Revisiting Piles

So, as most of our readers (you know who you are Russia) know by now, our blog was originally created as a running commentary on Daly's blog. In her recent venture, Daly revisits her piles.....................................................................of books.

Good job Daly.

 I got thinking about what else to write this months blog on, once I had gotten the dig to Daly out of the way. And I thought about how Daly had vowed not to buy any more books at the start of the year (she failed).

Which led me to think about things that I have achieved not just this year, but in the past.

 I saw recently how somebody had ticked one thing of her bucket list - naked bungee-jumping. Safe to say that this will never be on my own list of things to achieve in life.

 I dont have a bucket list so to speak because I dont want to make that kind of commitment....to a list. So instead, how about I make it a mixture of stuff I want to do and already have done?!

 Here it is, the fuckit list, in no particular order:
1 - Get a degree (done - twice actually)
2 - Get a Masters (done)
3 - Get a PHD (to be completed.....and ummm started)
4 - Pass the FE1s (15 years later)
5 - Get an apprenticeship (done)
6 - Visit New York City (done - and hoping to revisit)
7 - Go on the Oprah show (Which sadly I will never technically be able to do, unless she has her own show on her own network...surely a possibility?)
8 - Go on a show on the Oprah network (see 7)
9 - write an erotic novel (so many ideas, but so much procrastination)
10 - Do the stupid outstretched arm tourist thing at Christ the Redeemer Statute, Rio de Janeiro (and so begins my small mention of things I have done while on holidays......nonetheless cool!)
11 - See the top five waterfalls on Earth (I actually have seen one of the top waterfalls, Foz de Iguassu, Brazil. I feel Niagara Falls may be the next one realistically me being able to see....I dont think the Torc waterfall in Killarney counts?)
12 - Visit the Amazon (I touched a turtle!)
13 - Smoke a Cuban Cigar in Cuba (Think I still have one in a drawer somewhere that we smuggled back in a..."sock", ya "sock")
14 - Visit Halong Bay in Vietnam (we thought we were going to be killed....it was typhoon season/there was some wind.)
15 - Go tubing in Laos (No, I dont need a life jacket thanks, no I cant swim, I'll be grand.........)
16 - Learn how to swim (it's my new years resolution......)
17 - Travel on a sleeper train from Laos to Thailand (It was not exotic or romantic)
18 - See an Elephant in the wild (the mystic was kinda taken away when I realised he was being used for manual labour....maybe it was okay though, you know, if he had like an 8 hour day, decent lunch break, 21 days holidays and a pension plan?)
19 - Stay out all night at a full moon party (It's hard to party when you have pink eye)
20 - Become an extra for a day on the Home & Away set. (It's going to happen)
21 - Read Ulysses (IT HAPPENED YOU HATERS)

 Right, due to my lack of concentration, I am now done with this and have to take a nap.

 To be continued........

loved u long time vietnam

Our arrival in vietnam was not a smooth one,though eventually we came to love the country,at first we thought we were going to die,never to be seen again,sold to sex traffickers or at worst,have to become someones wife........

we arrived at the airport in hanoi,without much hassle and having pre-booked the hotel in hanoi,i thought that we could get a transfer to the hotel,no probs right?wrong.

when we came out of the airport there were the usual taxi touts,and one guy claimed to work for the hotel that we were staying in........................

after much discussion myself and my travelling companion decided,fuck it,lets just go with him.

what proceeded was the scariest car journey i have ever experienced,drivers in hanoi(and asia in general) are CRAZY!!!

