So the 24hr meditation retreat was like being warpedinto a parallel universe where time doesn't seem to pass. Until youhave to get up at 5 in the morning. It was an uber creepy parallel universe too where everyone walked around with their hands clasped together, in matching white clothes, silently, and not looking at anyone. It's fine when you're chanting about how your feet are stepping in front of each other but I guess I still have 18years or so of meditation to go before I stop feeling the urge to burst out laughing at how freaky it all was on some level.

To summarise recent events:

Peaks:

• drinking Thai whiskey in the jungle with our thai guide from the local village attempting to play led zepplin
• being made hats out of giant leaves
• looking like banana elves trekking through the jungle (see above)
• finding french/canadians when you've given up looking for them
• being blessed by a monk
• zip-lining through the rain forest, occassionaly upsidedown
• teaching myself how to drive a motorbike on treacherous mountain roads
• chasing piglets

Troughs:

• sleeping in a bamboo hut with tonnes of water cascading off a cliff a few metres away. Inconveniently, there was no off switch.
• trying (and failing) to steal snakes from a 'show' where they were being tortured
• being made to ride an elephant. terrified.
• seeing a monkey ride a tricycle
• being in a human pinball machine
• buying something sketchy from a thai macdonalds