Home Sweet Japan
Well I am back from Thailand and from what I can tell I might just be beaming. I feel really good. It was really great to travel somewhere that was so incredible but yet gave me such a great new perspective on the foreign country that I am living in. I have a whole new list of things about Japan that I totally took for granted before and how much I appreciate them now. Like cleanliness, bathrooms, customer service, punctuality, etc, to just name a few. Don't get me wrong though, Thailand is an absolutely beautiful country but it is also a country that seems to be busting at the seams because it has everything coexisting at the same time. Order and complete chaos, beautiful people and so many colours and yet so dirty and a lot of suffering. I think it is going to take me a while to reflect on my short time in Southeast Asia.
So, I will start at the beginning...or at least where I left off. Work finished well with me having to attend a full day Japanese conference. There's some excitement for ya...kind of like sitting in a room listening to white noise for 6 hours with a few breaks in the middle. I pulled the special needs card and said that I couldn't understand Japanese so the random seat assignment wouldn't work for me. My coworkers and I all got to sit together. I was sure to bring a book and after 3 hours had to take a nap. Dinner was incredible (lobster, sushi, sashimi, fruit, anything you wanted) and everyone got pretty drunk. It was really funny when the "first years" had to do the traditional Christmas carol. Think of it like a sort of hazing. Except when they got up there, they were fantastic and the Christmas carol was in English! Not exactly what I was expecting, but it was really good. AFter enough beer I went and talked to my crush. I am pretty sure I scare the living crap out of him....but that adds to the fun :o)
I was SO excited to go to Thailand, to be on vacation in the sun and ocean, and to see Andy! It was great to spot him in the crowd of people waiting. He had a ruptured eardrum which sucked and he had to keep reminding me to walk on his right side so he could hear me. We got that cleared up after lots of antibiotics and ear drops. He was such a trooper and such a great guide. You don't really realize how much time 10 days together actually is. I am happy to say that in the end we are just that much closer and I am so grateful to have him in my life. But we could never date!! Haha!
So I landed around 6:30pm which gave us lots of time to go to the red light district in Bangkok. That is after getting screwed by the taxi driver on the way back to the city from the airport. Note to self: Almost EVERYONE is trying to screw you. Totally different mentality than Japan where teaching negotiating to my students is really tough because they don't understand why you wouldn't just say what you are thinking and what you are willing to pay. So we went to the guest house and met up with a few other guys that Andy was friends with. I knew right then that my comfort levels were going to have to be seriously lowered if I was going to survive the next 10 days. And not just the guest house...the city itself was what pushed my limits. Thank God I brought hand sanitizer.
After most of the guys checking to see if I was okay with going to "that part of the city" we got us a couple of tuk tuks. I was actually quite curious about Bangkok's red light district. I had heard lots of stories of women with incredible talents using parts of their anatomy to do any number of things. My question is how do you figure out that you have that talent?!?! Anyway, we didn't go to a place with "shows" but there were a lot of naked women wearing Santa's hats dancing on a stage in the middle of the bar. There was like stadium seating all around. You couldn't help but watch and stare. There is another game that you can play too, which is spot the dude. That's right...it is really hard but usually you can tell by the hips which ones are actually men dressed as female Thai prostitutes. Andy took me for a walk around (Mom and Dad I bet you are thrilled to hear that!!) and there are just half naked women (and I don't mean that they only have important bits covered, I mean wearing see through bodysuits and nothing else) standing outside of bars opening the curtains so you can see what is going on inside. It was Christmas Eve so they all had on red and Santa hats. It was weird because it didn't even seem all that dirty or sad. I was told that these women are actually respected by their families and society because they are bringing money into the home and the country. I just looked at it as they are providing a service that is in demand in a multi billion dollar industry. I think I had to so I wouldn't think too much about women's rights and why there is a damand or an industry in the first place. First point on the list of "Reasons to be grateful I am Canadian".
