patong nights

1:03 p.m. nikki sp
it's weird, because we don't have a jam packed schedule, things kind of melt into each other, or don't even feel like they happened at all. i feel like when we first even decided to travel together, we were going for a party/boozing vacation. but as reality set it, we just kinda needed to chill out. and maybe even detox cuz we were goin so hard at home, prior.

until now.
heh heh heh.

right after a restful day at laem singh, we headed back to patong to make ourselves decent before hitting up some happy hour specials at margarita's and then at the ex pat. the spesh at margarita was 2 for 1 drinks, so i went for 2 long island iced teas. they were pretty poorly made, but did the trick. because by the time i got to the expat to have some cheap san miguel's, the manager tried having a convo with me and i was pretty not into it.



i did manage to beat keya at 2 pool games, thus proving i am a drunk idiot savant. and we had a pretty even set of matches of connect 4.

after happy hour was over, we headed to bangla road to check out real patong night life.
unfortunately, most of the bars were seedy. i mean, we expected that, but i guess what i meant to say was seedy and too expensive to be worth it.
we did check em out - the few aussie bars, and one irish pub (to use the bathroom), but there were no decent patrons around to make it worth it either.
so where did we end up?



Yes, the golden arches. even in thailand, girl gets her post-drinking burger craving. i will not complain because she treated me to fries. and then she resumed to break her camera and spill water all over and in her bag (both separate incidents). wasted, much?

and still, when we left mcd's, we stopped by this cart that sold cheap pina coladas, so even though we were done with partying and pretty inebriated as it was, we of course had to buy one. which we sipped on till we got home. somehow. miraculously. i guess our sense of direction is heightened too when drunk. thank buddha for that.

and at the sensible time of 10:30, we went to bed. we party hard.
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under the sea

1:05 a.m. nikki sp
thanks to an awesome tour booking agent and some good judgment on our behalf (rule #1, ALWAYS book with a non-female agent. Best is with an older, grandpa-like man, or a lady-boy), we had a fantastically cheap getaway to the phi phi islands. it's almost ridiculous to think of how inexpensive this all was after the conversion - anywhere else, the price we paid would barely even cover transfer from hotel to the marina, let alone a cruise to several islands, snorkelling gear, lunch and snacks, and return transfer. if i haven't said it already, thailand is spoiling us. i don't think it is possible anywhere else (well, maybe some other asian island places nearby. maybe) to have such a luxurious vacation on such little cash. i didn't think it was possible, but i think it's gonna make me even cheaper once i get back home.

anyway, with this stroke of luck, we ended up at phi phi and i finally got to snorkle!!! this meant i got to try out my underwater pack that allowed me to take pictures with my digicam without having to spend ridic amounts on an apparatus.
let's take a look.



Feeding time


I'm gonna call this a needle fish

I called this one the hip fish. Look at those cool colours!

pretty neat eh?

at the end of our tour, on the way home, the guides decided to dress up as ladyboys. we discovered this upon waking up from our naps. needless to say, it was an odd awakening, but i assume it was par for the course in thailand, and nonetheless a cultural experience.

to make things even better, on the way home, we spotted a row of carts selling cheap foods right behind the mall where we watched couples retreat (yeah, we watched a movie on vaycay. whatevskies). and we hit it up and it was deliciously cheap.

and on top of that, keya forced me to indulge in sundaes with her even though we ate a ridic amount already.



hurts so good.
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a very patong xmas

11:54 p.m. nikki sp

admittedly, we weren't terribly thrilled about phuket when we first arrived. airport congestion, higher cab fares started the rocky trip. and then as we progressed along the main strips near our hotel, we were met with much seediness, quite akin to that of vegas.

but, the beach was there to placate us, and our first sighting of it was at sunset, so that improved our first impression of phuket.

we were initially going to have a big christmas dinner on actual christmas day, but most establishments were going all out on the eve so we hit that up. we actually ran into 2 cali boys that we met in chiang mai and tried asking for their advice on where to find a good traditional xmas din, but they were like 'actually we're both jewish', once again blocking any future conversation. fail. fortunately, with kimberley's guidance (the chick we met while we were ziplining), we checked out one of the american chain hotels to see what their specials were. and lo and behold, we hit the jackpot.

the food selection was too extensive and too delicious for me to actually remember where we ate. but we made out like bandits. not only did they have a carving station with a whole turkey (i was so set on getting dark meat!!!), it included roast beef, ham, and several other meats. PLUS there were several other stations, amazing appetizers, wonderful desserts... oh man, all of our activity in chiang mai definitely went out the window with this one.

nonetheless, we still hit up an extravagant dinner on xmas, some seafood by the waterfront. we did have a spring roll delivery to our beach chairs earlier in the day by a dude singing "spri-ing rolls, spri-ing rolls" to the tune of jungle bells. but that was not enough to take us through the evening. it's very nice to have a friend that has very similar eating habits and zero dietary restrictions like you when you're travelling. it made our meals plenty easy. with this plate we were able to substitute crab instead of fish, so we got our own serving of it!
since we were seated by the water, we saw a bunch of lanterns go off over the beach and it was an enchanting sight.
and because we're fatasses, we indulged in gelato afterward and then agreed that this was the last expensive meal we would have for the rest of our trip. a great xmas present for us indeed.


