Advertisement
Published: November 6th 2006
Edit Blog Post
After ten and a half months on the road we are finally home. Tom and Wanda, Scott's parents, picked us up at the airport in San Francisco and drove us to his Aunt Sharon's house, where we spent Easter.
Almost two weeks ago we arrived back in Santa Barbara. We now have blisters on our feet from having to wear "proper" shoes to interviews. It's the first time in months we have consistently worn anything other than flip flops!
Scott has had an interview marathon this week, so things look good for him. As for me, I have some interviews for summer teaching jobs, but the "real" job (elementary teaching) in September seems more difficult. I think I am too early...we'll see.
I didn't expect to have anything to write about our final few days of the trip when we had two days in Bangkok before going home. As I mentioned in my last e-mail, the plan was to run a lot of errands (dentist, develop photos etc) and then shop until we drop. However, things didn't quite turn out like that...
We had read that it was the Songkran festival, which is the Thai New Year.
As it is the beginning of the rainy season, the Thai people welcome the rains by throwing water on each other. We knew all this, but were not at all prepared for the real thing.
We arrived at the airport and got a bus to Khao San Road, our home-from-home. As we walked along the street with our backpacks on, we were sprayed with water. A few steps later, I had a small bucket of water poured down my trousers. We soon realized that if we carried on, we (along with our backpacks and all of our belongings) would soon be soaked! Instead of heading to our usual favourite hotel, we quickly checked into the first hotel we saw and put on more appropriate clothing for getting a soaking! After trying to run several errands and failing miserably (sensibly, everything was closed to avoid water damage) we decided that if you can't beat them, just join them!
We each bought a water gun and took to the streets. It was packed everywhere for about four blocks surrounding Khao San Road. Everywhere we went, we had water fights with other people, both foreign and Thai. A pattern soon
developed. The Thais had some respect and squirted luke warm water at your body. Many of the foreigners, however, didn't quite seem to get it, and instead squirted icy cold water into your eyes! Hmmm, a total difference in etiquette I guess! As you will see from the photos, another New Year activity is to combine a white powder with water to make a gooey paste, which is then smeared onto your face and hair - nice! We had a great few last days and it was a fantastic way to end a fantastic trip! I don't have all my shopping, but at least that gives me a reason to go back soon....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.259s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 17; qc: 83; dbt: 0.0992s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb