hey again!

hello again my little lovelies!
i had to get to a computer and write again as so much is going on that i want to share that if i don't write it now it'll end up like last time and me forgetting everything so heres a little re-cap!please don't be angry if you have sent mail and i haven't replied as it's very expensive here for internet and the computers here run on thin air and are not very fast so i have to write this pretty quick!now i left you in kuala lumpor in malaysia and headed to the airport with my trusty companion rossco in a very smooth,efficent and economical natural gas powered taxi,which was cool and a first for me i must say and an experience in itself!we rocked up to the airport terminal jumped out with less time than we thought to spare to check in and with the taxi driver not having enough change,it all began here!with rossco having to run around the terminal lookin for change to pay the driver this is where it all went a bit downhill! : /
so,we payed the taxi and started to look for the required airline desk but upon asking people still having no luck!(this is the funny part!bit gross but funny and all part of the story so i have to share it!) on pushing the trolley piled with our stuff yours truly had a sudden strong urge to pass wind!upon doing so (you guessed it!)whoops the unthinkable happened,right there in the middle of a strange airport terminal and with little time to spare i immediately gave ross the look of horror and say sternly "rossco,can you see a toilet dude?"repeated about 5 times in 3 seconds!instantly he knew what had happened and luckily enough we found one in quick time,although walkng like a penguin was a bit embarassing so i faked a limp to cover it up,although the security looked at me a bit strange!hehe now i'd thought id gotten away scott free after the mass of different curries i'd eaten in the deli the night before!not the case it seemed!man,the luckiest thing was,for some unbeknown reason i'd decided,for the first time in what must be at least four months to wear underwear and that is the only thing that trluy saved this from being a truly world class nightmare!
anyway,haha all sorted,shorts in tact we journey on and find ourselves to be in the wrong bloody terminal and with only 30 minutes until the boarding gate closes and the next terminal being 2o minutes away panic stations kicked in!ok now,into the lift onto the ground floor of the airport to look for a bus to the terminal,(stand 49)where do we arrive at?stand no 1!!we couldn't even see stand 49 it was so far away and the time was ticking on!seeing a random guy in a people carrier we ask him for help and on saying that he said 40 ringit!on saying that,i replied 30 ringit!(weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllll theres always time to haggle even when you have a plane to catch and on agreeing we set off!also catching a glimpse of the f1 race circuit on the way!(and we only missed the world superbikes by a couple of weeks too!damn!)ok,now we rock up to the terminal with minutes to spare and the desk we want the furthest from us!running through the airport backpacks and guitars etc!a little confused on the lay out i literally ran straight through x-ray security section and stood at the check in desk!phew!unbeknown to me ross had stopped to put his bag through the machine and then thought sod it and followed me!i didn't see them guv!honest!now how can you miss two shabby looking travellin bums with two massive bags,two guitars and a didgeridoo running right past you i wonder?who knows but we weren't pulled up for it luckily and just made it to check in so all good here then!upon checking in we were told(forgetting its a low cost airline and the maximum baggage allowance is less!)that we had to pay excess!man this just gets worse!extremely luckily i had some ringit left and payed it off!
ok now through to departures and everything scanned(this time!)hoping theres nothing sharp or owt in our luggage the security then decide to take my didgeridoo and tell me something bad about not taking it on the plane!now,by this time,sweat dripping fromn every pore i just tell them to keep the bloody thing(not in so many words as you know im not like that : ) and be done with it,but eventually all was delt with,we finally ate some breakfast and got on the flight!pheeeeeeeeeeeew!thank god for that!about a 3-4 hr flight to bali and on the way as the sun was setting over the horizon of clouds we saw the most magnificent view!there were what seemed to be mountain tops poking up through the clouds in the distance and on mulling this over i thought that it must be the volcanoes in java which for me was the only explanation and on asking the captain he then came on the tannoy and clarified our thoughts to be true and a few minutes after we actually saw an active volcanoe with smoke drifting hundreds of miles!now with this skyscape over the clouds at sunset it was a truly awesome spectacle i can tell thee!what a cool laid back airline too!it was more like a school bus with everyone walikn around and having a laugh!even on descent people were still walking around and the hostesses were so friendly and happy!why can't all flights be like that!?
