My watch tells me that today is Tuesday, February 2nd.

Gregg and I are 5 hours into a 14 hour Air Canada flight Hong Kong – Vancouver….. in first class! Its the only way to go, baby!! Do I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven!!! We’re being pampered every inch of the way and I just finished soaking up the entire Globe and Mail.

So – Gregg made it through on standby flights faster than we both thought. He arrived in Phuket early morning on Monday. I was still 3 hours away at that point so he waited at the airport while I made my way over to Phuket and arrived at the airport on the back of a motorbike with all my gear in tow. I’ve been packing 3 bags around again! (I mailed stuff home and was doing well for a short while) My backpack is way too heavy for my current strength and then I carry my smaller day pack on my front and my beautiful Hmong woven shoulder bag from Laos over my – shoulder! Right…. So the motorbike taxi drivers are amazing how they insist on taking me with all my gear. They balance my huge heavy backpack between their legs and I wear my smaller day pack and my shoulder bag.

Gregg and I jumped on the next boat leaving Phuket for Ko Phi Phi and stayed there for the first night. Ko Phi Phi is bragged about as one of Thailands most beautiful islands and we’re sure it must have been beautiful in the beginning but it is so totally overrun with tourists and so-called high end resorts now and to make all of that a little worse, has not managed to keep up with the development. The smell from the open sewers which run through the tourist strip and past the resident’s homes is really bad. We climbed to the high point on Ko Phi Phi in the morning to catch a view from up high and had a chat with a wise old Thai man up there who showed us pictures of how beautiful the island once was. As well, he showed us the devastation pics from the Tsunami.

We headed to the island of Ko Lanta the next day. It wasn’t long before we had a motorbike and were doubled up touring around the island. It was so much fun to share the sites with Gregg and have his company! I was so ready for that his arrival was just the ticket. After the first couple of days we decided to do a much advertised day trip that is offered, with a choice of going either by speed boat or by long tail to visit four of the smaller islands and do some snorkeling at each. We headed out on the long tail early the next morning from the northern tip of the island down the less travelled east side through mangrove trees. There are so many pathways through there – almost like roadways and we noticed that they were even marked with directions. It would be so easy to get lost in there.

We had arranged to get dropped off at the end of the day on the last of the four islands we would be snorkelling at – a very small island which I had been told was a paradise – called Ko Hai – (also called Ko Ngai). We had booked ourselves a room at a remote place there on the west coast called Paradise and thought we’d spend 2 nights there.

But – after 40 minutes or on the long tail, we reached open water and it was blowing so hard that after half an hour of being bounced around like mad, the driver got on his cell phone for direction from his boss and the long and short was that we had to turn back. We were pretty disappointed – mostly about not getting to go to stay at Ko Hai because, time wise, it was our only opportunity to get there. But – we ended up renting an even better motorbike and going further south on Ko Lanta to the bamboo huts I had stayed in earlier – called Top View. We dumped our bags there and headed to the beach, rented snorkel equipment and just went on our own little trip from the beach!

We were in the habit of making sure we had beer and chips and were sitting at a nice beach spot for the sunset each night, at that point. Each sun set has its own beauty and I’m afraid I’m a sucker for the romance of it all. It was so great to have Gregg with me to share that!

Next day we actually got out on another long tail boat and did the four islands snorkel trip. It was great and we had fun. The island of Ko Hai, where we would have stayed is really, really beautiful! We’ve got it on the list for another time.

The following morning we headed across by boat to the main land and Krabi as we were going by bus the following evening to Bangkok. We grabbed another bike and drove out to a nearby waterfall. Saw the biggest spiders ever! Got some great pics of that.

We ended up hiring a long tail from Krabi and had a really interesting time with the driver and his son as he took us to a really cool cave across the river from Krabi. We climbed up a pretty rickety stair case to the neatest cave I’ve ever seen. Our boat driver told us of the Japanese takeover that had taken place within the cave. It looks like the place is being restored to become a show site for tourists but that it is still under development. We felt fortunate to be seeing it as it was. We saw a crocodile for a minute before he stuck his head back underwater, and lots of monkeys as we cruised the river.

The driver then took us to his friend’s fish farm and showed us some poor puffer fish that they have in captivity to show tourists like us. Gregg was feeling pretty sorry for the fish because of the way the driver manhandled them to make them puff up to give us a show. They are very cool fish, but, as Gregg saw it, are gasping for air and not really liking the whole experience! The whole trip was a great way to spend our last afternoon in the south of Thailand, though.

