On the Move Again

Please don't kill me, but after checking out Baba's brand-spanking new blog at Wordpress, I'm moving...AGAIN.

I'm sorry, but Wordpress's features are just too cool to ignore! Hopefully I'll see you there:

http://bkksoul.wordpress.com

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Hua Hin 2006

Last August, during Arwen's visit to Thailand, we woke up at the crack ass of dawn to drive down to Hua Hin for the weekend.


So please excuse the bleary eyes and drowsy smiles.


But then we started talking about the demented things we used to do in high school (all of which require a separate entry of its own), and pretty soon the sleepy faces were gone. :)


When we finally arrived in Hua Hin, we found this quaint flower pot
in the condo lobby and decided to pose with it.


While waiting for the elevator, my eye wandered.


And although it was a cloudy day...


...the view from the condo was pretty fab nonetheless.


After settling in, we finally made our way to Marukhathaiyawan Palace, the former royal residence of King Rama VI, and rented some bikes to do some exploring.
(Please ignore my hand -- the wind was blowing and I was trying to brush my hair away, not do the moonwalk or whatever.)


We eventually came across this lovely section of the palace...


...which had an even lovelier view of the sea.


We decided to check it out...the view, that is.


I really, really love this photo, but unfortunately, thanks to my bag,
my already large ass is amplified to ten times its normal size.
*sigh*


Later, we decided to turn the camera on ourselves...


...although obviously we have to work on honing our self-photography skills.
(Off center, much?)


Caro, being her usual charming self. ;D


Later, we came across this stream...


...and naturally, being the camera whores that we are, we posed beside it.


And above it.
(But sorry, not below it.)


Later, it started raining...


...so we went ducking for cover under a gazebo where Arwen proceeded to
tell us about the awesomeness of yoga balls.
(Arwen, please don't kill me!!! :P)


The rain started to come down pretty hard, so we piled into the car
in search of food at this charming seaside restaurant.


Everyone, meet P'Geng, who SO deserves a medal
for putting up with so much estrogen, giggling, and squealing the entire weekend!


The next day, we kicked off the morning with some java, Thai iced tea, and sugar-teeming roti.
(Aren't we such healthy people?)


The roti caused quite a scuffle as everyone lunged to get first dibs of it.


Aferwards, we drove up to Pa-La U Waterfall,
which was about 60 kilometers away from Hua Hin.
Fortunately, the iced tea kept me entertained for a good chunk of the trip, if not for its delectable taste then for its container which thanked me for being so very "thoughRful."

We should all aspire to be thoughRful people, everyone.


Unfortunately, the Engrish on the other side of the cup wasn't any better.
Poaned milk, anyone?
=X


The trail leading up to the waterfall was HORRIBLE, thanks to the rain.
We decided to park our car and trek the rest of the way up.


EWWW!
More iced tea, anyone?


Fortunately, the view on the way up was nice.


The rain couldn't stop us from whipping out our cameras.
My girls, they are lovely, yes? :)

On the way into the watefall area, poor Arwen was rendered mute lest she be forced to pay the ridiculous 200 baht tourist fee, which Caro, Siri, and I thought was total daylight robbery considering we were allowed free entrance.
Fortunately, we resorted to our teenage ways -- like when we used to smuggle in snacks and drinks into the school library -- and she hid behind us and slipped in scot-free!


Still, that didn't stop some of us natives (me) from acting like total tourists.


But at least I wasn't as bad as some OTHER natives. ;)


Everyone, meet Pa-La U waterfall.


It has a total of 15 levels.
We were determined to climb all 15 of them.
And so we started our journey...


...But got about 5 steps away before whipping out the camera again.
We decided to go artsy-fartsy this time with the black and white.


FINALLY we got around to crossing the first part of the waterfall
that would take us deeper into the woods.
When we were about halfway across, Caro called out from the opposite shore and insisted that we all turn around and pose, which was kind of hard to do considering we were teetering on a FLIMSY SLAB OF POORLY PUT-TOGETHER WOOD THAT SAT OVER SOME VERY SCARY RUSHING RAPIDS.


The very scary rushing rapids.


You should have heard the sigh of relief when we all made it safely to the other side.


But it was totally worth it in the end, because the view?
It was verra awesome. :)


We started climbing the very rocky terrain in search of level 2.


And came across some funky-looking trees.


Not to mention some wild creatures.


Okay, make that VERY wild creatures!


Please tell me I'm not crazy and that you see the sleeping face, too.
You see it, right?
RIGHT?


