Hoolied Travels

2012-01-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

Break Time Finished

Been blog-failing hardcore the last couple weeks, but in fairness life has been somewhat repetitive. Lots of fitness, consuming food that is healthy and not diarrhea-inducing, snuggling The Crooked Tail, crocheting, smoking reefer, and for the most part NOT DRINKING. It has been amazing and needed.

THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED THAT I HAVE TAKEN PICTURES OF:

Trevor did stand-up.

The beard was finally cut off!

Anton got a car/license! Back on the road after 3 years...and in a CADILLAC no less!

Went and saw Stephen Rannazzisi's stand-up with some of Anton's homies and hit the down town.

Hung out at Julio's house with a bottle of Grey Goose.

Went hiking with Julio and his roommate Mark + Julio's dogs, Scruffers and Abbey.

Meow.

Tomorrow is The Color Run. Should be righteous.

That will give me something to write about.

2012-01-14T22:42:00.001-07:00

The Crooked Tail Hath Arrived

AHHHHH! My baby is hooommmmeeeee!

So good to see you.

And this one just because it's funny.

This morning was roughhhh because I met up with way too many friends last night and my friends poisoned me with alcohol.

This fellow was especially shameless.

Wednesday afternoon Anton and I got lunch with Jimmy. We went to Tilted Kilt and it was kinda weird since it was the day. Decent food though...although how do you fuck up bar food?

Also enjoyed a rainbow treat at another bar nearby while I watched the boys have a beer.

Wings at Native Thursday night...

Nothing very interesting has happened lately. Finished my antibiotics! Worked on my iTunes! Smoked weed!

I need to get a job, then I'll at least have amusing stories to regale.

2012-01-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

Went out with Chuck and Jordan & Trevor and Kayla Friday night. We were going to go to First Friday but got a late start and also didn't really care enough. Went to Seamus McCaffrey's and then Crescent and then Roosevelt. Downtown RULES. Hella well dressed people.

Trevor and Kayla took off earlier in the night, so it was just the 3 of us. It was a good time.

The next morning Jordan had to go to work and Chuck and I set off to get brunch.

And mimosas.

WAY TOO MANY mimosas.

17 to be exact.

Chuck had to work at 5 and I went with him, thinking he'd be off fairly early. My Dad was going to come and eat dinner with me but there was a road rage shooting on the I-10 and Tukee was pretty much un-leave-able. The bar was also hopping and Chuck could not escape. Around 9:00 I gave up and cabbed it home with a super nice Mexican Abuelo. Had a Bushmills with Pa and we hot tubbed a bit before passing out after Midnight.

Good weekend. Too much booze. Need to take a few days off.

RANDOM PICTURES:
Hiking Camelback last week.

Stolen from Amy NYE pictures.

HUZZAH!

2012-01-06T16:15:00.000-07:00

4 Years Ago Yesterday

after this wedding in which I only took 3 pictures,

this monkey asked me to be his girlfriend.

Apparently I said yes!

Here we are last year remembering at like 11pm that it was our anniversary:

& here we are yesterday sushi-ing it up.

Anyways,

2012-01-04T10:14:00.001-07:00

Christmas Park City Style

My Mom and Brother were already up in Utah when I arrived home. Had the day of the 21st to launder/recover and was back at the airport the afternoon of the 22nd. Had acquired new companions though, my Dad and Lauren!

I broke a cardinal rule of traveling by not having a beer in the airport, but as mentioned previously my bowels were in revolt.

While we were waiting to board, the man seated next to Lauren gave up his seat to a very beat looking woman. She had a dog in tow, and Lauren and I excitedly pet him and asked the lady his name.

It was immediately clear that the lady was FUCKED UP. She started to fall asleep sitting up. Her eyes would close and she'd slowly fall forward until the falling motion would jostle her awake. Classic heroin nod, y'all. Lauren asked if she was okay and she slow-talked/mumbled something about her blood sugar. Lauren, being way nicer than me and also a nurse, asked if she needed a soda or something sugary. The lady mumbled some nonsense about getting a drink on the plane and putting something in it. Umm? She also told Lauren "You're so nice, I used to be like you." Not a very good photo here, but you can see her dog's concern.

This one is better.

Anyways, the lady did the fall-asleep-nod half a dozen times before my Dad sat down. As soon as he did the lady did her best nod, beginning to fall off the chair towards a face-plant before she caught herself. JUNKIES.

We arrived in SLC and went straight to my Grammy's house for a Dad-side-of-family Christmas party. There was much sangria for the non-Mo's and much joviality for all.

There was also a song. It would not be a family gathering without some sort of performance.

I am obviously a non-Mo and have therefore got into the sangria.

The next day Donovan set up the giant inflatable redneck snowman on the deck.

The Crooked Tail was not impressed. In fact, he was downright stressed out over it.

Always watching, always judging.

The next night we had the Mom's side clan over for tamales.

That night things got silly with the parentals and cousins.

"Fools," thought The Crook.

Kitty Christmas torture:

There there, Monty.

All appears to be forgiven.

The next day was Christmas Eve. Lauren and my Mom and I went to Main Street for a smidge of shopping. I had $28 to my name so for me it was more so "browsing".

I want!

That night we went over to my Aunt and Uncles for Christmas Eve feasting.

Omg. Jealous much, Anton?

White elephant tomfoolery.

This was IMMEDIATELY taken from me. Lots of cat ladies in the fam.

Ended up with these sweet T-shirts. It's a long story but I've had one of these shirts almost since I can remember. As have all the rest of the family and even some of my Brother's friends. My Grandpa used to wear them a lot. Sentimental.

Got to open one "real" gift. My family knows me too well!

Afterwards it was time to retire back home. Brother sang us a song which was awesome.

He then went upstairs to a spooky surprise!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I guess his bed was "just right".

Anyways. The next day was Christmas. For a pack of atheists we sure get into it! The secret is to delay having children so you still get treated like a child for as long as possible...example: stockings! You know once there are babies we're done for.

Sweet double chin bro.

My Mom found me a hat that fits! HURRAH! (It was, of course, from the men's department. Shhhhhh.)

The Crooked was very excited about one particular gift.

Cuz it was a puppy! A very well behaved puppy, too.

My Bangkok bought gifts went over well. Got my Mom and Lauren some sweet shorts/pants. They're really baggy and awesome and Asian.

I got my Dad and Brother beer shirts ALONG WITH a sample of the beer! Don't want to rock a beer shirt if you haven't even tried the beer, duh.

Helpers.

That night we returned to my Aunt & Uncle's house for Pork and Beans and further gifts. "The Present Orgy", as the cousins have taken to calling it.

My present to Sofia went over better than this picture leads one to believe. Although come on, kids aren't excited about clothes, Alecia! Get it together!

The drum set was definitely the biggest hit. She even got lessons from the master.

This picture didn't turn out great, but it's hilarious because it's Silkworm Pupa that Anton brought for my Uncle from Seoul. My Uncle is a food broker and therefore Anton and him have a special bond (sardines). He was quite amused by the gift, who knows what he'll end up doing with it.

Family photo time. I was feeling like garbage but I rallied impressively...at least I don't think you can see my misery in the pictures.

The best one by far has to be this:

Upon arriving home The Crooked Tail received his Christmas gift.

The next day I was feeling slightly better which was good, because it was BOWLING TIME. I did terrible. It was still fun.

That night we went to my Dad's BFF's house. It's super close to my Parentals place. Bill is awesome and so is his house. He is the one with the fantastic flowing locks. A grand time was had by all. One photo was taken.

The next day we had to leave to head back to Phoenix. Bye bye snow!

Anton's Christmas presents from my Parents were quite the hit. A book on meat cutting, a few bottles of fancy hot sauce,

& this awesome shirt. Perfect timing on this photo, too. Lady on the TV is like "DAYUM BOI".

