Enlarge your house with glue
11:14 a.m.
thai bye bye
9:56 p.m.
at the queen's resort lodge. first time in thailand in a hotel by myself. that's right - i said goodbye to keya today. although we had a pretty thorough reminiscing sesh of the past half month it was still pretty surreal that everything all happened-- and even more so, that it was ending so soon.
yesterday when we were enduring our return transfer from hell aka koh phangnan to surat thani post full moon new year's party, i laughed at the thought: i can't believe keya and i became such good friends over the past 3 years that we could have the rockingest vacation in history. how amazing. it started with gossip in the lower cafeteria at UTS. it grew with exchanged posts and messages on fb. it became real when we hung out in la. and this whole trip has been 2 legit 2 quit.
when we were parting ways, it was definitely more of a "see you soon". soon, of course, being relative. but in our case, it's defo close enough. maybe in nyc or la. maybe i'll randomly end up in nz when she's there. it's only a plane ride (or 2) away, which is really nothing at all compared to the adventure that comes after it.
although we went on and on about the highlights and the hilariously painful lowlights, and though they've been recorded in both of our journals, there are not enough words to attribute to this crazy trip.
i am sad that it's winding down. there's somewhat of a void. i also wis i didn't have to endure 19ish hours of travel to be home sweet home. excited to sleep in my own bed finally and reunite with my roommies and ketchup chips. gonna be a shock to my system to go to orientation and start classes.
but it's not time to think of that just yet.
i got 10 hours left in thailand. ten hours left to enjoy the few channels of english programming among a hundred other cultural selections, catch some shuteye before a 530am wakeup cakk, and a couple hours spent in bkk airport, which keya lovingly called her second home where she spend 9 hours before reuniting with me.
sigh.
when we were parting ways, it was definitely more of a "see you soon". soon, of course, being relative. but in our case, it's defo close enough. maybe in nyc or la. maybe i'll randomly end up in nz when she's there. it's only a plane ride (or 2) away, which is really nothing at all compared to the adventure that comes after it.
although we went on and on about the highlights and the hilariously painful lowlights, and though they've been recorded in both of our journals, there are not enough words to attribute to this crazy trip.
but it's not time to think of that just yet.
i got 10 hours left in thailand. ten hours left to enjoy the few channels of english programming among a hundred other cultural selections, catch some shuteye before a 530am wakeup cakk, and a couple hours spent in bkk airport, which keya lovingly called her second home where she spend 9 hours before reuniting with me.
sigh.
haad rin'ing in the new year
8:35 p.m.
ttyn 2009, omg 2010.
although there are only a couple days left in this trip, it was nice having new years to look forward to, to build up to this whole holiday.
and it did not disappoint.
we spent our last day of the year on the beach, which come to think of it would be the last beach day of the vacation. under the advisement of our hotel manager, we went up to ko ma beach (or as i liked to call it, coma beach), and it was nothing short of paradise. there was a wicked sand bar dividing 2 bodies of water, that connected you to this other island. so we walked across and it was pretty rad.
yeah, another day at the beach.
yada yada yada, we went home and prepped for our new year's celebration.
this consisted of indulging in the hotel's free bbq (which i may come to regret, as i reckon some of the meat was undercooked, and i'm not doing so well... could be the booze... could be food poisining :/), raiding the nearby food carts for mango shakes, noodles and spring rolls, and predrinking as we got ready.
we were supposed to take the 9pm shuttle down to haad rin, so we promptly got down at 8:50. unfortunately, the tuk tuk had left early, so we waited another hour and resumed the drink fest. i was a little disappointed, because, well we asked for 9pm. but keya soon reminded me that this was thailand, they don't run by a standard of customer service. and we both agreed, this was probably happening for a reason. like, we probably would've peaked too early had we taken the nine. and we wanted to leave at 9:30 anyway, and since the busses seemed to be leaving earlier, we would get there at our initially preferred time.
so, when 9:40ish came, we boarded the tuk tuk with a bunch of other dissatisfied hotel patrons and headed down to drink our way into the new year. it was quite a bumpy ride, which made me all the more antsy to arrive.
as we got into the heart of haad rin, the electric energy in the air was emanating from every neon-painted body out there. hundreds and thousands of half-naked bodies sporting marks of where they were from, douchey sayings, and new years wishes. admittedly, and ashamedly i feebly tried to paint a maple leaf with some discarded pink paint. it failed. kind of a relief actually.
with buckets in hand, we traipsed around the length of the beach several times over, meeting new friends, dancing around, watching all the spectacles, avoiding the piss/puke polluted sea water, and judging all the eurotrash out there. and boy, was there a sea of them to judge.
