RUNNING



I hear soft breeze rustle the leaves as it blows through the trees, the dying sun cast its last light between the houses as Jess and I start the first couple steps on our normal route. This is my time, no one to email, no laundry to do, dishes don’t even cross my mind and I am all me; free from my day, my worries, my decisions, the jobs I haven’t got, the projects I haven’t completed, the fears and uncertainties.

Its winter so its just Jess and I, the cold makes the air icy as we breathe in big gulps, and it keeps our running partners home with hot tea. We climb the first hill out of the suburb and onto the main road. This long hill we’ve climb many times, but since its cold and it’s our choice we take the route down the hill today. We’ve caught up on our days and we move from running side by side and I take the lead down the long hill. The cars rush by, and the sun hits my eyes and the city is on fire with its last orange glow. I breathe deep and feel the strength in my legs as my muscles are now warm, I push hard and could almost take flight as I run to almost a sprint, the robot changing red and green is my marker and I push hard to get there ducking under trees and leaping over gravel.

I hit the bottom of the hill turning to enter another suburb and watching for Jess behind me slow my run to the boom with a little hop-scotch over the wooden stepping stones to get back onto the quiet suburb street. I slow my run, waiting for Jess to catch up and we wind up the road between the houses starting our conversation again, wondering when we can up our distance again, when sunset will be a little later and give us a little more time. It’s almost dark now but we know we’re safe in the boomed area. The top of this little hill is in sight and I encourage Jess just a little further, we round the bend and climb the hill from one suburb back into another and onto the long straight road home.

The street lights are on and the sweat on my face is dried and I’m cooling down, residents walk their dogs and greet us as they walk past and I relish this moment of complete freedom, to be outside and smell fresh air, to see the golf coarse next to us with the water from the sprinklers hitting the old fir trees. We get to the bottom of the street where our cars are parked and I begin the final sprint up the last little street, Jess tells me to go ahead, as she always does but I slow and walk with her to the top.

The rush of life kicks back in and I realise I have to get home, cook dinner. We only did a little over 4kms, it wasn’t much and I know we can do more but it felt great. I climb in my car aware of the hard earned mental freedom I feel, the pumping blood and the deep breaths have cleared out the build up of stress and anxiety, and I’m proud of our small bite of hard work. I’m free and me again because I took that time, and I know I’ll climb that hill again, and I’ll run further and I’ll defeat demons on those hills.

MINI HOLIDAY

At the last possible minute, I texted Warren on Wednesday before last weekend and asked him if he was cool with me going to Durban for six days with my family, stress levels had me feeling crazy and I just decided I needed to go.

After rushing out as much work as I could to clients early Thursday morning I drove to my parents house and hopped in the car with my dad and oldest brother and we zoomed out of the city to join my mom, little sister, little brother and two of his friends.

I love the drive to Durban, as we leave Johannesburg and move into the country side and as far as you can see around you the land is flat and yellow with farm lands. As we near Harrismith, the sort of half way mark small mountains start to form, the air as you step out the car in Harrismith is cleaner and the first real mountains surround the little town. We continue on reaching Van Reenans pass and the farm lands are replaced with moutains and forrests for the rest of the way to Durban.

We always slip right into routine when we arrive in Durban, bags are unpacked in minutes so as to avoid the feeling of arriving and skip over to living. The mad rush to reach the beach before sunset to have the first surf, first taste of the sea after after months apart. My trip was simple as it always is, no planning required, wake up to tea and all get ready for the beach, 7am dawnie in the hopes of getting good surf before the wind picks up. I'm not crazy enough to get in the cold water in winter but happy to have breakfast on the beach with my mom and watch all the others paddle out.



Little sister getting out of the surf









North beach





We stayed on the beach till everyone was either freezing or starving, then they would fight over who sits cramped under the surf boards and we'd head home via some surf shops. The rest of the day was filled with a combination of eating, sleeping, reading or watching movies and finally we'd head back to the beach for a sunset surf. I chose to run along the beach front on one of our afternoon beach visits, a rare treat.

 


My dad

 


Older brother Rory getting out of the surf



We ate well, holiday food; enchiladas, homemade hamburgers, Friday night we had pizza's from Caminettos, a little India pizza place in Overport city. This is our favorite take-away place in Durban, you don't get a better combo than Indian food on Pizza!

The trip was exactly what I needed, it reminded me that the rushed schedule of home wasn't neccesary, that second cups of tea and afternoon reading, long runs and early nights were all part of soaking life in a little more. I left renewed, ready to tackle the things that seemed so insurmountable before I left.



HONG KONG

My Final post on our Asia trip, glad I got it all written down, memories banked.

Hong Kong is one of the few places I've ever felt so sad to leave, we made ourselves at home there even discussed what it would be like living there. We've discussed living in many different places, we'd both like to live in as many new places as possible, life is short- I'd move to Hong Kong in a heart beat.

The city is modern and clean but retains all its charm with the huge street markets and cramped shopping buildings hidden above the Mcdonalds or down the alleyway. We spent a week in Hong Kong, tried to see as many areas as possible, there is so much to do and see and experience in this city and we had barely dipped out toes in when it was time to travel home.