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in the jungle

9:20 p.m. nikki sp
so we did our ziplining tour today, and boy was it an eventful one. it got off to a rocky start, but i was fortunate enough to be grouped with some great people, and one not so great person - a family of 3 boys and their parents from australia, a canadian woman currently living in chicago, and a creepy israeli dude who was more likely than not, a rapist. it was much by chance that we ended up with them because we were supposed to start our day at 9, but we were never picked up. once we resolved the issue with the company, they agreed to group us in at 12:30. i was a little disappointed in yaya who seemed to have dropped the ball on this one, until we met our group.
there's something nice about spending time with a family when yours is nowhere nearby.

the late start allowed us to fully gorge on our complimentary breakfast (ie condensed milk) some more, read and nap before embarking on our adventure. the first dude we met was the israeli, who was clearly someone who came to thailand to indulge in the sex industry and opiates. when the boys came on, i believe he kept trying to get them to join him to do sketchy things, but they maintained they were on a fam vacation and left it at that.

let me say that, even though i came to a new country to experience a different culture, it was wonderful to meet a fellow canadian, and a torontonian at that. having been so rooted in the t-dot, I find it hard to even relate to west coast Canadians. nevertheless... she was in her early thirties and had moved to the US a while ago. it was nice hearing her story and even nicer that she could relate to our sense of humour when we made petty judgements about the creepy douchebag. although she moved well before the US buckled down, she gave me a great sense of hope that I could make it there myself, which was a nice relief. AND at the end, she gave me her e-mail and told me if I wanted to work at the LA times during the summer time, she would be glad to help me out with a visa. this is a big deal. not only that- when I heard she worked for the Chicago Tribune, I was considering asking her for a hookup, so for her to offer without me having to feel like I was imposing was very sweet.




although all adventures I have had here are inherently fun and exciting, the people today especially - both our tour group and our ziplining guides - made it so much more enjoyable. so, there is no way i can fault Yaya for this mis-communication with our pickup time, because s/he probably knew, someway, somehow, that we'd have a much more rockin time in the later trip.


this is probably my favourite day in thailand so far, for the feeling of camaraderie and warmth (of the emotional sort, not climate... as it is constantl warm here) so close to chistmas, yet so far from our families.

this present was all i could as for.
:)
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trekkin on

12:50 a.m. nikki sp
after an abbreviated breakfast, we were whisked away to this random location nearby where we were waiting for our tour bus. it was unnecessary cuz the bus that picked us up passed right by our hotel again. i could have had an extra half hour and handfuls of doughy breakfast treats. alas.

i was pretty excited to see that there was another canadian on our tour, but my excitement wore off when i learned he was just another english teacher on vacation.
win some, lose some.
there was another pair of young ladies who seemed pretty unenthused the whole trip till lunchtime when they learned i was living in LA (they were from san diego). other than that, there was minimal interaction with the rest of our tour mates.

again, our tourguide nom was great, lovely sense of humour and zest for life. we started in the elephant camp and it was so adorable - the baby elephant nursing. the right through the jungle was a chilled adventure, our elephant guide was singing/humming/whistling gently to our pachyderm. unlike the quiet gir;s' guide, who was belting foreign tunes out. to which i could only respond "this isn't thai idol". what a douche. he kept hitting his elephant too. how mean :( at the end of the ride, we got to feed the little ones, which was both fun and terrifying when their trunks were all up in my grill.


we then walked through the villages, which, ignorant as this may sound, was getting a little repetitive. the saving grace for this one was this super cool boy that i dubbed "the disney kid". full of adventure and spunk. there was also a piggy, which was probably the first one only one i will see here.

hiking through the jungle to the waterfall, keya and i were having a pretty intense concersation. so much so that i lost my concentration and coordination walking and i took a little spill. my knee got pretty scraped, can't say i'm surprised that i got injured. but it made me pretty wary of swimming in the waterfall in case it would get infected. also, i didn't really wanna face the hassle of getting changed and also hangin out with wet hair.

we did some more hiking, which got brutal. not because the terrain was difficult, but because one of the tourists smelt so foul, so when she walked with her hands on her waist, a pungent odour wafted behind her, requiring at least 25 ft of space to be out of the stink radius. i have a terrible sense of smell, but when i notice something reeking this bad, you know it's vile.

we had a nice lunch that allowed us to bond a little more, but not to any bff degree. it was nice cuz it made the rest of the arvo more comf and jovial. this was important with our final stop: the bamboo raft.
not sure what keya did to our rafter, but he seemed to have it in for her. i mean, the trip started off nice enough. keya even said "i feel like huckleberry finn!" to which i said "all we need is racists!"
well, i guess our paddler must have been racist, as, after all, the brown girl was at the back of the boat and taking all the flack throughout the trip. it was hilar how many times she almost got smoked in the face. i told her to channel her inner crocodile hunter - what would stever irwin say? she did well enough, as none of us fell in the river. we got a fair bit soaked and it did look like we soiled ourselves at the end of it. but like in billy madison - all the cool kids were doing it.

