The weather has finally decided to get nice. Up until the 1st of June or so it was cool enough to wear jeans and a long sleeved shirt. We had Wednesday the second off for "Erection Day" (election day but 'r' and 'l' are mixed up all the time) and it was finally nice enough to spend the whole day at the beach. Ever since it has just been nice weather :)
I ran my very first 10k on May 16th and finished in 1 hour 12 minutes (not bad for no training what-so-ever and not running at all for the 6 months before it).
Went to 2 Jim Jil bongs (Korean shower houses/spa) and got naked. After the awkwardness of being naked around a bunch of other naked women, it was pretty nice. I decided to go for the whole experience and paid extra to have an ajumma (older woman) scrub me down...I no longer have a tan and one of my tattoos is missing (just kidding on the tattoo part but serious on the tan :()
Went to the carnival near Gwangali beach and rode the Ferris Wheel, bumper cars, and these carts that have mechanical 'people' pulling. Also rode stuffed animals and shot pellet guns (I now have a monkey in my front window of my car because I hit the target 4 times)
I had a photo shoot with my two best friends and a great photographer at the beach and lunch.
Visited the casino too many times (4) can came out on top once, even 2 times, and in the hole once...not too shabby.
Had a scavenger hunt/clueless birthday party/going away party for one of said best friends. She had no idea and the only clues she got were really helpless pictures (except the picture of a woman showering and millions of eyes staring at her that I drew).
Played in a volleyball tournament on the beach with 3 guys (they asked me to play bc they thought I could hang with the competition [blush]) and we lost the first game to the team that won the tournament :( only one of the 3 in our pool went to the tournament)
Met a guy on the beach and the first thing he said to me was that he liked my dreads:) ATE TACO BELL!!!!
Found the equivalence of Redbull in Korea called Hot 6ix (sometimes heard pronounced 'hot sex'...koreans really have a had time with that stuff)
Learned that my school has belly dancing lessons as part of an after school program.
ALMOST TIME TO GO TO AFRICA...36 MORE DAYS!!!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Australia Feb 2010
Week 1: Sydney
Got into Sydney pretty early Saturday morning and headed straight to Bondi beach. It took pretty long to get there and with my pack. By the time I got there I only had about 45 minutes (thank goodness, I was so burnt in such a short time) before I had to find my way back to a train station to meet up with my first couch surfing host, Art. The whole way to the meeting place I laughed, almost out loud, at the school uniforms. They looked very old school. They did look good. Made it out to Davidson which is right on Garigal and Kur-ing-gai Chase National Parks. The view was amazing, you could see the city in the distance and overlooked a forest. The house was amazing, great wood floors and the most amazing bed I've slept in in over a year. The bedroom had a Hollywood theme and had a Wizard of OZ poster in it...Love the Wizard of OZ and all jokes that have put Kansas on the map.
Over the next three days I visited Manly beach, the Quary area with the Sydney Harbor and Opera house. Manly beach is beach volleyball central. There were so many nets set up, it's a shame that the weather wasn't very good and there weren't many people playing. I did get to over-the-net pepper with a native indigenous guy and it made my day. At the Quary area/Sydney Harbor I saw some street performers, did some shopping, and found out the embarrassing way that the UFC was in town. Ran into a few of them thinking they looked familiar but couldn't figure out why. I actually went up to one and asked if they were the wrong name...I'm an idiot. Met a girl from Germany who was staying at the same couch host as I was. Ate some great food in the local pubs and tried many different beers. Ate a kangaroo steak that was rare and so unbelievably amazing!!
The last three days in Sydney I stayed in Newtown with Lisa. Newtown is known as the "colorful" area of Sydney. Many places that had live music. So many coffee shops and pubs. Shopping galore, second hand/vintage stores were everywhere. Visted Coogee beach.
