May 2008

The full map!!!

Hey guys,

Whew, home at last! slept off the jetlag and feeling good as gold. So good to be home especially with the welcoming i got at the airport. Walking through the tunnel an hour late (sorry guys) and from half way down, positioned perfectly to see me, theres mum grinning! a few more steps revealled dad and behind plum and ev. Awesome to see all of them and big hugs all round. Really missed you all! They recieved a VERY scattered hairball and led him to where we would wait for Lindo. And then out of nowhere, not even sure where i was supposed to be looking comes a bounding smiling jussy, Another big hug and hellos to cam and bill and judy. 5 mins later Lindo appears and more hugs smiles and greetings to be had. Sadly, I could barely construct sentences... more so than usual. And my parents just wanted to get me home. so we headed off. Very excited for this weekend though. Messages came through from Sam and Swan (sam even gave plum a call so we could have a quick chat). Swan got me later that night. Oh, it was really good to see them again.

Anyway, ill get chronological and come back to all this.

After writing that last blog we lazed around all day drinking in a beautiful resort and chilling out. hard life. Our second last day on Koh Tao we hired a motorbike and rode all around the island snorkelling and sightsea-ing. (i am hilarious) :P We really had a great day. One of those really big days doing heaps of stuff and then you realise that you havent spent any money cos you have been having good wholesome fun.

Next day it was time to ferry and bus back to bangkok. as much fun as ever. We got in at midnight and went straight to bed. With only two full days ahead of us, it was a trip to the tailor followed by a very big MBK session (MBK is a big mall) including seeing Indiana Jones 4... awesome!! After that we headed to Pat Pong in the evening indulging in expensive japanese food, many an asahi (delicious japanese beer) and took in a fairly awful show. Khao Sahn for a night cap and bed. Jim arrived during the night and the next morning was too tired to come to the JJ-Market. It's a huge, cheap, weekend market with everything from puppies to knock-offs to swords to well everything. money spent and exhausted we headed back to meet James. Soon after that the boozing commenced... A great finish to a great trip, boozing with my two longest travel companions in James and Linden.

Hung over.... so hungover... managed almost nothing. Lindo had to pick up the clothes from the tailor. we achieved almost nothing except breakfast of burger king and one last pad thai lunch before linden and i headed for the airport. First flight was great. on time, comfortable, good food, good movies (i watched hitman and loads of tv eps) but i just couldnt sleep. Sydney... my bag was pretty much last and customs took 20 mins to clean my boots. the transfer line was then 45mins long so i just winged it over to the domestic terminal and arrived with 8 mins to spare.... only the cancelled my flight anyway and i scrounged one of the last seats on a flight to melb half an hour later. which left late and took FOREVER to disembark. But that melted away in the big smiles i had waiting for me.

So now I am back in Benalla and when I arrived to my delight chiefy did remember me and went NUTS. seriously out of control, he was so happy he was whining and choking. jumping around like an idiot. Genie just follows me around, finidng me wherever i am and sitting with me. I'm glad they missed me as much as i missed them.

It still feels very weird to be home. Not really sure what to do with myself. I guess without a job or a place to live I kinda still feel like i am on holiday. I have had an amazing year in which i was privelleged to travel with a lot of my closest friends and both my brother and my sister. I made new great friends, visited some living overseas and stayed with family. I lived and worked briefly in England and risked my life enough to feel alive. I am as lucky as i am in debt.

Now enough wanging on about all that. Thank you to you all, you have been great to see/email/call/miss over the last year and i look forward seeing you all as soon as possible.

Lots of Love
Tim

Hey guys!

Wooo, home in under 6 days! nuts! what a year! its been so great seeing the ones of you i saw, missing the ones i didnt and not seeing you daino. ah who am i kidding, i even missed you. pity we couldnt have caught up in Bangkok when you were there.

So a lot has been happening. quick run through. we went down through Laos to Cambodia. Then went across the country quickly before coming down here to Koh Tao where we have been diving for the last week. Magic. now some details.

I left you last in Luang Prabang. Firstly that waterfall was freaking sweet!! i have so many cool photos of linden and i swimming in a pool at the top of a big plunge. i think i like it better than erawan. Next we took a bus to Vangvieng. Wow, we went tubing one day and what a mad mad day. Drinking beers and shakes made us pretty happy and in the perfect frame of mind for a lazy tube down the Nam Song. All kinds of crazy swings and mad people really made for such a fun day. Sadly the hangover left us uncabable of anything but sitting around watching family guy and friends the next day. Next day we hired a motorbike and hit the caving scene which was amazing. having never been it was pretty damn cool. Especially the one where we had to pull ourselves into the cave in the water for hundreds of meters sitting in a tube. awesome. pity some jerks cyphened our fuel and we had to refill to get home. jerks!

So next was Vientiane. Didnt do a whole lot other than get our cambodian visas and some good japanese food. then it was time to go all the way down the country to the 4000 islands. Beautiful. We stayed on Don Khong which was very quite and had some great things to explore. we rode bikes all over the island seeing 2 huge waterfalls, a beach and we even hired a boat to see the irrawady tiver dolphins. kinda stupid looking with no nose. but very cool nonetheless. after two days it was cambodia time.

Annoying, we got stuffed around at the border and couldnt make it to phenom penh and this meant that we had to cut the capital all together. we got stuck in the shitty town of Kratie. The next day was spent getting to Siem Riep. For the next 2 days we visited Wats. Amazing, Angkor was incredible but each wat had some cool element of its own as rulers tried to outdo one-another. and our tuk-tuk driver was awesome! such a genuine nice guy. we had one crash which was scary. we hit two dogs running across the road and the driver and the bike went under and we kinda skidded on them. I jumped out and lifted the trailer off them and the dog came exploding out covered in petrol as did our driver (with skinned feet and knees). He refused to go home or even take care of himself saying he was fine. Always with his huge grin. We really liked him, could have been really hurt if he had swerved but he took it for us.

Sorry, i got away from it for a bit, Angkor was just amazing. weather wasnt great and the kids/touts were horrible. No i dont wanna buy your f@!king pineapple b*tch!! sorry but i had to let off a bit of steam.

Then it was time for the horrible trip to bangkok. hours and hours on that horrible road to the border. well we got there and even met up with james for a beer. crazy kid is at the full moon party right now. us old timers gave it a miss for quieter koh tao. Anyway thats just what we did the next day. bus then ferry to koh tao. Linden got stuck stright into her open water divers course.

Our first real day here was my bday so i decided not to start my course immediately. I lazed on the beach. Called mum and dad, got a massage, lazed by the pool, back to the beach.... then it was dinner and bed. couldnt ask for a more relaxing lovely day. heard from lots of guys back home. Sam got in first nice and early, but also heard from all the family and lots of facebook and phone messages. Was really cool.

So the for the last few days its been my Advanced Open Water Course keeping me occupied. Now im qualified to 30m depth so i can go down there and get 'narked' anytime i want. Saw some pretty cool stuff. hawksbill turtle being the best. also a very poisonous banded sea snake. triggerfish other cool things but the whaleshark still eludes me. next time!

Yeah so lindo and i have been spending it up and celebrating out qualifications and imminent trips home. been amazing and we have a few days left. eek cant believe ill be home soon. cant wait to see everyone again! and eat the foods ive been missing!

Anyway, this has been long enough already, ill see you in a few days.

Lots of love, Happy Birthday to Sara and Plummers (20th and 21st)
Tim and Linden