a pretty quick trek, but satisfying nonetheless. evidently so, as we all took a wee nap on the way home.
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mountain braking

6:42 a.m. nikki sp
so we enjoyed our first complimentary breakfast at our hotel, complete with condensed milk. oh and brittany murphy dying. a really random news factoid, but did not put a hamper on our plans.

so to satisfy keya's need to check out the doi suthep temple and my desire to bike, we ventured on with this mountain biking tour company. i figured it would be a similar thing to my mexico trip with biking, ziplining and cenote swiming, so i was all about it.

when we arrived at the office and saw our fellow tour mates, we realized how much more intense this would be. there were about 5 different treks going on with varying difficulties. some families had even brought their own gear and cycling dress. pretty intimidating. but i guess the nature of this company was for the very adventurous.
it was a relief to know that keya and i were the only ones on tour nine. mostly because nobody else could judge our ability. even though keya and i are pretty comfortable city bikers, i think we underestimated the bitchiness of real mountain terrain. even taking a practice bike around when we first got there was kind of a struggle and rendered a simple life-like moment as i almost rolled backward down the hill because i was laughinh so hard at keya's inability to get up. lewis, our tour guide, was gonna have a handful with us on his trail.

i eventually got the hang of it, and it became evident to me that it was more like mountain braking and not so much biking as my fingers got more of a workout than my legs. it was cool to see how much momentum i got once i released my brakes and was propelled uphill without any pedalling. physics in action!
and once we got more settled in the tour part, it was even cooler that we were solo cuz lewis gave us some history lessons and more importantly introduced us to local foods. the first was rotee, a muslim pancake preparation that was so good that we had to have it again later in the night once we returned to the city.

and secondly was chiang mai ice cream which was served between 2 slices of white bread with some coconut sticky rice in between scoops. lewis got us. it was a great match.


the temple was also quite lovely and we received this sort of rope bracelet from the monk's assistant before the monk said a blessing. it was a very nice spiritual thing and made me think about what i wanted to achieve out of life.

outside of that, biking got to be easier as we went along. the most terrifying part was when we were along the narrow road and there were cars zooming by in both directions. fortunately, chiang mai drivers are more considerate than LA drivers so we weren't in any major danger.
...or so i thought, until lewis took us on a death mission on our final leg after eating to head back to the office to pick our stuff up. there was nowhere on the pamphlet that said we'd be biking around the city. but here we were. almost getting hit dodging rush hour traffic. without any protective gear. maybe the most adventurous part of our bike ride!
luckily we made it unscathed through the urban jungle. what a ride.

and then we came home in utter shock to see that the mcdonald's at the bottom of our hotel, which was rather unassembled the night before, fully built and open for business. a testament to globalism if i even saw one.

i'm lovin it. (but not really)
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mai o mai chiang mai

5:02 p.m. nikki sp
as much as i travel and learn lessons about cultural stuff and well, just how to travel in general, i still make mistakes. and so, my journey to chiang mai began with what i would call a vegemite fail.
there was only one thing i asked from keya from oz. not tim tams, but obviously the mite as i had just previously mentioned. when she first handed it off to me at our hotel in bangkok, we joked that our maid - of all the things she could take - would probably go for the vegemite. so i promptly hid it in my purple bag and had forgotten about it. until the airport. it was funny too cuz when we were walking through the airport, i was like 'keya, my bag feels so much heavier.' and only when i was stopped at the security checkpoint and dude was like 'what's this?' and i felt the bag and was like 'keya oh no the vegemite!' did i realize the error in my packing ways.
dude asked me to open it, asked me if it was chocolate, asked me what it was and i responded 'yeast extract spread? not a gel!' ...but security wasn't having any of it. so i sadly had to part with my yeast extract spread. :( sadface

the flight was short and sweet and when we got to the airport, we saw many teams who would be our amazing race competition: christian couple, old couple, brothers, jock team, etc etc. luckily we got a good, cheaper cab than most of our competitors and dude had an awesome sense of humour which obvi meant we were in first place.
our hotel again was an awesome find, perfectly located. with what little research we did, we did so good!
so after chilling for a bit, we did a walkaround our hood to book activities for the next 3 days. this was a fun adventure in haggling and finding good tours. the first place we checked was an sta, and we were nowhere close to getting a price we wanted cuz mother hen just wasn't having any of it. we took note of this elephant trek for 700b which we inevitably ended up booking though that was originally on the backburner cuz we saw a tour that included that and ziplining, but wanted to shop around.

so our next stop was noi cafe where we encountered our first ladyboy yaya. she was able to give us pretty good prices almost too easily so we needed to triple check to make sure we were better informed. so we hit up this other little indiscriminate booth, and the lady there was pretty keen on the game. she steered us away from the tarzan all-in-one tour cuz we wouldn't be able to see everything and may get split up, so we decided to do ziplining on a different day and found a good bike tour to take us to doi suthep which covered all the bases that both keya and i wanted to check. elements of culture, adventure, nature. perfection. unfortunately, this lady wasn't so budging on the price so we told her we'd get something to eat first before making our decision as a clever, thinly veiled exit strategy, when we were really just heading back to yaya.

we told yaya about our new plan and gave us a deal enough, so we were pretty stoked on our itinerary for the rest of our stay.

so we grabbed a bite to eat at a resto around the corner before heading to the markets right across the hotel, as the mcdonalds downstairs in our hotel was still just under construction.

and man oh man were these sunday walking markets amazing. prob the best market seen in my marketing life. while i can't even begin to detail how awesome it was, i can note my purchases: 2 cute dresses, 2 slap bracelet watches, and a lovely tshirt designed by little tiger. everything was totally worth it. and a perfect way to spend our first half a day in chiang mai.
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dec 19, pt 3: nap fail

11:52 a.m. nikki sp
unfortunately, our well-deserved nap turned intoa 5-hour nap fail when i awoke, checked my watch and said, 'keya, unless my math is wrong, it's 12:40' to which she replied 'it's 12:36' after consulting with her phone.

i thought it would be primetime to hit coco walk as asian countries function on fashionably late. but when we got to the walk, we were sorely disappointed.

at this point, tube was closed as was its neighbour with the skeletal server. we were losing hope and keya especially was losing steam. but we gained resolve and hit the rock pub, which we had discussed prior - we'd need to be superwasted to enjoy this kitschfest patroned by ac/dc asian doppelgangers.
although it was our first drink of the night, they were the only place opened past 1 and i am pretty glad we got to experience it.
asian kids thrashing. asian cover band doing all sorts of classic and alternative rock. head banging. people jumping on stage.
all in all, a very rockin time that looked like pure happiness to everyone involved. it definitely helped us redeem our nap fail. and taught us this lesson: set alarm for late evening nap. which is a good partner to this previous lesson: make sure to set the am/pm right on the alarm.
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dec 19, pt 2: palatial

11:30 a.m. nikki sp
samrang was promptly waiting for us in the parking lot. i think he wanted to take us to some animal show, but we were pretty set on our itinerary, so we headed back to bangkok to see the grand palace. samrang had informed me the previous day that i would have to have sleeves and pants, so i brought keya's cardi and wore my leggings under my tunic.
that was a double fail. on either ends of the spectrum.
a t-shirt would have passed, whilst my tights did not. so i had to borrow a skirt to put atop my leggings and i could have borrowed a shirt but i didn't wanna rack up my deposit, so i struggled in the thick sweater.

the palace was beautiful, there isn't much i can say about it to give anyone a good idea of what it was like to be thre. and it's not like i'm not a skilled descriptionist. i'm great at telling stories, but a place like that means something different to so many people, so i know my experience would just be very different from everyone else's.

the buddha was obviously a highlight for me and put me in this reflective state thinking bout religion and faith. western constructions vs eastern, westerners adopting eastern practices both seriously and superficially. it was quite nice for a place like that to inspire such thought. i also enjoyed taking a collection of pictures of these statuettes with such distinct personalities. at first i thought there were just 4, but the further we ventured around the grounds, there were plenty more. they reminded me of the 7 dwarfs, but there were more than 7 and they were quite adequately sized and not dwarfs. plus, i also liked noting the other tourists who made it past the fashion police despite their tight pants or revealing shirt. most of these tourists were white, so naturally i assumed racism was in play when making this asian girl put on awkward garment.

by the end of that 2 hours, keya and i couldn't be stuffed to really investigate the museums further as we were starving, so i returned my borrowed skirt, got my deposit and we left.

we were gonna be adventurous and look for street food, but samrang was creepily on our scent and came to take us to the car quickfast. he wanted to take us to the reclining buddha right away, byt we communicated well enough how much we wanted food, and cheap food at that. so he took us to this little cafe thing that advertised mexican food. i was a little skeptical, esp since coming from little mexico aka los angeles - tacos were the last thing i wanted. fortunately, when we hada crack at the menu, there was a great and affordable selection, so i got a couple of fresh fruit shakes and red curry which was so rich and delicious and will no doubt be my weight gain downfall. i also took the opportunity to jump into the net cafe and quickly tell my mom the deal with my cell phone.


and then we were off and samrang took us to the reclining buddha. kinda the same deal with the palace - hard to describe, but overall worthwhile. esp since it was pretty cheap. the greatest part of this leg was the end of it: searching for samrang.

we were so used to him on our trail when we needed to leave, but this time he was nowhere to be found. we did a walkaround inside the grounds and even walked the perimeter outside the grounds, getting a touch of hope every time we saw a thai man in an aqua coloured shirt. alas, twas not samrang.
it was cool though - our first time really fending for ourselves and seeing parts of bangkok without someone to hold our hands.
after about a half an hour of wandering, going a little hysterical and fending off tuktuk drivers, we went back toward the reclining buddha and lo and behold, saw a sight for sore eyes: our samrang.
i grabbed keya and was like 'let's jump on the mat!' in reference to our amazing race-like attitude whenever we hit a momentous checkpoint. by the time we reunited with samrang, we were giggling and i'm sure he had no idea what was going on but was glad oo that he found us.
and so, with that eventful end to our sightseeing, we drove off into the sunset, back to our hotel for a well-deserved nap after a day of boating, walking, eating, and searching for and finding samrang.

