Australia and Bangkok

Finally! A blog entry - whew...what a whirlwind of adventure!

First of all, the Whitsunday Islands are so fantastic - WHAT a privilege to swim on the Great Barrier Reef.

We arrived in Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays which is about an hour flight from Brisbane. We stayed overnight then set sail on the Solway Lass for three days and nights. The Solway Lass is a tallship that has a rich sea going history - built about 100 years ago. It has been from Scotland to the Carribean moving cars to spices to it's current incarnation as a tour ship around the 74 pristine Whitsunday Islands (named so by Captain Cook when he discovered the islands during White Sunday, the Sunday before Easter). It was like sailing on a smaller version of the boat in Master and Commander. Amazing. The weather was hot. Really hot. Thankfully the cabins had air conditioning. I thought about the sailors of yesteryear and how appaulingly grotesquely soakingly miserable it would have been to be down below as a cook or something....

We went scuba diving in Pearl Bay. Again, amazing. Crystal clear water, velvety purple and reedy blue corals, spongey noodley type plants and the fish! Every stripe and colour and illumination you can imagine - it was truly like swimming in an aquarium. The snorkelling was even better than that. We hovered just inches above the coral and fish in the shallower parts near the shore. We were very careful not to touch the reef as it has suffered so much deterioration from weather and humans. In fact, fins (flippers) are not permitted near the reef because of the damage people cause by accidently hitting the corals and even the impact of waves they make from swimming causes damage. So, hovering is how it's done : )

Right now, we are in Bangkok. The COMPLETE opposite of where we just were. It's wall to wall people in the streets, smog, noise, oppressive heat, music, traffic, traffic, traffic, near fatal road crossings, delicious street food, golden temples, buddahs, palaces - it's overwhelming and I'm so happy to be here to experience it for myself. It's absolute mayhem, ordered somehow. We went to a park in the middle of the city this morning, near the Golden Palace. There are outdoor gyms with men pumping rusty old weights, people practicing Tai Chi in the shade, orange robed monks quietly talking, people meditating under trees...wow.

We are off to Chang Mai tomorrow - a 14 hour overnight train - we have a month of travel around Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia before we return to Bangkok for a couple more days.

On the 14th of April we have booked a flight back to London on Air Asia. Great deals! We've got premium seat (business class) tickets for $700! That's for both of us!

I am quite sure there will be more internet cafes along our asian tour so I'll try to jot a few words down when I can...we miss everybody A LOT! Although, we are having the time of our lives and we are mostly looking forward to sharing all of our stories. We've caught glimpses of the Olympics on tv here and there. It's great to have this perspective, hearing the thoughts of people about Vancouver. Quite a lot of coverage done on the opening ceremonies and the tragic death of the Georgian competitor. People tend to love the friendliness of the Vancouver people and some complaints about the drumming fans and the sub par luge run. Vancouver looks fantastic on Bangkok TV!

Well that's that for now! I'm happily sitting here in the air conditioned interent kiosk at the Grande Ville Hotel waiting for our meeting at 6:00 with the group we'll be touring with...it's so hot outside, it's like opening an oven door (to quote Bill Bryson, one of my favourite writers).

All my LOVE and Alex's too ; )
A
xoxoxoxox