Hammocks and Swings

I’m sitting in the restaurant looking out across what
looks like a corn field, through which a lane carries
old European style cars and rickety bicycles. I feel a
bit like I’m in Ukrainian countryside, like in that movie
with Elijah Wood. That was set in Ukraine, right? But
the illusion gets ruined by the jungle covered mountains
in the distance. I guess the reality is better than the
illusion anyways.

I got picked up from the railway station on Monday by
a man on a motorbike. Carrying my backpack on a bike
is no problem if I’m doing the driving; at least then the
weight of it is supported by the seat behind me. But I
wasn’t doing the driving, and I think I almost snapped
my stomach muscles trying to save myself from toppling
off the back of the bike. Literally ever time he accelerated
a little I thought I was going to die.


The place where I’m staying has a swimming pool. A
freaking SWIMMING POOL! It’s called Thai Garden Inn,
and there are a few bungalows set around a super cute garden,
complete with hammocks and swings. I love it here; I decided
to stay for 4 nights instead of 3, with the intention of spending
an entire day by the pool.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I got up early with the hope of securing
a bicycle; apparently this place has free bikes to rent, and I
had bought a t-shirt a couple of days before with a bicycle on,
so I thought it was a SIGN, and plus I thought I’d look pretty
awesome riding a bike wearing it.

But then I got told that there was only ONE bike, but it
was broken so I couldn’t use it. But I was like, uh well,
I wanna go bike riding. And he was all like, tough, you
can hire a motorbike instead for 250 baht. But I said, well,
I want a bicycle! And we went around in circles for a while,
and he eventually went off and came back 10 minutes later
with a bike pump. Broken my ass. So 5 minutes later he
wheeled out the miraculously fixed bike. I rode it to the top
of the drive and back, and decided I’d walk instead. It was
the shittiest bike I ever saw.

Sooo, I got into town and hired a motorbike from somebody
else, to make a statement about the crappy bicycle. I visited
the Bridge over the River Kwai, and then took off on a
mega road trip

I drove until my eyes watered. Kanchanaburi is a nice place
for driving. There’s hardly any traffic on the roads. On either
side of me was farmland, and beyond that, the mountains. I
had to dodge cows that had wandered on to the road. Well, I
 say cows; they look more like freakishly massive goats with
big floppy rabbit ears.

I stopped at an elephant village, set right on the river. Then
I headed for Nam Tok, where there are a few waterfalls,
caves and the like. After that I drove for AGES until I came
to the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum. I like a bit of culture
after dinner.

It was pretty hard hitting. The Hellfire Pass is a cutting,
made by Australian and British POW’s for the
Thailand – Burmese railway. They were tortured and
starved by the Japanese and Korean’s, and were worked
until they died, of exhaustion, malnutrition, cholera or
tropical ulcers. After looking round the museum, you can
follow a trail along the death railway until you reach the
Hellfire Pass and its memorial.

It was pretty interesting, because I’d never ever heard
of the construction of the Death Railway before, and now
I feel bad about being so ignorant. I drove over 200 kilometres
yesterday. That’s a lot of mileage to do on a bike; my arms
were tingling by the time I got home.

Today is Wednesday, and I had planned to do nothing
except get up late, hang around the bungalow and do some
swimming, but for some reason, and I have no idea why, I
find it completely impossible to stop moving for any length
of time and relax.

So I got up at 7 as usual, went for breakfast at 8, went
for a swim at 8.30, took the bike back at 9.30, walked
all the way over to the Bridge and the markets, visited the
Jeath War Museum, had a couple of strawberry shakes in
a pub with beloved wifi, where I booked a hostel in Chiang
Mai and Pai, bought my Japan rail pass, and then made
friends with a Thai family who turned all Japanese on me
and wanted pictures of them with me!


Then it felt like it was going to start raining so I just headed
back to the guesthouse for some dinner and a nap, before
hopefully heading to a night market tonight!

Bangkok -> Kanchanaburi

I’m on the train from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, and a Thai man

came and plonked himself down next to me. He has been working 

as a taxi driver in Chicago for the last 20 years so I think he wanted 

to talk to the white girl, despite there being plenty of empty seats 

on the train. 40 minutes in, conversation run out, is it rude to turn 

my laptop on? I just don’t know, I wish I wasn’t so socially awkward!

Anyways, I’ve been in Bangkok for the last 7 days waiting for my Indian 

visa to come through, which it did on Friday, but I decided to hang 

around another couple of days because Lynette invited me to a BBQ 

at Shirley’s.