anyway,on arriving to bali i felt an instant warming to the people who were warm and inviting and the place had great energy to it!we went straight to the closest and busiest resort of kuta,but a little up the road at legian and got ourselves a room for 10us dollars a night with swimming pool etc.now we'd been told about this place(being like the aussie ibiza n all) and it all true infact i thought id got on the wrong plane n ended up in spain!so the life we left behind was a far cry from this place so we decided to book a 8 hour trip to the gilli islands in lombok to chill out and get back to the life of a little hut on the beach and cheapness!after walking around shaking our heads for a couple of hours feeling sorry for ourselves : ) we headed back to the hotel but a short distance away we encountered a little drum shop with some local guys sitting outside offering for us to join them.now this can be a little intimidating at times but in these situations you have to go with your instinct and intuition and they seemed a good bunch(pretty much like everyone here to be honest!so we joined them and they fed us full of the local moonshine called arak (i think but dont quote me on that!)now these guys were sooooo genuine (again,like everone here it seems!)we had a great time with them and ended up spending time with them every day since!i have bought myself a large african djembe drum (nan,its in the post,sorry,had to send it home as its too big to carry so it'll be with you in 2 months!sorry!love ya : )
the waves here are the biggest ive seen and the other day i decided to test the power of them,dodging surfers here and there.they must have been a good 10feet these waves and when they break,they break hard!great fun!i wanted to test the power of the tube crashing and after getting used to them and diving under and out a few times i let one break right over me and for a split second it was an amazing moment being in the tube of a massive 10ft wave.
and then it broke..............bang!it tossed me around like a ragdoll and i felt the immense power that they have and have great respect for surfers that catch even bigger waves!needless to say i didnt need to do that again as once was enough!but very fun!
ok so we booked tickets to the gilli islands,and were supposed to be picked up from our hotel at
6am the next morning and looked forward to it but somebody mentioned about hotels in lombok not being safe and many rooms being robbed!ok we thought,the islands are ok!then a few more people mentioned about lombok,even one of these local guys if from there and doesnt go there!ok we thought.we go back to the hotel to get some sleep before we head to the islands and on remembering to pay our bill,the guy behind the desk says! "aaah,you go to gilli!?be careful,bungalow not safe!" now,this sort of thing usually doesnt worry us but we now start getting paranoid and (before we booked the tickets we had nothing to stay for,by this time though we now have many great local friends,one drum teacher teaching me javanese,balinese and african drum rythums good place for me to learn to surf and lots of other great reasons,and the fact that you cant surf on the islands!) after all,why go to a place that you been warned about thefts when you wont want to leave the hut!we'd have just been paranoid the whole time!plus the possibilty of getting your drink spiked with mushrooms also!which i must say,wouldn't be all that much of a bad thing! : ) anyway so in the end ross just flipped a coin and we went with that!luckily it was heads and hence we are still here!
im being taught some drum rythums and have a contact now to ship drums by the container load back to england so if anyone wants on let me know!at first this place was really expensive with eating in restaurants etc but after learning a minute segment of the language to order food etc i can now eat fish n rice etc(my favourite called nasi boukous which is yellow rice with chilli and fish wrapped in banana leaf!mmmmm)and only 3000 rupees(about 17p!excellent so all in all im now happy here as we are being pro-active and productive and its all good!weve even been offered the chance to fly to java to stay with friends families etc which is great!above all in bali for me the people are some of the most genuine,trusting,happy and hospitable that ive ever ever met and for now im very happy and feel that i have just made fiendships that will last forever!
today im going to hire a board and teach myself to surf!10ft waves here i come wooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhooooooooooooooooo
you all take care and thanks for reading thus far if you have!: )
much love to you all!
dimson xx : )

