In terms of ridiculous behaviour, I've outdone myself again.

Friday I received this from a student. The card says some stuff about not forgetting him. The gift itself will not help with this. Also I do not have a corkscrew.



This is 손건웅 Or Keon Ung Son. He is a Korean prince off to do his 2 years service which I hear involves a lot of shoveling?



We had treats and then vintage shopped in a maze. I got a Levi's jacket for an okay price.



Sup' Bombers. I don't miss you.



Okay then the night got complicated. We met up with some friends of Sara and Mason's which made us a party of 8 but then we couldnt get a table at Mr. Pizza? there was salad bar confusion also. Then we met up with Gene and we went to a bar with no name and met some people and then the party of about 11 at this point was split in all sorts of directions after several attempts at Korean drinking games. Some of us opted for a skateboarding party which was over priced and not foreigner friendly. This happened out of nowhere.


Impromptu Dancing
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This man introduced me to the nicest studio cat. His name is 김명준 Kim Myeong Jun, I don't know the cats name.

Bad with Schedules, Awesome at Life.

I'm always late recently which is a bummer and I really am going to work on it cause I am always 30-2 hours late coming into the city. It's hard to gauge how long everything will take. I now vow to aim to be early forever.

This weekend I didn't really plan to have as much fun as we did and those are always the nicest weekends. As a special birthday treat I dressed up. I met up with Joe and Matt in Hongdae then with Sara while she waited for CocoRosie. Ran into some friends and then met up with Sara's friends for beers. Then danced the night away at the afterparty. It was a really good night. Snacks after photo cred Russ



Sunday Russ and I dragged Sara around Myeongdong I bought new shoes cause my platforms hurt. I can't find a picture. Then we went to a Manga art showing it was nice.

Igarashi Daisuke



Matsumoto Taiyo



Harold Sakuishi. His installation were all popular album covers but with Beck instead.

Also were were in Insadong and it was snowing. It was so beautiful.

Then Sara and I headed to Chuncheon so a sleepover but first we had our second buffet in the same week. Many lolz happened and it was fun. She cut my hair and we watched about 5 minutes of a movie. Sara is the best.

Today we went to Platoon to see Battle of the Year. It was so great I have seen it before but I really like it and it was free. After the guys from the movie were there for dancing. Not a lot of you, but some know this is the biggest deal to me. Sometimes if I see a particularily good performance I get so excited I weep. Anyway it was awesome however I missed the last train to Chuncheon which brings me to real time.

I am sitting in a PC Bang as an alternative to a spa I can't find. I have been drinking free coffee and thinking about how silly work will be tomorrow and how good sleep will feel Wednesday night. Since it is 4:45 am right now I got to talk to lots of people in Winnipeg I usually can't cause I am sleeping which was nice. I also watched Blue Valentine which is a bummer. Did I mention I missed the train by 5 minutes. I ran up 4 flights of stairs.

This sacrifice was well worth it as my fav dancer and guy from the movie had the last battle and I watched the first 5 minutes. I will see them again.

Seoul, you really are the jewel of the penisula.

Update: I found a video of all of the battle the better dressed one is my favorite. His name is Nauty One. He dances better, looks better and is Korean. You can kinda see me I'm in the back to the right standing on a table.

birthday blog of bests

I was bad at taking pictures the last couple of weekends cause my hands were so cold I didn't want to bother. The last two weeks and year.

Bests for the last 2 weeks

- wearing a party hat and having many Korean children sing happy birthday at me
- "I want you to be happy forever" kinda hurt my heart in the nicest way.
- a visit from Joe on a Thursday
- vegan buffet, desserts, soda, korean horchata and slurpees included in the $15 price
- Julio the most attentive house party host
- dancing
- finding the coolest koreans to dance with for hours
- realizing after said koreans spoke NO english. Forget math, dance is the universal language
- having the best sense of humour
- Christmas card from Katie and Dan
- meeting a lovely Korean prince and more people in Chuncheon
- sushi and shopping with Russ
- best show since I have been here
- at least 6 hugs
- running into a friend from Manitoba. INSANE!
- meeting Victor and hearing about how nice his life is and that he knows Nate and Beeps
- meeting Gene and realizing he knows Kelly. At this point WTF.
- My boss saying she trusts me and I have done everything she asked
- Being awesome at reading korean and the subway and using a korean subway map
- Seoul on a Tuesday
- Buffet again
- 5 dollar baseball jacket that says eco urban on it.
- cat cafe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Sara is awesome
- Sarah Paskewitz
- Canadian care package
- birthday wishes

