Hello from Bangkok<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nHello to my two favourite ladies! <\/i><\/p>\n
Arrived in BKK late last night safe and sound \u2013 having an amazing time already. I\u2019d forgotten how humid it is here – I think that Melbourne has made me soft! I grew up in weather like this, but can\u2019t even look outside without cracking a sweat now!<\/i><\/p>\n
Had drinks last night with a bunch of people who I met at the hotel \u2013 they are all really nice. The place I am staying is really great and I might head to one of the islands in a few days for a week by the beach. Have spent the morning so far acclimatising to holiday life (i.e. sitting by pool and reading and drinking fruit smoothies \u2013 it\u2019s a tough life). Am about to brave the city and head out for a wander and then probably going to meet up with some people for dinner or something.<\/i><\/p>\n
Hope that you are both surviving the cold!\u00a0 Will write again soon.<\/i><\/p>\n
Miss you!<\/i><\/p>\n
Mia xxx<\/i><\/p>\n
Ps: Ana, give my love to Tom<\/i><\/p>\n
Pps: No, Willow, I haven\u2019t met any boys (yes, I can read your mind!!)<\/i><\/p>\n
Ppps: Willow, I must find the recipe for you of these amazing fruit smoothies that the hotel make. They are incredible. Fresh Mango and Pineapple with a hint of ginger and crushed ice. I’ve never tasted anything like them!<\/i><\/p>\n
Mia pressed send and shut the cover of her laptop. Who was she kidding? She wasn\u2019t going to go to the islands on her own, and the drinks with people she met at the hotel equated to her having a complementary cocktail at the hotel bar on the insistence of the concierge before hurrying back to her room and curling up in bed. She hadn\u2019t even talked to anyone else.<\/p>\n
She surveyed her surrounds and sighed, taking a long sip of the fresh fruit smoothie that she had ordered, her second already for the day \u2013 they were just about the best thing she\u2019d ever had to drink. The hotel was <\/i>gorgeous \u2013 she wasn\u2019t lying about that at least. The large pool was crystal blue and sparkled in the midday sun. Deck chairs were set up around the edges and were slowly filling with holidaymakers who came equipped with books, tanning lotion, hats and elaborate bathing suits. Mia looked down at her own navy blue bikini, for the first time embarrassed by how unfashionable it was. She noticed that a lot of the girls had floaty dress type things that they wore to cover their bikinis. They all looked so effortlessly cool. Mia only had singlets that she wore to work and some old crummy shorts that had holes in the pockets.<\/p>\n
Maybe it had been a mistake planning an impromptu holiday alone, especially to somewhere like Bangkok. Sure, the hotel was wonderful and the weather was certainly better than the bitter cold of Melbourne, but she just wasn\u2019t enjoying herself. She felt\u2026 lonely. Everywhere she turned there seemed to be couples. Men and women feeding each other pancakes at the breakfast buffet; walking through the lobby hand in hand; canoodling by the swimming pool. It was as though they were rubbing her face in the fact that she didn\u2019t have a boyfriend.<\/p>\n
Mia didn\u2019t want just any boyfriend though. She wanted Johnny.<\/p>\n
She thought that getting away from Melbourne would cure her longing for him, but if anything it had just made it worse. She could not stop thinking about him; about the way he looked, smelled, spoke, smiled. The way he had kissed her. She had slept fitfully last night, tossing and turning in her oversized hotel bed, wishing that he were there to share it with her. She didn\u2019t dare imagine what she wanted him to do to her \u2013 it was just too painful knowing that it wasn\u2019t going to happen.<\/p>\n
A couple had set up camp on the sunlounge next to her and were tangled in a passionate embrace, all hands and lips and heavy breathing. She cleared her throat to remind them that she was in close enough vicinity to see that his hand had gone places that it probably shouldn\u2019t in public, but they either didn\u2019t notice or didn\u2019t care. Mia realised that this was a losing battle and stood up, pulling her shorts on and picking up her laptop, before heading back to her room. She had mentioned going into town in the email, so maybe she should do that. That was certainly something that would help kill a few hours. She quickly showered and changed into her least hideous summer dress, ran a brush quickly through her hair, grabbed her Thailand Lonely Planet and headed out of the hotel.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
The streets felt as though they were bathed in hot soup and after half an hour wandering she found refuge and a cold beverage in a nearby air conditioned caf\u00e9. Mia flipped through the guidebook\u2019s suggestions of things to do and see. She decided that a ferry trip to China Town sounded fun (or, more fun than wandering aimlessly in unbearable humidity) and headed towards one of the stops along the Mekong river.<\/p>\n
The ferry was jammed with tourists and locals as it zig zagged across the river, collecting and depositing people at every stop. At the stop for China Town there was a mass exodus of oversized cameras, bum-bags and maps. Mia joined the throng of visitors as they filed across the makeshift gangplank onto the jetty, careful not to trip over the uneven surface. The tall Norwegian behind her had other plans however, and pushed her forward so that she fell sideways onto the jetty, her dress ending up somewhere around her ears. He loped off, unaware that he had sent Mia sprawling. She tugged down her clothing so that she was decently covered again and glanced around, embarrassed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou OK?\u201d a friendly voice said above her. \u201cThat was a pretty big tumble.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked up into the smiling face of a young man who was holding out his arm to help her up. He looked familiar and she thought for a moment that she might have known him, but then she remembered that she was somewhere on the other side of the world and she didn\u2019t know anyone. Mia mumbled her thanks as she got to her feet again and turned quickly to walk away.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, wait,\u201d the voice said again. \u201cYou dropped this.\u201d<\/p>\n
She turned and saw he was holding her Lonely Planet guide.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d she said, taking the book and walking away quickly, mortified that someone had not only seen her take a spill, but that she had displayed her ‘sensible’ underwear to the general public.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Mia spent the next couple of hours wandering through the narrow streets of China Town before realising that she hadn\u2019t eaten since breakfast and was absolutely starving. She checked her watch and was surprised to discover it was nearly dinnertime. She thought about going back to the hotel and ordering room service, but her grumbling stomach was in need of more immediate gratification and won over. There was a pleasant looking restaurant across the road, so she tentatively crossed and peered through the door. \u00a0The restaurant was busy, but there were lots of people eating alone so Mia took a deep breath and walked in. She was quickly seated and ordered a water to sip while waiting for her food. She looked intently through her Lonely Planet so she wouldn\u2019t have to make eye contact with anyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mia looked up from pretending to read. It was the boy from the ferry who had salvaged her book.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay I?\u201d He indicated to the chair opposite her, sitting down before she had said yes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m John,\u201d he said, extending a muscular, tanned forearm out towards her.<\/p>\n
Mia peered at him closely, taking in his attractive features and strong, wide shoulders. Her jaw dropped. Of course he looked familiar. She couldn\u2019t believe she hadn\u2019t noticed it before.<\/p>\n
He was the absolute spitting image of Johnny.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From: mia_pilates@hotmail.com To: ana.prevents@gmail.com, willowbakescakes@gmail.com Hello from Bangkok Hello to my two favourite ladies! Arrived in BKK late last night safe and sound \u2013 having an amazing time already. I\u2019d forgotten how humid it is here – I think that Melbourne has made me soft! I grew up in weather like this, but can\u2019t even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[199],"tags":[177],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=518"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1225,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions\/1225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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