Bangkok: August 2006

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In part one of our two part feature, Amber Solaire and Mozzie Byte reminded readers about what was happening to Ray and Nikki after the completion of their TEFL course in Chiang Mai (Part One).

In this issue, Amber and Mozzie tell you more about what they got up to during Ray's six week break from travelling, in which he returned to England whilst Nikki went south to Ko Samui. And we reveal what all the secrecy and skyping was about as they headed towards their their re-union in Bangkok.

In our next issue, "Birthday Bliss in Bangkok" (due for publication in early September), we will let you know what they got up to when they celebrated each other's brithdays and give you further information about their ongoing travel itinerary.

Having spent seven months together travelling, I wondered how Ray and Nikki might feel about spending six weeks apart, so I asked Ray how he felt, returning to England after quite a long absence and a major change in his way of life.

"Well, it was certainly strange going back to London as a visitor" he told me. "Nikki and I were quite comfortable with the idea of not being with each other for a few weeks which made it easier for me to go. And for the first time ever, I found myself in my "home" country, but without a home and very few possessions" he explained. "Most of these, I intended to sell and it took me a couple of days to get organised. Although many things in London were very familiar to me, I was slightly disorientated to begin with and quickly found myself missing the scene in Chiang Mai" he added. But Ray did not have much time to dwell on this as he had quite a few things to complete while he was in England.

Above: Many things were familiar but strangely disorientating to Ray on his first "visit" to London

I also asked Ray about some of the things he had to get done whilst in London. "When I left England last November, I honestly did not know how I might take to the travelling life and was quite uncertain if it would work for me, putting off making some decisions like selling my car, motorcycle and other household possessions, as well as some related to the management of my business" Ray explained. "Following the completion of my TEFL course in Chiang Mai, I reflected on these for a little while and felt instinctively like it was the right time to return to the UK and clean up some of these loose ends" he added. "I also wanted to organise my life so I could have peace of mind when I resumed my travelling, which basically meant simplifying my life as much as possible" said Ray.

With seven months of travel experience under his belt, Ray was able to decide with confidence and certainty that he would no longer be needing many of his possessions in the UK and set about disposing of them. "I was amazed at how quickly the car and the bike were sold - literally within 3-4 days of me advertising them!  And thank god for eBay as many of my household items were disposed of with equal swiftness and ease" he added. "As these things were sold so easily and quickly, it made me believe even more that I was making the 'right' decision to let them go and although this felt a bit scary in one way, I felt a surge of energy as each item was taken away by it's new owner" said Ray.

Above: The end of an era - for now, anyway - as the cherished Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle goes home with its new owner

Ray had visited one of Nikki's best friends, Nigel, soon after his return, for a catch up. "It was great to see Nigel and his partner Dominic, whom had both been very welcoming towards me when Nikki and I had started seeing each other last year. I was also very fortunate to see Catharine Hartley, another of Nikki's friends, with her new baby son, although Nikki was slightly jealous that I was hanging out with her friends while she was thousands of miles away" he told me.

Nigel heard about Ray's plans to dispose of some possessions and decided it was a great opportunity to upgrade his computer, so he offerred to take Ray's laptop off his hands. "I was really delighted about this win-win situation, as I really wanted to swap my large, heavy laptop for one much smaller and lighter, so that I could travel with it in my backpack. And I wanted Nigel to acquire a really good machine without having to spend a fortune on a new one" he explained. "Its amazing how easily life works when everything is flowing in the right direction" said an enlightened Ray.

Ray had been keeping Nikki informed about the discussions with Nigel and she issued him with special instructions, via Skype, for the handover of the computer. "Take one of the silliest picture of me and install it as Nigel's new screensaver, so that when he switches the laptop on for the first time, he will see me and it will make him laugh" she instructed playfully.

Above: Nigel responds in kind as he is greeted by Nikki's picture on his new computer!

Although Ray returned to England with the intention of reducing his personal inventory, there were a few other personal reasons why his trip to the UK could not have been more perfect in its timing. "The World Cup being on was one of the reasons!" he joked. "But on a more serious note, my Mum had been waiting for a long time to be admitted to hospital for a replacement hip operation and as luck would have it, she was finally given a date right in the middle of the time I was home, so that meant I could visit her in hospital" said a very happy Ray. "It was also my sister-in-law Kitty's birthday (on the same day as Fathers Day) so I was able to join in the special celebrations with the whole family" he added.

