Just a few more hours...

This post never made it. It was started in Chiang Mai, but ended up finished in Koh Samui. Today is actually Sunday, December 31st, 2006. 8:15 in Koh Samui, Thailand.

So Chiang Mai was awesome because we got to ride elephants. The train ride wasn't so awesome. The first train was cold--about 30-40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The second train right wasn't so bad, but the food was terrible.

Now we're in Koh Samui after a long long bus and ferry ride. I got sick so I climbed ontop of the ferry, then kicked off 40 minutes later. But we made it. Slightly humid here, but nice. We're on a remote part of the island with few resorts. Last night we went to a bar and drank with a bunch of billegerant 30-40 year old Germans. Lots of Germans here strangely.

I'm going to try and find monkeys today, then go to Koh Pangan, which is about a 10-20 minute ferry ride across the seas.

Not much else to report, except I have a ton of photos I'll probably eventually post.

Carl died while I was gone. Life feels a little empty today.

Merry Christmas

So there are so many people singing Christmas songs here and blasting them in the malls. It's kind of annoying. Even thousands of miles away from home I can't escape Christmas music. Last night we got swindled by a taxi. I asked him to take us to the Muay Thai boxing--kickboxing--and he took us to an arena across town. He didn't use his meter because he said it'd be 120 baht. I said, fine, take us there--however, he did not. We paid him just the same and I can only hope that he uses the money to get his teeth fixed. He had the nerve to try and ask us for more money to take us to the right place. What an a-hole.

So the day wasn't a total loss. I found a bunch of things to buy and buying I did. My Xmas shopping is pretty much done. We also went to the night bazaar here where they have live music. I've come to the conclusion that the only songs Thai people know are Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" and Bob Dylan's/Guns N Roses' "Knocking on Heaven's Door." Somehow, Thai people think that these are the songs American's listen to the most, so they play it the most. It's slightly amusing to me since the first day I was here I went to Karaoke and they asked me to sing these exact same songs--to which I now regret for trashing my voice and making me sick.

We're starting to get bored of Bangkok and I am regretting putting my faith into so many of the people here. I wanted to spend more time in the country or the beaches, but that hasn't happened.

Here are some photos.

The Skytrain:


A view of Bangkok from the sky train.


Brad playing Drum Master!


The Night Bazaar at Silom


Xmas in Thailand on Khaosan Road

Morgan's detailed accounts...

I post up blog blurbs from our trip, while Morgan actually writes an epic...

You can read her accounts of our days here:

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/doomcookie/

Getting better, and getting lost...

So I am getting better. The sickness is almost gone as I've gone to a hospital now and got a shot in my ass. Life is getting better. We went to Wat Po yesterday to see the sites. We have some pictures, but haven't fully decided what to do with them. We have 4 cameras between the three of us and we're using all of them. Two are film, one is an underwater camera which is going to be awesome.

So we got to take the sky train last night and hung out with Sheryl and her friends. They are good people. All of them are halflings. Either part-Thai and part (insert nationality here). All of them speak perfect english and Thai. It's amazing to see half Lebonese, Japanese, and Americans speak Thai with perfect clarity. By the way, I've lost my voice a bit, so my bad Thai has become incomprehensable.

We went to a house party later last night. There was a gift exchange and I got rotten fish in a jar. I didn't take it with me.

Here some photos before time runs up at the Internet Cafe:

Buddah at Wat Po


Sheryl Shannada Pook K... something. Design geek extraordinare.


Morgan and sick eddie.


Eddie (lebenon Eddie), Brad Jennifer, Kate. Some of our travel companions to Koh Pangan.

Sick.. as a dog.

