Getting settled in Wellington...

So I have now spent over one week in Wellington, it is an incredible city! They don’t call it windy Wellington for nothing. I have definitely felt some of the gusts knock me around a little. Now I know not every one reading this has been to Halifax, but I always reckoned that Hali had some pretty steep hills in the down town area. But they are nothing compared to the hills here in Wellington. Most of the slopes are too steep for roads, and have ‘switch-backs’ and stair cases instead. I have to say, I’m getting a great work out coming home from downtown in Wellington. My hall is definitely a 20 minute walk to the top of a mountain! I’m not exaggerating at all, parts of the road definitely get to a 70 degree slope and the rest of the way up is straight stairs. It’s half the time to get downtown then it is to get home, and I’m sweating every time. Fortunately I’m not walking up that hill to class everyday, but I’ll have calves of steel by the end of my stay here! So far the weather has been great, which is definitely a blessing in disguise. There appears to be a hole in the ozone layer directly above NZ, and I’ve burned the backs of my legs and my lips (an awful experience which I highly recommend avoiding!). So I’m being very precautious about spending time in the sun. The harbor is gorgeous, and there a beautiful boardwalk by the water. Everywhere you look there is just jaw-dropping scenery, you’ve got to experience it if you can.
After spending three nights at a backpackers hostel waiting for my residence to open, I was shocked to see my brand new building. Te Puni Hall was just finished after 2 and a half years of construction, and is completely state-of-the-art (and most importantly earthquake proof!). My room is definitely adequate and comes complete with a great view of the city! While I’ll have to get back used to sleeping in a single bed, I can’t complain about my living situation at all. I have definitely settled in nicely. It was a little quite for my first few nights because the international students were able to move in 4 days before the Kiwis. The other international students are great. Surprisingly, over 50 % of the international students are American. I guess I just wasn’t expecting that. I’ve met some very nice people from Penn State as well as a great group of French students from Paris and Tunisia. It’s really neat to have met people from all over the world in just a matter of days.
One thing that I have been hoping to do at this university is play soccer. It didn’t take me long to get a tryouts; a whole 2 days. And after only one other training session, I started my first game for UVW 4 days after the first session. While I was a little rusty, and my distribution being a bit sloppy, I managed to come up with a few decent saves and the victory – a 3-2 win! I am very excited to play a home game, lots of the international students were expressing interest so I might even get a nice turnout!
As for Lenny (a friend from Camp George who is also on an exchange program to UVW – we didn’t plan it at all, it was such a pleasant surprise when I found out last year), he arrived early in the morning on the 18th. While I didn’t have a phone, I did know where he was living and met him at his hall soon after he landed. We wandered the town and campus together, catching up on life. It’s really great to have someone here who I have a close connection with. While we’ve both been meeting tons of new people, we’re also spending a ton of time together – which is great!
The orientation day was a bit more inspiring than watching paint dry, but there were a couple of bright spots. Firstly, I managed to be quick on the draw in a room of about 200 people to answer the name of Wellington’s soccer team (Phoenix – I had seen tons of signs around town) and won a pair of tickets to a Wellington Hurricane’s rugby match (which was the next night)! I also managed to meet heaps of people from ‘round the globe.
That night was my first real night out on the town. The culmination of the orientation was at a bar exclusively for international students. It was great to mingle with them, and the people running the show organized a number of mixers, which only got better as more alcohol was consumed! (I also found out that tipping in NZ is discouraged. I tried to tip one of the bartenders and she gave me back my money!) I wasn’t too into most of the games, but the last game they had was a old fashioned limbo. Lenny and I both entered to try and win some prizes. I told Lenny that he had to win something because I was taking him to rugby the next night. As the limboing went on, Lenny and I got fairly far until there was maybe only 15 people left. Lenny and I were at a huge disadvantage because we were definitely one foot taller than everyone else in the group. Lenny bailed with about 10 people left, and I was the only Canadian hope left. It got down to myself and 5 foot tall Korean, but my flexibility finally paid off for something as I managed to win, and thus another set of tickets (this time to a comedy festival in March). The rest of the night was great, drinking with total strangers is pretty fun! So while the events of the day were a bit of a drag, I came away with two pairs of tickets, and a ton of new friends!
