Adventures in Lyndaland: September 2008

Monday, 29 September 2008

Koh Phang Nan, Thailand, Monday 29th September 2008

Hello everyone, sorry it's been ages since I last wrote here...and will be a quick one today as well. Just to let you know the latest.

I basically can't leave Koh Pangnan, it's simply too good. After Vietnam, we went to Cambodia for about 5 days to see the temples at Angkor. I wasn't expecting to be impressed but I was, hugely. There are so many of them and they are absolutely enormous, the biggest one being, of course, Angkor Wat. It's simply staggering that something SO large, taking SO long to build (5 decades) even happenend in the first place and just as amazing that it's all still standing, 2,000 years later. Apart from that however, Cambodia was fairly mediocre which was probably more to do with my state of mind at the time than anything lacking in the country itself. I was quite pleased to get back to Thailand and we only spent 2 nights in Bangkok for a bit of sleep before taking the 10 hour trip down to Koh Phang Nan which Oskar and I did ahead of the group in order to get to the full moon party in Koh Phangnan on the 14th September. The legendary full moon party was absolutely FANtastic. I loved it and danced for 10 hours straight from midnight until 10am, on the beach, having a ball. Then I jumped in the sea, fully clothed, before crashing out.

Then I decided to leave the EOE trip and stay awhile longer in Thailand. I even got a job, teaching yoga in Koh Phangnan! So now I am a paid (although unqualified) yoga teacher. I went over to Koh Samui for a few days with my mate, Guy, to say goodbye to Jacko and Jane, who've been indescribably fantastic for every minute of the trip and I really take my hat off to them for the superb way in which they've run the trip. The second reason for my trip to Koh Samui was to check out a yoga school there so I signed up for 5 days to check it out. The yoga was the best I've ever done - really, really challenging. And quite varied - I tried the 'hot' yoga a couple of times when the room is a sweltering 40 degrees and Anna puts you through your paces. Hardcore stuff.

Anna's husband, Sean, comes from Durban, was born the same year as me and left SA in the same year as me to move to England. He's also a yoga instructor and gave us some really hard workouts which I thoroughly enjoyed and from which I learnt a lot.

So basically I've been back in Koh Phangnan for the last 2 weeks or so. I got a recommendation from Anna for a yoga school in Mysore, India which she and Sean have been to and I'm planning on heading there next. I'll work the rest of the week here in Koh Phangnan - Guy has rented a 4-bed house which is where I'm staying. My Thai visa runs out on the 10th October so I'll head over to India, flying to Kolkata around the 8th/9th and make my way slowly south, probably down the East coast, taking in Chennai and Pondicherry before heading West, maybe to Goa and probably visiting a good friend in Mumbai, before starting the yoga course in Mysore, just south of Goa on the first Monday in November. The course is 3 to 4 months, Astanga teacher training which will take me up to the end of February 2009 after which I'll be flat broke and qualified.

So that's it. Bang up to date. I stupidly deleted ALL the photos from my camera, over 500, but luckily the best ones are on here anyway so no big deal. I'm heading into the jungle now with Johnnie, a lovely chap from Toulouse. We're going to visit Ko (Japanese) and Rain (English) for some chai. So ciao!

Saturday, 13 September 2008

Sad news from 26th August 2008

Ode to Babitchka. By Malcolm Jaros (Dad)


On the 26th August 2008, Babitchka, my much loved (grand)
mother, died after what was probably a stroke.

Although physically untroubled, her mental condition had
faded over the past year to the point where she no longer
recognised the friends whose love and continuing care
kept her in Bulawayo to the end.

Never happier than when confronting a challenge, she
defied her parents to join the army and later smuggled
her two young children out of South Africa, to ensure
a clean break from a war-time romance that had ended
in an unsustainable marriage.

In Gwelo she developed a ballet school that thrived
for decades after her marriage to Vlad and the consequent
move to Bulawayo, where she lived for over fifty years. 

Despite her life-long association with show business she
never sought the limelight.  A spell as Commodore of
Umgusa Yacht Club was seen as a necessary task rather
than the recognition of decades of service.  She was a
competitive skipper and participated in numerous regattas
with several successes at National level.

The highlight of her yachting career was to be bridge
officer for the Fireball world championships on Lake
Kariba.  She liked to recall how she totally destroyed
her sewing machine (domesticity was not a favoured role)
by making a complete set of signal flags for this event.

Caring for Vlad in his last few years took precedence
over yachting, so she joined the Bulawayo Hillside
Bowling Club and willingly took on the most unpopular
job of maintaining the toilet facilities, which she
did with characteristic zeal and efficiency.

The fierce defence of her independence climaxed in
2004 when she defied the collective decision of her
family that she should move to a save haven in Durban,
and returned to live out her remaining days with her
true friends in Bulawayo.
With love, Malcolm.

Friday, 5 September 2008

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Friday 5th September (photos)

Well, here I am, once again (I visited Vietnam in 2003) in Ho Chi Minh City and my fears about how it would've changed for the worse are completely unfounded. Yes, it's changed a helluva lot to a barely unrecognisable degree but definitely for the better. It's even better than it was back then and it was my favourite country at the time (now superceded by Laos). Having said that, I'm really, really glad I saw it 5 years ago as there were some special things about it back then that will have gone forever with all this development. Having the comparison gives me an appreciation for how far the country has come in such a short space of time.

I won't go into too much detail now as this blog is looking mighty bland without photos and I'm very pleased to report that today I managed to find a camera cable. So here, without further ado, are those promised photos from all that watery fun in Laos. Tomorrow we head for Cambodia and I've heard nothing but good things about it so I'm quite looking forward to it and, after all the recent drinking and partying, a change of pace to something cultural. My liver will thank me. Enjoy!

The lovely Kuang Si waterfall, Luang Prabang, Laos - 18th August 2008

Ooh, is that Cindy 'The Body' Crawford? Oh no, it's 'lil ol' me. Haha! And John's head.

Same falls a bit further downstream. Thanks to Jan for capturing this mid-air action. Good shot!

Luang Prabang underwater. Those little cones are the roofs of the formerly riverbank huts.

And let the Vang Viang Tubing fun begin! 20th - 21st August 2008.

I warned you about the showing off :-)

And after a bit more Dutch courage. Yea, I know it looks like I just got my foot stuck. But I didn't, honest!

The Crazy Spanish contingent.

Oh no, looks like the beer's all finished. Time to move on to the mud.

Bring it on!

And on! Zander, with whom I went biking and kayaking on the two 'lost' days when I mislaid my bag and 'had' to stay behind to find it. Like that was a hassle :-)

Zander moving on to the next bar. Or coming in to land...the chronology is all getting a bit hazy by this point. Nothing to do with Beerlao, I'm sure.

Bar two and day two in the mud.

Ollie. The very kind chap who loaned me the moped for the day and then had the panic the next morning when we couldn't find the blimming thing. It all worked out okay in the end. Phew!