The travels of Justin

What lacked in my first economics class a few days ago, seems to have been made up in my political science one. At first the teacher seemed, not meek, but almost reserved without being shy. Quickly he became empassioned with the subject and is obviously thorough in his understanding. It could also mean plenty of homework… ugh! The term paper is a 10 page paper relating to political idologies, of which the exact subject of the paper is flexible. The last time I wrote a report that long was in grade 8, and somehow I imagine this will be more challenging. Taking notes from his speaking make me wish I had a laptop. I’m much faster typing than writing, and the carpal tunnel doesn’t act up as quickly. Who knows, perhaps I’ll also learn the fine art of note-taking.

My second economics class starts soon, so perhaps things will pick up today. If not, I have a suspicion I may be spending a lot of time teaching myself from the textbook. It’s okay—I’m here to learn, not worry about whether I’m going to like a teacher or not, so we’ll just take it as it comes. I’m reminded today of the crap I’ve dealt with in my past and what I’ve overcome. I can’t imagine life could be any worse than some of what I’ve dealt with in the past. It doesn’t really matter what I think of my courses, my instructors, or anything else. I am determined to persevere.

We took so many photos, but I haven’t been able to go through them all. Here’s four of my favourites:

This is our view from the boat that toured us around the floating village at Siem Reap, Cambodia. During the dry season, this waterway doesn’t exist, so the houses are moved closer to the huge lake, Tonle Sap.

Tina and I posing in front of Angkor Wat.

Here’s Tina enjoying the sunshine, white sand, and warm water at Koh Samet, Thailand.

This so-called “sleeping Buddha” is not actually sleeping but is supposed to depict Buddha at the moment of attaining enlightenment or “nirvana.” The statue is huge!

The safest way to visit the Chernobyl “dead zone”

From a Tricks of the Trade article that has now spawned it’s own Tricks of the Trade website:

Piano Salesman: If you see a potential customer eyeing a piano, estimate their age and calculate what year it was when they were 18 years old. Play a big hit from that year on the piano they’re looking at. With a lot of preparation and a little luck, you might play the exact song they were listening to when they lost their virginity, got married, or drove their first car. The emotional resonance will overcome sales resistance and even open their wallets to a more expensive piano.

And with my computer background, I really liked this trick:

Technical Support: When helping someone fix their computer over the phone, and you want them to see if all the cables are plugged in correctly, don’t ask, “Have you checked to see if the cable is plugged in?” because the customer will always say, “Of course I did, do you think I’m a moron?” Instead say, “Remove the cable, blow the dust out of the connector, and plug it back in.” The customer will most likely reply, “Hey, it’s working now—I guess that dust really builds up in there!”

First class survived - barely. Our teacher has a PHD - presumably in economics - and has been teaching this course for 9 years. He seems like he genuinely likes the subject material, and knows it well, but what a boring class. I think he may have been a bit nervous for the first day of school. A classmate asked whether students would lose marks for missing a class or assignment (only tests were labeled for marks in the outline). The instructor launched into a 10 minute ramble about the economic relationship between attendance, assignment participation, and the final mark you might expect to achieve - very shocking news! Finally “the short answer: no.” I suspect I’m going to enjoy this class, or at least I think I’ll enjoy the material - one can only hope - but I’m glad I drank a large Tim Horton’s coffee to keep awake.

Tomorrow is Pre-Calculus and English Composition. We’ll see how things progress…

Yes, today is the first day of school. Nothing like coming home from a trip, having to spend $500 on books, and realizing just how broke you’re going to be for the next four years. My first and only class today is Microeconomics and it won’t begin until 6 PM. Unbelievably, I don’t have a single class that begins before 1 PM, so at least I’ll never have to worry about sleeping in and being late - depending on the previous nights’ activities, of course

Today, my mind just keeps wandering back to Thailand. I just can’t shake thoughts of sitting on the beautiful beach, or wandering through roadside markets.

Well we made it home, finally. Our flights from Bangkok to Tokyo and Tokyo to San Francisco went very smoothly, but our final connection caused us much grief. You see, our plane was stuck in Los Angeles (LAX) while the aiport was having several security problems. One of the problems turned out to be simply a battery in a suitcase that had leaked acid in a bag. Secuity evacuated the wing and called the bomb squad. I think there may have been other security alerts too, as we were told that 3 wings of LAX were evacuated. Everyone evacuated would have to be re-screened, boarded, then cleared for take-off. Instead of us having an 1.5 hour layover, it turned into a 7 hour ordeal.