Man, I thought the orientation was dry but the day of registration was just stupid. This was by far the most unnecessarily complicated system I will most likely ever experience. The multiple hour wait in lines wasn’t so bothersome (just another way to meet people) it was just that there were 3 separate lines that everyone had to wait in. I wasn’t freaking out or anything, but Lenny and I went through the process and at least every 15 minutes we would just look at each other and say, “This is soooo stupid and inefficient!” Neither of us were freaking out, there was no point. It was just an entire day of waiting in lines, to have different people process the same information into separate computer systems. Anyway, I don’t want to spend anymore time on this, the highlight of that day was the rugby match which I won tickets too! In a stadium of about 30,000 people we saw a great home team, come-from-behind win in the late stages of the match. I still don’t fully comprehend the sport, so not much more to say. With lots of international students there as well it made for a great experience!
I seemed to have come to Wellington at an ideal time. Yesterday was a huge festival in this city, the Cuba Street Carnival! I would have to say that it’s fairly similar to Mardi Gras, though this one is only held bi-annually. During the day, there was a plethora of shops set up, tons of food vendors, and many roads are blocked off for the insane crowds. I spend the whole day wandering with Lenny and a few other international students, just wandering and taking in all the crazy street performers (most were juggling fire, performing impressive stunts, and making fun of Australia)! But the real highlight of the carnival is the big parade at night and the partying afterwards.
Lenny and I purchased some cheap costumes and then headed back to my hall for dinner and split on a 12 pack before the parade started. This was poor planning because upon arriving at the parade, we realized that there must have been 20,000 people hoping to catch a glimpse of the floats, dancers, musicians, and fire eaters! So we got creative. We managed to secure about 5 great spots, though each time we had security as us to move. Basically, all of our creative ideas ended up with us high off the ground. We were up in trees, on fences and on roofs of trailers and buildings. But our best spot was by far our first one. We ended up in a boat which was set up on top of an information booth for the marine center of Wellington. We sat side-by-side with a manikin in this old wooden rowboat while observing the parade with an amazing view. The worst part about security asking us to leave was that it was never Lenny and I which attracted the attention. There were always people who would recognize our creative ideas, and follow with much less discretion (like our friend Sophia, who probably couldn’t have made more noise while climbing up onto one of the food trailers with people inside…).
When the parade ended, there were literally thousands of people rushing into the pubs and bars. We decided to risk the police and purchased beers from a convenience store and drink in the streets. The cops were only really after those being belligerent and flaunting their alcohol, so were flew completely under the radar. We were waiting for a band, Drop Kick Cousins, to come on hoping that they were a cover band of Drop Kick Murphy’s. Though we were sadly disappointed with the group as not only was it the opposite of Irish rock music, it just wasn’t particularly good. So we ended up at a club for the rest of the night. Overall, it was a great day!
February 22nd marked the move in day for all the first year students living in all the residences. With all of them being 17 and 18, it’s so funny to see these new students going through the same motions I went through only 4 years earlier. The whole time, the international students had been warned that Kiwis truly like their drink. After chilling with a few people, I definitely see that some of these Kiwis would give even my most alcoholic of friends a run for their money. And while I was worried about hanging out with people who were born in the 90s, I have to say that I’ve met some pretty stellar people so far. But there were moments where I actually was wondering ‘what the fuck am I doing living in a hall with these little kids’.
