When I was 20 I availed myself of my right to a six month visa to work in Australia.
My plan was to work in Australia like I had never worked before, earn ‘stacks of dosh’, as I would have put it at the time, and then a super holiday on my way back home through South East Asia. In style following my whims in comfort.
A New Zealand friend had inspired me to travel in this part of the world. An independence I had never dreamt of tempted me. Travel, street food, beautiful textiles and the throng of an exotic world enthralled me. It was a great adventure for a 21 year old who had delayed starting her degree for an exotic adventure.
In Indonesia the Bahasa Indonesia language was designed to be easy to learn. The reluctance of locals to talk about anything remotely deep was a restraint. In Thailand the social code was more relaxed and people more playful but alas I found Thai really difficult to learn and my conversations with locals, except when there was translation at hand, were limited to English speakers.
I am embarrassed at times by my youthful arrogance fervent idealism and desire to make generalisation and observations which are almost bigoted. Sometimes I’m ridiculously woke, the next making fearful generalisations. It’s a youthful diary! Sometimes I am lustful, sometimes…
