Back From The Wilderness

Where has the time gone? It's now 19 days since I posted on my blog, and I am fast realising that my 3 month adventure in SE Asia is passing by quickly. To make matters worse, my girl (Katrina) is returning to UK next week (planned - not a fall out!!) and I have been struck down with Thai Man Flu - which is far worse than the UK variety as I am sweating buckets in the 30 degree plus heat. I've dosed up on drugs and K has been looking after me though so I am hoping for a fast recovery.

Here is a quick run down of the things I've been doing in the past 2+ weeks - more or less in order:
1. Visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
For those who do not know what this is, it's one of the largest / oldest temple sites in the world, and it's an awe inspiring sight. We spent about 2/3 of a day walking round the different areas, looking at the stone carvings etc, and took a gazillion pictures which are now safely stored on Facebook (Katrina / Briggs) and my PC.

We only stayed 2 nights in Cambodia and barely left the hotel - mainly due to the fact it's one of the poorest and deprived countries on the planet! There were so many beggars at Angkor Wat, the roads were not really roads (merely dust highways) and when we did leave the hotel it was in constant fear of the Malaria mosquitos getting us- it all added up to a far from ideal traditional holiday location.

It was fascinating to see and maybe if I was at a different stage in my life, e.g. 20 year old backpacker straight out of Uni or in my mid sixties and need-to-see-everything-before-I-get-too-old-to-walk-unassisted, then I might have been tempted to venture out to experience more of the culture - however at this very moment I have got used to the comforts of life, therefore a quick 2 night stop and shuttle between airport / Angkor Wat / Hotel / Airport was enough for me.


2. Spent a week in Bali
We booked ourselves in to a nice 4 star hotel for a bit of R&R, and it turned out to be a really nice place. The weather turned on us though and we experienced about 4 days of thunder storms and heavy rain, which ruled out the sunbathing plans. This wasn't the end of the world though as we all needed a break from the constant heat, and some of the downpours and lightening storms were good to watch.

After contemplating but giving up on learning to surf, we spent most of the time relaxing and did a bit of shopping, picking up some very good bargains which I know Katrina was ecstatic about! Prada handbags / D&G purses galore meant one very happy girlfriend :-) Between the 3 lads we must also have bought about 150 DVD's for less than 50p each so we left with heavier suitcases too.


3. Spent a week in Krabi hotel / Krabi Sunset bungalows
The past week or so has involved a lot of time trying to find a good location in Krabi to spend the rest of the holiday - and it turned out to be a lot harder than we thought. Thailand is a beautiful country and I love the place, but the internet connectivity is not exactly perfect everywhere. I know this comes with the territory, but it did mean that our 'dream' location in Krabi sunset (a 3 bedroom detached bungalow, terrace, shared pool and cheap restaurant with about 4 other occupied homes) turned in to a frustrating time when trying to get connected to the internet / poker sites. After 4 days of lying by the pool we have moved and now residing in a more central house with miles better internet - a good result.


4. Spent a night in a beach front bungalow on a secluded island with Katrina
Left Krabi sunset for a night away from the lads so both 'couples' could have a romantic night alone - I'm not sure how the boys got on but I had a great time with K on Jum island. The lack of electricity in our hut, the ocean view and the millions (and I mean millions!!) of gekkos sharing our living quarters made for a memorable occasion. That's forgetting to mention the local spliff smoking hippies who sang us to sleep, and a few other things I won't mention..... ;-)


All in all I've had very limited time for poker since I left Karon, with just a couple of sessions in Bali which ran at a slight loss. I'll check out all my results now and will post them on here soon, but my gut feeling is that I lost money on the tables but broke even due to rakeback - not exactly anything to shout about!! March is going to be dedicated to playing LOTS AND LOTS of poker though so expect frequent updates here. This will be especially true when K leaves and I've promised not to leave the houose in case the lads involve me in any of their 'crazy' drinking nights :-)