Well we're now back in Australia... Brisbane to be precise... HOME! Man Australia really is the greatest country on Earth!!! There's nothing like a trip overseas to really reinforce that.

Ellianah met us at the airport and with HUGE smiles and squeels of delight, she ran over to me and shouted HELLO! at the top of her lungs followed by HUGE kisses and cuddles... You have NO idea how good that felt! I have been really missing Elli and hanging out big time for a kiss and cuddle. She even made a little sign for us saying "Welcome home Mum and Dad! I love you!" It was sooo cute. (Thanks to my awesome Mum for picking us up and bringing our princess too).

So the trip home was pretty good. I managed to get a fwe nice naps in and watched a couple of movie and just all round vegged. What else can you do really?

Our last day in Bangkok started out very disorganised... After breakfast, we went of to the central park and watch crazy Thai morning "exerise-ers". Some were running, some were jogging, some were doing Thai Chi and some were doing weird shit that I've never seen before.. I think it might have been attempts at stretching. There was also a weird outdoor gym type thing in the middle.

After a little walk in the park, we headed for Baiyoke tower, only to find that it wasn't open and would open later at 10:30 so we had a few hours to kill. So we went for a bit of a snoop at the local markets and then snuck off to the Grand Palace. Adam had to get some longer pants on so that Buddha wasn't blinded. The Palace is really quite spectacular. It was good to finally get to tick it off our list, especially since the first time we tried to see it we were sent on a wild goose chase. Next time I go to Thailand I'll know... Don't trust anyone!

Back to Baiyoke tower and right to the top for a peek of Bangkok from the air then a nice sugar loaded drink each then up another floor (to the 83rd floor) for the revolving deck and a 360 degree view of smoggy Bangkok. It was a fairly "clear" day for Bangkok so we got a pretty good view of a crazy, busy, horn happy city.

We did sooo much walking that I thought my legs were gonna drop off... And we hadn't even started shopping yet! I guess it was made worse by the fact that there are sooo many people rushing in all directions and the smog and heat and traffic and people starring doin't make it much to walk around.

Anyway... so we made it to MBK where I did a spot of shopping by myself.. While Adam went to print our photos... (all 2600 of them!!!! Long story..) I'm sorry to say to Emma and Andrea... but I didn't really like MBK... I think due to he fact that it's sooo huge and I didn't have a lot of time and that I didn't feel comfortable bartering with them co it felt just like Carindale... hahaha! But anyway, I got a few things and DID barter anyway... Earlier in the day, I had decided that if I had time I'd get my hair cut and my nails redone... No time for the nails... but the hair....... HAHAHAHA!!! Here's a good story... (Dannii will especially like this...)

I got a flyer from some random Thai guy and it said 180B for a hair cut.. I wsa like cool! This is a sign... and it's like cheap as... Less than AUS$7. So off I go to find the hair dresser.... I get there and it's MASSIVE! I talked to a few people, most of who don't speak very good English and said I'd like my hair cut... So I'm lead to get my hair washed which was nice... as I got a bit of a head massage as well... Then I looked at some pics (tough all the models were Asian and non of them had curly hair) to choose a style for me... I was going to go for something short so I'd get my Afro back... I showed the lady and since she didn't speak English, she showed her work mate (who was actually once a boy) who said "Oh, no good, coz when you wash it go BOOF!" I was like ok.. what do you think? and she said "Make like this, layer, same same like me..." (pointing to her hair) I was like ok... that can't do much harm, since it would require to cut only a little bit...

So the lady starts blow drying my hair, meanwhile I'm wondering if they've EVER worked with curly hair before.... Blow drying my hair is NOT a good idea ever! It just goes to FRIZZ and serious full on AFRO! I could feel some eyes on me. Anyway, she gets the hair straightener out (my worst enemy) and off she goes... I just sat back and let them go for it and figured I'd not be able to communicate my thoughts and I was feeling daring and just wanted the experience... So then there were two chicks trying to straighten my 'fro and they were getting frustrated!! I'd have laughed in their faces if they weren't yanking my hair so hard and yielding sharp scissors. Once my hair was all straight, she proceeded to cut.. As I pressumed, she didn't take much off... and she did indeed layer it and then tried to make it sit like an Asian's hair does... Didn't work! Solly! Also, they ended up charging me 300B instead of the 180B that it was advertised at. I didn't fight them coz they did take a while to get it done and 300B is like AUS$10 or something... And lets face it, I can earn more money sleeping than they can cutting hair all day...