So I was very unfortunate and got really ill. It was probably because I was Karokeing on a sore throat. Today I got a shot in the ass from a Thai nurse. They gave me tons of medicine for the next few days. It hurts when I swallow (Let the jokes begin). I went out with Sheryl a few nights ago and we got hammered of endless amounts of Heiniken. She even sang. My uncle Vitchit got drunk and started playing the drums. In Thailand, there's a live band that accompanies your singing. Sadly, I have no photos from that night. The band kept asking me to play and sing with them too--I think it's because I can sing American songs. I sang some Eagles. Mother fuckin' Eagles. And then I did some Tracy Chapman and some other crazy songs. I think one was Imagine by John Lennon. I was so hammered, the next day I threw up a bunch of times and my sore throat got worse. Today is our first full day here with Brad and Morgan. I am happy to report I'm on the mend and I'll be posting more photos soon. Monday we leave for Chiang Mai.

Here are Brad and Morgan in the Internet cafe.

Around town...

I booked us a hotel for Friday night.

There are tons of these in Thailand


I gave my little brother Michael a thing of insta-snow. He was pretty psyched. Him and my sister Jennifer decided they'd have a snowball fight... except you can't really crunch the insta-snow into balls, so it was basically a snow flake fight. (from left to right: Michael, Jennifer, and neighborhood kid).


Internet is slow here. I will post again later.

In Bangkok!

I'm hanging out with my Dad at his office. I haven't taken any meaningful photos yet, but I have 3 to share with you all.

San Diego Bay the morning I left (as seen from my Mom's place)


Hong Kong International airport


Kitty, my Dad's dog


I'm planning on picking up Brad tomorrow about 7 PM and then Morgan at 11 PM. I'll have more later.

Coke for HK$22 gets me 30 mins of Internet

I have finally arrived in Hong Kong. The trip was pretty taxing. I got up to stretch every few hours and I got to watch Pirates of the Carribean. Twice. I also watched some of my iTunes downloads--mainly SeaLab 2021. The ride wasn't too bad. 2 full meals, 1 small snack, and 1 larger snack. Plus tons of drinks.

The Hong Kong airport features 24/7 Christmas music, so it's just as annoying as it is in America.

I was wandering around aimlessly because there was no gate number posted for my flight to Bangkok. Now there is, and it's all the way down the terminal and I'm lazy. I needed to stretch my legs so I decided to walk around and found no Internet terminal. Apparently I've been walking by it all night. You have to buy something at the adjacent restaurant, though. This is where I purchased a 22 dollar Coke. Hong Kong dollars. The exchange rate is HK$7.6 to the US Dollar. That's still over 2 bucks for a can of Coke.

I'll be in Thailand in about 4-5 hours and I can't wait to get there. I just need some sleep. I rarely slept on the plane. I think my advice is to sleep early so you can pretend like you're caught up when you get to your destination. As soon as I get to Bangkok, I'm going to pop a unisome, which I purchased for a ridiculous $9 from LAX, and go to bed.

I don't know what more to add. I took a few photos already. My iPod is my best friend.

Leaving LAX

No one can ruin your game like your mother. Im at LAX and try for an upgrade--free upgrade. With my other standing next to me telling me I didn't need one and that "it's too expensive", I was unable to convince the girl at the counter to do anything for me. I was too busy thinking about my mom and how annoying she---and she was annoying the hell out of me. This is why I don't take my mom to work with me. So I will try again at the counter at the gate, this time with no distraction.

I'l be in Thailand soon. I also borrowed my mom's camera. That was nice of her. I'll miss everyone.

Message for Morgan and Brad: Bring jacket for Chiang Mai! It might be a bit cooler there than in Bangkok!

Bye for now.

Sang Som

The girls introduced me to a Thai whiskey called Sang Som. It's killer. I woke up with a wicked hang over this morning.

I've now been invited to KPMG's corporate winter formal which we are not sure if I'm going to attend yet.

Just remember, Sang Som is a killer. I only had like a shot of it. They drink it like mad in Thailand.

Chiang Mai Restaurant

Sheryl recommended this restaurant, Raan Ta nam ,in the Chiang Mai area which is akin to a bed and breakfast here. It looks elegant and lovely.

Ran Ta nam website

Thailand is fast approaching...

Thailand is coming (or rather, I'm going). We're all pretty much ready to go. We have our passports and plane tickets. What's left is to wrap up business and work-related things here states-side. I know Lindsay is working six days a week. I've been doing marketing like crazy to ensure the company will have enough exposure in the 2 1/2 weeks that I'm gone. I'm not sure what Brad is doing.

