To Miriam, Jack, Sonia and Amy – yes I am a geek, but as promised – picture is posted! Sorry if I didn’t get the names right, its 5am!! Have fun on the elephants!!
To the rest of you – 2008 ROCKS!! I’ve been partying hard for the last 8 hours and if it is any indication, 2008 is a great year!
Oh, and drunk dialing at $1.99 a min is worth EVERY PENNY!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Woke up refrshed after sleeping 8 hours straight last nigh. Once we got our stuff together, we headed to the airport for Chaing Mai. I did find out that I’ll have to go to the Vietnamese embassy for my visa which complicates things a bit, but I don’t have other options.
We got to Chaing Mai and after leaving our begs at the hotel we went to the “Sunday Walking Street” It was PACKED with people, which made the next event even more bizzare. I ran into Christy Ciesel! We were both shocked! I haven’t seen her much since high school- and the last thing I expected was to run into anybody I know here! We checked out a few temples and had some street food, both great experiences in their own right! We had a fantastic “local” dinner with traditional dancing and all. Im essentially falling asleep writing this, my body is giving up on me! Until next time!
Its quarter to 11 Its quarter to 11 and I think there are few times I’ve ever been this tired. I woke up at 5am, after just under 3 hours of sleep and it has been non stop all day! The traditional Thai ceremony started at 6:30 and lasted 5 hours! Thankfully redbulls were included in my gift bag! The ceremony was incredible, beginning with Monks, then a ceremonial walk where the groom had to “barter” for his wife, ending with each person blessing them with water. I took a TON of pictures, and the services deserve an entry of their own! We then had lunch and hit the hotel to refresh ourselves for the Catholic ceremony. The reception began afterwards as did my MC duties. I didn’t think I had it in me, but I got a ton of positive feedback at the end of the night! Most couldn’t believe I was going strong on 3 hours of sleep! 17 hours after waking up this morning, its time. I can’t imagine my exhaustion not overcoming the jet lag!
Today was incredible! Congratulations to Mike and Krong!!
We are off to Chiang Mai tomorrow, next post will most likely be from there!
After over 24 hours in transit, I have arrived in Bangkok! With signs saying “Long live the King!” greeting me around every corner. I found my driver easy enough and had pleasant conversation on our way to the hotel. The pic is from where I currently sit on my balcony overlooking the river. Tug boats put by hauling their load as I munch on the foreign but quite fresh fruit left by management! Mike left me some Redbulls for tomorrow as the day starts in a few scant hours. Hopefully this posy works!
I arrived safely at Seoul’s Incheon airport after a very long 14 hour journey! Thankfully, each chair had its own in-flight entertainment system, so I could choose what I wanted to hear or watch. I ended up choosing Rescue Dawn – a true story about an American who was shot down over Laos during the Vietnam war. Chosen not only because it was topical, as I’m planning on visiting Vietnam, but because I had already heard good things! Much to my surprise, an old friend was an actor in the movie! Anybody else remember Greg Qaiyum?! He apparently goes as GQ now – hilarious! A small part, but I was quite amused nonetheless! I also finally saw Knocked Up. Not as great as I expected, but good for a few laughs.
As I was walking through the terminal, I could hardly believe that I’m in Korea! It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but the lack of sleep might have something to do with that. Being cooped up in the airport isn’t much of a cultural experience either. Totally forgot my USB reader in the backpack – so no pics for now… all of them were of clouds anyhow. Although I tried to capture Alaska/Northern Russia with one them, we’ll have to see how that turned out.
Going to fix the moblogging again (surprisingly, my phone hasn’t picked up a GSM carrier here as of yet – maybe Korea isnt’ GSM?) and updates should be a bit easier once I’m in Thailand. I have another 6 hour flight to look forward to…. uggh… I think its currently 3am Chicago time, and I’m not feeling too out of it. We’ll see how I do when I get to Thailand! Until soon!
Not sure why no text showed up on this one… I think I have to fix the moblogging again… ahh, what better way to waste time at Seoul’s airport!
Testing moblogging
I noticed a while back that Chicago has free audio guides for the city. While planning for the trip, I decided to see what else I could find out there as far as free travel audio guides.
Granted, the selection isn’t the best – I’ll have to revisit the quality and informative value of the tours upon my return!
Its that time of year again! Google releases its Zeitgeist.
Zeitgeist describes the intellectual and cultural climate of an era. In German, the word has more layers of meaning than the English translation, including the fact that Zeitgeist can only be observed for past events.
See how the iPhone fares vs. Don Imus, if more people ask “what is love” or “what is bluetooth”, and if more people want to know how to flirt than how to dance! Always a fascinating perspective on the past year’s events!
I meant to post last night, but I got home pretty late (thankfully found a spot for the GTI in all the snow!) and I had forgotten my camera at the ‘rents. Had a packed weekend! Started it off with a killer Margarita with Jos followed by another showing of Super Bad at the Brew and View (I had to see it with TK!). We then had a late night dinner with Greg and Mila to celebrate his b-day!
Saturday I wasn’t feeling up to going anywhere with the weather being so bad, but I called up my reserves of energy to go to a party. When I met up with Kelly, she realized that I was not aware that it was an ugly sweater party. I had the brilliant idea of swapping sweaters with her – though it was totally uncomfortable, everybody got a big kick out of it!
Sunday I went to TK and Jos’ new condo for brunch (thanks again guys!) and made a few stops afterwards to catch up with some friends. I then headed to the folk’s place for Greg’s b-day party and send off prior to their trip to Uruguay. Along with Greg’s b-day gift, I gave them both their Christmas presents as well! Its hard to believe its just around the corner!