The next morning, I awoke to the sound of the fire alarm at 6 am. I assumed that some shit-faced Kiwi had pulled it, but I was amazed to wander into the halls to see all the RAs dressed like the village people! They had pulled the stunt in order to teach every one in Te Puni the hall chants (all to the tunes of the Village People). We moved to the field behind my hall, at 6:30 am, and there I was singing with 300 teenagers. Not exactly how I envisioned the first day, but I had to give the RAs credit, they were in great costumes and full of energy for the early morning after policing drunkards all night! There’s a hall chant off this morning in Wellington Civic Square and a number of other frosh events this week. Though I’ve done most of these types of events with my two years of living in residence before, I’ve never done them in NZ. I’ve got to know all the RAs (because they were the only other people living in the hall before yesterday) and they’re responsible for not only patrolling at night, but also planning everything for Orientation week. I’ve got to say that overall, I’m pretty impressed thus far.
We had a huge chant off that morning in Civic square where we were greeted by the mayor of Wellington. There must have been 1500 students sitting with their hall groups listening. He was noting that there were students from countries all over the world. He started naming countries as people from those places cheered. He mentioned over 15 countries but left out Canada. I happened to be wearing a straw hat and my Team Canada hockey jersey and thought to myself, ‘this just has to be done’. So I stood up and yelled, ‘you forgot about Canada!’ It was great to not only hear cheers from the maybe 10 other Canadians who stood up from around the crowds, but I was more impressed that there were a great deal of other people cheering as well. It seems to be a typical reaction to when I mention that I’m Canadian, Kiwis just really love Canada!
I’m about to take off on an excursion north of Wellington with Lenny and 7 Americans. We’ve rented two cars and leave this evening! While I’ll be missing a soccer game, I’m so excited to see some more of this amazing country. We have a slight tentative plan to head to Lake Taupo and Rotorua area to see some sights and check out the Maori culture. I’m sure I’ll have some great stories to write about upon my return...

Southern Thailand

We landed at the Krabi Airport after a short flight, flying business class! I can’t believe how well the conference organizers hooked us up. My dad and I had virtually no say in where we were staying or what flights we took; these women simply did everything for us for an incredibly low price.
We were taken from the airport to our hotel near the Ao Nang beach just south of Krabi. After settling in, we headed straight for the beach to explore and just get a feel for the place. It must have been 35 degrees and just off the white sand beaches the Adman Sea was nearly the same temperature. There were all sorts of little islands, literally shooting up from the middle of the ocean. It really is impossible to describe so you’ll have to see some of the pictures. We wandered the beach, found a little restaurant and drank a few Singha beers (Thailand’s oldest brewery – 1933). It was all very hard to take…
Knowing that we only had the one full day in Krabi, we were torn on what to do. There was absolutely no shortage of tours and people selling them, but what caught my eye the most was the notion of renting a scooter for a full 24 hours (at 250 bat – roughly $10). My dad and I decided that the freedom of renting a little scooter would be the best way to see the area, especially knowing that there would be incredible snorkeling at our next destination. For the rest of the night, we wandered the tourist packed shopping area of Ao Nang. There were tons of sales pitches in a whole range of broken English. I had to give the locals credit for their persistence, while not coming off as too pushy. We ended up finding a tiny restaurant, ate some delicious Thai food, and called it a night. (I have to say, my party experience in Thailand was non-existent. Traveling with your old man doesn’t necessarily permit the greatest conditions for partying – especially when he’s used to 5am wakeups. I’m sure I’ll make up for lost time in New Zealand!)
We awoke around 6, had some breakfast, and organized a day of scooting. These 125 cc scooters weren’t exactly crotch rockets, but they weren’t lawnmowers either. While my experience on there things was next to none, it was hilarious to watch my dad figure them out. It was totally foreign to him. But after 5 minutes we were cruising down the highways of Southern Thailand. Our shitty helmets were only flapping around in the wind (more likely to cause an accident by us fiddling with them over their ability to protect us), but I wasn’t about to ditch mine while Dr. Viner was riding behind me. But after about 15 minutes, he made the suggestion to lose the lid and I wasn’t complaining. There is definitely something special about having the wind blowing through your hair as you cruise a foreign country side.