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dec 19, pt 1: float on

12:36 a.m. nikki sp
we were [rudely] awoken this morning at 8/8:30 by our driver samran (wo will from this point onward be known as samrang) as we apparently agreed that he would take us around to the floating markets, grand palace, and reclining buddha. he cost more than i would like to admit spending, and we were trying to strategize how we could find another way there. but in the end, i'm cool that we had samrang take us around. saved us a lot of time in te end. and taught us a bit about being wary of hotel information.

during the drive over, it was clear we had no idea how far these markets were. the drive was a good hour or so and we were promised a free coconut and coffee and water, on which he only half delivered :( sadface. i really wanted my own coconut. and soon enough we hit the water for an amazing experience that words and pictures couldn't even begin to descrive. but lemme say this - when we got on the boat, one of the dudes took a picture of keya and me just as my bottle was falling and i freaked out because i thought it would fall in the river. it didn't. it landed safely in the boat so the guy took another picture and we were on our way.

a couple notable moments:
-we haggled some prices for art and believe me, we still probably got ripped off. but whatever, dude had 3 children to support.
-we were starving for some snackage, was a little turned off by liquid food in sandwich bags so we were extremely delighted to see 'vegetable no meat springrolls' which we asked out boat driver to stop for. so the spring rolls were delivered to us by boar, sauced to the extreme, and devoured with delight, not before...
-we ended up seeing another spring roll boat and made eye contact with the lady manning that boat, who saw that i was just finishing up my serving. i smiled. she smiled. and gave me a nod of approval as if to say 'yeah spring rolls'. they just got us.
-we also saw his little child who was naked and couldn't determine whetehr it was a boy or girl until we got closer. as we got close enough to discover the kid was a boy, he bashfully covered his junk with his hand, so we waved at him to let him know we weren't judging, and he sweetly broke out in the biggest smile and waved back and waddled onward
-toward the end of our ride, we noticed an abundant number of these cobra show posters claiming to be 'the most exciting show in the world' which were beginning to pique our interest cuz of effective marketing presence. but to which i could only say, 'have they seen super juan'? cobra show is, at best, second most exciting

-and to top it off, when we arrived back at the dock, we were seated for some water and they placed plates in front of us. they were of the 2 photos taken when we were embarking on the journey. keya didn't want one of the tacky things, but i was able to haggle a decent price which became totally worth every baht when seeing their reaction after i told them i wanted the one of me rescuing my fallen bottle and keya judging me for it. the lady did a double take, asked me if i was sure, tried forcing the other photo plate on me. but after i told her i was sure about my decision, she incredulously shared this with 2 other coworkers who co-judged my purchase and reluctantly packed up the faulty plate while leaving the pretty, presentable one behind. i love being judged nonverbally. body language is so telling, and hers told us 'you bitches have way to much money on your hands to be wasting it on this busted photo.' and you know what - i would have to agree.
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thai.landing

12:09 a.m. nikki sp
after a quickie flight from taipei to bkk consisting of public enemies, bookworm and sudoku on in-flight entertainment, and chicken pasta and wine as the breakfast meal, i landed safely in bkk around noon.
made it through immigration alright though i could swear that lineups were conspiring against me, as i managed always to take the one that took the longest.
and finally.
i was reunited with keya.

the first bit of our reunion was somewhat of an ordeal on my end because i was deadset on sorting out my flight home to make sure it wasn't ultra retarded. and after heaps of politeness, the lady informed me that i could get my ideal itinerary for jan 4. omg, such a relief.

so we made or way by taxi to our hotel. now, i know LA traffic was terrible, but i'm pretty sure bangkok traffic has them beat. it's no wonder there are so many people on motorbikes meandering through the islands of cars.

our checkin was fine. we awkwardly avoided tipping our bellboy, and that may affect our karma later on. but to be fair, keya's culture doesn't even tip. and i beleive in tipping after the fact, to reward good service. plus, we were pretty distracted by all the amenities our room offered. like, plentiful photo ops of quirky things. love it.





at this point, it was 3ish, so we made our way over to coco walk across the street, which was accessble by the skytrain overpass! surprisingly in that plaza, only one place was serving food while the rest of the places were bars gearing up for the eve. so we had a little snack to tide us till our all you can eat buffet boat cruise on the chao phraya II. yeah, the information people in our hotel were very crafty marketers. we got some spring rolls and this salad whilst being entertained by this exciting show about a boy named super juan who distracted us from a catchup. totally worth it. not sure what happened in the show or our conversation, but i do know for a fact that juan is super.

and so, we headed back to our room for a well deserved nap tat i couldn't commit to fully. partially cuz there was this enthralling show about this miracle animals that doggy sweetheart and these healing horses.
we woke up around 530 to give us ample time to get ready and have a drink downstairs.
i wish we didn't have time for the latter, cuz we got pretty jacked on the prices. stupid bitch added tax, the first time the advertised price was before tax. so disappointing. but whatevskies. live and learn.

it was perfect timing though, cuz we were whisked away right as we were settling our tab to the riverfront amongst many, many other tourists. it was the perfect thing for us because we had the front seat (the bow? i guess...) on the upper deck, so we had the best view for photo ops. and the music was great as were the other passengers to help put us into the xmas spirit.

it was a pretty decent buffet too, but i couldn't fill up too much which i guess was a good thing. mostly gorged on soup and this other thai dessert that has a pretty cool texture and reminded me of flip halo-halo.

and so, we had a pretty chilled out rest of the cruise and finally had our catchup that superjuan deprived us of and made it back to our hotel around 10, giving us good time to get ready and go out along coco walk again.

unfortunately, keya was reaching her sleeping point and it was all i could do to convince her to join me for a drink before heading to bed. she kept saying 'oh, we will have a big one tomorrow,' but with my experience with lynn, i knew that may never happen so i'm glad she agreed to hit coco once more.

i'll just say that the tube bar (for which i had searched and discovered by googling 'indie rock bar thailand') was the reason i asked keya to book our hotel as it was conveniently located across the street. and when we eventually ended up at the tube after touring the plaza to check out our options for cheap drinks and cool people, we ended up thre and had a very chilled out cool time. much better ending up there than the bar next door with the uncomfortably skinny server that made me want to donate all my fat reserves to make her seem like she couldn't stab me with her bones simply by sitting on me. ew. so skeletal.
tube was also great cuz they had an english menu outside, and even more - to order drinks, we just had to check off which ones we wanted on a list instead of pointing at it on the menu and having the wrong drink ordered cuz our fat fingers were misguided. yeah. we were westernizing this experinece, but to be fair, the whole area was devoid of foreigners, so it was cool that we discovered this spot among the locals.

and then we went home and crashed.

ps i don't have any cellular connection which makes me slightly nervous. just in case i wanna reconfirm my flights, as well as get in touch with my mom. i hope it doesn't become too much of a problem
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gettin laid.over

11:14 p.m. nikki sp
[transcribed]
taipei 22:13

oh my shit. another long stretch in the airport. will probably lose my mind. better get a better, more direct flight on the way home. i dunno what i was thinking but a 1 hr flight sandwiched betwen 2 8ish hour layovers after a 15 hr flight is enough to drive me crazy. or fly me crazy.
yikes.
i wish i packed my rechardger. then i could be good with my iphone and free wifi for the next 10 hours. but no. packed it in checked baggage. erroneous.
must conserve energy :(

i have none of the local currency. so i dont think i can even buy a drink from the vending machine. i dont know wht time my body is on. my l.a. watch says 6:18 am. brutal.
just had breakfast a couple hours ago on the plane. but locally, it's dinner time.

definitely appreciated the personal entertainment consoles on the plane. but didn't like how bright the cabin was for a lot of the time.
i dunno why airports dont have arcades or movie theatres. this one has a gallery and museum. but that won't keep me entertained for more than 10 minutes. goddamn. i just want a seat on the internets.

i definitely learned some lessons with booking this trip:
- it's worth it to dish a couple of bills to avoid long layover/multiple stops
-consider star alliance partners. i totally coulda racked up on aeroplan miles for this flight
- be patient! don't go crazy for the cheapest first flight you find. esp since you're gonna be going to school later in the week you get back.

i missed my window of opportinity. i had a really good, affordable flight. i waited too long for keya's confirmation. and in the end we both kind of are dealing with the consequences.

ok gonna go for nethunt!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

it's 7:26am now in the taipei airport.
i will head to my gate shortly after i update on my overnight escapades.

i didn't initally find internets on my initial hunt. i mean, i did, but it was all occupied. and everyone was updating their facebook, or creeping it. how funny. what a testament to our generation. everyone's first instinct once getting off the plane is to update their status and check out everyone else's. but anyway... my adventure:

first of all, not sure what taipei's airport code is, i think it's tpi... anyway man, terminal 2 kicks terminal 1's ass. it has a theatre and is so much cleaner and brighter and the air qual is heaps better. and yeah, that totally matters if you're stuck for at least 12 hours overnight in a place. screw edmonton.

the bummer part is that these perks close at 11. you're kicked off the free internet at 11. they shut down the plasma screens. and then you're left wandering.

i was definitely left wandering for a bit. i had no idea where the rest of my in transit buddies went till hours later. so after sitting isolated at the gate, i asked one of the people at the other gates who directed me to the transit hotel.
well, i had 6 hours to kill, so i thought it may be worth it.
but when i got there, no rooms were vacant :(

it worked out cuz i found a nice stretch of couch seating in terminal 2 and another westerner had set up shop there too. there was a good amount of space between us so it wasn't creepy, but within close proximity to the security cams so it was safe.

