Travelling vs the real world

Steph and I have formulated a list of things that are acceptable whilst travelling that aren't so acceptable in the 'real world'. We can personally testify to all of these occurring...

• Speaking to strangers in the street, whether they're locals or foreigners. And then having dinner with them. As you do.
• All forms of loo talk, all the time, even with just-met strangers over dinner. (e.g. I just had the most awesome crap! It's the first one in dayyys! You guys should have seen it! And the smell - that's one to be proud of!)
• Asking the price of absolutely everything. Like someone's earrings? Ask how much they cost. On the same bus? How much did they pay for their ticket? And what about their shoes? And their flights?
• Smelling your clothes in public (and if getting dressed, choosing to wear the ones that made you pull the least bad face when you sniff them)
• Wearing dirty clothes, all the time, constantly, for days in a row.
• Looking like a complete slob all the time, and if you don't, you feel especially proud (e.g. MY UNDERWEAR MATCHES AND IT'S ALL CLEAN!)
• Having a hair style is a thing of the past.
• Hopping on the first motorbike that offers you a lift to somewhere you've vaguely heard of.
• Losing all modesty ('So, yes, we met yesterday. Don't mind me while I strip over here. Ooh actually, while I'm almost naked, I have this bite on my arse. Does it look bad to you? Could you rub some cream on it for me?')
• Being proud of the various parasites that now use you as a host and showing them off to people.
• In countries with water shortages, rarely showering. In countries without, showering alllll the time. It's the only time of day I feel cool over here...
• EDIT: Deet and sunscreen are legitimate deodorants.

That's all for now. But I expect there are at least a few hundred more.

A change in outlook

We went to the spectacular My Son ruins a few days ago. They were truly beautiful, but that wasn't the highlight for me.

In the bus on the way there, our guide gave us a long chat about what we'd do during the day.
"When we arrive outside My Son, we spend 15 minute break after bus arrive. Then you go to happy room. People go in, not happy. Come out very happy. Happy room very nice."

Could this be the answer to everything I've been searching for?

We arrived. He pointed the way to the happy room. I was amazingly, ridiculously excited.


It was a toilet.

Happiness

The biggest problem I´m finding in Vietnam is that people seem to hit me right in the heart, where unfortunately my purse strings are attached.

Instead of just the normal hassling to buy things (which I`m totally immune to after lots of travelling), they approach it in a different way. They say, "If you buy this, I happy. I happy, you happy. You have souvenir, I have money for eat and be happy. Buy and I be happy."

It`s totally not working though. I`ve barely bought anything. Definitely not a bracelet, four dresses, a pair of flip flops, a pointless paper lantern and a wealth of other things.

Not. At. All.

Beaches

This is where I'm going today.

Oh yes!

Oops.

I think I migt have accidentally eaten dog today.

This is really upsetting.

But what's more upsetting is that I found it REALLY tasty.

I hope it wasn't dog.

Please don't tell Rusty.

Vietnam...

is AMAZING!

That is all. (For now)

So...

This is  probably the point where I should boast about Hanoi and upload lots of exciting pictures. Instead, it feels like I'm in a sauna all the time and I now look like a rice farmer after buying a new hat.

Happy hot days!!

The End

Holidays

It's funny. Whenever anyone tells me to enjoy my holiday, I have to remind myself it's a holiday. It feels like a new life. It doesn't feel like a 'leaving normal life for a break', but rather a whole new adventure of a wonderful new and exciting part of everyday normality. Three months is like a whole quarter of a year. I think in my mind, holidays are two week things to not very far away where you can either ski or sit in the sun. We're going to drown in the humidity and then get very wet when it rains, and then hot and wet when it stops, and then the rain will all evaporate and we'll be briefly hot and dry, and then hot and humid and wet. People can be humid too.

We almost have visas. I almost have money. I've almost packed (or will do after I go to York tomorrow (!) and get my backpack and see my family and try to remember important things from there like my travel towel and my raincoat and my me). I totally almost have immunisation. It'll be fiiiiiiine.

We fly tomorrow evening at 10:15 from Terminal 3, arrive the next day at 3:45pm in Bangkok, and then sit in the airport until 6 something in the morning when we fly from there to Hanoi.

It's still not quite almost real, but I can feel all the excitement building like oooooh, ooooooooh, oooooooooh! Which will be lovely when it replaces eeeee, eeeeeee, eeeeeeeee!

Dog Slobber

Rusty is mine no more. WOE. Although it is pretty cool to be able to vacuum, use the coffee grinder, sleep and eat tasty meat products without a dog getting involved in all of them.

