my big bag was in singapore and i needed to get it so karen and i jumped on a plane and did singapore for 18 hours. karen was like a kid in a sweetshop, the shopping in singapore is like nowhere else on the planet and she went nuts!
the original plan (if i didn't come home) was to go back to india yesterday, but i'm staying in thailand until april 6th now. i'm having a great time again. i'm not lonely any more and i've recently realised that my concept of "home" no longer exists so the homesickness has pretty much gone away. there's no more claire and i, anna and baz don't live next door to us any more, adam and geoff don't live around the corner now, the rampant is no longer our local. there's no more victoria park for us. it was the best 5 years of my life, we did everything together, we were like a family. i'm sad to say goodbye to that but i'm hap
py that i get to make a clean start when i get home and just because we no longer live within spitting distance of one another doesn't mean our friendships will suffer, it just means "nipping over to geoff's" will take half an hour rather than 2 minutes.
so, i'm in bangkok again and we're heading for some beach fun. the main islands in the gulf of thailand are all very different. koh samui is benidorm, koh pha ngan is ibiza and koh tao is paradise. we all quite fancy learning to dive so we're going to koh tao. ordinarily i'd be "but i've been there already let's go somewhere else" but this place is seriously beautiful. remember the old bounty adverts? it's like that there. plus i get to retake all my photos as they were on the camera that got stolen. then we're going to island hop back to the mainland, koh pha ngan, koh samui and then up to koh phi phi. it should take maybe 2 weeks and will be great. then i need to get up to bangkok to catch a plane back to india, i think i'll go to kolkata and then catch the train to mumbai as i adore travelling on the indian railway and i think it will be a wonderful way to say goodbye to india. i'll meet with kim and hannah and then it's hometime.
i have 17 days left - man this trip has flown past. there's been good times, dark times, frustrating times and moments of pure joy. i have learnt so much about the person i am and met some amazing people along the way. i'm so glad that i'm not alone any more, 2 1/2 months of solo travel was enough i think and if i hadn't met up with karen and jaclyn i would have come home early with my memories tainted by the feelings of sadness and loneliness i was experiencing toward the end. they have been my travel saviours and i love them so much for it.
3 comments:
WoooHoo!!! Yay for staying, so glad you have decided to stay and live out the next 3 weeks. You will still be walking distance away from Geoff when in Hulme and of course you get to look forward to roast lamb at my house when you return. Your new found friends sound cool, maybe you will all have a reunion some day, maybe even in India :).
See you soon my lovely friend... *hugs* Hugo
You would've regretted coming back early. Good man for staying. Our Manchester must seem such a small place and you know we all can't wait to see ya when you return. It doesn't matter how far away we all are from each other - it's about the love in our hearts!
Miss you lots, Glad you're having Goodtimes!
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