Originally written on December 15, 2004

Check out time was 12pm. We managed to get out on time, thanks to a takeout Burger King breakfast (we just had that for dinner, but when you have to shop who has time to be choosy). Shopping… and picking up glasses. Pizza Hut for lunch. Fancy mall browsing… Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Our last day in Bangkok and every food establishment we ate at also exists in Canada. Alas, Bangkok belly is fierce (as we experienced-see pineapple story) so we weren’t going to risk it before a long plane ride. Last minute purchases after dinner, including lots of dried curry packages, fake burkenstocks then repacking the bags and getting a taxi to the airport. Forgot to make our new black bag (full of presents) distinguishable from everyone elses, so we settled for many name tags. Paid airport departure fee and then spent rest of baht on snacks for the plane, and one last fruit shake. One watermelon/pineapple, the other pineapple/orange. Kirk wanted just one flavour, pineapple of course, but they were insistent that he had to choose two flavours. Plane departed at midnight. Good bye Thailand, hope to see you soon! Next stop Narita Airport (Tokyo, Japan), then Washington DC, then Toronto…. Home in 26 hours. » Read the rest of the entry..

Which mall/market did we miss in pursuit of gifts (hardly any). Man did our dogs bark at the end of the night. From 10am till 1am the next morning. Perscription glasses were bought too. We even bought another bag to cart everything home in Shopping districts visited. Silom Road, Surawong Road, MBK centre, Pratnum market, Pantip plaza, Siam Discovery Centre, Patpong market…

We aren’t dead, painfully slow (I mean really slow) internet combined with frequent outages makes updating web almost impossible. Have been keeping up via the pda, expect a whole bunch of days to pop up once we find fast internet. We are in Hoi An and enjoying the nice beach and cheap shopping (the latter mostly heather). Also, much better food here. Cheers for now!

Originally written October 28, 3004

After getting up early, we walked to Ho Chi Minh’s masuleum to see his mumified body. To bad he had a previous engagement in Russia. Apparently, about this time ever year he makes a trip over to russia to see the master technicians who keep him from turning into dust. Still, his place is pretty swank. We watched the changing of the guards (kind of pointles when he’s not there). The changing is supposed to be as good as London’s, however we thought that if you liked seeing a few guys in white ‘march up and down the sqaure’ then this was your thing, otherwise a yawner. Good thing we just happened to be there. We also visited the museum dedicated to his life and writings and the struggle for workers rights, democracy, and a free Vietnam. Full of arts symbolism that is hard to interpret it is perhaps the strangest museum I’ve ever been to. No pictures allowed here. » Read the rest of the entry..

Written October 11, 2004.

I awoke on my birthday, early, as per usual. Definitely before 6am! Breakfast starts at 7am and we were there with bells on. We waited in the tv room till 8am for the US presidential debate to start broadcasting live. It wasn’t till nearly 9am that others joined us, and out of all of us only one American. I’m sure that there are many Americans staying at the hostel, I guess Saturday morning is too early for them.

The nightlife in Bangkok apparantly is huge, with bars (inside and out) opening in the evening. Kirk and I have not been able to stay awake that long to find out, and it’s not the reason why we came here. After the debate we headed to the sky train, an above ground subway. Our hostel is a 2 minute walk to “Nana” station. We were on our way to the weekend market at the end of the sky train north line (Mo Chit). Chutachuk (surely spelled wrong) is a massive open air market crowded with thais and foreigners. We arrived at the market at 11am, and it was ram-jammed! » Read the rest of the entry..

At 6:45 am we awoke to our new surroundings and laid in bed recalling our adventures and wondering why we got up so early when we had gone to bed ~12:30am. By 8:30 am we had secured our bags (with mesh wire/lock system) and toted our day packs down to the breakfast area. Sponge cake, banana muffins, pastry with “hot dog” in it, and fruit (papaya, pineapple and watermelon). We found the sky train (Nana Station) to National Stadium, the shopping mecca of Bangkok. We figured we could handle air conditioned building, as we were not up for sightseeing (temples etc). One of the major shopping centres is the MBK center (notice the American spelling). We arrived at 9:30 am and the building opened at 11:00 am (to comply with the governments energy saving policy). As we wandered Silom square numerous men approached Kirk (not me, I am a women with a man) and asked where are you going or in Thai “pai nai”. Some of our tag alongs spoke perfect english. They reminded us that all stores were closed till 11:00 and they were curious as to why we were on the street. It was unfathomable to them that we were just strolling along checking out the scene. » Read the rest of the entry..