The tuk tuk ride was great too. This one guy that we met, who told us a million times that he was a Thai kick boxer in his previous life...nice guy but nuts!, was getting the tuk tuk driver to pop a wheelie. We were driving side by side with the rest of the boys in a second tuk tuk and they were hanging off each other and stealing shoes. It was fun but Momma Rea was not laughing as hard as they were. Not to mention that Bangkok traffic, no Thailand traffic which is multiplied by a million in Bangkok, is absolutely insane! Motorcycles EVERYWHERE weaving in and out of traffic and screw the lines on the road or the lights! Very dangerous and when Andy and I had to cross 12 lanes without pedestrian walks I was screaming just a bit. There was one point where he was like "trust me"..."no bloody way mister! trust me, we are going to die if we go!"
Day 2 it was Christmas Day and we spent it sightseeing around Bangkok. We actually visited a couple of the places that ended up getting bombed on New Years. We went to Wat Pho which is the site of the world's most famous and popular Thai massage school. It was so cheap to get massages so I got a few. It didn't feel much like Christmas but the herbal thai massage and banana pancake made up for it! I was wondering if it would be rude if I asked the lady to please use my hand sanitizer before she touched my pancake..but I figured the sooner I got Thailand into my system the stronger I would be and less likely to get sick. I passed out pretty early and Andy and the boys kept the whole house up and got yelled at by a couple of French girls across the hall.
Day 3: trip to the hospital for one last check up and then a 12 hour bus trip down to Krabi to catch the ferry and head off to the islands. I was so excited for beach! I had had enough Bangkok for one week. The trip was overnight so we caught the bus at 6pm. We didn't actually leave Bangkok till 7:30pm and for the next three hours we stopped three times because the air conditioning wasn't working. It was really hot on the bus and we were over three hours behind schedule. Andy said to sit at the front because the bathroom usually smells pretty bad. That was an understatement and the heat didn't help the situation. The bus is scheduled to stop for something to eat around 11pm and then you sleep through the night. Since we were so late we figured we just would drive through the night. Just as everyone was drifting off to sleep at 2am we pull up to florecent light hell. Guess we should eat then. We are back on our way at 2:30am only to have the driver start to blare Thai pop purely for his own enjoyment. I passed out at this time (thanks to Andy's lovely and comfy shoulder) but I was informed later that this Thai pop hell continued for the next 4 hours!! I woke up when Shania Twain came on and that was the last straw for the guy behind me! He went up to the driver and was like "WHAT THE HELL! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP". They turned it off and 20 minutes later pulled the bus over and told everyone to get off and get their bags. We all got our bags and went across the street only to have our tickets checked and to get back on the bus! I thought Andy was going to explode. He was like "get me off this Thai bus of TORTURE! It is hot, I'm tired, it smells like poo and I HATE this music!!!" I was like "we are almost there guy" and he just looked at me and said "thanks Nails...when did you get so patient??" He gave me a huge compliment and said that I was unlike any other girl that you could travel with. We laughed about the situation and got to Krabi around 9am and the ferry left at 10am.
Being on the ocean was fantastic. We met a guy at one of the temples in Bangkok who made a joke about the beach being dangerous for me because I might get lost because I was so white. I laughed but I am usually a lot darker that the average whitey. Dude, we got on that boat and I realized that I was THAT GIRL!! The really pastey pale white girl! In Japan they use bleaching products to try and get their skin really white and it is desirable but not for a Canadian girl. I guess it was so hot in Japan this summer I just avoided the sun and ran in the morning so I didn't get the tan I usually do in Canada. We stayed on the front of the boat because the sun felt so good but damn did I get burnt! I paid for that boat ride for the next 8 days and I am peeling still due to it!