While we were there we couldn't resist visiting Hong Kong Disney land, we visited the one in Paris and loved it, the Hong Kong park isnt as big and more geared towards smaller children but just as enchanting.

The city is so much more beautiful than I could ever have expected,

Hong Kong job offers welcome..;)



KRABI, THAILAND



Why is it that we always book our transportation at the most unpleasant early hours of the morning- we caught this ferry from Phuket to Krabi. There was seating inside but we chose to go back-packer style frumpy hoodie on the deck, the view was too beautiful to miss. With the wind stinging our faces we saw island after island all the way to Krabi.

We caught an open air bus (why arn't all buses open air!!) to our hotel in Krabi town- where we were reminded of why Thailand is amazing, our accomodation was 4 star by S.A. standards but alot cheaper, stunning! We again rented a scooter and since Warren wasnt training during our Krabi leg we ate, explored, ate, got sunburnt and generally just relaxed. The food at the restaurant in the sister hotel walking distance from ours was amazing and the gentleman who sang and played three instruments on his own every night kept us very entertained and amused.





Krabi was everything I had been in search for when we traveled to Thailand; thick forrest, turquoise water and majestic mountains that spike out of the ground with the roads winding between them, it was breath taking. After a day or two of exploring the local beaches we booked an Island tour. I'm not big on activities designed around tourists , but the day trip was alot of fun. We left on one of many boats and visted Island after island, even the one from the movie the Beach, which was slightly ruined for me by the tourist who put out her cigarette in the sand. We had lunch on Ko phi phi and headed home, definatly a worth while spend.





 

Bamboo island



Ko Phi Phi

Aside from the beautiful mountains the town had a cute little market, and driving a little out of town we found the Tiger cave temple , Warren and I can never resist some beautiful architecture and this place had sections carved into the mountain. It was peaceful and beautiful!

Krabi was just perfect, the town is real and messy but it doesn't feel like a tourist town like some of Thailand, its real. The night market is hot and over whelming but full of all the good and bad kind of cultural experiences you want when visiting a new place, the service is impecable and every person we met was friendly and helpful.

We left Krabi so relaxed, jumped on a plane back to Bangkok to catch our flight to Hong Kong, the final leg of our trip .

5 THINGS

Linking up with Grace again today- I really enjoyed getting to "meet" so many people through her last link-up!

1.I picked up 'The five love languages' book by Gary Campbell this weekend that I havn't read since a few years before Warren and I got married , it provided all over again a few revelations about love and is sort of a vitamin B injection to any marrriage. I would definatly recommend reading it!

2. I'm loving Elizabeth's blog at the moment, I love reading about lives in place so different to South Africa and seeing how people live and I really love her writing style.. OF COARSE Grace's too:)

3. I'm loving writing again, I've always wanted to write and I have written so much just not "published" much and this space has given me so much freedom in the last month.

4. CHILLIES, I've always felt amazing eating chillies and my parents sort of forced us to eat them as kids, my mom always used to say U never know we could move to a chilli eating coutry tomorrow and then force you to get the curry down. My dad is a huge chilli fan and I've been loving his fresh chillies and chilli pastes lately, plus the health benefits are insane, helps to burn calories and prevent a bunch of diseases this article is just one of many that shows how good they are, seriously google chillies!

5. Spending time with family, had five days away with them, and really there is nothing better!

PHUKET, THAILAND

Getting back to my posts on our Thailand trip..

The first day and night in Phuket it seemed so different from what I expected, only the next day did I realise we were staying in an area of the island that is seperate from the tourists and fancy lodges. We stayed amoungst the fight camps at a place everyone called Mama's. Mama's was the place everyone came to eat in the evenings mostly because the service was so friendly and the menu had an item for any home sick soul where ever you came from. It was a tiny "lodge" with little rooms/bungalows in a messy garden, but the pool was stunning and there were zero drunk tourist types to be found.

The owner and her daughter seemed to take a liking to us straight away (although all Thai people are extrememly friendly) and they were so amazed to find out we were married and they seemed facinated at how petite I am (Petite is people non-offensive way of calling me short). They organized us a scooter for basically nothing and we were set to explore.

Warren would leave for training in the early morning and I would wake up and lie by the pool ordering ANYTHING. Everyday was fairly similar; we would hop on the scooter around lunch time and just drive.. Innitially we would just drive in the direction of the ocean but never seem to find a beach and so we opted for the drive over the little mountain down into tourist town to find the more popular beaches. A swim in the sea and then we would drive back over the hill into our little peaceful part of town for dinner.

We tried Thai barbeque one night, which was possibly one of the most stretching food experiences of my life and then decided to stick to Mama's and her infinite menu for the rest of our stay. Driving up the mountain to see the giant buddah that looks down over Phuket was worth it if only for the incredible views from the top. My only regret was not going to some of the animal sanctuaries or going on an elephant safari- we drove up to one but the  elephants looked slightly worn out.

I would definatly go this route for staying in Phuket again, Mama's was incredible and the ladies made us feel so at home and more often than not we ended up spending more time by the pool sipping orange slushies than on the crowded beaches and this made for the perfect relaxing leg to our trip.