I got to see Tim before he headed back to Philly, praise the lord. It had been almost 2 years! Unfortunately Chuck was taking all the pictures and he hasn't FB'd them yet. Here is the one picture I took, him drunkenly attempting to play pool with his camera strewn about him:

In other news, I went to the Doctor for my lingering illness. They tested me for SO MUCH. Hella parasites and shit. And you know how they test for that...sigh...

It was the most disgusting thing I've ever experienced, and that's saying A LOT. I got completely naked to embark on the test journey, knowing that I'd have to burn any clothes were I to be wearing them. I almost vomited and just chanted "OH MY GOD THIS IS SO FUCKING GROSS OH MY GOD THIS IS DISGUSTING OH MY GOD OH MY GOD" the entire time. I'm glad I had the house to myself. THANK GOODNESS those tests actually came back showing I had disease, or else I was going to be extremely mad.

Negative for Giardia and Salmonella, but positive for
"Fecal Microferin Inflammation" & "Cocci Bacteria".

Even the names sound disgusting. Now I'm on Ciprofloxacin. MURDER THEM BACTERIAS, YO!

Can't wait to be able to confidently say, for the first time in 2 years, "I AM DISEASE FREE!"

Oh, joy.

2012-01-03T21:57:00.001-07:00

Well,

I still have to write about Christmas...but before I get too out of touch,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hopefully posting this on the 3rd is still considered "in touch".

Important pre-party dinner:

Only the finest.

Leelu grows weary of the antics at my Brother's house.

Some half blurry party pics:

It was a grand time but I took barely any photos. Need to make some steals from others once they get to FB'n them. Welcome, 2012!

2012-01-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

Seoul, South Korea Ketchup

FINALLY THE TALES WILL BE TOLD. Although, to be honest, there aren't so many tales. Lots of pictures though.

First off, we obviously left Phnom Penh.

We arrived in Seoul around 6AM local time. After getting our bags we swapped out our airplane rags for some winter attire. The airport was a bit chilly but we were in for a much bigger chill walking outside. It was freezing. Literally, like high 20's. We weren't the most prepared.

Took the airport train to the main terminal in the center of town. The airport is on an island outside of the city so it was about a 45 minute ride.

It was stressful navigating the subways and finding our hotel (especially considering NOBODY speaks English) but we managed to be in the lobby by 10 or so. Unfortunately we couldn't get into our room until 2, so we stumbled off in search of food. Very little was open and we ended up at McDonald's which was not the best decision because Anton tried to take lettuce and mustard off his burger and it did not go well. Lots of pointing and mistakes. And they didn't have salt. We deliriously read for a couple hours (having not really slept for 36 hours at this point) and returned at 1. Luckily the room was ready early and we showered up and fell into a deep slumber.

Asleep by 3:30PM, wake up at 1PM the next day. I know the word epic is overused but that in this situation I do not care: that was some epic sleeping.

We set off to go to a nearby market. The market itself ended up being pretty lame, but the walk there was lovely.

LEAVES.

I bought a scarf for $2, which helped with my freezing-coldness.

Another exciting thing was trying these potato-hotdogs. They were really popular at all the food stands. It was a corndog, battered and covered in chunks of potato and then deep fried. SO GOOD.

It was weird walking around because there are SO MANY American chains there. Like, almost every one you could imagine. Went in Dunkin' Donuts so Anton could get a donut, he made me get a banana one even though I hate donuts and yes, I still hate donuts. So Anton ate two. That was probably his goal all along.

Wandered around the area, went into a mall and had some delicious Kim Chi soup. Didn't get to eat as much Korean food as I would have liked, the time/language barrier was just too much. The soup was bomb though.

Hoofin' it.

That night we went to a Korean Pub which was not at all pub like.

Had an enormous pitcher of beer, SMOKED CIGARETTES INSIDE THE RESTAURANT, and laughed about the bar snacks: pickles and seaweed.

We tried to find another decently priced bar after the pub experience and ended up at a sushi restaurant. Can. Not. Resist.

The best part by far was when one of the employees came over and informed Anton that the "wasabi" he was using was not, in fact, wasabi, but powdered green tea. We had thought powdered wasabi was a bit strange...

Wandered about a bit afterwards before deciding to return home.

We stopped at a gas station to get a couple beers on the way, Anton grabbed some tomato juice so as we could have RED beers, but unfortunately/of course the tomato juice was SUGARED and disgusting.

The next morning I woke up feverish and achy, freezing cold from chills. Took some tylenol and passed out again, woke up a couple hours later around 11 and felt better. While I'd slept off my ill Anton had been playing on the computer and made an exciting discovery: THERE WERE TACO BELLS IN SEOUL.

We obviously had to go at once. We took the train over and grubbed out. Taco Bell is okay, but I could go the rest of my life never eating it again no problem. Anton would probably rather die.

After the Taco Bell extravaganza, we set out walking towards the North Seoul Tower. We were coming from a different side than I'd read about, and ended up having to take a bus through a tunnel to get out on the right side.

We promptly found the cable car station to go up to the base of the tower, but those fools wanted 6000 won 1 way/8000 won round trip. $1 = 1150ish won. Hellz no. We walked.

It was A LOT of stairs. We were hurting. By the time we got to the top Anton was down to his T-shirt, surely the only one in the whole city.

Pretty awesome.

It was about 8 bucks to go up to the viewing platform, and being that Anton didn't really care I just went up alone. He missed out!

I came back down after 20 minutes or so and had Anton take my Christmas picture.

We then began the long descent.

There were plenty more awesome views along the way.

Much easier than going up.

We got back down to the street level and started heading in the direction of our hotel.

We ended up coming upon a huge shopping area.

It was packed and hectic and great. Anton got some sausage.

I was starting to feel a bit blah by that time so Anton grabbed a beer and we went home to take scalding hot showers and bury ourselves in blankets.

The next morning I was NOT feeling well, but we had to check-out as our flight back home (Seoul -> Honolulu -> Phoenix) was that night. We left our bags with the hotel owner (MR. YIM) and set off for the Seoul Seafood Market. Anton had his heart set on eating a Korean specialty, LIVE OCTOPUS.

We got off the train at the recommended stop and knew we were close. Stepping onto the platform we were overwhelmed with the smell of fish. The market was right next to the stop and we followed our noses over.

THE PLACE WAS MASSIVE.

We got down to ground level and began wandering.

Anton soon found what he was looking for.

We bought one and took it over to one of the food stalls that lined the side of the market. Two Korean women rinsed the octopus and gave Anton a dish of sauce. He was a bit nervous.

But rocked it out.

A braver soul than I! He said the suckers on the inside of his throat and mouth felt like hooks, and as he was trying to chew and swallow the octopus it kept fighting him and trying to get free. CREEPY.

Anton's adventurous pallet satisfied, we wandered the rest of the market.

We walked from the market over to the Seoul Animation Museum so we could take a picture with the transformer statue. Very important.

I was getting sicker and sicker as time passed, and the cold wasn't helping. We walked back to the hotel about an hour earlier than planned and set off for the airport. Got to the airport and I put on every item of clothing I could manage.

Please don't be serious.

Can you tell how miserable I am here?

The flight back was TERRIBLE for me. I was feverish and achy and freezing and sweaty and everything. I think the flight was about 8 hours? I felt bad for the guy next to me as it was very obvious how sick I was, but he must have been pleased I had the courtesy and preparedness to mask myself.

We'd had grand ambitions of leaving the airport in Honolulu and having a drink on the beach, but being the cab ride 1 way would have been $40 and we didn't have much time and I felt like garbage we decided to just hang in the airport. Had to snap a couple pics though.

We landed in Phoenix around midnight, night of the 20th. I have never been so happy to be anywhere in my entire life. Anton's Mom picked us up and took us back to her house, I did some unpacking/organizing and crashed hard just before 3. My fever never reappeared but my bowel would prove to be sick as hell for the following week. Still. I was estatic to be home.

2011-12-22T10:52:00.002-07:00

HOME HOME SWEET HOME

I'm going to Utah today, I'll tell you asshats about Seoul soon.