During the day we found elephant trekking, and took a one hour elephant ride! I never realized how much dexterity these enormous animals had with their trunks. They were able to pick out tiny amounts of food from the palm of my hand. We also managed to navigate the traffic of the city of Krabi. I was completely surprised at the lack of honking from traffic. While we (and everyone else on scooters were weaving around cars) I never heard a single horn – and not once did I feel threatened with cars around me, even when my scooter was hitting 110 km/h! And to top off the day, we got lost. We were taking a smaller road to get back to our hotel, but ended up on a dirt road, drove past a dump and into a pineapple field and then onto a rubber plantation. While my dad and I both figured the road (well it had turned into more of a path) lead no where, we decided to follow it as far as out rides would allow us. I was definitely amazing to see these commodities being grown in their natural environments, complete with little communities set up virtually within the fields.
We found our way home after nearly 7 hours of being out and about. Since it was only 4 o’clock, we needed a way to pass the time. We ended up finding this outdoor massage parlor with an incredible view of Ao Nang beach at the wonderful price of 200 bats per hour! That’s less than minimum wage at home for a full hour of slowing being turned into butter! I left that place feeling better than I can ever remember.
That night we found a great little eatery which served a mean green curry chicken, and ate next to a genuine couple from outside of London (the one with the accents!). He was a garbage truck driver, and she worked in the civil service. We had a great conversation about life as the power shorted out for a while and as it started to rain (a very refreshing experience as I was sweating buckets just sitting and talking). It was the first of many interesting couples (with interesting occupations) we met while in Southern Thailand.
The next morning we packed up and were ready to head to Phi Phi Island (pronounced pee-pee and is one of the most sough out tourist destinations in Thailand). With a brief freak out from my dad (in fairness, the guy who he gave his passport to in order to rent to scooter was a half hour late) we narrowly caught our ferry. We stood (there was no room to sit) next to these two women also from the outskirts of London who were very friendly, maybe in their late 30s or early 40s. They were hilarious! Both women swore like drunken sailors, and were on vacation for 4 months through Thailand/Australia and NZ. From their stories they sounded like big drinkers, they said they had to spend an extra day in Bangkok because they were too hung-over to get on their plane! But as they found out that my dad was a Dr. and that I was on my way to study, they were quick to hint at the fact that they weren’t as crude and they sounded (one was an options trader in the states and the other was on her way to her PHD in Psychology).
Once the ferry docked at Phi Phi Don, we parted way with the Brits, and took a longboat to our hotel (located on the north-western tip of the island – with the exception of a couple resorts and a sea gypsy village, it was very secluded from the main town of Tonsai – a half hour by boat). The ride to our hotel was incredible! We drove right next to these 300 foot high cliffs which were perfectly set above the crystal clear ocean. Again, there are really no words which do it justice. Every where we looked, was as if it was right off a post card!
When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted with a drink, and beautifully folded warm towel – looked exactly like a flower. I took mine and wiped down my face as my dad took his and started to mow down, thinking it was some type of treat. I didn’t even have to say anything – I just started laughing. It totally made up for the spicy papaya salad incident! Thinking about it now still makes me laugh!
Our stay on Phi Phi Don was incredible. Everyday was perfect beach weather and the water was both beautiful and refreshing. We spent many hours soaking up the beautiful scenery by either lying on the beach or by wandering aimlessly around the island. We managed to take two different snorkeling trips during our stay. I have never been swimming with this many fish. Literally thousands of fish just swimming by my side, completely unaware that I was would have been willing to barbeque any of them. The coral reefs were just stunning, and swimming with black-tip sharks definitely got my heart rate-up (the sharks were only between 1-2 meters long, but they were still sharks nonetheless). You’ll have to check out some pictures for all the interesting plants and fish – no shark pictures, I was too focused on making sure I knew where they were. Even though they were harmless, I was still scared shitless. On a bad note, my camera which I was so proud of, decided to suddenly stop being waterproof during my second session of snorkeling…I got all my pictures off, but I was fairly pissed off. However, you can’t really stay pissed when the scenery is that incredible.
