Return of the King

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I haven't been counting how long it's been since Singapore (82 days). I also haven't been worrying about how this blog has lapsed (I have been worrying).

But now I'm back and ready to put all that has happened to the page. A lot has happened. There is a lot to be written and a wad of photos to flick through. Jungles have been swung through, rivers waded, monkeys snarled at, prostitutes blockaded against, many sunrises blearily viewed, friends slapped, monkey juice has often been chased by polska vodka, silvered barracuda swam with, deadly laws flaunted and both fake and real RayBans worn with serious panache. Whisky has been worshipped. Hundreds of beers and thousands of cigarettes have disappeared inside me, but I've still only seen one turtle eviscerated under a boat propeller. Sleep has been broken by the screaming of priests (it sounded like they were being disembowled, but it was just morning prayers). A monitor lizard has been shooed away - but this one was three metres long. No joke. I've seen the side of a van torn off by a coach at ninety miles an hour, zombies burst through the floor of an airliner (Plane Dead... awesome film guys, check it out) and had a little bit of a moment as I carved curious runes in bioluminescent plankton at twenty metres under. I've scampered after a wounded sea eagle, won a weeks rent in a single poker hand, cruised the waves in a converted plane nose, tracked squirrels, twirled fire poles (good lord you should have smelt the burning hair) and succumbed to a brief but nasty eye infection. I've been stung/clawed/bitten by a plethora of little bastard insects, fish, plants and mammals. And, uh, what do leeches classify as? Well them too.

There is plenty to tell. Plans have blossomed, been thrown to the wind, caught again, then discarded with nonchalance or regret. Maybe the odd one or two have been held on to, just like that. Same same with friends.

It has been a true whirlwind since I last typed to you, my dear readers, and I hope to convey eveything all in good time. Let's not dwell on the horrors of Travelblog crashes and internet malfunctions. Let's not consider the number of drafts this post alone has struggled through. Instead, let's look forward, cast aside your anger (ie: my anger paraphrased as yours for dramatic intent) and move onwards and upwards to caves, bats, jungles and beaches.

And now, the gripping administration:

For those of you lucky enough to be graced by the double-edged sword of Facebook (it's love hate relationship, I'll be honest), there are plenty of pictures on my profile sucked from other peoples cameras of me in various states of decay and confusion. I haven't the clue or the heart to delete the truly terrible ones, so please go ahead and have a look.

Thankyou for all the supportive emails, phonecalls and generous cheers - they have, as I've said many times before, been a great help and confidante in the quieter moments. Speaking of phone calls, now that I'm currently in South Korea (uh, yeah, it's a long and meandering (but touching) story which I'll retell at a later date), my phone is dead to the bright lights of networks. So please, don't panic if you keep calling incessantly to see how I am - I know you all are! I can just feel the love emmanating out from the nonexistent signal. So email is the way forward for now. Kathmandu approaches, so things may only get worse on the contact front, but I've taken the sickening plunge and bought a MacBook for ridiculously cheap in Korea, so I'll be wired to the internet most of the time. Uh, yeah, I'm rambling... I'll keep you posted. Maybe I'm just tired. But it might just be the soju.

So, I'll shut up now and start picking photos for the next post.

It's been emotional.

Tom

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Comments

[Brian - Housemate Extraordinaire]

Lord of the Mings?
Dude. Great to hear (read?) from you again. Had been wondering why you weren't answering your damn phone! Nice blog update, but dude, for the love of god and all that is holy (Keeley ftw) get the update frequency up a bit. You know we all panic like hell if we don't hear from you for about 10-12 hours. Keep in touch and keep safe big guy. Good Journey.

[Ben Tomsett]

Good to hear from you
Hey dude, Glad to hear from you! you'll probably have a t least one message from me on your answering machine when you get signal back. South Korea, well you did leave it flexible. Am guessing you enjoyed your 80 or so days in Malaysia region then :) I believe the leech is an Annelid which are also worms etc. Hope your enjoying the food am sure its weird and wonderful missing you dude ben