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9/23 - Day 156 of Year 29; Spa Day
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Slept in. Wasn't planning to, but alas.

Bathroom set up was a bit wierd, no shower curtain. Couldn't get water hot enough. Got ready, packed bag (stole the extra roll of tp for my bag, just in case) and headed to breakfast.

Mused over the day, ate toast, eggs, ham, bacon, 'pancakes,' oj and decent coffee. Watermelon, papaya, banana too. Thinking spa? tour? trek? cooking school?

After breakfast I headed to the tour office just outside my hotel. It was more expensive than the one I was looking at the day before, for basically the exact same trip. In the end I walked all the way back to the original dealer and they helped me to plan out the rest of my trip.

Booked a 1 day trek for tomorrow as well as train ticket home (with drop off direct from tour to train station). Also arranged a cooking class for the evening and spa session for today! The spa picked me up from the tour place and I went for a 5 hour spa day. Manicure, pedicure, thai massage, body scrub, milk bath, oil massage, and facial. Amazing.

After that the spa dropped me off at Thai Cooking School. I had class with a Dutch family (Dirk, Karin, Michia, and Nick). Bunny was our instructor. She made us name tags .

We walked to the local market for ingredients. Everyone got to choose slightly different things from the menu. We made different curry pastes with mortar and pestal. I made Phad Thai and Hot and Sour Chicken Soup. We then ate the noodle and soup dishes. Back to the kitchen to use the curry paste to make our curry dish. I made Masaman Curry. We then ate the curry. It was all fabulous food.

Afterwards the owner of the cooking school drove me back to my hotel. His two kids (Pop and Bin (or Pin)) sat in the back with me. Maybe 8 and 10 years old. He sort of forced them to sit with me. Told them to practice thier english. First I got them to count in English and then we counted in Thai. Then ABC's. They attempted to teach me days of the week, and I could repeat them back, but they didn't stick. So cute.

Long day, went right to bed.

9/22 - Day 155 of Year 29; Eating on the Street
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Got picked up at 6am by P’Lhong with P’Kit in tow. Heading to the airport and flying to Chiang Mai. Security was hilarious… I mean what security. Also, saw the queue for flights to India. There were a lot of flat screen tvs. Apparently it’s a thing. Something to do with the tax.

60 minute flight, and decent meal. Chocolate croissant, muffin, yogurt, coffee that didn’t suck too much. Tried to nap. We got picked up at the airport by our car rental company and they drove us into town.

While the boss peoples were finalizing the car rental I looked at tour packages for Chiang Mai. Kit and Lhong fly back to Bangkok tonight, but I am staying for the whole weekend to bum around.

Drove off to a few glass manufactures and played the “American Business Man” … fun times.

TMI bit coming up, feel free to not read…….. . . . So, I had to poop. We were at one of the glass manufactures, which is basically the owners home. I politely went to the rest room and low and behold, no TP. Of course I’ve run into this sitch in Thailand before, but I either held it or had some stashed on my person. This time was different. So, as much as I’d been meaning to try ‘it’, I hadn’t.

I am speaking of course of the “Bum Gun.” It’s a kind of hand held faucet trigger that is attached to the toilet. Sort of a hand held bidet. It was… refreshing… and wet.

Well. Check that off the to-do list.

Okay, where was I? After the meetings I got dropped off at my hotel and promptly headed to the Chiang Mai night market for shopping and food. Lovely, and cheaper than Bangkok.

Saw some lovely prostitutes on the walk back to my hotel. Got a banana roti. That’s not a euphemism. Fried dough wrapped around egg and banana, covered in chocolate sauce and sweetened condensed milk. YUMMY.
Met some nice Canadian backpackers. Had conversations. Walked the long way around the block back to my hotel. What thinking of going back out to hit the bar and more people, but when I got to my hotel I sort of crashed. A little BBC World and I was out

9/21 - Day 154 of Year 29; Morning Refuel
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Trying desperately to stay up to 1am to have conference call with Pacific coast. Some people didn’t log into Skype, and I gave up and let Kit know I was passing out… and then I passed the fuck out.

Slept in and then headed to the office. We heading out to meetings with manufacturers and it was really interesting and fun. Our first meeting ran long, so P’Tuck and I stayed while P’Kit and P’Lhong went on to the next company. Afterwards, Tuck and I went to lunch.

Back to office and then hotel. After freshening up I headed out to Pat Pong. Got a new backpack for upcoming excursion to Chiang Mai this weekend. Then to Balcony (restaurant/bar) on Silom Soi 4 for dinner and beer.

Got back to hotel and pondered and packed and looked at all my stuff fretting over little things. What to bring to Chaing Mai!? It was basically a practice pack for India. Can I make it one backback? Stayed up too late, and I have to get up super early tomorrow >.

9/20 - Day 153 of Year 29; Long day is long
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-Got up early to make it to meetings with the packaging people
-Lunchtime
-Kit got a roasted Cuttlefish from a cart on the street
-The office
-Walked to Central Plaza from the office
-Used ATM to get cash
-Got Muji supplies for traveling purposes
-Pork won tons for dinner at a Chinese restaurant where no one spoke English
-Also more Thai waitress hovering. I don’t need you to stand there over my shoulder and watch me read the menu, thank you.
-Yay for a 1am conference call tonight. Bleh. I’m exhausted.

