I thought I'd be up to date posting on where I was each day a year ago, but here's a quick catch up for the two weeks I've missed. According to the delightful Abe who sends me emails daily reminding me where I was a year ago, it was on Tuesday May 11, 2010 that Ora and I checked into the magnificent and opulent Asian castle, Montien House on Koh Samui, Thailand. Complete with a "poo room" and a beach-facing swimming pool, that was kinda all we needed. Oh, and coconuts. For like a dollar.
Our daily adventure of walking 20 minutes in the steamy, pre-wet-season heat following our morning swim for my scheduled feed at the kosher mecca always included a 'leisurely' stroll back down the main road where I was ripped off accordingly by purchasing a wallet (for the record, broke somewhere in Italy), shoulder bag (broke earlier, in Spain) and sarong (now that one's still in my cupboard, but has since been eclipsed by some fabulous Israeli beachwear, more on that later). Check ins on Chaweng Road tended to depend on the availability of the wifi, but three days in and I was sipping pink cocktail jugs and watching tennis on the big screen at the Bondi bar with no one but a Swiss couple for company, and a wifi password clutched in my hand. Twas a habit I'd have to get used to as the phrase "wifi password?" became the first I mastered in every pronunciation. (For the record, in Europe, it's wee-fee).
The Ark Bar, Black Moon, Green Mango and Bondi Bar were made all the more fabulous thanks to our resort neighbours and their gorgeous partners in crime, the lovely Lauren and Layla of Dubai who were sweetly obliged even after the eighteenth bucket-fuelled moment, to show us the air hostess slash stewardess slash flight attendant slash what is the politically correct term anyway method of pointing at your nearest exit (may be behind you!) Teee.
I was given my first introduction to the grooming habits of European men after a harsh lesson of inadvertently insulting an Austrian man and his hairdryer, and proved that even travel wouldn't keep a tennis habit down as I watched Nadal prove pwnership over Federer at the Madrid final in a hot, sweaty Aussie pub. Our island adventures - separately planned - brought us in touch with the sweet and lovely Awe, mother of a daughter who knew her English father only through Skype, and the gorgeous islands of Mo Koh Ang Thong Marine Park (I so got that wrong) taught me that heaven is indeed a place on earth. Aloe vera massages and DVD shopping were all that remained between us and a nightflight from the gorgeous, balmy, coconut-furniture and most-beautiful-airport-bathrooms-TM at Koh Samui airport to....
Monday, May 17, 2010, 10.19pm: CoffeeWorld, Bangkok Airport.
There were riots going on but we didn't care. That's cos we had wifi for the computer and hot water for the Osem noodles, and we were safely ensconced in Bangkok airport having survived the barrage of interrogation from Israeli security personnel. One night flight later fast unsleep under the snug, pilfered blankets of Thai Airways and I had a simcard, a 3G connection and checked in at....
Tuesday, May 17, 9.13am: Ben Gurion Airport
NEXT!
