Have found a few minutes between appointments in San Francisco to post a swift update before I disappear off to Burning Man. I am being told that the Burn experience will change my life. I thought I’d changed it quite a lot already, and I like it as it is right now, so I’m not sure how much this would be a good thing. But I am going in with an open mind – although not so open that my brains fall out.

Talking to the students in Bolinas

I rounded off my time in Bolinas with a talk at the school there. The students were a fantastic audience. When I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up, we had an aspiring author, a marine biologist, and a boy who wanted to study otters. I went on to say that when I was little, I’d wanted to have a big adventure, and it took me a long time to figure out that a big bushy beard is NOT a prerequisite for being an adventurer.

Adventurer: beard not required

Over the weekend I was in Monterey for the Blue Ocean Film Festival – a wonderful opportunity to catch up with Mission Blue TEDsters such as Jean-Michel Cousteau and his daughter Celine, and Dr Sylvia Earle, as well as many other movers and shakers from the marine community. I thoroughly enjoyed the one film I managed to see between networking events – 180 Degrees South, featuring some classic lines from the say-it-as-he-sees-it founder of Patagonia Clothing, Yvon Chouinard. Also some gorgeous cinematography. Recommended.

With Jean Michel Cousteau, and a model "Sedna" made by Stan Miller

I was delighted that the prize for “Best in Festival” went to Michelle Hill and “Bag It“, a film about the perils of the plastic bag. Great to see that this issue is getting the exposure it needs. Myself, I was a proud recipient of a blue marble, for random acts of ocean kindness – for the significance of this, see the Blue Marbles website.

On Sunday I gave a brunch presentation in Portola Valley, an informal start to my speaking tour, and a great chance to catch up with friends old and new – and to do a short training ride with the other member of “Team Roz” in the California Climate Ride, Angela Hey. Thanks to Angela for hosting a wonderful event (and the super-healthy yummy salads!) at short notice, and to everyone who came – particularly all those who contributed to the Indian Ocean fund.

Yesterday I went for a hike on Bradford Island, an ecologically sensitive area an hour’s drive and a ferry ride east of San Francisco. Paul Valva organised the day – many thanks to him for the guided tour, and the explanation of the vulnerabilities of the area. The special guest of the day was Cynthia Ong, who I met for the first time when I was campaigning with her in

With Cynthia Ong of LEAP

Malaysia against the opening of a coal-powered electricity plant. It is one of the perks of my “job” that I get to meet some particularly inspiring and impressive people – and Cynthia of LEAP is high on that list, so it was great to see her again, and continue our discussion about saving the world. Hey, it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it!

Tonight I leave for Burning Man. My justification to myself for taking 4 precious days away from writing my book and preparing for my speaking tour is that I think I can learn a lot at Burning Man. As well as looking forward to the outpouring of art and creativity, I’m fascinated to see how this temporary, money-less, self-regulating community functions.

My blue marble. Despite appearances, it does not have flowers growing out of it!

Oops, have to run. I have an appointment. Even (or especially) ocean rowers have to go to the dentist sometimes!

I will be taking my satphone to Burning Man so I can tweet. I will let you know how it goes!

PS Update for Event at San Diego October 7th – URL for the event: hors/

From September 7 until October 18 this year I will be touring the US in a series of speaking engagements. You might remember that a couple of months ago I put the word out on this blog that this was something I would like to do, partly to spread my environmental message and partly to raise funds for next year’s Indian Ocean Row (due to launch from Australia at the end of March).

At the time I asked for volunteers to help organise events in their local communities. Many emails later, and after much hard work on the part of my trusty band of volunteers, this is the result. We have a variety of event formats in locations scattered across the US, so I hope you will find an event within striking distance of you.

I’d like to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to the amazing individuals who have put this whole thing together. Most of them I haven’t even met yet, and they have done this purely out of the kindness and generosity of their souls. I also owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my dear old Mum, who stepped in to help when I became overwhelmed by the task, and has been doing a wonderful job of coordinating with the event organisers.

I hope you will show your appreciation of their incredible support for me by coming along to our events and making this speaking tour a resounding success. We hope that it will generate enough funds for next year’s row, leaving me free to focus on my environmental mission. I look forward to seeing you there!

