So we are back in Bangkok, for our final two nights before heading home. It's sad to know that I'll be returning to work on Monday, and my days as wanderer/traveller are over for a while, but I'm happy about the comforts: sleeping in the same bed for several nights in a row, being able to wash my clothes whenever I want to, and living out of a house instead of a bag. That kind of thing.

It's been a great experience. I'll blog more detail about it all later. I know there'll be some adjusting to do when I get home, i.e. I won't be able to barter quite as much, and when I want a taxi I'll have to call Black & White Cabs, or hail one in the city, because they will no longer be clamouring to give me a ride every time I walk past. Plus there's just not enough bar girls in slinky dresses sitting around outside restaurants to entice customers at home, goshdarnit.

The thing I am looking forward to the least: getting up at 5:45am on Monday morning to get ready for work. My brain is going to think that it is 2:45am, Bangkok time. I asked for extra days off to try and adjust, but I wasn't able to get any longer than the three weeks. My first day back is going to be very miserable indeed.

I finished High Fidelity by Nick Hornby on the flight this morning, and it is the first book which I have really thoroughly enjoyed in quite a while. It is brutally frank about relationships, and what we feel versus what we are supposed to feel, and the true selfishness behind some of the things we do. Plus, it made me giggle out loud, and that hardly happens with any books, ever.

Next time I blog I'll be on Australian soil. There'll be pictures and the like. And if I ever get my firewire working, there'll be dodgy, shitty, wobbly video footage with my crappy commentary in the background.

Exciting much?

Travel, etc.

Ailments, injuries, etc.: A torn fingernail from whitewater rafting (it has turned half my nail a lovely purply-brown colour), several hundred mosquito bites, and Beardie has only just recovered from a bad case of [insert town]-belly, which has seen him up most of the night, clutching his stomach and moaning. And, of course, making the toilet his friend. Our best guess at the culprit is a strange sausage-contained-in-a-waffle (on a stick) from a street vendor at Doi Suthep. Strange combos like this can only be bad news.

Stress, worry, etc.: No holiday would be complete without the obligatory thoughts of work and the associated bullshit. Having applied for two jobs directly before leaving for Thailand, I have heard nothing back at all, so of course my mind is full of what-if's and oh-no's and hmm-maybe's. If anyone knows how to turn my stupid brain off, please let me know.

Causing offence, etc.: At the temple at Doi Suthep, Beardie and I removed our shoes, as is required in these places. As we were leaving, we walked back to our shoes, and a monk was standing directly next to them. I had placed the shoes behind a pillar, and as monks aren't allowed to really come into any kind of contact with girls at all, I stretched my foot out and deftly picked up the shoes with my nimble toes. That is, I pointed my foot directly at the monk. Beardie hurriedly pulled me aside and pointed out my grave insult afterwards. So, I can only guess that I am most likely going to suffer eternal damnation (or the Buddhist equivalent. Reincarnation as something incredibly shitty?). The monk walked off looking quite disgusted. Would this holiday be complete if I didn't cause extreme offence to people? Sigh.

Travel bug, etc.: In between being offered ping pong shows, endless tuk tuk rides and tailored suits, and sweating like a pig, I appear to have been bitten by the travel bug again, well and truly. I am already excitedly talking about where I want to go next, and that we have to start planning as soon as we get home so that we have something to look forward to, etc. These itchy feet are going to be very bloody expensive.

So while I was thinking that three weeks would not be enough time, I am beginning to feel like this is the longest holiday ever (and is therefore awesome). I guess work makes time fly by at a ridiculous rate, and spending your days wandering, taking photos and recording dodgy footage is a luxury I'm not used to. We have arrived in Phuket and we are mid-way through exploring. Tomorrow, we are gibbon-spotting and on Monday we are off boating, to have our very own Leonardo moment. But with a lot more tourists.

Lovely!

I have been so, so ridiculously busy this past week. Staying back at work until Stupid O'clock every night, having a friend text me to say that a great job is available at his work, rushing to apply for said job by meeting with a recruitment agent, panicking that I could be offered the other job I applied for and this one at the same time (don't ask me why my brain thinks that this is likely, but I have no idea what I would do if this occurred), work work work more work, etc.

So, before I know it, I am flying to Thailand in five hours.

Beardie keeps asking me if I'm excited yet, and everything has been so hectic lately that I haven't been able to give excited a chance. I am hoping that it kicks in when we are at the airport.

Rough itinerary (for people who like itineraries): Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, back to Bangkok, Ayutthaya (day trip), Chiang Mai, Phuket (possibly Phi Phi, haven't booked this part yet), Bangkok, home.

So I better get my shit together, and I'll be back in three weeks.

Hurrah!