Travels

End of Trip :(

chloemawer — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:00:00 GMT

It's been a while since my last update, or atleast it feels like it. I'm now in the Singapore airport, about to get on a flight to Tokyo, which I have to wait in for 6 hours before I get a flight to dallas, from where I get a flight to Colorado. What a wonderful 27 hour trip ahead of me. Anyways, I will start with Koh Samui, our first stop after that crazy party.

Koh Samui was amazing, and it was very hard for us to leave. We stayed in this place called the Ark Bar, which was really fun. During the day, we just sat around the beach, got massages, and slept. It was a hard life. I think I may have gotten over my phobia of sand and beach walks though. There was this part of the beach that in the morning was shallow enough to walk out a few hundred feet, at which point the sand surfaced again, and you felt like you were standing in the middle of the ocean. It was beautiful! Anna and I had about 7 massages while in Bangkok/Koh Samui - and I think it cost us a total of $40.

There was also amazing seafood. You would go to a restaurant and pick out the exact pieces of seafood you wanted, then they would prepare it however you want. Yummmm. And one night Anna and I splurged and went to a seafood buffet on the beach. Amazingggg. It was interesting though, there was a row of tables, each of which only had one 30-50 year old white guy sitting at it. And we realized they were all waiting for their Thai escorts. It was quite sad really. One was taking photos of himself. Another tried to hit on Anna when I'd gone to the restroom. What a weird culture. Note to all for later on in life: If your husband wants to go to Thailand, without you, do not let him.

The night life was pretty crazy. I may glaze over some of the details and stop calling myself out, as the last e-mail from my mom ended in "I'm less and less impressed with your blog." But anyways, suffice it to say, Jackie Dickey would still be very proud.

Our hotel, the Ark bar was a pretty good pregaming bar in itself. Then there was this place called the Green Mango, which was an outdoor club with extremely loud music. The first night, we ended up there too early with a couple of these guys we met (we go halfway across the world and end up hanging out with Harvard lacrosse players who are far too similar to Duke boys) but still had fun. Some amusing pictures will at some point be posted.

The next night, we were pregaming at the Ark Bar, when these two guys came and talked to us. They were both from middle of nowhere Georgia and were on break from the army - about to go back to Afghanistan in a week. Obviously not my type, but we were nice for a while anyways. Big mistake. About an hour later, we tried to nicely leave them. That didnt work. So then we make up a story about how I have to go call my mom and we'll meet them at the Green Mango. That also didnt work. Five minutes later, they were at our door. And as I am fake talking to my mom, Anna is explaining we're in a fight about me overspending on the trip or some crap. One of the guy's, jeremy, wants to get on the phone to my mom and explain everything is ok, we're going to go out with men that are serving our country (I dont think she would be as impressed as he thought). Eww. Then when that doesnt work, he explains to anna he thought he and I had a connection. We did not. Finally they leave. And we think that's the end of that. Howeverrrrr, the next morning, he's at my door asking what happened to us (Anna was running,and I was defenseless). I say I got in a fight with my mom and we didnt go out, and then asked him how his night was. He responds with (and I in no way mean to be mean or making fun with the following part of the story... but wtf)"Well, actually I got attacked by a prositute. A Thai girl asked me if I wanted a motorcycle ride home, and I thought that was so sweet. So I got on and when we got here, and she says '2000 baht boom boom' and I said no. So she attacked me. But I won." Do you ever expect to hear a story such as that in response to a "How was your night?" Then he asked us out again. Moral of the story: Don't be nice to army boys, or they will think you are going to get married, and will latch onto you. And maybe even get in fights with hookers.

Two of the nights, we somehow ran into British "boy" from the last post (and the last island we were on for that matter) and his friend. Keep in mind they were meant to be back in England, so it was a bit of a surprise. Apparently they got over their fight though in case you were wondering. I also got a picture of him, but not sure I will ever post it, because his age was much more apparent the second time I met him! The last night there,not too much happened, except Anna met some 40 year old Australian body builders. They looked like they were off that show American Gladiator, and were pretty disgusting!

We left Koh Samui on Saturday. Which was really hard - the airport was absolutely amazing. It was just a series of beautiful huts, with free internet and pizza pies! We took probably as many photos of the airport as the beach.