Quick list of cities and dates – for details see below:

Sept 15-21: Washington, DC

Sept 22-25: Climate Ride California – OFFLINE APART FROM IPHONE

Sept 26-Oct 3: San Francisco

Oct 4-6: Vancouver

Oct 7-8: San Diego

Oct 9-10: New York

Oct 11-12: Minneapolis

Oct 13-16: New York

Oct 17-18: San Francisco

Oct 19-24: Coastal Rowing Championships in Istanbul, Turkey

Details:

San Francisco – Tuesday Sept 28: The Commonwealth Club

Time: 11.30am check-in, 12pm program

Location: The Commonwealth Club, 595 Market Street, San Francisco

Cost: $12 members, $20 non-members, $7 students

Details: Carbon Warriors Roz Savage and David Kroodsma in conversation

URL: http://tickets.commonwealthclub.org/auto_choose_ga.asp?area=1

San Francisco – Tuesday Sept 28: REI Berkeley

Time: 7pm – 8.30pm

Location: REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley – (510) 527-4140.

Cost: Free – to book a seat:

http://rozsavage.com/2010/08/20/roz’s-speaking-tour-usa-2010/.

Details: Presentation: Rowing the Atlantic and the Pacific: One Woman’s Extraordinary Solo Adventures

URL: http://www.rei.com/stores/12

Sacramento – Thursday Sept 30

Time: 6.00pm

Location: Sacramento State University (CSUS) Student Union building, Ballrooms 1,2 and 3.

Cost: Free

Details: “Adventure, Dreams & Ecology” Presentation

Contact: [email protected]

URL: http://www.sacramento365.com/event/detail/440838165/Roz_Savage

This event available to the public on Facebook under “Roz Savage”.

San Francisco – Friday Oct 1: Luncheon Society

Details to be announced shortly

San Francisco – Friday Oct 1: Dolphin Club

Time: 6 -9 pm.

Location: Dolphin club, 502 Jefferson Street

Cost: Minimum donation $10 on the door.

Paying bar and refreshments.

Details: Presentation, Q & As.  Book signing.

URL: http://www.dolphinclub.org/

San Francisco – Saturday Oct 2: Private Fundraiser

Vancouver – Monday Oct 4

Time:  7pm

Location: Lecture theater B101, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford BC. Canada

Cost: $15:00 in advance

Details: Presentation and book signing

Contact:  Roger Friesen, 604-504-7441 ext. 4297, or [email protected]

URL: http://www.ufv.ca/home.htm

Vancouver – Tuesday Oct 5

Vancouver – Wednesday Oct.6

Wednesday, October 6 – Intimate Evening with Roz
Vancouver Maritime Museum http://www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/ 6:30 – 9:00
Welcome Reception featuring generous appies provided by Finest at Sea seafood boutique  http://www.finestatsea.com and welcome glass of fine local wine.
Price – minimum $80 donation, payable in advance.  $50 of this will go directly to Roz’s Fundraising Efforts.
To reserve – email [email protected]

San Diego – Thursday Oct 7

Time: 6pm

Location: Birch Aquarium, Expedition Way, San Diego

Cost: being offered free to the public with the generous support of Birch Aquarium, the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, and the Helen Edison Lecture Series. Donations can be made to Roz through the Donate button on her website

Details:  Light refreshments; presentation and booksigning.

Contact: [email protected]

Minneapolis – Saturday Oct 9

An evening with Roz Savage, Eagan, Minnesota – details to be announced shortly

Contact:  Kevin Doheny at [email protected]

URL: http://www.soundmindbodyhealing.com/

Minnesota – Sunday Oct. 10

Northfield, Minnesota – details to be announced shortly

Contact:  Kevin Doheny at [email protected]

URL:  http://http://www.soundmindbodyhealing.com/

Seems that all too often I have to make decisions that are 51/49 either way. In 2007, whether to accept the USCG rescue that I hadn’t asked for. In 2009, whether to try for Tuvalu or play it safe and go to Tarawa. Now, in 2010, whether to get to the start of my speaking tour by taking the passage on the cargo ship as planned, or whether to fly to California instead.

It was never a straightforward decision. I wrote a blog about it back in June. Reading the comments afterwards, I was surprised how much support there was for my taking the plane – mostly so I would be on dry land and able to be online, but also backed up by some rather convincing arguments based on the hard facts of CO2 emissions.

