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Published: January 18th 2007
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Final Farewells
Anthony, Paul and I celebrate my last night in Australia. After leaving Gladstone on Monday, I (Matty) had a totally uneventful train ride to Brisbane. I guess all the fun of the weekend had worn me out too much so I basically just sat around and read my book. All that changed as soon as I arrived however as days with Pedro always seem to turn out, ahh, interestingly. I finally met up with Jeff over dinner at the Regatta. Now, for those of you who are unaware, the Regatta is actually listed in Lonely Planet's Blue List as having one of the ten best toilet views in the world! The list also includes such places as Tiger Leaping Gorge (check ahead a few months and I'll be visiting that dunnee as well) so I had to check it out; the wine and oyster shots also helped. Well, the view was... umm... disturbing. Looking up from my business was a direct view of the restaurant with Jeff, Steve, Shelley and Paul all standing there trying to point at me and giggle!!! Of course, being one way glass they were pointing at a random stranger down the way from me who remarked "Hey, look at these fools, they think they're being funny".
Swensens
Not only is it the only place in Bangkok where you can get real milk in your coffee, this place also sells the best ice-cream. I didn't quite see the humour as stage fright is a significant issue!
Continuing, a long and fun night of debauchery (not really Nana) we hit the sack for the evening as I had to be up the next day to sort out the last of my travel arrangements. We did the whole tradition of steaks at the Brekky Creak Hotel and then the real adventure kicked off! We're in Thailand!
The flight was dodgy, as to be expected, but uneventful. However, upon arrival at the new (and massive) Bangkok airport all of our plans went pear-shaped. For starters, we didn't really have a solid plan of how to meet up. I had said that I'd be outside of customs waiting for Jeff and his dad, while Jeff had said to wait at the baggage claim. Seeing as I arrived about an hour before them, I thought it prudent to position myself in plain view between immigration and their baggage carousel. Really, how could you miss a 6 foot white-man sitting in plain view at the exact location you told him too? Somehow, in all his wisdom, Jeff did actually miss me. Totally. They walked right past and
Beard Diary: 19/01/06
The beginning of a disaster. neither of us saw each other (in my defence I was reading a book that Paul gave me). That really didn't help things because after an hour of waiting I decided to search the airport for the two of them; all four levels of the monstously large structure! Also a hindrance was the fact that Jeff now looks like a complete scrubber with his messy hair and I had never seen Mike (Jeff's dad) before. I searched long and hard, well, hard enough considering it was 3am Brisbane time and was just about to give up and get a taxi when a large hairy guy that didn't look at all like Jeff came running towards me. Good thing he saw me! But as they say, all is well that ends well.
So Jeff, Mike and I hailed a Taxi (not the rip-off kind, take that Thailand!) to Khao San and eventually made it to our hotel at 4:30 Brisbane time (1:30 local). Thankfully my phone calls last week had paid off and we walked straight into our rooms, those being sufficient for our needs despite the lack of a window and an unnatural slant to my bed. Most sane people would have gone to bed at this point, but this is Bangkok and cause to celebrate there was! So on down to Khao San we chanted (please excuse the liberal use of exaggeration) and headed out for a bite to eat and a cold beer. But alas, some government regulation has come about which bans the sale of alcohol after midnight. Of course, there are places that you can still get a drink if you look hard enough, and we eventually found ourselves drinking scotch out of paper cups at a local bar.
We awoke this morning to the promise of a slow and relaxing day in our favourite backpacker hangouts. A late breakfast (for me, Jeff woke up at 7 or something like that) and a relaxing early morning stroll. Then an ice-cream and mocha at Svensens (undeniably the best ice-cream in S.E. Asia), a Thai massage at a small place between Khao San and the Viengtai (ohhh that was good, I've waited a year and a half to get a proper massage, I shall have to return tomorrow to get the full benefits), lunch and a beer at a Khao San restaurant, and then you find us at the present. Tonight will mark the arrival of Alex and a proper night bar-hopping Khao San, should be a wee bit of fun. Till next time.
Ohh, Jeff's beard diary has begun! See his ugly mug on the side!
New friends met so far: 13
Music of the day: Gomez, How we operate, track 2.
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Tim
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I knew Matty would be straight into thoughs "Thai massages". Have fun matty. remember dont be a fool wrap your tool.