Airport reunions:)

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  Bangkok, Thailand
Monday, July 28, 2008

Hurray for Bangkok! I love Bangkok.  Even though I was violently ill, I knew right away that Bangkok was a city I could live in. For some reason, I find it very easy to insert myself into a city and take off running.  Big cities have big gyms, big pools, and big sidewalks for running. In a strange way Bangkok felt alot like Taiwan, especially Taipei. Maybe that's because I just came from Java, where everything is a bit more difficult. Bangkok and Taiwanese currency are the same on the Canadian dollar.  In Bangkok they write with indesipherable characters, like Taiwan. Everything is glitzy and modern, but trying very hard to disguise the dirty urban heritage that remains, also like Taiwan.
I grabbed the first reasonable hotel I could find and holed up in there most of the day, shivering and sweating and doing other nasty things as my body rid itself of whatever poison I had put in.  I managed to walk around a bit, but had to take lots of breaks.  The hotel is near the Sky train and the MRT, both of which are new and amazing and put the TTC to shame. I walked around the department stores and bought some jackfruit, which is my favorite fruit in the entire world. Jackfruit are these sort of rubbery sections that come from a huge, 20kg fruit:
(SEP: http://www.flickr.com/photos/madpai/321092102/)
Then I went back and passed out until it was time to go back to the airport, around 11pm, for Aaron.  We had decided to meet at the Starbucks, though neither of us knew where that was.  I found it and settled in to wait for him. He took a lot longer than I thought, and I was beginning to worry that I messed something up. Then he came! Yay airport reunions! It was like something out of TV, with screaming, jumping, and crying (on my part at least... poor Aaron).  Lots of poeple were watching us (or, I like to think that they were). Irregardless of my overactive imagination, I was very happy, I haven't seen someone I actually care about in years. Years!! Plus Aaron is one of my favorite people, even if he beats me on the head with a shoe, and accuses me of pilfering his belongings.
So after drinking unnecessary Starbucks in the airport (it was 1am), we went back to the hotel and stayed up far too late talking.  That's the thing about going abroad for awhile.  With some friends, you don't have to see them all the time or even keep in touch all that well, but then when you do it's like a day hasn't been missed and you still perfectly understand each other. With other people, an unexpected strain develops that makes things different.
Anyhow we woke up at some ungodly hour and took the Skytrain (so cool!) to the Chinese embassy, because they are being very difficult and haven't granted his visa.  The Chinese embassy is like a compound from an army movie, with big high walls and a Chinese flag the size of Laos flying high. It's very intimidating. Of course they were closed, which had a ripple effect since we were flying to Chiang Mai the next day, and wouldn't return until the weekend when it would be closed again, so now we will be staying in Chiang Mai longer, returning to Bangkok and trying to apply for the visa again, and there goes my carefully constructed itinerary, right out the window, swoosh!
Anyhow then we went on a boat up the river to see the Temple of Dawn, which was beyond magnificent. (SEP:http://www.flickr.com/photos/mitamada/236793519/  ). I hope I get a chance to go back there and take better pictures, because the light wasn't good. We ate pad thai on the river, but I couldn't really because my stomach was still not okay (nor today, either). After crashing at the hotel, we went to see Batman at the IMAX, which was awesome!! I want to have a Batman. But what a dark, dark movie. It was really late though, and we only slept for about 2 hours before catching our 6:45 am flight to Chiang Mai.

About Bangkok: I love Bangkok as I guess I love all cities.  I could live there, easily. ...but maybe "easy" isn't the point.

From Aaron: Aaron says hi and that he doesn't beat me (hard) with his shoes.

PS: Aaron, I'm winning.

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