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So, I am back. It feels like I have never been away!

The trip from Delhi to London wasn’t too bad. I was delayed by about three hours – a technical fault on the plane…. I never really want to know that before I get on a plane, but I got back safely nonetheless!

Looking back on my trip, I can honestly say that I had an amazing time. If I had have had longer, then I would have enjoyed staying away, but I also felt ready to come home. My flat looks great, and it has been so nice to see all of my friends and colleagues. At yoga on Saturday, 4 of the India retreatees were at class, so it was great to see them again and still practicing.

I certainly made my carbon footprint on the trip, taking 13 different flights,

London – Delhi
Delhi – Varanasi
Delhi – Goa
Goa – Delhi
Delhi – Bangkok
Bangkok – Samui
Bangkok – Singapore
Singapore – Bangkok
Bangkok – Chiang Mai
Bangkok – Krabi
Krabi – Bangkok
Bangkok – Delhi
Delhi – London

I will have to plant a few trees to get environmental karma on that!

I am not sure when or where my next trip will be, but I am certainly looking forward to it already!

A fleeting trip to India

My flight into Delhi was another one plagued by bad weather and turbulence, and as a consequence we circled Delhi for an hour before landing and were an hour late to land. I finally cleared security at 12.30 am, some 12 ½ hours before I needed to leave again for my flight to London.

I spent the night in a guesthouse with a charming Indian family who could not have been more helpful. I would thoroughly recommend spending at least couple of nights at a guest house to any one visiting India as it is fascinating to be welcomed into a family home. I would imagine that the only disadvantage of doing this, is that you don’t get to meet other travellers, which is also a valuable part of travelling if you are alone.

As I drove through Delhi back to the airport this morning, I must confess to having had some desires to stay longer. I do not regret not coming back to India this trip, but at the same time rather wish that I had. There is still so much to see! Three months away was never going to be enough time to really see anywhere. Although I have seen Thailand, I still want to visit Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. I also want to see Hong Kong and Japan; and today my host in Delhi, a retired pilot who spent 15 years flying around the pacific rim, said that he though I ought to go there as it was the most beautiful part of the world he had ever seen. I have also been to some wonderful places this trip, that I would like to visit again, but when would I ever get the time. I am not sure when my next trip away will be, but I will try to hold onto the memories of this trip long enough not to get depressed about that!

Homeward bound

On the beach in Krabi

I’m back in Bangkok, preparing for my journey home. Today I have been busy doing nice things. I went and had a full facial, massage, manicure and pedicure, all of this for £10! Then I went to the optician and chose a new pair of glasses – frames and lenses for just over £100, bargain. I then had a little stroll round the MBK mall and found myself buying a new outfit for the gym from the Adidas shop – not much cheaper than home, but I am a sucker for new gym kit, and it’s a really pretty green and grey combo. I have booked my car in for a health check and service the day after I get home, to make sure that it is running ok after 3 months neglect, and finally reminded the builder that I am home on Thursday… I didn’t dare ask if he had finished or not.

Tomorrow I have a meeting at the end of the day, then on Wednesday I have every intention of spending the day by the pool until I need to leave for the airport.

My only chores that remain are booking a hotel in Delhi for my night stop over, and buying some final presents!

It has all been so fun, but I do feel ready to come back now!

Why do I…

Sunset on Railay beach

- Get up in the morning and practice yoga?
- Go out in the evening and run?

These were the questions I was asking myself as I ran up and down the beach here at Railay whilst every other apparently sane person was having a beer and watching sunset. I didn’t really come up with any answers!

Sorry, I thought I would just add that thought because other than doing yoga and going running there is not much else to report today, as I all I did was just sit by the pool and read.

There wasn’t a yoga class this morning, although they told me that there would be one at 4pm. The person in charge at The Rock Bar kindly agreed that I could practice in their space anyway. I didn’t particulary feel like coming back at 4pm when I wanted to practice in the morning. I did a reasonable primary. The question now is, would it be rude to use their space again tomorrow morning, when I know that there is no class until the afternoon? Maybe I’ll just practice on our balcony.

I am in a new room now, it’s nice. Our room last night was pokey and too hot, the fan didn’t work properly so we had to sleep with it turned off. The new room has aircon, and no bedbugs that I can see It also costs three times as much as the last room, but never mind!

Tomorrow I may climb up one of the mountainy things here at Railey, apparently there is a footpath you can climb up, then some ropes which you can use to haul yourself to the top – sounds like an interesting challenge. If you make it to the top you can descend to a lagoon… lets see if I manage it!

Lobster

Bottle recycling on East Railay beach!

Despite factor 15 suncream and a good base tan, a day on Railey beach in Krabi has left me looking like a lobster! The sun here is pretty fierce! I can’t compalin though as I have whinged about the weather not being as good as in India since I arrived, and the whole point of coming to the beach for the end of my trip was to maximise my sun tan before coming home….

My arrival in Krabi was not the smoothest, having left blazing sunshine in Bangkok, just as we started our descent into Krabi airport we hit thick cloud, accompanied by some pretty bad turbulance. When we landed a massive storm started and it proceeded to pour with rain for the next couple of hours. As the weather was bad, we ended up spending the night in a hotel in Krabi town, as there would have been no boats in the storm. The hotel was pretty awful, although not quite the standard of The Queens hotel in Gibraltar, with cockroaches and dirty carpets… this morning I woke up with loads of bed bug bites, so I was glad to get out.

