Starring it up in Thailand

The tour of China ended with three days in Kunming, where I saw the newest Harry Potter, enjoyed the sunroof of the Hump hostel (18C and sun felt warm after rainy Guilin), visited the temples of the west mountain (Xi Shan) and learned about the numerous ethnic minorities of Yunnan province at the cultural village. I also read Forgotten Kingdom by Peter Goullart, which tells a true story of a westerner working in Lijiang, Yunnan in the early 20th century when all the minorities still lived by their traditional ways. Very good for understanding the local history.

Past two weeks I've spent with my lovely parents at the Hilton in Hua Hin, Thailand, as an amazing Christmas present from them. The weather has been properly hot (30C), which has allowed sunbathing and swimming, as well as a stint at swimming pool aerobics. We did day trips to a Monkey Mountain, Safari Park (where I got to feed a baby tiger! Afterwards got doubtful of the ethics...), Bangkok, Floating Market, to the country side to see the everyday life... and to the luxurious Barai spa. The spa experience was something magical, even though my dad thought the body scrub would hurt! Also there were long coffees, pina coladas from coconuts, mai tais from carved out pineapples, cryptic crosswords everywhere we sat down, and of course lovely dinners. The seafood was the best I've ever eaten - straight from the sea! In all this excitement the two weeks just flew by.

Last night my parents waved me goodbye as I boarded a bus to future adventures. Their airport transport left four hours after mine, and now they're on the plane home. And I'm in Koh Tao! The sea didn't seem too bad from the beach, but the sea was rough and 90 minute journey was painful. A lot of the people were seasick, and I was lucky of my window seat that allowed me to look at the waves instead of sick people. I'm planning to stay here for a week or so and most likely learn to dive as I hear Koh Tao is very good for it!

Ps. What about Christmas? Locals don't celebrate it, and I've managed to avoid the build up to my most favourite day of the year! So surprisingly I'm not sad of missing the family Christmas.