Time to pack my things and go!

Swasdi, (pronounced Sah-wah-dee), one and all! It’s January (just about) and therefore that time of year when I take my annual jaunt to sunnier climes. And if you’ve not guessed from my initial greeting; this year, I am returning to the wonderful Thailand!

Those of you that have been following my travel blog over the last few years, may remember my trip around Indo-China back in 2013, which included a very brief start and finish in Thailand. Since then, I’ve wanted to go back and see more. And so, at 4:30 tomorrow morning I get to tick another wish off my bucket list.

Apologies for not managing to finish my blog last year in Sri Lanka, but the last few days I was quite distracted with the after effects from drinking a fresh fruit juice made with ‘no tap water’ that clearly did have tap water, resulting in me spending most of my time either in the bathroom or curled up in bed feeling sorry for myself. Sadly, this meant I missed out on an amazing jeep safari and not fully enjoying the whale watching a few days later as our boat bounced along the ‘mild’ waves off the coast of Mirissa. The upside was that I did lose enough weight to feel bikini confident as we strolled down the sandy beach.

My travel companion this year, is yet again, the lovely South London Geezer: ‘Tooting Tony’, (nicknamed after his place of birth and nothing to do with digestive issues!). He has surprisingly has not been put off going away with me again despite the aforementioned ‘Fruit Juice Fiasco’. 

In our first week we will be traveling with G Adventures Tours from Bangkok to Chiang Mai,which includes a Raft House stay on the The River Kwai and an over night train ride. The final week we are on our own, as we head up to Thad Lod Caves, over by the Burmese border, before making our way back down to Bangkok via the beach town of Krabi.

It’s at this point in my yearly blog that I like to reflect on how the previous year has been and to be honest, 2018 was a year with not too much to report on, aside from a lovely birthday weekend in Bath, a summer break in Corfu, (boy is it hilly there!) and the realisation that hot flushes and night sweats are not due to climate change, but in fact, a completely different ‘change’ altogether!

And so, with my legs freshly waxed and my bags neatly packed, our alarm goes off in three hours time! I will attempt to keep the blog updated over the next couple of weeks and pray that this years trip is sickness free. So for now, I guess there’s nothing more for me to say except:

‘Cnkẁā ca t̄hụng khrậng t̀x pị’ - until next time ....