Happy New Year everybody!! :) :)

Before the clocks ticked over to 2009, I took a moment to reflect upon and be thankful for the year that was 2008. In a year  punctuated with the greatest of highs and the lowest of lows, I have so much to be thankful for. During the year, my whole family have been brought even closer together by both heartbreaking and uplifting occasions. In the past year, I have travelled through 13 countries, learnt so much about myself and my place in this world, met many amazing characters, and seen countless incredible sights. I had the opportunity to spend some very special time with Sarah and share my passion for South America with my eldest sister. I also loved living for a little while with Rachel and her beautiful family, and she and David were so generous to share their passion - my 4 gorgeous sobrinos -  with Aunty Teresa :) I was lucky enough to have a special role and Damien and Paula`s lovely wedding in April, and had so much fun sharing a snowboarding adventure in each hemisphere with my little mate Gerard.

And, of course...there`s Fletch .. the biggest and sweetest surprise for 2008 :)

The year came in with a bang, thanks to lots of illegal fireworks, vodka and snow in Salzburg, Austria - and left with an even louder bang in Koh Lanta, Thailand thanks to lots more illegal firewords, cocktails, sand and sea :) Fletch and I spent 8 glorious days relaxing on the islands of the Andaman Sea ...

We flew from Bangkok to Krabi on Boxing Day evening, having fully recovered from our Lumphini Park Picnic. We arrived late in the evening, found our hotel, and wandered the streets until we found a nice little spot on the footpath to have tea...and we were served the spiciest, most chilli-infested meal I have ever eaten by a very amused little Thai man. We think he did it on purpose, just so that we would order more beers. If so, his plan worked...the Singhas were going down quite nicely on our first official night on holidays :)

We caught the early boat from Krabi the next morning - headed for Koh Phi Phi. It was 4 years and one day since the islands had been devastated by the tsunami; adding a bit of a sober sentiment to our thoughs as we chugged over the waters on our little ferry. And as we pulled up to the wharf on Phi Phi it was impossible to believe that the place has sprung back to what it is today - I would have loved to have seen the Phi Phi of 10 years ago.  Phi Phi is very built up and very touristy (it was peak season, thankyou Captain Obvious). It is overflowing with bandanna-wearing Pommies who - or so it appeared to the untrained eye -truly believed they were contestants on a new series of Survivor: Phi Phi. (Apologies to anyone reading this who is Pommy, owns a bandanna, and/or likes Survivor.) I think the criteria for become a contestant on Surivor: Phi Phi are as follows:

* Must own a bandanna (this one was obvious)

* Must be perpetually intoxicated

* Must complain loudly and rudely at cute little local restaurants if your food doesn`t come out within 3 minutes of ordering, or if the order is slightly different to the one you desired, because the local staff can`t understand your wierdo accent.

* Must be completely covered in tattoos. Seriously. There were more completely tattooed people on Phi Phi than you could poke a hypodermic needle at.

Ahhh it was sooo amusing at times...and not so amusing at others. Fletch and I had a beautiful little wooden bungalow right on the beach..it was a gorgeous location, next to a cute little Italian restaurant, with a stunning view of Lo Dalam bay from our little verandah. We had two beach bars either side that were a short stumble away for a cocktail or a beer at any time of the day. :)  We spent the first day relaxing, swimming in the bay, and taste-testing every cocktail on the menu. After a yummy tea in town we decided it was time to have a nice relaxing sleep in our new bungalow bed...but those bloody beach bars had another idea.

Apparently another criteria for the Survivor: Phi Phi contestants is *Must love doof-doof music* ..... those stupid bars cranked doof-doof music til after 3 am, making it impossible for Fletch and I to get any proper sleep. Keep in mind that the bars were literally 10 steps away from our bungalow....mix in some massive speakers with doof-doof capability, add in 4 thin wooden walls, and sprinkle with Ace of Base at 2, 2.30 and 3 am in the morning - and you have a recipe for crankiness :( The walls were literally shaking to the beat all night. Our ears were ringing when we finally peeled our eyes open in the morning, and it felt like I`d been out all night dancing with the bloody Poms. Plus I had Ace of Base stuck in my head. Bugger.

Still - ever the optimists, we decided that it must`ve been a one-night-only show and assured each other that it couldn`t possibly happen two nights in a row :) We had booked in for a day trip in a long-tail boat around the smaller island - Phi Phi Ley, and had a wonderful day snorkelling, gawking at the amazing scenery and the incredible colour of the water, playing with monkeys on the beach, and visiting stunning (but packed with people..) Maya Bay. Thanks to Fletch`s fandangled camera (and expert photography skills) you might be able to notice an improvement in the photo quality in this blog  :P

Upon our return to Phi Phi Don we enjoyed a few more cocktails from our new best friend the bargirl, who thought Fletch was `velly handsome` and I was `velly lucky` (she would be `velly correct` :) ) Just in case, we had invested in a pair of earplugs - which turned out to be a lifesaving decision. Right on cue, the doof-doof started up at about 9pm and didn`t cease til well past 3 in the morning. I have never felt more like a Grandma in my entire life - curled up on a beautiful island with earplugs in my ears and cursing the youth of today :) At least this time the doof-doof was more like a muffled mmmf-mmmf and only our bodies and the walls were reverberating to the sounds of the music. Of course - our `it couldn`t happen two nights in a row` prophecy ended up being cruelly true...it happened all 3 nights of our stay on Phi Phi. And probably happens all 365 nights of the year.