We are getting some help from Sheryl and her friend, who's supposed to be finding out about tickets and travel stuff to the New Years Eve party.

I've been learning Thai.

Life is getting hectic and I can't wait to go. I even have my USB charger ready for my iPod.

This is going to be awesome.

My Passport Has Arrived

...earlier than expected, I might add.

Monkeys and Giant Fish

So I talked with my family for hours about the things to do in Thailand. I even asked about going into other countries such as Burma and China or Vietnam and Cambodia. It seems that going to Vietnam and Cambodia will be very dangerous since we don't know anyone there, nor do we speak the language. China and Burma shouldn't be too bad, however.

In Chiang Rai, northern of Chiang Mai, my uncle owns a house he says we can utilize for our stay in the north country. Apparently near by is a temple where you can feed monkeys that come down to see you in the 100s. The same temple has a huge fish pond with giant fish. Close by is the opium museum created by the queen's mother which catalogs the history of the drug trade.

In Chiang Mai we'll see the long-neck villiage--a villiage of people with rings on their necks. That should be cool.

Perhaps my itinerary is going to be loosely based on:

December 19. fly into Bangkok
20-21. adjust to jet lag and pick Morgan and Brad up from the airport.
22-23. leave for Chiang Rai by plane or train.
24-26. spend time traveling across borders and lookig for monkeys and elephants
27-28. river raft down to Chiang Mai
29-30. spend time in Chiang Mai
31-2. travel to Pattaya beach
January 2-3. spend time in Bangkok.
4. fly home.

That's my tentative itinerary without consulting Morgan or Brad. I'll have to see what they'd like to do as well. I'm just stoked about seeing monkeys that travel on busses.

Side story: My mom told me about monkey's last night. She talked about how she was 7 years old and living in a small villiage in Thailand. The monkeys would ride a train or bus from the countryside and travel to her house. Apparently this is a common occurance and the monkeys are pretty smart. There are quite a number of monkeys that have learned to ride the busses and trains--and I guess it's all kosher. So hopefully, when we're in Thailand, there will be monkeys riding trains with us.

I'm pretty excited about this trip.

Dangers in Thailand

There are no known indigenous terrorist or rebel groups directly hostile to the U.S. in Thailand. Visitors should exercise caution if traveling near border areas with Burma, Malaysia and Cambodia, due to banditry, drug smuggling and separatist violence. Persons with known transnational terrorist associations transit through and visit Thailand with relative ease through legal and illegal means. These travel routes include not only the Burmese and Cambodian borders, but also the Malaysian border. Soft target vulnerabilities exist throughout the country; a situation that could easily be exploited by transnational terrorist elements if they begin operations here.

The far south of Thailand continues to experience daily incidents of criminally and politically motivated violence directed against Thai authorities by armed local separatist/ extremist groups. These groups have targeted Thai government interests, including government schools, courts and local security forces. Although there is no information indicating that these groups have targeted westerners, American citizens have been victims of this indiscriminate violence, as was the case in April 2005, when two Americans were injured by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that detonated at the Hat Yai International Airport in southern Thailand. For this reason, the State Department urges all American citizens to defer non-emergency travel to Thailand's southernmost four provinces including Songkhla, Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat.

Itinerary confirmed.

Itinerary:

1 Air
CX - Cathay Pacific
Flight 885
Booking Code: K
Date: Tuesday, December 19, 2006
From: Los Angeles Intl, Los Angeles CA - U.S.
To: Hong Kong Intl, Hong Kong Hong Kong
Departs: 11:25 AM Arrives: 6:55 PM Next Day
Status: confirmed


2 Air
CX - Cathay Pacific
Flight 709
Booking Code: K
Date: Wednesday, December 20, 2006
From: Hong Kong Intl, Hong Kong Hong Kong
To: Bangkok Intl Arpt, Bangkok Thailand
Departs: 10:00 PM Arrives: 11:50 PM
Status: confirmed