Singapore was pretty cool. Anna and I commited two crimes within the first night. The first, within about ten minutes of landing - chewing gum (and importing it for that matter!) I had to do a discrete pass of the piece of gum to Anna and then we had to chew it without anyone noticing. We felt like we were trafficing drugs or something. Then I took a Diet Pepsi (they didnt have DC - ahh) with me to the MRT (subway) and saw a sign that there was a $500 fine for eating or drinking! But I couldnt find a trast anywhere. It was stressful.

My dad e-mailed me before we got here and said "sorry, but alcohol is expensive." I thought he meant in comparison to the amazing prices in Thailand. Nope. Compared to the U.S. One eighth (like half a fifth) cost $30 singaporean dollars - 20 US!!! Absolutely ridiculous. So the nightlife has been a bit calmer.

Singapore is a cool city, but they are a bit high strung with expensive alcohol, no gum chewing, no eating in public, and many other things. Sunday, Anna and I went to Little India for the MOST amazing indian ever. And then to Chinatown to walk around (but after 2 weeks in China, it wasnt too impressive). That night, we met up with two guys from the hostel. One guy was from England, Dave, and he was cool (and don't worry, much younger than the last Brit). The other guy was from Amsterdam... and quite weird, with tight red pants, and an odd sense of humor. We went to the Singapore Flyer, which is like a bigger version of the London eye. Then out to eat.

Anna left me yesterday morning:( and went back to China to visit with her uncle. So yesterday and today Dave and I went walking around, did some shopping, and had another indian. Today, we went to the Tiger Brewery and had a tour as well as some beer tasting. We illegally took some photos of the plant so watch out for those too! We went on the tour with like 20 Mongolians, who afterwards, during the beer tasting, had to take about 50 photos of us. So I took a couple too!

And that basically sums up my trip. Except for the airport(s). So if anything exciting happens in my four airport trip, I will update again. If not, stay tuned for Central America - Janan and I leave July 16. Thanks for reading, even though I'm a crap writer! Hopefully I'll get to talk to all of you when I get back!

Mom and Dad, Please Don't Read!

chloemawer — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:48:00 GMT

So we arrive in Koh Phangan June 15th, the date written on the half moon party website when we left, the date that we planned our whole trip around. And on the taxi ride to our "lodge" we see about 20 signs saying "Half Moon Party - June 14." Anna and I were devastated. Nearly in tears. Seriously.

But do you think that got in the way of us having an epic night? Nope. Instead we heard about this party called "The original koh phangan pool party." The flyer reads "swimming pool open all night long," "guaranteed all night party, we dont stop until you drop," "for your safety and security - this party is for westerners and foreigners only" (discrimination much?)

So we get there and there are bucket specials (obviously) - 1 bucket, 140 baht (about 4 dollars) for about 5 drinks worth. Anna and I finish two each while watching fire dancers - most of which are Thai, but then this white girl comes out and starts playing with this fire like they were those ribbon dancers we played with in the third grade - and she was actually pretty good!

The rest of the night is slightly blurry. But important things to recount:

1) I meet a British Boy named Ben. And by boy, Anna and I later calculated that, having worked at goldman for 10 years, could have been no younger than 32. In my defense, he tried to convince me he started at 16, and the buckets at that point had made me quite gullible.

2)Anna kisses an Australian. She has now completed her kissing of boys from the six habitable continents. Congratulations Anna.

3) British boy gets in fist fight with his British friend - I have to hold him back.

3) British boy does a flip into the pool, and splits his eyebrow open. I become a nurse and am apparently okay with blood after a few drinks (Maybe I should go to med school and just drink through it?)

4) We danced on a party platform in the middle of the ocean. I didn't fall.

5) Our bungalow was located on this really creepy secluded part of the island so anna and I decided before we got there that we were going to try to not go back until it was daylight again. We were succesful and basically stayed in the pool until the sky lightened. Then british boy and I watched the sunrise on the beach - it was pretty - I much prefer staying awake until the sunrise than waking up for it!

6) Meanwhile, during the sunrise, Anna has decided to go "late night" or more appropriately "early morning" with some Australian boys (they were actually our age...) and one ends up being a Chippendale! She has his business card.

7) Our night ends with having to find our way back to the lodge before Bryant leaves for Koh Tao at 7:30. So our only option was to get motorcycle taxis back. It was actually beautiful riding along the coast, but scary as hell, and I will never do so again. We only agreed because we were stranded, it was light out, and there were no other cars on the road. We arrived back around 6:45, soaking from head to toe (note to self - take towel to pool party in future) and my purse and its contents were also somehow soaked.