so i passed out for a good few hours. the couch was this leathery texture, and i was sleeveless, so i was a weird combination of sticky warm under my blanket, and chilled. like a weird fever feeling in my upper back.
not into it.

at about 5ish, i needed to pee, so i headed to the toilets.
and then took a picture, because i had no idea what that thing was


and i have since gotten in contact with keya about meeting her. she arrived safely. and in an hour i shall be on my flight. and then see her in like 4 hrs. i really hope they feed me. even though i had breakfast in the airport here. it's the least they can do. i also hope i can get some wine. i dont care if it's early here. it's evening back home so whatever.

and then it's off to check in at our hotel, freshen up a bit before hitting bangkok.
hehehehe.

oh boy i'm pretty stoked!!!!!!
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16 hours in edmonton "international" airport

10:33 a.m. nikki sp
so i'm practicing my loitering skills.
incredibly grateful that while i'm not too thrilled to be back in canada -- especially in edmonton, the coldest "metropolitain centre", no doubt -- i am kept sane by the following:
1) harveys
1a) poutine
1b) an electrical socket near my table keeping my macbook on life support
1c) a free, relatively operable wifi connection (datavalet)
1d) closing time of 10pm (wish it was 24 hrs though)
1e) friendly, patient employees that do not kick me out
1f) free refills on my small drink, giving me full license to loiter
1g) a bladder that hasn't quit on me yet!

i mean i could've numbered these items separately. but really, they're all working together to make my experience at YEG a pleasant one. if i didn't have 1, the others would not exist.

anyhow.

i've been here for almost 3 hours if i count correctly.
it's kinda hard to keep track because edmonton is an hour ahead. but we left almost an hour late. my computer is not re-synced and is still on l.a. time. but my phone has updated itself.
i get confused trying to do the math first of all, and even more so when i switch between iphone/macbook.

the first thing i did when i got here was urinate, which can explain why i've been able to refill on these iced teas without having to re-empty.

and then i located the harv's on the departures level and ordered me some poutine and small drink. best $6.22CAD investment so far. especially since i dont have to rely on effin boingo hotspot or whatever, which would no doubt add to my expenses.

and after that, i streamed what was already loaded of csi: miami... yeah i'll admit it. i'm not ashamed.

and since then, i've been trying to fiddle around with the connection as i still have half the episode to go and i don't like to be kept in suspense.

i've been alternating between seeing 2 secs of buffered csi before rebuffering, and 2 secs of peak season followed by 10+ minute freeze.

datavalet, please be good to me! i still have 11 hours to go in edmonton... i guess 2 left at harvs.

luckily leanna is online and entertaining me. hopfully this can keep me stimulated for a whiles.


damn. leanna's gonzo. this draft is not autosaving... i'm becoming a little skeptical about technology, but still holding onto the hope that it will keep me going.

this is my plan. it is now 8pm locally. so yeah, 2 more hours at harvs. may very well order another poutine.

whenever that happens, it will probably take me all of 5 minutes to eat it. 3 if i devour it. 10 if i savour it.

and then try to take advantage of internets and free refills.

once the 10th hour hits... i guess i will relocate and go on a hunt for free wifi.
if i am successful, i will stream some more questionble tv shows.
if i am not, i will just hunt for an outlet to keep my macbaby alive. and watch the dvd's i bought.

if i cannot find a suitable outlet, i will read. read until i get tired.
and then i will resume my hunt.

i have 3 dvds.

i am still so impressed with my bladder.

once i exercise all my multimedia options (i mean, i guess i could listen to my ipod foreversies...), i will seek out the 24 hour chapel and meditate/sleep but pretend to meditate. if that is what my god wished for me to do during me pilgrimmage to edmonton, nobody should deprive me of that practice. right?

i have already checked in, so i guess i will make my way into the post security zone around 6 or whatever? explore further options of free wifi and electricity.

it's a pretty good plan.

i just hope i can outlast it.

i'm getting pretty wary of recirculated airport/airplane air. it dehydrates me.

but thank god for free refills.

so i'm also learning that safari connects me better with the internet.
i suspected it before, but i was very reluctant to accept it because firefox (pre last update) was pretty reliable. and at least autosaved the windows and tabs whenever it decided to crash.

i think i found a sweet spot with the internet... i was able to watch about 20 secs of peak season before it paused...

oh no. bladder starting to give me some warning signs.
it's only 8:30 local time. eff.

ok i have relocated and datavalet is still showing up... i am gonna save this post to see if it was correct.


success!
...not nearly as comfy on this chair sans table. but it'll have to do for now.
i dunno if this is gonna put a crimp on my poutine part 2 plans.
...it is probably for the best anyway.






update. it is 11:32 local time. only 9.5 hours left here. i still have managed to stay connected. but all this circulated air is making me fear for my health. i don't do well with airconditioning for prolonged periods of time. i get congested. allergic. my throat tightens... argh.

