Lynae's Perspective

Hey, It's Lynae here. I thought it was about time I put my 2 Baht's worth on the blog.

I have to say, Denise has done a pretty thorough job of keeping you guys updated on our wild and wacky adventures. We really are having the time of our lives! Of course, me moreso, as I have yet to be bitten by any foreign creatures. What is it about her they find so appealing? Why am I not attractive to them? At least the monkey like me, or my dreads at the very least.

Well, there is one thing I wanted to clear up that I noticed she conveniently left out of her writings. That night, after being serenaded by Kenny G, I was startled awake to find someone stroking my leg. I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I have to admit, it was kinda creepy. I soon realized what was going on, however, when I heard her mutter something about Kenny G in her sleep. She will try to tell you she thought I was Kokomo, her overgrown cat who is too fat to clean her own back, which results in dreads even I am jealous of. But let's be honest...how do you get my prickly cactus leg mixed up with a cute and cuddly furball?

Another thing I wanted to mention is that it is amazing that all our trips have worked out, as the language barrier leaves much to be desired. They take your money, give you a voucher, and send you on your way. We were particulary nervous when our bus was late to pick us up, so they threw us in a cab with a non-English speaking cabbie to get to the bigger bus which would take us on our 20 hour trek. The scary thing about that was his 1 and a half inch thumbnail, neatly filed to a point. The only thing we can figure is that it is his coke nail, but whether that is a cocaine nail, or a coconut nail (these guys are pretty adept at peeling the soft coconut out of the shell in one piece), we'll never know. It was definitely a little spooky.

I was bummed we didn't get to ride in one of the pink cabs, though. No kidding, these guys love pink! I wish I had a pretty pink car...Maybe we can give AJ a makeover when we get home in tribute to our trip. After all, he's pretty much pink anyways now that his paint is so faded.

Well, I was trying to figure out my favourite mode of transportation, but there's definite questionable aspects to all. Take for instance the Sky Train in Bangkok: it certainly got us around for cheap, and eventually we were even able to stop the Thai workers' amusment and buy our tickets ourself, but riding that thing during rush hour gives a whole new meaning to "crammed like sardines in a can." Just when you think that you can't possibly fit another body in that poor overworked train, the doors open at the next station and 20 more people squeeze on. Good thing for Denise and I that we tower over everyone, so we got some pretty good breathing space above the crowd.

The bus also had some drawbacks, which Denise filled you in on. Man, that bus was something else! I was half expecting to start bouncing up and down on hydraulics when that music started! It wasn't so amusing after a while though - we were tired.

Of course, the cab rides were pretty interesting. Like I said, Coke Finger was sketchy, but that was nothing compared to jumping over medians and steep concrete ditches with 40lb packs on our backs on a busy highway after our cab broke down! I figured we might have trouble when I noticed the low fuel light on just as our 30 min journey started. Lesson learned: don't assume the cabbie knows how far he can travel on fumes, especially when there is an airplane deadline to meet and he doesn't speak english.

One more interesting thing is how they use the word "porn". I'm not sure what they think it means, but you see it on corner store signs, restaurants, and other places. The first time we saw it, it was on a restaurant sign advertising Vitaporn. We excitedly rushed in, and let me tell ya, it was pretty disappointing to find nothing in there but Thai food, no matter how good it tasted!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas! I'd say we've missed you all, but the truth is we've been having too much fun and adventure to think a whole lot about home! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!