Today consisted of switching islands to the less-of-a-shit-hole Koh Samui and then napping off our hangovers. All in all, we are now slightly okay with missing the half moon party (a lot of the pool party goers did too) and are now excited for lounging on the beach the rest of the week!

Gloriousss

chloemawer — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:32:00 GMT

So I havn't updated for a while, but this is due to the fact that the internet cafe ate my blog about 4 days ago. So now, I will have to summarize our last week or so.

After the last blog, we took a 20 hour train ride to Guilin from Kunming, for which Anna and I were food poisoned the whole time. Fol.

From Guilin, we went to Yangshuo for 2 days, which is most famous for its karsts - these beautiful rock formations, which Anna described "God's terds from the heavens." We took a bamboo boat down the nearby river to look at them all, and at one point, we even saw the exact scene drawn on the 5 yuan bill. We also took a bike ride through the country side, which was also very pretty. However the biking through the city required before and after left me in a near heart attack (as you know my feelings about Chinese drivers from the prior post).

After Yangshuo, we went back to Guilin for a night, where we met 1 guy and 2 girls from Oregon (very conservative) and 2 Brazilians. After dinner, we came back to the hostel to pregame with a game of kings. The two girls played with soda, and the rest played correctly, but all claimed they'd never had more than a drink before, and had never gotten drunk. Obviously, that did not last for long. Once through the vodka bottle, we went for a stroll, and next thing we know, one of the Brazilians is negotiating massages for the 8 of us, trying to get the price down from 200 to 15. He was unfortunately unsuccessful. So we settled on the club down the street instead. It was a crazy club with flashing lights, wall sized screens with music videos playing, and even a VIP area (according to them: Very Improtant People - and yes, we are very improtant). We get in, it's fun. Then Bryant gets a free drink... from a group of guys. We look around, and realize, it is gay night. Anna and I were amused - what's more fun to dance at?? But I dont think the guys were very impressed... And that was our last night in China - very mild for what was to come -

Bangkok! Bangkok is simply amazing. For the first 2 days, we didnt ever get out of Khao San Road, which is a road of outdoor shopping, bars, restaurants and cheap crappy hotels, all with classiness level of shooters. Basically its a pit. But a pit with buckets. Let me explain to you buckets. Well I guess there isnt much to explain... every bar sells buckets of alcohol. And the good ones even let you make them yourselves - for the classic one, the bar gives you 1 bucket, 1 eighth of rum, 1 red bull (the kind that's illegal in the states), and 1 coke (obviously replaced with DC). Mix and enjoy. They are so wonderful, Anna and I even made up a song over lunch and bucket one day. Alpha phis will appreciate:

Glorious Glorious

One bucket of rum for the 2 of us.

We didnt come to bangkok to get more culture

We came through to get more booze

More booze!

Anna and I are at a count of 9 (and are rarely helped by bryant for his disliking of redbull). It's been a good week. We also get drinks at this bar which has no builing but consists solely of stools placed on the road, and a movable table of alcohol. Besides being rushed away once when the cops came, it is one of the best bars for its people watching opportunities. Once fully bucketed and barred out, we roam the streets for its endless opportunities. Cheap dresses. Cheap jewelry. Cheap pad thai and spring rolls. And cheap lady men. Lady men - one of the most entertaining providers of people watching. These he-she prostitutes are probably the most convincing he-shes I have ever seen. Most of them just walk around the street, and step out in front of Bryant occasionally. Others, more amusingly, are having dinner or drinks with fifty year old American men, whom we wonder realize their sex or not. Other lady men are chased by Anna down the streets after a few too many buckets. Look out for some wonderful pictures of the two of them.