First stop was Koh Phi Phi. I won't go into too much detail but it was one of the most incredibly beautiful places I have ever been in my life. Completely different natural beauty compared to Canada. It is more of a party island so we met up with some people that Andy knew and had some good times. In Thailand you drink from buckets. Just how it sounds, they are childrens sand buckets filled with about 12 ounces of alcohol if not more. We split a bucket but I wasn't going to risk getting sick and hungover when I had such a beautiful place to discover. We tried to snorkel a couple of times but conditions sucked and we got rained on another time. I did see some wild monkeys and a SHARK!! Because the conditions were so crap this thing had to be REALLY close for me to see it. We had just watched the movie The Beach (which was filmed there and on the next island we were going to) and a couple of guys get attacked by a shark. I knew this was a reef shark but it was about 4 feet long and 2 meters in front of me and I was having a hard enough time dealing with the sea cucumbers which looked like snakes to me!! I am a lake girl after all! I went running one morning which is always the best way to see a new place and hiked over to the other side of the island too. It was pretty challenging actually and when we were on the way down we heard this guy behind us totally bail. It was actually pretty hilarious becuase you just heard crashing and screaming and then someone say in Thai "ohhhhh" then silence. I asked if we should go back and check but Andy said no. Men....
Next island, Ko Lanta....
Much more chill that Phi Phi and just what I needed. We got picked up from the ferry by Papa and Lap from Fisherman's Cottage. Again, a place that my personal Thailand tour guide had stayed before. It is a father and his three sons who run this little bungalow paradise. This island (and Phi Phi) had both been hit really hard by the Tsumani in 2006 and there was a lot of work going on still to rebuild. Fisherman's Cottage was located right on the beach with the main "house" consisting of a hammock living room complete with TV and DVD's, all the books you could want, Lucky the cat, and a computer with internet (if you were patient enough to try 6 times to get an email to go through), a bar and restaurant. You could sit at the tables and eat if you wanted or you could climb into the treehouse complete with tables and lounge cushions. In total there were about 12 bungalows I guess. Andy and I were in Sting Ray #6. He lost the key the first night and for some God only knows reason he locked the door the next day and asked Kun for a new key. Kun just gave us a new key and lock to use. I kept the girl eyes to myself and we used the window for the next 5 or so days. Each bungalow had it's own hammock on the deck. It really was one of the most stunning places I have ever been. That is until the sun went down and the cockroaches joined us in the bathroom.
I picked up a Paulo Coelho book which I really really enjoyed. The sun seemed not to want to come out fully for the first two days which I decided was to protect me. I was really badly burnt and just keep the aloe coming. I went running a couple of times and swimming and read lots and sat in the trees and drank more banana shakes than one girl needs to! The food in Thailand is so awesome too!! I love Japanese food but let's be serious. There is no better food on the planet than Thai food in my books. We went down the beach to another restaurant and had fresh fish that you actually picked off the cart and they went and grilled it up.
Kun convinced us that we had to go on this snorkling day trip. It was kind of expensive but I was told it was worth it. It would also mean that I was going to have to forfeit riding an elephant but I was told that after the novelty wore off after 5 minutes you were just stuck up there for the next 2 hours and it was kind of a let down. So I went snorkeling. It was incredible!!! The salt water took some getting used to and the fact that microscopic pieces of coral sting you ALL OVER your enitre body kind of sucks but it was worth it. Note: bikini's are not the best snorkeling wear but that is what people wear...just letting you know. We stopped in a national park for lunch and I cannot express how breathtaking this beach was! We also saw a 4 foot lizard which a girl found when she went in the bush for a pee. Man did that kid boot it!! haha!
We got back to the Cottage around 4pm and Andy went for a sleep. It had been a really long day but I wasn't sleepy. I went for a walk on the beach which was probably one of the most memorable moments on the trip probably. It was so cool to just reflect on 2006 and on how much has changed and how I have changed. Everything just seemed to make sense in that time that I was walking and the sun was setting. I was just so completely at peace. Then I remembered that if I was going to wear a dress and make up for New Years (not much I was at the beach after all) I would have to get showered and changed BEFORE the sun went down and BEFORE the cockroaches and gecko's moved in!!
