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Published: July 12th 2006
27th Mar. I set my alarm to get up and get stuff done but i decide to sleep in. We get up and have breaky then we head off and do our own things. I spent lots of time on the net where i even got some songs added to my ipod, costing like $1 for each album, then did some cruising around the shops. I watched the movie Treasure Hunter at a cafe where i had a really yummy lunch. For dinner Jasper and i met up over a few drinks. We went for a walk down Khao San and we even ate grasshoppers. Sounds gross but it wasn’t too bad, just crunchy and salty and a bit of an adrenalin rush while your chewing. I wore my Aussie singlet as i had nothing else to wear and we got stopped in the street by some Aussies and i end up getting a rose! Cool. Jasper ends up contemplating trying a scorpion even though he has a fear of them. I kind give him a shove and he ends up eating one. So gross. We then go for another drink, this time at the Shell Servo. It was so bizarre
take your pick
crickets, cockroaches, beetle larvea, scorpions...as i thought this was a real servo by day and a place to drink at night, thinking how dangerous can you get...but it's a closed down servo. So we share stories over a drink together and give each other some helpful advise about life and relationships!!!
28th Mar. Jasper leaves early in the morning and we say goodbye. We had a short but great time together but his flight left today. I too get up and head to the Grand Palace thinking i was appropriately dressed as i had on a tshirt. But i had shorts on with them so i was given a sarong to tie around me but i think i tied it too tight as i couldn't walk very fast; my stride was restricted. I didn't stay here very long as my neck started to hurt and it was once again getting very hot. I went to go to the National Museum but it was closed (prayer day) and just ended up doing more shopping and emailing (the guy that works at the internet cafe is quite cute too). On my way to get food a guy comes chasing after me calling my name, i
figured that no-one would know me in Bangkok and he must have been calling out to someone else so i keep walking. He gets to me and i kinda shrug him off and he then gets offended that i don't remember him. I look at him properly after he says the 'stilt village' and i then realised it was Robbie. He walked away with the shits but i followed him. Since when do people in a different country really run into someone they know? I ended up sitting with him and Shaun and we headed to the shops AGAIN. We then go for a few drinks and i also get another rose!
Steph then meets us as she has just gotten back from Cambodia and we all shower and meet back with the guys. I convince Robbie to get the top of his ear pierced and i also get mine done again, which really hurt this time. He had to do it twice as he didn't tell me he was about to do it so i wasn't prepared and i flinched. We have another few drinks before the 4 of us squish into a tuk tuk to some place
Yes everyone
it's a cricket we have no idea where (a quick pash with Robbie on the way!!!) and the place we arrive in has all thai girls standing around like they were waiting to be picked in a beauty contest (somewhere in the night i ate another grasshopper - becoming quite the snack and Shaun ate a huge gross cockroach!) We went upstairs to play pool and a quick dance but got out of there pretty quick. The next place we went to you had to pay to get in and Steph and i were out of money and they were charging a ridiculous amount so we get a cab back to Khao San and eventually made it to bed. What a random day.
29th Mar Feeling slightly hung over today Steph and i meet the guys for breakfast before heading out to do more shopping. The guys got weird when i asked if they wanted to make a time to meet up later and they just said to walk past where they were staying and look for them. Well i know a shrug off when i see one so we just headed off on our own and i bought myself a new
cosi and a pair of jeans as i will need them for Europe. I get a back massage (thanks P&J again) while Steph gets a pedicure. Again we do internet to have a perve as he always gives it to us cheap so why wouldn't we go there? hihihi. Steph leaves in the Arvo for Chang Mai and i feel like crap as i have a headache and my head hurt everytime i walked, so i just went to use the net for a while again before going to grab a pancake and watching the Skeleton Key which i only saw the beginning of on my flight to Singapore.
30th Mar. I also decide to get a pedicure today (thanks P&J), organise my India visa and train for the afternoon. After i eat breakfast i see Robbie again and i only had a little chat as i had so much stuff to organise. I go back to my room and check out and then head to the post office. Just as i get inside it starts pissing down rain and then it gets torrential. I send some prezzies home, costing me more then i thought, bugger. I got stuck
there for a while as the rain was way too heavy to walk in. By the time it stops raining the streets were completely flooded and it was lucky i had my thongs and shorts on as i and everyone else had to wade through the water in some sections where it was as deep as your knees. I was going to get my hair braided in one of the stalls but they were all packed up. The streets were no longer streets, they were like rivers, which was so cool but crazy. The poor business people. On the way to the train station in the cab i get to see the third type of Takraw, the basketball version and it was really cool.
So i get to the station with plenty of time and it's not like a station you see at home, it was like the movies. I just sat on the floor like everyone else and journal wrote for 1 1/2 hours while i waited. There were some little kids around watching me so i drew one of the little girls a flower on a piece of paper and gave her a pencil to colour it
the scorpion
that japser ate in. She was happy until her brother snatched it from her so i gave her another one and she got more excited when i gave her 2 pencils to use. She was cute. I then headed to my train feeling both excited and nervous about my 10 day meditation. The train is cool and the toilet (which the train men pointed out for me which one to use) had me in hysterics. Squat toilets are hard enough (even though i think i am getting the knack of them) without being on a moving train also. It was hilarious to see the moving ground beneath you as you squat to do your stuff. I didn't get much sleep as i was worried that the alarm wouldn't go off and i would end up in Surat Thani. After getting up a few times and checking with the staff (one of which was in his boxer shorts), being told there was a delay, going back to sleep and eventually getting up at the right time i ask the staff about sleeping on the platform and getting to the meditation place. He tells me that i cannot sleep on the platform as the police
mmmmm
yummy will charge me and it will cost me 100B to get to the meditation. A thai lady (we'll call her Angel) is also waiting and we get off together. Angel shows me where to go and tells me (in very basic English) that a cheaper option is to wait till 6-6:30 (it's now 4am, i don't really know where i am and it's still dark). I end up seeing a guy, Raimond also at the station and he too is going to the meditation. We decide to wait for the cheaper ride and get comfortable on the marble seats! which Angel falls asleep on.
Rai and i talk for the 2 hours whilst eating my pringles and biscuits as we are starved. He also tells me that there are actually both western and Asian toilets on the train, damn guys showed me the squat!!! We have some good laughs, especially about the man who has been kicked out of home by his wife for being too drunk (or so we thought) and at the men who were trying to get us to go with them for 100B. We end up booking our train tickets back to Bangkok for the
Just drinking in the servo.
so random and crazy and bizarre 11th at 5pm and get the swangi with Angel for 15B where she even paid for us. She also shared her breakfast which was like a deep fried croissant, such a sweetie. We thank her for everything and make our way to registration and then walk to Suan Mokkh talking about hippies and how fast i was walking (he thought he was fast!). When we arrive i find out it's a silent retreat, something i wasn't completely sure about. I read the manual and sign up as i figured i had come all this way there was no turning back, besides where was i going to go for 10 days in Thailand and only spend 1500B, no-where so i was here for the long haul, or so i hoped. We do our interviews to make sure were not crazy (as this is definitely not the place for you if you are!) and i get organised, handing in my food, camera, money and ipod, as i was not going to be needing them (and kinda not allowed to have them as temptation). I then head back into town with Megan (Canadian i just met) and 2 Americans to change my return
train ticket time to the morning of the 11th so i would get one more night in Bangkok before i left Thailand. We head back after i eat some junk food and get myself weighed. I have a hot cup of ovaltine and Rai, Megan and i head down to one of the ponds to talk before the silence kicks in. By this time i am a bit scared.
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