Nevertheless, I had felt it was important symbolically to show that there are viable alternatives to flying, if one has enough time to take the slow boat (or fast boat, compared with mine!) from China. So I booked my passage (with CruisePeople, if you’re interested in doing something similar).

Then, a couple of days ago, the local shipping agent told me that the ship’s ETA in Long Beach was Sept 6, i.e. too late for the first date of the tour, I realised I was actually quite relieved that I would be able to fly instead. I was anxious about any delays, especially given my poor record of ocean-related adventures ending on schedule.

The next morning when we spoke, he told me he had made a mistake, and in fact the ETA was Sept 2 or 3, as previously notified. But mentally I had already moved on and started planning an alternative writer’s retreat in Bolinas, CA, to work on my next book, and was very much looking forward to it. So this now presented me with a dilemma.

This morning I consulted a couple of friends, summarising the pros and cons thusly:

Advantages of Bolinas:

- guaranteed to get to start of speaking tour in time, and avoid letting down my East Coast organisers who have put in so much hard work

- access to healthy and good food – no idea what it will be like on ship, but very unlikely to be organic!

- will have email and phone access for any last-minute inquiries from event organisers

- will have access to internet, to do any final research for information I want to include in my presentation

- will have peace and quiet and time to write

- I can get to my stash of stuff in my friend’s garage to pick up clothes and suitable luggage for the tour

- would get me to the start of tour in best possible shape

- met a director of Maersk the other day, and he has said he can arrange for me to travel on their ships in the future at a less time-critical juncture – quite possibly free of charge

- am frankly weary of travel and adventure for now, and would like to be “home” for a while, somewhere where the living is easy…

Advantages of ship:

- have already paid for it, and fare non-refundable. Extra costs would therefore be air fare and food for 16 days

- no distractions from email (or from social invitations) when supposed to be writing

- big adventure

- easier access to gym (although there are gyms in Pt Reyes and Stinson Beach, and of course some lovely walking around Bo, so lots of exercise options there too)

I asked my heart/gut/instincts for guidance, and they unanimously wanted to go to Bo, but I didn’t know if it was just fear of the unknown that was talking. So I tossed a coin. Bo won. And I didn’t feel a strong urge to do a best of 3. So Bo it is.

So having been so adamant that I was going to take the ship, this is a slightly embarrassing about-face. But circumstances – and appetites for adventure – change. I want a rest, and Bolinas is very therapeutic. And as my friend Jay says, “Those that matter don’t mind. And those that mind don’t matter.”

So that is my decision, and I will just have to live with it. But the sooner they invent teleporting, the better. It will save phenomenal quantities of CO2 and an awful lot of dithering.

With Doug Woodring and the committee of the RHKYC

Other Stuff:

Thank you to the kind friends who have been my sounding boards today. You’re great!

I’d like to say an extra-big thank you to Doug Woodring of Project Kaisei, who arranged for my accommodation here in Hong Kong and set up the two wonderful speaking engagements at the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Doug is a fellow “Climate Hero” for the United Nations Environment Program, and will be speaking at the Hong Kong TEDx in September on the same bill as Dr Jane Goodall. Project Kaisei has an ambitious plan to clean up the North Pacific Garbage Patch, and I wish them all the greatest success in their mission.

Being presented with the RHKYC pennant (aka bikini bottom) by Geoff Booth

Check out this video from their Youth Ambassador, a famous HK singer called Get Everyone Moving (GEM). Doug is a busy, busy man – saving the oceans is a more than full-time job – but still found time to help make my visit in Hong Kong enjoyable and productive. Thanks, Doug!

Thanks also to Rupert and the committee of the Royal Geographical Society, and Koko and the committee of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, especially the AV tech guy without whom there would have been no V. Warmest best wishes to Eric, Geoff, Chris, Chris and Tim for being such excellent dinner companions, and to Mark and Kathy Greenberg – old Oxford rowing friends whom I hadn’t seen in over 20 years, who sprung a wonderful surprise on me by turning up at my presentation on Wednesday night. I’d like to think that none of us have changed at all!

With Kathy Davies Greenberg

Hong Kong - view from RHKYC

The Compass Room

Rather belatedly, I am going to round off the story of my fasting-and-colonics retreat in Koh Samui, Thailand. Technical and logistical hassles have kept me offline for a while, but now I am back, at least temporarily, and recognise that the tale needs a conclusion. You will note that I have absolutely abstained from making any ribald jokes about poo and bottoms, and you’ll never know how much self-restraint that took….

I had already decided that for the last 2 days of the retreat I would turn off my laptop. As with most things, I was getting out of the experience what I was putting in – and for the first 5 days my focus had been distracted by a tsunami of emails around the upcoming US speaking tour (of which details will be coming soon).

But even before I had signed off my final email, my laptop decided to take matters into its own hands. The screen went blank, and nothing would coax it back to life. I could still hear the music playing on iTunes, which gave me hope that the innards were okay, but with no visual output the usefulness of the laptop was obviously rather minimal. So I turned it off, sent it to bed with no supper, and hoped that it would come to its senses over its two-day holiday.

With no distractions, the final two days went much better. I relaxed, focused, and was able to enjoy the yoga and meditation sessions without the constant buzz of plans whirring around my head like a particularly irritating mosquito.

And something really odd happened. Up until this point I’d been quite disappointed that I had enjoyed no appreciable weight loss. But when I released all that tension, largely thanks to a wonderful session with a spiritual therapist, a few pounds appeared to melt away overnight. Of course, it could just be that the results of a reduced calorie intake and daily colonics finally kicked in – weight loss is never linear – but there did seem to be something more to it than that.

So, ultimately, it all came good. I achieved what I had hoped to achieve in Koh Samui – I rediscovered a sense of inner peace to draw on when the going gets tough, I rebooted my eating habits from unhealthy to healthy, and dropped the 7 pounds I’d gained eating all that yummy fried food in Malaysia and the Philippines. I left feeling cleansed physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually.

(Note: Although I felt rather embarrassed to admit to taking colonics, a couple of friends have come out and admitted that they, too, find them tremendously beneficial. There is apparently no scientific or medical justification for the practice. Just the fact that many people find it makes them feel a lot better, brighter and lighter.)

For the record, I was at Dharma Healing International in Koh Samui, Thailand. The 7-day retreat cost the equivalent of $600, and included around 30 hours of classes on nutrition and yoga, and two massages. I stayed at Soonthorn Bungalows, which cost $18 per night. More luxurious accommodation is available at the nearby Siam Resort for around $100 a night. I would highly recommend Kwan Jai International for a professionally administered colonic. Chalong is a master of his art!

The “fast” was not total starvation. We took various cleansing concoctions, and also two coconut waters a day, and a hot broth in the evenings. I did feel hungry, but there again, I always do!

Speaking at the Hong Kong Royal Geographical Society on Monday

Other Stuff:

There is a theory that life never burdens us with more than we can handle. So just as my ability to handle stress goes up, life has upped the ante. The container ship that I am due to take from Hong Kong to Long Beach, California, is running at least a day late. Which is good, in that it gives me more time to sort out the really rather onerous paperwork (Chinese visa today, yellow fever vaccination tomorrow), but also cuts into the very limited “wiggle room” I have between arriving in Long Beach and needing to be on the East Coast for the start of my speaking tour. Tense times in Hong Kong.

My laptop has enjoyed at least a temporary revival. It still refused to work after its 2-day hiatus, but on arrival in Hong Kong spontaneously decided to work again. But for how long, who knows? A San Francisco friend, Ian Jefferson, has very kindly offered to lend me a spare laptop just in case this one goes belly-up in mid-Pacific, so I won’t end up having to write my book in longhand.

The Brocade, shortly to be renamed to her pre-Pacific name of Sedna Solo, has now arrived safely in Fremantle in readiness for next year’s Indian Ocean row. This is good news. The not so good news is that there was an unexpected bill for $4,000 for the freight on the final leg of the trip. We are negotiating….

Much to keep me busy in Hong Kong. Gave a presentation to 150 people at the Hong Kong Royal Geographical Society on Monday night (pictured), and tonight I speak to the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.

Sunday August 15th.

Urgent message from Roz to me this Sunday morning via satellite. Her computer has broken.

Roz is a great lover of technology, but when it fails – especially like this – she is very frustrated. It could not have come at a worse time, in the midst of planning her USA speaking tour, and shortly before boarding the container ship to travel from Hong Kong to Long Beach, California.

Obviously Roz has no idea when she will be able to be back on line again. As far as the USA tour is concerned, please do send any queries or messages to me – they do reach me via this website.

Roz had already asked me to prepare a blog with details of upcoming events during her tour, and I will be dealing with that in a few days’ time – just waiting for some final details.

Please keep watching – there may be an event near to where you are that you might like to attend. Roz will be starting in California, flying east to North Carolina, then Atlanta, Dallas, Washington DC. Then comes the Climate Ride in California, followed by San Francisco area, Vancouver, San Diego, Minneapolis and New York.

Greetings from Rita, her mother, trying to be a go-between once again!

Highlight of the day - coconut water

Just a quick late night blog (9.30pm IS late around here) to let you know that I am still alive. This afternoon, the much-hyped liver flush did not produce the spectacular results that I had feared – or maybe quietly wished for. Lord knows, my liver could seriously do with some flushing.

Nor have I yet passed out from hunger. In fact, two coconut waters and a bowl of broth per day are proving surprisingly satisfying. I suspect that much of my grottiness the other morning may have been due to the incipient cold that I arrived here with, a sure-fire sign that I was run down and tired before I got here. The cold and I are still doing battle for supremacy, but I am sure that the mandatory doses of Vitamin C and the hot broths must be helping.

Meanwhile, Mr Tenerife is proving to be excellent entertainment value, which helps keep team morale high. Top Three Mr T moments so far:

- the startling sight of him turning up for yoga yesterday morning wearing a tiny pair of speedos (sorry – no photos available)

The liver flush - mostly olive oil, onion and garlic. Yummy.

- later the same day, announcing “I love food. I love it better than sex.” Which was a lot of information on Day 2 of an acquaintance

- tonight at our nutrition workshop, “If I go ‘ome and ask for biodynamic food, zey will sink I am crazy!” (okay, sounds more French than Spanish, but you get the picture).

Anyway, time for bed now. All this fasting can really take it out of you (so to speak).

This morning I woke up feeling grotty. Headache, sore throat, bit of nasal congestion. Bleurgh. Like a hangover, which was very unfair. Surely no matter what happens as this week goes on, the only way is up.

Meet... the colon. I will certainly know mine better by the end of the week.

At 10.30 our little group of fasters assembled on the porch of Hillary’s bungalow, and sat on cushions around a low table. We went around the circle to introduce ourselves – and names have been changed to protect identities. There is the Belfast Boy, a cheery young Irishman who is on his third visit here. Then there is Big Guy, a prosperous-looking Chicagoan with a well-trimmed white beard and a slightly intellectual air. Pauline from New Zealand, who is embarking on her first fast to try and wean herself off blood pressure medication. And Mr Tenerife, an attractive Spaniard with designer stubble and very white teeth, also on his first fast.

We were told to open our text books, and the course began. The introductory lecture encompassed the basics of the digestive system, a description of the assaults that our systems suffer every day, and an explanation of how fasting seeks to remedy the damage. We sipped on ginger tea while Hillary talked.

But I had to put my tea aside when she handed around a book of full colour photographs of poo. Yes, poo. In all kinds of disgusting shapes and colours – the results of colonic irrigation, as the body releases all kinds of crap (so to speak) from the digestive system. My hangover-type nausea intensified just a little. Okay, so we all do it, but some bodily functions are best left in the bathroom.

Hillary went on to warn us not to use chemical-based body lotions, insect repellants or sunscreen during our fast, as the body absorbs chemicals much more readily in this state. She extolled the virtues of pee as an alternative form of sun protection, Mr Tenerife looked puzzled, not able to believe that he was correctly understanding her English. “What, pee? As in…” and he waved his hand eloquently towards his lap. “Yes, pee, ” confirmed Hillary. “Piss, urine, you know.” He blanched beneath his suntan.

“And now,” she said, “I will demonstrate how to administer a colonic.” I thought Mr Tenerife was going to faint.

Fortunately the demonstration did not require the removal of any garments. I won’t go into details, but suffice to say that dignity was maintained – unlike the actual practice of the procedure after we retired to our respective bathrooms. Again, no details required.