Every night we ate at Jasmine restaurant. The place was owned by a middle aged fellow, named Peter, from London. He had been in Thailand during the Tsunami, and remembers how the water suddenly had gone from high tide to nearly 2 km away from shore. Being hung-over and sleep deprived, he remembered wandering out onto the beach, finding it odd that things had suddenly become quiet (birds had stopped singing). After the first two waves (the first being a couple of feet, and then the second being about 2 meters), he started to tell everyone to run as he noticed the third and most devastating wave off in the distance. Before he could even finish yelling, the wave was on him (moving somewhere between 400 and 500 km/h. He managed to grasp onto some wooden debris as was washed some 350 meters off shore. My dad and I were mesmerized by Peter’s story. He told us that afterwards, he had developed a close relationship with the Thai people. He married a Thai woman, and they both run this incredible restaurant right on the beach. It easily had the best food on the island.
Each night, with the restaurant being at capacity and my dad and I having snagged a table early, we had people join our table. We had an older French couple from Bordeaux who barely spoke English. I was able remember enough French to translate the conversations for my dad. Another night we had two women, a German (Andine) and an Austrian (Lina), in their late twenties join us. They were very interesting people. Andine worked for the controversial exhibit Body Worlds and Lina worked in Bangkok as a counselor at an international school. We definitely had some very interesting conversations that night.
The next morning, I began a very long travel day. It started with another Thai massage, but then the traveling commenced. There was first the longboat trip from our hotel to Tonsai, we left at 9 am and it took about 45 minutes. We boarded the ferry and chatted with another British couple for the 2 hours. There was then the drive to the airport in Krabi, the flight back to Bangkok, a 5 hour wait in a exquisite 5 star hotel, and then I parted ways with my dad (thanking him profusely for having me join him in Thailand) to start the 3rd leg of my adventure. I boarded a plane for Sydney at midnight, and was shocked at the number of pretty girls on the plane. But of course, I had two ancient Chinese women sitting next to me who barely spoke English. It was a long 9 hour flight.
After landing in Sydney and waiting another 7 hours in the airport, I got on a 3 hour flight to Wellington (landing at 11:30 pm). After nearly two days of travel I had finally arrived at the destination I had been preparing for, for over a year. It was a pretty surreal experience to get out of the airport – perhaps I was pretty sleep deprived, but I just started laughing. Knowing nobody in the country was a bit daunting, but there was a very nice girl who met me at the airport from the university’s international exchange services. They arranged for a hostel for me for a couple of days while I am still waiting for my residence to open up. I’ll move in tomorrow.
As for now, I’ve got a training session with the university football club at 2 pm today, I’m very excited. I’ve also met another international student, Michael, from the Netherlands who I’ve been spending some time with.
I can’t say that I’m fully settled yet, but I’m definitely on my way.

Bangkok

My first experience with Bangkok was the sweltering heat and incredible amounts of haze and smog. From the 21st floor of the hotel where I was staying with my dad, visibility was very limited, though the conditions made for some very colorful sunsets.
My first day was spend walking about the Grand Palace of Thailand. There were many structures placed upon this 60 acre compound. I was absolutely blown away by the elaborate architecture and design of the buildings. Nearly everything was covered with gold or tiny mirrors. There were also an infinite amount of depictions of ancient characters such as elephants, monkey warriors and demons. The real highlight of the compound was the Jade Buddha. Carved out of a solid piece of jade, this idol is placed atop a great mound of gold and jewels in a vast chamber. The statue has three different dressings (one for each season) which are changed only by the King of Siam. The current king was inaugurated at the age of 20 in 1947 (maintaining the longest serving king in history at 61 years). Each structure was amazing.