Other than boozing our way down Khao San, we also had a quick trip to Cambodia. The travel part wasnt that quick though, as we had to take about 6 methods of transport to actually get to Siem Reap. After 10 hours of travel though, we arrived at the Siem Reap hostel, which was amazing, and completely unexpected. The building was half outside and had a pool, restaurant, and bar. We woke up our first day there at 4:30 to get to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise. Yes, I got up at 4:30. And it was pointless too, because you couldnt even seen the sun! But Angkok Wat was beautiful as well as Angkor Thom and two other temples (I forgot the names). We actually finished our sightseeing by noon, which was crazy - it felt like 6 pm. That night the hostel played "Tomb Raider" which was crazy because we had just been to the exact same ruins as in the movie 6 hours previously! Afterwards, we went to pub quiz at the Funky Munky with a couple of people from the hostel. We got fifth place... out of 8. But it was fun! We went to bed early for the long trip back to Bangkok yesterday, but one of our dorm room mates did not. And came back, WITH A GUY, at like 3 am. And proceeded to... I dont know what - but I had to put my headphones on! Traumatizing.

We arrived back in Bangkok yesterday and had some more bucket fun. Today we did something semicultural and went to this huge weekend market which had over 6000 stalls. Anna and I basically ate our way through it - and now we're going for dinner. Up next is an overnight train tomorrow and ferry to Koh Phangan for the HALF MOON PARTY. June 15. Yipee! Will let you know about the craziness afterwards. Miss you all!

Gallery: Lijiang/Kunming

chloemawer — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 21:02:00 GMT

Gallery: Dafo/Emei Shan

chloemawer — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 20:49:00 GMT

Big Buddha, Big Buddha, Big Buddha

chloemawer — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 17:24:00 GMT

Hellllo. A lot has happened since I last posted. I'll try to skip to the interesting things!

Last time I wrote, I was on my way to Dafo and Emei Shan. Dafo was this big park with tons of Buddha sculptures and art. I took about a bajillion pictures, which I'll upload to here at some point. Anyways, it was really fun, and I have a new love for Buddhism. In fact,I got my own little buddha to put on a necklace. His name is Bob.

It was about a forty minute drive to Emei Shan, the mountain. We somehow got convinced to get in this random sketchy guy's van, but we got there safely and it was cheap! I was having a wonderful nap on the drive, when Anna decided it was necessary to wake me up. I awoke to the van slowing down as it passed a dead body, covered by a sheet except for its toes, with a pile of blood next to it. Thanks Anna for the wakeup. It was horrific. Earlier that day we had commented on how the drivers in China were crazy and how so many people must get hurt each year. I ate my words. Next to the body was a crowd of 30 people as well as a car with a smashed window, and the driver a few feet away, crying. Extremely depressing. Now we think twice everytime we cross a road.

Once we got to the base of the mountain, we took a drive up to the trail which led to the summit. Trail my ass. Who thought it would be a good idea to just build a set of stairs that go directly up the mountain?? The Chinese apparently. Instead of walking a trail that goes from side to side, lessening the grade, we climbed stairs for hours, in high altitude. Needless to say, I died. The rest of the Chinese population took a cable car to the top or were carried by porters (there is a photo of a guy that stalked us for a couple hours, getting carried in such a way)- these poor men were usually less than 150 pounds and didnt even have proper shoes - it was awful!

The mountain was beautiful, but I think it could have been more easily climbed. That night, we stayed at the top. Anna and Bryant got up for the "Sunrise" although it was too cloudy to see anything. Obviously I opted to stay in bed until the late hour of 7...then went to the peak to see it in daylight. There were millions of Chinese tourists. Among the mountain terrain and the different temples, there was also another tourist site - the white people, i.e. Bryant and I. I was asked to be taken a photo with. In fact, lately people have just been taking photos of Bryant and I without even asking. I'm going to be in random photo albums throughout China. And every single person will now stop and stare at us. And then stare at anna for being with white people (and for being a really really tall asian!) It is really awkward. I actually now even find myself at staring at any white people I see, because its so unusual!

Anyways, the rest of the day we trekked a bit nicer of a path (meaning 50% stairs, 50% walking) and headed back to Chengdu. We woke early the next morning to get a flight to Lijiang, which is a really pretty elevated town with beautiful mountains all around. We caught a taxi at the airport, which called our hostel to get directions. He was instructed to drop us off on the side of a highway, at which point it is pouring out. Two people from the hostel meet us and continue to lead us on a 25 minute trek through a forest, through a large creek (sans bridge), through the town to this almost empty hostel. Don't always trust a hostel by its hostel world rating percentage. Apparently, there exist three old towns in Lijiang, and the hostel decided to not tell us it was not in the main one! It was a cute town, but I never got over walking through the river.