New home

all i can send im afraid as i must offski the the airport!better than nothing and if i can send more i will!
take care
damo xx


frisbee action,had rin beach


hard at work with my tool kit at the ready!i made us both a bracelet each with ebony wood jade stone and bone but its not looking like you'll get to see them as the computer is too slow!oh well :)


guitar action in my little house,chaloklum


awesome view of the next couple of bays round from had rin...had juan and had thien


a lone jungle trek i made attempting to get to the next bay which you can see!a wrong turn led me to this amazing viewpoint on which i perched my little behind and had a little dooby...needless to say,i didn't make it any further!lucky that i brought my poncho!: )

hello peeps

hey everyone!
well,finally i've gotten round to sending you an update albeit brief haha i know,i always say that n it still ends up like a book even though i dont really tell you much hey!well i think i left you in my little house in chaloklum in which i lived with my two little dogs for two and a half months,doing yoga n all that jazz and i think i told you that two friends were flying out to meet ross and i from home for a couple of weeks yes?anyway,so they arrived in koh samui,greeted by ross and shown around the island and were fast introduced into the hustle and bustle of thai culture and landed with a bang in which they thoroughly enjoyed before heading over to koh pha ngan to meet yours truly!it was emotional for me to leave my house, my little dogs and mr ong and his wife of whom i'd grown very fond but finally i got off my arse and moved into had rin (party central) to await the new arrivals and also to finally stay with my little dog seamus whom i had grown very fond of some five years previous!he was only a baby then and stayed with me on the mountain for a few months so it was emotional to see him again!now,i have dogs wherever i go but he's my top boy n it was nice to spend some time with him again after all these years and clean him up a bit as he doesnt get to the sea due to other (big bullies ; )dogs territories etc i'll spare you the rest im sure you get the picture but i'll send a picture of the clumsy little lad anyway as finally ive found a computer that will let me upload photos so expect a few more!if i get up early enough to send some that is!anyway so my friends scott and chris made it over to koh pha ngan and we went about showing them the all of the most beautiful parts of the island that we could think of ie, thai culture,viewpoints,waterfalls,beaches,local delicacies(in all their many wonderful forms!hehe etc and after a couple of days in partyville we then headed back to the much more laid back chaloklum and had my old house back and used that as a base as its easy access to most of the island and with our own kitchen etc we could cook them up a few thai treats!infact our last night in the house the owner mr ong and his friend cooked for us thai style barbecued kingfish and numerous other thai delights and in turn we jammed with the guitars and sang for him as he loves a good get together over a whiskey or two and a great night was had by all!
you're gonna have to bear with me here as its 1am and my eyes are a little sketchy but if i don't write this now i never will!:> ) ok so after this,leaving chaloklum for a second time,we then all headed over to our favourite beach which you by now all know that is thong nai pan!ok the rest is a little hazy from here on in!after a reluctant fairwell to the lads (hey boys!! hope you're well!x) ross went with them to see them off in koh samui and i stayed in thong nai pan and at first did really well and got back on track with my yoga,running,swimming etc but theres only so long before temptation grabs a hold in this lovely but devilish little bay!when you stay in a house in a quiet little fishing village its one thing,but when you stay in a close nit set of bungalows in a friendly resort full of cool people and you all eat in the same restaurant and people are pulling every excuse in the book to get you out of your hammock to party its a totally different story believe me!so...therefore the rest is a little hazy and if it were not.... well.. it would probably be censored anyway!haha so maybe..just maybe...in the future sometime some of you may hear of a story or two to have you rolling about the floor but i must say theres just too many stories to tell and i know how much i rant n rave in my emails as it is so i'll spare you and leave you with the travel updates for now although i must say the past few weeks have been some of the luckiest,unluckiest,craziest,funniest and most bizarre of my life!
thailand.......try it......you might like it!!!!: )
