finally we are one (Oxford, England)

A lovely good morning

What a busy, crazy and wonderful month of April it has been.

Pookie came to visit me again in Joburg, and we all - sister and crew (husband and 2 daughters) went for dinner. I had a fantastic time with Param:-)

Meanwhile, I have finally found new accommodation with a 'soulmate' for a flatmate. She's vegetarian, a health freak, does yoga, has these energy bursts when she starts a story. Doesn't this just sound like a twin sister? She's great. South African Portuguese. I love her wit and sense of humour. She loves to cook, and I love to eat. My apartment is beautiful. I'm on the 10th floor of a 30 storey building, on the biggest street (Sheikh Zayed Road - the size of the N1), overlooking the city and on clear days, the ocean. I love my new area. So, the patience paid off.

Just came back from England yesterday, where I met up with Gill in Oxford (hour and half away from Heathrow). What a great time I had with her. She took us on a tour of Oxford (her mom and I) and I was absolutely astonished by all the history and beauty of the place and universities. She showed us scenes from the movies Golden Compass, the door and lamp post from Narnia, etc. Saw the historical library and churches. After a great lunch, we went to the botanical gardens. Ag, it was really awesome and catching up with her again.

Now I am off for 5 days, giving me time to really rest, get some sleep and recover from this past month:)


Have a marvelous day!

Toedeldoe
A

island styling (Singapore)

Hey everyone

Today I appreciate a couple of days in my apartment in Dubai more than ever, after 2 weeks of being on the road and in the air:) All the adventures help me to explore my curiosities, explore Godness, my own spirituality, my emotions and expand my mind tremendously. I feel I am living a full life and living in total acceptance, closer to nature, to God and to it all - the known and unknown.

I was in Melbourne again (the 5 day Singapore/Melbourne trip), where I met up with Rochelle for lunch at a Korean restaurant that served awesome 'bento'. Thanks Chell. And in Singapore I felt it too strange to be in a great place and choosing not to go out and travel. So off I went on another adventure - to the Northeastern tip of Singapore, a little island called Pulau Ubin (after a train ride, busride and then a ferry called a bumboat). Once there, we hired mountain bikes and cycled for about 20 minutes through a jungle. Man, this was FANTASTIC! We (me and Rebecca, from the UK) were aiming for the wetlands called Chek Jawa. Once there, no bicycles allowed, only walking. It was such a journey, of discoveries. Around every corner we would see live creatures including a little crocodile, big lizard (whatever it's called), interesting flora and fauna. It was just amazing. Real jungle life, with the sounds of birds high up in trees that cover the sight of sky when you look up, things moving in the bushes, insects crawling, things jumping in and out of water and trees growing above the surface. It was weird and wonderful;-) It's a very rural part of Singapore, and very untouched. Even around the area (Changi Jetty), the housing looks different, the people are older and you meet locals interested in where you are from. We had some fresh cocunuts to quench our thirst and went back to the city. And everytime I go to Bugis (remember, the markets), I discover something new. A stall that sells fresh juices for one Singaporean dollar - dragonfruit, honey dew, white guava, jackfruit (hey, I saw these on the island for the first time - never knew they come from big trees) and a whole bunch of different fruits and mixtures. At night, we went to Insomnia again for an hour boogying on the dancefloor like no one knows us:)

The crew was REALLY super. We had so much fun, it didn't even feel like work. A lot of action onboard also, including a drunk passenger that sang for us in the galley (how embarrassing, haha), the lights not working (old aircraft), aircon only blew hot or cold air, etc, etc. Everyone was looney on this trip, including the purser. Right up my alley, hehe.