I lay in the hammock in my dress watching the sky turn the final stages of pink over the palm trees and ocean. Andy came out and just said "wow" as he passed me. I am going to take that as a "Rea, you look absolutely beautiful". We went up and the boys has an awesome dinner prepared complete with BBQ fish and chicken, Thai curry, salad, fruit (I ate so much fruit I thought I was going to turn into a pineapple). Three of us decided that we would split 3 buckets over the course of the evening. That is about 12 drinks each which is plenty. Due to the 5 buckets that we drank the rest of the night is a bit fuzzy. I remember dancing lots...attempting to swing dance with some poor Thai guy at one point! Fireworks, lampoons which were beautiful, hugs and kisses at midnight...so much fun!
I was hurting like hell in the morning. Andy made me drag my sorry sand covered ass up to the treehouse and eat something. Who knew that PB and toast could save your life. I was trying not to fall out of the treehouse when another one of the girls staying there told us about the bombings the night before in Bangkok. There were 5 of us that were heading back there in a couple of hours. Governments were issuing warnings to people not to travel around Bangkok let alone travel TO it. I didn't really have a choice. As much as I would have loved to stay on Lanta Island for another couple of months...my flight was the next day. I was a little worried about us even finding room on a bus or a train or anything to get us back there. It was Jan.1st after all. Our luck finally started going our way and getting a bus was not too much of an issue. It was not as bad as the bus ride down South but it was not all that much better. There was no poo smell because there was no bathroom and rather than Thai pop they were playing this rediculous Thai variety show that was SOOOO annoying. They put all of us foreigners in the back together and put us through hell with tickets. It was actually quite funny after it was all over.
Back in Bangkok I got a full oil massage with apricot body scrub and sauna and milk bath to try and control the peeling from the burn. I did some shopping and we took a sunset boat ride down the river and ate some awesome Israeli food. My flight home was good and before anything I called my parents when I got in the door. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to see on the news that there are bombs killing people in a city where you know your kid either is or will be in very shortly. Sorry for not calling sooner Mom and Dad.
So I am just trying to get back into life mode and get ready for work on Tuesday. The day that I got home Tim messaged me and reminded me that I, in a period of temporary insanety, agreed to run a race today. If you consider drinking, smoking and eating everything an anything you want proper training, sign me up. Shit!! So I said that I would do it but it wouldn't be pretty. That was before we woke up this morning and saw the snow. I did actually feel good about the snow because it put me at a definite advantage being Canadian and having run through the past two winters (remember those Ed!! I didn't bring my yak traks though....) but I was being cheeky and Mother Nature kicked my ass again. We were running right down on the coast right next to the Pfizer site in Taketoyo. I was informed AFTER we arrived that it was actually an ekidan event (team relay) but Tim had entered us both as individuals running because we had to be there to show our support for the community. Wait...just to check...I got up at 6:30am on a Sunday to run in a SNOW TYPHOON (the wind was absolutely insane!! Seriously, typhoon class winds!) for COMMUNITY SUPPORT! I atleast got a cactus last time I almost killed myself!
It was only 6km so I said okay. Normally it would take me about 24 minutes to run 6km. I finished the race today in 38:18. I pulled out every ounce of "gambate" (fight) that I had. There were points that you were running but not exactly moving because the wind was so strong. To tell you the truth I have run in worse at home. The part of today which I am afraid to admit is that in a sick kind of sadistic way it was actually really fun. I love that feeling of not stopping until you are finished no matter what it takes. I have to thank the Japanese man who chased me down to give me his gloves and to all the kids who yelled "fighto" and the Pfizer manager who organized the whole thing (and for who we were running for in the first place) yelled everytime I went through the start (and the other teams switched up fresh runners) "3 to go Rea!!!". Thanks Nakamura-san....got it! 3 to go! Ugh. I liked that Tim and I could just look at each other and know that we were both cursing ourselves but happy to know that we are both really serious runners. He did quite well....I sucked the big one but didn't care. We bolted back to the car and just left. Next race is on the 21st. I might try and train a bit more for this one ;o)
So with that being said I am totally exhausted and going to bed. I cannot believe how long this must be and I am not even going to look.