i just got off the phone with my mother, crying because of the potential stress i may face. not just with the border, but with the international office at my school, as well as departing for thailand and then returning from thailand and meeting the border again. it's stress that i have prepared to deal with [... by crying...] but stress i obviously don't care to face.

i've been so so so so so lucky every other time i've crossed the border. i have never faced any setbacks or whatever. and i don't want to start now.
i know that once i get that 1-90 form in my passport, things aren't gonna be so easy breezy either. but whatever. that is something i was willing to risk with my relocation here.
i've done everything thing right and legally, with much forethought and preparation. i would be terribly heartbroken if it was all for naught.

i'm trying to keep my hopes hi. as i was saying by to mommy, i was like 'hey, maybe i will go to the chapel after all and pray that this all goes smoothly hahah'... i guess it won't be just a site of 'meditation' for me anymore.
anyway, i don't even feel bad about loitering or sleeping here as another feller has set up shop along a row of chairs. he even brought a pillow. so if anything, he will be busted first. whilst i should be scot free seeing as i have a boarding pass, my computer which i am productively typing on, and consciousness. the latter is important so i can ensure that articles are with me at all times and don't get stolen or tampered with.
it's so tempting to pass out though.

i've also switched from csi to biggest loser. i've been able to stream like the first 3 minutes of it... but then get stuck. man, i've been exercising an awful lot of patience with this.
i'm just glad that i even have the internet and a computer to access it with in the first place. my eyes are too tired to even try reading the book i got. plus, i'm too distracted by the potential holdups that all of the book's wise words would be glossed over.
so now it's just the waiting game.
i feel like the time between 2-4am is the breaking point -- the moment when one decides whether or not she will pull an all nighter. 2 is when they begin considering it. and if they are awake by 4am, they got their answer.
if i do manage to pull an all nighter, i will have a tasty sleep on the plane. hopefully. because sunday will be spent prepping for monday.

there are these key dates that i'm currently fixated upon:
dec 13 (tm, when i cross the border)
dec 14 (mon, when i try to get my passport verified and travel signature)
dec 16 (wed, when i leave for thailand, and will hopefully have the travel sig)
...fuck.
there are a few thailand dates that i'm concerned with - dec 30, in regards to keya and me being able to get from phuket to koh phangnan.
as well as us getting from chiang mai to phuket via bangkok - dec 24, when we have 2 very close flights back to back...
and then...
jan 4 (when i am scheduled to return from thailand, if all goes well.

holy crap. that's more than i'd like to be worrying about.

is it karma for me having a fairly easy mid october to mid december?
eff that. this has been weighing on me ever since may.
oy.


....

1:44 local time now. 7 more hours till i make it pass security clearance. i mean, i guess i could go at the sixth hour or whatever...
man, i'm getting super itchy. this air is mighty dry. i feel really awkward scratching myself. i will prob leave this locale in an hour or so... grab some water... head to the chapel?
i'm pretty amped to check this puppy out.
i just don't wanna lose my net knex. and my electric spot.

.........


4:37 local time.
how did i spend my last hours?
watchin stuff. tryin to watch stuff. peein. headin to the chapel (which, by the way, was well marketed cuz i was pretty stoked on checkin it out... but somewhat disappointed upon arrival). checkin out airport internet. tryin to sleep. checkin out more airport internet. gettin tomato parmesan soup at tim hortons (open 24 hrs!!!). reclaiming my electric outlet spot.

and now here i am. watchin kung fu panda before i head back to harveys.
at least whilst i am in canada, even if i'm not actually outside, i am pretty much heavily experiencing canadiana, what with not only harvey's poutine(!!!) but tim horton's as well!!!

the airport is starting to get populated again.
i guess ticket sales for the day have started. i don't blame people for wanting to get out of this city.

.....................
5:41 ...soooo close. but starting. to. fade.
i would think that seeing more people would gimme more energy.
nah.
i wanna curl into fetal position and hide under my duvet.

my hands are cold and dry. stupid airport washroom soap.
i need lotion. i've tried using spit.
ineffective.

datavalet is getting spotty. i was having it pretty decent for a while. wtf?
is it all these other people that i now share the connection with.

i don't even know what's going on anymore.

.................................
7.
i tried sleeping. i dont think i was successful. but it passed me some time.
airport in considerably busier. i'm getting more and more parched. despite the soup, i am yearnin for some harv's.

this is a very cruel experiment i decided to conduct on myself.
i dig allnighters when someone else is up with me too.
but solo all nighters... very remniscent of last minute cramming at school.
maybe it is foreshadowing what's to come?
maybe it is a cautionary tale.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

it is monday night, i have since left edmonton. the remainder of my time was spent ingesting delicious, delicious poutine, trying to sleep some more, going through domestic security, realizing i went through the wrong security checkpoint, dealing with border patrol, making it through as a student (!!!), going through transborder security, getting to the busy ass gates, seeing the sky go from deep blue to pale white in a blink of an eye, waiting to board my delayed flight, realizing my mayo container from denny's exploded in my bag, cleaning it before boarding, boarding, and then sleeping my way till los angeles.

if i never have to set food in edmonton again, i'd be more than ecstatic.

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