My next endeavor in Bangkok was to explore the worlds largest crocodile farm. The farm was a full zoo (with tigers, lions, orangutans, gibbons, bears, zebras, elephants, many types of birds, and oh 15,000 crocodiles! As I got there I had to run to an area to catch the croc show. There were two men in the middle of a man-made pond. There was a small island in the middle where the two men were dragging crocs around, sticking their heads in their mouths, surfing on the crocs backs, picking them up, and grabbing money out of their snouts. If I understood Thai, I'm sure it would have been laughing more. The guys were cracking jokes the whole time while the tune from Hawaii-Five-O was playing in the background. Though the men clearly had a great understanding of crocodiles, they definitely were a little off their rockers.
I managed to see just about all the animals at the facility. I shook hands with some gibbons (I think they were pretty disappointed with me when they realized that I had no food for them), and had an elephant pat me on the head with its, trunk. However the most amazing part of the farm was the huge ponds for the adult crocodiles. I purchased some type of animal bones to feed these 3-5 meter long crocs. They are incredibly powerful creatures. It was really interesting to see them just lying totally still next to one another, that is until the meat fell into the pond or on the ground.
Now I am not a racist, but you know how somtimes you can't tell the difference between peopel of oriental discent? Well, I often have wondered whether Asians are the same way with us cocasians. In the past few years, I have had a number of people tell me that I resemble the actor Robert Pattinson (Twilight and Harry Potter). And while I was at the croc compound, I had three separate groups of school kids run up to me yelling, "Twilight, twilight!" and crowding around me while they get their picture taken by their teachers. I tried to explain that I wasn't him, but the language barrier was so great that all they would do was shake my hand, and then usher the kids away. But the whole time I was trying so hard no to laugh while the little Thai kids would do the classic smile and give the peace sign. It was really, really funny!
On the way back to the hotel from the farm, I stopped to buy some street meet. I now completely understand how people say you can easily eat for $1 per day in Thailand. For 20 bat (about 6 cents) I was able to get 7 delicious and spicy dumplings, some fried sausages, and a bottle of water! I haven't got sick yet, so I might be in the clear...
A little aside: I always thought that I was able to handle my fair share of spicy food, and I definitely found my limit here. While at lunch on my first day with my dad and some people from the conference, I was asked if I enjoy spicy foods. I obliged and was brought what looked like a fresh and sweet papaya salad. After my first bite, I realized my mistake. I mistook some small green beans for the hottest chili peppers I have ever tasted. So holding back tears and sweat, I said it was delicious (hoping to lure my dad into the same trap!). He jumped in for a big spoonful, and I waited for his reaction. I waited, and waited, and waited some more, and then asked him whether he though it was spicy. As it turns out, the lucky guy somehow missed all of the peppers and was able to enjoy the flavor of the papaya. When he figured it out, he just started laughing at me.
My last night in Bangkok was spent with my dad and one of the corporate speakers (Dr. Sudhichai Chokekaijchai - Clinical Head of Novartis in Thailand) from the conference who works in Bangkok for a pharmaceutical company. Sudhichai took us to his favorite activity in the world, Thai kick boxing! We made out way to this stadium which was jam packed with almost 3 thousand people. We saw 5 matches between some very tiny competitors. The heaviest fighter we saw weighed 130lbs, but they all had lightning quick strikes. Sudhichai was the owner of a club of 25 fighters (none of whom fought that night), and explained that there are roughly 10,000 professional fighters in Thailand! I was amazed that the spirituality which engulfed every fighter. While they are kicking the crap out of each other, there is an immense amount of respect. The honor system runs deep in Thailand, and I realized this most through having Sudijan explain how the betting works. There's no house betting, to place a bet, you simply stand up in the stadium, look for someone to bet with, and use basic hand signals to set out the amounts and odds of the bets. At the end of the night, you find your betting parter and pay the appropriate sums! Everything is done through the honor system, that would never fly in North America.