Worst

- the cold, funny a Winnipegger would complain about this but it's that the cold NEVER ends. In Winnipeg you go inside and it is sweltering. Not here, on Mondays at work I still need a jacket
- being late to meet Russ
- Russ losing his phone and there for the reason I stayed in the city being a waste cause I couldn't meet up
- weird messages on phones
- terrible conversation topics and no escape








Best for the year

- New York (again)
- making the move to Korea
- future traveling plans
- max confidence awakened
- minus 20 pounds
- friendship not relationship due to homosexuality
- Thailand
- Being nice again

Best of Music

- Crazy Spirit
- Boston Strangler
- Slices
- Gucci Mane (ok ok december 2009)
- UV race
- Zola Jesus


This is what Korean 29 looks like! night night!

Finale: Koh Phi Phi

Part 4

Let's get right into a video of a train ride!


Train to Koh Phi Phi
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This was taken in the party car. Number 10 if you should ever ride said train. Here's a picture of Carrie and Josh getting wild!



Then we went to bed! Not only is Carrie awesome also very photogenic.



After a nice sleep. Actually. We got on maybe the dirtiest bus I have been on in a while and I have been on sick buses in Mexico where the toilet is overflowing and I had to wrap clothes over my face just to not puke. Regardless the view was spectacular.



Then we got on the ferry where everyone was partying. A group of people even graced us with their favorite tracks via their ipod and speakers. View.



Then we met up with our tour group and headed to Maya Beach. Maybe you have heard of it it's where they filmed the Leonardo DiCaprio film, "The Beach". This is a weird cave on the way. Something about birds, pirates and getting shot. I'm really bad with accents.



Weather was not so great when we were coming in.



But don't worry it got nicer!



Here's a better view.


Maya Beach
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Party time! Wasted with the locals!



There was dancing, night swimming with glowing plankton, games, crabs that climbed trees and sleeping on the beach. All and all an unforgettable New Years. Carrie and Josh are the best for planning this!

Meal back on Koh Phi Phi. Panang.



I ran into the another person randomly! Life is so crazy! They told us of some cool places to visit and we did. At night there is like a circus of parties and fire dancing and drinking on this one beach. The next day I shopped a lot and we ate foods and got serious about tanning which actually ended up being one of the worst sunburns for me since Josh was under an umbrella and his face was burnt. I was in direct sunlight without sunscreen. WHOOPS.

I got on the ferry and headed out. I slept the entire time from ferry, bus, airport lounges to planes, I can sleep and did sleep the entire time only waking up to move from one to the next. I spent the night in a freezing hotel in China with a woman named Teddy from the states that has spent half of her life abroad in places like Africa, China etc. She likes Korea the least. I tried to buy weird snacks but couldn't cause they didn't take visa. China is weird.

That's it! See ya!

Bangkok

Part 3
Day 1

I have no silly name for this post. Sorry. Okay so I slept on the bus and I got a weird rash from the blanket. But I can officially sleep ANYWHERE. It is amazing. The bus dumped us out on Khao San road which is like the big foreigner hot spot. But it was 6am, I got to see a girl puke and guys find rooms with hookers. But as the sun rose things cleaned up a bit and I got to see monks out getting food and food stalls getting set up. Most importantly the sunrise. How nice. My plan for the day was to just walk around find things to barter for (obviously something I am good at and like doing). Try to find internet and food. Internet because I had tentative plans to meet up with Craig. Mostly I just walked around aimlessly. Here are some things I saw.

This is a delightful coconut bun? I have no idea I just pointed at things and gave the woman money. One of them I though was red bean with icing turned out it was meat with mayo. Whoops. It was kinda good though the meat was like shredded into the same consistency as cotton candy and kinda sweet. But then I got bummed cause I only eat fish.



Then I snuck around this temple and this almost made we weep it was so nice. I couldn't go in because I was too sexy. More on this later.