Our bus ride to Bangkok was uneventful but just fun to share a Thai bus ride experience again, with some one else!! We got into Bangkok at 5 in the morning and headed straight out to the airport where I booked myself onto the same standby flight Gregg was managing to get out on to Hong Kong.

We had to cancel the Beijing idea because as we were watching the flight loads from Thailand all available seats on every single flight during the week were filled up. This was so totally unusual from what we had been watching over the last few months – so we’re pretty certain that it has something to do with the Olympics in Vancouver. Our only option was to get out from Hong Kong on Tuesday. – the one we are on now. That is the down side of flying stand by and we both have taken that into account. On the other hand, if one is willing to be flexible and just take what comes – it is an amazingly cheap way to travel…. not to mention the first class status!!

We had a great night in Hong Kong. Booked ourselves into a really nice hotel in Kowloon district (the older Hong Kong) at the Empire Kowloon. Its a huge hotel and we were on the 25th floor with a great view over the city. We wandered the streets last nights trying to take in all the sites. Gregg was accosted by a guy every 10 feet to either buy a watch or have a suit hand tailored for him. We saw a million wonderful cameras, both old and in amazing shape and new. We had an authentic Chinese meal for dinner and just wished we had more time to spend there. We were both pretty wiped from our all night bus trip the night before and had a great sleep high above the city in the most comfortable bed I’ve slept in, in 2 ½ months.

The subway system, like Beijing is so well done. We easily got to the airport. And so ends part one of my Out There experience! It almost seems surreal to be headed to Vancouver, being pampered like hell, drinking Gin & Tonic and sitting in comfort.

I have had a few comments from people surprised that I am coming home so early. I think I have mentioned more than once that I have not enjoyed the traveling alone part so much.

The teaching experience was good for those 5 weeks and in retrospect I can say that I was only just really settling into the adjustment – getting to really know the students and the staff – as I was leaving. Had I known how to speak Thai I would have gone back or stayed longer in a second. I enjoyed the side trips I did to Khon Kaen, Chaing Mai and Cambodia – knowing that I was going back to the job and some people who knew me.

Travelling somewhat aimlessly, on the other hand, got old fast, for me.. I did meet people, mostly men, who were doing the same thing and loving it. I, on the other hand, found myself constantly looking for someone to share my experiences with. I saw some really wonderful places and things but I think the second time around of being ill really wore me out. That, and then heading to the south where it is hotter was enough.

Yes – the beaches of Thailand are beautiful! The culture of Thailand is not there, though – the Thai people in the south are generally jaded by western ways and the dollar that flows so strongly there. The combination of heat, mosquitoes and sand flies took away from the beauty for me! I don’t know what it is about me – but bugs truly love me. I am/was literally covered in bites. Then, I got some weird allergic reaction to some plant or coral I grabbed while we were snorkelling. My hand (both, actually, but one way more than the other) was blistered, swollen and itchy for a few days. My ears are still weird and plugged from diving Gregg and I went back to another health clinic and she gave me yet more drops to help clear them. They ARE getting better slowly and I’m happy to report that flying hasn’t been the problem I was worrying about.

All of this has worn me down and I feel like I need a purpose again. I feel I have spent enough time backpacking in Asia in the heat and staying at second rate guest houses. Doing nothing but ordering meal after meal and seeing beautiful site after beautiful site is great for a while. There has to be a purpose for me again and so I am so looking forward to unpacking my bag, washing all those clothes and clearing out the cockroaches. (One ran out of my clothes that I had just put on when we arrived at our hotel in Hong Kong!)

This time away from my routine life has always been for me an opportunity to do whatever I WANT to do – something that our 9 – 5 lifestyles do not usually afford us in our working years. What better in life than to have freedom, I think! I must have bragged about travelling for a year too much, because some of my dear friends and family are worried that I am ‘throwing in the towel’ too soon. Worry not! I am still on this journey of time away from routine and so I will rest in Airdrie at Gregg’s house and decide my next move.

The only thing I know for sure at this point is that I want to get to the UK and visit Megan and Matt and meet Matt’s family some time. I think I will speculate no more on this blog because I will change my mind many times before I come to something concrete. The fact that I have a British Passport as well as a Canadian one opens some doors for work opportunity over there too. So…. we shall see.

In the mean time – I cannot wait to be cold again!