2011-12-18T08:21:00.002-07:00

Sihanoukville is for ~~lovers~~ pukers

"I keep getting older and they just stay the same age..."
was repeated throughout our week in Sihanoukville. Anton saying it in a creepy way and me saying it in a "WAS I REALLY THAT DUMB SO FEW YEARS AGO" way.

Best bus sign ever on the ride down.

Here are some pictures from the drive down. Pay special attention to the first one... bro, I think your car is full bro.

We were happy to be back at good ol' Serendipity Beach.

There isn't much of a tale to tell here, just random photos that I can somewhat narrate. This is the drunken German guy named Ian that we kept running into. He was the guy we met in Bangkok that was hanging with the lady boy. Anyways, nice guy, but his English was shit sober and even worse drunk.

The view from our first hotel room at Tranquility, which SUCKED BALLS. So awful. Planning multiple negative posts. No cold water, the water came in and out and would leave you soaped up and waterless for 2-3 minutes every shower, tiny cramped room, terrible lighting, obnoxious mosquito net, and for $12/night! The hotel we moved to after the 4th night was massive and well lit and had hot water AND WI-FI and was $10/night. It was a minute from the beach as opposed to 10 seconds but seriously, the beach in front of Tranquility wasn't even good. Fuck Tranquility!

Walking out of the hotel this is what you see.

Further down is the good beach.

We found super good grubs and sunsets at Khin's Shack.

Pups.

The Pad Experiment
As I'm sure very very very few of you can understand, Anton had grown sick and tired of ruining perfectly good manties with sharts, skid marks, and other poop related stains. He'd asked me before, "Alecia, do they not make a product that will protect my manties?! Perhaps a pad for obese women (so it would cover the width that I require) that would be multi-functional?!"

I responded that I'd never heard of different sized pads for different sized women, but he was welcome to use my pads if he ever got desperate enough...

Well, he did.

The experiment lasted about 5 nights. On the 3rd night it failed to protect, was positioned too far forward. My fault really, I'm used to using pads for their intended purpose. A new one was issued and readjusted, and was not needed for the next two nights. Change of underwear happened, new pad issued, was subsequently shredded by extreme flatulence. Unfortunately they were all dry, so pads as a possible solution to shart-proofing underwear: unresolved.

The experiment must go on.

I'm sure this has nothing to do with his needing to utilize women's hygiene products.

Anyways.

Johnny Walked.

One of the few nights I got crazy.

Got stoned with some randoms, looked up, A MOON RING!

Beautiful.

Anton eating the same lobsters that gave him hives last time we were here. Don't worry, this time they just gave him diarrhea.

Hanging out with Aussie friend Lachlan. Anton freaked out over him because he loves all the same books and knows lots of same words. Also, they're both total nerds. But fun ones.

More random fiesta pics.

The reason these two have matching bandanas is because Anton sold him one of his for a beer and a shot. Now they're facebook friends.

One morning we stayed out late enough to see the sunrise...I mean...we were up early enough...yes, that's it.

More randoms. Anton ordered potato salad...this is what he got. Diced up french fries in mayo.

Carton of smokes for $3.25 *eternal laughter*

THE PURPLE MIDGET BAR

Our last early-evening there we returned to the beach for seafood.

That night, we got more grubs at a German restaurant. I demanded mango sticky rice and it was the only place we'd seen it. Anton didn't mind getting more sausage either.

The next morning we had to be up to pack and on a bus just after noon. The trip back to Phnom Penh was uneventful, as was the tuk-tuk ride to the airport. We had to wait a few hours (and endure shitloads of staring families) but then, we were off to Seoul! Bye bye for now Cambodia!

2011-12-08T04:07:00.000-07:00

Tarantula Grubs

Since my last update we have been VERY brave. Well, we were very brave twice. Both right after we left the internet cafe.

We wandered along the Meh Kong River towards the restaurant we'd heard about. Had to turn off and back track after we wandered a bit too far, battling traffic insanity all the while. There are less motorbikes than Vietnam but at the same time there is almost NO sense of traffic law, you just go and dodge and everyone is always going from every direction, turning, all at the same time. Chaos!

We survived the walk and arrived at Romdeng. It's a "Creative Cambodian Cuisine" restaurant, all run by ex-street kids. All the profits are reinvested in the charity. The charity as a whole has a couple of shops, 3 restaurants, and a nail salon. It is a bit more expensive than typical Cambodia, but it goes to a good cause so we went for it.

Also: they serve Tarantulas.

And red tree ants.

And the mushroom dip is slightly less exciting.

Mushroom dip came out first, it was good. Although with most food from this region there is just a hint of sweetness, which neither Anton or I appreciate. STOP PUTTING SUGAR IN EVERYTHING GAHHH.

Next...the tarantulas.

We weren't sure what to expect but to have them look so ALIVE and completely whole was definitely not it. Starting to regret my previous bravery.

I made Anton go first, obviously.

Not bad!

He gave me a good tip: imagine you're eating soft-shell crab.

Oh boy...

Moment of truth.

Not bad! The sauce was really good and they were very similar to soft shell crab. Tarantula tempura sushi would actually be quite tasty, me thinks.

Next came the fire ants and beef.

It also had a hint of sweetness, usually anything that is described as having basil also has a sweet tang.

The red ants were very visible but could we actually taste them? Not really.

Screw you ants!

The servers were all super thorough and seemed pretty nervous. They were really cute. We had a great time, will definitely go back next time we're here!

That night we went out for a bit. Not much of a foreigner party in Phnom Penh. It's 84 cents for an energy drink and a pack of smokes in America too right?

Got to try a new beer. Very impressive, actually. Tasted like an amber.

Doh!

Yesterday we were very productive. Rented a tuk-tuk for the afternoon, went to the Russian Market first, so I could buy a jacket and a Cambodia shirt. Anton picked up a pair of ridiculously long board shorts. Jacket: $6, Board shorts: $5, Shirt: $2. Most of the clothing is rejects from American producers that were not deemed good enough. One of the touristy Cambodia shirts had an Old Navy tag, hahaha.

Went to Lakeside after that...the place we'd stayed last time we were here. It was sad how destroyed it was. Had a drink and bought some reefer from a local dude, at least that part hadn't changed.

There used to be a lake here.

Then we went to another one of the restaurants run by the same charity as Romdeng.

This one was a mix of Khmer and Western foods, called Friends. It was sooo good.

We ordered tacos, meatballs, eggplant dip, and a fish filet. They were tapas-like so that is why we ordered four, it's not just cause we're obesity. It was all TASTY TASTY.

After feeding we went and bought our bus tickets to Sihanoukville. Leaving tomorrow about 12:45. It's about a 4-5 hour trip so we should be there early evening. Can't wait!

Last night we just relaxed in the hotel room and watched the National Geographic channel.

Realized I left out a few of the Koh Chang beach pictures from before, woops.

Back to the beach tomorrow! Chaos is fun, but only for a few days.

2011-12-06T02:46:00.001-07:00

KOH CHANG-BANGKOK-CAMBODIA

The journey from Chiang Mai to Koh Chang was surprisingly tolerable. About 10 hours from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, hanging out for a couple hours there, and then about 7 hours to Koh Chang. We were supposed to be arriving at 2pm and it was more like 5, but for whatever reason we didn't really mind. Being deliriously tired can go one of two directions, I suppose.

This was a sign for smoothies on the ferry over...it is still making me laugh. Warter just sounds so disgusting.

In Koh Chang we were worthless beach bums but mostly minus the beach and add in a lot of crazed dancing and shouting. Crazed dancing to the level that I could barely walk at the end because my calves were so sore.