Temple in Bangkok
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Okay then something so crazy happened AGAIN. As I mentioned I had plans to find Craig but I was just really enjoying my time and not stressing about anything in the world. Then I looked up and TA DAA! Craig was standing in front of me. Can you believe it?!? I still can't. We had breakfast and he let me have a shower at his hotel. We were a little nervous about me going in because of this.



But no worries I'm not Thai not to mention it's only 6 bucks.

Here's some beautiful art Craig promised to complete on his door.



We went sightseeing. I grabbed pants cause as I mentioned my leg showing above the knee too sexy. Turns out my bare shoulders too. While trying to enter the palace there was a lady monitoring whether dress was appropriate and just yelled too sexy at me. So this is as close as I got to anything. Luckily I am indifferent.









Craig and I ate at a place called Ethos several times. It was good and vegetarian. We shopped a bit and found a Malaysian flight for him. I found a shirt of River Phoenix smoking in Stand by Me and a dress. Something fun I should mention is that Craig is a superstar in Thailand. Often people's gaze would linger and this is something I have grown accustom to in Korea cause of my small face and blue eyes UNTIL I realized they weren't looking at me at all. They all love Craig's tattoos. Constantly making remarks. Take that ego.

Then we met up with Carrie and Josh. Here is Carrie in Craig's room which we determined is the room from the film "The Beach".



We ate at Ethos AGAIN. We left Craig and headed to Josh and Carrie's. On the way home I found the mother load of t-shirts. I actually had to say no to myself and limit how many I bought. Carrie drew me the nicest map and I went to bed.

Day 2

Here is the view from Carrie and Josh's place! They are the best!



I had no plans but I wanted to try to find souvenirs for people. It didn't work out but I went to the mall. I wanted to watch a film but I missed the one Carrie suggested. I didn't find anything I wanted to buy which is probably for the best. Here are some things in the mall.

An amusement park!



Two important men in my teenage life. There was also a store that was all pictures of k-pop stars. I can't escape them.



hahahahahaha. I lol'd alone in the mall.



Here are some things I ate.

I was so pumped on these. There were like greasy coconut fried pancakes or something. Topped off with an iced coffee!



Fried rice, though I asked for spicy and pad thai still a great taste.



Mango Sticky Rice. Seriously the best. Salty, sticky and sweet!



I decided that I should just go to the apartment relax and sit by the pool to gain a sick tan. I guess while I was in the the mall the rest of Bangkok set up their stands on Carrie and Josh's street rendering it unrecognizable to me. I got lost. Followed this little canal for a while and finally found Josh and Carrie's to find them hurriedly packing for our next adventure.



Then we headed to the most crowded train station I have ever seen and I have seen many. There is a special bench just for monks! Neat! We boarded the train for Phi Phi



The conclusion next post!

Chaweng meets Chungju and the Bus

Thailand Part 2

I had a shower then walked out to a convenience store with Brock and Brittany. We got large beers which were very inexpensive. We played a fun drinking game. I got drunk eyes for a cat. We then all rode into town on the back of a truck.



We found food.



Then we got to partying. We sampled several buckets until getting to serious business at a giant bar with like a tree coming out of it. Here's how partying was.


Party Samui
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He was in attendance. Don't worry he had a chaperon.



We saw these women with signs, their mothers must be proud.



We partied for a long time and Brock, Brittany and Mark left early. I had a nice long walk on the beach with Scott and Ronan. Only I was invited to a weird private party. Clearly I said no. I think we saw the dog friends again. Imagine roaming the beaches as a dog with your best dog friend for life. I like it. Then we saw this.

Someone said this would be a boring video. Agree to disagree.


Chaweng Beach
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Yeah it is just a live wire.

I slept and then woke and decided I had to go to get a ticket to Bangkok. I was too late for a train so I had to take the bus. I walked back however once I was a block away I realized I was late so I ran the whole way and almost missed my shuttle. Like had to run and throw a paper at the hotel owner asking him to call while I ran back to the room and shoved all my things in a bag and ran out the door, no time to put on pants even. Everything worked out though (I put on pants in the shuttle). Here's a view of the shore before I went on to the ferry.





Here is a view from the ferry.


Ferry View off Koh Samui
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It was a little cloudy but the only bad weather I saw was during the days I was traveling so it worked out perfectly. I went from the bus to a travel agency to another travel agency to the bus to Bangkok. This concludes Part 2.