Above: Ray leaves the fabulous Conrad Hotel, Chelsea Harbour, with his mum Hetty (centre) and niece Rebecca (right), having spent a wonderful afternoon with his family at their famous Sunday brunch, to commemorate Kitty's birthday and Fathers Day for his brother Paul. It was Hetty's last outing on her 'old' hip!

Ray told me about the fantastic way in which his family looked after him during his trip. "I really appreciated the hospitality of my family and they were very kind to me in allowing me to stay with them at their home in Southfields (near Wimbledon) for a few weeks. I have also come to realise that my travelling life is made a lot easier by having someone who I trust back in England, who can deal with post and other matters on my behalf - and my brother Paul has been brilliant as my 'backstop', depsite the fact his own life is pretty full" he said.

Above: Ray really enjoyed spending time with his family. He is pictured here with his mum Hetty and family friend Brendan Brien, at Daniel's (Ray's nephew) school fair

Other friends who were very generous in inviting Ray to stay for a few days were Helen Chilvers, in Henley, and Scanes and Sarah Bentley in Richmond. One of Ray's clients in England invited him to spend the day at the Henley Regatta, which gave Ray the perfect opportunity to link up with Helen, who lives there.

Above: Ray with the very lovely Helen Chilvers (this picture was taken before Ray left England to go travelling)

"I had made a commitment to meet one of my clients at the Regatta, which is an event that I had always wanted to go to. Helen very kindly invited me stay with her for a couple of days" said Ray. "She is a wonderful person to spend time with and she really made me feel at home" he told me.

(Above): Ray feels slightly strange wearing a suit for the first time in many months and (below) the Henley Regatta - British tradition and snobbery at its finest, and culturally about as far away as you can get from life in South East Asia!

Unknown to Nikki, while Ray was in England, he had laid very secret plans to make a couple of special gifts for her birthday, in preparation for their end of July re-union in Bangkok.

"One of the things I wanted to do was search through the video tapes we had shot since we started travelling and pull out some nice clips of Nikki, so I could make a film about her for her birthday, set to her favourite music" he told me. "My dear friends Scanes and Sarah generously invited me to stay at their home for a couple of days and then vanished for one of them, leaving me with their apartment to myself, so I could concentrate on sifting through 10 hours of film and make the movie" he said happily. "We also watched a couple of Englands world cup games together, which was great for me as I had wanted to see the matches with my friends" he added.

Above: Scanes and Sarah, outside their home, looking amazing as they generously vacate their apartment for the day and head for a visit to Royal Ascot

The other surprise that Ray was planning for Nikki was to collect messages from many of Nikki's friends and family so that he could present them to her in a special leather bound book, in celebration of her birthday. "I thought that it would be lovely if Nikki could get a sense that there were loads of people who really love her and value her, so I decided to create a project and ask for help from everyone that knows her" Ray explained to me.

Luckily for Ray, he had access to the email addresses of all of Nikki's friends, courtesy of The Daily Lama, as we have them to notify some of our readers about new issues. When Ray explained what he was trying to do, we were only too pleased to help and quickly despatched messages to everyone on Ray's behalf to ask them to write to Nikki. "I was overwhelmed by the response" said Ray. "Almost everyone I asked responded which meant that the book was going to be something really special and worth doing" he added.

One of Ray and Nikki's mutual friends, Laura Jacobs, became a major conspirator on the project. "I could not have made this happen without the help of a couple of key people and Laura was one of them" Ray told me. "She is an artist and has a great eye for this sort of thing. She inspired me to include photographs in Nikki's book, which was a great idea and really turned it into something special - I was very lucky and grateful she was able to help" he added.

Above: Ray really appreciated Laura giving her time to help him with Nikki's birthday gift, and enjoyed hanging out with her while in London. She is pictured here whilst out with Ray in Soho - ironically outside a Thai restaurant called Chiang Mai!

