Enjoying the last bit of warmth

Last few days in Bangkok: Shopping, eating, shopping, thai massage, eating, shopping, mani/pedicure, shopping, eating. Time well spent indeed.

Just touched down in Abu Dhabi and I relished the 1 minute walk to the airport bus shuttle in the warm open air, as it will probably be another 6 months until I feel it again. Flight was good. Thought of deep and profound insights to discuss in my lovely blog, but my flight's leaving in 5 minutes so I must boogie. Excited to get home!!!!

My Father warned me about men like this....

In Bangkok now. It was a very hot dfay and i busied myself by visiting Wat Pho, which is home to teh Reclining Buddha, an enormous Buddha statue (I'm talking HUGE) that's, well, reclining. they have 108 little bowls set up along his backside (literally) and you drop coins into them and pray. Which I did. it was very nice.

I found myself frolicking down Khao San and I got approached by a man i'd seen before when i was in the city. A psychic. Just the night before, my family had reminded me to BE CAREFUL with others, as my father has this great story he likes to tell about how he got hypnotized by this woman with big eyes in Malaysia. Anyhooo, being a well seasoned traveller and suffering from a lack of mental capacity from the heat, I found myself in a session with him getting my palm read. He told me some amazing things about myself. I was floored. FLOORED I TELL YOU! Then he asked for his payment. Oh mercy. I was having dinner at Ethos and made friends with the owners, and told them my story (and of course I took a photo of Mr. Singh for the memories) and they told me that he's been reported before and it's likely a scam and described how David Blaine could do all the same things. Let's just say that I will live and learn from this experience. And will try to remember what my dad tells me more often. Part of me still believes it though.

Oh Bangkok. You crazy crazy town.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's crazy ass Nelu Parasailing!

Yes, it's true. I forked over some bahts and quickly found myself being strapped into a harness, then a life jacket, then was barked instructions by a thai man on what to do to ensure I survive the experience. He was speeding through his monologue and I had to stop him continuously and ask him to repeat himself (hey, I'm good with accents, but this was a life and death-ish kind of activity that I needed to make sure about). So after confirming that I had to pull on the red strap when coming down, he nudged my shoulder and told me to RUN. So there I was, hoisted up into the air after running 3 paces into the water. I quickly found myself oh, let's say 40 feet above the water, being pulled by a speedboat around Jomtien Beach. I waved at some people on boats, looked at the scenery and wished that I had brought my camera with me. It was kind of hurty to be in the harness, quite a lot of downward pressure, but the warm wind and the fact that I was flying was pretty damn cool. A marvelous 3 minutes indeed.

Being my last day in Pattaya, I spent most of my time on the beach. I'm going to miss all the obese European men in speedos. Ah, memories. A lady approached me and asked if I want my fortune told using the tarot cards in her hand. "Yeah, I tell you your love life, working, your future"...I politely declined as I've determined that it's much more fun to see how it happens in real time. And I went to the local market to buy some key Thai food ingredients. Smuggling is fun. I'm practicing my "Oh, I don't know how that got in there, must have been a mixup with the grocery bags!" to the customs agent should I be discovered. Oh, I'm such a bad liar.

I've also determined that I'm ridiculously addicted to facebook. It's unneccesary really.

Puttin' around in Pattaya

I've been checking thestar.com daily to find out what the weather is like in Toronto, which is a bit of a defeatist move on my part. I'm here in the sweltering 30 degree heat with a looming future of -6 degrees with snowfall in a week's time. Which, my dear Reader, is not a favourable change in weather for me after effectively having a 7 month summer. But one should not dwell on the not-so-niceties of life, for I am returning to the warmth and love of my family and friends. Plus I have a closet full of winter clothes waiting to see the light of day (although my roommate informs me she's been giving them plenty of exercise). And, I look forward to continuing my independent study project of learning how to ice skate, which I'm sure the harbourfront ice rink will be primed for upon my return. So I shall continue to look on the bright side and be utterly greatful for this amazing journey I've had over the past 80 some days.

But since it's not over yet, I have been taking advantage of the environment. I spent the day in a lounge chair on the beach in front of my Uncle's shop, reading a 2005 GQ Men of the Year issue, which gave me new found insights on Simon Cowell, Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan. Feeling I needed to have a bit of activity, I decided to rent a jet ski, which if you've been keeping up with my blog, I had already done a few weeks ago. But this time was different. I splurged and got one of the high powered Yamaha monsters that had me crashing over the waves at a reported 70 miles (MILES!) per hour. Salt water spraying into my eyes, the gulf brilliantly sparkling with the mid-day sun, the sound of the wind screaming in my ears as I revved the engine...and me laughing maniacaly the whole time, drunk with power. It brought me joy.

