Friday, July 6:
After an abbreviated work week (although I had bartended Tuesday) I went out for a couple drinks with co-workers on Friday and then made my way to the Minneapolis airport via lightrail and boarded my 7pm flight to Chicago. Funny enough, I bumped into a good friend (and law journal partner) from law school, Dave and his girlfriend. It was nice to have someone friendly to talk with, if for no other reason than to alleviate some of the pre-trip stress that inevitably sets in before a trans-continental voyage.
Once in Chicago, my oldest friend Pete and his new wife Jennalee (were fantastic and) picked me up at the airport. I had gotten a hotel room with the intention that the Guy was going to meet me out there for a night together, but that wasn't going to happen, and I became increasingly grateful for the time I got to spend with Pete and his wife. As I (perhaps drunkenly) pointed out later to Jennalee, I'm extremely glad that Pete married someone cool, who can hang out with us at Hooters (our now-traditional post-airport stop; also where Pete first introduced me to her) and let us still have our fun together without getting annoyed. I am still a little bit nervous about my friends getting married (more on another friend later) but at least with these two I'm growing more and more confident that they are really ready for each other for a lifetime.
Well, anyway, after Hooters and buying a t-shirt there (great for the irony, if nothing else), we went to another Roseville bar, where Pete and I had some fairly good conversations about things I can't really remember but seemed deep at the time. One thing for sure is that Pete has a little trouble understanding my job defending both the guilty and the innocent, and I feel like I finally made some headway there. We drank for quite a few hours together before we decided that it was finally time to get me to my hotel, and I hugged them both and snuggled into a big, comfortable, (if lonely) hotel bed.
Saturday, July 7:
Although I had tried to keep myself up late to pre-adjust to the 12-hour time change to come, I woke far too early due to nerves and ended up watching a Jennifer Lopez movie to pass the time. At that point, partially due to the sappy love story on the screen and partially because of my errant thoughts, my mind inevitably went to the Guy, and how much I wanted him with me. I hadn't heard from him as to why he no-showed, and really didn't want to hear the excuses: it was becoming more and more apparent that things simply aren't going to work out. I had come to the city where he was staying, rented a hotel room, and still nothing from him... While in the end he had a reasonably valid excuse, I started off this vacation thinking about how I needed to move on, and ended it having finally done so.
Eventually I boarded a hotel shuttle to the airport, getting a call in to my sister along the way, and then quickly found my check-in station. Because I had booked my ticket with my traveling companion Nate, I waited for him to come before checking in. In what felt like an excutiating period of time, I went through a couple of magazines and just watched time go by until I finally saw him coming up. His tardiness was not that extreme, nor was it a problem of any sort, but I had arrived early, and was already more than anxious about just getting my ass in the airplane seat. I became a little terse at the moment, and immediately wondered if this was going to be the start of a very painful 15 days traveling together. (It was not. In fact, quite the opposite).
Once we had checked our things, I bought a carton of cigarettes and we had McDonalds lunch, and got through security. Nate and I then walked around terminal to stretch our legs while we could, both walking the wrong-way down the moving walkways (always fun) and spotting a statute labeled "Male Sin" (which I promptly decided I needed to "get into"). We finally heard our flight called, got into line and were ready to go. At that point an elderly Asian, perhaps 5 feet tall, cut directly in front of me. My response: a mumbled "Honey, just because you are below my sight-line doesnt mean I can't see you..." She didn't hear me, and I let it go. Let's just get on the plane already!
Turns out Korean Air is absolutely splendid. Both Nate and I got aisle seats next to each other, and we spent most of the flight watching among the 25+ movies you could select on your personal tv-screen, playing video games, and tracking our flight. The food was pretty damn good too, and I was longing for those Korean Noodles on every flight thereafter. Also, they give you socks to wear. How can you beat that?
After an otherwise uneventful flight, we landed in Seoul, North Korea at 5pm, Sunday July 8th.
Seoul: Will, Kenny, Mai (depart 8:30pm), couples in matching outfits
Phuket: arrive 1am (taxi haggling, dark-dank three-person bed)
Monday, July 9: Phuket, Chinese breakfast, hang around, food, Transformers, beer garden, AIDS discussion, bathroom massage
Tuesday, July 10: travel Phuket --> Surat Thani --> Ko samui --> Lamai (party that night: rainy beer, 12-year olds)
Wednesday, July 11: beach day, massage (icy-hot), crickets, corona commercial... food, tailor? (tailor fetching me on the beach)
Thursday, July 12: day trip to national park... dreadful sea-kayaking, stair-climb, rock/rope climb, photos on plates, ... leg rash, Harry Potter
Friday, July 13: anticipated departure, delayed departure, beach day
Saturday, July 14: boat to Ko Tao, bungaloo on the beach, settling in, really bad enchilada, hanging out that night
Sunday, July 15: Will robbed, morning reading, Scuba re-training, that night?
Monday, July 16: change hotels, early morning diving: two sites - shark island and twin peaks, genuine Thai curry, saying goodbye to Ryan and Betsy, night to party... first gay man. Buckets of Red Bull and vodka, fire twirlers, hit my head. (injury #1). Deep conversations.
Tuesday, July 17: chill-out day, "Fracture", reading, killing time, Kenny's sandals, night boat
Wednesday, July 18: -->Krabi ... tiger cave, 2km stair (1200), mangrove tour: bite from shark-like-fish, amazing cave, rubber glove, night market, hanging with Irish, O'Malley's ... goodbye to Will, Kenny, Mai
Thursday, July19: unreal rock climbing
Friday, July 20: sea-kayaking (take 2), fresh-water lake, playing cards with Irish
Saturday, July 21: Nate still drunk, packing up, haphazardly catch bus to Phuket (nicer bus), back to same guesthouse as before (room upgrade), Harry Potter (again), Lady-Boy show (lame), late night Denzel Washington.
Sunday, July 22: early morning Denzel, hanging around, souvenir shopping, man returns money, couples massage, run out of money, friendly cab driver, incredible night sky, Phuket airport 8:40pm (horrid airport) --> bangkok 10pm (amazing airport) pizza before getting on 1am flight to Seoul.
Monday, July 23: Seoul 8:45 am, noon to Chicago, arrive 11am... quick intake into US, switch to earlier flight, 1:15 to Minneapolis. fight with reporter. roommate picks me up. home. yeah.
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