Cagliari

A pretty post-card-of-Italy looking street.

Another pretty street, this time looking down to the sea

The square where I had lunch. I saw it and knew I had found the perfect spot...

You know you're in Italy when you're navigating by churches

100 points for anyone who can translate whatever that says!

Cagliari. It sounds like seafood, but it's actually a place in Italy. Sardinia in fact. Where I am currently (although not for much longer, admittedly; we leave day after tomorrow) located. I am liking it a great deal, it is warm, sunny, delicious food, and amazing coffee. Also it is generally stunningly pretty. And it has flamingos. I don't quite know how or why, I thought they came from somewhere in Africa, but apparently I don't know anything much about flamingoes. Strangely I'm okay with that. Also, did I mention they have amazing coffee here. I had almost forgotten what good coffee was like.

All the best graffiti is always foreign. Always!

So basically I had about 4 hours to explore Cagliari. It was nice, but I had about half an hour of warning, and a guide-book in Italian. The sum total of my knowledge of the Italian language at that point was 'Ciao'. It is now 'Ciao' and 'Grazie'. I shall follow the principal I used in France, and hope that some combination of manners in the appropriate language, English and gesticulating wildly will generally achieve my aims. So far, so good I might add. Anyhow, the result of my lack of warning, and lack of Italian skills was that I got time to explore, with no idea of what there was to see or do in Cagliari, so I just wandered around. It was lovely wandering, the buildings were very pretty. There were old alleyways and apartments where people were drying their washing above the street, and had flowers in planters outside their windows. There were scooters and graffiti. I am told it is reasonably representative of any Italian town, which of course makes me even more motivated to explore Italy! I found some pretty jewellery (Sardinian style apparently), and bought some tops and shorts. I am always impressed how cheap clothes in Europe are always so much better than cheap clothes in the UK. They're just so much nicer! European style, definitely better.  I had lunch alfresco in a little square under a tree (see above) and then wandered some more, found amazing coffee served by an incredibly hot waiter who ran away as soon as I started talking English at him, bought icecream. I then wandered about with said icecream, becoming steadily more lost, until such point as I realised hat I really had to get back to work quite soon, so hiked it down the hill to the waterfront, across, and realised I had wandered quite a way over a hill, and hiked back up in a bit in search of a taxi or tourist information, and finally stumbled upon the Piazza. Oops. Never mind, it was still fun. And it bodes very well indeed for future explorations of Italy!

Pure pleasure

There is something about a still-slightly-warm-from-the-oven baguette that is complete and pure pleasure. Mmm breakfast has never been this appealing

Somebody remind me

Why did I decide to travel? What exactly was it that I was expecting to gain from this enterprise?

It's hard to appreciate it in the moments when you're just sad, missing people, and can only foresee impending loneliness with no bright spots on the horizon. Sure, I'm going to France (again) next week. But I'll be working. Sure I might get to see outside of the hotel this time, but not much. I'm going to Russia for a month in the summer, but I can't quite look forward to it. I'm apprehensive that I'm just going to be even more lonely and also bored. Apparently the kids cousins nanny won't be coming, so rumour has it anyways. So I might just end up with a fuckload of kids to look after. And no company. My summer in France was bearable because I had company, but I may not in Russia.

I miss having friends. And a life. I miss being able to go and see my friends when I want to. I miss having flatmates. I miss flatmates a lot.

I don't even know what I'm doing.

*wangst*

Somebody please solve all my problems and make all my decisions for me. I'm over it.

Brighton

It's pretty neat. I got to spend a few hours there today. Not a lot, nowhere near enough, but it was nice to see it. Three seconds outside the confines of the train station was about sufficient to decide it is somewhere I like, and could potentially spend a lot of time. It is now officially on my 'places I could live' list. Cause I totally have one of them...

Anyhow. Nice place. I do miss living by the sea, it's not something I had ever done before leaving New Zealand, and I think it is one thing I do miss.

Well, on my way back to London now, my train appears to be delayed. I wish trains here weren't quite so useless.

Xx

Happy New Year!

Thailand part III

Today was the celebration of the Thai New Year, and we have had a blast! Traditionally all of the Buddhas get washed, and people throw water over them while they are paraded through the street. Water from washing them is blessed, and so you pour it over loved ones. But really it is just symbolic, and any water will do... and so long as you're not a traditionalist, then actually you just 'pour' it on everyone, preferably from a rooftop or with a hose! To a foreigner it seems like an organised day of national water fight chaos, it's brilliant! Such a fun day, everybody was soaked all day. No pictures of course, I wasn't taking my camera outdoors, it would've been a certain death for it!

Earthquake near Sumatra

Apparently there has been a really big earthquake, 8.9 if the internet reports are to be believed. There is a tsunami warning out for our region, they've warned everyone off the beach. We are fine, we're up on a hill, we actually went to the resort gym to see it (highest point on the resort and much higher than needed) but no action so far. Apparently not for another hour.

Anyway just to make sure nobody is worrying!

Exploring on the Andaman sea

Thailand part II

Went on a boat tour of some islands up towards mainland Thailand today (now yesterday)- we are based in Phuket by the way, if I didn't already

mention that. It was really amazing, the islands were beautiful. They all seemed to be cliffs rising out of a gorgeous blue sea, topped with thick green jungle. It felt as though there must be places that person has never set foot, although I doubt that is actually true, there were a lot of tourist boats around.

The local fishing boats were pretty, they appeared to be made of wood and all of them had an umbrella on the top that looked like it belonged on top of a (giant) cocktail. Also, we got to go inside one of the islands, which was pretty neat. I say inside because we got there via a cave. Inside of the island was a blue lagoon, surrounded by cliffs. The jungle was creeping it's way down the cliffs as far as it could towards the water, and there were monkeys swinging just above the water ("Along came Mrs Crocodile, hungry as could be....."). It felt like

something from a fantasy novel- I was thinking of Isabel Allende's City of the Beasts while we were there, it just seemed so impenetrable; there could be anything up there, if only there were a way up!neat though, they looked like they

We also passed 'James Bond Island' as it is called, which featured in The Man with the Golden Gun, which was neat, although slightly odd. Having seen it fairly recently (given it's age) I was asked a few questions about it, and again my lack of knowledge of/ability to retain pop culture was highlighted. It just doesn't stick. I saw it, I think maybe six months ago- I couldn't even remember if it was Sean Connery or

not! Never mind the villains, or actual

plot or anything like

that.

All in all another incredible experience. Thailand is definitely filling in all the boxes for a fantastic holiday, and I'm not even on holiday.