... So tomorrow I fly to Santiago... I must admit I'm a bit scared... but it's good fear, the fear of a new adventure, fear of the unknown, a fear to be conquered:) ... I felt the same fear as I branched out in China on my own, when I arrived in Thailand, when I ventured off alone into the unknown (to me) depths of Laos... It fizzes in my belly like I'm a pile of sherbet slowly dissolving from the inside out... fizzing away beautifully, pungently and sweetly... I really can't wait for that moment of clarified, condensed nervousness as I step out of the airport on to the Chilean street (because no adventure starts in an airport)... I'll feel the temperature, see the faces, gauge the mood, try and find my fucking bus... I can't wait:))) ... that's the reason I travelled, for the moments of excitement, wonder, fear and discovery... I didn't travel to 'find myself'... I just traveled to have a fucking good time which might, as a side effect, broaden my horizons (I'll return you to my first taste of Tuna in a previous post;)...
... I leave tomorrow, flying at 4pm(ish) on Saturday, I'll take an 11 hour flight and arrive in Chile 4 hours before I left (noon)... to combat the jet lag I've decided to not sleep much tonight... I'll go to the local Internet cafe and play Pro Evolution Soccer (a rare treat... need to practice so I can beat Dave et al when I return for a cheap booze and football night in:) 'till about 3 am and then sleep for only a few hours... then I hope I'll be able to sleep when I get on the plane as the 4pm flight will be midnight Chile time... let's see if it works or I just wreck myself sleep wise... maybe I should save this blogging session for late night tonight, but then you'd only get a dozy Matt... maybe one punctuated by sleep terrors... I've been sorting out some boring admin from home yesterday and it induced a nightmare... the nightmare was I was still in the lab doing work for my PhD... still killing toads and filling things with radioactivity... always remind me never to go back to that shit! ... for those of my friends who like that stuff, fair play to you, it really is valuable for our world's progression... but I really can't hack it... almost destroyed my fragile soul... but here I am, in one piece, writing to you beautiful people:)) ... ... ... ... I'm in here writing during the day because Auckland really isn't that special compared to the gorgeous nature of the rest of NZ... it's just a city with a big tower and the main street in a kind of valley-ish thing... nothing to get carried away with unless you're a real country bumpkin who's escaped a destiny of marrying you cousin to chase a dream to be a movie star in the big city... and even then you should really go somewhere else!
... I had another trip to the doctor... this time to shake off a bit of a chesty cough which I've had for quite a while... had these things before and not been able to shake them, so thought I'd better see a doctor here where I can converse with properly... indeed, as the receptionist said, see a doctor before I leave the 1st world... but then, it wasn't a very spectacular doctors... she even had a dog in the room, it tiredly ambled out of the medicine room and sauntered to curl up behind the biological waste bin under the doctors desk... 'Apoligies for the dog' she said, as if apologising on the dog's behalf... it ain't the little sod's fault, you're the one who introduced him to this "Sterile" environment... (don't know why I put italics there... and also, I know Dr's office is not sterile... but ignore that for now) ... but maybe she is just warming me up for South America where dog's will run free again, scabby packs of furry bastards trying to bark at or copulate with everything and anything... don't worry, I've had my rabies jab! ... also, I learnt something fairly obvious... for small treatments at doctors travel insurance is fairly academic... with a 100 quid excess for each claim I basically can't claim for any of my three medical misdemeanours thus far... but I guess it serves, God (or Allah or Richard Dawkins or whoever you worship) forbid, any thing major should happen... ... also, the doctors I went to in Auckland was fairly quiet... she gave me a prescription of antibiotics and an inhaler to dilate the old bronchioles... at first I though, what a good idea, maybe my lung capacity has always been an issue and I now have my cure... playing sport I've always struggled with breathing and often I think that's led me to becoming a bit pukie... I remember once I was captain of my houses team for school sports day... with the balanced ego I have and my very clear and accurate perception I have of my self (ahem!) I put myself in for basically every event... then during the 1,500 I rather embarrassingly puked on the main straight in front of the whole school from pure exhaustion (and the fact that I was a crap runner)... ... so I started thinking yesterday, 'maybe my lung capacity has always held me back, a bit of inhaler action and I'll run longer and harder and be able to play football in the Maldini-esque fashion I always picture it in my head... after all, Paul Scholescrapness) and a cure for my chesty cough... the truth is she was probably trying to make an extra few bob for her practice with something which was just about justifiable... but I guess who knows... I'm shit at football and sport, but it's probably a bit much to question her medical integrity! ... in terms of using the bloody inhaler, I can now sympathise with my cousin Julia's little girl Frejya... at less then 2 I've seen her struggle against the use of a baby inhaler to sort out her own little cough... I get it now Frejya... it feels bloody weird doesn't it?! (I'll wait a few years until you're sufficiently proficient to reply to that question...although, by then I'll probably be back in Blighty!) ...