Week 2: Brisbane/Gold Coast/Byron Bay
I didn't buy a flight before hand because the were cheap and left almost every 30 minutes and I was flying out on a Thursday. Who would have thought that almost all would be sold out by the time I got there Thursday morning. I ended up paying double what I had originally expected and waiting in the airport for 3 hours, but I did make it to Brisbane. Not really paying much attention to detail, I was planning on waiting for my next couch surfing host at the beach. There are really no beaches in Brisbane only an hour away by train on the Gold/Sunshine Coast. So I headed into the city center where I relieved a little stress with some reading and a nice cold beer. Finally getting a hold of my host, he informed me that he thought I was coming in next weekend and that he was out of town. Thank goodness I had written down some hostels and addresses. Got to my hostel and dropped my bag off and relaxed for a bit before heading back into the city to meet up with Dave and Geoff, two guys I worked with at Lake Powell almost 2 years ago. We had some drinks and talked about Powell. They asked what my plans were for the weekend. I planned on hauling all my stuff down to Byron Bay for the weekend and then possibly heading back to Sydney early so I could just sit at the beaches there. They offered to drive down the coast with me and said we could stay at their grandma's on the beach and that I could stay at his house because they had an extra room. Friday morning, while listening to 7 swedish travelers talk, I packed my bag to put it in a locker at the hostel till I could pick it up later and meet up with Dave. Spent the day eating Subway, drinking redbull, and reading down by the river on the grass. There were a couple of showers during the day, but it was still amazing.
We headed down the coast on Saturday morning. I got to meet Marie (pronounced Mar-e) and drop off some stuff. Continued down the coast to Byron Bay where we did some sight seeing, ate some amazing meet pies, heard some live music, laughed at some surfers that wanted to wait for it to stop raining before going back to the surf, played in the surf (kinda scary but a lot of fun), and did some boogie boarding. Sunday we took a drive into the mountains and saw a rainforest. Monday and tuesday I sat on the back porch and read, moved to the pool for a bit, and the headed down the hill to the river for the rest of the day. At the river I just watched the birds fly overhead, clouds go by, leaves rustle in the trees, read, slack-line, and listen to music.
The people I met in Brisbane were so welcoming. I couldn't thank them enough for inviting me into their homes. I was very thankful that things didn't work out how they were planned, had they worked out I wouldn't have had as much fun or been able to relax as much as I did.
Overall the trip to Australia was amazing. I will live there/travel long-term there at some point in time. The only thing is that all public transportation was ridiculously expensive. I felt like almost every time I got on a bus or train I would pay with a five and not get much change back. It was hard to leave and come back to cold rain, but on an upside I got to see my family and my Luna!!
Got into Sydney pretty early Saturday morning and headed straight to Bondi beach. It took pretty long to get there and with my pack. By the time I got there I only had about 45 minutes (thank goodness, I was so burnt in such a short time) before I had to find my way back to a train station to meet up with my first couch surfing host, Art. The whole way to the meeting place I laughed, almost out loud, at the school uniforms. They looked very old school. They did look good. Made it out to Davidson which is right on Garigal and Kur-ing-gai Chase National Parks. The view was amazing, you could see the city in the distance and overlooked a forest. The house was amazing, great wood floors and the most amazing bed I've slept in in over a year. The bedroom had a Hollywood theme and had a Wizard of OZ poster in it...Love the Wizard of OZ and all jokes that have put Kansas on the map.
Over the next three days I visited Manly beach, the Quary area with the Sydney Harbor and Opera house. Manly beach is beach volleyball central. There were so many nets set up, it's a shame that the weather wasn't very good and there weren't many people playing. I did get to over-the-net pepper with a native indigenous guy and it made my day. At the Quary area/Sydney Harbor I saw some street performers, did some shopping, and found out the embarrassing way that the UFC was in town. Ran into a few of them thinking they looked familiar but couldn't figure out why. I actually went up to one and asked if they were the wrong name...I'm an idiot. Met a girl from Germany who was staying at the same couch host as I was. Ate some great food in the local pubs and tried many different beers. Ate a kangaroo steak that was rare and so unbelievably amazing!!
The last three days in Sydney I stayed in Newtown with Lisa. Newtown is known as the "colorful" area of Sydney. Many places that had live music. So many coffee shops and pubs. Shopping galore, second hand/vintage stores were everywhere. Visted Coogee beach.