So is all this indignity going to be worth it? Sadly, I fear I am in serious need of detoxing. This afternoon my iridology diagnosis – which makes intuitive sense to me, as surely the eyes reveal the health of the whole body more than any other organ – showed that I am stressed, and stress is a toxin. All those stress-related hormones surging around the place cause damage throughout the body. Hillary’s verdict was given authority by the opinion of my San Francisco hairdresser, who earlier this year caused me serious alarm by commenting that I had evidently suffered some significant hair loss several months earlier – another symptom of stress.

Of course, all these worrying diagnoses are, well, really quite stressful. So now that I can no longer plead ignorance, I suppose the only way out is to address the root causes of the stress. But what are those causes? Pressure of upcoming speaking tour? Logistical hassles? Worrying that the planet is going to hell while governments fail to act? Who knows?

I am hoping that time will tell, and that I might leave here at the end of the week understanding myself – and my body – a little more, so that I can take better care of both.

Other Stuff:

Loved the handwritten note at the end - what a nice man!

On a totally different subject – and in attempt to raise the tone of this blog – a little bit of excitement today. A letter from the new British PM, David Cameron, congratulating me on the completion of my Pacific crossing. I was a little mystified by the reference to the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity – although undoubtedly a worthy cause, it is not one of mine – but it was nice to get some recognition from my home country.

And back to that other subject again… if you enjoy reading about other people’s misadventures in colonic irrigation, you may like this article, written by my long-time correspondent Ian Belcher (there is a joke in his last name somewhere, I am sure). VERY entertaining, but I don’t recommend that you read it while eating.

It is now 9.20pm and I am going to bed, in the hope that lying down will make my stomach feel less like rumbling.

It seemed like a good idea at the time -killing at least several birds with one stone:

- shed some of the 7 pounds that I had gained in one short month, thanks to a disastrous double-whammy of delicious Malaysian fried food and irresistible all-you-can-eat buffets 3 times a day while I was giving a couple of presentations at El Nido Eco-Resort

- for the longer term, reboot my appetite out of “pigout” mode, and back into “disciplined”

- recoup my energy and equilibrium after several weeks on the road, gathering my resources in readiness for the US speaking tour (of which more details coming soon).

Is this normal?!

So when I Googled on “fasting retreats” and stumbled across Dharma Healing International in Thailand, it sounded just perfect. The blurb on the website was hitting all my hot spots – “renaissance…. philosophy…. self-empowerment…. holistic… spiritual transformation… freedom… higher focus… ecological sustainability… rejuvenated, vibrant and dedicated to live a healthy life”. So I clicked through and signed up to a “very thorough week of fasting, detox and cleansing”.

But now I am wondering what I have let myself in for. Although I have a strong masochistic streak – how else would I row oceans? – I also love my food. Yet for the coming week, my intake will consist of purified water, medicinal herbal teas of the day, lime water, fresh coconut water, veggie broth soup, and as a grande finale, a drink of Epsom salts with a chaser of extra-virgin olive oil.

Hillary, aged 60. Almost makes me believe this will be worth it...

And generally I prefer to take my coffee with plenty of steamed milk, a shot of caramel syrup, and ingested through my mouth, rather than laced with hydrogen peroxide and self-administered (ahem) up my butt.

Still, like many things that I wouldn’t have signed up to if I’d read all the small print first (e.g. rowing the Atlantic) this will hopefully prove to be thoroughly worthwhile, if not entirely enjoyable at the time.

Hillary is certainly a great advert for her therapies. We met yesterday afternoon for the first time, and she comes across as a vibrant, energetic, radiant 60-year-old, despite consuming fewer calories in a week than I would eat in a single El Nido buffet breakfast. She told me that in the first year after she moved from California to Thailand, she would spend 3 hours a day swimming, 2 hours practising yoga, and 6 hours studying Thai. It was then that I started to wonder if, despite appearances, she was actually entirely human – and just what I had let myself in for.

My bungalow

The fast starts tomorrow (Monday). Since I arrived on Friday night I have already started detoxing (after a perverse last-minute go-for-broke tox-toxing in Manila). I have been living on an admittedly delicious-while-ridiculously-healthy salad that Hillary kindly made for me yesterday, and a stash of Larabars that I have been lugging around Asia since I left Papua New Guinea. But shortly all that will be gone, and the fast will begin.

