags in the left luggage, change the baht into Malaysian dollar and then catch the ferry over to Georgetown.

You can imagine Kieran's delight to discover that Georgetown was declared a Unesco World Heritage site last year! So that was one we weren't expecting. It did seem to be a bit deserted though...We pottered around, peering our heads in quiet Chinese temples, tasting chocolate at Chocolate Boutique, eating yummy Roti at a Vegetarian Indian restaurant, listening to the Muezzin's call to prayer along with Christmas carols and generally soaked up the very multicultural vibe.

Then on to our last overnight train for the trip- Butterworth-Kuala Lumpur. Should have been a no brainer (even if we were both on the top bunks-they're not a cheaper price for nothing). It was leaving at 20.40 and getting in 5.40 the next morning). Of course, the best laid plans...Train arrived late & we had the berths above the noisiest family of the trip yet- I think about 15 people in the extended family and not one of them seemed too bothered that their 3 year old was clomping up and down the carriage in what sounded like wooden clogs and screaming until well after 12!! Had to sleep with the ipod on just to drown her out! Similiarly she was up clomping around by 5ish- I'm wondering if she (and everyone else on the carriage who didn't have ear plugs or ipods) got any sleep at all!

We've had our first tropical rain storm too here in Kuala Lumpur. I've remembered that I'm not a big fan of that muggy soupy heat (not least because it makes my hair frizzy). As we couldn't check in to our hotel at 7 in the morning we thought it an obvious opportunity to get to the Petronas towers by their 8.30 opening time to get in the line for tower tickets. No such luck...they were sold out by then- apparently you have to get there by 6.30. And that ain't going to happen any time soon. Still, a visit to the National Museum of Islamic Art, trips on the Skyline and a couple of laksas & mee gorengs later and we're back on the tourist track. For the last couple of days anyway- we'll be in Melbourne next time we blog!

* 25, we've counted

Carlsberg don't do tourist destinations, but if they did...(K)

..then it would look something like Laos. Friendly people, stunning landscape, clement weather, relaxed attitudes, Asia's best beer (Beerlao) everywhere (98% market share!), good bread, good coffee, great local food, plenty of decent western food if you feel like it, quiet roads, beautiful temples, amazing waterfalls tumbling through the trees, attractive local handicrafts, mostly cheap as chips (although some tourist businesses in Luangprabang are starting to hike their prices - and why shouldn't they?)...



Our first taste of it was the bus from Vietnam. We got crammed in the back with lots of the luggage and a young teacher from Ipswich, Dan. He got the short straw as the box behind his head kept falling on him when we went over the bumps. However, when we arrived in sleepy Savannakhet (now proud owner of lots of bits of tourist infrastructure I didn't see 7 years ago, like ATMs, supermarkets stocking everything from Pringles to Tim Tams to fisherman's friends, and Internet cafes) and settled down with our first Beerlao, the journey didn't seem too bad.



Another long bus ride the next day took us to Vientiane where we met Meredith, who'd flown out from Melbourne to travel with us for the next few weeks. On the way in we passed the brand new national stadium built top host the South-east Asian games, which by all accounts went off very well. Probably in preparation for this, the capital has had a facelift since I was last here, and now has a certain quiet charm about it - certainly one of the least capital-city like capitals I've been to. We visited the main tourist landmarks, including Patuxia, the Lao Arc de Triomphe made from concrete donated by the US to build a new runway for the airport. Even the inscription on it says " it doesn't look so good when you get close up"!



Next up was the backpackers' paradise (or backpackers' cliche?) of Vang Vieng. Cheap bungalows, cheap food and drinks 80p for a bucket of unidentified spirits and Coke (or Seven-up), bars showing comedy shows like Friends or Family guy on a loop, "happy" milkshakes and pizzas (although drugs are very illegal in Laos), but and the famous Vang Vieng tubing experience. You get run up in a pick-up with a big inner tube to a point 8k or so up the river. The river up here is lined with bars on either side, tempting you in with drinks deals, deafening pop music and activities like waterslides, rope swings or mud volleyball. You float downstream sitting in your tube, and pull in at whichever takes your fancy. If you're in danger of floating past, a couple of young lads throwout a plastic bottle on a rope to you and haul you in. When Meredith got caught in the wrong current and headed off to the far side of the river, one even swam across to make sure she made it to his bar. Since most of the bars are concentrated near the start, typically you end up paddling furiously at the end to get back before dark.



IF Vang Vieng is a backpacker's dream, then Luangprabang is a flashpacker's dream. And that's what Adrienne and I are, these days. still happy with a bit of an adventure and an experience that's a bit rough at the edges, but enjoying some creature comforts, too. We stayed in a lovely guesthouse overlooking the river, and with the most hi-tech shower in the whole of Laos. We had massages, lovely icecream, fantastic iced coffees and fresh juices, took a boat trip up the Mekong to a couple of caves, where local people put little Buddha statues as an offering; went to see a bear sanctuary next to a waterfall running through the trees into turquoise natural swimming pools; visited the old royal palace and temples with their gold leaf and stained glass mosaics glittering beautifully in the sun, and then relaxed drinking cocktails by the river as the sun went down.

We also went further afield and spent a few nights in the quiet villages of Nong Khiaw and Muang Ngoi - the latter only accessible by boat from the former, and only having a few hours of electricity a day. WE did very little up here - much to the chagrin of the local lad who was trying to interest us in a fishing-and-BBQ trip. We found out later that when we didn't bite, he had to spend the day working in the rice fields - no wonder he was so keen! These rustic places were a reminder that the development we saw in the towns, driven by industry and tourism, had yet to percolate very far into the countryside.

Initially we planned to carry on taking buses and boats north and west to the Thai border and then head into the golden triangle of opium-growing infamy. But then we realised we would be spending most of the time on bumpy roads just for the sake of continuing overland. So we booked a flight from Luangprabang, and an hour later we were in Chiang Mai.