New year's resolutions: to not over think or over analyze so much, to push my limits more, to learn and expand my mind, body and soul, to surround myself with those who make me laugh and to stop being so hard on myself and accept me for who I am.
Happy 2007 to you all and I look forward to seeing what this year has to bring for us and sharing it together.
Love always,
REA
So, I will start at the beginning...or at least where I left off. Work finished well with me having to attend a full day Japanese conference. There's some excitement for ya...kind of like sitting in a room listening to white noise for 6 hours with a few breaks in the middle. I pulled the special needs card and said that I couldn't understand Japanese so the random seat assignment wouldn't work for me. My coworkers and I all got to sit together. I was sure to bring a book and after 3 hours had to take a nap. Dinner was incredible (lobster, sushi, sashimi, fruit, anything you wanted) and everyone got pretty drunk. It was really funny when the "first years" had to do the traditional Christmas carol. Think of it like a sort of hazing. Except when they got up there, they were fantastic and the Christmas carol was in English! Not exactly what I was expecting, but it was really good. AFter enough beer I went and talked to my crush. I am pretty sure I scare the living crap out of him....but that adds to the fun :o)
I was SO excited to go to Thailand, to be on vacation in the sun and ocean, and to see Andy! It was great to spot him in the crowd of people waiting. He had a ruptured eardrum which sucked and he had to keep reminding me to walk on his right side so he could hear me. We got that cleared up after lots of antibiotics and ear drops. He was such a trooper and such a great guide. You don't really realize how much time 10 days together actually is. I am happy to say that in the end we are just that much closer and I am so grateful to have him in my life. But we could never date!! Haha!
So I landed around 6:30pm which gave us lots of time to go to the red light district in Bangkok. That is after getting screwed by the taxi driver on the way back to the city from the airport. Note to self: Almost EVERYONE is trying to screw you. Totally different mentality than Japan where teaching negotiating to my students is really tough because they don't understand why you wouldn't just say what you are thinking and what you are willing to pay. So we went to the guest house and met up with a few other guys that Andy was friends with. I knew right then that my comfort levels were going to have to be seriously lowered if I was going to survive the next 10 days. And not just the guest house...the city itself was what pushed my limits. Thank God I brought hand sanitizer.
After most of the guys checking to see if I was okay with going to "that part of the city" we got us a couple of tuk tuks. I was actually quite curious about Bangkok's red light district. I had heard lots of stories of women with incredible talents using parts of their anatomy to do any number of things. My question is how do you figure out that you have that talent?!?! Anyway, we didn't go to a place with "shows" but there were a lot of naked women wearing Santa's hats dancing on a stage in the middle of the bar. There was like stadium seating all around. You couldn't help but watch and stare. There is another game that you can play too, which is spot the dude. That's right...it is really hard but usually you can tell by the hips which ones are actually men dressed as female Thai prostitutes. Andy took me for a walk around (Mom and Dad I bet you are thrilled to hear that!!) and there are just half naked women (and I don't mean that they only have important bits covered, I mean wearing see through bodysuits and nothing else) standing outside of bars opening the curtains so you can see what is going on inside. It was Christmas Eve so they all had on red and Santa hats. It was weird because it didn't even seem all that dirty or sad. I was told that these women are actually respected by their families and society because they are bringing money into the home and the country. I just looked at it as they are providing a service that is in demand in a multi billion dollar industry. I think I had to so I wouldn't think too much about women's rights and why there is a damand or an industry in the first place. First point on the list of "Reasons to be grateful I am Canadian".
The tuk tuk ride was great too. This one guy that we met, who told us a million times that he was a Thai kick boxer in his previous life...nice guy but nuts!, was getting the tuk tuk driver to pop a wheelie. We were driving side by side with the rest of the boys in a second tuk tuk and they were hanging off each other and stealing shoes. It was fun but Momma Rea was not laughing as hard as they were. Not to mention that Bangkok traffic, no Thailand traffic which is multiplied by a million in Bangkok, is absolutely insane! Motorcycles EVERYWHERE weaving in and out of traffic and screw the lines on the road or the lights! Very dangerous and when Andy and I had to cross 12 lanes without pedestrian walks I was screaming just a bit. There was one point where he was like "trust me"..."no bloody way mister! trust me, we are going to die if we go!"
