Keeping Face

Well after more than 15 years of waiting, and seven or so months of planning, I am sitting in an internet cafe in Bangkok, THAILAND. The weather is beyond perfect, the street food is both delicious and rediculously inexpensive; the people are happy, the backpackers are plentiful! The journey from China to Bangkok went a little like this...

I woke up Saturday morning, enjoyed a manicure and 1-hour massage for about $9 dollars or less; I nearly cleared a dinner-sized portion of spaghetti and tomato sauce. Then, I went into a white taxi (which was recommended as a safer driver than others), and BAMMM - car crash right on the highway. The running joke of China was that we (the tour group) couldn't believe we hadn't seen any wrecks.... Well, I don't recommend joking about that in the future. I was fine, and it wasn't major, but ended up getting into another taxi to make my flight. Once I got to the airport, my flight was canceled so I was luckily bumped to an earlier flight to Hong Kong.

Dragon Air is great! I enjoyed Hagan Daaz ice cream, and bread, since the vegeterian meal I requested wasn't on the plane. Really, though, the plane was great, seats were comfortable, and I really liked the hostesses. Once in Hong Kong, it took the next airline about 1-hour to find a way to print my ticket; something hadn't "registered" or something. Once I got my ticket, I learned my flight was delayed until midnight.

I finally arrived at Nira's Bangkoc (hostel) around 5 AM, and maybe slept for about 4 hours last night. When I woke up this morning, I recieved information that I already have credit fraud... Interesting. Nira's is great, by the way, and the owner is, as well.

But despite everything, I of course make the best of it, and just kind of assume it's my luck. I have an amazing family who is working on the credit fraud issue for me, so with the comfort of knowing I don't have to stress about that, I met up with my friend Dan, who has been teaching in Thailand, and enjoyed about 4 hours of waterfighting on Khao Son Road. I now have two over-sized water guns protecting my belongings in the hostel dorm. HAPPY NEW YEAR, CHINA.

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