I was properly dreading spending a week in Bangkok, but I’ve actually 

had a pretty good time, and I haven’t yearned to be back on Samui once!

I was staying at a little guesthouse called Bluefin, a Thai style wooden 

house miles away from the horror that is Khao San. For 200 baht a night 

I got a room in the house, just a single bed and a little table. But the 

house was amazingly clean, there were showers downstairs and I was 

in an area of Bangkok where I was stared at for being the only farang 

around. It was awesome!

The only downside was getting around, as I had to get a motorbike
taxi to the skytrain if I wanted to get anywhere quickly.
The pier was about 10 minutes walk away though, and from 

there I could get anywhere along the Chao Praya river for 13 baht.

My little room got the brunt of the morning sunshine, so I tried to be 

out of my room by 9am, otherwise I started to melt. This was a bonus 

I guess, because it kept me out and about all day; having no air con 

or tv or even a place to sit is probably the best cure for laziness.

Sooo I’ve had a few daytrips, I spent a few hours at Dusit zoo, and 

took a trip to Chinatown, Wat Po and around Khao San with Lynette 

and Steve, who was also staying at Shirley’s apartment. I went 

shopping, lots. And to the cinema lots too! I figured out that the 

ultimate way to spend a roasting Bangkok afternoon is sat in an 

air conditioned cinema. Lynette and I went to see Alice in 

Wonderland in 3D, it was completely wicked! I’ve never seen 

a 3D movie before, but it’s definitely the future!

Yesterday Lynette and I spent 5 hours at Chatuchak weekend 

market. I must have been to this market 5 or 6 times, but I don’t 

think I could ever get bored of it. I bought some stuff, and then 

we headed back to Shirley’s for the BBQ! I watched Ben 10 with 

Shirley’s 2 boys Finley and Ethan, I miss cartoons! I’m sure lots 

of other things happened too, but I’m rubbish at remembering 

these days!

My spare time, i.e. between 7 and 8am, is taken up planning 

India. My cousin Daniel is coming too, which I’m really excited 

about! I just really home everything works out, because the 

responsibility will sit firmly on my shoulders; I have sorted 

flights, trains, accommodation, EVERYTHING. And while I’ve 

loved every minute of it, I worry that my dad and Dan having 

a good time is dependent on my planning skills. It’s like being 

a host, some people thrive at it and some people don’t. I 

freaking hate being a host, I’m paranoid people are having a 

bad time.

So it’s been a pretty good week really, but boy am I glad to be 

heading out of Bangkok! Kanchanaburi is famous for its Bridge 

over the River Kwai. I don’t know a thing about it, other than 

what I read on wiki the other day. Something about the Kwai 

not even being the rivers name, so they had to change it.  I 

should probably try and be more cultured when I visit places 

like this.

I just bought some noodles. And then the Thai man, whose 

name is Norman (!!?) gave me his card and told me to ring 

him if I have any trouble in Kanchanaburi. I’m off to eat my 

lovely noodles now, laters!

Planning!

I can’t sleep, and for some reason the only time I can
actually force myself to write something is between the
hours of midnight and 1am.

Anyway, here’s what’s new.

When I booked my flight out here, I had absolutely no
idea what I was going to do once I arrived. I just figured
I’d sit out the winter and hopefully come to some profound
conclusion regarding what to do with my life.

Well, that hasn’t happened so far, but I have decided to
come home. I need to face reality. I need a job, and I also
need to find myself a husband. And obviously I'm missing
Max too!

But FIRST I’m going to Japan for a couple of weeks! I’ve
booked a flight and all my hostels, and now I just need to
sort out my rail pass. I’m ridiculously excited.

AND I’ve also persuaded my dad to meet me in India for
a 2 week holiday including a trip to Bandhavgarh National
Park to see real life TIGERS. Ohmygod.

I’m almost out of pages in my passport, I hope I have
enough to do India and Japan.

Sooooo, this means I need an Indian visa, so I’m going
to have to spend a while in Bangkok sorting it out. This
will be the fifth visa I’ve got in Bangkok. I like to make
things complicated for myself.

These two trips are dominating my life right now, you
have no idea how difficult planning these things from
Thailand in a short space of time can be. I mean, I
managed to orchestrate an entire overland trip from
Vietnam to St Petersburg from Thailand. I’m badass. 

I’m thinking I should organise holidays for a living, I
freaking love it.

