Wecome to another glipse into my world and an all but brief run down of recent and not so recent events. I reckon that 7 or 8 months has fluttered by since my last journal entry and photo upload, so here goes at long last...

Thinking back, I recall leaving England on a mild day in February with mixed emotions. I'd spent the previous week or so jaunting around a snow strewn Scotland with my good friend Jacquie and returned back to Dorset only to re-pack, and enjoy one last fill of good 'ole English fish & chips...

Arriving amongst the crazy familiarity of Bangkok's tourist mecca is always a joy - for 24hrs at the most. I was soon on an overnight bus away from the pollution & madness and heading for Pai, my home from home in the misty mountains of Northern Thailand.

These days I don't go to Pai as a traveller or a tourist, I go home, to be amidst a beautiful and ever changing international community of very special people. All of whom have fallen in love with the magic of Pai and most call it their home.

Willow and Buti's house is central station, when in Pai there is no need to go anywhere else, just stay put and the world comes to you. It'd be hard to find any place more welcoming..

I spent a few weeks re-uniting with some old friends and making some new ones, cycling around town and to the markets for fresh veggies and fruit, eating lots of yummy food and sweating alot.....I rode a motorbike out to Buti and Willows land a couple of times to water the coffee trees and harvest some bananas & papaya but didn't stay out overnight this time, there was too much fun to be had hanging out with my friends in town. We went to a wedding, and a few low key parties, and of course there's our daily gathering at the Muslim bakery for Chai which evolves entertainment in some shape or form. At night I slept amongst a tropical garden on a bamboo sala - a beautiful space that I share with a couple of cats, some geckos and a few mosquitoes.... one of the cats had her kittens in my bed during my last night, which was a new and somewhat sticky experience for me....and the for cat..kool!

My Australian tourist visa required entry before 7th March 2007 so with a promise of return I left Thailand and on continued my journey accompanied by a dodgy tummy..

Having spent 3 sphincter clenching days travelling and a 'toilet tour' of 3 capital city airports and several bus/train stations. I eventually arrived in Brisbane, dosed up with glucose and antibiotics I slept a solid dreamless sleep for a good 15 hours, next morning I caught the first train out of town towards Maleny. Ahh bliss, "Crystal Waters", another home from home. With the comforting sounds of the birds, frogs and cicadas, a little tent in the bush and my Australian "family" close at hand - I was soon well again.

I stayed there a couple of weeks, recouperating, soaking up the serenity and having heaps of fun with the kids and old & new friends, however, time was ticking along and there was money to be made elsewhere
........

Stanthorpe is on the Queensland, New South Wales border and is home to many acres of apple orchards and ground fruit crops, my good friend Susie had rented a little wooden house in a small village on the outskirts of town. This was to be my home for the next few weeks whilst I gave the apple trees a run for their money - litterally

Granny smiths, red delicious, fugis, pink ladys and millions of all of them - deliciously accompanied by tall ladders, ichy caterpillars aching shoulders, bruised knees, stiff fingers, extreme heat and exhaustion.....Oh my god, I quickly realised how unfit I'd become and the picking technique takes a bit of mastering to be fast, I got the hang of it quickly and was making a decent wage each day with my own tractor and plenty of head space.

Somewhat of a different lifestyle again... and a far cry from my simple lifesyle in Pai, Crystal Waters community or from life back in England. Within a month, the season was almost over and it was all change again when Susie and I hit the road to embark on a fun festival/market/camping holiday in her campervan .... in my ever changing world theres never a dull moment I just keep adapting to the new environments and bounce along happily.

We were slowly heading north, towards Citrus Country, visiting friends and camping under the stars in a swag on the way. We stopped by Mount Warning National Park and ventured on a torchlit climb up and up through the tropical rainforest in the very early hours of the morning, to watch the sun rise spectacularly out of the ocean. With 360 degree views of the enormous eroded caldera reaching every horizon we watched the mist swirl in the valleys below, the shadows move effortlessly across the tree tops and the sun light awaken the colours of a new day - breathtakingly beautiful...

