Half the world away

...and half a year. It's been six months virtually to the day since I left the UK, a fair old slab of time and a decent excuse for a little reminiscing. So, if you'll indulge me, a retrospective of the trip so far:

Some highlights:

(i) Aor;
(ii) Sukhothai Historical Park, for a day of teeth-gnashing frustration redeemed by an hour of bliss;
(iii) the rainbow at the gateway of Doubtful Sound;
(iv) massive skies, red earth and neon-green countryside around Battambang;
(v) escaping violation on several occasions;

Low points:

(i) most of the afternoon of Friday 13th October when it looked like I'd be spending the night on the streets of Chiang Mai;
(ii) realising the odds of seeing Aor again are pretty slim;
(iii) waking up with my ankle double its normal size and hurting like a m*****f***er two days after (i);
(iv) finding out what the interaction of flesh and tarmacadam at 30 kph feels like on the way back from Kep;
(v) being a drunken idiot and getting that close to being deflowered in the first place.

Some realisations:

(i) Aussies are educated and don't have an issue with showing it;
(ii) Melbourne's ethnicity and weather are both far more varied than I'd been led to expect;
(iii) Neighbours bears roughly the same resemblance to contemporary Australia that Crossroads does to contemporary England;
(iv) the combination of alcohol and solo travel makes for a few tales;
(v) near-disaster (often connected with iv) is more memorable, more interesting to blog and, I suspect, more interesting to read about than comfort and safety.

Nihongo wa omoshiroi desu

Hello hello, time seems to be flying these days - the office-work 'hour like a week, week like an hour' theory of relativity appears to apply here just as much as in Bromley... Work is slightly more demanding these days - despite my having managed to cock up the uncockupable by putting 2 letters in one envelope, meaning I was quality-checked on envelope-stuffing for the rest of the day (the shame!), it seems they trust me enough to actually let me switch on the computer in front of me. Now I help to process people's pension payments; don't think I've done anything too catastrophic as yet (fate, you listening?), and they've extended the contract til the end of next month which is very handy moolah-wise. Might say goodbye to Melbourne after that and head on. Or maybe not. Will see at the time I suppose.

Other than that, nothing massively life-changing's happened recently - had a good, and as tradition demands, pretty wasted St Patrick's night, even including bit of R & R with an Irish girl for added authenticity. Fell asleep on the train home last night, quite surprised it hadn't happened until now actually; the $15 I was forced to spend on a taxi home grated a bit, as did the realisation today that I'd left my bag on there containing my shades and hair product, gah! How am I supposed to be irresistible now? Btw if you're wondering, no I don't make a habit of carrying VO5 around with me, even I'm not that gay.

Having a crack at re-learning some Hiragana, the shortened version of the Japanese alphabet, from my landlady; quite fun although dunno what the chances of it sticking for more than a day or two are.

Mm, and that really is about it for the moment. Hope you're all doing well and life is good. Weather's crap today, the rain last night reminded me of Thailand's; the Melburnians talk about the weather almost as much as we do. Better head now while it's dry. TTFN

All quiet on the eastern front

A relatively quiet week - haven't been kicked out of the latest house, in fact I should be there for a fair while - new address for those wishing to send me planning applications or monkey porn is 1 Glenview Road, Strathmore, VIC 3041. Living with a Japanese lady who teaches Japanese and does art on the side, as well as with another tenant, a Japanese guy my age who's studying aviation. Both are very nice and have been teaching me a bit of the language which has been cool even if it has reminded me of how ludicrously hard it is! Other than that, I'm still employed and even, a week late, doing what I'm supposed to be doing, data entry. A mere 3 hours of envelope-stuffing today, coming up in the world... Will see if I can do anything notable for St Patricks other than drinking Guinness (unlikely) and/or decide whether I fancy spending $95 on a ticket for the Grand Prix. Have a nice weekend and take it easy all.

It's ups and downs

Dude, check it out: I'm, like, totally employed or something.

An eventful week: on Monday Rhiannon informed me that her ex who co-owns the house had just announced that he was flying in from Sydney this Saturday and wanted his room back, meaning I was out on my ear; on Tuesday I had interviews with two temp agencies and was offered a job that started yesterday; yesterday, my birthday, was firstly spent stuffing envelopes (get in!) and latterly on the lash with new chums from work; today, in the teeth of sleep deprivation and a hangover, I sorted out a new place to live. Wonder what'll happen tomorrow?

THANK YOU to all the lovely, lovely people who sent birthday wishes - it meant a lot. Had a much nicer day than I'd anticipated, despite the envelope-stuffing (to be described on future CV as 'mail delivery facilitation'; I've been assured of having something slightly more diverting to do soon). And now I'm knackered. Good night, and good luck.

Back once again

Apologies for the absence; yes I am still around - net access costs a touch more round these parts than in Asia, unsurprisingly, and funds are beginning to dwindle, also unsurprisingly. Sorry to be gone so long - it's hard on me too my darlings. In Oz now and my great and generous new housemate/landlady has let me use her laptop, so here I am again.

Anyway, what of New Zealand I hear you ask? OK, so basically it's stupidly, absurdly, where-are-the-stagehands-and-mirrors beautiful; the people are lovely and take the piss out of Australian sports; they have great pies. Went from Oamaru (which turned out to be fascinating, cheese was good too) round the south coast, spent a couple of days down on Stewart Island (that little chip off the bottom of South Island), up through Te Anau with daytrips out to Doubtful and Milford Sounds, on to Wanaka to freeze my ass off in the lake, then up the north-west coast via Nelson back to Picton and the ferry back to Wellington. Won't bore you with a massive list of everything I did, but a few real standouts were: catching the ferry over Lake Manapouri en route to Doubtful Sound and seeing a complete rainbow form in front of the boat; having an afternoon pint in the snug of the Victorian-styled, William Morris-wallpapered Hotel Criterion bar in Oamaru and thinking it must be 1890; the view from the cafe at the top of Mount John over Lake Tekapo and the surrounding mountain ranges; glistening dolphins leaping from the water next to our boat at Kaikoura with the Ranges looming in the background. All good moments to be alive.

Got back yesterday morning, spent last night drinking Bailey's from a shoe (I was assured it's a rite every new housemate undergoes) and meeting some of Rhiannon's (the housemate) friends, went out and almost immediately had to come back having discovered that two hours' sleep in two days and a stack of booze aren't the best preparation for staying up. Good night though. Should be having an interview with a temp agency tomorrow afternoon, gainful employment hopefully soon after. Real life resumes.