9/19 - Day 152 of Year 29; Top Drawer
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-Downloaded the newest Downton Abbey and watched it. Now current.
-Tidied
-Realized I’m in serious need of doing laundry
-Got food at the British Pie place
-Worked
-Lunch with P’Lhong and P’Kit at the street restaurant around the corner from the office
-Worked
-Went to Tops for groceries and snacks
-Did laundry in the sink
-Bed time

9/18 - Day 151 of Year 29; Darkness
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Watched Downton Abbey all day. Never left room. Dropped glass water bottle on floor.

9/17 - Day 150 of Year 29; A Three Massage Day
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Go up and headed to meet Kit at the subway station this morning. Heading to JJ for shopping. We were going to be doing more shopping and less looking, but we were still waiting for some confirmation on future plans. We wandered all morning and looked at lots of the things. Kit left at noon to visit with his in-laws and left me at JJ… where I immediately got lunch and headed to get a foot massage! The masseuses were so funny.


Shopped some more and purchased a few things for myself, and some gifts. I got a second foot massage before leaving JJ at 6. Downed a Red Bull and headed to Sukhumvit with the goal of some “Red Angry Bird” merch for someone back home. (And I had seen some items there I haven’t seen anywhere else.)

Dinner of Indian food. Headed to Silom Soi 4 for beers and talking to random expats. Wandered somewhere on Silom and got a full body 2 hour thai and oil massage. Yes, it was a 3 massage day. I was then planning on going out dancing as it was Saturday night. But I tuckered out and grabbed a Tuk Tuk and headed home at midnight. Life is hard.

9/16 - Day 149 of Year 29; Missed my framing
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I spent the morning cleaning and organizing the mess that was my apartment.

Today was spent on factory tours. We went to the silver casting facility and watched as they take wax mold “tree” of jewelry carvings and set it in plaster and replace the wax with sterling silver. Voila, jewelry. Also had meeting with other jewelry manufacturers and discussed future lines. Most of the meeting was in Thai, so I just smiled and nodded when appropriate. When Kit and I were talking in English I said something in Spanish, not sure what, and the woman we were meeting with (who spoke English and Thai) turned to me and asked if I speak Spanish. I laughingly said “un pequeño,” and she suddenly started speaking in Spanish. My face turned red. “MUY, MUY pequeño.”

After meetings, went to trade show. Horrible traffic on the way home. HORRIBLE. I was planning on going out when I got home, but I was so tired, and car sick, I just crashed and called it a day.

9/15 - Day 148 of Year 29; Visa
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Got up semi-early and headed to Indian Embassy (or at least the Visa office, which technically isn’t the embassy). Since normal “pick up” time for Visa is in the afternoon the line for pick up was very short. Was in and out. Grabbed a Thai Tea from a street vendor on the way back to Metro, grabbed a donut at Dunkin Donuts just inside the mall at the top of the Subway station.

Got on a motorbike at Lumphini to head to room and the driver was in such a rush he started going before I was actually sat down. Made for an interesting ride. Got back to hotel to grab laptop etc. in one piece.

Regular taxi to office. Too much work, ended up not going to show. Went for lunch at Central Plaza with Tuck, Lhong, and Kit. Saw Muji in the department store, and made a mental note to come back!

Spent the evening planning my India journey, and by planning I mean buying a plane ticket to and from.

Via Flickr:
Got up semi-early and headed to Indian Embassy (or at least the Visa office, which technically isn’t the embassy). Since normal “pick up” time for Visa is in the afternoon the line for pick up was very short. Was in and out. Grabbed a Thai Tea from a street vendor on the way back to Metro, grabbed a donut at Dunkin Donuts just inside the mall at the top of the Subway station.

Got on a motorbike at Lumphini to head to room and the driver was in such a rush he started going before I was actually sat down. Made for an interesting ride. Got back to hotel to grab laptop etc. in one piece.

Regular taxi to office. Too much work, ended up not going to show. Went for lunch at Central Plaza with Tuck, Lhong, and Kit. Saw Muji in the department store, and made a mental note to come back!

Spent the evening planning my India journey, and by planning I mean buying a plane ticket to and from.

9/14 - Day 147 of Year 29; Lanyard
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Got up early to meet Kit & Lhong to head to show. They canceled. Tuck and Udan (sp?) came to pick me up. Show check it was crazy busy. Also, I didn't have my passport (required by the show for registration) because it was still at the Indian Embassy waiting to get it's Visa sticker. Thankfully with some smiles and an Oregon Drivers License and PP photocopy I got my badge. I wasn't worried, and was aware of the risk. Worst case, I would just take a taxi back into town.

Show was pretty big. Shopped around, talked with some designers and manufacturers, got some business cards. Shows are a whole different experience as an attendee vs an exhibitor.

Kit, Lhong, and Ling showed up. We did lunch at the cafeteria, and walked some more of the show. Got dropped off at BTS station and headed to Paragon to look for a new dress shirt. Didn't buy any, got dinner.

Headed to Pat Pong night market and got two dress shirts for 500 Baht. I would have paid over 1000 for one at the mall. Hopped a motorbike home and went to bed. (Reward for long day: Nutella)