Thailand!

my last holiday post on thailand,only about 3wks later,can be summed up in a few words:
-full moon party
-pink eye
-elephants
-beach
-ladyboys

and thus was thailand.......fill in the blanks around the words if you want to and thats exactly what happened.

a lasting memory of thailand is the full moon party,of course,gorgeous beaches,seeing some elephants.but its also where we got ripped off the most,got pink eye and met a really scary lady boy!
things i learnt whilst in thailand:
a sleeper train does not mean that u will actually get any sleep.
u can get pink eye from having a shower in the jungle
a monkey should never wear make-up(unfortunate trip to a "safari")
that you can meet really cool people,and slightly mental people(the guy that just loved evil?)
u can have a really great sweet n sour chicken on top of a mountain
dont get in the water at the full moon party caus everybody does their toilet business in there
the only way to tell if its a lady boy is by their jaw-line,everything has been removed and replaced.

it was still a great country but been there,done that,bought the full moon party teeshirt!

the fact that its 3wks since i've come back leaves me utterly miserable!possibly combined with the howling wind outside,it certainly doesnt help!
but i suppose one has to get back to reality,stone cold reality..............poo.
and my vitamin D levels are at an all time low because of the lack of sunshine!and for some reason nobody feels sorry for me being back,because i got to go away in the first place!

Daly saw that new Drew Barrymore film, the one with her husband, who's finally not playing teenagers anymore (though who always has my respect since he was in Galaxy Quest... if you haven't seen Galaxy Quest, I suggest you stop reading and go see it, this will still be here when you're done). Anyway, she liked it, so did the person she went with.

She also asked the question what is brunch when it is after lunchtime Binner or trunch? the answer is... well what exact time did she have it. Brunch goes till 4pm, so after 4pm it's just a case of having french toast for tea... or dinner sorry I just fell asleep writing this I got so bored. My humblest apologies.

before this, as my compadre noted, Daly went through a list of things she loved and apparently we're not on it. Not that I care... I don't care, stop asking me if i care jeese get of my case why would i mind...

Ok so here it is, after a lovely year in Canada, land of polar bears (didn't see any) and maple syrup (man I LOVE maple syrup and yes I even went to a maple farm and saw how it was made but most importantly bought a bottle of the best fecking syrup I have ever tasted), I am now home. I came home for a Christening and then found out my application for a visa was denied and I ummm... well I cried, cos I was sooo sad about it and I loved Canada and my sister sat awkwardly and said shit, ummm shit, I'm shit at this kind of thing... do you want wine? Let's order indian food and have some wine... so we did.

Anywho I rang work to tell them and it was a very short conversation cos I really really thought I was going to cry and I managed not to tell them that I ordered them the present of a kettle (since everyone drank so much coffee and tea) so one of these days they'll receive their mistery kettle, which should be nice.

It is nice to be so close to friends. Here is a basic run down of my first two weeks at home (I'm not going to get too into it)
2nd got home
3rd surprised sister for her birthday (went out and met Henry)
4th family dinner
5th went up north (Banbridge) with sister and new baby
stayed helping and bonding and cooking etc.
12th christening, saw all family
13th met Helen at International Bar (Dublin)
14th went to Waterford to see Trina & Karen
15th back to Dublin Family day (tea, food, tea, film, tea)
16th met up with Jen Carroll
17th Horrible Day of horribleness was at geri's and found out about visa
18th went to tullamore to see Jenny and Eithne
19th Train to Limerick, met Musings, car to New Port met Maz, saw guy who's car with baby in it got stolen (he parked car, locked it, walked away then checked it was locked, guess that's his future) then to pub for free drinks ala Maloney clan
20th Had great time with musings bonding with Mammy Daly who loves us more than Daly, oh the fun times and frolics we had, Limerick with musings, bus back to Dub, out to Blanch to see Davi's band and hang with Jen and Mel.
21st applied for jobs.

So I'm really tired right now and enjoying the house to myself though its crap that I haven't been home yet (Ballyc being home since it has 1. my bed and 2. my stuff). Mammy reflection's laptop is broken, so is mine, so no internet available at home so I have to stay here to apply for jobs... sigh.

I hate looking for work.

l.l.l.l.l.l.l.laos

Having noted to my blog partner that the blog has become less about daly and more about our own lives,i feel now after reading her latest blog entry that she deserves even less discussion time for not having included her bf's on her list of favourite things......other than a brief mention.....

"It goes without saying that some family and all friends are among the things I love but detailing this would definitely be overwhelmingly dull. They’re great, good for them. (Oh dear, it appears that even when contemplating lovely things, my sarcasm is inherent.)"...............

Dull?!!!!!!!Dull?!!!!!!i was just in asia.......dull my hole.

Ahem.......anyhew,this brings me nicely back to the main focus of the blog, Laos.

After the craziness that was vietnam,laos definitely had a more chilled out pace.we could have taken the 30 hour bus journey from hanoi,but as my travelling companion HATES buses we flew into the capital,Vientiane instead,which took an hour.........

though there was some hysteria/uncontrollable laughter when we saw the plane......it was one of those teeny ones that fits about 20 people,and we were sitting near the propellers......u could almost spot the guy on the bike powering said propellers.........fun times!
but when compared to the hellish 30hr bus journey that we would have experienced,it was possibly the safest option!

so the day after arriving we decided to be all cultural and the like and go check out some of the temples,whilst bearing in mind some of the cultural etiquette that one is supposed to keep whilst in laos.............
-dont point your feet at anyone or turn your foot up at anyone,this is the equivalent of flipping the finger and always take your shoes off when entering a building
-dont touch anyone on the head(*tap,tap*)
-dont touch a monk if you are a women,this would lead to unpleasantness for the monk i'd imagine
-no bikini's or hot pants in the temples(rather upsetting)
-no public display of affection(does licking your travelling companion's face count as
affection?)
These are the main ones i can remember,and i think we managed not to insult anyone!