... Now I've a little apology to make... over the months this blog has got more neurotic and less travel orientated... I guess it's a way to vent and stuff but this is a travel blog and when I get to South America I'll have a lot more travelly things to write about... culturally everything is just a bit vanilla here... well the Maori culture is pretty interesting (they are big buggers as well... Johna Lomu (maybe he wasn't a Maori but from some similar culture) was certainly not an anomaly in the stature sense... there are women here who scare the be-Jesus out of me!)... but the real point-and-click culture I hope will come in South America... looking at things that just surprise me and intrigue me... where I have to take a literal or metaphorical photo to keep with me forever:) ... I've just started reading Russell Brand's second autobiography (thanks Laura for passing it on to me:) and I see how, although neurotic derivations can be interesting... they can also be annoying and take away from the meat of the story... and I don't want to ruin this meat I'm lovingly preparing for you people... I want you to enjoy my meat...
... on that note it is time to go... It's time to temper that fizz inside until tomorrow... to try and stop the fizzing melting me into a gloopy mess before I even get the chance to step on Chilean soil... so guess who I'm meeting today... my Irish friend David... we just happen to be in the same place once again... but he's here to work now, so today will be the fourth and last time we say goodbye... a nice way to end my Australasian adventure... to close the page of this journey where I've spent much of my time meeting friends I made in Asia and previous travels (David (Australian from St.Petersburg, Nikki from Bangkok, Matt from Vietnam, and David of the Irish variety)... and then move onto the next world... where I'll meet new people and go to a who subcontinent I've never been to before... bring it on! ... I'll write again from over that way... keep well beautiful people:)))
... I leave tomorrow, flying at 4pm(ish) on Saturday, I'll take an 11 hour flight and arrive in Chile 4 hours before I left (noon)... to combat the jet lag I've decided to not sleep much tonight... I'll go to the local Internet cafe and play Pro Evolution Soccer (a rare treat... need to practice so I can beat Dave et al when I return for a cheap booze and football night in:) 'till about 3 am and then sleep for only a few hours... then I hope I'll be able to sleep when I get on the plane as the 4pm flight will be midnight Chile time... let's see if it works or I just wreck myself sleep wise... maybe I should save this blogging session for late night tonight, but then you'd only get a dozy Matt... maybe one punctuated by sleep terrors... I've been sorting out some boring admin from home yesterday and it induced a nightmare... the nightmare was I was still in the lab doing work for my PhD... still killing toads and filling things with radioactivity... always remind me never to go back to that shit! ... for those of my friends who like that stuff, fair play to you, it really is valuable for our world's progression... but I really can't hack it... almost destroyed my fragile soul... but here I am, in one piece, writing to you beautiful people:)) ... ... ... ... I'm in here writing during the day because Auckland really isn't that special compared to the gorgeous nature of the rest of NZ... it's just a city with a big tower and the main street in a kind of valley-ish thing... nothing to get carried away with unless you're a real country bumpkin who's escaped a destiny of marrying you cousin to chase a dream to be a movie star in the big city... and even then you should really go somewhere else!