The next day we changed hostels immediately to a place in the popular, populated old town - a place called Mama Naxi's (Naxi are the indigenous there). It was an awesome hostel where Mama Naxi basically takes care of you like her own kids! It was pretty, and through the 15 RMB dinner ($2.5), we met tons of people from Australia, England, Korea, China, Belgium, etc, and played some exciting drinking games with them. The first night we went to a bar called "Sexy Tractor" - what a great name! The next we went to an Irish bar, called "Stone the Crow" which apparently also sold baked goods to live up to its name.

The second day, we walked around and did sight-seeing. However, somehow Anna and I got left alone, and knowing me, we found the only Mexican bar in probably all of the Yunnan State of China. So at 2pm, Anna and I were outside in the sun, drinking margaritas and eating authentic queso (not that liquidy dillo stuff). The owners were from Mexico City and very interesting to talk to. One of the owners had come up with this concotion he called "Tequila Mockingbird" - tequila, soco, cointreau, triple sec, sprite, and peace juice. Amazing... By 4pm, Anna and I were walking the streets singing "Patron. Tequila. I'm Drunk off Margaritas" (Thought you would appreciate that Jess...) Thankfully no one understood us, but we got a lot of stares. What's new.

This morning, we left Mama Naxi's for the airport - just like amother, she gave us breakfast to go as well as an interesting smelling necklace. We arrived in Kunming around noon, and came to our current hostel which has a rooftop bar (already taken advantage of), pool tables, and a nice restaurant. Apparently there is a disco at night and tons of connecting bars, which once were raided by 300 police officers! It has reoped though on "promise of good behavior." We walked around Kunming this afternoon- it's basically like any other Chinese city - we went through a semi interesting market that sold lots of different animals (turtles, millions of birds, rabbits, snakes, lizards, etc - basically your neighborhood petco, but outside) as well as flowers and other regular products.

That was long again, but covered many more days! We are about to head out for the night, and then tomorrow, we take an 18 hour train to Guilin. Fun. The town, Yangshuo, outside Guilin is our last stop in China, before we head to Bangkok on June 8. Hope everyone is doing well!

Jigga What?

chloemawer — Fri, 29 May 2009 02:41:00 GMT

Hello I dont have too much to report. And I feel like my previous post/posts were a bit too long/boring! But I do have some observations, that I find quite interesting.

1) We flew on China Airways or some similar line today. And half way through, they led group excercises/ stretches. Start by wiggling your nose. Then clasp your hands, stretch forward. Stretch up. Stretch forward, bring hands to chest, push hands forward. One set of 10. You get the picture.

2) Another bathroom update. China airports: Squat toilets. But with automatic flushers. You'd think if you could have an automatic flusher, you could build a seat. Wtf.

3) A baby bathroom update. (The bathroom is starting to be a trend... weird... sorry) Babies/toddlers do not wear diapers. They simply have a hole in the crotch. Then when they need to go to the bathroom, the parent simply straddles them over the curb of the street. Then continues to hold them straddled in the air to air dry. How sanitary.

4) New Chinese word of the day: Jigga. Yep like in the Jay-Z song. Jigga means "this one." Replace the j with an n and you either get a bad word, or the chinese word for "that one." Hope someone tells the Chinese when they come over to the states, otherwise they could get some bad looks.

O also! Our itinerary has changed due to the pouring rain i much of the country. Basically everything between Guilin and Chengdu is reversed. Mmk that is all. Off to climb Mt. Emei tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Gallery: More China