Koh Chang is MASSIVE. It's the second biggest island in Thailand after Phuket. I must point out that Phuket is MUCH MUCH bigger, but still. Koh Chang ain't a small beast. It most reminded me of Langkawi, Malaysia. Pretty beaches, bit green mountains, multiple waterfalls. We'd had intentions to rent a motorbike and thoroughly explore the island, but after taking a pick-up truck taxi from the ferry to Lonely Beach (which we'd heard was the cheapest/most backpacker friendly beach) we cancelled that idea. The roads were INSANE. Super winding, super steep, constant blind turns. If we were motorbike experts it'd be different, but we are NOT. And we learned our lesson in Koh Phangan, you scratch a motorbike and you pay out the ass for repairs (that will probably never get done).

Anyways. Anton found us a bungalow for 400 baht/night (about $13) around the center of the little Lonely Beach area. Strangely enough, the actual sandy beach was about a quarter mile away...but I digress. We were happy to find a place that sold 50 baht big Chang's, as we'd heard the island could be fairly expensive. They even had a new different type of Chang, Chang EXPORT. How exciting.

After cleaning up we went out in search of grubs and had a look around. Lots of little shops. Dog in T-Shirt.

The first night we went out and PARTIED. Found the bar that we ended up returning to nightly, 100 baht Sangsom (pseudo Thai "whiskey") buckets and 150 baht vodka buckets ($3.30 and $5, respectively).

The second day, after eats,

(meow)

was more of the same.

The third day we actually made it to the beach, (after getting MICHELADAS what the heck)

got down on some fish and enjoying the sunset.

We returned to the party that night.

Meanest kitty EVER.

The fourth day/night I was DESTROYED. I'd had grand plans to make it to the beach to swim and lay out (gotta get my bronze on), but...no. Thorough failure. Anton went out, prolonging his cumulative hangover till the next day.

The next day the cumulative hangover had arrived. I was quite refreshed from my quiet night in, Anton...not so hot. He napped and read for the afternoon while I set out on my mission to beach it up! We'd been sort of meant to leave that day...but we opted for extra time in Koh Chang and sacrificed a day of Bangkok. Whatever. The beach was nice, it was fairly breezy and there were lots of hotties to look at. People were amazed by my paleness. Such is life.

We went out for a couple drinks that night as Anton had somewhat recovered. We'd made some friends along the way and wanted to hang out a bit more. Mostly our friends were the Thai guys that owned the bar, but we also had some British homies. It was relatively calm.

The next day we were not happy to be on the go. We got out of our hotel at around 10:30 and had to wait for about 45 minutes to catch the truck taxi back to the ferry.

Once there we bought a ticket for the boat, were pressured to buy bus tickets because "there are many people", refused, and had to run as the ferry started to leave without us.

It was empty.

The people on the actual island were trying to sell us tickets on the big bus to Bangkok for 200 baht. Once we crossed we got a minivan for 150 baht, and found out that had we bought tickets for the big bus we'd have had to take a 50 baht taxi ride to the bus station. Wtf? Never believe them, it'll help you more than it'll screw you.

The journey back to Bangkok was about 5 hours, including some pretty heavy traffic. We got dropped off at Victory Monument, thinking it was Democracy Monument, and realized we were miles from where we needed to be. We got a 120 baht tuk tuk ride to Khoa San Road, party central extraordinaire.

Ended up staying at the same (shitty) guesthouse as we'd stayed in April '10. There was not a single outlet in the room! Are you kidding me!? My House Guesthouse, for shame. We were just lazy and defeated and only opted to ask a few places. When you're only staying 2 nights it becomes less important.

We went out on the town that night and it was a lot to handle after a long day. The streets of Khao San are just PACKED and you can never walk faster than the slowest Thai. Which is...slooooooooooowwww.

Got destroyed by a chili pepper AGAIN.

Awesomeness.

Safety first.

Met a German guy who was unknowingly buying drinks for a lady boy. The lady boy was pretty decent as far as lady boys go. It wouldn't have occurred to me but Anton pointed it out, and she freely admitted it once Anton asked. She showed me her fake boobs and they were pretty realistic, although as Anton pointed out "you know that nipple was never meant to be on a boob". I'm so unobservant, I swear, Anton figured it out because of MAN HANDS and it'd probably take the person whipping out their dick for me to realize. Oh, Alecia.

Our tiredness from travels didn't stop us from staying out until 7AM. Ughhhh, Bangkok! You are a cruel mistress. We were actually relatively calm drinking wise, sticking to beers and drinking at a reasonable pace. Hence our ability to rock it all night. By the end though...yeah. Alecia was not a very reasonable human being. Saw three fights total. The third and final occured after I'd gotten into an argument with a foreign guy who claimed to "love women!" but also think that "they shouldn't be allowed to hold office". I was turning to Anton exclaiming "IS HE TROLLING ME. SERIOUSLY IS HE TROLLING ME RIGHT NOW." But then the fight broke out between a BEHEAMOUTH Thai guy, and a TINY Thai girl. The combined mysogeny really set me over the edge and against my better judgement I jumped up

and was utterly ineffective. The fight was more or less avoided due to other peoples actions. But I'd broken a cardinal rule of traveling, NEVER GET INVOLVED IN FIGHTS WITH LOCALS. I was in trouble the next day, needless to say. The second fight we'd seen that night a Thai guy grabbed a European guy's girlfriend, the European tried to punch him and suddenly there were half a dozen Thai guys on him beating him in the head with motorcycle helmets.

That's why you don't get involved.

Anyways, I promised Anton to be better behaved next time. But watching dudes beat on chics is just so inherently wrong, when you're wasted it's hard to be rational. I saw hella fights working at Silvermine but it was always just blacked out bros on bros or blacked out Silvermine employees fighting blacked out bros. Much easier to deal with.

The second night in Bangkok was really the cat's pajamas. Did some shopping, Anton met this crazy older New York lady. Seriously Anton?! She seemed alright in the beginning, talked too much but you've got to spit some serious chatter if you want to go head to head with Anton and myself. As the night went on she devolved...rapidly. She was missing one of her front teeth and was definitely rocking the "I've been addicted to heroin for the last 15 years" look.

Claimed to have met multiple infamous locked-up-abroad foreignors in Thailand, claimed to know all these hot-shot music industry types, etc. When we moved bars about halfway through the exchange she and I had to pee, she told us she knew the owner of the guest house we were nearby. It normally cost 5 baht but she assured me she was tight with the owner. Well, false. I convinced him to let us both pee for 5 baht being that I had zero baht with me, but it was a begrudging acceptance on his part. Anton had to (what else) diarrhea a bit later and when he walked in he paid his 5 baht, walked to the toilet, saw it was a squatter and left. I told him that there was a 2nd normal toilet and when he attempted to return to utilize his 5 baht the guy wouldn't let him back in. Whatever. Haters gotta hate. This is only an important backstory for the next exchange:

Towards the end of our time with crazy lady I went to the bathroom again and she turns to Anton and asks "WHY DO YOU KEEP TOUCHING YOUR NOSE MAN?"

Anton: Uhhh, I don't know I don't know what you mean.

Crazy Lady: I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON, YOU THINK I'M STUPID?!

Anton: Ummm...I don't know...I don't know what you're saying. I think you've got it all wrong.

Crazy Lady: YOU THINK I'M STUPID. YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU COULDN'T USE THAT GUYS TOILET?! YOUR GIRLFRIEND ISN'T TOUCHING HER NOSE, YOU THINK I'M STUPID!?!

I return shortly after. There is more creepy banter. She tells us that Lakeside in Phnom Penh is closed. That is where we stayed the last time, it was awesome even though it flooded when there was rain. Hella $2 joints and cheap eats and pitchers of beer. We hadn't heard a peep about this.

Anton: We're going to Phnom Penh next, we stay in Lakeside, it's awesome.

Crazy Lady: Lakeside is done. They drained the lake. There are only like 3 guesthouses open now.

Anton: What really?!

Crazy Lady: What are you talkin about? I know you know it. Why you saying this?

Anton: What?

Crazy Lady: You think I'm stupid!?

