Guess Who's Back in Calgary?

I'm back, home sweet home, nothings changed, had my timmy's and my bagel with butter and cream cheese...mmmm... gonna sleep for a few days, had an awesome time on the Caribbean Cruise, a must do if you have never cruised before!

Off on a cruise

Talk to you all in a week! Am coming back to Calgary on the 29th of August. ;(

Filthy Bugger

I'm in Singer Island near Palm Beach, Florida right now... made the long ass journey from Sydney, after almost 36-40 hours in transit... :( I have never wanted to have a shower that badly before.. yuck yuck yuck

Short version is Sydney to Nadi (4 hour flight), 4 Hour stopover in Nadi, Nadi to LAX (10 Hours), 8 Hour Stopover in LA, LAX to Orlando (5 Hour Flight), Orlando to Singer Island (3 hour drive)

it's good to be back in the homeland, had to have brekkie at Denny's of course, and it was so yummy, I felt like a prison inmate who just got released, having his first taste of freedom and the outside world (and it was good to drive on the proper side of the road at excessive speeds with the music cranked)

off in 2 days for the cruise..

I'm Leaving, on a jet plane

I'm about to get on my flight from Sydney to Fiji, then LAX, then Orlando, WOOOHOOO

it's a nice sunny day in Sydney and I really do not want to leave here, but alas, the sun awaits me.

I'm guessing I'll be back in Calgary within 2 weeks or so, :( just in time for winter... or Winta as the Aussies call it.

Regrets

Did something today that I regret, however, I'm not sure what else I could have done....

Went for dinner in an area called Surry Hills, not exactly the best area in Sydney, as we got out of the car and headed towards the main road from the parking lot, someone bumped into me as they walked the other way on the sidewalk.. intentionally, some kid, being the non confrontational person I am, I turned around, and even though I knew it was intentional, said sorry. turning around I noticed that a group of youths were surrounding an asian kid at the bus stop, there was 4 or 5 of them I think... now it's about 8:30pm and dark outside, not a very well lit street, but at the same time, not too far from the main road. As Salima and I walked past them, I saw one of the kids grab the guy, another reached into his back pocket and there was a bit of a commotion, by this point we were past the bus shelter and couldn't see from the angle we were crossing the street at, but I knew in my head what was happening, instead of looking to see, I just walked on, not sure whether these kids had knives or how crazy they might be, I just walked away, heard the fear in the poor kids voice as he yelled help...help... it's the first time I've been in such a situation, but I just kept my back turned and walked away, as we got on the main road, we called the police and advised them of what we saw, we looked back and didn't see anybody there by the time we got the cops on the line...

I'm not sure what I could have done, yelled, helped the kid, made noise, take a picture of the rotten kids to get them to come after me as I ran like a girl into a restaurant or somethine, but all I thought about was to leave them alone so that they dont come and hurt us, me, I was worried about Salima and the stuff in my backpack, how selfish is that?

I know that I had lots of options as to what I could do, didn't think quick enough, and took the selfish way out.

on a lighter note, got to go for a really fun ride in a Turbocharged S2000 through the streets of Sydney, with the top down and the sun blaring in my face, the rumble of the exhaust in my ears, and a shit eating grin that lit up my eyes...

And as if that wasn't enough, Got to drive an Alfa Romeo Spyder tonite, that was fun, the car is a little rough on the suspension, sticky shifter, great 2nd gear and good overall power, but it doesn't come close to the S2000 (lots of legroom though!) .. Thanks Salima for letting me drive... another wonderful experience in good old Sydney

Ima goin on a Cruise!!!

So, just to add insult to injury...lol, to end my 8 month vacation, I'm flying out tomorrow to Orlando to go on a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise with the family ;) might as well end it well eh?

Royal Caribbean, Mariner of the Seas... I'm excited!!!

Also got to go for a ride in a Turbocharged S2000 today... nice and warm and sunny, made my day for sure!

Don't know when my next update will be, but I will keep you posted.

Sydney, good ol' Sydney

Back in Good Old Sydney, after Fiji, did loads of errands yesterday, Laundry, Laundry, had a 1 hour shower to get all the grime out that accumulated on me, boy it felt sooooo goood.

ran around and got some stuff sorted out, got a surprise for all of you, will know for sure in a few days!!

other than that, things are good, got to meet a cute puppy named bubby... the thing is sooo little...

oh ya, and Fiji Pics are almost ready to go... ;)

oh ya, also ate Nando's in Cronulla (one of the suburbs of Sydney) so now I am truly a Nando's affectionado (Vancouver, London, Dubai, Nairobi, Melbourne, Sydney)

I got a Tan!!!!