chloemawer — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:41:00 GMT

Gallery: More Hong Kong and China

chloemawer — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:51:00 GMT

Gallery: Hong Kong

chloemawer — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:49:00 GMT

Let Me See Your Hips Swingggg

chloemawer — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:49:00 GMT

Helllllo from Shenzhen! I just looked at the preview for this. Apologies, but the enter button apparently does not work in China! Thank you everyone for your e-mails and comments. They are much appreciated!! After my last post, we headed straight to Macau. As you could tell, I was pretty excited for a rerun of my trip to Vegas last January. EPIC FAIL. Macau blew. First, there was only ONE craps table in the whole city, the only type of gambling I'll actually gamble money on (thanks to Sara's skills at getting old men to teach us in Vegas). Second, the buy-ins were HIGHER than in Vegas. Wtf. You can buy a meal for 50 cents in China, but you have to have a minimum buy-in of 25 dollars? Not cool. There was also an extreme lack of Blackjack and poker, and an excess of some game called Baccaret or some crap that Asians just loveeeee. Moral of the story: Don't be fooled. Don't ever go to Macau. Yesterday, we went to Victoria Peak, which is a mountain right behind downtown Hong Kong (I'm guessing it was downtown, but then again, the whole city consists of sky scrapers...). It's famous for its beautiful view of all of Hong Kong. So we take this tram up the mountain, and it literally climbs a 45 degree angle. I was scared we were going to plunge backwards the whole way. And as I'm already freaked out, the tram STOPS to pick up more people, while just chilling at this ridiculous angle. Scary. So we finally get up to the top, and there's this big tower which we have tickets to go to its terrace. We get to the top, and the tower is literally engulfed in a cloud. You can't see anything except white fluffiness, basically negating any reason for us to have been up there in the first place. Sad. Bryant then tried to introduce us to outdoor adventures by making us walk an hour long trail. It was sweet. However, extending it to two days of time, and up a mountain, seems... daunting. Anna and I were already whining within a half hour. Does not bode well for... yes, the day after tomorrow, I will be climbing a mountain. fml. Last night, we had FISH and CHIPS for dinner!!!!!!! Sooooooo gooooooooood. They were real fish and chips too. Yipeeeeee. We followed the dinner by a walk through SoHo on the escalator - basically Hong Kong built millions of escalators up the hill in this section of town to prevent the pollution of the taxis that were being used to climb it. So that was cool. Not as cool as happy hour - buy one get one free. And guess what. It was a Tuesday. What do you think of when you think of Tuesdays? Pub Quiz. What does the Bulldog Pub do on Tuesdays? Pub Quiz! Yipeeeee. The Pub was filled of millions of British Expats. The most stereotypical british people ever. I'm obviously a terrible brit too though because I knew none of the answers. They played British songs and whoever guessed the fastest got free shots. At the beginning of one, Anna and I screamed out Katy Perry. We were so so wrong. The reader of the questions (much much better than that girl at the Joyce) just stared at us. Whoops. Now that we have left Hong Kong, here are my final observations: Favorite Part: The Buildings (are really cool) Most annoying Part: Being asked by at least 200 men if I wanted to buy a watch. Diversify people! Lease favorite Part: Macau Most used item packed: Umbrella Favorite Food: BBQ Pork with Black bean sauce Vocabulary learned (written in Chloe Chinese): Wa Shuo Inguen: I speak English Knee Shuo Inguen Ma? Do you speak English? Howa: Good Bu Howa: Not good Shia Shia: Thank you Now we are in Shenzhen! During the immigration process, my temperature was taken. They do it by scanning your forehead, like in I am Legend. Thank god it was 35.8 or I would be quarantined right now. We have a song now. S to the W to the I N E... And we try to cough around people with masks. We are staying with Anna's family now. Apparently tomorrow it is a holiday. The story according to Anna: There once was a guy who loved China so much he killed himself by jumping off a boat and now we celebrate by eating rice. Anyways, we are apparently going to go have a drinking competition Anna's cousin now. Miss you all! Sorry this was long again... e-mail me your updates!!!

With Compliments...

chloemawer — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:58:00 GMT

Hello all!

Here is my first blog entry abroad! It is far too long, I apologize, but wanted to write down everything that's happened to go back to. You guys are welcome to just skim! Nothing that exciting or crazy has happened yet, but here are my observations and what's happened so far!

I am currently in Hong Kong, which is a cool place, but I figure I should start off with my journey. So my twenty-four hours of travelling started in Houston, where I flew to Dallas. Pretty uneventful.

Then I flew to Tokyo - a wonderful 13 hour journey in coach. There were about 8 movie options. Of course, I made the smart choice to watch "Taken," which if you havnt seen it, is about two girls who go backpacking and get kidnapped to be put into the sex slave trade. It was all well and fine, because one of the girls' dad was in the CIA or something and could kill all the kidnappers. I love my dad, but he is just not skilled in that arena, so I did not find any comfort in its ending! I also watched "He's just not that into you." No comment there.

There are three main points I have to say about Tokyo (or I guess, just its airport).

First, I stood in three lines trying to get my boarding pass, because I just didnt think it was okay to go through security without one. But, in actual fact, the Japanese will come at you with masks and make sure you are not coughing or sneezing, but they will not care if you go up to the gate, sans ID and ticket. Yay national security.