In other news, I bought a kitchen knife, and it’s incredible.
What I didn’t realise was that it was double edged, and I
couldn’t work out why my hands were getting sliced to
pieces. So one side is serrated, the other side is a vegetable
knife, and the middle is a peeler. AND it has a bottle
opener. I’m bringing this guy home with me for sure.
In fact, I need to take a picture to prove how excellent
it is.

I’m not even slightly tanned. Not even A BIT. And everyone
I encounter comments on how PALE I am, and how I should
wear lots of cream. It’s annoying.

Oh yeah, I just realised I never mentioned that job I got
offered.Ha, look, I gave it a go, but when someones first
words to you are'this is not timeshare', you know you're
in for a fun time.

It was bullshit, and despite the fact that I could have earnt
A LOT of money doing it, I found it physically impossible
to pretend to act astonished and excited when tourists reveal
3 stars on their scratchcard. I never actually realised how
good these guys are at lying. And I was BAD at it, so I told
Stefan, the manager, that it wasn't for me. I half expected
him to track me down and murder me incase I reveal the
secret behind the tiny black dot on the winning scratch cards.

Tuesday

I was just riding my bike along and the car infront of me
hit a dog.

And nobody else stopped except me, so I carried it to the
side of the road. It was still alive but I think maybe it's neck
was broken. What the hell was I meant to do, nobody else
bothered to stop and I couldn't carry it on my bike, so I
just left it :( I feel bad.

Super brief post with zero emotion

So it’s now been 12 whole days since I left lovely safe
Dronfield!

Day 1 was a plane day.

Day 2 was also a plane day, but with an insane stop
over in New Delhi. I did make friends during this
though, which was nice.

Day 3 I got three hours sleep and then had another
plane day. And then I was back on Samui.

Days 4 and 5 were HOUSE days where I drove around
endlessly ringing about house for rent signs. This was
hard work AND I got really really bad sunburn on my
forehead and the back of my hands.

Day 6 was moving in day because I found a house!

Day 7 was lobster-lookalike recluse day:(

Day 8 was friend day, when brand new friends Andrew
and his bro Tom came and stayed at my house!

Day 9 was also friend day, although it was also friend
leaving day

Days 10 and 11 were exploration and internet days.
Someone fitted internet in my house, which worked
for an hour. Then stopped. Misery.

Today is day 12. Some German bloke approached me
in the supermarket and offered me a job. Swapped
numbers. I hope he rings me, I want a job! It’s for a
hotel called Dara, and they pretty much employ people
to be on the streets selling holidays to tourists. The best
thing about this is, I’d get an awesome tan. He also
invited me out with his friends tonight, winner.

It's the species disappearing...

.. all the birds fly south
In a January heat wave and a pulsing crowd

Ahh man, I have this huge gap where December is supposed to be!
I totally forgot to write anything. December tried to dissemble the
length of my working day.

December was a good month, too. I turned 24 and everything.

Well, anyways, I have a one way ticket out of here again.
January 26th is the official migration date.

My Christmas job at Toys R Us finished :( Gutted.

I've realised I have this problem where I buy multiple items
of the same thing. Recently I've been buying lots of hats,
slippers and pyjamas (this is a winter thing), but I also own
way way way too many photo frames, headbands, cameras,
and LUGGAGE.

Literally, the last 6 times I've been away, I've bought a new
bag, and I've just bought yet another one in the sales.

I decided to downsize, and bought a 50 litre backpack. This
means I can't take all my pyjamas, headbands and cameras.

I'm sure I had loads to write about, but it's late and I can't
remember anymore.

Hiii

Ummmmmm I'm only writing this because I MISS having
actual things to write about and I'm hoping some source of
inspiration will come to me as I type.

Oh man, this is gonna be difficult.

My parents have deserted me, and left me alone with a
full time job, a house and a dog. They are in ROME,
which I am highly jealous of, not least because I was
originally invited along, before they remembered they
needed a dog sitter.

It's no so bad, really, seeing as Ella and I pretty much
ignore each other. But this morning I had to get up at
6am because I have to feed her at least an hour before
I walk her (have you ever heard such rubbish? I think
my parents have this mixed up with the eating before
swimming rule) and it takes me an hour to get to work
for 9am.

And then I can't walk her before 5pm (for the same
reason) so it's DARK and I refuse to walk the streets
with her because she's your regular scavenger dog,
and it's a pain in the ass dragging her away from every
morsel of food dropped on the pavements.

So I have to go ON THE FIELD which is pitch dark
and scary! I swear I'm going to die this week, if not by
an axe murderer, then by starvation.

Hurry home parents :(

I don't think I actually have anything else to write, other
than as soon as my dole money comes through I am
buying another one way ticket out of here.