I dropped a crumb of Larabar on the floor today. By Friday I may be scrabbling around on all fours, trying to find it.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying some unexpected benefits of my new temporary home. I have a lovely little wooden cottage (or bungalow, as they call them in Thailand) right on the beach. With a super-fast wireless internet connection. Oh heaven! The first time I have had this luxury IN MY ROOM for more than an odd night here and there since I left the US in April. So the good news for me (and possibly the bad news for you) is that you will get to vicariously enjoy my fasting experience. Don’t worry – there will be no photos of the self-administered caffeine enemas.

View from the office

Other Stuff:

Before I left El Nido, I recorded a new podcast. We have an alternative to “Roz Rows” while I am on dry land. Co-hosted by Vic Phillipson, we are calling it “Roz Roams”. We are just sorting out the technical details with the guys at TWiT Cottage, but hopefully it will be going online soon. We chat about my adventures in time, space and ecology since finishing my solo row across the Pacific.

We’re having an auction of Pacific memorabilia – stuff that has crossed much of the Pacific on board my boat. All proceeds will go towards funding next year’s row across the Indian Ocean. Please check it out, and bid generously to buy a little bit of ocean rowing history!

There are now only 30 spots left on the California Climate Ride, and there are lots of fab prizes going to new recruits and top fundraisers. You could win a Solio solar charger, a cool New Belgium Cruiser bicycle, a 5-day trip to Glacier Park -  and loads more besides. And you could ride with Team Roz. What more could you possibly want?!

I spent much of today clearing a mega-backlog of admin and organisation emails. Couldn’t have wished for a nicer office – sitting on my porch looking out at the ocean. All I could have asked for was a nice cold beer… NO, DON’T THINK IT! YOU’RE FASTING!!! First the perfect honeymoon resort – on my own. And now the perfect porch for sundowners – with Epsom salts to drink. Life has a rich sense of irony….

I am now in the Philippines, but my blog is lagging some way behind. It’s still stuck back in Cambodia somewhere. So I hope you’ll forgive me for getting a little un-chronological here, but I’d like to post some photos that I uploaded to Flickr a few days ago, and offer something by way of commentary to expand on the previous mention in my Rough Guide to Cambodia blog.

Tim, aka TC, was my guide while I was in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. He arranged with his photographer friend, Nathan Horton, for us to visit Silk Island, just an hour or so from the jetty in the centre of the city, but a world away in terms of the pace of life. Apparently they only got electricity here within the last 10 years.

Nathan regularly takes groups of aspiring travel photographers to the island, so the people there know him well, and certainly seemed very comfortable with us taking pictures of them – particularly when

A proper little Cambodian princess!

shown the resulting images on the back of our digital cameras. Children and adults alike seemed to get a kick out of it.

My favourite image from that day, though, could not be fully captured on digital film. It was the sound of children’s laughter. We came across a group of girls and boys, giggling hysterically over the sight of a boy with a cardboard box on his head, pretending to be a Chinese dragon. Other boys joined in to form the dragon’s tail, while a small makeshift band provided musical accompaniment on a range of improvised percussion instruments. The overall effect was surprisingly good, and easily recognisable as the kind of dragon you would see in any Chinese street parade.

The kids were absolutely loving it, and their sheer joie de vivre was contagious – neighbours gathered to watch and join in the laughter.

And of course my inner environmentalist was pleased to note that the “toy” was completely biodegradable, as well as offering far more entertainment value than toys costing many times as much. No plastic, no toxic paint, no wasteful packaging. Just one increasingly battered cardboard box – and a generous dollop of childish imagination.

Other notes on Cambodia:

Something amusing I forgot to mention in my previous blog, so I mention it here in case you missed it in the

The Chinese dragon (aka a cardboard box)

comments: the two main brands of beer in Cambodia are Angkor and Anchor. Try pronouncing them out loud. Yup, they sound exactly the same. So to avoid confusion, Angkor is pronounced Ang-kor and Anchor is pronounced An-chor.

And something else you need to know – exercise caution if ordering a “special pizza”. It may be a little more special than you anticipated, being topped with, ahem, something to make you feel happy. I didn’t try it, but apparently the effects take a while to kick in, as the pizza is slowly digested. Probably best not tried shortly before flying. And no, I don’t think weed counts as one of your five portions of veg for the day….

[Photo credits: Nathan Horton and Roz Savage]

Big smiles

Who needs plastic toys?

Boy in a box: an aspiring TV presenter??!

Smiling Filipino eyes