at some point, i'm guessing midnight, fireworks went off, and it was quite a magical sight. i don't remember any countdown, i wouldn't even be surprised if these fireworks went off nowhere near midnight, but keya and i figured it was the new year and rejoiced in the delightfulness of the moment. i couldn't think of anywhere else i would rather be.
and so, with the party just beginning, we continued our rounds. i'm pretty sure i blacked out at some point. if i recall correctly, i shared a happy new years kiss with some kid from melbourne, who, cute as he was, slobberily showed his inexperience. for some reason, i had the idea that keya was gonna kiss him too, but that doesn't make any sense and i know that didn't happen. we just moved on. the hunt continued.
although we had been in thailand for a couple of weeks, we had only gone out a few times, none of which were manhunting moments. so it was very interesting to see how keya would fare as a winggirl.
and by interesting, i would say hilariously disappointing.
fuzzy as my memory may be, i do know i spotted this aussie who i was sure was keen. but in my highly intoxicated, possibly food-poisoned state, i could not muster up a good opener. all i could do was give him the eyes, and hope he would man up.
which is probably what he was going to do, before keya intervened. chatted up the dude's friend, made no effort to introduce us before dismissing them.
winggirl fail.
it's okay though, i should have known to expect this out of her.
and i managed to meet another aussie regardless (actually, it would've been harder to avoid them, as about 93% of the party attendees were aussie). despite donning a rasta toque, he was quite pleasant company to enjoy the early hours of the new decade with, even more pleasant once the toque disappeared. so i wandered the beach with him, keya consenting to our separation, and i unfortunately met his dickhead friends. i forgot this about aussie blokes - cool on their own, but biggest wankers in a group.
so, i left to reunite with my little keya unicorn. but when i called her at around 5:50, she had just made it back to our hotel. this both relieved and worried me. i'm glad she was able to make the most of her night without me there. i was worried that it took her very long to get home.
and rightfully so. as i followed the droves of people escaping from haad rin, i realized it was gonna be hell trying to get back. fortunately, our hotel was right by the pier, so several taxis were stopping there. unfortunately, however, it was a war to get on one of the vehicles. i almost considered jumping on the back of a motorbike taxi for almost quadruple the amount, getting discouraged at all the passed out bodies in several alcoves of the beach - people who had just given up. but about an hour later, i managed to squeeze myself onto a van headed to thongsala pier.
and boy, thus followed another moment of small-world serendipity.
i was sharing the backseat with a guy and a girl, the guy awkwardly trying to make conversation - where was i from, how was i doing etc etc. after we had established we were all from toronto, we eased into more substantial convo. i had mentioned i moved to l.a. and discussed my goals with my comm mgmt masters. there was a pommy chick in front of us eavesdropping on our convo, and she highly approved of what i was doing, which really touched me and gave me more motivation to make a positive impact on the world. and then mike, the other torontonian dude, asked me if i was solo travelling. i explained to him that i was there meeting up with my friend from australia, but i had lost her at some point in the night. so then he was like 'is she brown, and does she have long wavy black hair??'. and my jaw just dropped. i told him to shut his face, and asked how the hell he knew my friend.
he explained he met her at the drum n bass stage, she was dancing for her life, and was really excited to meet him because we hadn't met any people really from my hometown. she wanted to introduce us, but i had wandered off with my aussie at this point, so it was only until the van, several hours later, that mike and i met!!!
this blew my mind. for several reasons. a) he's from toronto. b) he met keya c) he met me d) we ended up on the same taxi that was hard to get on in the first place e) etc etc
holy. serendipity.
so as soon as i made it home safely, albeit queasily as that bus ride was not a smooth one and alcohol was still coursing through my veins and acid churning in my stomach, i couldn't wait to share this coincidental encounter with keya before we passed out well into the day, for most of jan 1.
and so, although i am very literally sick to my stomach with my head not doing to well either, this whole series of events has made for an entirely worthwhile and awesome beginning to the new year -- to the new decade.
although there are only a couple days left in this trip, it was nice having new years to look forward to, to build up to this whole holiday.
and it did not disappoint.
we spent our last day of the year on the beach, which come to think of it would be the last beach day of the vacation. under the advisement of our hotel manager, we went up to ko ma beach (or as i liked to call it, coma beach), and it was nothing short of paradise. there was a wicked sand bar dividing 2 bodies of water, that connected you to this other island. so we walked across and it was pretty rad.
yeah, another day at the beach.