I've been taking walks up and down the strip, taking pictures of sights that I've grown accustomed to, but know are anomalies in Canada. Vendors selling creatures from the sea, thousands of beach umbrellas lined up down the beach, and brightly coloured buildings side by side...you know that kind of stuff.

Tomorrow will be my last day in Pattaya, then I'll be heading to Bangkok from Saturday until I leave on Monday evening. There's a few more Wats (=temple) I need to see in the capital. Plus, I will likely have a bit of space in my new suitcase (Backpacking, who was I joking!) so I needs to get my shoppin on! It's really weird that I'm leaving. It's also really weird that I've been away for this long. Feeling very blessed.

Sea-dooing to ice skating in 5 days. wow.

Ooooh, pictures!

Behold the last day and a half in picture form. In no particular order: Petronas Towers, Roller Coaster, view of Penang from plane...and me and my surf board!

Surf and the City

I currently find myself in Kuala Lumpur. Seems that all the buses from Kuantan to Penang are filled until Monday night, which would have been an unfavourable choice for me, as I'm flying from Penang to Bangkok early Tuesday morning. By the powers of the universe, my family is in KL today for a wedding and I'll be hitching a ride back to Penang with my Aunt. See how everything just has a magical way of working out? Smashing really.

When I got in via bus last night, I could see the Petronas Towers all light up and pretty looking. It was quite nice, but unfortunately I couldn't take a picture because my battery is almost dead and I wanted to save the last shot in case I saw Whitney Houston walking down the street....or trying to make a deal in an alley.

I'm in Chinatown, which is home to a discount shopping mecca road and I've managed to buy more things. I don't have room for them, but that's not really a concern. I'll figure it out er something.

So the day after I surfed for the first time (this would be Friday), I made friends with some weekend surfers and since the weather was not very good for strong waves, we went into town and watched Mr. Magoriums Magic Emporium. I typically would not want to catch that movie at the theatre, but since it was my first movie in 3 months, filmed in Toronto and only 6 Ringitt ($2), I found myself looking forward to it. Indeed, I spotted a bunch of the Toronto locations (Natalie Portman is playing piano in the lobby of the Fairmont Royal York in one scene, and the Wonder Emporium seems to be at Wellington and Simcoe) and it made me long for my city. Ohhh, we shall meet soon my beloved.

Saturday proved to be much better weather and I went out with Mad Mat in the afternoon. For those precious 2 hours, I was one with the sea and a surf goddess in my own right. I rode 5 or 6 waves for a good 20 seconds, and was quite pleased by the euphoric feeling that overcame me. The current was very strong and I probably got about 1 km away from where I started by the end of the first set of runs. Joyous, joyous fun.

Well, I should go frolick about the city now and see some stuff or something. Haha, I've got a bit of travellers fatigue today, plus it's dammmn hot, guesstimating 35-ish.

Eat, Surf, Sleep

Cherating Village is a very small place, with a concentration of guesthouses, souvenir shops and restaurants along the main pot-holed street. On a scale of charming, it ranks about 2.5 Hugh Grants out of 5. I have a "chalet" on the beach, which is a simple hut-type room that has a great view of the South China Sea. I'm not gonna lie, it brings me joy.

The sky was overcast all day and there was a 3 hour storm that lasted most of the afternoon. Fortunately for me, I got my first 2 hour surfing lesson after a luscious 2 hour nap when I arrived at 7 am (sleeping on the 8 hour bus rides is a pipe dream that I should just let go of). My instructor was a 19 year old who'd been surfing for 11 years and goes by the name of Mad Mat (I don't know how you derive that from his real name of Muhamed Daud Bin Muhamed, but that's just me). He was great, I'm learning how to talk like a Malay, replacing my beloved "eh's" with "lah's" at the end of every sentence. We were in a spot that had very big waves crashing on the rocks 20 feet away, but most of the smaller waves were doable, and do I did. I was able to get up to standing on most of the runs although I have this nasty habit of falling into the water as soon as I do. Tomorrow will be better I think. I slept for most of the afternoon during the aforementioned storm which was good because surfing is a very tiring exercise. I've got quite a few sore spots and rashes from the board, which is only fitting considering that injuring myself continues a proud tradition from this trip.

Ate at a very good restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet...fresh lychee juice makes me happy. I was watching America's Funniest Videos' on one of the 3 channels on the tv in my room. I don't know when crashing a car into a crowd got so funny.