Day 2 it was Christmas Day and we spent it sightseeing around Bangkok. We actually visited a couple of the places that ended up getting bombed on New Years. We went to Wat Pho which is the site of the world's most famous and popular Thai massage school. It was so cheap to get massages so I got a few. It didn't feel much like Christmas but the herbal thai massage and banana pancake made up for it! I was wondering if it would be rude if I asked the lady to please use my hand sanitizer before she touched my pancake..but I figured the sooner I got Thailand into my system the stronger I would be and less likely to get sick. I passed out pretty early and Andy and the boys kept the whole house up and got yelled at by a couple of French girls across the hall.
Day 3: trip to the hospital for one last check up and then a 12 hour bus trip down to Krabi to catch the ferry and head off to the islands. I was so excited for beach! I had had enough Bangkok for one week. The trip was overnight so we caught the bus at 6pm. We didn't actually leave Bangkok till 7:30pm and for the next three hours we stopped three times because the air conditioning wasn't working. It was really hot on the bus and we were over three hours behind schedule. Andy said to sit at the front because the bathroom usually smells pretty bad. That was an understatement and the heat didn't help the situation. The bus is scheduled to stop for something to eat around 11pm and then you sleep through the night. Since we were so late we figured we just would drive through the night. Just as everyone was drifting off to sleep at 2am we pull up to florecent light hell. Guess we should eat then. We are back on our way at 2:30am only to have the driver start to blare Thai pop purely for his own enjoyment. I passed out at this time (thanks to Andy's lovely and comfy shoulder) but I was informed later that this Thai pop hell continued for the next 4 hours!! I woke up when Shania Twain came on and that was the last straw for the guy behind me! He went up to the driver and was like "WHAT THE HELL! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP". They turned it off and 20 minutes later pulled the bus over and told everyone to get off and get their bags. We all got our bags and went across the street only to have our tickets checked and to get back on the bus! I thought Andy was going to explode. He was like "get me off this Thai bus of TORTURE! It is hot, I'm tired, it smells like poo and I HATE this music!!!" I was like "we are almost there guy" and he just looked at me and said "thanks Nails...when did you get so patient??" He gave me a huge compliment and said that I was unlike any other girl that you could travel with. We laughed about the situation and got to Krabi around 9am and the ferry left at 10am.
Being on the ocean was fantastic. We met a guy at one of the temples in Bangkok who made a joke about the beach being dangerous for me because I might get lost because I was so white. I laughed but I am usually a lot darker that the average whitey. Dude, we got on that boat and I realized that I was THAT GIRL!! The really pastey pale white girl! In Japan they use bleaching products to try and get their skin really white and it is desirable but not for a Canadian girl. I guess it was so hot in Japan this summer I just avoided the sun and ran in the morning so I didn't get the tan I usually do in Canada. We stayed on the front of the boat because the sun felt so good but damn did I get burnt! I paid for that boat ride for the next 8 days and I am peeling still due to it!
First stop was Koh Phi Phi. I won't go into too much detail but it was one of the most incredibly beautiful places I have ever been in my life. Completely different natural beauty compared to Canada. It is more of a party island so we met up with some people that Andy knew and had some good times. In Thailand you drink from buckets. Just how it sounds, they are childrens sand buckets filled with about 12 ounces of alcohol if not more. We split a bucket but I wasn't going to risk getting sick and hungover when I had such a beautiful place to discover. We tried to snorkel a couple of times but conditions sucked and we got rained on another time. I did see some wild monkeys and a SHARK!! Because the conditions were so crap this thing had to be REALLY close for me to see it. We had just watched the movie The Beach (which was filmed there and on the next island we were going to) and a couple of guys get attacked by a shark. I knew this was a reef shark but it was about 4 feet long and 2 meters in front of me and I was having a hard enough time dealing with the sea cucumbers which looked like snakes to me!! I am a lake girl after all! I went running one morning which is always the best way to see a new place and hiked over to the other side of the island too. It was pretty challenging actually and when we were on the way down we heard this guy behind us totally bail. It was actually pretty hilarious becuase you just heard crashing and screaming and then someone say in Thai "ohhhhh" then silence. I asked if we should go back and check but Andy said no. Men....