The past few days have been really tough with my broken head, and he really helped to keep me a touch more upbeat. Dogs force you to take responsibility and go out to get some exercise. Rusty also made me talk to strange people a lot (Yes, sorry, that little one is mine. Yes, he has had the snip. Honest. Even though he's...oh no, Rusty! Not the poor dog's face! At least get the right END even if you can't get the right sex...) which is something I love doing, but isn't too easy to do when your broken head is telling you that the world is crumbling apart.

I might sort of miss him. Maybe. But then I can't decide if I love this or hate it:

Mornings

Because of the medicine I'm on at the moment, I often don't sleep very well. I'm all right with this fact for the most part - my body adjusts quite quickly and it's quite lovely and peaceful being up at night sometimes - I often wander around, make myself a cup of tea and stare out of a window with the hope of catching sight of a fox:

No no, not that sort.

Much better!

ANYWAY, being awake is all well and good, except when (because I am supremely organised) I've left it a few days before getting my new prescription, which means that my body is all like I LOVE SLEEP after I start on the meds again, leaving me rather tired and grumpy.

Last night was a night like that. I didn't sleep very well from about 3 a.m. onwards. Why am I telling you this? Well...

Remember Rusty? That lovely cute bundle of fur and energy?

He decided at 7 this morning that it was a good day for barking. ROROROROROFFF! RUFF! RUFF! ROROROFF! I tried my very best to ignore him. I really did. Then I let him into the bedroom to sit on the bed (which goes against all my rules, but I thought that if I did that he might sleep so that I could too). He didn't sleep. Instead, he barked in my ear and licked my mouth and nose until I had to hide under the pillow, whereupon he found my toes and licked those instead.

I thought it might be a hint - sometimes he gets panicked when he needs to do his business, and if he's really desperate, he's not patient enough to scratch at the door. So I heaved myself up, threw some jeans and a coat on over my pyjamas and ventured into the outside world.

Now, you might not have known this because you're a normal person, but it's really quite cold outside that early in the morning. Also, the only other people awake are insane commuters who work too hard (ha! That used to be me!) who are all dressed in suits, and so give you strange looks for having crazy bed hair:

Rusty went into the bushes. I was supremely grateful. Despite him forcing me to leave my bed, he wasn't going to make me smell and handle his excrement so early in the morning. The poo bags in my pocket would remain unused. He'd do his thing, and we could go back to bed. I loved him.

However, he went into the bushes with his lead on. As I've affectionately come to say, Rusty is like the rain man, only not smart. So he got a little confused when he got all tangled up in the branches. Never mind, I thought, he'll work it out in a moment. If I just tug softly he'll know which way to go. I should be so lucky. Instead, he panicked and starting whining.

So I climbed into a bush at about 7:15 this morning, still in my pyjamas and with bed hair, to drag a confused and whimpery dog out of the bush that he'd climbed into.

Where I discovered a patch of wet earth with my left hand.

My sleep-deprived brain twigged what it was. Bugger.

So I moved the lead handle into the pee hand, and grabbed the dog's collar with my right. He then decided he was no longer afraid and could find his way out back the way he'd come in. I let go of his collar, and he pushed past me. This caused me to overbalance slightly and put a free hand down to steady myself.

Whereupon I discovered his other excretions.

I love mornings.

Bafana Bafana!

I absolutely love this video by Leon Schuster for the world cup:

Schuster's very well known in and around South Africa as being this strange old chap who can dress up as someone of a different race without it being racist, most often to play practical jokes on people. He's done a few movies too. Ahhh, maybe it's time for me to watch this again.

SQUEE!

I leave for SE Asia in just over a week and I'm ALL BOOKED.

And now very poor.

But ALL BOOKED, nonetheless!

Fork you.

I met up with the lovely Chris today and we picnicked on tasty foods not too far from King's Cross. My salad came with this:

Is it sad to be this excited about a foldable fork?

It's like MAGIC!

But Chris wasn't quite as excited as I was. Awww.

My still ugly what?

I spotted this poor man on the tube and had to take a sneaky picture:

I hope one day he realises what he's done. Or maybe it's intentional and I'm missing out on some amazing joke. I don't know which I'd prefer, but this makes my eyes burn.

I love my mind

You might remember that I'm looking after this chap at the moment:

I was in a very mopey mood earlier and said to myself, "The only one who listens to me at the moment is the dog, and he doesn't even understand me!"

Then my mind quipped, "Maybe that's because he doesn't understand you, WhingeyPants?"

I laughed myself all better.