Reaching level 2 proved to be quite the arduous task.
When we finally reached it, we were sweaty, tired, and plain glad to have not fallen to our death while scaling the slippery rocks on our way up.
We decided 2 levels was enough and that we'd try level 15 next time around.
So we headed back down...


...But not before taking one last picture, of course!
(Note the llama in her natural element, people.)
Hua Hin with Arwen, Caro, Siri, and P'Geng was fantabulously fun. I so can't wait to go back again!

P.S. And thanks Arwen and Caro for letting me post some of your pics. :)

EDIT: I just realized I look like ET. And Jesus Christ, what is up with my forehead? You can shine a freaking projector on that thing!!!

***

Currently Reading: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, which is one of those rare novels that you literally cannot put down. This surprised me, because normally I'm not all that crazy about vampire stories. But this one proved me wrong; I found myself totally glued to it till the end as I drank (hah, pardon the pun) down every last word. Now, I'm desperately searching the city for the sequel, which apparently has yet to arrive to BKK. Boo!

Currently Playing: Wish I by the uber talented Jem. This is another one of my favorite songs of all time. It's just so chill and summery; every time I listen to it, I get this sudden urge to buy a tiny hut out by the ocean and live out the rest of my days sipping on baby coconuts or whatever.

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Mi Piace Tanto l'Italia!

So, last night as I was stuffing my poor fried brain with last minute info on Amelogenin and Streptococcus mutans, my mom called from Italy and said, in Thai, "I was in Verona yesterday and took a picture of Romeo and Juliet's balcony like I promised I would. But I'm in Venice now. I took a gondola ride like in that Casanova movie you forced me to watch at the cinema, and they got a guy to play a violin and everything; too bad your dad isn't here (aww!). Oh, and I'm going to Milan the day after tomorrow. Do you want anything?"

:D!!!

Oh, happy day!

Talk about music to my ears.

Still, as much as I covet those lovely Italian handbags, I have to say they tend to lose their glamour and appeal very quickly here in Thailand, especially since everyone and their mother can get scarily perfect replicas of them from Siam Square or Jatujak for about a tenth of their original price.

But with that in mind, I must say that I'm only human. And as much as I like to harp on those khun yings and their LV/Gucci/Fendi monogrammed bags, I still love me some designerware. In other words, I want this SO VERY BADLY. I know it's not Italian, but they have to have it in Milan, because hello, this is MILAN we're talking about here.

***
Anyway, Italian bags aside, I had a very weird moment last week. Seriously. This ranks way up there with my encounter with Mr. Handlebar Mustasche, as you will soon see...

[While walking out of Kinokuniya at Paragon, a guy in a NYU shirt comes up from behind me]
NYU GUY: Excuse me, do I know you?
ME: [too engrossed with sending Goi a text message to notice that said question was being directed at me]
NYU GUY: Excuse me?
ME: [still too engrossed]
NYU GUY: [tapping me on the shoulder]
ME: [looking up, surprised as hell]
NYU GUY: Hi. Sorry, but do I know you from somewhere?
ME: Um, I don't think so.
NYU GUY: [frowning] Yeah, I do...I swear I've seen you before somewhere.
ME: [taking a step back, slightly skeeved] No, really. I'm pretty sure I've never seen you before in my entire life.
NYU GUY: [brow furrowed, clearly certain he's seen me before] No, wait. Now I remember! You have that blog!
ME: [Still in a daze, thanks to my Embryology final] Huh?
NYU GUY: Yeah, your blog -- brain farts, or something?
ME: [turning about a million shades of red] Oh. THAT.

Anyway, NYU Guy turned out to be Riley, a grad student at NYU who's currently trekking through Thailand, Asia, and in his words, "as far as his wallet will allow him." He found my blog while googling for Thai blogs in preparation for his trip, and said that he only meant to read a few entries, but ended up reading everything even though he doesn't give one fig about hot phantoms, British boy bands, or medical dorkiness...which I thought was very nice of him, all things considered. He said I should blog more often, and I totally intend to, now that finals are finally coming to a close.

Speaking of which, thank you, Finals, it's all because of you that my biological clock is now officially screwed. One week of getting 2-3 hours of sleep/night will do that to you. I mean, look at me -- it's 4:49 in the am and here I am hitting up blogger. Oh, the sadness!

Currently Playing: I Don't Feel Like Dancing by the Scissor Sisters. Justin might have brought SexyBack, but the Sisters have totally brought DiscoBack. It's like sitting in a time warp; their stuff seriously reminds me of the old 70's disco songs my dad used to play on our old record player when I was a kid, except better, even. I mean, their stuff is so ridiculously catchy, it's not even funny. So with that said, I dare you to listen to this song and NOT dance. Go on, I dare you!

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