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Homeward bound

Saturday, December 27th, 2008

So came the end of my trip. The ride to the airport I was feeling pretty neutral about the whole thing, not nervous or excited…just that it was the next thing to do. We got to the airport with way too much time to spare, I spent a bit of time waiting talking to an American guy on the same flight convincing him that Syria really is the greatest country to visit and wandering around the airport shops. I was flying on Jetstar which is the budget airline but really didn’t turn out to be that bad, I paid extra for a portable entertainment thing which say on my tray and I could watch movies and TV shows so that was really good, and I had brought a bit of food with me. The seats were actually really comfy, but of course I didn’t sleep at all and arriving into Melbourne I was pretty stuffed.

Somehow Melbourne airport was ridiculously unorganized and it took about an hour and half to get off the plane while we waited for them to bring us stairs, then buses….we were all well over it. Because I had 7 hours till my flight Christchurch I headed into town for the afternoon. I had a bit of Thai money left over which I changed into $40 Aussie dollars. In Thailand this would have lasted me 2 days but here I got a return trip into town on the bus, a sandwich, coffee and a chocolate bar. I hadn’t been to Melbourne since I was 6 years old so didn’t much idea what there was to do, as I only had a few hours and not much money I just wandered around in the sun, pretty dazed from not sleeping. I kind of expected it to be a bit cooler and more funky but it seemed to me like a big western city.

 (I almost forgot it was christmas…but Melbourne soon reminded me…)

 (This building is so communist looking, I may have well been in Russia, although the blue sky gives it away that it isn’t)

 Nice but not very interesting. After having lunch I sat in park for a bit enjoying the sun then I headed back to the airport to catch my last flight home.

We didn’t leave for a bit because after only about 10 people had gotten onto the plane (me included) a women had an asthma attack and all these emergency doctors came on and took her away, finally we were all loaded and on the place for the 3 hour flight home, which thankfully I slept most of the way. Arriving home about 11.45pm, I grabbed my bags, was let through customs with no bag searching. Back to NZ, back to Christchurch…mum and dad were there to pick me up and we headed out into the much colder chch air and back home…..and that’s that!

Bangkok fun

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

My final long haul bus ride was pretty terrible, I barely got a seat and the people in charge seemed to have never loaded a bus load of people before. But eventually we were all on and the drivers cranked the air-con until it was freezing. Combined with the typical uncomfortable seats, I had very little sleep the whole night. We arrived into Bangkok at 5.30am and I was definitely over it, and totally out of it from no sleep. I was staying with Jess and Andy, friends from home who I visited last trip in the Philippines (link) where they were teaching at an international school. Now they have moved to a new school in Bangkok and had a kid, Malaya who is now 7 months old. So I was looking forward to having a real house to stay in for my last few days away. The school is in a ‘planned community’ called Nada Thani, a bit out of the center of town, I took a taxi there and managed to track down Andy using the gate guards cell phone. Having a baby they were already up. Great to see them again and see their place, the teachers all live in these apartment buildings and they have a really nice 3 bedroom place overlooking the pool and play area (with real grass! hard to find in Asia). I was shattered from the bus ride so just hung out all day at their place. So nice to have a big comfy bed, free internet, nice bathroom, western food….all so overwhelming! In the afternoon we sat by the pool and had a few beers while Andy tried to tell me it was colder than usual (it was really a perfect 28 degrees). After I had a bit of a nap I went down to the local American style supermarket to pick up some food for the evening and Andy baked an amazing carrot cake which we took to their next door neighbours and ate dinner, cake and went through a few bottles of wine. I love Bangkok…

Over the next few days I prepared myself for home, which includes doing a lot of shopping. The weekend market in Bangkok is huge so I spent ages there buying way too many t-shirts. Andy, Jess and Malaya came for awhile but obviously having a kid changed things a bit so left me to fight the crowds and the heat while Malaya went home to have a nap. I caught the new underground from the market to MBK, the big shopping mall in town which has heaps of christmas decorations, the first I have seen for awhile.


