I finally managed to escape my own personal episode of 'Lost'! I was sucked into the tropical island for two weeks where 'the others' (westeners who'd slipped into a timeless existence there) tried to brainwash you into their bubble of indifference and instead of polar bears and scary dust clouds I had to survive things like free buckets of alcohol and shots that tasted like liquid death. Fortunately I managed to escape with my dignity in tact - having not fallen...

So I finally found some Honey Bees...We went to a bee farm on the Mekong Delta and there they were...asphyxiated in jars of honeycomb for no extra cost! Poor little bees. In Ho Chi Minh City we spent a little too long absorbing the tragic realities of the war. By the time we got thrown out of the museum, we'd temporarily lost the ability to speak and wandered around the city in a concerned daze. But by the evening we were back to sitting on tiny plastic chairs in...

Halong Bay in North Vietnam was stunning. The thousands of islands are scattered around randomly as if they've fallen out of a goddess's pocket. With all the traditional Vietnamese junk ships ferrying tourists around and a heavy mist lurking over the top of all the islands, it was like being in a tragically cast & poorly scripted pirate movie. Minus wardrobe assistant. Unfortunately, the caves in the islands that we went exploring in weren't as pirate-esque...

So I found Pandy in Bangkok, he's being a good influence and attempting to reintroduce me to meals. Well kind of…within a couple of hours of arriving, he'd managed to convince me to indulge in some crispy insect pic'n'mix and so we were snacking on giant grasshoppers by the side of the road at 1 in the morning. Crunchy. Yum. We explored an ancient city full of miniature replicas of amazing architecture from all over Thailand and experienced the floating mar...

So the 24hr meditation retreat was like being warpedinto a parallel universe where time doesn't seem to pass. Until youhave to get up at 5 in the morning. It was an uber creepy parallel universe too where everyone walked around with their hands clasped together, in matching white clothes, silently, and not looking at anyone. It's fine when you're chanting about how your feet are stepping in front of each other but I guess I still have 18years or so of meditation ...