A flying blighty visit

The last month or so had been really tough, aside from my back relapsing, I had managed to get sick (tummy bugs, colds etc) or injured a few times - including cutting my hand right open on a broken glass and having to rush (at Cambodian tuktuk driver pace) to hospital to be cleaned and sewn up... 

The bandage was excessive and as I said to the nurse, I can't tell people I did this on a broken glass 'Big bandage needs big story' - still working on a better story! - maybe I should tie it into the time that warthog threw me into a cactus, or the day the cheetah got out...

Aside from illness and injury lots of people were leaving work, work was very busy and there was lots of other work and life things going on. Sometimes you just know that for no particular reason you are out of sync with everything, and it feels like everything you touch turns to crap - that's where I was. But sometimes to get back in sync, heal and get back on track, the only way is through the rough patch- and I was pleased that this period was coming to an end....

The lotus - revered as it grows from the deep, dark depths of muddy pools and manages to come out so beautiful.

I landed at Manchester about two and a half days after I set off. The stress, lugging bags and inability to lie down for most of it did not do my back any good. For the first time in years mum had decided to pick me up, which was amazing. I dragged myself through arrivals and fell into a hug, the car, and then bed.

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." - Robert Frost

Jet lag heading to the UK isn't so bad for me, generally means early nights and mornings, heading to Cambodia usually means I can't sleep at night and can't wake up in the morning. One odd thing though is that in Cambodia it is usually dark at 6/6.30pm. In the UK summer time it can stay light until 10pm - that's a sure fire way to mess up your body clock! At around 9.30pm every night my body was just gearing up to do something new and it was bed time - funny business!

"All too often, when people don't know where they are, have jet lag, don't speak the language, and can't figure out the money or maintain intestinal regularity, they get hostile." - Mary-Lou Weisman

[and that's just me in the UK!]

I was lucky not to be as critical health wise as I had been last time, but very much waiting on doctors appointments and was on an emergency cancellation list. Pain and appointments limited my movements a fair bit. 

That said, in the 6ish weeks I was home I managed to pack in a few things.....

Medically I had several chiropractors appointments, an assessment and another spinal injection - ouch, but effective.

Family wise we had a get together celebrating me, my cousin and my uncle being home at the same time (we all work live overseas) only my cousin couldn't make the party as he was at a festival, the week after the family celebrated his 30th and I couldn't make that as I was at a party - even when we are around its still hard! We also had my other uncles birthday and some nice days of family time, including a lovely meal out just before I left to come back to Cambodia.

Mum and I managed to catch up with a few people and have a couple of day trips to local places and closeby towns like Manchester, Ramsbottom, Ribchester, Barton Grange to do some shopping, have nice lunches, explore and catch up with friends. We also managed to get a few nice walks in - especially during the heatwave - things were bordering on Cambodia temps!

Manchester street art.

It was also nice to catch up with the girls from school (and a couple of other northern friends) and celebrate a new baby and three new homes. I sadly missed out on a wedding though which would have been lovely to attend, but some of my back treatment had left me feeling pretty shabby.

I made it down to London a couple of times too, managing to be the first guest in my besties house - literally the day the movers dropped everything off - I waste no time! Much was still in boxes and the builders were still working on the place, but it was really special to share that time. I also made it down there for the official house warming party and loved catching up with so many people. Over that time I also managed a day festival of a good friends birthday and a food festival, along with meeting new babies, catching up with uni friends and their kids and some chill outs and chats.

  Birthday festival (amazing what several tons of sand, some beers, DJs and pyrotechnics can do to London's business hub!)

Its looking back on pics like this that makes me miss home and these peeps - and being a long way away when there are two weddings in Santorini this month - huge congrats to the gorgeous couples!

In other news I found a bottle of the best SA wine and some biltong on my travels to London - which kept my inner Namibian happy - amazing!

The end of July also saw my transition into a new opportunity which I look forward to sharing more on next time.....

So, soon it was time for me to pack my bags, haul myself on several planes and finally make it back to my other home and be greeted by these two fuzz balls...

"Time spent with cats is never wasted." - Sigmund Freud

52 hours from A to B!

In June I started having more problems with my back. After the moto accident last time I limped on too long, and by the time I was able to get to see the chiropractor things were a long way down a line I didn't want to be. So, with new things on the horizon in other areas of my life, and the sensation that whilst I was healing, something was still out of place,   I decided it was the right time to head back to the UK and see my chiropractor who know my body in order to get sorted before things got worse.

I made the decision on a Thursday and was due to fly on Monday. Luckily I had a friend moving into the flat for a few days in any case and another friend who was able to look after the cats - thankfully! 

I got to the airport at 9pm on Monday, and just after everyone had left me and I joined the queue the flight was cancelled. I headed home, and tried again the following morning. We finally set off for Shanghai, but again due to bad weather could not land. We flew on to Hangzhou and landed there around 3pm. The airport, though international, clearly didn't take many flights and definitely was not expecting us. I arrived at the immigration desk and declared I had no visa - luckily I was not on my own. The immigration man was rather shocked and called in his colleagues, the pilot was in the airport by then and explained and 3 hours later we had temporary visas and a mediocre hotel organised. The poor people in the hotel weren't expecting us either and there was a lot of confusion over rooms, food, wifi, what we were entitled to or not, and what on earth would happen tomorrow.

"Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination." - Drake

There were 11 of us in total, an older Khmer Canadian lady and her son, who were sat next to me on the way and had limited travel experience, so adopted me to make sure they would get where they needed to be too. At one point, I managed to say I was tired in Khmer and instantly got a slab of dry mango (more delicious than it sounds) thrust in my hand, which kept me going for the next few hours. There was also a lovely Mexican couple on honeymoon (the guy helped me a lot with my bags as he overheard about my back, which was massively appreciated). Three early twenties backpackers. A guy who had been living up in Poipet on building projects. A Russian lady and her son, leaving SR for the last time after a divorce (they could have lived without the stress of the journey), and me (with a bad back and who could also have lived without the flight issues!).

Once we had finally got into our rooms I managed to get through to my travel agent in the UK and he reassured me that I would not have to pay for flights again, he also booked me onto the flight the following day and told me just to head to the desk of the airline to pick up the information the next day, which was a huge reassurance. I can thoroughly recommend the service at STA Travel, Manchester.

I finally got to bed around midnight and was up again around 4am. We headed to the airport and got to the desk and started to try and explain we were on a flight the day before that had landed unexpectedly and needed to get back on it to get to Shanghai. The people on the desks had no idea what was going on, and the 11 of us started to get a bit worried about what was going to happen next. Eventually we got boarding passes and made it through to the plane and landed in Shanghai an hour later.

Once we landed everyone was rushing to various flight operators to sort out their ongoing flights and we all went our separate ways - a part of me is still concerned though that someone is stuck in China!!

I got to the desk for my airline and after much confusion and insistence I was on that days flights I was finally given a piece of paper with some flight number on it. It too 2 hours to check in and I got to the gate as the flight was boarding, only to sit on the tarmac for an hour and a half. Eventually we set off and may hours later, and work from various planes and airports, I was in Manchester, truly thankful to have landed.

"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home." - Matsuo Basho

So, early July saw me back in blighty for a few weeks. A couple of days after landing I was in with the chiropractor and neurosurgeon and things with my back started moving forward and the news was pretty positive.

The next few weeks were spent with finishing up my old job and starting my new venture. Some family time, and friend time, which was a lovely added bonus. 

[ps: airports are boring places, and this was pretty stressful, hence no photos!]

Templation staycation

And just in case all that fun over Khmer New Year wasn't enough...

Some days you are just lucky! One weekend a friend of a friend had won a couple of nights stay at a lovely hotel - Templation. As she couldn't use it she passed it on to our mutual friend who kindly shared it with me !

So we had a staycation, absolutely lovely!

Friday night relaxing, a few cocktails and a night out dancing in town....

...Saturday it finally rained and we had a great swim...

 ....before a friends leaving do and dinner out.... 

....and then a chilled morning by the pool....

  

...too good not to share!

"We all dream a lot - some are lucky, some are not. But if you think it, want it, dream it, then it's real. You are what you feel." - Tim Rice