Flash Back:

First day in Bangkok and we're already disrespecting the culture.  We ran around imitating the different statues in the main temple. 

It was sooooo hot and to prove it, look how shiny Justin is. 

This was one of the nicer toilets.  Most toilets didn't flush and didn't have a seat.  If it did have a seat, they call it a "western throne"

Uploading pictures suck.  It takes sooooo long.  I'm not even done the first week of our trip yet!  

Since I came back to Toronto everyone's been asking about Justin.  They are initially surprised that he's back in one piece and that I didn't kill or attempt to kill him on our trip.  I found out that people have been having discussions and were placing bets on whether we'd come back together!  I didn't know we were that interesting! heahehaehaheae Anyway, after people get over that initial shock that we've made it, they proceed to ask me how it was travelling with Justin. 

My usual answer is as follows:  The trip was totally awesome and you must go see these parts of the world before you die.  It would be such a shame to live a whole life making money but miss out on all the world has to offer.  I found out that travelling with Justin was pretty good.  You see the good, the bad and the ugly.  It's just a matter of how bad is the bad and how ugly is the ugly.  Lucky for me, even in the most stressful situations, we worked well together. 

I talked to Justin today and discovered that he's been asked very similar questions but his answers were a bit different.

His answer is as follows:   Amanda makes a pretty good travel partner.  Let'sjust put it like this - I've spent every day of the past seven weeks  with her and now I"m on a one month detox in London. 

I leave you with this....Justin's exhaust burn from our motorbike ride in Vietnam (I hope you are not reading this just before lunch and the picture is huge because I don't know how to resize stuff!)

So I've been back for a while now and I'm SOOO ready to leave.  It's a huge change going from waking up in the morning and deciding to go to another country to waking up to the sound of your parents.  Really big change. 

Anyway, I've been slowly uploading pictures.  Take a look if you dare.  

http://photobucket.com/albums/y235/shortwear/

Now, everyone who's taken a peek at these pictures makes some comment about Justin.  So for everyone else who's thinking the same thing, yes I know justin is very skinny and looks like he's been taken hostage and starved for months.  I don't know what it is about the both of us but no matter what we eat, we just can't gain weight.  Hate us if you must.

i'm back.

Ko PhangAn...this place is nuts!  They have these awesome bars that are on the beach along with one that is floating in the ocean.  Imagine this: a whole strip of beach lined with bars facing the ocean with little bamboo chairs and tables on the beach and these crazy Thai guys throwing and twerling sticks that are on fire.  Oh and one more thing, they don't drink out of cups.  You buy these buckets (they're like the ones you had when you're a kid and you used to build sand castles) with 10 straws, two bottles of red bull, a bottle of vodka and a can of sprite.  The stuff is way strong and during full moon parties the beach is packed full with about 6000 people all drunk out of their minds.  They have warnings about drownings and in the guidebooks they always have a section they call "A word from your mother" that talks about how it might seem like a good idea to empty your bladder/stomach in the ocean but how so many people end up drowning that way.   My favourite part was watching the flame throwers.  They were totally nuts!! I have some pictures and I'm trying to post them but I'm having some issues so in time my friends, in time...

Other than partying in Ko PhangAn, we spent our time eating, watching pirated movies in different restaurants and chilling on the beach.  I loved how they played so many movies but what I didn't appreciate was tihs stupid white cat that kept following me.  I HATE CATS!  This one cat would not leave me alone.  It would come up to my chair and start purring and meowing.  That creeped me out enough but the dumb thing kept jumping into my lap or into the back of my chair.  I was paralyzed.  I kept getting the waiter to come get his cat but no matter whta he did,  the cat came back!  I was so annoyed and scared crapless. 

We met these two Australians staying in the bungallow next to ours  and they were telling us how great Ko Tao was (the diving capital of the world).  They convinced us that it was so great so we ended up catching a boat to the island the next morning.  We got to Ko Tao and decided to walk the 2km to get to the beach we wanted to go to in the blazing sun with our backpacks on.  It would have cost $2 by taxi. haehahehaehaeh.  We're stupid cheapos.  Anyway, after huffing and puffing for 20 minutes we made it to our guest house and got a pretty nice bungallow that faced the beach.  We spent the day walking through the town and decided to tag along a group going scuba diving.  Unfortunately when we woke up the next morning it was gloomy and it rained the entire day.  We didn't get to go with the scuba group and spent the day just reading and talking.  It was nice actually.  Since we were stuck, we were forced to really relax and just do nothing. 