... I had another trip to the doctor... this time to shake off a bit of a chesty cough which I've had for quite a while... had these things before and not been able to shake them, so thought I'd better see a doctor here where I can converse with properly... indeed, as the receptionist said, see a doctor before I leave the 1st world... but then, it wasn't a very spectacular doctors... she even had a dog in the room, it tiredly ambled out of the medicine room and sauntered to curl up behind the biological waste bin under the doctors desk... 'Apoligies for the dog' she said, as if apologising on the dog's behalf... it ain't the little sod's fault, you're the one who introduced him to this "Sterile" environment... (don't know why I put italics there... and also, I know Dr's office is not sterile... but ignore that for now) ... but maybe she is just warming me up for South America where dog's will run free again, scabby packs of furry bastards trying to bark at or copulate with everything and anything... don't worry, I've had my rabies jab! ... also, I learnt something fairly obvious... for small treatments at doctors travel insurance is fairly academic... with a 100 quid excess for each claim I basically can't claim for any of my three medical misdemeanours thus far... but I guess it serves, God (or Allah or Richard Dawkins or whoever you worship) forbid, any thing major should happen... ... also, the doctors I went to in Auckland was fairly quiet... she gave me a prescription of antibiotics and an inhaler to dilate the old bronchioles... at first I though, what a good idea, maybe my lung capacity has always been an issue and I now have my cure... playing sport I've always struggled with breathing and often I think that's led me to becoming a bit pukie... I remember once I was captain of my houses team for school sports day... with the balanced ego I have and my very clear and accurate perception I have of my self (ahem!) I put myself in for basically every event... then during the 1,500 I rather embarrassingly puked on the main straight in front of the whole school from pure exhaustion (and the fact that I was a crap runner)... ... so I started thinking yesterday, 'maybe my lung capacity has always held me back, a bit of inhaler action and I'll run longer and harder and be able to play football in the Maldini-esque fashion I always picture it in my head... after all, Paul Scholescrapness) and a cure for my chesty cough... the truth is she was probably trying to make an extra few bob for her practice with something which was just about justifiable... but I guess who knows... I'm shit at football and sport, but it's probably a bit much to question her medical integrity! ... in terms of using the bloody inhaler, I can now sympathise with my cousin Julia's little girl Frejya... at less then 2 I've seen her struggle against the use of a baby inhaler to sort out her own little cough... I get it now Frejya... it feels bloody weird doesn't it?! (I'll wait a few years until you're sufficiently proficient to reply to that question...although, by then I'll probably be back in Blighty!) ...
... Now I've a little apology to make... over the months this blog has got more neurotic and less travel orientated... I guess it's a way to vent and stuff but this is a travel blog and when I get to South America I'll have a lot more travelly things to write about... culturally everything is just a bit vanilla here... well the Maori culture is pretty interesting (they are big buggers as well... Johna Lomu (maybe he wasn't a Maori but from some similar culture) was certainly not an anomaly in the stature sense... there are women here who scare the be-Jesus out of me!)... but the real point-and-click culture I hope will come in South America... looking at things that just surprise me and intrigue me... where I have to take a literal or metaphorical photo to keep with me forever:) ... I've just started reading Russell Brand's second autobiography (thanks Laura for passing it on to me:) and I see how, although neurotic derivations can be interesting... they can also be annoying and take away from the meat of the story... and I don't want to ruin this meat I'm lovingly preparing for you people... I want you to enjoy my meat...
... on that note it is time to go... It's time to temper that fizz inside until tomorrow... to try and stop the fizzing melting me into a gloopy mess before I even get the chance to step on Chilean soil... so guess who I'm meeting today... my Irish friend David... we just happen to be in the same place once again... but he's here to work now, so today will be the fourth and last time we say goodbye... a nice way to end my Australasian adventure... to close the page of this journey where I've spent much of my time meeting friends I made in Asia and previous travels (David (Australian from St.Petersburg, Nikki from Bangkok, Matt from Vietnam, and David of the Irish variety)... and then move onto the next world... where I'll meet new people and go to a who subcontinent I've never been to before... bring it on! ... I'll write again from over that way... keep well beautiful people:)))
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