I think I last left off in Chiang Mai, which seems like a LONG time ago so I guess I have a lot to write. Question to former Thailand visitors: I have red welts ALL OVER my back and arms. They are not itchy and don't seem like mosquito bites to me. I noticed them this morning, before I went into the water or anything. I have seen a few mosquitos in my room but no other bugs. What are they? They look disgusting! Also, this hotel has the weirdest wireless. Last night it was 2 bars in my room and [View Full Entry]

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Okay, now I'm indoors, so I can actually see what photos I am uploading! Last night we took the most vomit-inducing songthaew ride EVER up a long curvy road to the top of a mountain where we then climbed a bunch of steps to a temple. It was a cool temple with a nice view of Chiang Mai, and we all got blessed by a monk! He flicked water over us and then gave us a bracelet that he braided to wear. Our tour guide was a former monk- for 5 years! Seems like everyone here has been a monk at [View Full Entry]

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Okay, I'm back to civilization! I'm writing this on my laptop on a deck outside in Chiang Mai, in a coffee shop. Pretty good free wirless around here! I'm currently on my first tour, "Treasures of Northern Thailand" and it's exactly what I wanted so that's good. Sunday: I joined the group at the hotel Sunday evening. Our leader is Thai (her name is Toon) and there are 12 people in the group- most in their 20s and 30s. I was expecting even more older people, so it's nice to be around people my age. They are not all from Australia, [View Full Entry]

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Picking up where I left off... The flight to Bangkok Friday night was fine and immigration was quick. It was also very fast getting a taxi, though it involved a call to Suni to figure out where Margaret's house was! Apparently it's not the easiest to find. Didn't take long to get to her apartment though, and it was lovely to be welcomed by Margaret, since she is an excellent host! Saturday morning she said that it was the coolest it had been since moving to Thailand. Probably in the low 20s most of the day. We went to Chattachuk market, [View Full Entry]

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Well I'm sitting at the airport bored, so you get another update! Visited some markets today. I guess I've never really been to a market before where you have to bargain for things! I'd much rather just have a posted price and pay that! I've been told to know how much I would pay for it before I start bargaining, but I really don't have much of an idea of what things are worth! All the vendors selling similar/the same items, seeming so desperate for a sale...makes me kind of depressed! I bought myself a "jade" flower necklace (I highly doubt [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday evening: Finally got off the plane after a very long 15 hour flight. Was on a very old and cramped plane- definetely not impressed, considering the AC plane I took to Vancouver was a whole lot nicer! I took my special sleeping combination of zopiclone 7.5 mg + diphenhydramine 50 mg and obtained about 7 hours of fitful sleep! The fitfulness was mostly due to my legs being jammed in a tiny space and me trying to stretch them out. Did I already mention the plane was TINY? So got into HK airport and I had to walk a super [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick update- I'm waiting to board my flight to HK. This airport has free wireless internet, so it wasn't that bad having to wait 5 hours here! The flight is 15 hours and I get in sometime Tuesday evening, HK time. My computer arrived on Friday- I was expecting it still to be broken, but miraculously it is FIXED! Yay, I don't have to lug a mouse around with me too (the touchpad was broken and they said they wouldn't have the part to fix it in in time). I was barely able to zip up my backpack after [View Full Entry]

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I finally was able to book my hotel on Phuket, through latestays. For $50/night I'll be staying here: Kris Resort 11 more days until I leave! [View Full Entry]

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My wonderful brand new 9 inch laptop died! Specifically the touch pad, which is not surprisingly a very important part of a laptop. I sent it in to be fixed, but between all the holidays I'm not too hopeful about it coming back in time. I was really looking forward to having it with me. Being a pharmacist is pretty awesome. I needed to get some casual work for when I get back, so the conversation went like this: Alison: Hey. Need someone to work between (these specific dates)? Employer: Yup. How many days a week? Alison: 3 or 4 (I [View Full Entry]

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So far one of my most popular questions is "how much is this going to cost?". To put things in perspective, a few years ago I did 9 weeks in Europe for about $8000 Cnd. During that time I spend 10 days with family in Poland, so I didn't spend much during that time. I also stayed mostly in hostels. The two tours I did (Ireland and Scotland) were backpacker tours, so we also stayed in hostels. I took cheap flights from country to country. Since Europe is so expensive, I think I did pretty good! I'm thinking that this trip [View Full Entry]

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