Week 2: Brisbane/Gold Coast/Byron Bay
I didn't buy a flight before hand because the were cheap and left almost every 30 minutes and I was flying out on a Thursday. Who would have thought that almost all would be sold out by the time I got there Thursday morning. I ended up paying double what I had originally expected and waiting in the airport for 3 hours, but I did make it to Brisbane. Not really paying much attention to detail, I was planning on waiting for my next couch surfing host at the beach. There are really no beaches in Brisbane only an hour away by train on the Gold/Sunshine Coast. So I headed into the city center where I relieved a little stress with some reading and a nice cold beer. Finally getting a hold of my host, he informed me that he thought I was coming in next weekend and that he was out of town. Thank goodness I had written down some hostels and addresses. Got to my hostel and dropped my bag off and relaxed for a bit before heading back into the city to meet up with Dave and Geoff, two guys I worked with at Lake Powell almost 2 years ago. We had some drinks and talked about Powell. They asked what my plans were for the weekend. I planned on hauling all my stuff down to Byron Bay for the weekend and then possibly heading back to Sydney early so I could just sit at the beaches there. They offered to drive down the coast with me and said we could stay at their grandma's on the beach and that I could stay at his house because they had an extra room. Friday morning, while listening to 7 swedish travelers talk, I packed my bag to put it in a locker at the hostel till I could pick it up later and meet up with Dave. Spent the day eating Subway, drinking redbull, and reading down by the river on the grass. There were a couple of showers during the day, but it was still amazing.
We headed down the coast on Saturday morning. I got to meet Marie (pronounced Mar-e) and drop off some stuff. Continued down the coast to Byron Bay where we did some sight seeing, ate some amazing meet pies, heard some live music, laughed at some surfers that wanted to wait for it to stop raining before going back to the surf, played in the surf (kinda scary but a lot of fun), and did some boogie boarding. Sunday we took a drive into the mountains and saw a rainforest. Monday and tuesday I sat on the back porch and read, moved to the pool for a bit, and the headed down the hill to the river for the rest of the day. At the river I just watched the birds fly overhead, clouds go by, leaves rustle in the trees, read, slack-line, and listen to music.
Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure. Aldous HuxleyWednesday I helped Geof move into his new apartment in the city. It had the most amazing view of the city with a huge rap-around roof-top balcony.
The people I met in Brisbane were so welcoming. I couldn't thank them enough for inviting me into their homes. I was very thankful that things didn't work out how they were planned, had they worked out I wouldn't have had as much fun or been able to relax as much as I did.
Overall the trip to Australia was amazing. I will live there/travel long-term there at some point in time. The only thing is that all public transportation was ridiculously expensive. I felt like almost every time I got on a bus or train I would pay with a five and not get much change back. It was hard to leave and come back to cold rain, but on an upside I got to see my family and my Luna!!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Last Couple of Months
Some new things just because I'm bored and haven't posted for a while.
-Road trip with 2 Kansas boys and a guy from Illinois up to Seoraksan for Cheusok (Korean Thanksgiving)
-Was queen in a queen/king of the court volleyball cauldron (everyone plays against everyone with everyone) at Haeundae beach
-Became addicted with the Twilight Series and finished all four books in less than 2 weeks.
-Became addicted with the TV series Supernatural and finished 4 and a half seasons in a week and a half and now have to wait till Thursday to see the new episodes.
-Had the engine rebuilt in my scooter for 180,000 won.
-Had 9 people stay the night in my apartment (super small one room apartment)
-DREADED MY HAIR!!!
-Bought a plane ticket to Australia
-Watched a thousand people go swimming in the ocean the last day of January for the Haeundae Polar Bear swim
-Road trip with 2 Kansas boys and a guy from Illinois up to Seoraksan for Cheusok (Korean Thanksgiving)
-Was queen in a queen/king of the court volleyball cauldron (everyone plays against everyone with everyone) at Haeundae beach
-Became addicted with the Twilight Series and finished all four books in less than 2 weeks.
-Became addicted with the TV series Supernatural and finished 4 and a half seasons in a week and a half and now have to wait till Thursday to see the new episodes.
