Yoshi

And so to the ending of a most intriguing year..

An early start, of a sort, as the decision to actually leave pai took shape and with aj's bike in a shaky state and mine not at its best we relied upon song for sanity...and all went well...until...on a downhill slope into a sharp left hand bend a minivan driver decided he was in a hurry and cutting into me, sideswiped me, twice, the second time offering me a hospital visit at best if I left the road...and I have no idea how I kept the bike upright other than pure luck and at the cost of my left knee...although when I heard and felt my knee go ping luck wasn't the concept in my mind...and was less than happy that he didn't stop to check I was ok...bike stopped and rucksack dropped laying at side of road on back and knowledge that this would get worse aj and song found me...three hours from chiang mai and having to minimise gear changes on mountain road, stiffened knee, rests and difficult steps from bike to back in cursings of driver and knowledge that I was lucky, I limped away...and slowly, and for first time on bike nervous, too aware of injury and useless leg we found chiang mai and awaited the new year.

Yoshi and her friend, yoshi, also staying here and I in need of blip took few photos - no possibility to trundle street or seek sunset or fireworks...left knee having swollen to grapefruit though only strained ligament as snapped one off the scale painful, and so lucky again...although later under protection and guidance of aj both happened - and found this one, which seemed utterly joyous in context of day...

And so the year passes. And for all who read this I hope the next one is more wonderful than the last.