http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/MaggyPaggy/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from MaggyPaggy en-us Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:14:07 +0000 Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:14:07 +0000 I'm writing this as I prepare to leave Bangkok for what I hope to be is the much cooler Chiang Mai. First impressions of Bangkok First glance the people the weather reminds me much of the Philippines. Or what the Philippines could be if the government spent money on building tourism. Although I have to say that the Philippines is much cleaner than it was during previous trips. Much less litter http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-98656.html Humidity humidity 1. a moderate degree of wetness especially of the atmosphere2. the concentration of water vapor in the air3. the freakin' PhilippinesDamn it's hot here. I know what should I expect It's the Philippines right But when I was 19 I was here around this time and it wasn't hot like this. I mean.... this is unbearably hot. The kind of hot that makes me super cranky. The kin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/blog-96391.html An excerpt from my journal as I wasn't allowed to hook up to the internet during the flight duhI am now on the plane to the Philippines. We boarded the plane early so that we could enjoy some moments in Business Class. As takeoff time was fast approaching a male attendant came up to us and asked us to leave. At first I was thinking Great. What did we do now But nope he didn't come to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/blog-84855.html La Tomatina was absolute craziness at a level I have never ever seen before. It was ten times ten times crazier than Friendship Games in Fullerton. I intended to take the first train out to Buol but it was much darker than I liked so I decided to to go later. The train ride was much calmer than I expected it would be but then again it was merely 830 AM. At the Aldaia train station a young boy http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Bu-ol/blog-18218.html I've arrived in BangkokSorry I haven't been keeping up to date with my travel blog entries. Have much to share about the past two weeks spent in the Philippines but I've had some major technical difficulties. For one my camera died Another couldn't hook up my laptop in the hotel in Makati yesterday. But luckily I've snagged a camera to take with me to Thailand and for the rest of my time i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-70450.html ... Lounge that is. Mom Dad and I are waiting for our flight to Manila to leave SFO. It hasn't sunk in yet that we're on our way to the Philippines again and that I will be in Thailand at the end of the month I think it's cause I had to work today and ended up seeing 15 patients. That's a lot. Fortunately I'm flying with my parents so we have the luxury of flying Business Class again. Of co http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-67116.html After leaving Seattle we headed straight for the Canadian border. The drive to the border seemed shorter than the actual wait to chat with border patrol. We found ways to amuse ourselves i.e. listening to Chris butcher the French language as he read the EnglishFrench signs all around. The weather had brightened up but it was still a little chilly as we sat in our rented Volvo waiting to pass th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver/blog-51276.html I wanted to make sure we made the most of our days off work. I convinced my dad to buy tickets for the very first plane to fly out of Oakland. The plan was to arrive into Seattle early enough to have coffee at the very first Starbucks ever opened and have some fresh oysters for lunch at Pike Place Market. Easier said than done. What I didn't count on was that in order to leave Oakland on the first http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-50120.html It's amazing how simple life is here. Last night Tito Otto hooked up his stereo ans speakers he brought from home. He couldn't get his subwoofer plugged due to the lack of multiple outlets like we do at home where we've got outlets everywhere you lookWatching how happy the family was to get something like that made me realize how much we take for granted at home. We have so many things but do http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/blog-13379.html The pictures I took don't do this city justice. I have so many photos to share... again there are more than 750 of them. I still have more coming from Michelle's camera. However if you would like to see them all let me know and I can email you the album from Snapfish. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-21590.html I loved this city so much http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-21589.html As bad a rap as Rome gets I really enjoyed the time I spent here. I was very sad to leave to the point of eyes tearing... or maybe that was the hangover I was sporting http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-21588.html The first day and a half Michelle was traveling in Vienna with me. The rest of the time I was by myself. I spent most of my time lounging in cafes and parks. Ahhh... how I miss Vienna. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-20900.html Pictures of Michelle and my lazy days in Prague... http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-20894.html FinallyForgive the delay in putting up these pictures from my trip but hey I've had to thumb through 780 pictures. Give me a break Enjoy http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-20754.html I am home now and it's great So on my travelblog after coming home from the PI I made a list of things I'd miss about the Philippines and list of reasons I was glad to be coming back to the States. So I guess I'll do the same for my Europe trip. Things I'll miss about being in Europe in no particular order Not looking at my daily planner every second of the day. Actually after the first w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-19854.html I am leaving Paris tomorrow for home. Thursday night I went out with some people from the hostel to the Rex Club the hot and happening spot in Paris. It took us two whole hours to wait in line to get inside but even though I'm not one for electronic music I'm a hip hopdancehall girl through and through I had fun. I even danced a little... I didn't want to leave but my shoes from Zara of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-19691.html Sorry for my lack of updating lately. I've been in Paris for a couple of days now but I've been nonstop with walking around and the internet at the hostel is very expensive that I haven't had a chance to sit down and type out an entry. My last day in Barcelona was nothing but chill. The weather was not hot enough for me to spend another lazy day at the beach so I just walked around instead. I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-19047.html The other day I was extremely homesick. I was waiting for this bike tour through Barcelona to start and I just felt extremely sad. I think hanging out with two Bay Area girls for the previous two days made me miss home so much. I ended up not going on the bike tour and just walking around. The two Bay Area girls left in the morning so I was by my lonesome for a good part of the day. Then at nig http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-18611.html I arrived in Barcelona yesterday afternoon. The train ride from Valencia to Barcelona was much more what I was expecting from taking the train in Europe than my train trip from Prague to Vienna. I wanted to thoroughly enjoy the scenic view from my window seat but I was exhausted and slept a good part of the way. As I was walking from the train station to the hostel I felt drops on my arm. I look http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-18422.html