Yeah. So that was that. We made a hasty exit shortly thereafter. Lady was fucking nuts.
We woke up Tuesday morning and had to get a move on. Check-out was at noon, had to use the internet to print out our boarding passes, get some grubs, and get the minivan to the airport. We were trying to get some cheap Thai food but everything on Khao San Road is RETARDED expensive. Ended up going to 7/11 for a hotdog (which sounds gross but they have onion/cucumber/tomato/condiment section so you can make it overflowing with vegetables which makes it less disgusting as a breakfast item) and sat on the filthy curb to eat it. Sat next to a couple from Sweden, both dreadlocked, pierced, tattoo'd. They were chainsmoking and drinking pink Bacardin Breezers.

At least you don't have to drink Breezers on bended knee.

Just after 1 we left for the airport. I forgot I had the knife I found in our Melbourne crackhouse apartment in my purse, so that got taken. It was dull and rotting, so it wasn't a big loss. Glad it didn't happen in America though, it was at least a 5" blade? Probably wouldn't go over as well there. Flight was 20 minutes late at least, had to do the shitty "pile on a bus and get bussed to the plane" thing, which was only fun the first time when I'd never done it before and got to pretend like I was the President entering/exiting a plane on a staircase.

*Slow wave*

It loses it's luster.

While waiting to leave we confirmed that Lakeside in Phnom Penh was, in fact, done. Only a few guesthouses left, they're redesigning the whole area. Booo.

Saw this gem in the plane magazine.

Arrived in Phnom Penh, were SO HAPPY to have an E-Visa as the line to get a visa on arrival had to have taken over an hour. YAY 3RD WORLD BUREAUCRATIC EFFICIENCY! Got our shit and caught a tuk-tuk to Riverside, the main tourist area. Cost $5 and took over an hour. Some of the most ridiculous traffic I've ever seen. The Chaos here makes Thailand look like Malibu.

Took about an hour to find a hotel, but ended up with a bomb situation. $10 for a fan room with a FRIDGE, tv (less important), hot water (more important), WATER PRESSURE, decent bed and flush toilet. The things you are stoked about traveling SE Asia are the things you'd never see a hotel room without in the States. Such is life. Joy in the little things, I guess.

Went out to get some grubs as we'd only consumed a hot dog and had a disgusting fried food feast. By disgusting I mean SINFUL, as it was all delicious.

Teehee.

Went and had a few beers after, were generally pretty beat after the day's travels.

And that brings us to now. It's 4:30 in the afternoon and we haven't gotten anything done but internet. Tomorrow we're going for a long walk, and tonight we might be dining on tarantula! Anton is investigating a famous restaurant here that serves it. Eeek!

Here's the view from our hotel room.

Have already seen so much fucked up poverty but I don't have it in me right now to discuss. It's good to be back in Cambodia, but man...is it ever humbling.

2011-11-26T01:21:00.001-07:00

Chiang Mai Chillatizing

We arrived in Chiang Mai the night before last after some annoyance. Tried to take the local bus from Pai at noon, it was full (of course nobody informed us of this possibility) and so we had to wait till 2:30 for a stupid minivan. Everybody with tickets rushed to get on, trying to get good seats, but neglected the very front! Suckers, we snatched those up. The drive was just under 4 hours, would have been less but the traffic getting into Chiang Mai was terrrrrrrible. The later arrival was good in a way, a weather way. It was getting dark and we had to carry very heavy backpacks back and front, the sun would have destroyed me. The walk into town was about 2-3 miles, I was proud of myself for hauling so much shit that far. Australia forced us into having way more shit than we would normally take backpacking. Sigh!

We went out for grubs at the bar we'd always frequented when we were here last time. It was Thursday, Thanksgiving, and boy did we celebrate...not. I had a french dip and Anton had nachos. Very traditional.

Yesterday we awoke and set out to wander. Stopped at a little Thai restaurant and got down on some Tom Yam. So good, Anton's favorite soup. They vary but this one had shrimp, onion, tomato, mushrooms, and noodles in a spicy soury lemongrassy broth.

Afterwards we used the internet for about an hour, I sharted myself (welcome to Asia!) and while wandering back to the hotel we saw people with BOBA! We found the stand and excitedly got two. The woman just has cups with the little Boba balls at the bottom and you pick your flavor.

Green tea, in the house.

Got cleaned up and got Kebabs.

We had a date at 7:00 with Jon, an American living here that we met last trip. I didn't even get a picture of him! Failure!

Wait! Here is one from last trip. (I was wearing a sweater last night, weather is a bit different from May, eh?)

Also, these girls remembered us. They work at the bar we frequented.

Anyways, he was awesome and treated us to some chicken fingers and mixed drinks! Vodka Sodas, it had been far too long. Anton went with Vodka Redbull, probably consumed like 7. Freakish. It was great to chat with Jon and catch up on happenings, he showed us some pictures from the flood that looked nasty. His girlfriend's house had flooded up to chest level! Wtf! Glad that we missed that.

In one of the bar bathrooms. Has anybody actually admitted they vomited in the sink? I think I'd just shamefully make a break for it. 500 Baht is like $16!

Jon left and we had a couple more beers.

Hating me, as per usual.

Wandered over to this super loud sandy bar area. Hella bars all blasting different kinds of music. Watched some fire dancers.

Then it was home and sleeps. Today we grabbed kebabs, used (using) the internets, and are buying our tickets for Koh Chang. After that we're heading to a walking street market that starts at 5. The journey to Koh Chang commences at 6pm tomorrow, and is due to arrive at 2pm. It'll be a long journey! We were originally thinking of flying between Chiang Mai and Bangkok, but it's expensive and if we take a night bus we're not really losing much time and also saving money on a night of hotel. We didn't realize that there were buses that got you all the way to Koh Chang, way less of a headache.

Well, that's that.

2011-11-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

BACK TO PAI, THAI

Our arrival in the Bangkok airport was JOYOUS. Free from the ridiculous expense of Australia! Free from boxed wine! Back in the land of beer and liquor and cheap grubs!

Chang's were promptly purchased.

We had a 5 hour layover before our flight to Chiang Mai. We enjoyed watching a Thai family take about 120+ photos of eachother in different groupings and knew we were officially back in Asia. That and the dirty looks I received for my shorts.

We didn't really sleep on the plane or in the airport and by the time we were on the bus from Chiang Mai to Pai we were DELIRIOUS.

Arriving in Pai cheered us up and gave us a nice jolt of energy. The hotel we'd stayed at last year had vacancy and so there was little thought necessary which was a very good thing. After cleaning up and unpacking we headed to get our first dollar meals!

Totally didn't appreciate the food enough last trip. Being in Australia really opened my eyes to the true level of awesomeness that is SE Asia.

Potato twists! These things are BOMB. We saw them for sale in Sydney for $6 each. $.66 is a bit more reasonable, no?

Flavor choices.

Pai is WAY different in November. The whole main area of town is transformed into a walking street market area every night. There were only a handful of stands here during low season. Way more fun now!

Puppy friend. There is a stand selling dog clothes.

We managed to party for a bit before succumbing to exhaustion.

And in my case, sleeping for 12 hours.

We couldn't rent a motorbike the first day because they were all sold out. Hella tourists! Anton woke up at a decent hour the next day and fetched one.

He'd done some exploring and discovered that one of the three 7/11's in town had hot dogs! The flooding has caused issues in the shipping lines, diet cola is nearly impossible to find (amongt other things). Anyways. Away we went.

Mmmmmm....

Time to explore.

ONE OF US cares about safety...

Around town.

Visiting the pigs.

Beer break.

Style king.

Anton found some sunflower seeds to chomp on while riding.

We decided to treat ourselves to Mexican food even though it's way expensive for Thailand. It's super good though.

And they have frozen margaritas.

Noble pups.

The next day we went sightseeing.

Pai Canyon!

Not sure what happened here.

STRAWBERRY.

Wat.

Holy butthole.

Buster?

Next up!

Pretty pretty.

Refreshments.

The way back to town.

Lots of these lettered signs around town.

There were dozens of Thais taking pictures with this sign...it's just the name of a cafe.

