To Sumbawa...

Im writing this from my dorm room bed on a crazy street with motorbikes rushing past the window. I've said it before but Kuta is crazy. I'm wrecked and have never been so ready for my 'back to basics' trip to assist and show some love to the Island and people of Sumbawa. 

With most of my old friends gone on my arrival back I expected Bali to be as beautiful as ever but I did think it might have lost a little charm. i mean I was set to spend most of my time here alone. My time here has been so far removed from my assumptions and fortunately for me I was able to meet with a few old friends and I found myself making lots of new ones too.

At the end of my last stay on Bali I was living the villa life. Tucked away from the hustle and bustle in Meads beautiful Umalas house in my room overlooking the pool. It was amazing but it was from this and time spent mostly in private rooms in Thailand with Jennie that I had forgotten just how amazing it is to live in a hostel. It's so social and I have been socialising lots! 

My experience with the 'beach gypsies' was immense. My time with Nat and Ash from the hostel was always eventful! I loved partying with Mitch, Amy and Sheree that I was lucky enough to meet on the plane and meeting and seeing old and new staff here and all over Bali has been great too! 

What I will remember most about my few weeks waiting on visas and getting my life together here is my 'bromance'. The truth is I'd kill for it to be a romance but on meeting such a genuine and a little gorgeous English man called Josh my last week and a bit here has been great! 

Thanks guys! Thanks Josh :)

Tomorrow I leave first thing in the morning for Sumbawa. It's an island a few west of here toward the Pacific. I can't wait to get started with NGO director and all round lovely guy Carlos and  his Harapan Project. 

Truthfully I don't entirely know what to expect from the next few weeks or months but I can't wait to get started on my next chapter. A chapter more about others than myself. A time for contemplation on my new life and a time to develop my humanitarian ideas further. To Sumbawa and to the future...

Peace and love. Always <3

The Buddha's of BKK

I'm waiting for Elli at "the lunch lady"  our 50p a meal local Indonesian food joint we love. God I can't quite get over that I'm back in Bali! This is the place I feel so at home. 

I arrived back on Bali just a few nights ago and Elli, my Best friend here is leaving. (Not before we had a few beers at sunset in our favourite beach bar) 

On the upside my time from the "high bar" in Koh Tao Thailand to now has been amazing! 

After Koh Tao Jennie and I hit Bangkok with a bang. The bus and boat affair was actually quite pleasant but after arriving quite late and unable to find our hostel we settled for a cheap hotel, just somewhere to rest our weary heads for the night. 

The next day was pretty awesome. We got up early and found our hostel and straight away fell in love with the "Flapping Duck" 

It was set behind a big white fort surrounded by a park... It couldn't have felt less like Bangkok there if it tried. 

Feeling like Harry Potter we dropped our bags in our room, a cupboard below the rickety stairs and went out to explore Bangkok by boat.

I had been to Bangkok previously but had only seen a little of ChinaTown and a few temples so our first stop was Wat Pho. It was beautiful! 

We seen the biggest collection of golden Buddhas on earth including a massive 43 meters golden and mother of pearl reclining buddah. At the temple we walked for hours and gave thanks for our travels in the way of temple coins, candles and incense. 

With sore feet we swiftly got back on the boat and headed back to our hostel. We pretty much didn't move for the rest of the day after that.  

Plans are only ever plans until they change. We met friends. A 

group from all over the world and spent the day doing what we had become so good at. Chilling our beans! 

We did get a little drunk and ended back on the boat with the group to visit a keyboard shop and to stumble upon some traditional Chinese theatre in a dirty car park below a bridge. Apart from that the flapping duck with its big bean bags and super chic vintage chairs was a great spot to relax before the next mornings goodbyes.

5am and my looming flight to Singapore then Bali came at too quickly! 

I think the fact that we had only 3 hours sleeps was actually an advantage. Jennie woke me up and before I knew it we were at the park gates, the sun coming up and with a hug, kiss and a promise of seeing each other soon I was in a taxi on my way to the airport. 

It's always sad to say goodbye but on reflection distance really does make the heart grow fonder. 

Trippin' Thailand!

My lack of words is surely a sign that the time I have been having since Christmas, my time over new year with Jennie and all of the amazing times since have been just that. Absolutely fucking amazing!

