So long, and thanks for all the fish

Cheeeeeese!

Apologies for the veil of silence that has fallen over our blog of late. If I am to be honest we have been waiting for some exciting tale of disaster or disgust to share with you from Australia but fortunately things have been fairly smooth sailing of late. So let me begin where we had left off the last time. 

After our 6 weeks in Vietnam we decided to spoil ourselves and booked onto a low fare Airasia flight back to Bangkok. I can happily  sum it up in one word...bliss. The kind of bliss and appreciation that comes only  after 5 months of being crammed into buses, vans, tuk tuks, more vans, roofs of vans, plastic chairs on buses etc. etc. Being on a plane again was a very special experience. It's also worth noting that Airasia, while retaining the absence of trimmings and grace that one would expect from a low fares airline, they put Ryanair to shame. You alight the aircraft after your alloted air-time without that heavy dirty feeling that comes from flying with Michael O'Leary's Slime-Air.  

Our arrival to Bangkok was somewhat surprising. When first there a few months ago we were both intimidated by the smells, traffic, hawkers, beggars, dingy hostels and cockroaches. This time we were both agreed that it was a little piece of heaven in comparison to the hectic streets of Vietnam. So it was back to Soi Rambutri with us and our ever growing backpacks and another night on the tear on the Khao San Road. Tammy must have hardened up her travelling shell at some point along the trip as this round she had no difficulty getting stuck into a bag of crickets. They are very good with a beer! If what you look for in a snack is a slightly acidic burst along with "leggy" texture not unlike Shredded Wheat. Not everyone's cup of tea I suppose but this is coming from the girl who ate cow pooh in Vietnam. 

A fertility shrine hidden near a carpark in Bangkok...maybe that's where fertility is most needed?

These are Richie's healthy lungs, TB free and granted a visa to Oz!

During our last few weeks in Asia we headed back up to our original starting point of Ayutthaya to visit Chris and Anne for a short while. The rainy season had shifted this time round so the days were cooler and less humid. It made for a very pleasant stop off. Following this we headed down to Phuket to hang out with Nikky again who put up with us for nearly two weeks. Bless her socks, so gracious is her hospitality that she even came out for drinks with us every other night whether she wanted to or not! Though thankfully for us all, the former was normally the case. We had a fantastic final farewell to Thailand with Nikky, who having worked as a chef in Ireland, whipped us up some great meals and introduced us to some of the wonders of Thai street food. Thanks Nikky! There were also some very weird and wonderful nights out at lady boy bars and some antics in Suzie Wong's bar. But as I have been told already by Kev Conway that "what happens in Suzie Wong's, stays in Suzie Wong's." 

Nikky...I guess I could have picked a better picture but where's the fun in that?! 

Our flight out of Asia back to some semblance of normality left from Kuala Lumpur so it was one last hard slog to get from Phuket to Malaysia. This was in the form of a 20-something hour bus journey with a 6 hour stop off at a dingy bus station at the Thai border. Perhaps because we knew it was our last big bus journey for a while we both kept our patience and made sure to get our coffees and food to keep our heads screwed on. At this stage we have had our share of "silent" bus journeys, generally at that time of the morning where iPods and laptops have died, lights have been switched off so reading is out of the question and the Air Con is set to "Greenland". Those are the times when you see lots of couples not speaking to each other for fear that one of you might end up meeting the motorway at high speed via the window. 

KL was what I had expected it to be. Big, fast, developed, and still pretty dirty. We saw our first menu listing Shark Fin Soup, a spate of punch-ups outside a number of bars, and a Nazi outfit for sale in an average looking teenage clothes store. 

Can I get this t-shirt in extra medium please?

It's a strange city, and given that Durian Fruit was in season and the streets were lined with stalls selling the dreadful stuff, we were looking forward to heading off. For those of you who have never had the fortune to stumble upon a Durian stall, its smell has been likened to that of carrion in custard. 

KL by night. 

Our flight to Melbourne must have been the longest slog I have ever endured. Having spent a year and a half or so here before, I was looking forward to seeing familiar faces and catch up with old friends. We skipped through airport security fairly sharpish despite the sea-shell in my bag, the wooden bottle opener, the knuckle dusters, ninja stars and the pound of heroin. (Only some of that sentence is true) We even had a friend to meet us at the airport, in the form of Arlo who hugged us despite the fact that we both looked and smelled like filthy backpackers.

After a couple of trips to trendy Smith and Brunswick Street clothing stores, a haircut for Tammy and a beard growing for Richie we are finally beginning to feel somewhat normal again. We have cleaned the dirt from under our nails and a pedicure (for Tammy anyway) has removed any hint of tough hippy feet. 

Housemates with matching hairdo's!

The gorgeous Nat and Arlo, who some of you may have met when they stayed with us in Dublin a while back on their own holiday, had planned a big house move around the time that we were due to arrive. So with that change looming on their horizons they both were wonderful and saved us a huge headache by offering us the spare room in their new place. So we four are living in a two bed, ground floor apartment not far from the never-dull Smith Street. If you are a fan of people watching Smith Street is the place to do it, from the trendy Fitzroy-alty kids in their frightfully skinny jeans and immaculately maintained moustaches, to the questionable types arguing with the air and swigging from bottles in brown bags. 

Richie, Nat and Tam on a night out for Nat's birthday

Nat and Arlo smiling like pirates

Richie on the puter in our living room

All we needed now were a couple of jobs! Due to having a bit of background in hospitality Tammy got sorted fairly easily in a swanky Bar / Restaurant called the "Panama Dining Room" not far from the apartment on the infamous Smith Street. I'm working with a great bunch and really enjoying being back in some kind of routine again. Richie, despite a few false starts in the job department and hampered by being new to the restaurant world, has finally managed to secure some hours in a a great cafe in South Melbourne called "Not all There" (fitting, no?) 

These are two pictures taken at a Mary and Max exhibition in the Australian Centre for Moving Images. To all of you at home, this is one film you should try and rent, buy, download or whatever! It is well worth a look. Another offering from Australian animation film maker, Adam Elliot, who brought us Harvey Crumpet a few years ago. It is a very touching tale based in both Melbourne and New York. Give it a look.

One thing we can all agree on is that Melbourne has a fine selection of beer! 

But, of course, Richie was over the moon to spot something more up his alley

Other than working and meeting up with old friends life is pretty much regained some sort of normality for us now. The money has managed to siphon its way out of our accounts fairly rapidly over our first few weeks here so now it's time to put the foot down and hopefully start some saving for the next leg of the journey. With that in mind I better get ready for work! Thanks for reading guys (",)


T.

Just cos you're 26 doesn't mean you can't have Elmo on your birthday cake