I'm Back!!!

Found my way home from Thailand! It feels like I have been away forever - so much is happening. Had a fantastic time. it was different to what I expected – alot more developed and touristy than I had imagined. However still had a really great time. Highlights were the Elephant Conservation Centre and the Buddist Elephant Ordination Ceremony. At the Elephant Conservation Ceremony we went on an ellephant ride which was fun, but the best bit was the bathing. They rolled over
in the water while their keepers stood on top and washed them - they really looked like they were enjoying it. That was followed by a show which was alot better than I expected.

The next day we went to the elephant ordination ceremony - basically the party and procession before the monks go into the temple to live for 90 days (or longer). We were lucky enough to get invited into the family party beforehand. They were so nice - and so drunk at 10am! They forced food on us, and tried to make us drink their homemade whisky and rice wine - but we had been warned of the dangers of that beforehand! Plus the Thai ladies don't drink it - only the men. So me being a lady and all, refrained. There were 2 boys being ordained. We saw them shaving their heads (each family member cuts a bit
of hair). Then they do some religious stuff and get all dressed up. They actually looked like lady boys by the end of it! Lots of makeup. They then rode through the village on dressed up elephants all the way to the temple. The whole village followed playing instruments and dancing. They all had so much fun - and we were right in the middle of it. I had a lady ask me to
stay at her place, and then try to find me a husband. I was introduced to several young eligible men who wanted to know where I was from. One of them could only say "I love you, you are beautiful". What more do you need anyway???!!!!

Luckily I got to bipass Easter so no chocolate issues for me this year! It certainly made it easier being in a country that doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny :) However that didn't stop me gaining 2kg. It was really really hard to make good food choices, especially at breakfast. And alot of the time it was around 40 degrees so anything other than walking around checking out the sights was definitely out.

However, since coming back I have managed to lose that and some more as well. I just need to lose another 200g and I will have lost 4kg in one week! I wish that could be the rate of weight loss all the time! Unfortunately though, I have to put the gain down to fluid etc. and therefore it is easier to lose. However not asking too many questions - just going with it!

I really craved the gym while I was away. Got straight back into it the day I got home. Had 3 days off last week so trained 2-3 hours a day. I wish I could do that all the time – I really enjoyed it. Back to 1-2 hours a day now that I am back at work.

Even though I didn't train for nearly 2 weeks my fitness has still improved from where I was a month ago. A few weeks before I left I did the Coogee stairs 4 times - and that nearly broke me! I did them again on Friday and did 5 without even stopping for a rest. I just used the downhill as my recovery. So I am going for 6 times on Saturday. After that I am going to start running some of them. It is good to have something to guage your fitness by.

I have also bought the Nike Plus system to go with my ipod. It tracks your time and distance for walking and running – and then tells you how many calories you burnt and your average pace. I'm competitive so it is working for me at the moment! I even try to beat my time walking home from work – I've got it down to 23 minutes so far! It is all recorded on the ipod, and I can upload to a website as well so I can track my progress. I'm not running as far as I want to be at the moment. I have a plan to get me up to running for an hour by 12 May which is the Mother's Day Classic fun run. I am a bit behind schedule at the moment, but hopefully I can catch up. I want to do the 8km run – I don't mind if I walk some of it though.

That's about all my news for now - I'm off for a run now.