Yes it's one of those blogs. The ones that are so positive that when my mother reads them I get a mail on Facebook simply saying "are you on drugs?" 

I mean I am writing this from a bar called "high bar" overlooking the golf of Thailand so I might just not answer the next "mum mail" 

This place is awesome, in fact it's actually pretty representational of my trip through Thailand with Jennie.

We are sitting on korean mats chatting in a treehouse, foreign languages linger, we are waiting on food called "no name chicken" and nothing or know body ever makes sense. It's been perfect for us. Chaotic and crazy but with a order in everything. Connected to the earth but floating in the outer universe. 

Following pissy Patong (the shameless seaside town in Phuket we have agreed to no longer speak about) we hit the beautiful Phi Phi! The Phi Phi Islands is where the movie "The Beach" was filmed but unfortunately the non sustainable paradisiacal message from the film had more than came true! Sad too because on arrival (from a distance) the main island in the group, Phi Phi Don was breathtaking. 

In fairness to Phi Phi it was New Years and the island was packed out with 20 something's all on god knows what drugs and all looking for a good time. Great times were had by us on New Year's Eve itself. We climbed to the highest point on the island and watched the sunset on the previous year followed by seeing in the new year at 12 on the beach with fire lanterns and friends. It's moments like that the thousands of drunken revellers actually add to the occasion...

Jennie contined to party through NYE and after a few more days on the island got very sick. Probably one of the only real down points of the trip. It was the day after that we left. 

A few of our friends had decided to head to Lanta and with that we booked a boat and boarded the next morning. 

Lanta stole our hearts and in more ways than one. We met up with friends Alex and Glen and although they were men that fight Muay Thai and had the butchest of careers back home we spent most of our time on the island with them. They were just lovely and made our time on Lanta even more so.

Koh Lanta was pretty beautiful. It actually really reminded me of the Philippines. Unlike many of the other islands it was pretty flat so we rented scooters and drove everywhere from amazing beaches to boxing matches. It felt like we did so much on Lanta. Time stood still and we got lost there for nearly a week. A week of random days doing everything from stray dog walking to simply dreaming on the beach. 

After relaxing amongst other things on Lanta we moved on but this time crossing into the Gulf Of Thailand. We took a minivan, a ferry, 2 busses and a night boat to  Koh Phangan. All apart from the cockroach on Jennies face and a few spider bites on the boat it was grand... Well for me anyways. I didn't get bitten and had a fabulous nights sleep on the stormy crossing.

Koh Phangan is famed for its full moon parties and although we didn't have time for the full moon because of Jennies tight time scale we did land in on the infamous Haad Rin beach... It was actually really beautiful! 

Haad Rin beach was beautiful and the surrounding views were pretty amazing although just beyond the beach front was row upon row of tacky high vis and rave wear shops. It's a pity we didn't do the full moon because I can imagine that area to be buzzing when it's at full capacity. More bitchy that beautiful but as they say "when in Rome".... I fancy myself as a mid 90's raver with a few glow sticks on tow but alas this time we didn't "fuck it take a bucket" and decided instead to spend our time in the hills. 

We spent our first day sipping special cocktails in an infinity pool over looking the sea. Our second day we spent recovering from those cocktail and that night we ended up at at "The Jungle Experience"...

...It was actually over rated and way over priced but we made the most of it and ended up back in our shack over looking the beach covered once more in UV paint and dreaming of our next day. The day we sat sail for Koh Tao. 

We were once again running out of time in Koh Tao but we certainly crammed lots in! 

Unlike Lanta where we had rented bikes before Koh Tao was very hilly, the roads were almost non existent and everyone drove their scooters like they were on dirt bikes. Having a little experience of dodgy Asian scooter driving I didn't find it too bad. Jennie on the other hand did. So much so we ended out Koh Tao adventure missing half of Jennies face and with the awfully pretty addition of Jennies broken nose. 

Apart from the 10 meters when Jennie drove the bike with a wobble off the road into a concrete storm drain we had a ball in Koh Tao.

Koh Tao was most definitely one of the most beautiful islands I have visited yet... 

All in all Thailand has been beautiful but spending it with Jennie has been out of this world.

I'm seriously gonna miss this girl...