We hired a kayak the next day and had an awesome morning paddling around some of the more secluded beaches and bays on the island. That afternoon we spent yet again relaxing on our verandah, sipping on an array of brightly coloured cocktails, watching the world (and the tattoos and bandannas) float on by,  and loving every moment of it :) I would definately recommend coming to Phi Phi - it is a gorgeous, amazing place - but I would recommend coming on a day trip from another island if you are after a relaxed holiday..then you can see the beautfiul scenery without the doof-doof or the hordes of tourists.

After 3 nights on Phi Phi, and a little bit bleary-eyed, we loaded our ringing ears onto a ferry and skipped across to nearby Koh Lanta - about a 1 1/2 hour trip away. We crossed our fingers and hoped that our new accommodation was nowhere near any doof-doof music, and preferably at a good distance from anyone wearing a bandanna. :) We discovered blissfully that Koh Lanta was so much more relaxed and chilled out than the vibrant, touristy vibe of Phi Phi. A much bigger island, Koh Lanta is more like a place that happens to have tourists come and visit, which could be contrasted to Phi Phi which is place made for tourists to visit. To our relief, we were sharing the island not with partying Pommies, but with Swedish versions of the Von-Trapp family...the place was teeming with cute, blonde, pigtailed Svens and Helgas. 

Our resort had a perfect location - right on beautiful Hat Phra-Ae (Long Beach), which was dotted with amazing little beachside restaurants and bars (no doof-doof though!) which we wandered along every night to enjoy a cocktail or tea with a million dollar view. We had an amazing 4 nights on Koh Lanta - just relaxing, getting beachside massages, having more cocktails, swimming in the beach and the pool, eating delicious bbq seafood by candlelight with the waves at our feet, and drinking Singhas whilst playing scrabble and backgammon from the little beach hut bars. We did another day trip out to some neighbouring islands for some more snorkelling, some caving (with 3000 other people in matching bright orange lifejackets...check out the pics, so funny) and really understood how beautiful this area of the world is. We also hired a scooter for a day and explored Koh Lanta itself, venturing into the Old Town and getting (unintentionally) off the beaten track by making a few wrong turns :) Fletch also discovered how important it is to heed the warnings of locals when they point to a puddle of mud and say `Be careful - much water, slippery`. We had a slow-motion-1-km-per-hour `crash` , much to the amusement of the magic man who had predicted our demise. Bugger :)

We celebrated New Year`s Eve in style - we had a `Gala Dinner` to attend at the resort, but the food was a bit dodgy and we made the executive decision that Long Island Ice Teas were a much better option. We found a table right on the waterfront at our favourite little beach restaurant to see 2009 in with some random people we had met that day. It was a pyromaniacs dream : we had fire twirlers, lit-up signs, candles, and there were plenty of fireworks going off at random intervals throughout the night...sometimes by people standing about 2 feet away. We lit a giant floating lantern, made a wish, and released it into the sky - so did hundreds of other people across the beach - and the lanterns floating over the sea gave such a peaceful aura.  It was a very memorable end to 2008, and a magical start to 2009 :)

After a  few more days on the island, our wonderful holiday came to an end and it was time to head back to Bangers ...and sadly, time for Fletch to go back to Sydney :( He flew out on Sunday night and we both went back to work on Monday. Only 7 more weeks til he comes back (bless him) - my stint finishes up on the 27th Feb, and we are off to Laos for a few weeks, before heading back home together in mid-March. Yippppeeeee. And packed with public holidays, school camps and sports days, those 7 weeks are sure to fly! Sarah arrives this weekend for a flying visit, and I`m soooo looking forward to seeing her. So there is always something exciting on the horizon to look forward to!

I really hope you all have a wonderful 2009 .. wishing you all the best in love, life, health, happiness, family and friendship :) I thought I`d leave you with a quote that struck me from a wonderful book I read recently, `Eat Pray Love` ....

"I keep remembering one of my Guru`s teachings about happiness. She says that people universally tend to think happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you`re fortunate enough. But that`s not how happiness works. Happiness is the consquence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness doreverm to stay afloat on top of it. If you don`t, you will leak away your innate contentment. It`s easy enough to pray when you`re in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments."

I pray for much happiness for you all in 2009.

Hasta la proxima! :)

xoxoxo