The next day we had to go back to Bangkok and of course, it was nice and sunny.  Oh well.... On the way to the pier we bumped into some people we met on that 2 day boat ride in Laos.  Sara was one of those people.  She was the one who was travelling with her dental assistant.  Well, they ended up splitting up because she just couldn't stand her anymore.  That's what you get if you don't know the person you're travelling with! 

We took an overnight train to Bangkok and arrived there at 6:30 in the morning.  We found a pretty nice guesthouse, showered, and went shopping...until midnight.  hehaehahehae.  Talk about a long day!  Justin wanted to go to Pat Pong where the red light district was but earlier in the day I was starving and I ate my dinner super fast and I was paying for it.  I didn't realize I was eating faster than usual until Justin told me to take it easy.  I Hoovered it!  hehaehaheae.  It was a plate of bbq chicken and rice and I was done in about 3 minutes.  I was STARVED!  That was dinner time and at about 11 I go such a bad stomach ache.  We ended up skipping Pat Pong (you see girls wearing next to nothing when the sun goes down all over Bangkok so it wasn't like we'd be seeing something totally new) and went home.  It ended up being a good thing because we had to figure out how we were going to back everything that we bought!  I spent $150 and Justin spent about $20.  eahehahehaehae.  With his $20 he bought about 7 t-shirts and could you just imagine what I bought with $150! heahehahehae.  Could you imagine how much heavier Justin's bag got with everything that I bought?!  heahehahehae

On the plane ride back to Hong Kong there was quite a bit of turbulance.  It was so bad at one point but again, I couldn't stop laughing.  Justin was all tense and had a death grip on both arm rests! hehaehahehaehea.  So funny!!!  This time the plane rocked from side to side, it was really loud and the plane dropped a few times (this was in mid air and we weren't landing).  The flight attendants were grabbing onto the chairs and there was one woman in the aisle who was grabbing onto a chiar for dear life and planted herself on the chair.  She refuse to go back to her seat because she was too scared.  Anyway, I thought the experience was kind of cool.  I spent the rest of the time thinking about how awesome the trip was and I came up with a list of firsts:

1. climbed a mountain and waterfall

2. ate dirty market food (so many flies in the air that they just kept falling into my food..very gross)

4. slept in a hut (one had a rat that ran through it....totally grossed me out and we moved the next day)

5.  drank wine while floating in the middle of the ocean

6.  learned to ride a motorbike in Thailand...very fun...nearly died....but I did it  (forgot to mention that in my entries earlier and DO NOT MENTION TO MOTHER...she will flip out and then kill me)

7. last but not least, only had the urge to kill Justin once.  To those who don't me or Justin well, this is quit an accompishment.

That's it for now!  I'll be back very soon and going to convocation on the 16th.  Totally not looking forward to it becuase everyone is going to be asking "did you get in?" then I will have to say "no I didn't" and then I'll have to answer the even more dreaded question "so what do you plan on doing?" booo...no time to dwell on that, I've got a whole day of shopping tomorrow!  Gotta cash those travellers cheques! woooohooooooo..

i've got some bad news...i got rejected from mac.  ah well.  i was quite sad and disappointed but don't pity me, pity justin - he had to deal with me for the entire day.  hheahehaehahehaeh. 

Here is what happened:

1. I called home and found out (sad)

2. I got on a boat because we were going to another island for more fun in the sun and the air con was blasting but all I had on was a tanktop and shorts.  I nearly froze to death

3. I got sea sick

4. We found a bungallow on the beach to stay at but I think the bed had bedbugs or something because I sat on the bed for about 15 minutes and I got 20 bites.  (We changed rooms right after)

5. Discovered that I had the ugliest thick strapped tank top tan in the world.  You can still see it now but it's more subtle.

6. Discovered that while baking in the sun and trying to foget about how disappointed I was, I had sand on parts of my leg and stomach.  I now have a really nasty blochy tan. Very ugly.

It was a horrible day and I do believe that June 4th should be removed from the calendar.  I actually don't really know if I'm more let down or if my family and friends are.  Let me give you an example.  My sister Claudia has been going through a week of mourning on my behalf.

Anyway, on to more happy things.  We spent the last few days rotting away on the beaches.  It was great.  I finished the first three Shopaholic books in the mean time.  Crazy eh?  I finished a 400 something book in one day!  It's like I've been possessed.  The only downer on the trip was that I had all this time to relax on the beach but all I could do was thinking about what I'm going to do for the rest of my life.  We hung out on Ko Phang An (site of full moon parties).....

Gotta talk to the relatives...make small talk with my crappy chinese....finish entry later...