The other person who was of great support to Ray in helping create the book for Nikki was his ex-wife Charlie. "We were always great friends when we were married and that has continued since we were divorced a couple of years ago, much to my delight. I knew Charlie was brilliant at layout and arrangement of documents, as we had run a business together, and when I explained the situation to her, she responded to the call with fantastic spirit. It was also great to see Charlie and spend some quality time with her, as she has become a mum since I left England, and her daughter Lola is a real delight" mused Ray.

(Above): Ray greatly appreciated Charlie's help with Nikki's brithday book. She has become a mum to the beautiful Lola since he left the UK and (below) Ray's niece Rebecca and nephew Dan are introduced to Lola

With the movie in the can, the book project complete, all items on eBay sold and Ray's stuff in storage re-organised, he was ready to head back to Thailand to join up with Nikki. But not without spending an evening with friends Thom and Annabel. "They were the last friends I visited before I left the UK last year and I wanted to catch up with them again" said Ray.

Prior to his return, Ray guessed he would need about 4-6 weeks to get everything sorted and it ended up being exactly six weeks. "My gut feel estimate turned out right!" said Ray. "Overall I felt really energised by having simplified my affairs in England and catching up with important friends and family, although I was really missing Nikki by the end and wanted to get back to see her again".

I asked Ray whether it had been difficult to maintain the secrecy required whilst in London to maximise the surprise element for Nikki's birthday. "Oh God yes!" he replied. "I spoke with Nikki virtually everyday on Skype (which is so brilliant, I hope all of our friends start using it) and had to find a variety of ways to side step the "What have you been doing?" type of questions that Nikki often asked me. Under these circumstances, I was quite happy to tell a few little white lies as I really wanted Nikki to be blown away with the book and the movie, although the suspense was killing me! I also prayed that none of her friends would innocently let the cat out of the bag before I could get back to her" said a very nervous Ray.

Above: Ray caught up and spent a lovely evening with Thom and his wife, Annabel

So, while Ray was selling up and scheming away in Southfields, Nikki was re-juvenating herself and re-kindling relationships with old friends on the island of Samui, where it all began for her last year as a volunteer at The Yoga Cafe in Bo Phut (Yoga can be Healthy and Fun). Amber Solaire caught up with Nikki to find out more about what was happenning to her while Ray was in England.

"I chose to go to Samui for two reasons. One, because there is easy access to healthy food and yoga, both of which have become very important in my life, especially whilst I am travelling. And secondly, I have made some great friends there and knew it would be good for me to hang out with them for a while" said Nikki.

Wanting to make the most of her break, Nikki quickly arranged a challenging yoga schedule for herself. "My great friend and former teacher, Lozza, was leaving Samui for England as I was arriving, meaning I could not practice with her. So I decided to study at a centre I had heard about during my last visit, called Yoga Thailand (Yoga Thailand), where they practice Ashtanga Yoga, which is a highly dynamic, physically demanding form of the discipline" explained Nikki.

Above: Yoga Thailand's centre is located on this beautiful beach - which Nikki was extremely delighted about!

For Nikki, the decision to practice Ashtanga was a major step up from what she had previously been used to. "The centre where we practised was on the beach, which was fantastic. We started everyday at 7.30am with a meditation and then followed this with an hour and a half of yoga. I liked the early start and although the practice was long and physically demanding, my teachers were really patient and supportive, and encouraged me to move my body beyond the point where I believed I could. No matter how hard it got, I always came away happy and full of energy" said Nikki.

During her six weeks in Samui, Nikki experienced some really good fortune regarding accommodation. "With Lozza returning to England, she offerred me the use of her beachside bungalow, complete with swing hammock and access to her wardrobe - a treat after months of backpacking with the same old clothes!" said a delighted Nikki. "I had also been spending time with another good friend, Tamara, who had been offerred a house sit in another amazing beachside property. She was unable to take up the offer but recommended me instead. Luckily for me, the owner was happy to have me take care of her house for a couple of weeks, which included looking after Tom (the cat) and Alice (the dog). As it turned out, Tamara's other commitment fell through so she ended up staying at the house as well, which was an added bonus" she told me.

