One Guy’s Journey….

Well it’s all come to an end. I can’t complain too much, I have had an absolutely amazing 15 months away seeing some spectacular sites and drinking some questionable substances! Guess now all I have is time so this blog is definately going to become what it was intended for - travelling stories!!

I’m still sorting through the ridiculous 16,000 photos I managed to take over the past months so this post is more about the flight home and some pet peeves of me with aeroplanes!

Firstly… crappy aeroplanes! 12 hours I was on it for and they had 1 movie and 1 lame travel show. I hoped for a screen in the back of the headrest in front at least! Forgive me for appearing spoilt and childish but dammit I paid good money for that seat I expect to be entertained. To make up for this however, I developed what can only be described as drinks tourettes.

The flight left at 1.10 local time (about 7.10 GMT) so my plan was a beer with my dinner then i’d have a nice long sleep. This didn’t quite go to plan when I started off with a whiskey and coke. I don’t even know why as I hardly every drink the stuff! I think I got excited by all the bottles! Now after this I notice the lady on the trolley has Jack Daniels. This has become something of a favourite of mine so I felt it rude to put the good work of the people at Tennessee to waste. Along comes my dinner… (disgusting but it’s aeroplane food so meh!) What’s that you say kind stewardess? Would I care for a glass of wine with my dinner? Why yes that would be marvelous…. 5 minutes go by…. A top up you say?! Well if it makes the bottle lighter and easier for you to carry why not! Another 5 minutes…. another top up. The woman sat next to me is starting to give me that look of “seriously?! do you have a problem?!” I smile politely and sip my wine. As dinner finishes the nice Jack Daniels lady comes by once more, I oblige. Out of nowhere another fellow comes along with some courvosier I think it’s called. He only gives small measures which either means he’s a tightarse or it’s an expensive drink. I indulge and don’t really enjoy (luckily Jack made it all better!)

Now for those of you judging me and saying I really do have a problem I want you to think back to flights… have you not ever tried to make up for the over pricing with a few drinks?! No?! Oh…. nehoooo, the drinks put me off to sleep as hoped! That was until judgemental annoying woman decides she needs about 5 toilet stops at various intervals. Waking up to a middle aged plump lady effectively straddling you does make you question if your in a nightmare or not!! I’ve never known someone make so many stops and not once say excuse me or thank you! Apart from her the flight was ok and I landed back into England (with sunshine) no problem.

Now i’m home it’s very weird though. It is hard to explain the way i’m feeling; don’t get me wrong it is nice to be home but part of me is missing in a way and i’m pretty sure i left it on the other side of the world! I can only hope it won’t be too long before I can go find it! For now… more photos but some good stories will follow soon hopefully!

Getting a Tuk Tuk designed for 4 people and cramming in 7 is always going to be a bad idea… add in a few beers, a bad driver and it was inevitable… we rolled a tuk tuk! Looking back its funny, and apart from one guy now looking like he’s been 12 rounds and me not being able to walk due to a mashed up leg it is highly amusing

More details (and photos) will follow on that one…..

Finding it very hard to travel and blog so when i get home will recount the asia stuff in full! For now this will once again be a hardly ever updated site… some things never change!

Less than a month to go now… eeep!

After New Zealand and Australia, landing at Bangkok (eventually) was a massive shock! I should of arrived early morning but due to me being a bit special and missing my flight (turns out being 6 hours away in Queenstown a few hours before your flight isn’t a great thing… i am a massive muppet) i got in late afternoon.

Being in such a crazy busy city took getting used to but I loved it! Walking around and seeing all the markets, weird foods and just the people really make you appreciate back home. Don’t get me wrong though it’s an amazing place! I joined up with the guys from my tour and did a tuk-tuk trip around Bangkok on the first day before we all set off for Cambodia the next morning! We were warned about pickpockets at the border but i wasn’t prepared for the swarm of small children and their cheeky tricks! luckily i had all my stuff secure but 1 guy lost his wallet! Not the best start to a trip….