3 Air
CX - Cathay Pacific
Flight 2700
Booking Code: H
Date: Thursday, January 04, 2007
From: Bangkok Intl Arpt, Bangkok Thailand
To: Hong Kong Intl, Hong Kong Hong Kong
Departs: 8:25 AM Arrives: 12:15 PM
Status: confirmed


4 Air
CX - Cathay Pacific
Flight 882
Booking Code: H
Date: Thursday, January 04, 2007
From: Hong Kong Intl, Hong Kong Hong Kong
To: Los Angeles Intl, Los Angeles CA - U.S.
Departs: 4:25 PM Arrives: 12:50 PM
Status: confirmed

My Ticket

I placed an order for a ticket for $1750 including taxes. I just have to fax a credit card authorization form now.

The dates of my travel have changed to December 19 or 20, 2006 to January 4th. This gives me a few extra days in Thailand, for which I will just spend immersing myself in the language beforee Lindsay Morgan and Brad arrive. Nima hasn't purchased his ticket yet. He is still hunting the best fare down.

I wish I purchased my ticket in September like I previously planned. I knew it would be near impossible to book at a good rate after November.

What the deuce?

I can't find any fares for under $2200!

I will continue my search. Looks like I can't get a PS3... maybe I should just sell my Porsche? Yes. Yes I will.

Another letter from Dad...

13.11.2006
Eddie
OK, I will pick yoy guys up since our house is not too far from the airport.
HERE are some suggestions for your trip;
1 night with us
1-2 night at Thanon Kao Sarn (street name ) in a guest house, this is the place most backpackers stay over when they are in Bangkok . It is very cheap $5 - $10/night . You will meet a lot of friends from many countries just like in the movie "The Beach".
If you find a group that's going your way, North to Cheingmai (mountains/forest ) or South to Samui (Fun Fun Girls and Beachs) or Phuket (expensive there) or East to Pattaya (girls/beach ) or Kor Charng (Beach), you spend 2-3 nights there .
Do some reseach on these places and decid or if you have any questions just ask me.
love
Dad

TWOTD (Thai Word Of The Day)

Jing jing, phrase: It's true! When someone says "no way, man," in English, we often say, "for realz yo," or "it's true." In Thai, mai ben rai means true that. Literally, I think it means real real, but I'm not 100% sure.

There's your word of the day.

The 4th

My friend Nima may be coming with us to Thailand. He's an experienced car designer looking for work anywhere and in seek of inspiration through his travels. He also hit my Porsche a few months back and never paid me back. He's going to the LA Auto Show in a few weeks to show off his new designs and I fully support him. He's going to help me find a cheap fare to Thailand.

Talk Abroad

I was worried about talking on a cell phone abroad, but I guess you can rent cell phones while in other countries...

http://www.cellularabroad.com

Coup? What Coup?

A New York Times article in the Travel section cites the coup in Thailand does not affect tourism.

With travelers confused about traveling during such a time of transition, many turn to the Internet where forums were filled with advice from folks all across the globe. The coup seems to have had no affect on travel in Thailand as many Thais go about in their busy lives. The new prime minister is in office, and so are his cabinet members. They will be there for a period of one year until a new constitution may be drafted.

Looks like we'll still be going.

NY Times Article

Is It Safe To Travel to Thailand?

A letter from my father from a few weeks ago:

Monday, September 25, 2006
Dear Eddie
SURE it is safe to travel to Thailand. They do not bother tourists. Do not worry about it. This will pass within 2-3 weeks.
Thasin has already stepped down.
Dad

Thailand Coup'd'tat

So I wrote a little about it on my MySpace, but there's a coup in Thailand. I am not worried about it, but I'm crazy adventurous, though I don't look it. I did write my Dad and he wrote back with a few things to say:

21.9.2006
Dear Son,
The coup in Thailand came as big surprise to me too.
We had a day off yesterday 20.09.2006, and it is dangerous to go outside. Military Police (MP) can pick you up for no reason and make you disapear for good. It is sad for Thais and the country. It started with a car bomb targeted to kill the MPs, but luckily the bomb did not go off. The police investigation lead closer to the Soilders Group and that's why they had the coup d'tat.

