On The Road Again

I'm in Madagascar now, and though I left the UK at 5:25pm on Sunday and have been travelling for the last 39 hours I'm still not at my final destination!

Bunny has come with me of course! 

I flew into Kenya at 5am on Monday morning expecting a 7 hour layover, only my flight was delayed by 4 hours. With a very small and unexciting departure 'lounge' it was a struggle, but I finally boarded flight number 2 into Madagascar at 4pm. Arriving in Antananarivo was hectic! Everyone wants to help you and will try to carry your bags for you and give you information - all at a cost of course!

Transferring money, which can only be done once in the country, is very easy; you give the money and they'll give you a wedge of notes that you assume is the correct amount before you get barrelled off with someone leading you towards your prebooked transfer, they then demand payment for leading you there even though you carried your own bags and the transfer driver was walking with you.

I stayed in a nice little hotel nearby before getting a transfer back to the airport at 5am this morning (Tuesday) for a flight at 7:40. Only it's been cancelled. The next flight is at 3pm, so there's another 8 hours to wait.

Thankfully Tsaradia, the airline, booked me into a hotel with breakfast and lunch for the day. I got to experience my first taste of Madagascar as we drove through the bustling streets, already busy at 6am. The ladies are carrying big bundles on their heads while the men and children push big homemade carts piled with vegetables and wares that they set up on sheets to sell. Stray dogs roam the cobbled and cracked streets as busses, bikes and taxis weave in and out of each other. The local minibusses travel with the back door open so people can run up and jump on as they're moving. The buildings are all painted bright colours and covered in old posters and advertising.

It's a sensual overload! Especially on virtually no sleep. I got to the hotel and slept until breakfast, then slept again until now. Lunch is in 15 minutes (rice, vegetables and fries) and then I'm heading back to the airport for flight number 3.

I'm with two German girls, Ella and Mali who are dentistry students travelling down to Taolanaro to volunteer with a dentistry program for a month, travelling rural areas and looking after people's teeth. It was really nice to meet them and travel and eat together, to spend time with similar people. They are the only white faces I've seen and I'm definitely feeling a long way from home. Though everyone has been lovely and helpful and we can get over the language difficulty with my awkward bit of French.

The view from the hotel restaurant. It looks like a jungle out there. And yes, that is a random goat is someone's yard.

The view from my room.

A Lot Has Happened!

It's been a long time since my last post!

I finished the season in the Alps, drove home through Italy, France and Spain, and returned to normal life. I got a job in a cafe, and that was that, back to the grind of making coffees and clearing tables. I got promoted, became a supervisor again, and worked long hours to get the pennies in. I kept myself busy when I wasn't working, running, rowing, becoming a yogi and I even started hula hoop classes. And when I wasn't doing any of that I was volunteering with the National Trust helping with ecological surveys, bat studies and countryside management - pulling out/erecting fencing and clearing invasive plants. Phew.

That handsome massage therapist man has stayed by my side, despite living several hours away, and we have now been A Thing for almost a year. A few weeks ago he and his dad took me to Andorra for a week of snowboarding and it was amazing to get back on the slopes! The Pyrenees are very different to the Alps. There you are too high for trees and the snow turns everything into a blanket, while in Andorra being lower down means the pistes are beautiful tree lined runs and rocks arch up out of the ground. It's incredibly spectacular. Plans are already in the pipeline for next year!!

Working in the cafe was fun. I met a lot of great people, gained some serious confidence and collected a decent stash ready for the next adventure, which is coming around pretty quick... Tomorrow in fact!

First stop is Madagascar where I'm joining an ongoing conversation project run by an organisation called SEED - Sustainable Environment, Education and Development. I'm going to be working with the local community collecting data on the forest and the creatures within in. And that means lemurs. I'm going to be spending my time with those gorgeous little wide eyed primates who like to move it move it.

And now I'll keep it brief;

From Madagascar I'll fly to Bangkok, Thailand, before travelling north through Chiang Mai and crossing the border into Laos. I'll travel down the Mekong river in a traditional slowboat to Luang Prabang before flying to Siem Reap, Cambodia. First stop in Cambodia is the ancient temples of Angkor before heading to Phnom Penh. I'll cross the border into Vietnam and explore Ho Chi Minh City before flying to Bali and spending a month at surf camp. After some island hopping I'll fly to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, then Singapore, and back to England via Budapest where I meet my brother and his fiancee and friends for their stag/hen do.

Phew.

Watch this space. I'll update when I'm not lost to the jungle!