Got my hair cut and coloured and a bit more shopping before I jumped in a taxi which took ages through the traffic to finally get back home. The next day we all headed out again on the water taxi which goes down the river into town, great way to get around Bangkok and very cheap. We got off near one of the major temples which has the worlds biggest reclining Buddha’s.


It really is a very very big Buddha, like massive. It was really cool to see, all gold with amazing detail. We walked the length of it then back around behind it where you take handfuls of coins and drop them in the offering bowls along the way out.


The rest of the area where the Buddha is, is really interesting, heaps of other temples and Wat’s to look at. But of course you can only see so many before they all look the same so we headed back to get some lunch then on the boat, Jess and Andy headed back home and I jumped off near Khao San road, the ultimate backpacker street which has everything you could want. So of course more shopping, food and checking out the backpackers lining the streets, getting dreads, drinking beer, buying clothes, passing out from too many drugs, lugging packs….it’s kind of cool actually, not in a cultural way of course but kind of fun. I took the boat back towards home as the sun was setting over the river.

I had one more full day in Bangkok which I spent just hanging out at Jess and Andy’s place, trying to pack my bag and lying by the pool. We left Malaya with the maid/nanny and headed out for an early tea at this awesome restaurant right on the river with amazing Thai food, we watched the sun set while little boats zipped around.


Living in Bangkok is great, and the more Jess tries to convince me to be an international school teacher the more I think that it really is a good idea and now doing my post-grad teaching diploma is on my list of options for home time. After our amazing dinner we stopped on route to pick up sticky rice from the supermarket and came home and had sticky rice and mango while 3 masseuses we rang to come to the house gave us foot massages….things don’t get much better than that, Bangkok is awesome. My flight the next day wasn’t till 9pm but I left about 1pm after finishing packing and having lunch with Jess, Andy and Malaya. They won’t be coming back to NZ for at least another year which by then Malaya will be so much older, so it was really nice to see them and hang out in their amazing place. I took a taxi to Khao San road and booked a minibus for 5pm then brought a few final things and had one last street side curry and iced coffee and a half an hour Thai massage. *Sigh* I love Asia….then jumped on the mini bus to the airport to begin the long journey home.

Hill tribe trekking

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
I had signed up for a 3 day trek through my guest house, struggling to wake up, eat breakfast and fit everything into a day pack I managed to get everything together by the 9am pickup. Lots of people had ... [Continue reading this entry]

cooking school

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
My full day cooking class was through the Pad Thai cooking school, we selected 6 dishes on the way that we were going to cook during the day. There were about 16 of us, mostly from my guest house, and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Eating and shopping in Chiang Mai

Monday, December 8th, 2008
It was good to be in Thailand again, people are so friendly and things are jut so easy! People speak English, the hostels are helpful and will book everything for you and things are just very very cheap! The only ... [Continue reading this entry]

A short expensive detour through Laos

Monday, December 8th, 2008
As my boat wasn't going I was forced to detour through Laos, which isn't in itself a bad thing. I love Laos and had an awesome time there last year, its cheap ad fun. But when I was just passing ... [Continue reading this entry]

the Thai side of China

Sunday, December 7th, 2008
My sleeper bus into Jinghong was long and painful, mostly because I was just a little too big for the beds and also I was in the middle row of bunks and had people on either side of me camped ... [Continue reading this entry]

the economic crisis is lame

Saturday, December 6th, 2008
OK, so really I am just complaining but found a graph of the NZ dollar against the USD today.

I left in 07/08 which is precisely when the NZ dollar started falling...dramatically, making my money worth a ... [Continue reading this entry]

Dali-more old towns and city walls

Saturday, December 6th, 2008
Apparently the bus ride from Shangri-la to Dali is beautiful but I slept most of the way, just waking up as we approached the lake which Dali is close to, driving round the lake was nice with green fields and big ... [Continue reading this entry]

finding my Shangri-la

Friday, December 5th, 2008
Shangri-La was first a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. It was a mythical Himalayan paradise where everyone was happy and things were sweet. Since then Shangri-la ha been used as ... [Continue reading this entry]