Hi guys,
A little belated but here is a summary of the end of my trip. I did nothing. Nothing, that is, other than chill by the pool and the beach, have massages and pedicures, worked on my tan, read some books, swam alot, ate good food and made some new friends...
It all started in Krabi, in the south of Thailand. OK so it rained for the first day I was there, but I still managed to have a dip in the pool and met some American boys who managed to keep me entertained for an evening or so... I went to the famous Phi Phi island, where the movie The Beach was filmed... a beach paradise, bloody gorgeous. Except of course it rained during the whole trip and the beach was packed. I went snorkelling which was very fun though (my first time!)and despite the dreadful weather and the fact that I came home soaked to the skin and sneezing, I'm glad I atleast saw the place...!
The best part of my trip was getting to Koh Lanta. By this point I didn't want to travel anymore. No island hopping, I had found my beach paradise. No people (its one of the least developed islands), lovely resort, pool, deserted stretch of beach, peace and quiet. This is why I didn't come online, I was in heaven! Made a few friends on the bus on our way over and we passed 5 blissful days hanging out by the pool, on the beach, discovering the local restaurants and generally relaxing. The weather was just perfect too...I shan't go on too much, I think the photos say it all... I wish I was back there. The time flew by, we got to know alot of the locals since it was off season, they would take us around on their scooters, I got used to breakfast overlooking the sea, stunning sunsets, jumping into the pool whenever I felt like it, fresh fruit on demand... I guess its just the little things that made it special.
But the nicest feeling was the realisation that after all these years, I'd finally done it. After the past 3 years of slogging my guts out for I don't know what, I was finally where I wanted to be, doing what I'd spent the last 3 months of my working time in Brussels dreaming of - lying on a beach in the south of Thailand sipping on cocktails, listening to the water lap up on the shores and feeling the sun on my skin....without a care in the world! I'd done the trip I'd dreamed of doing years ago when all my dreams were shattered and for once, I will reach a milestone birthday with no regrets, knowing that i've achieved what I wanted in the past year.
Leaving Koh Lanta was hard, I was almost tearful... and the journey back to Bangkok was hell - minibuses transfering me to another bus, via another bus, waiting on a roadside for another bus... and a night bus to Bangkok. Horrid, cramped, smelly and uncomfortable. I don't know how I passed the night. Thankfully I'd already decided in Lanta to give myself an early birthday present and had booked myself into the Shangri-La in Bangkok for my last night before heading home.
And what a relief it was! Turning up there at 6am in my fishermans trousers and Khmer scarf, with 2 rucksacks looking like i'd been dragged through a hedge backwards after a night of no sleep, I didn't think they'd let me through the door... but I guess they're used to it! They were lovely, the hotel fabulous - I'm not usually one for such flashy places but I fell in love with this one, it was truly the perfect expat sanctuary within the hustle and bustle that is Bangkok. Do you know what? I learned to love Bangkok.... I took river boats and buses, saw everything I wanted to see and more, hit shops and markets, bought so much rubbish I had to buy a suitcase and even managed to get some tailoring done!
And that was the end of it. Now i'm back home in Preston and life has returned back to normal... or rather, what should be normal, though I think we're still in the whole honeymoon period about this whole 'moving back to England' thing.
I went out to Asia on holiday looking for something - whether it was space, direction, perspective, I do not know, I just knew that I needed to get far, far away. In the end, I found some peace of mind. And possibly everything else inbetween.... :-)
In any case, thanks to all of you that read my blog and followed my travels, you now know possibly alot more about my trip than I would normally have disclosed, but what the hell, new life, new start... new Seema!
