From the other side of the world for the final time

Until this point I couldn’t really believe that I was going home, but writing my final post seems to put it all into perspective – the next time I’m typing will be at my desk at home, a thought I do not want to think about!
Since Krabi, where I wrote to you last, we’ve carried on having the most incredible adventure. We took our consecutive sleeper bus up to Bangkok and yet again got no sleep, an increasingly regular occurrence on increasingly regular night transport. Frey was getting bunged up with a cold so was dead to the world pretty soon, but I found it hard to sleep particularly as on a midnight fuel stop I got out to go for the toilet, but id had my eye mask and earplugs on so my senses were still readjusting and didn’t spot a deep drain in the floor which I promptly stepped in a scraped off half my knee which kept me awake for the rest of the journey, not that I’d have slept much anyway. After a terrible journey we arrived in Bangkok in the early hours and were exposed to the madness of the Khao San Road. With hookers, ladyboys, and drunk tourists still singing and stumbling, we made our way through every single guesthouse until we found one after an hour of searching that wasn’t full and within our price range. We didn’t do much exploring of Bangkok, however we did manage to achieve a smiley face tattoo on our toes, before we left for Chiang Mai the next evening, and yet another awful nights sleep in a minibus sitting next to the two most annoying pineapple heads in existence. Chiang Mai was awesome though, well worth the journey. We did a trekking tour while we were there with the most amazibng group of people ever that luckily we got on with so well.

We went into the jungle/deserty area/wood of Chiang Mai and rode elephants and trekked for hours until we reached this rickety wooden shack in the middle of nowhere, which was to be our bed for the night (another night’s sleep gone, woohoo)! but it didn’t matter because it was the most amazing experience, the evening was spent in the weird opium den next door where there were three old men trying to sleep on the floor while we played cards and black pancake very noisily with Didi (our guide) and his friend and his 6 year old brother that kept doing monkey impressions (perhaps an opium den is not the ideal environment for a 6 year old child?). We trekked some more next day to the river which we went down on bamboo rafts and then were driven back to the centre of Chiang Mai, where me and Frey and one more day before leaving to meet our Australian boys in Laos. We spent it walking round the town and getting a thai massage which we needed after the trek. It wasn’t the most relaxing thing I’ve ever experienced but my bones felt amazing afterwards, the woman bent me in ways I had no idea I could bend. One more sleeper minibus and we were in Laos, Vientiane, where we saw the boys again and had the best reunion, we were so happy to see them! and what a week it turned out to be with them. We spent it in Vang Vieng, a sleepy town that is slowly turning into backpacker central. It is surrounded by stunning countryside, but the main attraction of the town is the infamous tubing on the river. This is indescribable and you cant understand how awesome it is until you do it. Basically there are a few bars spread along the river and every bar has a swing or platform or zip wire attached to it, so you go down the river either swimming or in tubes stopping at each bar which is always full of people, dance, drink and swing and jump off into the river. The most amazing fun I’ve ever had in my life.
After this week of madness came a sad sad day when we had to say bye to the boys:( Not for the last time though, Frey’s going to stop off in Melbourne on her tour of Australia next and I am going as soon as I can afford a plane ticket, they are without a doubt our favourite boys we’ve ever met and we’ve already planned a trip together sometime in the near future.
Anyway, after that we went to Luang Prabang, a beautiful town in north Laos with April and Natalie, two girls wed met from cornwall in Chiang Mai. Thsi was completely different, relaxed and atmospheric, it felt like being France a 100 years ago not crazy Laos! We spent a few days there and headed back down to Vientiane, where we said goodbye to the girls and headed back to Bangkok, where we completely blew our budget in Chatachuck (best market in the world, ever) and further explored the madness of the Khaosan (I ate a fried grasshopper!), before coming here, to Kanchanaburi Barabara, we stayed at the Jolly Frog! it is awesome, you’re right and the food is amazing, but we’ve been kind of perturbed by the amount of fat disgusting men with Thai ladies there’ve been here, spoiled the atmosphere a little but we still had an awesome time, thanks for recommending it :)), our penultimate stop.
I cant believe that in 5 days the 4 months that have been the focus of all my spare time for the past year and a bit will be over! It seems like only yesterday that we landed in Delhi and were greeted by the sign that said – enter here and win a kilogram of gold! Only in India …
We’ve had the most incredible experience, both of us knew we were embarking on a life-changing adventure but neither of us anticipated that it would be anywhere near the scale of awesomeness that it was, it has been without a doubt the best 4 months I’ve ever had and probably will ever have, I can’t believe how lucky I’ve been to be able to do something like this and am so grateful for it. My senses have been exposed to things ill never forget (some which I’m glad of, and some which I wish I could forget i.e. the smell of the sewers/toilet in Agra) and we’ve met the most amazing people, some of whom I know I’m going to stay in touch with forever and will definitely see again, hopefully more than once.
I think its fair to say that I’ve caught the travelling bug and cannot wait to go again. I’ve missed everyone at home, naturally, and am so excited to come back and see everyone and everything and how stuff’s changed, but I want to be out here forever at the same time. The freedom is immense and it’s definitely changed me a lot, I’ve grown up and am completely ready to do everything on my own from this point on and seeing the world from a new independent perspective has made me so excited for life and all the challenges it throws (cheeeeeeeeese) but true!
Well, thats it! I’ve written my last email and am off to have massaman curry (best Thai food ever). It’s been good, and I’m sure you’ll hear all this from me in person when you see me next, which isn’t long at all.
Thanks for everybody’s help and support and messages and whatever else over the past four months, and I guess I’ll see you all soon, hope you’ve enjoyed my correspondence, over and out!
Marta xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx