Right so here is my belated first update of my exploits so far :)

Bangkok was pretty cool, insanely hot though!! i think it was 33 degrees when i got off the plane three sunday eves ago and from there it just got hotter going up to about 36 degrees in the days, pheeewww!unfortunately the jet lag hit me pretty hard, so i felt pretty rubbish for most of the 3 days i was there :( but i still went out abit to look around and do stuff. monday was buddha day (most important day of the thai year) so all the temples were free to get into. i was stood outside one trying to read my map and this thai from Chiang Mai stopped to talk to me, drew out a tour for me of all the most important temples to go to and then hailed me a tuk-tuk to take me around for the day for just 20 baht!! what a bargain!!... however there was a catch.... the government also decided that day to give out loads of free gasoline tickets to tuk-tuks who took their customers to the tailor and jewellry shops, not so fun having lots of thais pretty much forcing bespoke made shirts, etc onto you, when all you wanna do is go see the temples!So eventually i got round the giant swing, wat suket, golden mount and one with a huge sitting buddha (unfortunately not the huge 45m jade one) and a few little temples in between. my tuk-tuk, unbeknown to me, had decided he was going to finish work at 2pm and so left me stranded outside the giant swing with no idea how to get back to my hotel, ended up spending another 80 baht on a tuk-tuk to get back and it ended up being literally a couple of streets away! badtimes!after all the excitement with the temples i fell asleep and slept on/off pretty much til tues night, went and got food and then slept again til wed morn, after which i felt a lot more human and ready to use my last day wisely. spent the morning wandering round khaosan road and the surrounding streets, picking up some pretty convincing fake ray-bans and haviana flip flops for a tidy 6-8 squids altogether :D tried some of the local pad thai and then headed for the airport on to oz.

the flight to oz was awesome, the plane was only half full, so i got a whole row of four seats and four tv's to myself to make use of, which i did :D spent a good portion of the flight lying down, with a film on one screen and flight info on another, they have cameras now on the wings and stuff so you can watch when you're landing and taking off!!landed in sydney last thurs morn to beautiful weather (25-28 degrees until the end of last week) and no jet lag :Dthurs and fri wandered round central sydney getting to know the place and got my aussie number (0457071209 btw). on Sat did some shopping (its well expensive here!! they dont do primark or h&m) and went to the opera house and botanical gardens (so lush).Spent sunday on the beach at manly, i think it lived up to being one of the best beaches in sydney, especially with all the surfers around to admire :D goodtimes! Altho the sunburn was not so fun, bloody hurts and now i have one tanned shoulder and one white shoulder and some strange tan shapes going on on my back! lolmonday spent the day at the museum of contemporary art checking out all the aboriginal stuff and yesterday (tues) it chucked it down, so spent the morning at an 80s exhibition and the arvo in the pub :D aussie beer is good :D but they have 'schooners' instead of pints, which are more like half pints, the girls!thurs was spent on a very touristy boat tour round sydney harbour which was pretty good, right up to the point of having a load of thai women descending upon and insisting they have our photos taken :S i have no idea...

had the best easter ever.... liz and rob invited me to go away to jervis bay with them for the easter weekend... over here everyone goes away for easter. spent easter morning body boarding in 4ft waves and then egg-hunting :D followed by sunbathing and an awesome lamb dinner - this is so the way to spend easter sunday :D

Anyway that is all for now

missing you all heaps :)

Sian xxx