-Had the engine rebuilt in my scooter for 180,000 won.
-Had 9 people stay the night in my apartment (super small one room apartment)
-DREADED MY HAIR!!!
-Bought a plane ticket to Australia
-Watched a thousand people go swimming in the ocean the last day of January for the Haeundae Polar Bear swim
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Halloween
A friend had a house party that many people showed up to. Many very good costumes...I went as Tom Cruise off Risky Business, you know the look ;)
Ariel view of the apartment
A friend had a house party that many people showed up to. Many very good costumes...I went as Tom Cruise off Risky Business, you know the look ;)
Ariel view of the apartment
Tom Cruise and MJ
Cereal killer
Jelly fish and dead fish (later she had 'X' on her eyes)
Shoes, shoes, and more shoes...even Shrek's
Pro Wrestler and the kid that 'floated away with a balloon that was later found in the attic (Falcon)
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Meet and Greet Greatness
Middle of October was the fall Korea On the Rocks Meet and Greet. Climbers from all over Korea get together, climb, drink, and have wild shenanigans.
I opted to not bring Luna because it was supposed to rain and rain with a dog in a small tent...not so much fun. Boy am I glad I didn't bring her.
I got in Friday night and set up my sweet 10,000 won two-man tent. I kinda had a ground mat/beach mat but it didn't cover the entire bottom of the tent, oh well right. Haha, I don't think it would have made much of a difference. So we were told a huge storm was going to be coming through at midnight. At 12:30 am it was still clear skies. Everyone decided on bed time. I don't sleep well outside anyways but the tent was a bit to short for me, even laying cross corner I touched both walls. Rule number one of tents, if you want it dry don't let it touch the walls. Fetal position it was. That's when the wind picked up, the lightning started and the rain fell. Ok so that kinda stunk, but my tent was holding up against the gail force winds. I then realized it was brighter in my tent then it was a second ago... I looked out my screen window (with the rain fly on I can not see outside) and saw everything. The wind had undone my steaks and my fly was hanging on by one steak. Choices: 1)wait it out and hope that it (rain/wind) stops soon 2) get out and put my fly back on and re-steak it so that everything in my tent stays dry 3)wait what will hold my tent down if i'm not in it and there is only one steak still in the ground....my pack (everything went back in my pack and the rain fly for my pack went on and went to the corner of the tent being dominated by the wind) 4) should i put my pants back on, it's cold but then they will be wet?
Whatever... the pants went on but didn't get buttoned so were falling down as I was running around my tent trying to steak the tent down again and untangle the fly to put it back on. Another guy was running around in his underwear ( i should have done that, i would have dry pants) steaking his tent down better and putting rocks on the steaks. Another guy got out and helped me get my fly straightened out and steaked back down. Great times!!!
Woke up in a lake...if you didn't know, down sleeping bags do nothing if wet...no worries, after i wrung it out I got up and had some coffee. It rained most of the morning off and on so everytime it would be blue skies everyone would put all their stuff on the line to dry...as soon as everything was out it would start raining again. My bag ended up in a minbak with heated floors so it dried nicely.
The climbing was amazing, the view amazing, the people amazing, and everything else also. Ganhyeon has been by far my favorite place. After/before dinner the drinking began. We soon moved to a bonfire by the river with a ukulele, singers, and apparently football player wannabes. I was tackled 7 or 8 times by a friend. Got up early the next morning to make sure everyone had followed through on their leave no trace. Nope...you could probably imagine how much waste (bottles, cans, cigarette butts, and other randomness) 25-30 some people can produce.
Finished off Sunday's climbing with some great leads (I don't like lead climbing but the leads here were so much fun and just overall great climbs). Then a large group of us headed out. Jan and I were heading to Busan together. Got some lunch in the station and some dang coffee that just turned out to be a bigger pain that it was worth. Got on the bus just in time.