Next island, Ko Lanta....
Much more chill that Phi Phi and just what I needed. We got picked up from the ferry by Papa and Lap from Fisherman's Cottage. Again, a place that my personal Thailand tour guide had stayed before. It is a father and his three sons who run this little bungalow paradise. This island (and Phi Phi) had both been hit really hard by the Tsumani in 2006 and there was a lot of work going on still to rebuild. Fisherman's Cottage was located right on the beach with the main "house" consisting of a hammock living room complete with TV and DVD's, all the books you could want, Lucky the cat, and a computer with internet (if you were patient enough to try 6 times to get an email to go through), a bar and restaurant. You could sit at the tables and eat if you wanted or you could climb into the treehouse complete with tables and lounge cushions. In total there were about 12 bungalows I guess. Andy and I were in Sting Ray #6. He lost the key the first night and for some God only knows reason he locked the door the next day and asked Kun for a new key. Kun just gave us a new key and lock to use. I kept the girl eyes to myself and we used the window for the next 5 or so days. Each bungalow had it's own hammock on the deck. It really was one of the most stunning places I have ever been. That is until the sun went down and the cockroaches joined us in the bathroom.
I picked up a Paulo Coelho book which I really really enjoyed. The sun seemed not to want to come out fully for the first two days which I decided was to protect me. I was really badly burnt and just keep the aloe coming. I went running a couple of times and swimming and read lots and sat in the trees and drank more banana shakes than one girl needs to! The food in Thailand is so awesome too!! I love Japanese food but let's be serious. There is no better food on the planet than Thai food in my books. We went down the beach to another restaurant and had fresh fish that you actually picked off the cart and they went and grilled it up.
Kun convinced us that we had to go on this snorkling day trip. It was kind of expensive but I was told it was worth it. It would also mean that I was going to have to forfeit riding an elephant but I was told that after the novelty wore off after 5 minutes you were just stuck up there for the next 2 hours and it was kind of a let down. So I went snorkeling. It was incredible!!! The salt water took some getting used to and the fact that microscopic pieces of coral sting you ALL OVER your enitre body kind of sucks but it was worth it. Note: bikini's are not the best snorkeling wear but that is what people wear...just letting you know. We stopped in a national park for lunch and I cannot express how breathtaking this beach was! We also saw a 4 foot lizard which a girl found when she went in the bush for a pee. Man did that kid boot it!! haha!
We got back to the Cottage around 4pm and Andy went for a sleep. It had been a really long day but I wasn't sleepy. I went for a walk on the beach which was probably one of the most memorable moments on the trip probably. It was so cool to just reflect on 2006 and on how much has changed and how I have changed. Everything just seemed to make sense in that time that I was walking and the sun was setting. I was just so completely at peace. Then I remembered that if I was going to wear a dress and make up for New Years (not much I was at the beach after all) I would have to get showered and changed BEFORE the sun went down and BEFORE the cockroaches and gecko's moved in!!
I lay in the hammock in my dress watching the sky turn the final stages of pink over the palm trees and ocean. Andy came out and just said "wow" as he passed me. I am going to take that as a "Rea, you look absolutely beautiful". We went up and the boys has an awesome dinner prepared complete with BBQ fish and chicken, Thai curry, salad, fruit (I ate so much fruit I thought I was going to turn into a pineapple). Three of us decided that we would split 3 buckets over the course of the evening. That is about 12 drinks each which is plenty. Due to the 5 buckets that we drank the rest of the night is a bit fuzzy. I remember dancing lots...attempting to swing dance with some poor Thai guy at one point! Fireworks, lampoons which were beautiful, hugs and kisses at midnight...so much fun!
I was hurting like hell in the morning. Andy made me drag my sorry sand covered ass up to the treehouse and eat something. Who knew that PB and toast could save your life. I was trying not to fall out of the treehouse when another one of the girls staying there told us about the bombings the night before in Bangkok. There were 5 of us that were heading back there in a couple of hours. Governments were issuing warnings to people not to travel around Bangkok let alone travel TO it. I didn't really have a choice. As much as I would have loved to stay on Lanta Island for another couple of months...my flight was the next day. I was a little worried about us even finding room on a bus or a train or anything to get us back there. It was Jan.1st after all. Our luck finally started going our way and getting a bus was not too much of an issue. It was not as bad as the bus ride down South but it was not all that much better. There was no poo smell because there was no bathroom and rather than Thai pop they were playing this rediculous Thai variety show that was SOOOO annoying. They put all of us foreigners in the back together and put us through hell with tickets. It was actually quite funny after it was all over.
Back in Bangkok I got a full oil massage with apricot body scrub and sauna and milk bath to try and control the peeling from the burn. I did some shopping and we took a sunset boat ride down the river and ate some awesome Israeli food. My flight home was good and before anything I called my parents when I got in the door. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to see on the news that there are bombs killing people in a city where you know your kid either is or will be in very shortly. Sorry for not calling sooner Mom and Dad.
So I am just trying to get back into life mode and get ready for work on Tuesday. The day that I got home Tim messaged me and reminded me that I, in a period of temporary insanety, agreed to run a race today. If you consider drinking, smoking and eating everything an anything you want proper training, sign me up. Shit!! So I said that I would do it but it wouldn't be pretty. That was before we woke up this morning and saw the snow. I did actually feel good about the snow because it put me at a definite advantage being Canadian and having run through the past two winters (remember those Ed!! I didn't bring my yak traks though....) but I was being cheeky and Mother Nature kicked my ass again. We were running right down on the coast right next to the Pfizer site in Taketoyo. I was informed AFTER we arrived that it was actually an ekidan event (team relay) but Tim had entered us both as individuals running because we had to be there to show our support for the community. Wait...just to check...I got up at 6:30am on a Sunday to run in a SNOW TYPHOON (the wind was absolutely insane!! Seriously, typhoon class winds!) for COMMUNITY SUPPORT! I atleast got a cactus last time I almost killed myself!
It was only 6km so I said okay. Normally it would take me about 24 minutes to run 6km. I finished the race today in 38:18. I pulled out every ounce of "gambate" (fight) that I had. There were points that you were running but not exactly moving because the wind was so strong. To tell you the truth I have run in worse at home. The part of today which I am afraid to admit is that in a sick kind of sadistic way it was actually really fun. I love that feeling of not stopping until you are finished no matter what it takes. I have to thank the Japanese man who chased me down to give me his gloves and to all the kids who yelled "fighto" and the Pfizer manager who organized the whole thing (and for who we were running for in the first place) yelled everytime I went through the start (and the other teams switched up fresh runners) "3 to go Rea!!!". Thanks Nakamura-san....got it! 3 to go! Ugh. I liked that Tim and I could just look at each other and know that we were both cursing ourselves but happy to know that we are both really serious runners. He did quite well....I sucked the big one but didn't care. We bolted back to the car and just left. Next race is on the 21st. I might try and train a bit more for this one ;o)
So with that being said I am totally exhausted and going to bed. I cannot believe how long this must be and I am not even going to look.
New year's resolutions: to not over think or over analyze so much, to push my limits more, to learn and expand my mind, body and soul, to surround myself with those who make me laugh and to stop being so hard on myself and accept me for who I am.
Happy 2007 to you all and I look forward to seeing what this year has to bring for us and sharing it together.
Love always,
REA