The Training camp



OUR STORY

Linking up with Grace

This story began a full seven years earlier for me than it did for Warren. I remember so clearly watching from the door of my 5^th grade class room as the new boy in my brothers class in high school dug through his bag picking from his assortment of valentines gifts, including mine.

I had spent all of the night before colouring in the giant hand made heart shaped paper card (in my defence I was only 10), I had so wisely covered my name, not realising my brother had seen me creating my masterpiece the night before. Needless to say with my brother announcing in shock and horror that he knew who Warren’s “secret admirer was” the start of five years of an embarrassing crush began.

Warren started getting a lift home from school with us, he lived just two blocks up from us and with all those car rides for the rest of his high school career I was tortured through sitting next to this guy that I was so “in love” with right till he finished high school when I was 15 (with many embarrassing stories in-between but I’ll spare you). My brother and Warren had their pre- matric dance photo shoot at our house and there I stood watching him with his beautiful date- me the picture of ugly duckling awkward teenager with spiky hair and the worst sunburn you’ve ever seen. These were my last memories of him before he left school- dressed in his suit with the most perfect non-awkward of girls on his arm.

He graduated and I thought that was the end of it.

A year and a half later, out of no-where we ended up at the same braai . He arrived at the braai- me having conquered some of my awkward teenager felt a little more confident. I remember saying to my friend “flip I don’t know why I was so obsessed with this guy”.. By the end of the braai I remembered, there was something magnetic about him. BUT he left and I didn’t see him again till a full year later.

We celebrated my 17^th birthday at a club, my friend worked at the door and managed to get me an endless guest list- unbeknown to me my brother had used said guest list to invite some of his own friends, Ross who we grew up with and Warren.  I was dating a guy from East London- it was mostly long distance and we were only together for 3 months. Warren and Ross arrived and I pretty much spent the entire night with them. This was finally the turning point, I no longer looked like a scary teenager and nothing like the girl with the heart card (my husband always says he doesn’t see me as the same girl from high school) and something clicked.

check the creepy guy in the backround

I spent the whole night doing what I had always hoped - getting to know Warren, and my boyfriend spent his night alternating between being consoled by my friends or glaring at me.

  

On the 1^st of February Warren and I went for coffee, a date I still remember every detail of, specifically thinking the whole time ‘holy crap I can’t believe this is happening’. I had still been torn about breaking up with the guy I was dating but that night I got home and dumped my boyfriend and Warren and I started dating, hallelujah it only took me 7 years to nab him. He even asked my parents permission a few days later.

 

We had discussed getting married, we both felt sure of each other within the first year of our relationship but by my 20^th birthday we had been together almost three years and it just seemed like we wanted different things. Aside from his job Warren was spending a lot of time on his djing and I just wanted to travel again, I had spoken to him again again about feeling like we were standing still and so I felt like nothing was going to change and we broke up.

I had been through a break up before but nothing like this, I’m not much of a cryer but I cried plenty tears over Warren and it was clear he was hurting too. A lot of change happened in both of us over that December and we both realised what was important and that our relationship was worth fighting for.

I began planning a years stay in Europe, I loved Warren and knew we were going to be together but I didn’t want to wait around. Our 3^rd year anniversary arrived in February and Warren planned a whole day of pampering for me and that night he took me to dinner at my favourite French restaurant with our own private candle lit balcony.  He was nervous and quiet and then he started to tell me how much I meant to him, how much he loved me and completely surprised me by asking me to marry him.

10 months later on the 5^th December 2009, two days after my 21^st birthday we were married and set off on the first of many adventures on our honeymoon in France.

Yep and we've managed to really fill up the last couple years, and I like to remind him every so often that I won (evil laugh) I got him in the end...

BANGKOK, THAILAND



BREAKFAST









We went to Thailand mostly because its a great place to train in Maui Thai, but it was altogether more wonderful than I ever expected.

We started our trip in Bangkok, staying at the end of a popular tourist street. We managed to be just far enough to avoid drunk tourists but walking distances from restaurants and the subway. Warren would train in the afternoons so we had all day to explore. The city is loud and hot, often crowed and constantly buzzing. We would spend all day traveling via a super modern and clean speed train to ancient temples and huges statues. The combination of history and culture with a modern city makes Bangkok thrilling.

We used the river ferries for a full day because you can travel up and down the river and the different docks lead to different markets or historical sights. We walked and walked, drinking ice cold cans of coke from tin buckets filled with ice and when it was too far to walk catching tuk tuks.

The grand palace was my favorite sight, the tiny details and the variety of buildings and history is breath taking. This beautiful gold building with all its colour and its curled roof edges felt like something out of a disney movie. There were also so many statues and the small war museum, not to mention the gardens and passages, you can walk and walk sometimes mixed into crowds and at other times in the complete silence of an empty room filled with old relics.

Shopping in Bangkok was also incredible, we found a night market a train ride away from the more tourist areas and we walked and walked down the same street never reaching the markets end. It was mostly clothing and accesories - an absolute dream for any women!

After 4 days in our cute little room with the wooden panels on the wall down the street quiet street we packed our back-packs and caught a flight to Phuket.