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Published: September 30th 2008
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... And we're not so sure we feel fine!!! Welcome to the last blog from Team Canada as our aimless wandering around the world comes to an end. It is a sad day indeed!!!
Before heading up north, we set out for a dreaded visa run to Burma (Myanmar). Border crossings leave us wanting to claw eyes out, and have done so since the infamous Mr. Sam incident in Cambodia. Immigration officials tend to be a bit ... "entreprenurial" in their duties, touts hover like hawks and the key words of the day are "extortion," and "outrage". We try to keep ourselves calm with the reasoning that foaming at the mouth isn't going to bring us any closer to that visa stamp, but it was still a trying day and huge waste of time. We only needed the extention for six days, and tried to ask for the allowance upon entering the country, but were refused, so adding to our annoyance was the fact that neither of us thought it was really all that necessary.
The seven hour train ride back to Bangkok turned out to be a pleasant surprise (we've come to resent long travel
days); seats were comfortable, meals were included, and we were spared the company of oddball characters along the way (sounds mean, but if you only knew!). Arriving back in the city for the third and final time was a bit surreal for us. Bangkok is where our Southeast Asia Adventure began and this is where it is going to end, so we've come full circle! The first time here has memories of stifling heat (we'd been skiing in France only days before), feeling overwhelmed by the crowds and the smells, and the meeting of Kai and Danielle (Team Gerdutch!). The second time holds memories of anticipation for our buddies Maria and Dan, floating markets and "Whoo Hoo, we get to each pad thai again," and this third time seems to be filling with panic of "OMG, we fly home in 5 days" and "Holy Shit, we have no money left!!"
Our photos are from our time here with Maria and Dan (a month ago). We ended up losing one of our memory cards at the Full Moon Party (Confuscious Say: Thou Shalt Not Sleep On Sandy Beach), and that included all of our photos from Bangkok Round Two.
What's left is what we had uploaded beforehand, so at least we've got a few good shots saved. And the silly computers won't read our other memory cards today (???), so we can't add any from this time around. Argh.
We've spent our last week picking up souvenirs, eating pad thai, and tapping a few last buckets. It felt good to head back to our same guesthouse, eat from our favorite vendor and chat up our favorite tailor; like a teeny taste of being "home". We did our sightseeing the first few times we were here, so we've really just been hanging out, trying in vain to switch our days and nights around in hopes of avoiding jetlag. We also met up with a friend of Trevors from Canada, Kevin, who has been living in Bangkok for a few years. He is an actor, currently working on a short film project and we were invited to join them in a club for their last night of shooting. It was a great opportunity to observe "real" Thai's (who are every bit as wonderful as the "fake" ones we've apparentlly been meeting :P), and we had alot of fun partying
"The Bug Man"
For just a few dollars... you too can be eating Thailand's best Creepy crawlers! it up for a night with some of the kindest people we've met this year!
We're getting lots of emails asking us how we're feeling about going home... and the answer is that we're all over the place in our thoughts! Parts of us are going insane (The "Personal Space Issue" is really starting to annoy us) and we are feeling stir crazy for Canada. Dan and Maria left us with two boxes of Kraft Dinner, but we haven't been able to find a place to cook it, so our mouths are watering at the thought of a big ole bowl of it! And of course we're missing our good friends and family, look forward to finding jobs (because we're po, like Oprah was po!), and having a home again (as opposed to a ginormous 15 Kilo Backpack)! We're also going snakey in how much we miss Chubby and Minou (our cats!) and are needing to kiss their fat little faces.
But then there are the other parts of us, the ones which can't believe this is actually the end of our adventure! We are feeling nervous about returning and nastolgic about all we've experienced. We're
both so incredibly grateful for the opportunity we've had this year and are just having a hard time accepting that all good things must come to an end!
We sacraficed comfort for money on our flight home, so travel time will take us about 36 hours. We've got an eleven hour layover in Seoul and aren't looking very forward to it. Departure for Canada is in T minus 7.5 hours. Unbelievable!!!
Maple Syrup, Mounties, Kraft Dinner and Hockey Night in Canada ... here we come!!!
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Stacey
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I'm going to miss you!
I discovered your blog months ago while researching Thailand and have been hooked every since. I'm sad to see your journey come to an end as I have been living vicariously through your journeys. I loved your review of Rwanda and told my boyfriend I want to visit one day (he still thinks I'm crazy though). I am curious to know how you prepared for your trip and what will you do when you return. Safe travels!