After all that we made our way to Angor Wot (im not too sure on spellings of names!) and saw some of the ancient temples, mostly ruins now but all cool! Even one from the tombraider film! Having not seen the film i couldn’t really get too excited!

After the temples was the big night out and my introduction to Buckets… large quantities of alcohol in a small plastic buckets. I managed to remain more in control than some but Cambodian night life was great fun! The following night was my room mates birthday so we decided on a “few quiet ones” - lots of beers and buckets later and we ended up in a strange Cambodian night club!

The music was happy hardcore when we walked in.. and within 10 seconds of being at the bar a local girl was attached to my hips. Nathan (the guy whose birthday it was) found this hilarious… me less so! We enjoyed our night but as the music changed to slow-dance songs it got a bit weird but was still an experience!  Not to mention being punched several times by said local girl as i walked away! Nice….

Following days involved long drives but we also saw a  floating village which was impressive and since then have made our way down to a beach town for a few days. Unfortunately the weather isn’t great but still managed a couple of swims in the sea which is warm!

Tomorrow we head off to an island for the day so fingers crossed for better weather. From there i think we head back to the city of Phnom Penh to see the killing fields and learn about Pol Pot.. he’s not a nice fella! After that i think we go to Vietnam but i’m not too sure… ah well. It’s great to be seeing a completely different place and i’m loving it!

Getting nervous about coming home again but fingers crossed i might have a job.. woo!

Typical.. soon as I put the other post up I can get my pictures… here’s me!

 Smile for the camera….. 

 Flying :) 

Wondering why im doing this…..

 Far and away one of the BEST things i’ve ever done!

This would be so much better if the pictures were online but for some really annoying reason the site doesn’t let me get to them… anyhoooooo….

134 meters is quite a long way. Even the worlds fastest sprinters take about 10 seconds to get that far. Now instead of it being horizontal, pop it on the vertical. Now place yourself in a tiny little gondola pod going over a nice big canyon-esque gap into a pod suspended by wires about 30mm thick. Then put yourself on a teeny-tiny ledge about 30cm square. Attach one giant elastic band to your feet and… jump. Thats all there is to it!! I am so angry with myself for not taking my camera with me but it was amazing!

That’s not actually me but i did do it!!! 134m… 8.5 seconds of freefall and one bloody great experience!! Adrenalin was definately going for a while after doing that!

Anyhoo… That all took place after Mum had gone back home. We ventured down to Milford Sound which was very spectacular and photo’s are over on facebook then headed on the scenic drive along the South East/West Coast along Invercargill and Dunedin.

The towns themselves weren’t anything special but it was still cool to see them! We did a few city tours, saw some snow, ate yummy food and had a slight more relaxed time as we headed back up to Christchurch. We also decided to pop up to Kaikora a few hours north of Christchurch and it didn’t disappoint! The scenery as we came in was fantastic and just as the sun was setting we saw the snow capped mountains! Certainly a very humbling country. Next day was whale watch day (after I beat mum at mini-golf! woo!) and we saw 2 sperm whales do there thing as well as massive Albatross, mini-dolphins and a couple of seals!

Final stop for mum was Christchurch, a bit more sightseeing and then off for the journey home. I took the van for a few more days and headed down to Queenstown to meet Team Sweden again and a couple of other people from Sydney! Apart from Bungy we also played a very bizarre mini-golf course, proper golf (i got beaten at both by a girl…. she does play lots more than me in my defence!), luge (so much fun!) and even a couple of nights at the pub! Something i hadn’t done since Auckland!! Crazy!

After a slight technical error on my part I finally made it to Bangkok yesterday. Through 3 timezones and a very long day. Now its off for some exploring and jumping into aircon at every available chance My trip starts tomorrow so that will hopefully be 40 days of fun Cannot wait!

If anyone can recommend anything about full moon parties in Ko Pang Nang i’d be much appreciated - places to stay etc!