I'm still alive - just! ;)

Nee-shiow (hello in Chinese - I think, or something that sounds like that anyway!).
It's been a while since you heard from me. I've been rather busy... being ill. I'm now in the capital of China, Beijing. But more of that later... let me first update you as to what's been happening since Cambodia.
After last updating my blog I had a minor panic with my camera: a virus got into the memory card from the computer I used to download my Angkor images onto my blog. The following morning my camera flashed up 'np pictures' when I tried to take one. You can imagine the panic in my stomach at losing over 1,000 photos, 400-odd of which were of the Angkor temples. Thankfully I remembered that wonderful photo shops usually have programs which can retrieve images off memory cards (one good thing came out of me accidentally deleting Tracey's card in Airlie Beach!) so off I went (well, sprinted) to a camera shop. Even in poverty-stricken Cambodia they can work miracles and I got everything put onto CD. Thank God for modern technology! ;)
So with that crisis over we hopped on a bus to Battambang. If you ever come to Cambodia I really recommend that you DON'T go there. There's nothing really there. It was more of a means to an end to reach the border with Thailand at Poipet. That said we still managed to make 2 nights out of it. There are 2 (3 including the hotel) restaurants that cater for tourists. It's very local, ie not really set up for tourists. Shari did a cookery class and then I joined her on a moto tour of the surrounding area, complete with 'Cambodian snow' (ie road dust). We saw a fruit orchard and lazed in a couple of hammocks, saw fruit bats in a monastery and saw the foot of the killing caves. Angkor it wasn't. Again, not really worth visiting....
After crossing the border at Poipet we got on a PROPER COACH again! Hoorah. Comfort! With DVD movies too. Ah, this is the life. We arrived back At Home (our guesthouse, which was indeed a home from home) in Bangkok on the Wednesday and settled in for a week.
During that week we obtained our Mongolian visas. This was no mean feat as you're very lucky if you can find the emabssy. I think it's one of those magical places that only appears at certain times during the day and then disappears into an other-worldly kingdom. This mean feat included a Keystone Cops-style race against the clock to reach the place before 16.00 on the Monday to collect them. All modes of transport were used; Skytrain, tuk tuk, taxi (for 100 metres) and moto - hilarity ensued - AFTER we made it with 5 mins to spare! There was one sign from the road and then you got lost in a maze of very plush houses in which people lived who didn't seem to know what was in their immedicate vacinity (my moto driver asked a lady in one of the gardens and she had no idea where it was). Fascinating.
Also during that week I got chatted up by a young man with blond dreadlocks called Finn. I was sat in a restaurant reading after a meal and he asked if he could join me. I think he was only 22 or so, bless. Seemed like a nice enough lad but really we really didn't have much in common, apart from liking the band Fall Out Boy. Ah well. It was flattering and boosted my confidence a tad and there's nothing wrong with that. :)
Then things turned slightly wonky: literally. On the Saturday, me and the guys headed to a very plush shopping mall to see a film - yes a cinema! A lovely treat it was going to be. It was a very plush cinema too: very comfy reclining seats etc, cheap and a free fridge magnet of a forthcoming film with every ticket purchased!! It was cold tho - the air-con was on full blast. And sadly the film we picked - Sunshine - did not shed any warmth on the situation (rather naff I thought). I started to feel a bit funny. By the time we'd had something to eat after the film, I really was feeling ropey. I was really light-headed, had sollen glands, a cold and really wobbly legs. I thought I was going to collapse.
Shaz and Andy got me back to the guesthouse, bless them, and raced off to Boots to get me some tablets. They came back with antibiotics which made me feel a bit better. I spent the next day pretty much in bed. I had booked a tour of the ancient site of Autthaya for the Sunday but nothing could be done and I was better off in bed. I felt better a couple of days later and did the tour on the Tuesday - kind of like a mini Angkor but nowhere near as spectacular but I got my shot of the Buddha head in the tree roots, which was my reason for going. ;)
So then we boarded an overnight bus to the Thai island of Koh Samui. Sadly the visions of a tropical beach paradise we had imagined were shattered as it was pelting it down with rain when we got there at lunchtime the following day (we'd set off at 18.00 the night before and got the ferry at 08.00 that morning).
We were very lucky to find cheap chalet-style accommodation fairly close to the beach straight away as it's mostly expensive beach resort and the odd expensive hotel (well, not expensive if you're on a 2-week holiday, but it was on our budget).
Then I spent the next 24 hours hiding in my room because it was the Songkran New Year Festival (yes, the third time I've seen 2007). I spent it hiding because you just get drenched with water wherever you go. And I mean drenched. There were buckets of water every 500m or so on the main street and people with water pistols everywhere. The tradition is that people flick a little bit of water at you to purify you for the coming new year - note I said a little bit. Of course the tourists - more than likely the Brits - always have to take it a little too far and behave like total tossers. Some people had ice cold water and were just depositing buckets over people. Now ordinarilly I would have joined in the fun but as I was still not feeling quite right I didn't want to risk my chest getting bad again, therefore wanted to avoid getting damp. Now when you say 'no' to people when they look like they're going to drench you, they should respect that. But they don't. I was not happy. So I hid. Thankfully the beach was a water-free zone (apart from the sea obviously). I managed to make it to the 7/11 for food! Shaz and Andy bought water pistols. ;)
I relaxed for a few days but my head was still not right: I felt pissed all the time, ie the world was not straight. So I visited the international hospital in Koh Samui - twice. Yes the doc there was useless and didn't know what was wrong. During the second visit he did a urine test (they fed me lots of water and had to be patient!) and established I wasn't pregnant - if he'd just asked I could have saved him time (and water) and told him that! He gave me some pills that didn't work. So I didn't see much of the beach sadly. Well, I spent one day there. And despite factor 30 suncream and a large umbrella, I still burned!