About 30 minutes down the road...WHAT WAS THAT?!?! (Jan and I looking at each other) I'm going to laugh if it was a tire...haha, sure was but no worries we weren't going to lose any time...the bus driver is going to continue at the same speed (passing people) Korean passenger "ㅣㅏㅓㄴㅇ먀ㅏㄷ김츠ㅜㅊ능롸" Bus driver : " ㅓ추ㅕㅑ랴ㅓㅜ주쳧녀챠ㅕㅑㅊ녀ㅛ쳐" Korean passenger: " ㄷ추ㅡㅜㄷ유운듀ㅜㅠㄴ유ㅏ" I'm pretty sure that it translate to something along the lines of KP "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" BD "DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT...ONLY 3 MORE HOURS" KP: "YOU BETTER PULL THIS BUS OVER NOW OR ELSE..." the bus pulled over and three men got off the bus to look at the damage... got back on and continued...WHAT WAS THAT?!?! (Jan and I looking at eachother laughing from fear) Me: "English? Little English?" Korean woman: "Flat tire"...duh, but why are we still driving
Finally (10 mintues after the first stop and 5 minutes after the second stop) we got to a rest area. Korean woman "We wait for engineer to fix tire" Jan and I "Engineer? Really?" I guess they don't have the word mechanic.
Back on the bus 2 hours later. Offered an older korean woman (adjumma) sitting behind us some crackers. I was expecting her to take like 5 or 6 and then hand the rest back to me, so I waited. After she continued to consume my crackers I turned back around with a straight face. Jan look at me and asked if she took any. I said yeah... she asked me how many...i said "ALL" with a straight face and even tone...Jan looked back at the woman who was still so joyfully eating my crackers, looked at me and we both started laughing.
The people who had left on the a different bus and hour or so later than us got back before us...doesn't always pay to get the earlier bus...haha, still a great weekend
Sorry no pictures, I'll have to get some from people because I left my camera at home :(
I opted to not bring Luna because it was supposed to rain and rain with a dog in a small tent...not so much fun. Boy am I glad I didn't bring her.
I got in Friday night and set up my sweet 10,000 won two-man tent. I kinda had a ground mat/beach mat but it didn't cover the entire bottom of the tent, oh well right. Haha, I don't think it would have made much of a difference. So we were told a huge storm was going to be coming through at midnight. At 12:30 am it was still clear skies. Everyone decided on bed time. I don't sleep well outside anyways but the tent was a bit to short for me, even laying cross corner I touched both walls. Rule number one of tents, if you want it dry don't let it touch the walls. Fetal position it was. That's when the wind picked up, the lightning started and the rain fell. Ok so that kinda stunk, but my tent was holding up against the gail force winds. I then realized it was brighter in my tent then it was a second ago... I looked out my screen window (with the rain fly on I can not see outside) and saw everything. The wind had undone my steaks and my fly was hanging on by one steak. Choices: 1)wait it out and hope that it (rain/wind) stops soon 2) get out and put my fly back on and re-steak it so that everything in my tent stays dry 3)wait what will hold my tent down if i'm not in it and there is only one steak still in the ground....my pack (everything went back in my pack and the rain fly for my pack went on and went to the corner of the tent being dominated by the wind) 4) should i put my pants back on, it's cold but then they will be wet?
Whatever... the pants went on but didn't get buttoned so were falling down as I was running around my tent trying to steak the tent down again and untangle the fly to put it back on. Another guy was running around in his underwear ( i should have done that, i would have dry pants) steaking his tent down better and putting rocks on the steaks. Another guy got out and helped me get my fly straightened out and steaked back down. Great times!!!
Woke up in a lake...if you didn't know, down sleeping bags do nothing if wet...no worries, after i wrung it out I got up and had some coffee. It rained most of the morning off and on so everytime it would be blue skies everyone would put all their stuff on the line to dry...as soon as everything was out it would start raining again. My bag ended up in a minbak with heated floors so it dried nicely.
The climbing was amazing, the view amazing, the people amazing, and everything else also. Ganhyeon has been by far my favorite place. After/before dinner the drinking began. We soon moved to a bonfire by the river with a ukulele, singers, and apparently football player wannabes. I was tackled 7 or 8 times by a friend. Got up early the next morning to make sure everyone had followed through on their leave no trace. Nope...you could probably imagine how much waste (bottles, cans, cigarette butts, and other randomness) 25-30 some people can produce.