Whether or not that is a car bomb was the real reason for the coup, or the last straw in a long line of straws has yet to be seen. The simple fact is life continues and there has been no major disruption in tourism or to Thailand's financial district. According to the Bangkok Post, "The military and police chiefs who took over government on Tuesday night enjoy more popular support than most of their predecessors."

I will continue to write my dad and check on his well being. He's obviously afraid and a little shocked. According to news sources, however, the coup seems to be going rather well--and will continue to go well until someone makes the wrong move and exposes insurgents.

More later...

Saving money for this trip has been a little harder than I planned...

I will be posting on my live journal.

Postlet.

No one has posted in awhile. We are doubting if Joe is going to go. I fear the lack of communication may cause Danielle to forget about going? So what the deuce?

Where is everyone? Morgan and I are the only "for sure" people going.

I will press on. I will hunt down Danielle and introduce her to the fellowship of travelers to motivate her. Everyone needs motivation.

Eddie Phanichkul. Go fuck yourself San Diego.

AMAZING website

http://www.sidestep.com/air/

I have chosen my airline... it's Delta.

Packing Stuff

Packing stuff is pretty important. What to pack. What not to pack. I have recently come back from a 2 week business trip and I didn't have any checked luggage at all. How is this possible? I was able to do laundry in Chicago at a laundrymat. I didn't even wear a few of the clothes I had with me, which means I over packed. I also purchased quite a bit of stuff to bring back with me, which brings up the question, "how the hell do we get stuff back here?"

Here are my tips:

- Pack light. Clothes are dirt cheap there, if we need something, we can buy it there.
- Check an empty or semi empty bag. We'll use either the beach house or my Dad's house as a base-of-operations. Every excursion we return from we can drop stuff off in our empty bag and check it when we fly home.
- Toiletries. We can probably bring the bare essentials. From what I remember toothpaste tastes a lot different there, so we might want to bring our own.

Those are all the tips I have for now!

Racking up frequent flyer miles...

I am planning to rack up some more frequent flyer miles this summer as I travel quite a bit for work. In working a lot... and getting miles, I'll be able to overwhelmingly afford vacations like Thailand. I was hoping to fly together on the flight to Bangkok, but I guess I'll settle with flying with Danielle, if she's still interested in going.

I'm going to buy my ticket in 2 months. Trying to keep a level head and logical approach so that I can plan out my route and make sure I won't have to also visit Vietnam, making it a working vacation.

Stuff to think about + TWOTD

I figure this summer we should all get our passports. If I remember correctly, the fee to get passports is $80 bucks. Perhaps it may have gone up since last year, but probably not. Morgs and I had a conversation about VISAs. She's thinking we should be alright with the standard visa.

Today's Thai word is chai. It doesn't have a sound like chai tea, but more like an exclamatedaye! So you add the CH in front of that. It means right. So if you're responding to a question, you'd say, "Chai, krup," (for a man) or "Chai, ka" (if you're a girl).

Pretty easy stuff.

Money

In one trade show, I've made enough money to travel to Thailand for 2 1/2 people. It was my goal to make as much money as possible and now I have!

A note about tickets: I read that it was a good idea not to buy your tickets too early because buying tickets too far in advance could actually be more expensive since airlines don't actually know availability until a few months before the trip, so the best time to purchase your tickets are 2-3 months before your international flight--unless you can get some dirt cheap tickets! The previous fare I posted was for roundtrip at a cost of about $1,300 after taxes. I don't remember the website though.

Chris spoke of a cheap international fares website he uses when he travels to China and Vietnam for business. I think we will use that.

Going to work now.

A good airfare found... not the best, but not too shabby...

This fare gives us a 7 hour lay-over in Tokyo, JP. A bonus trip!!!

