The last day . . . .whew!
This is it. My last day in Asia. Allow me to catch you up on these last few days, which have possibly been the most hectic of the trip.
The second day of Songkran was even more fun than the first. Mike and I loaded up on water guns and buckets and hit the streets at 1, when the festival begins. People were already out there and totally soaked, so obviously they started early. I was walking around with my shirt off part of the day, and the Thai people couldnt get over how hairy I was. People wanted to touch and pull my hair, because Thais have almost no body hair. It was hilarious.
Basically, we just walked around by the moat (the border of the old city) and there are 5o gallon drums everywhere, constantly being filled by hoses. You just fill up a bucket and your guns, soak anyone and everyone, and when you run out you fill up again. We found that the best drums to fill from are the ones with huge blocks of ice in them, as the normal Thai water is not that cold. Some of the ice drums were FREEZING and even the most macho let out a squeal when they get the ice water poured on their head. If there is no drum nearby, just swing your bucket out into the moat. Its lined on both sides with people with buckets on strings filling, pouring, and filling again. Quite a sight. I drank about five big (liter) beers, rode around on a few trucks with the locals (who love to talk english and say "hello" and "whe you from?") and made friends with a couple drunks chilling out in an alley. Mike drank a bunch of Thai whiskey, but I cant take the stuff. Its actually sweet like rum, but after a few I felt I would puke. Must have ate about 20 skewers, and some other food from the stands. I was drunk by 4 and went back to take a nap.
When I woke up I went to the night market, bought some clothes and goodies for the friends, and was back in the hostel passed out by 11.
The nest day was horrible. Left for the airport at 6, got to bankok at 830. My plane was supposed to leave at 1, but because of weather and then the absence of a captain, the plane was delayed about 6 hours. This pretty much killed my first day in HK, as I didnt get settled in my hotel until 11pm. BTW I totally screwed up and booked a room for MAY 15-17, thank god they had vacancies.
Today I woke up early and headed for the ferry to Kowloon. It took me about two hours to find it. The streets here are awfully confusing. Went to some shops and bought more junk, plus like US$100 in books. Tokyo may be kind of pricey, but HK is ridiculous!! Ive been here two days and I spent almost $300, not including another 300 or so for the hotel. CRAP!
Then back across the bay and headed for The Peak. This was the best part. Awesome views, I think I took about 80 pictures. Had a few beers and took a nap, waiting for the sun to go down. Took some more pics of HK at night and headed back down after about 5 hours up there. OK Im having trouble typing coherently. I feel like I could sleep on a rock with how tired I am right now. Ive got a long day ahead of me tommorrow.
Its been a blast but I cant wait to get back. Then Ill be able to take another look at the trip and give it a little bit of a wrap up report, as well as post all my pics(about 700) on Flickr. Yipee.
OK see you all soon. Goodbye asia. Ill be back!!!
The second day of Songkran was even more fun than the first. Mike and I loaded up on water guns and buckets and hit the streets at 1, when the festival begins. People were already out there and totally soaked, so obviously they started early. I was walking around with my shirt off part of the day, and the Thai people couldnt get over how hairy I was. People wanted to touch and pull my hair, because Thais have almost no body hair. It was hilarious.
Basically, we just walked around by the moat (the border of the old city) and there are 5o gallon drums everywhere, constantly being filled by hoses. You just fill up a bucket and your guns, soak anyone and everyone, and when you run out you fill up again. We found that the best drums to fill from are the ones with huge blocks of ice in them, as the normal Thai water is not that cold. Some of the ice drums were FREEZING and even the most macho let out a squeal when they get the ice water poured on their head. If there is no drum nearby, just swing your bucket out into the moat. Its lined on both sides with people with buckets on strings filling, pouring, and filling again. Quite a sight. I drank about five big (liter) beers, rode around on a few trucks with the locals (who love to talk english and say "hello" and "whe you from?") and made friends with a couple drunks chilling out in an alley. Mike drank a bunch of Thai whiskey, but I cant take the stuff. Its actually sweet like rum, but after a few I felt I would puke. Must have ate about 20 skewers, and some other food from the stands. I was drunk by 4 and went back to take a nap.
When I woke up I went to the night market, bought some clothes and goodies for the friends, and was back in the hostel passed out by 11.
The nest day was horrible. Left for the airport at 6, got to bankok at 830. My plane was supposed to leave at 1, but because of weather and then the absence of a captain, the plane was delayed about 6 hours. This pretty much killed my first day in HK, as I didnt get settled in my hotel until 11pm. BTW I totally screwed up and booked a room for MAY 15-17, thank god they had vacancies.
Today I woke up early and headed for the ferry to Kowloon. It took me about two hours to find it. The streets here are awfully confusing. Went to some shops and bought more junk, plus like US$100 in books. Tokyo may be kind of pricey, but HK is ridiculous!! Ive been here two days and I spent almost $300, not including another 300 or so for the hotel. CRAP!
Then back across the bay and headed for The Peak. This was the best part. Awesome views, I think I took about 80 pictures. Had a few beers and took a nap, waiting for the sun to go down. Took some more pics of HK at night and headed back down after about 5 hours up there. OK Im having trouble typing coherently. I feel like I could sleep on a rock with how tired I am right now. Ive got a long day ahead of me tommorrow.
Its been a blast but I cant wait to get back. Then Ill be able to take another look at the trip and give it a little bit of a wrap up report, as well as post all my pics(about 700) on Flickr. Yipee.
OK see you all soon. Goodbye asia. Ill be back!!!
posted by Neil at 5:25 AM
1 Comments:
Neilio! Boom goes the dynamite! See ya this week.
I read your whole trip. its blogtastic
-keith
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