Finished off Sunday's climbing with some great leads (I don't like lead climbing but the leads here were so much fun and just overall great climbs). Then a large group of us headed out. Jan and I were heading to Busan together. Got some lunch in the station and some dang coffee that just turned out to be a bigger pain that it was worth. Got on the bus just in time.
About 30 minutes down the road...WHAT WAS THAT?!?! (Jan and I looking at each other) I'm going to laugh if it was a tire...haha, sure was but no worries we weren't going to lose any time...the bus driver is going to continue at the same speed (passing people) Korean passenger "ㅣㅏㅓㄴㅇ먀ㅏㄷ김츠ㅜㅊ능롸" Bus driver : " ㅓ추ㅕㅑ랴ㅓㅜ주쳧녀챠ㅕㅑㅊ녀ㅛ쳐" Korean passenger: " ㄷ추ㅡㅜㄷ유운듀ㅜㅠㄴ유ㅏ" I'm pretty sure that it translate to something along the lines of KP "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" BD "DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT...ONLY 3 MORE HOURS" KP: "YOU BETTER PULL THIS BUS OVER NOW OR ELSE..." the bus pulled over and three men got off the bus to look at the damage... got back on and continued...WHAT WAS THAT?!?! (Jan and I looking at eachother laughing from fear) Me: "English? Little English?" Korean woman: "Flat tire"...duh, but why are we still driving
Finally (10 mintues after the first stop and 5 minutes after the second stop) we got to a rest area. Korean woman "We wait for engineer to fix tire" Jan and I "Engineer? Really?" I guess they don't have the word mechanic.
Back on the bus 2 hours later. Offered an older korean woman (adjumma) sitting behind us some crackers. I was expecting her to take like 5 or 6 and then hand the rest back to me, so I waited. After she continued to consume my crackers I turned back around with a straight face. Jan look at me and asked if she took any. I said yeah... she asked me how many...i said "ALL" with a straight face and even tone...Jan looked back at the woman who was still so joyfully eating my crackers, looked at me and we both started laughing.
The people who had left on the a different bus and hour or so later than us got back before us...doesn't always pay to get the earlier bus...haha, still a great weekend
Sorry no pictures, I'll have to get some from people because I left my camera at home :(
Wow
Okay, so I just figured out that I had comments on some of my posts. I never knew how to see if I had any. Now I know and I'll try and reply back. Thanks for the comments!!!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Thailand Part II:4 months later
So the first day back to the mainland was spent traveling from the pier back to Krabi. I got another room at the AoNang Grand Inn, it was a fan room, for a whopping 750 TBH (30 TBH=$1). I booked my next two days adventure: Elephant Trekking and a Speedboat Islands tour.
I honestly could have done without the Elephant Trekking. I must be either really hopeful or didn't ask enough questions. They picked me up and I actually ended up in a van traveling for much more of the day than I would have thought. We went to the Hot Springs first. It was pretty much like a natural hot tub.
Next we went to Emerald pools. I was asked to take a picture with some kids(??) and did some swimming.
This next picture is from the actual elephant trekking that was very short and kinda sad the way they treated the elephants. Take a look at the kid that was riding with me. 12 year-old-boy form China. Check out his shirt...gotta love it!!!
This is where we had an awesome lunch. It's a fishery.
The last place on our tour we went was a Tiger Temple (no tiger) that had a bunch of greedy, thieving monkeys. They were so cute but would only get close if you were offering them food.On this tour I met a couple from New Zealand. They are also teaching here in South Korea. I met up with them for dinner and some wandering about the beach area.
My second to last day in Thailand I went on an 8 stops powerboat Islands tour. Growing up on a boat made this a blast for me. Fun in the sun on a boat with stops here and there to do some snorkling, shopping, sun-bathing, and some history/stories. I saw so many amazing things that I can't even describe it. I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves (even though they don't do the beauty justice).
After a day on a powerboat...a little wind-blown.
The crew and I
Bamboo Island
Have you seen the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio...well this is it.