(Above) The beachside house which Nikki looked after was really spectacular and provided the setting for some great sunsets, with Tamara and Alice (below)

As well as having some good fortune with accommodation, Nikki also lucked in with some free massages during her stay on the island. "My lovely friend Ali had recently trained in traditional Thai massage and needed some 'volunteer' bodies to practice on. Of course, I jumped at the chance and was lucky to experience her wonderful healing hands and delicious home made foot creams which she uses for her treatments. Residents of Majorca, where Ali is moving to, are in for a real treat!" said a totally chilled out Nikki.

Above: Thai Massuer Ali (left) pictured with another of Nikki's friends, the wonderful Adrianna

Another great woman that Nikki met during her short stay in Samui was a beautiful Ashtanga yoga teacher, called Nidhi, who had come all the way from Pune in southern India to teach at The Yoga Cafe whilst the owner, Lozza, was away in England. "I did a one week workshop with Nidhi and felt my yoga really improved during that time. She is a joy to be around, a really lovely teacher and she treated me to some wonderful (healthy) Indian vegetarian food" said Nikki. "I think we are going to remain friends for some time" she added.

Above: Nidhi (front, centre) with (left to right) Nikki, Maya, Lesley and Karen (rear, centre) during the yoga workshop

With her full schedule of daily yoga practice and lots of friends to catch up with, you might think that Nikki would not really have had time to be missing Ray during their six weeks apart. "You could not be more wrong" said Nikki. "It was not always easy with a six hour time difference, but I wanted to make sure we were able to talk almost every day via Skype. Ray was not aware that I had also been doing a little scheming myself" she added.

"Whilst staying at the house sit on the beach, I fell in love with a statue depicting Shiva and Shakti, a Hindu representation of the Divine Lovers" she disclosed.

Above: The statue of the Divine Lovers, Shiva and Shakti, that caught Nikki's eye

Fortunately for Nikki, Ko Samui is home to many talented Batik artists and this gave her the idea to re-create the image of the statue on a canvas as a surprise gift for Ray at their forthcoming re-union in Bangkok. "I knew one particular artist, called Nung, who had done some work for me before. He is very talented at re-creating images from photographs, so I knew I could rely on him to make me a really great canvas" she informed me.

Nung insisted that Nikki check in with him two or three times whilst he was working on her picture, to make sure she was happy with it. "Nung did a really brilliant job for me. He does not understand English very well but managed to listen to my requests and somehow he incorporated everything I asked for. He liked the finished painting so much, he made a copy that he could sell in his shop" Nikki told me.

Above: Nung with his Batik painting of Shiva and Shakti - note the flowing hair on Lord Shiva's head and Goddess Shakti's Kylie-esque bottom, and how these bear a remarkable resemblance to Ray and Nikki's best features

Shakti was not the only Goddess to feature during Nikki's stay on Samui. Her visit would not have felt complete without spending some quality 'girl' time two of her favourite earth Goddesses, Anna and Ute, who both live and work on the island as yoga teachers. "When I see these two, it always leaves me feeling uplifted, energised and appreciated. They are great girls and I feel honoured they have become such good friends of mine" said a very loved up Nikki!

Above: Nikki loved spending time with earth Goddesses Ute and Anna, who is pictured here with Nikki (right)

To complete her break in Samui, Nikki spent the final week at The Spa Samui, which has become world famous for their cleansing and fasting programmes (The Spa Samui). "Although I already felt really great from the combination of yoga, staying on the beach and eating healthily, I wanted to make sure that I was completely ready to hit the road again with Ray and decided a cleanse would be very beneficial" said Nikki. "After four days of fasting and detoxifying, I felt fantastic and really excited about seeing Ray in Bangkok" she added.

Above: Nikki, looking and feeling terrific, after her six weeks in Samui, and completely ready to hit the road again with Ray

Editors Note: We hope you have enjoyed catching up with Ray and Nikki after our summer break. We are all on tenterhooks at The Daily Lama as we wait to find out what happened when Ray and Nikki were re-united in Bangkok, as I am sure you are too! In our next issue, we will reveal how they celebrated their birthdays and how the secret gifts that both had been planning for each other were finally revealed!

Above: A preview of our next issue; Ray and Nikki are re-united - all will be revealed in "Birthday Bliss in Bangkok", out in early September!

AMBER SOLAIRE AND MOZZIE BYTE

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