Second, the bathrooms. The Japanese take their use of electronics even further than us... into the bathroom stalls. Besides cleaning your ass at a touch of a button, you can also press the button with the musical note, to play a noise immitating water to "muffle toilet noises" (quoted from the instruction manual on the wall). Also, you have the choice between the "American style toilet" and the "Japanese style toilet", i.e. toilet vs. hole in the floor. Still trying to figure out why one would choose the japanese style, but to each his own. I realize that may have been a rather gross bullet point, but i thought it was worth telling.

Third, the Diet Coke was really good - it was called "Coca Cola Enhanced" or some shit. It had vitamin C, so it was actually a healthy choice. And yes, I will probably update you on the Diet Coke in each country.

Ok, now for Hong Kong!

Thankfully, Anna was waiting for me at my baggage claim! So I was not left without a translator for long, not that you really need to know a whole lot of Chinese here. My bag got to Hong Kong safely with one of my granola bars next to it on the conveyor belt, and one granola bar missing. A loss I can deal with.

The first night was really rough - my parents paid for a nice hotel - and the flat screen tv, minibar, and soft beds were really hard to deal with... Anna and I went to a bar across the street for dinner and drinks. Entertainment consisted of a Chinese "band," who, among others, sang "Where is the Love" by Black Eyed Peas and "Take a Bow" by Rihanna (thought of Kali and Jackie - y'all better be reading this...). During their breaks, they played some great Eminem. Bryant finally got in during our bar excursion, where waiting for us, he saw a guy puke all over a 6'x6' area of the lobby, and watched his girlfriend photograph the whole event.

Yesterday, or maybe its today for y'all, we transferred to our hostel, which we knew would be exactly the same quality as our hotel. Hah. It is located in what is called the "Miradaor Mansion," where you walk through a few cheesy stores and people trying to sell you watches, and then line up for the elevator where a man sanitizes his hand everytime he presses the button for you (people are really taking this swine flu seriously). The building is currently under renovation, and so there are signs that say "Scaffolding invites invaders, be safe." Sweet. But through a fairly sketchy hallway, there is a door to our hostel which is actually quite nice and airconditioned. The bathroom is quite efficient - the sink, toilet, and shower are not separated, so you can pee and shower at the same time. Yipee! And the glass door that separates the room from the bathroom is see-through upon contact with water - so people can see in, but you actually can't see out. Something is wrong about that.

We walked around after checking in, but since we've gotten here, it has been continuously pouring, which does not make for great sightseeing. We went out though to a place called "Lan Kwai Fong" in the central district of Hong Kong, which was basically a block of bars, situated on a hill. We really had quite the cultral experience, starting off in "Agave" (the name of the plant that makes tequila) and drank tequila drinks and ate quesadillas. Then we went to an Irish pub where drinks were 2 for 1. Yipee. We ended at Reggae Night.

Today, we are going to Macao, because we figure, if its going to pour, we might as well be inside drinking and gambling. Ok I think my time is running out in the internet cafe. Miss you alllll.

Pandas, Watch Out.

chloemawer — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Hellllllo. This is my blog-type thing. I have never "blogged" but this will be my attempt to do so to recount my trip through Asia during the next five weeks.

So if you would like to check from time to time that I am... I dont know... alive... or surviving almost 5 weeks without a hair straightner or the latest episodes of Gossip Girl...or to see how my attempts to become an outdoorsy person are going - check here!

Here is our schedule:

5/23 Hong Kong

5/26 Macau (the Vegas of Asia?!?... o dear...)

5/27 Shenzhen, China

5/28 Guilin, China

5/31 Kunming, China (Hopefully will get to see Tirado!)

6/2 Lijiang, China (Attempt #1 at being Outdoorsy: Trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge)

6/5 Szechuan, China (Attempt #2 at being Outdoorsy: Climb Emei Shan)

6/8 Chengdu (Plan to kidnap baby pandas is in place)

6/9 Bangkok, Thailand (I promise to not end up like Claire Danes in Brokedown Palace)

6/12 Siem Reap, Cambodia

6/14 Koh Samui & Koh Phangan, Thailand (Half-moon partyyyy)

6/19 Malaysia

6/21 Singapore

6/23 Telluride, CO

So please keep in touch!! I'll miss you all!

Love, Chloe