I tried to keep my eyes open for some part of the journey just incase he was indeed a sex trafficker so that we could maybe jump outa the car and make our way back to the airport.

this scary driving,combined with the fact that we werent sure if he was indeed going to take us back to the hotel did not a fun drive make.

but,in fairness he dropped us outside the hotel,where we were greeted by the hotel manager,mr sun........i think we possibly were still shaking from the car journey,and had broken out in a cold sweat,so he made us some tea.........disgusting "tea" but the sentiment was appreciated all the same.

and we even managed to leave our hotel room,and it was dark!when you are hungry,u will do what it takes!

we came to realise that hanoi was very safe,a mental place,but had a cool vibe!any of the photos that we took just didnt depict the traffic chaos,but by day 3 we were super street smart and could spot the newly arrived tourists from a mile off as they tried to figure out how to cross the road!

we also spent two days in halong bay which was so peaceful after the craziness that is hanoi.and our tour guide duc(pronounced dic) who's basic grasp of english provided much amusement to my travelling companion and i("everybody renax"(relax),aswel as his stories about sex education and love in vietnam.......

his efforts to set up a french 8 yr old boy with his 6yr old daughter was quite funny,as wel as his general views on life....."if you more than 100m away from your wife then you single"............

that night on the boat was also a near death experience as there was really bad lightening,and apparently a typhoon..........cue hysteria on the part of me and my travelling companion.the hysteria could have been brought on by the hunger,having refused to eat anything other than rice on the boat.......awkward,moi?

also we were like celebrities in vietnam,think it was the paleness.........but everywhere we went we were stared at.........talked about.........and surrounded by children who found us fascinating.......wish people would have the same opinion back at home..........

also,vietnam is a place where the women do all the work and the men sit around drinking beer??

so a bad place to be if u were forced to become someones wife..........

catching up......

okay,there have been way too many blog posts by daly while i was away so i shall just summarise......
daly went to the fringe,had a great time,was busy at work,has a vendetta against double spaces and ummm,has read some books.........
i think i have a valid excuse for not writing before now,being in asia and all.i hope to capture the trip in all its pink eyed glory over the next while,mainly caus im now back to blissful unemployment and now have alot of time on my hands.....
so im thinking of 3 blogs,vietnam,laos and thailand......cataloging each trip,and musing on how many times we mentioned daly on our trip,most notably the time we almost missed our train to bangkok but managed to arrive 2mins before the gate closed and we were like "daly would never be able to com on holidays with us"...........caus she would be there 2 hours beforehand......
i shall try to muse on my time in asia,where i spent the month trying to "find myself" but ended up just getting drunk,but if u cant find yourself when drunk,when can u........

also on a literary note,i managed to get in a spot of reading.....mainly caus we went on alot of long journeys......
the one i am most proud of was finishing "the reader" in 2hrs......much to my travelling partner's disgust........as it took her a week.......
if i am musings,my partner is reflections,our inspiration is daly,then my travelling partner shall be referred to as................my lover?
im sure many people thought that we were indeed lesbians over the trip.......i mean if u cant lick ur friends face platonically well then i just dont know!

so i shall try and gather the memories of the trip,though they are already getting a bit hazy...........

Sidetracked.....

okay so,one has gotten slightly sidetracked about bloging daly's blog...........quick update.......daly goes to fringe fest,has a great time,ponders over various aspects......
but back to me.....
my own personal blog on daly's blog and indeed my literary challange has now been pushed aside by the fact that i am now in asia.....though i have been ploughing through the girl with the dragon tattoo and its quite good for passing away a few hours on an air asia flight!

so ya,asia,eh?
we have done 5 airports in 5 days,its like having a rock n roll lifestyle,jetting from one place to the other but without the rock n roll,sex and drugs,.....for now at least!
so dublin to abu dhabi to bangkok to ho chi minh city to hanoi.......this travelling malarky is exhausting.

we didnt see much of abu dhabi,very sandy from what i could see on from the plane/airport,we were just glad to get off the plane,as lets just say an irish guy two rows up from us has drank alot of guinness/ate a lot of beans.............not pleasant!
it was also ramahdan in abu dhabi so we felt a bit scared to do anything out of place like eat,drink,laugh..........be women.

then to bangkok........we basically napped for the entire time we were there but we are gona tap that on the way back!

and for the moment hanoi,in vietnam where facebook is inaccessible and the city is mental.....
actually crazy.......in a good way!

tomorrow sight seeing the shit out of it to make the most of our time!
until then.....

adieu.