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.