The capital itself has some really cool architecture,and even has its own arc de triomphe!but when you've seen one temple,you've kinda seen them all!cultured,i know!

Our next stop was vang vieng,backpacker central!a place where episodes of friends and family guy are shown in every pub......which may seem tacky and western.......but i like family guy!
also the main reason we were here was to go TUBING!an activity which consists of floating down the river on said tube and being pulled in to the bars along the way.one was a little bit apprehensive at first considering i cant swim and refused to wear a life-jacket caus i would look uncool.
I immediately began to regret not wearing a life-jacket when i drifted towards some reeds,almost fell out of my tube and banged my ass off a rock....................
but after being pulled into the first pub,my worries melted away and several pubs later after getting lost from my travelling companion and our new bf's,tom and jane,i was nonplussed and merely pulled in on the other side of the river,found a foot bridge and rejoined my amigos!after a long day of drinking and trying not to drown,we returned back to the town where we watched family guy and ate pizza!well after submerging oneself in culture all day u need some non-cultured stuff!
all in all,we loved laos,and met some pretty cool peeps along the way,and didnt drown whilst tubing!success!

next stop......full moon party!

loved u long time vietnam

Our arrival in vietnam was not a smooth one,though eventually we came to love the country,at first we thought we were going to die,never to be seen again,sold to sex traffickers or at worst,have to become someones wife........

we arrived at the airport in hanoi,without much hassle and having pre-booked the hotel in hanoi,i thought that we could get a transfer to the hotel,no probs right?wrong.

when we came out of the airport there were the usual taxi touts,and one guy claimed to work for the hotel that we were staying in........................

after much discussion myself and my travelling companion decided,fuck it,lets just go with him.

what proceeded was the scariest car journey i have ever experienced,drivers in hanoi(and asia in general) are CRAZY!!!

I tried to keep my eyes open for some part of the journey just incase he was indeed a sex trafficker so that we could maybe jump outa the car and make our way back to the airport.

this scary driving,combined with the fact that we werent sure if he was indeed going to take us back to the hotel did not a fun drive make.

but,in fairness he dropped us outside the hotel,where we were greeted by the hotel manager,mr sun........i think we possibly were still shaking from the car journey,and had broken out in a cold sweat,so he made us some tea.........disgusting "tea" but the sentiment was appreciated all the same.

and we even managed to leave our hotel room,and it was dark!when you are hungry,u will do what it takes!

we came to realise that hanoi was very safe,a mental place,but had a cool vibe!any of the photos that we took just didnt depict the traffic chaos,but by day 3 we were super street smart and could spot the newly arrived tourists from a mile off as they tried to figure out how to cross the road!

we also spent two days in halong bay which was so peaceful after the craziness that is hanoi.and our tour guide duc(pronounced dic) who's basic grasp of english provided much amusement to my travelling companion and i("everybody renax"(relax),aswel as his stories about sex education and love in vietnam.......

his efforts to set up a french 8 yr old boy with his 6yr old daughter was quite funny,as wel as his general views on life....."if you more than 100m away from your wife then you single"............

that night on the boat was also a near death experience as there was really bad lightening,and apparently a typhoon..........cue hysteria on the part of me and my travelling companion.the hysteria could have been brought on by the hunger,having refused to eat anything other than rice on the boat.......awkward,moi?

also we were like celebrities in vietnam,think it was the paleness.........but everywhere we went we were stared at.........talked about.........and surrounded by children who found us fascinating.......wish people would have the same opinion back at home..........

also,vietnam is a place where the women do all the work and the men sit around drinking beer??

so a bad place to be if u were forced to become someones wife..........

catching up......

okay,there have been way too many blog posts by daly while i was away so i shall just summarise......
daly went to the fringe,had a great time,was busy at work,has a vendetta against double spaces and ummm,has read some books.........
i think i have a valid excuse for not writing before now,being in asia and all.i hope to capture the trip in all its pink eyed glory over the next while,mainly caus im now back to blissful unemployment and now have alot of time on my hands.....
so im thinking of 3 blogs,vietnam,laos and thailand......cataloging each trip,and musing on how many times we mentioned daly on our trip,most notably the time we almost missed our train to bangkok but managed to arrive 2mins before the gate closed and we were like "daly would never be able to com on holidays with us"...........caus she would be there 2 hours beforehand......
i shall try to muse on my time in asia,where i spent the month trying to "find myself" but ended up just getting drunk,but if u cant find yourself when drunk,when can u........

also on a literary note,i managed to get in a spot of reading.....mainly caus we went on alot of long journeys......
the one i am most proud of was finishing "the reader" in 2hrs......much to my travelling partner's disgust........as it took her a week.......
if i am musings,my partner is reflections,our inspiration is daly,then my travelling partner shall be referred to as................my lover?
im sure many people thought that we were indeed lesbians over the trip.......i mean if u cant lick ur friends face platonically well then i just dont know!

so i shall try and gather the memories of the trip,though they are already getting a bit hazy...........