Although who knows what the hell this says.

Lovely.

That night we got waaasstteeedddd. We hadn't smoked cigarettes in over a month and I ended up smoking like a dozen.

So stupid. Felt like shit the next day, it was a waste till the evening. Went to the restaurant with the cheapest Changs and watched the crowds go by.

Mushroom stick!

The next day (yesterday) we vowed to be more productive. Went to scope out the mighty Pai Airport. So small!

Just kinda drove around the outskirts of town...

Slightly lost.

Back near town.

Beer break.

We then headed out in the other direction.

Saw a sign for Noi's Elephant Camp!

Had to stop and feed them some bananas.

Love love love them.

Heading home.

Pups.

We came home and washed up. Anton went to get waters while I was in the shower. When we were about to leave I opened the door to grab my shoes only to find a Smirnoff Ice awaiting me, perched innocently in my sneaker. ICED AGAIN!

I did my duty.

We set off and had beers and grubs and watched the street for awhile.

Made my noodles SUPER spicy. I am getting so bad ass at spice.

Afterwards we went to a few bars, one was having bucket specials ($5!) and we had a couple too many. Talked to some obnoxious Israelis and Brits, yelled about America, met a kitten, the usual.

We were supposed to leave today but we woke up too late. Shocker! We're heading back to Chiang Mai tomorrow though, no ifs ands or buts. Only got like 12 days till our flight to Phnom Penh, MOVE IT MOVE IT MOVE IT!

Oh. Now it's the morning and we're preparing to leave. Didn't post this last night WUHHOHHHH.

2011-11-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

Featherdale Wildlife Park

The day after The Bears return and the day before our departure Anton and I went to achieve a visiting Australia necessity: petting koalas and kangaroos. It was $25 per person entry, which was a bit cheaper than the zoo and in my opinion WORTH IT. It's hard to pay that kind of money remembering that the Manila Zoo costs $1 to enter but hey, they don't have roos.

Immediately upon entering we spotted a little Wallaby. SO ADORABLE. I of course screamed and "awwwwww'd" my face off.

Initially unsure about whether to touch him. He didn't care.

These stupid White Ibis are EVERYWHERE. Initially we were like WHAT THE FUCK WHY IS THAT THING ALL OVER SYDNEY but it's like the crazy colorful parrots you see everywhere, eventually it just becomes commonplace.

More wallaby adorableness.

Koala's were first on the agenda. They are so cute but they smell like rotten shit.

Heh...heh...heh...koala balls

Annnddd the main event! The kangaroos! They were super mellow and came in many sizes and colors. I loved them all.

omg

Roo in pouch!

This bird was a dick and trying to steal the roo eats.

Fine. We'll share.

More marsupials.

Crazy ass birds.

Echidna.

Little Penguins.

Red Kangaroos. Too big and mean to be in the petting area.

Gross.

Dingos!

Random farm area...

Anton farting on goats.

Ahahahahahahaahaha!

White peacock dude. Wild!

Owls.

Tasmanian Devil that wouldn't stop running laps.

Flying foxes.

Bat.

Croc.

Emu.

More adorableness.

Trying to get some action shots on our way out, haha.

It was cool and sprinkled on and off all day, which garnered no complaints from us. We knew where we were headed.

That night we got down on some Lebanese food and VB's with The Bears. I drank the last white wine of my life and the next day we were off! I was super proud of myself for not weeping like a bitch leaving Buster. I am 26 and this is an accomplishment.

Thailand tales to come.

2011-11-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Australia

It's been real!

2011-11-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

Anton's family stories presents...

His insane Aunt demanding that his Mother "call" and give her good credit history:

Call, make credit history. *holding a corded phone and screaming during family dinner*
-What are you talking about?
I know, I know you can call. Make credit history.
-Who told you that?
People told me, people who know.
-I can't...I don't...
We're leaving! *Storms out with family*

2011-11-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

i took pictures of tom petty

on the tv screen back when you couldn't pause tv.

2011-11-07T04:38:00.001-07:00

some pictures from little camera

boy wrestling

Future 6-pack...maybe...please?

the cutest deep throat in australia

anton...

giving in...

pure genius

buster love

n like november...

beasts.

DOG PARK

high street ROUND THREE

so cute

walk walk walk

my favorite tree

needing haircut

anton's most epic walk with buster

random

BEST NAME FOR A STORE. definitely asian.

buster hates kitties

take a moment and understand the genius

2011-11-07T04:21:00.000-07:00

11 days til Thailand!

In travel news, we've decided not to go to Laos. Gonna fly from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and then go directly to Pai for a bit, back to Chiang Mai, train back to Bangkok and head to Koh Chang and Pattaya, back to Bangkok, fly to Phnom Penh, head straight to Sihanoukville, back to Phnom Penh, fly to SEOUL for 3 nights and hopefully meet-up with my friend Stacey, and then fly back to Phoenix with a 5.5 hour layover in Honolulu. We'll try and leave the airport for a beverage if customs is fast. Bought all the tickets today so it's WRITTEN IN STONE. So stoked on everything but SUPER stoked on South Korea, even if it's going to be like 30 degrees. New country! Eek!

And Stacey!

(not random ex-meth-head guy)

2011-11-07T04:19:00.001-07:00

Pico De Gayyyyo

I am so damn bored I've turned to photographing recipes. This shit is bomb though, we've been eating it constantly. I made it drunk one night and it nearly burned my face off. This batch that I took pictures of is almost that spicy...marinating in hot-juices in the fridge right now.

Tomatoes!

Cucumbers!

Mix.

Red Onion!

Mix.

Green Olives!

Much easier with one of these devices.

Jalapenos!

Mix.

Garlic!

Lemon/Lime Juice!

Sriracha!

Spices!

Mix.

To make it more salsa-y I also added some of this "enchilada sauce". Salsa,basically.

The longer it sits the more delicious it gets...by the time we start munching tonight it will have been like 5 hours. I am excited. Walking Buster and dinner are the highlights of every day...

2011-11-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

Happy 9th Birthday, Bloggy!

Not really shocked it's been so long - it feels like I've had this blog going forever. It CERTAINLY feels that long when I acknowledge that "screechbone" was a pseudo-nickname given to me by a high school friend (DC!) because I "screeched a lot and was bony". It was generally used in place of the word "sexbomb" in the notorious Tom Jones song. The large passage of time is also apparent when I go back and look at the first few posts. There are three posts from November 4th, 2002.

------------
Post One delightfully makes mention of high school, fibbing to my parents regarding homework, and dreaming of drinking copious amounts of vodka in college. I also complain about opendiary.com.

Post Two involves me SCANNING PICTURES. What this means.

Post Three is a cryptic post complaining about a guy that later turned out to be a piece-of-shit-compulsive-liar. You don't need him to call, young Alecia! Run!
------------

Man, I had no idea how much shit was in store for me...usually of my own making. Here's to NOT being 17 again.

2011-11-02T19:25:00.001-07:00

Two weeks til THAILAND!

That should liven things up around this corner of the web.

We returned to the dog park yesterday, will probably go every two or three days till we leave. We are madly in love with Buster and don't want to go anywhere without him. Wish we could steal him but I don't think he'd fit in our backpacks.

After the park we went to Norton Street, which has a bunch of restaurants. We needed a patio so Buster could chill with us, the day before we'd made the mistake of tying him to a pole to go into a store (I needed to pick out an avocado) and even though HE COULD STILL SEE US he began doing his bark-scream and terrifying all the Asians running the place. Buster: drama princess. (Also a very sexy Halloween Zebra.)

Almost everything was hella-expensive so we settled on the only reasonable option: Chinese food. It was annoying as hell to pay $30 for a meal that will cost us $5 in a couple weeks but hunger prevailed. When the waiter came up to the table to take our order Buster began scream-barking at him and the guy was terrified (even though Buster was tied up and could in no way harm him).