well now it comes to leaving this place and although all of the above is a great thing,all great things come to an end and i'm looking forward to getting active again,being inspired by new places and cultures and opening a new chapter to this long running saga!so leaving my favourite bamboo bungalows was once again very sad...being treated like and living like family with the staff will be sorely missed...so too will my love for the entire country,culture and language but we must proceed and ive forgotten how much of an idiot i feel entering a new country and still trying to speak thai!haha oooops! i leave this time with much more of an understanding of the thai language and for that i'm happy although its difficult now as so many thais speak good english and its sometimes all too easy to speak back in english!im still practising my guitar and its coming along well,also now i've finally started to learn the harmonica and that too is coming along better than i'd expected so all in all with the yoga,guitar,harmonica,thai language,and many many other things the trip so far for me has been a productive one not to mention the endless amount of beautiful people i've been so lucky to have met over my time so far in asia!
so.... i now sit totally wired as it's now 1.35 am after god knows how long travelling as my brain is denying me access to compute the whole scenario so i've now decided to give up this mission save this boring dribble and try again in the morning!by then i can maybe make some sense!good night x
aaaaaaaaaand good morning!
well 12.15pm to precise,feeling a little better after a good sleep,some crazy dreams and a fresh oj im back on track although my eyes are opening slowly but surely!: ) well its a couple of days now since we left koh pha ngan absolutely smothered in thunderous black clouds (shame!; ) and headed off on yet another adventure to unchartered territory feeling full of mixed emotions!we head for the mainland to suratthani once more to await one of my favourite modes of transport, the sleeping train which i love and after the usual delays and a few hours playing yahtzee and a little bit of boredom lying on a dirty ol' train station platform (i wouldn't have it any other way!) we finally boarded the train and trying not to wake the already sleeping passengers found our bunks and got our heads down for the night!
next stop malaysia!the train stopped at a boarder crossing somewhere just into malaysia and that all went pretty smoothly and back on the train we hopped and onto a place called butterworth where then we had to disembark and fend for ourselves and figure the rest of the route and after a little snooze just before we stopped (not a good idea!)i then woke up,had to carry all my endlessly weghted belongings and grumpily waddle half asleep into the crowd of screaming touts prowling the station.....nice!....now...not understanding a word the heat searing and being a little worse for wear from my little snooze i was feeling a little sorry for my little ol' self but saying that things all pieced together pretty quickly and before we knew it we were on a bus to kuala lumpor,the malaysian capital and our next port of call!(and i must say the best bus i've ever had the pleasure of travelling on!man it was like being on a club class flight as the seats were huge so much so we felt like kids again as our feet didn't even touch the floor!hehe well,we are a little vertically challenged aren't we!: ) or hobbits as most of you would call us!anyway,my first introduction to the malaysian countryside was a pleasurable one with rolling hills and sporadic mountains popping up here and there (which remind me of the ones in krabi,eastern thailand) it passed the time nicely and one thing we noticed was the undenyable fact that this country seemed so well maintained it was a little eery!we had travelled about 500kilometres and din't see one single piece of litter along the roads or indeed anywhere in sight which for me was remarkable and a pleasure to experience and also made for a good travel game to pass the time!(spot the crisp packet!hehe)nobody won!a horizon of pineapple trees also made for a beautiful lanscape pretty much the whole way too which was nice,anyway,arriving in kuala lupor for the first time and to be honest,coming in to the outskirts of the city was bizarre as it reminded me of the computer game .sim city as everything was brand new!brand new housing estates,tower blocks and business districts dominated the landscape but everthing was absolutely mint condition and most yet uninhabited and this was a somewhat surreal feeling!you have to see it to believe it and for a southeast asian country a little bit of a culture shock!we were dropped off slap bang in the city centre and lucky for us all we did was cross the road and we were in a backpackers hostel for 35 ringit (about 5pounds) for the night!we then ventured out to see the spectacular petronas twin towers which illuminated the skyline and i must say was a sight to behold surrounded by flowin parks,rivers and beautiful fountains!i've attached a couple of pics of these and i hope you get them!we now sit and await our next yet unknown mode of transport to the airport and head to the indonesian island of bali where i think im going to attempt to learn to surf if the price is right and im really looking forward to it!(apart from the shark part :\ yikes! anyway so at last i've let you all know what im up to and if you dont hear from me for a while its because the email is either to expensive or non existent or if im really unluckly i've gotten a job as a shaks toothpick!
so,ciao for now but while im here and i can,i'll send you some pics that i couldn't send before!
you all take good acre my lovely family and friends and i'll rant n rave to you all again real soon!
ciao
much love
dimson xxxxxxxxx : )