Our journey continued to another favouite place of mine, the hippy village of Nimbin where it was festival time..... plenty of live music, dancing, games, great food and a eclectic mix of people enjoying the party atmosphere.

After a couple of weeks meandering our way north, we eventually arrived in Gayndah, outback Queenslansd & home to millions of mandarins and an overpopulation of fruit picking backpackers. The campsites and caravan parks were all full, the rest areas around town had become mini communities and it didn't look too hopeful for us..... However, "good friends we have and good friends we've made - along the way" - hey!!

We found a space for van & swag between a couple of palms in a friend of a friends front garden, although I didn't know it at the time, this land and house full of eccentric aussie blokes was to become my treasured home and family for the next few months....

We'd organised work within a day, picking horrible thorny lemons with a promise of mandarins, the start of an arduous yet lucrative season.. Within our first week Susies van blew up and shortly afterwards she went home to Western Austraia for a family birthday and never came back, leaving me as the only chick in a house of 6 or 7 blokes, so many different personalities and I loved them all. Plenty of eye candy and enormous amounts of fun & entertainment, Good Times inded!!

In June, I took a couple of weeks repreive to be a huge part of an amazing festival called "The Dreaming" - the largest indigenous festival in the world, set in the environmental parklands of the famous Woodford folk festival. I volunteered for a full week prior to the 4 day event, serving & preparing 3 yummy meals a day to a community of hungry & grateful volunteer workers. I had the most amount of fun possible with an enthusiastic team and got to meet & greet everyone involved with creating the festival site. The festival itself was mindblowing, such a high energy flowed throughout, great bands, tribal dancing, workshops, films, forums, comedy, awesome food, beautiful people and free spirited kids. I was in my absolute element, sharing this experience with my special friend Jacob and many of my Crystal Waters community. Exhausted and saddened when it was over, new friends dispersed and back to the manadrins I went......

The citrus season was almost over when I hung up my picking bag in August. I'd had enough by then and my money was earnt. My Crystal Waters 'family' had taken over the managing of the long neglected community camping/visitors area and had organised a working bee to make a start on it's face lift. With only 2 weeks until my visa expired it was the ideal opportunity to spend my last days in Australia amongst my friends and some quality time with my man before our inevitable separation.

I left Australia on 5th September with a 2 week stop over in Vietnam on the way back to Thailand. As soon as the plane landed in Ho Hi Minh City (Saigon) I was instantly a tourist again, a new country, currency, language and child-like wonder.... ahhh breathe and absorb ......

I explored the cities, beaches, highlands & Islands, soaking in ancient temples, markets, , quiant towns fishing villages. I travelled from the south to approx half way up the country over 2 weeks before taking an 18hr train journey back to where I began. Vietnam charmed, intrigued and excited my senses. Although esentially very similar to it's neighbouring countries I found it's scenery and inhabitants exquisitely beautiful, relaxed and friendly. I'd love get off the beaten track and delve deeper...... another time.......

SO....

From Pai lifestyle to the mandarin trees and community life in Australia, through the diverse landscapes & cultural delights and of Vietnam, I returned to the familiarity of Bangkok's Khao San Road with a quick escape to a bamboo bungalow on the waters edge of Koh Chang paradise.

As I lay on the soft white sands of lonely beach, breathing in time to the perpetual sounds of the restless ocean, I finally began to wind down. An occaisional chorus of "mai ow kha" (polite no) from my friends makes me smile, as a steady stream of sales men & women stroll the beach parading their boards of jewellery, books of tattoo designs or laden arms of sarongs hopeful of a sale.

In the quiet morning, as I stroll on the deserted sands it is all too aparent that every mandarin snipped, every ladder climbed and every penetrating thorn was undoubtedly worth it. But, also being consciously aware that money is only the means to the dreams.

It's now October and I've come full circle, read back over paragraph 5/6 and here I am, back in Pai, reaquainting myself with it's colourful delights and good friends. A little older, a little wiser, a little richer and very content.

With an open mind and an open road ahead of me, I will soon be embracing India with open arms, open to anything and everything she has to offer and teach me.

Til next time, I send all my love & laughter across the miles