I'm off to Joburg again soon, and Pookie will be visiting me again ;-P

Tell me more what's going on your side
Missing you all

*Peace and joy
A

birthday in paradise (Thailand)

Sawat dii kaaa

Finally back in my cozy apartment after living 2 days (actually 52 hours) on Bangkok's airport because of flights being full (being an employee is not always beneficial), quite an experience - so let me rather tell you the good stuff:)

The beach part of Thailand is everything AND MORE that I've always imagined island style living to be. My aviation college mate, Marcela (remember, the Brazilian?) and I avoided the crowded and commercial areas and headed straight to an island called Railay (Rye-Lay). Very small island off the city Krabi (Cubby) - Thai people don't pronounce the "r" (4months experience in a Thai restaurant helped me in understanding the way they talk and made ordering food easier). East beach is where all the backpackers and funky Thai rastas stay with cool pubs, and West beach has the resorts, swimming pools and rich people and also one of the most beautiful beaches - Hat Nam Phra Nang. This was my first taste of paradise. I floated on these waters and just thanked God repeatedly for blessing me this way. We stayed in Rapalla (Param recommended) where we had our own, gorgeous little hut. I thought I was in heaven. We met 2 French guys on our way from Bangkok (which was a 13 hour busride) and they joined us and even became our neighbours. And here I celebrated my birthday, got drunk on local Thai beer (Chang) and swam in the resort's pools being chased by security. Man, it was fun! People here are so friendly and just out to have a good time.

We got up late and headed to Ao Nang beach where we took a bus to Trang then to Hat Yao (5hours). I was in charge of this entire trip and Marcela just went wherever I decided (the coolest and most laidback travel partner possible). At Hat Yao we stayed at a Nature resort where we experienced the life of real sea gypsies for the first time. These are people (those dark Thai) that live in shacks and make a living on catching fish etc. Little to no English, but as friendly as can be. At night, there was no sound and it was dark, natural and stunning.
Then off we went to the place that this whole trip was aimed for - Ko Lipe (Kaw Lee-Pae) (another 3hours by speedboat). We were going to cancel it because it felt too hard to get to, but Marcela pushed me and we persevered. My breathing stopped for a few seconds by the sight of this island. It is the most beautiful, unbelievable place I've ever seen . If visualization can create reality, then I don't know how I came up with this. It was beyond my imagination. The boat would drop you anywhere on the island, and as we went around, I said - this is it - so we got off at a beach called Sunrise. I left Marcela to go hunt for a place to stay. I met a group of sea gypsies and negotiated their tent. This was the ultimate!!!! We stayed outside on a dropdead gorgeous beach, survived a thunder rainstorm (monsoon season coming), we used their "shower" - big containers of collected rainwater and became friends. I went snorkeling for the first time (another dream true!) Borrowed their gear. Wow!!! I was swimming with fish and couldn't believe all of this. 06h30 that next morning I was doing yoga and thai chi with a 60yr old Malaysian master (another dream true!) and had breakfast with our new family. It was time to leave again. When we said goodbye (kisses and hugs), I was crying my eyes out. These people took us in warmheartedly, barely talking English - they were so hospitable in their cute ways and little that they had. I wanted to stay on that island FOREVER!! I just cried and cried as they waved at us from the island - then the guy from the tailboat (that took us to the main boat) didn't want to accept money. (I paid them generously for the tent though). An emotional and spiritual experience that I will always remember! :)

On our way to Pak Bara, we stopped at an island - Ko Tarutao - an untouched beauty (Ko means island). Not many people go there (as with Lipe) cos it is so far out. And then all the way back to Bangkok. We went to the Chatuchak weekend market. It's freakin HUGE!! There are about 15000 markets where you can just buy about anything - even animals. Went to a buddhist temple that is only open 2 days a year - Wat Itravian. Wat Sampian was also gorgeous.Then explored KhoSan Road. Infested by backpackers, markets and awesomeness. Ofcourse we had Thai and oil massages, drank lots of fresh cocunut juice (out of cocunuts), fell asleep in hammocks while listening to the waves of the ocean, explored caves, ate pad thai and green curries , etc etc and felt blessed by it all. It was our first time backpacking (we even had a crazy budget of R200 per day, incl transport, food and accommodation - yes, Thailand IS cheap) and it was great not knowing what is next, where we will stay - and everywhere we went we heard the song: "Don't worry, about a thing, coz every little thing's gonna be alright" ;-)

Don't think I'll have much news for the rest of the month - saving money to make up for having to buy an unexpected fullfare ticket:) I'm off to Singapore and Melbourne tonight again. But I'll email anyways:)

Hope you enjoyed this. Words can never really describe the experience as the map is not the destination.....

Kawphunka,
Bye bye

*A