Thai and Tai
I just returned from a trip to Thailand and Taiwan. It was an awesome trip--the people, the sights, the haggling, the sun, some of the food. And yet I have almost no desire to write about it.
So here's a compromise. Instead of trying to write an "actual" post about everything that happened, or a post with a specific point (and continuity and precision and all those things that typically make for good writing), here's a helter-skelter list of some of the cooler things we/I did.
-Riding a small, 100-cc motorcycle on the hilly island roads of Koh Chang, with Jessica screaming and holding on
-Riding elephants into the jungle
-The crazy all-day snorkeling boat trip on New Year's Day, with a hung-over but fun-loving crew, a few Europeans, and lots of Thai natives who apparently didn't know how to swim
-Visiting the current tallest building in the world
-Eating an unidenifiable bowl-full of "authentic Taiwanese food" in a shop off a low-end shopping block in Taipei (among the 10 worst meals of my life)
-The taxi ride to the Taipei airport with the world's worst non-incarcerated driver and a friend who's prone to motion-sickness (40 minutes of hurling, poor girl)
-Watching "King Kong" in the nicest theatre I've ever seen (leather, electrically reclining chairs; complimentary socks, blankets, and pillows; and a members' only waiting room)
-Having to "pay respect to the King" (of Thailand) after the previews by standing for a two-minute rendition of the Thai national anthem, though we'd just gotten comfortable in our reclining leather chairs
-Thai massages
-Ubiquitous Japanese tour groups (whom we could partially understand!)
-Late night card games
-Haggling with shopkeepers
-Getting ripped off by taxi drivers before we finally realized we'd get better rates if we quit bargaining beforehand and just made them run their meters
-Seeing a lizard or two every time we entered the room at our island resort
-Meeting drunk and very friendly Swedes on New Year's Eve, and then meeting them again, sober, the next day and wondering whether they were the same people
-White sand beaches
-Thai bluntness
-Tuk-tuks in Bangkok (3-wheeled beasts driven by local wild men)
-Using bottled water to brush
-Ending every sentence with the word "crap" while attempting to speak Thai
-Trying to figure out how much everyone owed every time we ate a meal together
-Trying to make my deodorant last until I got back to Japan (it didn't)
Okay, that's more than enough, though, now that I'm going, I don't want to stop. I hope you enjoyed your holiday. Mine was great. God bless!
So here's a compromise. Instead of trying to write an "actual" post about everything that happened, or a post with a specific point (and continuity and precision and all those things that typically make for good writing), here's a helter-skelter list of some of the cooler things we/I did.
-Riding a small, 100-cc motorcycle on the hilly island roads of Koh Chang, with Jessica screaming and holding on
-Riding elephants into the jungle
-The crazy all-day snorkeling boat trip on New Year's Day, with a hung-over but fun-loving crew, a few Europeans, and lots of Thai natives who apparently didn't know how to swim
-Visiting the current tallest building in the world
-Eating an unidenifiable bowl-full of "authentic Taiwanese food" in a shop off a low-end shopping block in Taipei (among the 10 worst meals of my life)
-The taxi ride to the Taipei airport with the world's worst non-incarcerated driver and a friend who's prone to motion-sickness (40 minutes of hurling, poor girl)
-Watching "King Kong" in the nicest theatre I've ever seen (leather, electrically reclining chairs; complimentary socks, blankets, and pillows; and a members' only waiting room)
-Having to "pay respect to the King" (of Thailand) after the previews by standing for a two-minute rendition of the Thai national anthem, though we'd just gotten comfortable in our reclining leather chairs
-Thai massages
-Ubiquitous Japanese tour groups (whom we could partially understand!)
-Late night card games
-Haggling with shopkeepers
-Getting ripped off by taxi drivers before we finally realized we'd get better rates if we quit bargaining beforehand and just made them run their meters
-Seeing a lizard or two every time we entered the room at our island resort
-Meeting drunk and very friendly Swedes on New Year's Eve, and then meeting them again, sober, the next day and wondering whether they were the same people
-White sand beaches
-Thai bluntness
-Tuk-tuks in Bangkok (3-wheeled beasts driven by local wild men)
-Using bottled water to brush
-Ending every sentence with the word "crap" while attempting to speak Thai
-Trying to figure out how much everyone owed every time we ate a meal together
-Trying to make my deodorant last until I got back to Japan (it didn't)
Okay, that's more than enough, though, now that I'm going, I don't want to stop. I hope you enjoyed your holiday. Mine was great. God bless!
posted by Peter Rice at 4:12 AM
4 Comments:
It sounds like you guys had a great time. I love the fact that you included playing cards on the same list as riding an elephant. How sweet are the simple pleasures in life!
Sounds like a blast, Pete. I'm so glad you all got to go and have such fun! I'm sure those will be lifelong memories!
(-Ending every sentence with the word "crap" while attempting to speak Thai)
Ha, sounds like quite the Christmas trip. Glad you had a good time.
well.... you met and awfully lot of drunk people. to be quite honest, i think i would have joined them after attempting to speak the language.... would have been simpler i bet!
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