Final Day

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I am currently in the Narita Airport in Tokyo, about 1/4 into my journey home. Luckily I had to get up at 3 am this morning to get to the airport for my flight, and after staying out later last night I was dead tired and slept through most of the 6 hour flight to get me here. Next is the really long segment to San Francisco, then an 8 hour stop-over (luckily during the day so I will be able to go out and explore) and then another few hours to get me home to Edmonton.

My final day in Thailand was a good one. The tailor came to the hotel in the morning to bring me my clothes, none of which fit so they then had to scramble and alter them twice more during the day to get them to me late last night since I was leaving so soon. I was a little anxious about that, but when I picked up their last revisions at the end of the day they fit perfectly. I got a really nice chinese dress and a black pant & long top outfit. Talk about service though, it was really nice they way they scrambled and came to me instead of me going to them, saved me a few hours of sitting in traffic in Bangkok.

During the day, I met up with a girl from the first tour I was on who was still around, we caught up on what we had been doing over the last 2 weeks, she had chosen to go it alone down south and had a fabulous time, I kinda wish I had done that after the 2nd group I ended up with not working out so well. Anyway, we went to Jim Thompson's house also, which is now a musuem, and had a tour around it, all done in teak and in the traditional Thai style. He was the one who made Thai silk the big deal that it is, and got very rich off it too, and then mysteriously disappeared, no one knows what happened to him even now, just went off in the Malalysian jungle and never returned. Also checked out a mall (I'm embarassed to admit that, cause it's not really an authentic tourist moment, but it was really hot and it was just across the street with air con!) Talk about closterphobia, the mall had really low ceilings, no natural light, and the shops were little more than 5'x5' stalls along narrow hallways with items just packed into them. No change rooms even, space must be a real premium.

We had our final drinks with the group around super time, everyone was pissed off at the American again because when we were passing the tour guide's tip collection around, he said no and didn't put anything in! And our poor guide Noi had put up with him and his really bad attitude for 2 weeks, done all the work of arranging everything for us and he wouldn't even tip him. Such a complete ass. And then he had the nerve to demand from Noi where our free shirts or something were from the tour company! I could not wait to get away from him.

That night a few of us had made plans to go to the lady boys show, Calypso, with the American not told about it of course. It turned out to be a pretty fun evening. It was in a pretty swanky hotel, we all had intented to go for dinner first but when we got there the price for the buffet was $450 bhat, about $15, and we all choked at that thought of spending that much after eating most of our meals all along for anywhere for $1-5 tops. Funny how you adjust so quickly to the local prices to thinking what is expensive, at home even that would be a real bargain! The show itself was an hour and a half in this intimate little stage, with the lady boys coming out either one at a time or in groups depending on the number, and singing and dancing. It was some of the worst lip syncing I have ever seen, but was really funny. There were some that you could totally tell, and many that you couldn't. The costumes were beautiful and the amount of work some of them had done to their bodies to be a woman instead was amazing. They were also poking fun at the subject too somewhat because at some points a beautiful woman would come out to introduce the next act, and then she would open her mouth to speak and this deep man voice would come out. For the most part they used taped woman voices though and did the terrrible lip syncing I mentioned earlier. Some guys had come with us too and even they enjoyed it. At the end, they girls all lined up for photos, and seeing them up close you could see how much stage makeup they were wearing and tell a lot easier, not so pretty up close some of them I'll tell you!

I finished my last night off on the street back at the hotel watching some of the others eat from the bug vendor cart just for kicks (full size beetles, grasshoppers, locuts, wormy things, yuck!) I went for my favourite treat instead, a final banana pancake. Someone really needs to open one of those on Whyte Ave, it would be such a hit, we were all addicted.

This brings my blog to a conclusion I guess, thanks to everyone who had the interest to read along with me on my adventure. I'd highly recommend Intrepid (the tour group) if anyone else is interested in group travel anywhere in the world, the guides and everything were amazing and they were so helpful and organized.

I'll see or talk to you all soon :o)

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Comments

[Cassie]

you really know how to pick your trips carmen, you always have the coolest stories. You should really put a picture of your new outfit on here for everyone to see, i know i'm dying to know what it looks like. Thank you for doing such a great job describing your adventures too, i almost feel like i was there (i know i wish i was). Anyways, you can be expecting a phone call from me Sunday night, i'm dying to talk to you, it's been a whole month, wow! Anyways, have a safe trip home sis'! -Cassie <3