yada yada yada, we went home and prepped for our new year's celebration.
this consisted of indulging in the hotel's free bbq (which i may come to regret, as i reckon some of the meat was undercooked, and i'm not doing so well... could be the booze... could be food poisining :/), raiding the nearby food carts for mango shakes, noodles and spring rolls, and predrinking as we got ready.
we were supposed to take the 9pm shuttle down to haad rin, so we promptly got down at 8:50. unfortunately, the tuk tuk had left early, so we waited another hour and resumed the drink fest. i was a little disappointed, because, well we asked for 9pm. but keya soon reminded me that this was thailand, they don't run by a standard of customer service. and we both agreed, this was probably happening for a reason. like, we probably would've peaked too early had we taken the nine. and we wanted to leave at 9:30 anyway, and since the busses seemed to be leaving earlier, we would get there at our initially preferred time.
so, when 9:40ish came, we boarded the tuk tuk with a bunch of other dissatisfied hotel patrons and headed down to drink our way into the new year. it was quite a bumpy ride, which made me all the more antsy to arrive.
as we got into the heart of haad rin, the electric energy in the air was emanating from every neon-painted body out there. hundreds and thousands of half-naked bodies sporting marks of where they were from, douchey sayings, and new years wishes. admittedly, and ashamedly i feebly tried to paint a maple leaf with some discarded pink paint. it failed. kind of a relief actually.
at some point, i'm guessing midnight, fireworks went off, and it was quite a magical sight. i don't remember any countdown, i wouldn't even be surprised if these fireworks went off nowhere near midnight, but keya and i figured it was the new year and rejoiced in the delightfulness of the moment. i couldn't think of anywhere else i would rather be.
although we had been in thailand for a couple of weeks, we had only gone out a few times, none of which were manhunting moments. so it was very interesting to see how keya would fare as a winggirl.
and by interesting, i would say hilariously disappointing.
fuzzy as my memory may be, i do know i spotted this aussie who i was sure was keen. but in my highly intoxicated, possibly food-poisoned state, i could not muster up a good opener. all i could do was give him the eyes, and hope he would man up.
which is probably what he was going to do, before keya intervened. chatted up the dude's friend, made no effort to introduce us before dismissing them.
winggirl fail.
it's okay though, i should have known to expect this out of her.
so, i left to reunite with my little keya unicorn. but when i called her at around 5:50, she had just made it back to our hotel. this both relieved and worried me. i'm glad she was able to make the most of her night without me there. i was worried that it took her very long to get home.
and rightfully so. as i followed the droves of people escaping from haad rin, i realized it was gonna be hell trying to get back. fortunately, our hotel was right by the pier, so several taxis were stopping there. unfortunately, however, it was a war to get on one of the vehicles. i almost considered jumping on the back of a motorbike taxi for almost quadruple the amount, getting discouraged at all the passed out bodies in several alcoves of the beach - people who had just given up. but about an hour later, i managed to squeeze myself onto a van headed to thongsala pier.
and boy, thus followed another moment of small-world serendipity.
i was sharing the backseat with a guy and a girl, the guy awkwardly trying to make conversation - where was i from, how was i doing etc etc. after we had established we were all from toronto, we eased into more substantial convo. i had mentioned i moved to l.a. and discussed my goals with my comm mgmt masters. there was a pommy chick in front of us eavesdropping on our convo, and she highly approved of what i was doing, which really touched me and gave me more motivation to make a positive impact on the world. and then mike, the other torontonian dude, asked me if i was solo travelling. i explained to him that i was there meeting up with my friend from australia, but i had lost her at some point in the night. so then he was like 'is she brown, and does she have long wavy black hair??'. and my jaw just dropped. i told him to shut his face, and asked how the hell he knew my friend.
he explained he met her at the drum n bass stage, she was dancing for her life, and was really excited to meet him because we hadn't met any people really from my hometown. she wanted to introduce us, but i had wandered off with my aussie at this point, so it was only until the van, several hours later, that mike and i met!!!
this blew my mind. for several reasons. a) he's from toronto. b) he met keya c) he met me d) we ended up on the same taxi that was hard to get on in the first place e) etc etc
holy. serendipity.
so as soon as i made it home safely, albeit queasily as that bus ride was not a smooth one and alcohol was still coursing through my veins and acid churning in my stomach, i couldn't wait to share this coincidental encounter with keya before we passed out well into the day, for most of jan 1.
and so, although i am very literally sick to my stomach with my head not doing to well either, this whole series of events has made for an entirely worthwhile and awesome beginning to the new year -- to the new decade.