Ok, so I'm exhausted, went from Nairobi on Aug 5th, to Bangkok, then from Bangkok on the 8th to Sydney, and then from Sydney on the 9th to Nadi (Fiji) and now on the 14th am back in Sydney, no more flying, there was a point when I slept 2 nights in a row on a plane...

will update you with all the details...

I wet myself..again

Overall not a bad day in Thailand, woke up early for aSunday (well, for me everyday is a Sunday...lol)

Met with a schoolmate of one of my dad's friends and his wife and their 3 adorable children. They moved here from Sydney 6 months ago. Hung out with them and then went for lunch at this local Thai restaurant, the food was incredible, fresh young coconut (you know how I like them young), ate this flossed catfish that was really good, along with fried ice cream, beef salad, and really good rotisserie chicken.

After that we went back to the apartment, and the kids and I hid around the corner from their mom and 'surprised' her when she opened the door and wondered where we all were (I'm such a kid). I headed off to the most wonderful place in the world.....

Chatuchak Market, after a snooze in the taxi, almost getting soaked in a monsoon (ok I'm exaggerating) I entered the market, anything and everything you would ever want to buy fro souveniers, home decorations, fod, clothes, you name it, they got it, it was incredible... I bought some stuff (even though I didn't need it..lol) but wish that I could have bought a lot more of it...

Took the Subway for the first time, it's actually quite nice and modern... not something you would expect to see in Bangkok, it's amazing, despite being a 'poor' country, they really have their shit together, if only the bloody africans could figure this out and stop robbing and beating and shooting and mugging people, they too could be enjoying the good life of a big city like this.

As for the title of this, I walked into a mall called Pantip, where I found myself immersed among 5 floors of nothing but MP3 Players, Computers, Digital Cameras (found the one that I have..only seen it twice on my trip, once in London and here), printers, monitors, any and everything to do with tech.... I was in HEAven!!!!

bought more music...it's an addiction I swear.... gotta do something about it. any therapists out there that can help me?

Made my way back to the hotel, put my shit away, had a shower, changed into another one of my new T-Shirts, and then metup with Dusadee and Tony (i met Dus on the Chiang Mai trip) we hit up this really nice place on a side street (gotta love that about Bangkok, everything that's good is hidden away somewhere).

Afterwards we went to Arise the wicked club that's on Rambuttri road... but there wasn't anybody there, so after a drink we took off... I wanted to go see the Ping Pong Show in PatPong....

Good Old Bangkok.. Anybody want a massage?

lol, it's nutz here, It's so much better when you are not sick. Been wandering around town, dropped off my glasses to get fixed, checked into the hotel (make sure you book in advance, the rate sux if you just show up) it's the Viengtai hotel on Rambuttri road (a block from KhaoSan Road) and you can book it via Hostelworld.com

hmm...what else, got a Thailand number good for the 3 days that I'm here, can't believe that I just barely made it into the store to get it, but am amazed at how cheap rates are here, 99 baht for the Sim, and then local airtime is 6 baht per minute (now at 32 baht to each Canadian Dollar, that's pretty cheap). Long distance sux though, 18 baht on a crappy line to Nairobi.. but still overall pretty sweet!

found myself in the middle of the 'red light' district, everybody wanting to sell me a massage or a ping pong show... :) almost went and got my tongue pierced, but the shop was closed when I got there... :( bought a load of T-shirts... and a CD/MP3 Player... I can't beleive the shit I go through for music. After the Elio blew up in Nairobi, like really, the drive is toast. now I am craving to listen to all this music that I have, so after some gruelling bargaining, got a Sony MP3/CD player for 1900 Baht (60bux or so), which isn't too bad of a deal I guess... seriously though, with all the music devices I have now, I should have just bought a freakin iPod.

Here are some of the shirts I bought.

THREESOME - Because 2 Heads are better than one

I'M PERVERTED

CANNABIS (In the design of the Canadian Flag)

"Do you remember the times we fall in love" (has cupid dying from an arrow to the chest)

"So he's the one that killed your dad" (Shows two chickens looking at a pic of Col. Sanders)

had a nice hot shower, and hit the sack after chatting on the phone for a bit, mobiles are amazing....

anyways, off for another fun filled day...

In Bangkok

Woohoo, back in Bangkok after a gruelling 9 and a half hour flight on Kenya Airways..

It's hot and muggy, I desperately miss Nairobi and everybody there.

The plan is to sort out some loose ends here (gotta get my glasses fixed) and then it's off to Sydney, and then Fiji for 5 days! need to refresh my tan.

sorry for the lack of updates, but I'm back to civilization now... My east coast stories and trip to the Kakamega Rainforest are pending...