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So this is our final update, with our return flight getting us into Heathrow on 24 January.Since the lovely and relaxing Railey Beach, we've spent 4 days on a fairly large yacht relentlessly SCUBA diving around the Similan Islands.The diving was comparable to Fiji, i.e. excellent, with wonderfully clear, warm water and a diverse selection of fish, crustaceans, seahorses and, my absolute favourite, octopuses.It wasn't always brilliant, of course, and one of our French companions succinctly summed up one rather poor visibility dive in typically French manner with: (insert French accent here...) "It was shiiit!"
As you might expect, the Thai food can be really lovely, proving a welcome shift from Malaysian cuisine, which through perhaps bad luck we often struggled to get on with. There is a natural limit though and curried food for breakfast, lunch and dinner aboard our dive boat has taken its toll on our final-stage digestive systems!
There's a very relaxed feeling in Thailand, particularly when it comes to road safety - for example, the locals don't worry about those pesky seat belt things; helpfully for the tourist, they often remove them from the passenger seats! We've also seen some very inventive new forms of transport, including the family-sized moped "adapted" to "safely" transport dad, mum and young child all at once... thankfully they've also done away with space-consuming crash helmets, making this more comfortable for the passengers. My favourite vehicle, however, is the mobile shop - basically a small motorbike with added third wheel and child's climbing frame, from which the shop-owner's wares dangle like a shiny wardrobe of blind-spots.
From our dive boat, we moved on to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party.Getting there turned out to be a nightmarish journey nearly rivalling our Venezuelan travel adventure. The 170 mile journey took 10.5 hours including a short 45-minute plane journey to cover 95% of the mileage. Besides the flight, we took a further 5 forms of public transport, each independently paid for, finishing with a 30-minute hike (sold to us as a 5-minute stroll!) along beaches, up steep steps cut into a cliff and down the other side on perilously ragged ground. All this, using one crap wind-up torch and carrying 40kg of luggage! One leg of the journey was completed in a private boat hired at an extortionate rate, even after haggling to half the starting price. The boat cut through the rough swells as cleanly as a seaborne portaloo, regularly soaking us and our bags and leading us both to independently form capsize contingency plans! Incidentally, mine being to save passports, wallet and Emma and swim for the worryingly distant shore lights! The sole redeeming point of the day was that, because of our late arrival, all the standard double rooms had gone, leaving us with a free upgrade to the best suite in the resort - very pleasing once the fury had subsided!
The Full Moon Party proved a really fun evening for us, warming up in a tiny bar next to our hotel where we made friends with some young (seriously - born in 1990!)Aussies.We bought some UV paint and Em put her GCSE art skills to great use, decorating both us and several Aussies - see the photos!The actual beach party had a thoroughly enjoyable atmosphere. We enjoyed hearing Em's fortune told via Tarot cards (no information produced that wasn't obvious enough), decided not to play the Skipping-Rope-Of-Fire game, and instantly regretted having a go on the Devil's Waterslide... I walked away with one very wet and sandy backside!
To close off our blog entries, we thought it would be entertaining to consider some of the highlights/ lowlights of the last 6 months... Enjoy!
Best/worst/etc. in the world summary:
- Cheapest "restaurant" dinner: tables on a pavement near Phuket Airport where we paid £3.40 for 2 meals, a Fanta and a large beer... the quality of my chicken was a little dubious - once bone, gristle and unusual rubbery material had been cut away, only a few tiny morsels were left.
- Cheapest accommodation: compact and basic room with en-suite near the Iguazu Fall where we paid £14 per night including breakfast.
- Worst mosquito zone: Amazon jungle - I picked up no less than 68 bites in one night, despite sleeping in a mosquito net.
- Most helpful person: the sweet Japanese girl who, on being asked for directions to a nearby restaurant, left her shop, walked us there and explained the sign on the front door ("Closed").
- Most eye-opening: visiting the Pantanal village where their basic standard of life and daily strife was truly humbling.
- Most vertical city: Hong Kong - amazing and beautiful city landscape!
- Best beaches: Los Roques in the Caribbean Sea, north of Venezuela - simply paradise!
- Most exhilarating: taking a shower in the awesome power of the Angel Falls plunge pool.
- Most terrifying and invigorating: sky-diving in Coffs Harbour.
Near misses:
- Nearly didn't make it back from Angel Falls - following a very rough path through dense jungle and with darkness quickly falling, we were wondering for quite some time how the hell our guide had got himself so lost!
- Poor instructions led Em to nearly break her neck in the rocky plunge-pool of a Fijian waterfall when she dove in head-first in the wrong spot.
- Just about everything in Venezuela, but most memorably not having enough cash to (i) settle our accommodation bill, (ii) pay the (rather immoral and extortionate) airport departure tax, and (iii) eat - our thanks again to the Birdseyes for making a PayPal transfer on our behalf when PayPal blocked our efforts as suspicious just for making a transaction from within Venezuela.
- Nearly missed our flight to Rio when we found we'd crossed the Argentina/Brazil border without visiting all the customs people we should have done - excellent signage is not something I'm likely to report regarding Argentina.
- Crossing the road in Venezuela to get to the bus terminal - there's no pedestrian crossing to help the luggage-laden tourist across the 6 lanes of maximum-speed road... presumably anyone wishing to take a bus should rent a car to get to the terminal.
