I Still Call Australia Home: 12 Jan

Touched down on Australian soil night of Friday 12th Jan. Emotional homecoming, but great - all Australians on the plane chanted "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie; Oi! Oi! Oi!" & sung bits of Waltzing Matilda, as I am sure has been habit for generations of intrepid travelling Aussies.

We've started uni already, and found a place to live. Shall move in next weekend.

Bangkok: 8-12 January

Spent awesome 4 days in the hot & steamy metropolis of South East Asia - gorged ourselves on awesome & cheap Thai food, cheap drinks & cheap shopping.

Most striking feature of country's culture is highlighted in Bangkok: the degree to which Thais venerate their King. Every public building & most city corners & bridges are adorned with shrines to their beloved King. The dutiful citizens show their respect with heads bent & minds praying, plus leaving gifts of food & money whenever they pass an image of Him. Just fantastic. I bet Queen Liz II is jealous!

Soaked in the sight delights of the resplendent Wat Pho (Temple of Emerald Buddha - statue only 75cm & not make of emerald, but nontheless beautiful), the Royal Palace & Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn, covered in brilliant porcelain mosaic from busted porcelain used as ballast by Chinese trading ships.)

Avoided dozens of scams, but did buy a couple of lovely suits for dirt cheap though - I was not counting that as a scam, until the Commonwealth Bank cancelled my credit card upon return citing a security hazard! No damage done though.

Railay East & Krabi, Thailand: 4 - 8 Jan

A quick transit stop in expensive Bangkok airport took us to the beachside paradise of Krabi, on the south-western coast of Thailand's peninsula bit. Stayed a night on the touristy beach of Ao Nang (promised "good pice, if stay long time") before taking a charming longtail boat across the glorious Railay Bay to our magical hotel, the Diamond Private Resort.

Our days were fantastic! Mostly glorious white sun-kissed sand, swimming & snorkelling in crystal clear oceans with amazing tropical flora & fauna, below towering sheer rock faces lined with verdant jungle.

Masses of cheap & delicious Thai food spurned us to take a Thai cooking course. Can't wait to try out our new repertoire!

Calcutta to Kolkata

We traveled through the colonial times of Calcutta, a beautiful English city by the banks of Hooghly River, modelled on the London on Thames of it's day at the grand Victoria Memorial; and through the noisy crowded streets of Kolkata of today with many street hawkers, beggars and delicious Bengali sweet vendors!

We also visited many of Kolkata's monumental sites, the Indian Museum and their snazzy metro tube rail.

Our one short day didn't do the city justice, but we enjoyed our stay tremendously soaking ourselves in Tandoori Chicken Tikka and Gulab Jamun (Indian sweet balls).

Darjeeling Tea: 29 Dec - 2 Jan

Spent New Year's Eve & 5 divine days in the archetypal Indian hill station of Darjeeling, at around 2,100m. The derivation of the town's name has a cute story to it & highlights the seamless blending of Buddhist & Hindu faiths that characterizes the region - being inherently Indian, but so close to the Nepal, Tibetan& Bhutan borders. The town was named after Dorje (a Buddhist deity) and the linga (a representation of the Hindu god Shiva) becoming Darjeeling!
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We visited their cute little zoo - which boasts heaps of red pandas, several highly disgruntled big cats & the impressive claim to fame that it is the highest zoo in the world!

We visited a couple of famous tea gardens & sampled their brew, learnt a little about the different grades of tea & which leaves they come from (smallest, newest leaves = highest grade) & that they are manually separated by cheap labour. Buy fair trade tea!

Although New Years Eve itself was spent with a total lack of champagne & only cheap petrol passing for wine (India being a country devoted to hard liquor - their whiskey is their pride), our New Year began spectacularly watching a glorious sunrise over the majestic Himalayas at around 2,800m. Talk about feeling on top of the world!