Well, I figured since I am currently sitting at home with nothing to do that I would finally jump on the bandwagon and start a blog that hopefully I will continue to update..
It has been a wonderful holiday being home in Durban with my family and friends. The FIFA World cup month absolutely blew me away. Partying every night until all hours of the morning, speaking Portuguese so much we began to feel like we were Brasillian, meeting up with old friends who we haven't seen in 5 years. Every day, any time there was an excuse to party. Durban was buzzing, with vuvuzelas bellowing at all hours of the day, flags flying off every building, bar, house, car or bicycle and beer pints clinking from as early as 9am (people just didn't go to sleep!) I have lived in Durban since I was born and never have I ever seen the place like it was for those 5 weeks. I also can't believe how interested I became in soccer. I used to think the sport was just silly and uneventful, full of pretty boys trying to earn Oscar nominations but I was surprised by the skill required and the intensity of the game (even though I was proven right about the pretty boys trying to earn acting awards considering all the diving and angry fits that went on!) Well they don't call it the most popular sport in the world for nothing, I was completely sucked in!
I miss the fun already, although my bank account certainly doesn't but I am very happy that I got the chance to experience such a world class event, even with all of FIFA's bullshit, in my own backyard. South Africa truly made us proud to be South African, and proud to be at the heart of the magic. Regardless of the after-effects it may have on our country (I realize such an event cannot go without it's negatives) but, for the month of and weeks, months and even years anticipating the event South Africa really came together in all sectors and showed the rest of the world the kind of things we as South Africans are capable of.
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| One of the MANY tequila shots that foresaw a lot of chaos over the World Cup Month. |
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| The Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, the most beautiful of them all! |
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| Watching the Brasil/Portugal group match. |
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| Celebrations, samba in the streets! |
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| Supporting our Bafana Bafana |
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| 32 dishes from 32 Countries. Our World Cup final night feast. |
So seemingly since the end of the World Cup my life has come to a bit of a stand still. The rest of the world got back into routine, went back to work, university, school...had a reason to wake up at a certain hour every day. I, on the other hand had no routine or plan of any kind for the month or so that followed which has led to doing even more of nothing because nothing x nothing creates even more nothing (I will call it my post-world cup depression as they have described it on recognized news sites.) Although really, I am just enjoying the last month or so I have to just lie in my painfully, inconveniently comfortable bed until what ever hour I please, read books and research all the beautiful places and dazzling new adventures I am going to be undertaking when I arrive in Indiaaaaaaaa...
This is my next exciting topic of conversation and is the primary reason for me starting this blog (aside from keeping myself a little busier over the next few weeks, while I am patiently awaiting the arrival of August 17th!) : Backpacking through India and South East Asia with 3 of my favourite girl friends!!!!!!!!!!! Jessie from Canada and Kate from St Louis, Missouri are two wonderful ladies I met very early into my time in South Korea. We spent most of the year travelling all over Korea together and to other parts of Asia. Shelly is my childhood friend (we met in Grade 1 when we were just 5!) and are still very much the best adult friends. Need I say more? To say we are all going to have a BLAST would be an understatement!
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| Jessie, me and Kate in Seoul, SK. About to be India Buddies! |
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| Shell and me on the beach in Durban:) |
The idea of travelling to these places come the end of our teaching contracts in South Korea surfaced a fair 7 months ago, just after the '09/'10 Christmas/New Year holiday. We booked our flights soon after that, and since then it truly had just been an idea in the back of our minds. As our departure date draws closer, it is becoming more and more of a reality and it is making me more excited by the minute, especially since everything seems to be coming together nicely. We have had our vaccinations (luckily I remembered that I already had most of them when I went to South America so I didn't have to endure as much pain as poor Shelly.) We have our visas pressed into our passports, we have booked a hostel/hotel for the first 3 nights and have had our noses deep into the lonely planet guide looking for anything that sounds even remotely interesting.
Our trip pans out like this:
August 17th - Leave Durban Airport at 5pm or some time close to that, with Shell.
August 18th - Arrive in Delhi. Hotel reserved for 3 nights, only!
August 22nd - Kate and Jessie fly in from Seoul.
We have no further (definite) plans for India as of yet, the only plan is to let the wind take us, be spontaneous, see what happens...you get the picture :)
October 20th, fly into Bangkok from Mumbai.
We will spend the next 6 weeks travelling through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
November 29th - Leave Bangkok Airport.
November 30th - Arrive in Durban. (very smelly.)
I am so excited about this trip for multiple reasons...I have wanted to go to India since I was 5 and met my best friend Talisha, I have wanted to do the proper-dirty-backpacker- through-Asia thing for as long as I can remember. I can't wait to see Kate and Jessie who I have missed terribly since I left Korea 2 months ago and I just can't wait to experience so many new cultures and new languages, adventures and relaxation, the combination of dirty and beautiful, the shocking, the wondrous, the breath-taking, the wilderness and the heat and the thrill of doing it with three people you love is just the cherry on the top.
3 weeks and counting........
watch this space.
Keep on dancing xoxox