When we were walking home a lady walking the other direction lightly bumped him on the head with a magazine she was carrying and she screamed out like she'd stabbed him through the heart. "OH MY I'M SO SORRYYYYY". Are you serious? Buster didn't even notice, he's a massive dog and you tapped him WITH A MAGAZINE. People. I will never understand you.

2011-10-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

It's not laziness THIS time.

Well, it's Halloween down under and my big plans for the day include dressing Buster up in my clothes and taking humiliating photographs of him. He endured a bath yesterday, the torture just keeps on coming! Of course post-bath was the most joyous running around / barking / rubbing his face all over the carpet...but yeah, total torture.

Saturday we returned to the dog park. It was cooler than last time and there were more playful dogs, so Buster had an even better time. The walk back got rough when the sun came out, for me especially. Anton dropped me off at a train station and I walk in only to find out there are no trains due to track work. I then had to chase after Anton on a very busy street, pathetically yelling "ANTONNNN" over and over and over. Buster turned around, but I think his hearing is a bit better. Anyways, I finally caught up to him like a quarter mile later, I was all emotional and crazed from the heat and yeah, that was cool. We finally got to a station that was open, and it was of course only a mile and a half from home. You better believe I still took the chance to shave off a mile! Pathetic? Maybe.

We've watched close to 10 movies in the last 5 days or so. The late night internet completely stopped, and the dial-up speeds during the day make one want to rip their hair out. I've just been using the kindle, might as well get used to it for Thailand (which in other news, might be completely under water. Last time we flew to Bangkok there were the red shirt protesters, now this?). Anyways, the movie folder had become very bloated and it's been good to go through some.

Internet returns in 2 days, thank science. Right now I'm sitting in a nearby internet cafe, we're downloading shows for a few hours so we don't have to download like 10 gigs the first day. Later we're getting some bomb ass kebabs. This is our Halloween. Say what I do about America, nobody does Halloween like we do. Or like I apparently did in 2009!

A bit ironic how different my perception of boxed wine is these days.

I gave my box to this guy at Casey's, I was wasted and knew if I kept it I'd never be able to throw it out and it would just sit in a closet forever and ever taking up a ridiculous amount of space. It was the right decision. I hadn't really thought about it since, but I wonder if it got worn last year or this weekend? I did a pretty good job on the creation, I hope somebody loved it enough to rock it. OR maybe that guy got drunk and passed it along. That would be the greatest tale. I should have written my name in it like a Where's George thing. Ramble.

HAVE YOU SEEN MY BOX?!

2011-10-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

Dog Days of Summer

Summer is over/ending for most of the peeps that read this, but here in Sydney it's just getting started. Came out of nowhere in our eyes, being that we've never experienced such backassery of seasons. Although today the high is 74, so what the hell am I saying? It was 93 yesterday, I swear it. The day before was equally brutal. And for those of you in Phoenix calling me a pussy, keep in mind we don't have central air and we also have to walk everywhere. So the 90's is fucking mean.

Sunday afternoon we embarked on the 5.5 mile walk to the fancy dog park. We melted on the way but it was worth it. Buster was in heaven with all the doggy friends to play with.

We sat at Cafe Bones for awhile, a little coffee/sandwich stand in the park. They even sell dog treats and beverages. Everything was pretty overpriced and we'd come prepared with apples, so we munched those happily while Buster frolicked.

This dog was outrageously massive and moved like he was up in years. Buster wasn't a huge fan, pretty timid around dogs that are that much bigger than him.

He of course had no problem harassing dogs that were much SMALLER than him. Just like this pooch.

Who opted to drink like this every time. What?

Happy pups.

We're going to go back next weekend, but instead of leaving the house at 11 we're going to shoot for 6 or so. I only walked about 8 miles because I took the train partway home but unfortunately Buster doesn't have that option. Needless to say he and Anton were BEAT by the time they got home. 13 miles in the heat like champs.

Yesterday we lounged around avoiding movement until the evening, when we took Buster with us on a kebab hunt. Most of the Lebanese shops were closed for Mondays, but we found one that was still open. Glad that we were forced into it, the kebabs were even better than the ones we'd been getting before. Mmm...kebabs. Definite perk to being in a largely Lebanese area! That, and the outrageous fear in peoples eyes when they see Buster. People often cross the street to avoid walking past him! I guess dogs aren't so much pets in Lebanon as they are evil-biting-disease-spreaders?

In a similar vein...THIS, my friends, is HYSTERICAL.

2011-10-20T18:54:00.001-07:00

While the Bears are away...

we will do basically the same thing everyday with slight variations. Mostly variations on dinner. We're boring.

Buster was so depressed for the first few days after Jim & Ian left. Mopey, lethargic, sleeping on their bed looking forlorn...it was funny in a way, but also made us constantly say "awwwwwww" and make frowny faces at each other.

He is doing a lot better now, although he's still somewhat glum. Such a drama queen. And producer of horrific gas.

Daily walks to the park and grocery store, Coles, have helped to cheer him. There are two routes to get to Coles. One is a wooded trail, which Buster loves because he can run free. The other is through a neighborhood, which is faster. We have been taking the trail there and the streets home to satisfy all parties. Another perk to the streets is occasionally passing this guy:

Are you serious?! Yesterday was the first time he was out there AND I had my nice camera with me. His owner was feeding him (out of a massive silver mixing bowl) and so we were able to find out about him. His name is "Romano" and he is a Neapolitan Mastiff. His bark is hysterical, maybe I'll try and get a video of it. BOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWWWWW really deep-like. Oh my god. That beast kills me.

Nothing else very exciting to report. We're going to go to a zoo-like thing sometime next week so I can feed kangaroos and koalas and take five million pictures. Hopefully Buster doesn't commit suicide while we're away.

2011-10-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you take too many pictures.

Usually of dogs.

Or bees.

Or action shots!

Love, love, love.

2011-10-14T23:00:00.002-07:00

Katoomba & Wentworth Falls

We were awake and on the train by 6:30AM Wednesday morning, crushing it! Had to train into the city first, then catch the two hour train Westbound to Katoomba. Katooooooomba. Delightful.

About an hour into the journey we were deep into the suburbs and I realized we might spot some kangaroos at such an early hour. I turned to Anton and said "I bet we'll see some kangaroos, that patch of grass looks like a perfect kangaroo hang-out" and as I'm saying that I realize there ARE, in fact, kangaroos in that very patch of grass. Anton didn't look in time, but I was excited. As these things go, we didn't see another one for the remainder of the journey even though I was religiously scanning the hills.

We got to the hotel too early to check in but we lightened our load and lathered on some sunscreen in the lobby. Anton's last name was "McLain" as-per-usual (this is after he says "N LIKE NOVEMBER" repeatedly, I guess Movember is a word now) but it has ceased to surprise or bother us. Onward to Three Sisters!

It was probably a mile and a half to the main viewpoint. And what a view it was!

Lol more like four sisters I mean RIGHT?!

It was a perfect day.

It was significantly colder than Sydney, and it wasn't until we were doing some serious hoofing that the jackets came off.

You used to be able to climb onto the first Sister, but due to wear and tear they stopped that practice.

You can still stand next to her though.

Whilst there you can ponder, WHAT DOES IT MEAN!? It means erosion, so sayeth science.

From that point, there is a Grand Staircase that takes you down to the jungle floor. It was INTENSE. So steep, super narrow stairs, my nerves were high and Anton was making fun.

Be still my heart. I am my Mother's Daughter.

Down on the ground, under the Three Sisters.

Lolz I'z in the tree!

The walk on the jungle floor was only a couple of miles. It was cool and shady and I only got one mosquito bite! A little different from the SE Asian jungles. Okay, a lot different.

This guy was tweeting up a storm.

@RedBirdDownUnder, hella bird followers.

Hoofin' it hoofin' it.

The base of Katoomba falls.

And the sign.

And me.

What goes up must come down, or what goes down must come up. What I'm trying to say is we had a hefty stair climb ahead of us.

Less scary than going down, but much more sweat inducing.