We took a boat to Railey at 9am and arrived at 10 on the beach and started a hunt for accomodation. It was pretty difficult to find a room, but after an hour of searching, we found a very basic room at the far end of the East beach. Tomorrow we will move somewhere nicer, but at a price… about 2000 Baht per night!

This evening I did some yoga on the beach, it is a perfect beach for yoga, the sand is hard packed and not too fly away. I had an audince of Thais watching me who were quite enthused as I did headstand. I have seen fliers for vinyasa flow yoga at 10 in the morning – adjustments suitable for all levels – so hopefully they might just let me get on with doing Mysore style in a corner somewhere!

Less than two weeks to go

I can’t beleive how quickly the last three months have gone, or that in two weeks time I will be back in gloomy London. For my last few days I am heading back to the beach to top up my tan – I wouldn’t want to come home looking pale and pasty!

I spent yesterday exploring Sukhothai – it was pretty awsome. There are so many temples, it is unbelievable. The old city has been turned into a national park and is beautifully landscaped and covers a farily large area. I hired a bicycle and set out at 9am. 4 hours and 80 photographs later, I was done. Many of the temples are as much as 800 years old, and are pretty well preserved. There is also some Khmer architecture, which was interesting to see, especially as I never got around to going in to Cambodia and seeing Angkor Wat.

Today I am back in the usual cafe in Bangkok, surfing and working (intermitently!). The volume of work seems to be picking up as I get closer to returning; but I suppose it will ease me back in gently….

I didn’t find any time for yoga yesterday, and didn’t get up in time for led primary in Bangkok this morning (something to do with another late one at the Bed Supper Club…). However, there is a level 2-3 vinyasa flow class at Amarin Plaza at 6, so I’ll try and get to that!

Happy Valentines

Sorry, I couldn’t resist!

Thanks CK!

Mountain biking!

In delightful mountain biking attire!

This morning, as promised in yesterdays post, I got up and did my 6.30am Mysore, then went off mountain biking! It was amazing!

We started at the top of the Doi Pui mountain which is at 5400 feet above sea level, then biked downhill; first on roads, then semi paved roads, and finished off on Dust tracks. The views on the way were spectacular, although you had to stop to look at them as you need to concentrate too much on the road to be able to enjoy the scenery when you are on the move. It definitely beats trekking and you get an adrenaline rush! Some of the other bikers who had been on the treks say that they are a bit too commercialised now anyway…. I think we were biking for about 3 hours, then we finished off with a well deserved lunch. I will definitely be going mountain biking again!

Tomorrow, as planned, it’s the bus to Sukhothai!

p.s. practice today was rubbish – serves me right for hardly doing any yoga for a week. Left hip seems to have totally seized up. God knows how I will feel tomorrow after the mountain biking too….

Chiang Mai

Elephants at Wat Chedi Luang

Yesterday I flew up to Chaing Mai, in the North, and Thailand’s second city. Chiang Mai is very different to Bangkok and has a much more laid back feel to it.

I arrived late afternoon into CM and accompanied by the bloke who sat next to me on the Plane, got a tuc-tuc into town, and found a room at Smile Guest House. Smile is conveniently situated 2 minutes walk from the Tha Pae gate, which is the central part of the old town and also 2 minutes walk from the Chiang Mai Yoga Shala.

Last night I got a meal and wondered around at the night market – the night market is HUGE and sells a wide variety of stuff, things are cheaper and of better quality than the same kind of things that are for sale in Bangkok.

Today I got up at the crack of dawn to go to yoga. It was a 6.30 Mysore style class, with only three of us practicing. The teacher was very good and due to the small number of students I got lots of adjustments, which were well needed after a few days of inactivity! Still, I am getting hands to floor in Prasrita Pad. C and also doing reasonably well in the evil Supta Kurmasana. I will practice again tomorrow morning, then I head off on a mountain biking tour!

I decided to do the mountain biking instead of going trekking, walking really isn’t my thing, and I think we will be able to cover more ground on a bike! The tour I wanted to do, which heads from the hills down into Chiang Mai isn’t running tomorrow, so I am doing a jungle tour. Apparently there is a big group doing that one tomorrow, so hopefully it will be fun.

Although Chiang Mai seems to be a nice city, if you are not doing a course in cookery (who, me… No way!) or doing a Thai massage course, then there is really only a day or so of things to do. I have seen many Wats today, and although they are interesting to see, once you have seen a couple, you have seen them all….

I plan to leave Chiang Mai on Wednesday and head to Sukhothai. Sukhothai was the capital of Thailand in the 13-14th Century and the ruined city is supposed to be pretty impressive.

This evening I shall trawl the night market for bits and pieces and see if I can locate the veggie restaurant recommended by on of the yogis this morning.

Party On

Since leaving TNP I seem to have developed an addiction to partying! I am still in Bangkok and will stick around here until Sunday now. I have booked a flight to Chiang Mai on Sunday afternoon which will give me time to work today, go out tonight to celebrate N’s Birthday, then chill out on Saturday and leave on Sunday.

Today I am hanging out in the cafe opposite my hotel, which has free wifi, working and sending e mails! I will go and do some yoga later on – this week has been rather slack :-S