Leave
Thu, Dec 21
Delta Air Lines 8953
operated by China Airlines -- CI 0007

Delta Air Lines

Depart:
1:15am
Arrive:
6:10am

Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
Taipei, Taiwan (TPE)

2 stops in TPE

* 12hr 55min
* | Boeing 747


Change Airline. Time between flights: 2hr 40min


China Airlines 641

China Airlines

Depart:
8:50am
Arrive:
10:35am

Taipei, Taiwan (TPE)
Hong Kong, Hong Kong (HKG)

* 1hr 45min
* | Airbus A333


No plane change. Time between flights: 1hr 5min


China Airlines 641

China Airlines

Depart:
11:40am
Arrive:
1:25pm

Hong Kong, Hong Kong (HKG)
Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)

* 2hr 45min
* | Airbus A333

Total duration: 21hr 10min

This is an overnight flight.

Return
Thu, Jan 4
All Nippon Airways 916

All Nippon Airways

Depart:
11:45pm
Arrive:
7:30am

Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)
Tokyo, Japan (NRT)

1 stop in NRT

* 5hr 45min
* | Boeing 767


Change Airline. Time between flights: 7hr 25min


Delta Air Lines 7871
operated by Korean Air Lines -- KE 0001

Delta Air Lines

Depart:
2:55pm
Arrive:
8:40am

Tokyo, Japan (NRT)
Los Angeles, CA (LAX)

* 10hr 45min
* | Boeing 777

Total duration: 23hr 55min

This is an overnight flight.

TWOTD + Thai Tea Recipe

Today's word is wan ang-kahn. Wan means day, as ang-kahn refers to Tuesday. So wan ang-kahn means Tuesday day. You can use the prefix of wan to every day of the week, in fact, it's proper Thai to do so. Yesterday was wan jahn as wan nee (today) bpen (is) wan ang-kahn (Tuesday).

As a special treat (literally), this is a recipe for Thai Iced Tea.

- Boil 8 cups water.
- Place 8 to 10 tablespoons tea mix in a large pitcher or pot.
- Pour boiling water over the tea and let steep for 5 or 6 minutes.
-Use a strainer to strain the tea into a second pitcher (this removes most of the loose tea), then use a coffee filter or the stainless/muslin filter offered below to filter it back into the (rinsed) first pitcher.
- Add sugar to taste (recommend at least 1 cup, as Thai icetea should be very sweet), stir and let cool then put in the fridge.
- Pour chilled tea over ice (prefer crushed ice) and top with evaporated milk (or half and half).
- Let the milk float on the ice and slowly sink into the tea.

Alternatively, I used to make it this way:

Take a coffee maker and put about 2-3 filters in the grounds vestibule (that place where the coffee goes). Put 8-10 table spoons and just let the coffee maker go wild. It'll come out piping hot, but you'll need to chill it in the fridge for a few hours. Before you chill it through, put some sugar in the pot and stir it in real well.

In about 2-3 hours, you'll have awesome Thai Iced Tea. Pour it over ice and put a splash of milk on it. It's amazing.

I don't have much to add, except that Thailand is still very much on my mind. I'm leaving for Vegas in a few days, so I will be absent for awhile.

Chogck dee!
Eddie

TWOTD (Thai Word Of The Day)

Mâi ben rai, phrase: Don't mention it, or it's nothing. When someone says thank you, in English, we often say, "you're welcome," or "don't mention it." In Thai, mai ben rai means nevermind. It's kinda like saying "forgedda-boud-it" if you're a mobster.

Quick random fact: Nirvana's second album Nevermind was called Mai Ben Rai in Thailand.
(Okay, I lied, it was still called Nevermind)

Mâi means no.

This webpage Danielle found has a good lsit of phrases: http://www.learningthai.com/useful_phrases.html

We have a good idea of where we plan to go and who we want to visit. Now we need to hammer out some dates for the plane ride. Hopefully we can get a good idea of costs and a timeframe of when we're going to be there, as well as how long.


HINT: Our friends Danielle and Joe need to start posting a little something. =o)

Bonus: Friend in Thai is puen, pheonetically pêu•an. The U sound is similar to O in oven. I think that's right. Anyway, We gotta get moving on narrowing down the dates, so we can purchase tickets and get everyone passports.

A letter from Dad.

