Happens in threes


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March 29th 2010
Published: March 29th 2010
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Sorry about the delay. I wrote this blog a few weeks ago when I was in Seoul I just kept forgetting to upload it. Here it is

Three is a magical number, but its not always on ones side. I had what could be termed a string of bad luck. When I told my friend Nisha about my 'not-so-stellar' 24 hours she comforted me by reminding me that bad things happen in threes so I was out of the way of the storm. These bad things that occured all revolved around one of my least favourite things to do - fly! Now before you go double check, yes, this is a travel blog. But not every traveller loves being up in the air in a metal tin. I've grown used to flying but I still like to avoid it when possible.

Back to these three things. They involve red shirts, a q-tip and luggage.

1) Red shirts
Before I arrived back in Bangkok on my southeast asia adventure tour I was shown a disheartening article about protests in Bangkok. There was a plan for a huge city wide demonstration in Bangkok starting on the evening of March the 12th but really flourishing on March 13th, ie the day I was flying out. These protests were occuring all over the city including close to where I was planning on staying.

What were these people protesting? I was given a brief history lesson by my tour leader but here it goes. Basically a few years back there was a prime minister. He did a fair bit for the country. He got stuff done, like for example, finishing and furthering the subway system. While he was helpful he was also a thief and was caught embezzaling millions of dollars. He fled to France for safetly. Since him there have been a fair number of prime ministers, too many, in the opinion of some. The country overall, since him, has not been very stable. So despite his criminal ways, some citizens want him back. These citizens are the red shirts. They are also made up of other citizens, such as rice farmers, who may not want the prime minister back but do want change. Last year, this group was very effective and managed to close the airport for a month.

Looking at last years results one can undestand my worried cries of the "redshirts are coming". I took the initiative and booked myself a night at a hotel closer to the airport. This way I could avoid the crowds and the possibility of not making it to the airport on time, or even at all. It was a good move because I soon found out that airport buses weren't running that weekend because of the protest.

Anyways I stayed at the hotel and as you can see was able to fly out but not without a great deal of stress and uncertainty weighing me down.

If I had flown out a day earlier I could have avoided this stress, but nope with my luck it had to be the day I fly out is the day all hell breaks loose (or at least a bit of civil unrest).

2) Q-tip
My mother always said "never clean your ear with a q-tip. You can do a great deal of damage". I should have listened. I cleaned my ears Friday evening and managed to do some damage to my right ear. At first my hearing was off. It felt like one ear had popped but the other hadn't. Then the pain followed and advil was not being very helpful. Then came the crackling and well it gets kinda gross from here. In a nutshell, I had damaged my ear just before having to fly. If you have ever flown with a cold you may know how painful it can get in your ear. I prepared myself and experienced some of that pain. It didn't help that we had to take off and land three times. I gave my ear a good workout.

It wasn't just the pain. It was the stress beforehand of doing permenant damage. I started worrying that I would fly, and manage to pop, crumble, or puncture something to the point of no return. Basically make myself deaf. My logic was that rockstars fly after damaging their ears and they seem to all turn out okay...well at least their ears do.

So I sat back, chewed on a piece of Excel gum....and took some ear pressure medicine.

3) Lost Luggage
I know, I know it happens to everyone. Hearing that is only a small comfort because it doesnt change the fact that one is without toothbrush, clean clothes and piece of mind. I thought I was out of the dog house once I left Bangkok. I was able to fly out and my ears were still functioning. But as I stood along the luggage carousel watching the same pieces of luggage whirl by, I knew my luggage had stood me up.

My luggage was left at Kuala Lampur, Malasyia airport. I wasn't that surprised. Our flight from Bangkok was delayed close to an hour because of issues with the air conditioning. So when I arrived in Malasyia I couldn't just casually stroll my way over to the other gate (which happened to be on the other side of the airport and required taking a tram across the grounds). I had to jet it across. I was swerving in and out of people. I arrived just in time to sit for about 3 minutes before boarding the next plane. It took a fair bit of time and effort to make it to the connecting flight so the likelihood that my luggage made it was slim to none.

Luckily I was staying with a friend so I was able to borrow shower supplies and sleep wear. Unfortunately my sneakers were in my suitcase...in Malasyia. And they were the only closed toe shoes that I owned. I was planning to buy boots in Seoul since there were none in warm and toasty Thailand considering the weather conditions. So I set out with my friend Nisha on a shopping trip wearing socks and flip flops. At least they were the same colour.

There you have it the 24 hours of traveller's hell. Now as the Lenny Kravitz songs says things "go my way....". I sure hope they do.

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2nd April 2010

Always look on the brightside (Life of Brian)
That sucks to hear that your trip out of Thailand was so rocky, sounds like the country was spitting you out :) On the otherhand I think maybe fate was trying to get you to go back and stay in Malaysia for a visit, I'm sure you would have liked it ;)

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