Foxy,

My favourite holiday is always the last one I took. So....
at the moment I am sitting in a pool of sweat in Bangkok having spent the last month wandering up through Malaysia and Thailand.

So far I have eaten fried grasshoppers and grubs; trekked into the jungle for hours to see the only one of the Biggest Flowers in the World (Its over 3 and a half foot in diameter)that is known to be in flower in Malaysia at present; stayed in a brothel for two nights; shared a guest-house with an entire wall full of bats; got lost in the centre of Thailand; slept on a beach trying to stay unnoticed by the King of Thailand's personal guards;gone into a small village in the mountains where I learned to use a blow-pipe and, incredibly, turned out to be really accurate with it; and ended up in a strange bus station in the middle of a town whose name I didn't know, where no-one spoke the language or had a map and been helped by a monk and a transvestite.

Right now its beginning to dawn on me that its very improbable that I have enough money to get back to China but, what the heck. This is my
favourite holiday - at least for this year!

Dear Cakers,

Your holiday sounds like so much fun.

Family holidays - bring back so many memories,
especially beach ones. As examinator said in
another thread - 'Were we ever that young?'
But those were the days...

Dear Romany,

What a fascinating life you lead.

I must admit I've never been that adventurous.
But I've always been jealous of friends that
were. I've got a sensitive stomach for starters -
so that could explain my reluctance to travel
to exotic places - I'm an 'armchair' traveller.
But, next year - health permitting we're planning
an overseas trip to Russia, and Northern Europe,
hopefully, depending on our finances...

Your holiday sounds incredible!

Foxy

For "adventurous" rather read stupid, unprepared, too laissez-faire and sometimes just plain dumb! (And even though I have a cast-iron digestion the grubs were absolutely sickening).

Dear Romany,

Yeah, but if I had a cast-iron stomach, I'd
trade places with you in a flash. Think of
the stories you'll have to tell your
grandchildren and the memories you'll have
for your old age.

Foxy ,
What in the hell were you thinking about when you went on that holiday with your sexy Uni Lecturer ??

Please don't say you just wanted to view the sights - after all you were doing a bit of a line for him !

Poor bloke, he went home shattered .

Dear kartija jim,

I was so naive in those days. Another lecturer at
uni had described me as "The Girl With The Untouched
Look." I remember it took me a long time to live down
my first memorable experience with a Swedish film,
one movie night at university.

I had never experienced explicit nudity on the screen.
So when a full frontal, erected penis appeared without
any warning, I was totally unprepared and my 'Gasp!'
echoed around the silent screening room amid snickering
of 'Only virgin here!' by the men in the audience.

I'd been brought up on the motto:

'Always be a lady, no matter where you are
For as a lady you'll achieve much, and travel far!'

So what can I say? That's how it was. Even today,
I think that people are basically decent, and I'm
surprised when they behave badly.