Sunday, February 26, 2006

Bangkok fun...

Hey folks! I'm in Bangkok in 30°C + weather hanging and doing nothing that requires nothing involving my brain. Flight was good, airline food as always a pleasure. Arrived at about 2AM and Sammy was waiting at the airport (since 11PM, obviously deserving of a beer and great appreciation). We cabbed it to the guest house (aka Thailand speak for hostel - where we have a private room with air conditioning and a bath room - no hot water, but actually a perfect temperature out of the cold tap) and then straight out for "a" beer. Several hours and many beers later we decided we should go to bed (the other option being to not). The last few days have been similar alternating between midnight and I think it was about 8AM last night. With the hot temperatures during the day, it makes it easy to party during the night and sleep during the day. Sam thinks we're going to bed early tonight, but he thought that last night too...

Yesterday (during the day) was a nice day walking around visting the Grand Palace (the big royal compound - I kepth thinking Kind and I?), a Wat (read temple with biggest gold Buda in Thailand that's a couple hundred feet long), and an hour long Thai massage for a $7 or so. Ah, life is rough. I guess I should talk about the food to since it is somewhere between incredible and amazing. I was obviously expecting good food, but I wasn't expecting such good food lining the streets in carts, holes in the wall, dive bars and restaurants. And typically for between 20 and 100 bat per meal (40 baut to the dollar, so $0.5 to $2.50 per meal). The alcohol is clearly proving to be the biggest expense (a big beer is ~60 bat and, after one or two or more, is always more than the meal!)

Tomorrow (Monday) I'm going to try and get cash (the Wells Fargo debit system / computer is somehow screwed up as Sam and I have both found out, though Wells Fargo denies it), Sammy has to get a visa for Bangladesh, and then we're heading out of town a few hours north for a few days. On Wednesday, we're heading back to Bangkok to meet up with Erin and Justin (and their two friends from Washington, Nate and Krystal) who have been down south (where I was supposed to be climbing, but turns out hanging in Bangkok has been the choice). We shall then cause a day or two of trouble again in Bangkok and then the 4 of us (N & K going home I believe) begin the slow voyage to Cambodia. We're going to take the slow road / bus / train / boat route (pronounced roawte and not root, for you Americans) to the south and take a week to get there. In Cambodia, the plan is Angkor Wat (biggest temple in them here woods) and Phenom Pen (the capital). If all continues to plan, I'll have a few days to a week back in Thailand before heading home. As I never did make it back down south to go climbing, I'm hoping Jovie (hint hint) will want to climb somewhere between say March 15-22. (P.S. my cell phone is working, but I wouldn't count on it as I'll be in different places soon)

The only disappointing thing on the trip so far was being in a restaurant/bar last night and having some really drunk Americans in the table next to us being typically abnoxious. At some point I picked up they were arguing politics. Then I realized they were arguing about transfer payments to the provinces and how Alberta pays to much. I had to apologize to Sam for my bad abnoxious American comments :( But Albertans are practically part of the US anyway, or at least part of Jesusland (we've all seen the Canadian version of the map?)

Okay, must go partake in... ummm... well, it's a bit after 11 PM, so let's be honest, it's time to go to go... hmmm, my family is reading this, so let's say it's time to go play pool. Found a great one (pool table that is) last night with 2 pool tables and fun games. I cleared the table one game and beat a really good player and got a round of applause from the bar and Sammy ran the table for 5 games. So clearly we're professionals. Professionals in search of a profession...

Monday, February 20, 2006

how to stay in touch....

It's T minus 2 days till Thailand and I figured I'd get my butt in gear and get a blog going. So for family and friends, I'll try to post now and again and upload a few photos.

The plan is to head to Thailand on Wednesday (Feb 22), meet up with Sam in Bangkok (who just reported today that his bank has frozen his credit and bank cards), then head down to the south of Thailand meeting up with Justin and Erin for a few days of climbing, then off to Cambodia. With that said, plans are made to be changed, so who knows...

I'll be back home on March 22 (a month to the day). I guess I'll have to work for a few days, then my sister and her kids (Emma and Jack) are here for a week to go skiing. Then work for a month and May 1 switch to part-time status, move out of the apartment and start travelling. Mostly in Canada for the summer I think, and then London in the fall. Again, plans are made to be changed, but may as well start with a plan.

Okay, that sums it up in 3 paragraphs. More to come when I'm not frantically trying to finish up work before leaving for vacation! Next report from... Bangkok? Phuket? Ton Sai? Phnom Penh?