The connections my dad made at the conference have been more helpful than I ever thought possible. One of the women had their friend, who works for a travel agency, set up our whole trip to the south of Thailand, for ridiculously low prices. Even for the airport hotel for my dad's last night (an incredible 5 star hotel), this woman was able to negotiate the rate from 7000bat per night, to 2800 (about $80 for a 5 star hotel)!
So I am now sitting at an internet cafe in the Bangkok airport waiting to fly to the beautiful white sand beaches of Krabi and Phi Phi Island.
I can't wait!

Thailand Bound!

My last couple of days in Canada were excellent.
I was able to get back from Whistler in time to catch the Chinese New Year's Parade in Chinatown, the second largest in North America! Watching the dragons, dancers, martial arts demonstrations and vintage cars go by was great. The only damper on the day was the awful weather. A slight drizzle and almost freezing temperature made for a very cold experience. So as soon as the parade was finished, Janice and I headed straight to a restaurant for hot won-ton soup and steamed spicy-pork buns (what great Jews we are!). Once again, the food in Chinatown was to die for!
My last day in Canada was spend lounging around Janice's house virtually all day. I was so lucky to have such wonderful hosts that I felt obliged to show some token of appreciation. I decided that I would make dinner for the house (and I got pretty lucky, there was only one roommate home that night!). I picked up salmon (it was ridiculous that I could only find Atlantic salmon in Vancouver), potatoes and a chocolate swirl cheesecake. Jess and Janice were very appreciative, as I did a fair job in preparing dinner. Overall, I had a wonderful time hanging out with Janice and her roommates during my stay in Vancouver!
I awoke around 9 am to pack and get ready to fly from Vancouver to Seoul, and then from Seoul to Bangkok. After saying good by to Janice and her roommates, I got in a cab and prepared for the longest leg of my trip.
The Vancouver terminal for International was incredible. Beautiful architecture and native artwork everywhere. Once in the air, I noticed a great blessing. The sky perfectly clear, allowing me to see just about the entire Rocky mountain range. This lasted over the glaciers of Alaska, and all the way until the far edge of the vast tundra of Siberia. I should have taken some photos, it was definitely a sight to see.
On my first flight, I could not sleep at all. Instead I watched three movies (Rocknrolla, Righteous Kill, and Body of Lies), one episode of Family Guy, ate all three meals, and stared out the window. I wasn't nearly as luck with my seat mate as I was on my flight to Vancouver from Ottawa. I had not an ounce of conversation with my seat mate, I'm sure she spoke no English. I must admit it was interesting to board a plane where I was one of maybe 5 Caucasians, and yes I was the tallest person on the plane!
Landing in Korea was nearly as fulfilling as leaving Vancouver. The view was completely obscured by haze and smog. After a grueling 11.5 hour flight, I got off the plane to realized that I was essentially entering a space age. The technology at Incheon Airport was incredible. The ceilings must have been 100 feet high. Everything was meticulously clean and in pristine condition. While waiting for my flight I noticed some children looking at me from maybe 20 feet away. They nervously approached me and said "hel-lo", and then ran away. It was so cute! Their father ushered them back over to say "how are you" and to introduce themselves. It was really interesting to truly be a visible minority, and to not be able to communicate with anyone.
After boarding the plane in Korea, I slept the entire 6 hours to Bangkok - awaking only to devour a meal and throw back a glass of red wine.
Once on the ground in Bangkok, I looked for a taxi and was advised to find one with a meter. I was approached by a man who told me it would be 2200 bat to get to the hotel. And as soon as I said it was too much, he cut his price in half! I figured I'd look for the meter taxis, and sure enough it only cost me 300 bat (about $9) to go the 30 minutes to the Siam City hotel to meet my dad who was participating/running a conference on drug regulations in Canada (medicinal, not narcotics).
The hotel, it pretty nice. Not the way an average student would be seeing Thailand, but I am definitely not complaining. Breakfast was complete with fresh fruit, personal omlettes and assorted fine cheeses. While this lavish lifestyle is not meant for me, I will definitely enjoy it while I can.