So in the end I look like a total tool, but hey, who gives a shit, everyone stared me the whole time anyway, so why not give them a bonus...

I went upstairs to meet up with Adam (who didn't recognise me at first) and when he saw me he shook his head, then laughed, then said "you look Asian" then took a photo... hahaha... We did a bit of shopping... and I went to the bathroom, then washed my hands (as you do) and ran my wet hands through my hair.... Not a good idea... So now the top layer of my hair was half curly/frzz/after sex messy look and the rest was straight like horse hair (Neeeeeeeeeeee)... I looked shocking...

Anyway... after a big afternoon at the shops, we head back to the hotel where we prepared for the night markets and i took the time to wet my hair and get the REAL me back... my curls!! Upon doing this, I lookd in the mirror at my wet hair and noticed I now have a "Mullet"... Yep... Party in the front, business in the back.... Coz she cut it while it was straight, she cut the front quite short and left the back fairly long to give it that layered look.... But curls, they don't give a rats.. They do what ever the hell they like... so Dannii, now we both have shit hair doos... BUT... At least our hair will grow back... hehehe I did get us some cute head bands for our hair... but unfortunately, we won't be able to use them... Keep reading...

Moral of the story?? Don't get your hair cut in Thailand and don't expect anyone to stick to their word when money is involved....

So why can't we use our head bands...?? Coz they were in Adam's back pack, which is somewhere in Thailand in the back of some guys taxi or being pawned as we speak. That's right.. Adam left his bag in the back of a taxi... It had some of my shopping triumphs and some other crap, but most importantly, it had our beloved Camera in it... I of course cried (anyone who knows me well will know how nuts I am about photos) and our CDs of photos from Thailand... (Luckily we had them printed.. but we don't have a hard copy now) So we talked to a lady at our Hotel who tried to be helpful... and apart from making a phone call and communicating in Thai, that's about all she could do. We sat outside trying to remembed anything we could about the events leading up to the loosing of the bag when I noticed the security guy writing stuff down everytime a car pulled in... I figured it had to be information about the cars and events (aren't I smart and observant!!) so I went and asked him and he was able to give us a little bit of info (number plate etc...) which we took to the Thai Tourist Police. We filed a report (so hopefully our travel insurance will cover it) and then were told to hope for the best.... but also to not hold our breaths! The driver of the taxi we think we left it in, didn't leave us with a good lasting impression, since the trip cost us 37B and Adz gave him 40B and he just waited for us to get out and didn't lift a finger or even pretend to look for change. Oh well... It could have been worse...

I should mention the taxi trip previous to this left me with a sour face.... The taxi driver was fairly nice to begin with.. Nice, funny, chatty... Then he decided to joke about my size and tried to tell me that I weigh 200 kilos and wanted to pull over at a 7/11 so I could weigh myself to satisfy his curiosity... I was like NO! Rude little fucker! I should have dnapped him in half... Prior to this, we had made an arragement with him to take us to the airport at 4 in the morning for 500B, but when we got out, he said "I see you in the morning" and Adam told him no... then slammed the door in his face. Needless to say, we didn't use his services... We got a random METERED taxi off the street and it ended up costing only about 180B but Adam gave the dude 300B for his troubles.

So that was our last day in Bangkok! We woke up at like 6 in the morning and went to bed at like 1am... then had to get up at 3:30am... So we didn't get much sleep and were like Zombies for the rest of the morning but this also allowed us to get some sleep during the flight.

So when we pulled up to our house, the FIRST thing I noticed was our yard had been mowed (front and back) AND our path had been weeded... Guess Who!?? It was our awesome friend ED! Not only did he look after our humble home while we we're gone, but he also did our yard AND did the shopping. We opened the fridge and what do we find?? Bacon, eggs, muffin, yoghurt, tim-tams, milk, CC's (the alcoholic version) beer and cider and a gorgeous note telling us how much he loves us... Well Ed - You're the best and I'm sure you already know that! We are very grateful for such a great mate like you. Thank you soooo much for everything... We owe you BIG time... Well, breakfast at the very least! We're gonna miss you lots next year when you leave! :'(

It's good to be home! I'm still singing " I still call Australia home" in my head... hehehe

Peace Out!

Née x x x