The last stop on our Island tour we stopped at Bamboo Island. I took a nap on the beach in the sun, did some snorkling, and met an amazing older couple. It was a Hungarian couple that had lived in Australia for the last 50 years. Larry was almost 90 years-old and his wife Kuki (nickname) was early-mid 80s. For about an hour and a half Larry was telling myself and a woman from France (her and I were the only non-coupled/non-family people on the tour) about his life and the war. Wow, he had lived. He got the last train out of Buddapest before the city was taken, made it to another station just for them to say it was going to be destroyed the next day. They ended up pretty much in the middle of no where... the Americans then ended up shooting up the small staion he was at. He was mad because all of his stuff was destroyed in the train. His stories were so amazing. To think that a person could live through all of that. Even though he had lived in Australia for the last 50 years he still had a much stronger Hungarian accent.
When I got back from the tour I did the usual walking around but decided that I wanted to try a scooter. Now, I have never ridden one before and the last time I rode a bicyle was ??? It was something like $15/24 hours. It was perfect, I would have it that evening and all day the next day till it was time to go. He gave me a quick run down on how to turn it on/off, gas, and break. "Have fun!!" ummmm...... ok?!?! In the first 30 minutes I almost hit 3 cars (steering was quite strange) almost ran into the back of parked cars, jumped a curb trying to turn around, forgot to put the kick stand up... oh man, this was too stressful for a vacation...I decided I would try this whole scooter thing when I got back to Korea and bought one. So after 30 minutes I took it back...they laughed, I laughed but then he just took my payment as a taxi to the airport the next evening...he was going to pick me up at 9pm for my flight at 11:55pm...better to be early than late, right?
The last day I was there I spent the day slack-lining on the beach,
laying in the sun, and doing some last minute shopping. I ran into Larry and Kuki again and made dinner arrangements with them at 7 at this open air resturaunt. (I was never disappointed by the food in Thailand or the atmosphere). To kill time till then, I did some more sunbathing to get nice a crispy before my aloe vera massage I was going to get. Went back to the hostel, took a shower, got my massage, went to dinner, got my bag, and got in the taxi.45 minutes later we arrive at Krabi airport, extremely small, which was completely shut down. I was freaking out knowing there was no way I missed my flight because it wasn't leaving till 11:55 so I pulled out my itenerary to show the security guard... as I was passing it up I noticed that my flight from Bangkok was at 11:55 pm and my flight from Krabi was at 7:15pm... ooops. Luckily the taxi driver was super nice and took care of me. He drove me around to 3 different hotels about 30 minutes away (closet area with cheaper hotels) until we found a cheap one. On the way he stopped off at his cousins taxi service and made arrangement for him to pick me up in the morning and take me to the airport at 6am. I ended up at a concrete bungalow that was a little...um, yeah but it was a cheap place to stay and i had arrangements for the morning so all was good. I had no alarm or anything so I slept in my clothes(I would have anyways...no need to unpack and pack again) but woke up to a knocking at my door at 5:30 am. It was my taxi, I threw my shoes on, my pack on, and grabbed my purse. When I came out I realized I got to ride on the back of a motorbike with my pack (round two). The driver had already gotten my passport from the owner and we were on our way. 30 minutes later I arrive back at the airport that was supposed to be open at 6:30 (it was 6 now). We went through the gate and got dropped off at the front door to wait for it to open... 2 hours later people started showing up for work... apparently it doesn't open until 9:00am. Made arrangements to leave Krabi and spend the day in Bangkok and arrive into Seoul instead of Busan.
In Bangkok I bought some books, ate some food, ate some more food, drank some drinks, met some people, and just had a great day wandering the airport. The first lady and I were sharing snacks and taking turns watching eachothers things while the other went to the restroom. When she left 2 hours later her place was taken by this Swedish guy that had decided he hated dark winters and was moving to Australia. We hung out the rest of the time I was there (the last 8 hours anyways). Barely made my flight to Seoul...they had told me the time on my ticket was the boarding time but it was the departure time...after I got on the plane they shut the doors...whew almost was stuck there again!!!
Thailand was amazing and I will be there again!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
