2015 a year of Tripping Out

January New Year 2015 was spent in Bangkok with a complicated departure to Australia early in the year when Air Asia, while confirming their flights up until the last minute had to cancel flights to Melbourne. It meant a swift change of plans and a last minute ticket on Virgin to meet the girls in Melbourne before flying up to the Gold Coast and then on to Byron. A beautiful few days with family and friends, time in the rainforest and a great day at the beach complete with dolphins set us up for the week and then it was back to Melbourne for three days before returning to Bali. February A trip to Vietnam with the Year 12's to promote the GINBali 2015 conference saw me in Hanoi just before the TET Festivities, freezing cold and lots of activities to do as well as negotiating a return in the summer with music venues and bars. I left the school group to go to Saigon while I went to Hoi An to meet Green Shoots school and Laureen, who would be part of the summer trip. I flew back to Bali via Singapore and a catch up with Tara March At the very end of March I flew to Hong Kong and stayed with Chrissie, met up with Tanya and had a fabulous reunion at Mamasan with them both, and with a great stroke of luck found myself the owner of an Alexander McQueen dress. From there I flew to Paris and spent a day and a half with Cushla where we did more vintage shopping and ate well. I arrived in London on the 1st of April where I stayed until the 9th visiting family and Jane in Reading and staying with David in London. June The summer break started in Bangkok, with a visit to Varuna Royal Yacht Club to meet up with Bam, who was coming to the GIN Conference in October. Robi arrived on the 4th and straight to a gig at Fatty's then we went down to the beach house in Prak Nam Pra for three days of chill, good food and song writing. We flew to Hanoi with Joe on the 9th and spent three days with Joe, Dan and Laureen having plenty of fun and good gigs. Sunday Robi and I visited the cultural centre before taking the train to Danang and heading into Hoi An. More gigs and friends awaited specifically at Soul Kitchen, where we stayed as well. It was sad to leave that area it had been everything a holiday should be. We flew to Saigon and took the bus to Mui Ne for a very short visit to Binh, another speaker at the GINBali Conference. It was worth it to meet him and spend a day in the surroundings of the fishing community there. The last day was spent on a bus to Saigon and a plane back to Bangkok, we arrived and almost immediately went to the movies, to see a Hobbit film, had some food on the street and headed out to the airport for Bali arriving back amidst the silence of an airport closing due to the eruption of a nearby volcano. September Borneo ! Into the jungle, the traditional village of Temnbak near Sintang.. what a trip- weather wise it was crazy, planes were delayed re-routed and cancelled but we made it both into the jungle and out of it. December Australia for Severen's graduation in Melbourne and a fantastically magical three days back in Bali for some rainy season before heading out to Bangkok for Christmas, Koh Chang for New Year .. and more adventures into Kep and Kampot in Cambodia.