I guess I forgot to mention my father lives in Thailand and part of this trip will be to visit my family. I have not seen my father in 4 years. I've also not seen my step-mother and grandmother in 10 years. I've never met my half brother or half sister. This bit excites me and I'm even more motivated to go.

I received a welcoming letter from my father earlier today:

25.4.2006
Eddy
Sound good to me about the trip
Cheing Mai trip will be no problem I will set up a place to stay free of charge for you.
And Pataya your auntie Jessie has a place you can stay free. Use that as your base camp to travel one day trip or so.
In Bangkok, all of you can stay in my condo free too, but bring your sleeping bags.
All you need is plane and food money . In Thailand if you can survive on noddle and fried rice, I say $5 /day is what you will be spending. And all your relatives will like to have you and your friends to stay with them. Your uncle, my elder brother, who has a daughter staying with aunt Jessies back East, is always asking about you.
So I will be see you
Love,
dad

I didn't even know I had a female cousin... I didn't even know Dad had an older brother?

Looks like this trip is highly feasible. 5 bucks a day works out to be $70 each--or 2660 Baht. That's a lot of baht! I doubt we'll really spend that much on food since we'll be staying with relatives some of the time and if we decide to eat cheaper than cheap, we can hit street vendors that charge about a dollar a plate. Thai people put Mexican street vendors to shame. A full meal and an orange Fanta will cost a buck or less! I fucking LOVE orange Fanta.

I digress.

I had a good conversation with Danielle tonight. She's quite jazzed about the trip and has been learning Thai in bits and pieces. I try to help however much I can over the internet. It's quite challenging though since you need to learn the tones that go along with the word. I figure I'll keep eating Thai food and have her order in Thai. It'll be the easiest way to learn... though not quite the cheapest hehe.

Alright, I've gotten so excited, I stayed past my bedtime. So long, goodnight.

The Awesome Thailand Blog Post 1

We are approximately 6 months away from our trip to Thailand.

A little background:

I've always wanted to go to Europe. Backpack. Travel. See stuff. I asked all my friends for advice. Last November, I had my heart set on visiting Europe for spring break in April. Life really got flipped, turned up-side down and thus I never got to Europe.

Morgan had always told me about how much she wanted to go to Thailand and how, on past trips to Europe, people raved about how amazing Thailand is--and I agree having been there numerous times as a child and teenager.

Lindsay Morgan and I are not strangers to traveling. A few years back, Morgan, Markee and me journied to the long lost city of Bellingham, Washington. We dropped Markee off in Oregon because we didn't want her anymore. We traveled by car, a bitchin' camaro, now deceased. We have proven to ourselves we can travel cheap and live on couches. Of course, I was afraid of rats and fleas, but that didn't stop me.

Back to present:

We somehow got the crazy idea we'd both go to Thailand. I'm not really sure when, or how it happened, but I do know that last Sunday, Morgan and I got serious about it. We went to look for plane tickets, books on travel, translations--everything. We mapped out our stay and chose our travel companions. She said her roommate Joe really wanted to go. And I thought of Danielle, the person I would love to travel with the most because she's the most fun to be around in any situation--especially when everything else feels awkward, she makes me feel upbeat and positive.

So we have our four travel companions.

Joe - The Bodygaurd.
Morgan - The Cultural Advisor.
Eddie - The Translator and Navagator.
Danielle - The Innocent "Mary-Ann-type" who will get us free beer and possibly hookers. (Just Kidding)

---

I'm brushing up on my Thai. I used to be fluent. I can definitely understand it. I can speak it a little better than a 2nd language learner. I can also read some letters.

The biggest hurdle will be getting us there and back. We'll need passports and money for the plane tickets. This means I'm going to work my ass off to save up at least 2000 bucks. I know I can do it. I can take on whatever odd jobs I can find. I also get a paid vacation, so I should do my best at my current position as a Marketing Director. Maybe I can sell the Porsche if I have to.

This is going to be a great time. I feel like I have a great team. I'm going to need some Indiana Jones clothing and an elephant.

I'm ready.