southeast asia comes to a close (for now)

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So I'm back in Sydney now, on xmas eve. It was a bit weird not having a million tuk tuk drivers at my throat when I left the airport. Also, I kept wanting to say hello and thank you in Thai. I imagine I'd do pretty well picking up another language if I ever get to do a cultural immersion program or something along those lines. The flight here was awesome. I had dinner and a few drinks, and passed out for like 7 hours. When I woke up there was only about an hour left in the flight (of the 9 total).

Since my last entry, I haven't done too much. I stayed in Ko Tao for a few more days, then got a boat-bus up to Bangkok. I went with three English girls I met on the island, and we all shared a room on Khao San Rd once we reached Bangkok Fri night. We went to a club that night, creatively named, "The Club." But it was actually a really cool place with a good vibe and awesome lights and lasers. After it closed, we tried to find another club but they were all closed for election weekend. We went back to Khao San Rd, and found a bar still serving alcohol so we grabbed a few drinks there. We met these two hilarious guys from Southern England named Andy and Chunk... and I seriously could not stop laughing at everything they said because of their accent and the shit they were talking. I got home around 6 in the morning.

After getting up at 1130 Saturday, I spent a day hanging out at the rooftop pool. We went to see a ping pong show that night in Patpong, Bangkok's redlight district... which was a disturbing and hilarious experience. Basically, girls perform an assortment of tricks with their virginers... including opening bottles, smoking cigarettes, and shooting darts at balloons. They weren't very attractive though, and they kept trying to take our money (surprise). After a bit, we headed to Starbucks because nobody was serving alcohol again (so gay), and the girls realized their flight was supposed to leave at 0013. This realization came around midnight. So, basically they thought they were fucked. We went back to the room to call the airline, and it turned out the flight had been changed to 2359... the same flight as mine. They were extremely lucky, because as I told them, I'm pretty sure you couldn't pick a worse time of year to miss a flight. After they found out everything was cool, we went up to the roof of our place and had some illegally served beers and played pool for a bit.

So I think that covers it all, even if it is a bit randomly written. Sorry. But not really.

I'm trying to figure out a way to put all these photos up now... So look for them soon.

It's my first Christmas away from home, so it's a bit weird. Also, I'm looking out the back window at a pool and a swim looks rather attractive. That's not a normal feeling on Christmas for me. It's all good though, being away. I miss my family but the friend I'm staying with has some people coming over for dinner tomorrow, other Christmas orphans apparently, and we're all going to drown our sorrows with turkey and beers. Should be fun... and I'm spent. Merry Christmas/Christmas Eve!

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