I bid a fond farewell to Shaz and Andy - I left them splurging and enjoying the luxury of a very nice beach resort for a few days to return to Bangkok on my tod. I splurged on an air-con room to try and feel better but it was the same resort, not a swanky one.
I got the overnight bus back to Bangkok: postponed by a few days cos I still wasn't right. I had planned to be in Hong Kong for a week but I thought it best to get my head sorted out first.
The bus trip was eventful - sadly. Some bastard went through my large rucksack while everyone was asleep (altho I wasn't, ironically). They got into my Pacsafe locks and everything - fat lot of use they are! I'd sent my Pacsafe metal mesh cover home the week before too: d'oh! It was an 8kg box: at least now I can lift my backpack and that's a novel feeling I can tell you. ;)
Thankfully nothing was taken (I kept all valuables etc in a small rucksack on me at all times). There was a weird guy at one of the food stops who showed me and some other girls a piece of paper that said please keep your valuables on you as the bus co cannot be held responsible for any losses, so they obviously know what's going on. He was probably in on it. Gits. Still, at least nothing was taken. I was lucky I guess, others may not have been.
So I got back into Bangkok at 05.30am - shattered from no sleep and still feeling wobbly. I applied for my China visa and checked in when a room became available At Home. I met a lovely Canadian girl called Stephanie who hung around with me round some malls on the Tuesday - she went shopping, I went window shopping! ;) I helped her to a taxi as she had so much luggage from the trip that her boyfriend had left with her. He teaches in Japan.
I visited the hospital in Bangkok on the Monday afternoon in the hope to get my head sorted once and for all. I saw an American doctor too: you have no idea what a relief that was, I tell you. It was at Mission Hospital. They asked me my religion on the registration form. Then I spotted the lovely paintings in the waiting room depicting Western doctors treating patients, with Jesus hovering over their shoulders and telling them what the problem is! I became slightly concerned they were going to convert me so I ticked Christian rather than writing agnostic! ;)
It only took the doc 5 mins to diagnose inner ear inflammation as a result of the infection I had - Labyrinthitis again (I had it a couple of years ago). So I got some pills (ironically ones that I take when my chest gets bad, that I'd had in my bag all along!) and it seemed to clear up pretty much. That was until Flew to Hong Kong on Saturday. I saw Shaz and Andy one more time before I left Bangkok, they hadn't realised the date and came back to Bangkok to get their China visas, so that was cool.
Hong Kong was interesting. Dirtier than I imagined but lots of posh shops again (designers). I was going to see the large Buddha on Lantau island or do a city tour (I only had one day/ 2 nights there) but my head was worse than ever again on Sat night so I ended up going to yet another hospital (I'm getting to know the Asis health care system well!) - Queen Elizabeth Hospital - to get checked out as had finished my tablets. I must say that the Chinese bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired!! The doc did not seem interested - well, none of them did. It was rather more expensive than Thailand too. They did a blood test and determined that I'm not anaemic, therefore it must still be residual infection that didn't quite clear up. It was probably the flight that set my ears off again. So I got yet more tablets. It's getting better and is now bearable. If it doesn't clear up once these tabs have gone I'll take my chest tabs again and see how that goes. Still, home in less than 3 weeks!!! Yay! ;)
So I hung around Kowloon around my guesthouse for the day. The guesthouse was not bad inside: clean and cosy - very cosy - like a cell!!! It was better than the outside of the building which looked like a bomb had hit it. It was on the 12th floor, there was a skanky shopping centre on the ground floor and the internet was hanging off the wall in a little corridor between rooms. Cosy! The location was fantastic - near all the major shops and restaurants. I even found a Nici shop in one of the posh malls (very cute and gormless German soft toys that I collect) - you've no idea how much that cheered me up! ;) It's the simple things.
So now I'm in Beijing and waiting to join the Vodkatrain tour. The briefing is at 17.00 today so am waiting to check out of my guesthouse. This guesthouse is better than the last and a bit more comfy. I had an airport pick-up too which always helps. The bus system into Hong Kong was fantastic but I don't think it would have been as easy to get here.
Sadly the location is not great: had to walk an hour to get to the main shops and restaurants and then walk back in the dark and rain cos there were no taxis - it's really busy here due to festival (May Day equiv I guess) and people were literally fighting for taxis. The one taxi I did manage to get into, the guy shouted at me irately, so I got out! I have to say that so far I've found many Chinese to be rather rude.
I did a Great Wall and Ming Tomb trip yesterday. The wall was much narrower than I thought it would be. Will have to go back another time to one of the less busy areas I think and get some decent photos (at the right time of day too cos the sun was in completely the wrong place). Sadly we couldn't see inside the tomb either, just the gates and surrounding areas. We saw a tea ceremony too altho it was nowhere near as intricate or as interesting as the Japanese one. The jasmine tea was nice tho.
Anyway, I'll sign off for now. I prob won't get internet access again til I get home (on May 22) seeing as I'm off to Outer Mongolia and Russia! So until next time,
Ciao. xxx