- Em was nearly stranded at the top of an unpisted red (should have been a black, really) run in Bariloche - naturally, it was all my fault and anger and tears were directed accordingly.
- Losing the car keys in Australia was perhaps more of a partial collision than a near miss - the cost in terms of time and money to get back on the road was significant and, for a good 15 hours, all our luggage was exposed in a locked car with woeful security, parked in a deserted beach car-park.
- Nearly drowned in the Angel Falls when, in a brilliant show of bravery and determination, I got closer than any other tourist to the main plunge-pool where the hammering volumes of water affectionately enveloped me and held me in an underwater chasm for a concerningly long time.
Funniest moments:
- A large Cayman alligator advancing on me in the hope that my camera was actually a fish.Emma and our guide Carlos were kind enough to stand by wetting themselves whilst I desperately tried to persuade the alligator that "I have no fish!"
- The enthusiastic Malaysian hair cut which left me looking like a white Indian, with my super-sharp parting and shiny, lotioned-up hair.
- The ill-timed joke during some in-flight snacking which left me wiping chocolate spittle from my eye... apparently it was all my fault for making Em laugh too much.
- Being awoken in Fiji by a rendition of "Morning has Broken" on the nose flute!
- Safety checks before sky-diving by Emma's instructor calling out: "Yup, that's broken; oh yeah, that needs replacing; yeah, that one doesn't look good; uh-huh, that D-ring's missing...!"
See you all very soon!
Love from us both,
Chris (and Emma)
- comments
Debi Hall What an end to a truly fantastic adventure. The summing up at the end makes for hairy reading as your near misses column is the longest but then it wouldnt have been such an adventure without them. The blogs and photos have been excellent and it will be so good to look back and remember your travels i often read my note books of New Zealand and Route 66. not quite up there with your experiences but alway bring a smile and a memory. Have a safe journey HOME and hope you get some rest before having to face reality. lots of love take care of each other Debski
Tom Ha ha - Great stories guys. Looking forward to you both coming home!
Lin Oh my word, what 'interesting' experiences you both have had. I'm glad I didn't know about some of the more scary ones !! You have both been so brilliant to go on this adventure and to work through all these 'events' however difficult and testing at times. I must say, that I am really relieved and happy that you are now, both on your way home, to boring but civilised UK !! You have that one more mamoth journey home - was it 24 hours from leaving hotel to arriving in UK !!! You certainly don't do things by half do you?? What wonderful memories for you both and hasn't that last 6 months just flown past? Thanks again for another very interesting and entertaining blog. We've lived this journey with you every step of the way. Hope youhave a good journey home and can then put your feet up and relax for some time. Loads and loads of love XOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
selina It's over - you're both home, safe, sound, tanned, still smiling and with all your luggage - not a small achievement considering your last blog entry! If I had known....... Thank you both so much for sharing your world tour with us, back home. It meant so much to us to be able to follow your route, read your words, see your photos and talk to you on Skype. The latter closed the gap of the thousands of miles distance so much so that, the 6 months passed more quickly than I would have thought possible. Now you have yet another exciting chapter in your lives together about to unfold....keep us posted!! xxxxxx
Roger They threw a line around the globe and strode boldly out. Nere a glance astern.Comfort of belonging slipped.... now freed.Encounters and sights of strangeness filled their waking hours. Whilst we stayed on the steps far abaft. I wonder is it true; have they gained a day by closing that loop around the sphere? Now that much more knowing of our world. The view they snapped was an underside, no frills no high level expenses trips.None of the: in at the airport, stay 2 days, do the business and hit the airport. No.I wonder will it be harder to stay seated for the life ahead? Dad
Jerry THE EPILOGUE To my beautiful daughter and her special fiancé.For once in my life I get the last word, and indeed it is, because I have the pleasure and honour of scripting the epilogue.The pair of you have kept us all enthralled during the past 6 months with your words and photographs logging, or is it 'blogging' your fantastic adventure. You both write in a humorous, descriptive and articulate way that do immense credit to your journal and make it a truly engaging read. The photographs are brilliant and I know that it will make a fantastic keepsake when it is printed and will provide you with some everlasting memories. I think all the added comments have only added to the memento.You have been to some far and away places during your travels, places that Lin and I dream about going to. Some day, maybe! Your dreams were fulfilled and you still have so many more. Good luck to you both, for you are a beautiful couple with boundless energy, adventure and spirit.Both Roger and I have kept our thoughts to ourselves, until the end, whilst Selina and Lin have enthusiastically added their respective anecdotes to the 'blog'. This only made Lin and I more curious as to the new characters that will be inextricably part of our family. Now, we have had the pleasure of being welcomed into their home and family, and it is obvious how Chris inherits his wit, narrative skills, (see below), charm and personality. Selina and Roger, both Lin and I look forward to many years of shared joy with you, Jenna and all your family.Chris, you have made, and continue to make, my girl the happiest woman in the world. Since you have become the 'man in her life' she has not stopped smiling and I can sense that you are the one for her. I know she will make you extremely happy as well.You are perfect for each other and I look forward to performing my duties in 2012. XXXX Was that ok Darling? The other Dad....... THE END