The hardest part was fighting to stay awake. We managed to sleep only 2 hours the night before we left Bangkok. We awoke at 3:30 AM to get ready, grab our taxi and get moving to the airport. Our plane left on Sept 4^th at 7 AM (Bangkok time) and we finally touched down in Vancouver, BC on Sept 4^th at 10 PM (Vancouver time). Total time from the first to last airport was about 31 hours. While waiting for our plane to arrive in San Fransisco, the departure time kept being set back a half-hour or hour at a time. We tried our best to stay awake so not to miss our connection. Of course, if we had known we would really have 7 hours to sleep, there was nothing that could have stopped us.

Once we landed, we easily grabbed a public bus from the Airport to the Skytrain. Thankfully, this route is very simple and only cost us $2 CAD each. The Skytrain dropped us off at Tina’s dad’s house and we hit the sack by 12:30 AM. Nothing could possibly wake us again until 1 PM this afternoon. A well deserved sleep, and yet not quite enough. It always takes a few days to shake jet-lag, but I should be okay for my first class the day after tomorrow.

Today, we’ll run a few errands while in Vancouver, and then hit the road. It’ll be another 4 hours of driving to get home and we know our cats our dying to see us. Maybe tonight or tomorrow, I’ll write about our last day in Bangkok.

Quite a good day today, despite having to leave the beach this morning. We woke up in a rainstorm. Before leaving our place, we stopped at our favourite restaurant and the owner actually shared the recipe for the Hat Sak Hiew Prawns. He even gave up a package of tempura mix, just to be sure we’d have what we needed. What a great guy. If you go to Had Sakhiew beach, you must eat at Joe’s.

Instead of walking to the pier, where we catch our boat to the mainland, we took a taxi to attempt to keep out of the rain as much as possible. It cost us 100 Bhat ($2.50 CAD), and we’ve been laughing all day that the ride was only about 5 blocks in distance! (For comparison our 4 hour bus from Bangkok to the beach was only 125 Bhat each) Oh well, it’s just part of the adventure. On the boat, I gave up my dry seat to a Thai lady. We started chatting with her and her British husband and they offered us a ride back to Bangkok. We took them up on their offer and it was a great ride indeed and saved us busfare. Much more than busfare, we did gain a good relationship with a very nice couple. On the way back we stoped at a “service centre.” It’s a strip mall built right off the freeway in a pit-stop style. We grabbed some steamed buns, bbq’d meats on sticks, and some thai sweets. It was a coconut paste wrapped in sugar cane leaves and roasted, which is apparently a very tipical thai sweet. Having knowledgable company also allowed us to know what plants and farms we were driving by. Coconut, banana, pineapple, sugar cane, and rice farms dot the countryside. It reminds us of wheat fields, but with the exotic flair of palm trees.

Back at Khao San Road, we started walking around a bit and wandered into an art gallery. They had a photo exhibit with extraordinary pictures of Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia. Drool…

We’re looking forward to a big day at the Grand Place and then some shopping in the markets tomorrow. Our adventure may be coming to a close, but we’re determined to make every bit count.

It’s 7 pm on our last day on the beach. Tomorrow morning we’re making the trek back to Bangkok. We’ll probably stay in a place cheaper than the Thai Cozy House, but not by much. We’re hoping to fit in a visit to Chinatown, the Grand Palace, and meeting up with some Canadian ex-pat’s living in Bangkok whom we met on the beach. As the sun set on the ocean waves, it was hard to think that tomorrow we’ll be leaving. I took an hour massage on the beach for 200 Bhat ($6 CAD) and Tina got a manicure. Life it rough.

One of the interesting things we’ve learned about Thailand, since their language isn’t Latin-based they spell everything phonetically. This opens plenty of opportunity for random acts of Engrish. Here’s what I’ve found today in our menus:

• Es Presso
• Ca Ppuccino
• Fired Egg and Toast Salad-Coffe
• Grilled seemussel
• Gordon Blour
• Macaronee
• Bar, B, Q Fish
• Ovaltine Milk Chake

I think it can be pretty funny, but it’s easier than my trying to read Thai, so don’t think I don’t appreciate their translations. When we were comparing maps in preperation for the trip we noticed streets would line up, but their names would be spelled differently. It’s all interpretation here, but it really does make sense since English letters are foreign. The Thai writing is very beautiful though, and curvasive. It’s looks artistic.

It’s time for dinner now. Hat Sak Hiew Prawns - huge tempura prawns with a tangy mystery sauce - and an authentic chicken coconut curry are calling out to us. We’ll sit only a few feet from the crashing waves, and enjoy the moonlight and atmosphere. Goodnight and talk to you soon!