A view of the entirety of Katoomba Falls.

And the Three Sisters from afar.

We made it up the staircase and headed back into town. This bench belongs in Vietnam.

The main strip!

We got settled in our room and washed up. Then it was time for a beer. Or four.

Beautiful.

The Scottish bartender told us that clear days like this are really rare - usually it's pretty overcast. That made us even happier! Perfect timing. He also informed us that Katoomba is not at all a happening place, and being that we woke up at 5:30AM we did not last long. Besides, we had to be out of our hotel at 10AM the next morning and we had more things to see.

Two train stops back towards Sydney is Wentworth Falls.

The Charles Darwin Walk?! Heathens!

It was only a kilometer and a half to the falls, all along a pretty stream.

Timer shot and well placed rocks.

Hoofin' it.

There were lots of smaller waterfalls to amp us up for the main event.

BAM!

Not a bad view, eh? WAY more than we expected. Huzzah for more well placed boulders.

Love this.

I don't think you'd survive this one in a barrel.

Walked down to get a different view. This is the precursor to the big falls.

EEEEEEEK!

Well,

There are worse places to get high!

Camera satisfied, we headed back to town a different route.

Wentworth Falls is even more happening than Katoomba. Or not.

Being this far in the boondocks there is only one train per hour. I got a sandwich and we read our kindles until it was time to head home. I passed out within 20 minutes and slept most of the way home.

Trip = amazing, Sydney FTW!

2011-10-11T04:15:00.000-07:00

Buster's Play-day Montage

Buster is a killing machine! We've been informed this is not his first murder, and I fear it shall not be his last. He took especially sick pleasure in tossing the corpse around. A troubled beast indeed!

2011-10-10T18:06:00.002-07:00

OMG I GOT MAIL.

My Mama rules! She sent me my Bintang shorts from Bali (viewable here (I would have brought them but I thought I'd ruined them wearing them to the Salt River. Luckily my Mom is a wizard of clean and saved them! Thank youuuuuu!))

AND ALSO a new pair of TOMS, which were only a SLIGHT improvement over my existing ones...

NINE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES have not been kind to them. My big toe was becoming visible on the left foot and the back was in tatters, but this still strikes me as the most telling shot. What happened to the insides? Is that, like, foot grease?

I couldn't remember if the old ones were 8.5 or 9, but the sole size is the same and at this point it appears impossible to tell.

Anton: Oh great, now you can stop wearing your old ones!
Me: WHAT WAS WRONG WITH MY OLD ONES?!
Anton: Nothing honey...

So this happened: Anton was putting ice into a wine glass when a nice round piece just popped out! Whaaa?

This also happened:

BUSTER! He likes to chew on paper? At least he leaves shoes alone. TP is much easier to replace.

THESE EXIST: (and are surprisingly tolerable)

We are planning on going to The Three Sisters tomorrow, have to wake up mad early. It's over two hours by train each way and there is a LOT to see, so we're going to get a hotel in the little town near them, Katoomba. That way we can break up the train ride and also have two days in case we run out of time on the first one. I'm sure I won't take any pictures...

I'll depart with this photo of an Asian rock band.

2011-10-10T06:12:00.000-07:00

I hope this is trolling...

but I wouldn't be surprised either way.

2011-10-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

I have been stomach flu-ing like a boss

Queen of self-diagnosis over here has decreed: THE STOMACH FLU! Just had to reference my favorite chart on the internet!

(Located: here. Yes, the link was purple from (multiple) prior issues but no worries, it is now safely bookmarked!)

As such I have been laying around in misery (although nothing compared to food poisoning or mystery-burma-illness or dengue fever) for the past 3ish days. Today, however, is looking up - 36 hours fever-free. Perhaps I shall leave the house at some point and sleep for less than 16 hours! Oh, the possibilities!

2011-10-06T00:01:00.001-07:00

One-way to Bangkok!

November 17th babyyyyy! Going to be great to be able to afford liquor again and back on the road. Also SICK that we'll be flying Emirates as opposed to some shitty discount airline (Air Asia, Tiger, JetStar) or some shitty American airline (United, United, United, Delta). Can you tell I have slight beef with United? Only slight...MURDER.

Bangkok to start, flying to Chiang Mai after a few days, back to Pai, then into Laos to visit the bear sanctuary again, Vang Vieng to tube the river, on to Phnom Penh and then Sihanoukville. On the way back to Bangkok to return to America we'll go through Koh Chang (island) & Pattaya, which will be the only new cities, and Pattaya will definitely be the most hooker-tastic. It'll be interesting to compare it to Patong Beach in Phuket, which was the most whore-filled (and therefore fat-white-man-filled) city we've seen to date.

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life." - Steve Jobs

Don't worry Steve, we won't.

2011-10-04T18:57:00.001-07:00

No stopping on Butt Street.

2011-10-03T02:40:00.001-07:00

Bondi Beach, The Gap, & Trainmissing

Friday morning we woke up and got moving, taking the train to within a couple miles of Bondi Beach.

We were surprised at the lack of bars/beach-like party accomodations. Went into a burrito shop that was charging around $17 for a burrito! What...a...deal...holyshitrunaway.

Beach was nice. White sand, bright blue water, lotsa hotties...

We're going to go back when it's a bit warmer and lay around/read/swim. Maybe in a month or so. It seems somewhat silly to not utilize a beach since it's not too hard to get to, but we also spent a ton of time beaching over the last year and a half and for two people that hate the sun the novelty wanes rapidly.

But anyways. Onwards to "The Gap". Australia's number one suicide hotspot!

The distance from Bondi Beach to The Gap was believed to be about 4 miles. It ended up being closer to 6. No complaints!

A significant portion of the walk was through a really wealthy neighborhood, lots of houses to drool over and some incredible views. Weren't really sure what to expect, it was a treat.

A SPOOKY CEMETERY!

The last couple miles were along the cliffs overlooking the water. Amazing!

Fun with tiltshift.

The Gap itself had some incredible views, both of the water and the distant city.

Goodbye, cruel world!

Nope. Don't want to land on this...

Someone that actually knew how to use a nice camera took this, thank science.

We walked down to the harbor underneath The Gap and caught a ferry back to the city. Was about a 20 minute ride, had to snap some additional pictures of the Opera House / Bridge.

Had an extra successful day of not-paying for public transportation. Didn't pay for the first train, didn't pay for the ferry, didn't pay for the next train to a different part of the city, didn't pay for our train home (the next morning...)

Heaven?

We got dinner ($12.50 steak/salad/potato, actually cooked right and really good) and hit the town.

We made some Aussie friends
(Iggy Pop?)

and were having an awesome time which of course led to us missing the last train home. We watched some strange Japanese band perform at one bar, Anton got dropped by a bouncer at another, I danced my heart out with a bunch of gay guys in a third...all in all, ridiculous.

We paid for our joy when it was time to get home. Around 4AM we were DONE with the party and the first train didn't run till 5:30. Anton offered a few cab drivers $40 to get us home and they all sped away like they were insulted. It's only like 7 miles, WTF! Owell, we just sat outside the station with the others in our drunken-boat and waited the hour and a half.

Upon arriving home we were showered and in bed rapidly. When we awoke in the afternoon we set to complaining about the Sydney transportation system. Anton had told me about situations like this when he was here with Drew, trains stopping at like 1:30 even on NEW YEARS EVE. Must be some agreement with the taxi drivers. Taxi drivers are among the top of our "BIGGEST SCUMBAGS EVER" list (along with tow-truck drivers and cops) and so we avoid them whenever possible, even when it means a couple hours of exhausted misery on the curb.

RUN YOUR TRAINS 24 HOURS A DAY SYDNEY. Thanks in advance,
Alecia

P.S. Buster is still busy being adorable.

2011-10-02T01:02:00.000-07:00

Dang Sydney you uglyyyyyy.

2011-10-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I'm just happy to know you...

2011-09-27T20:52:00.002-07:00

A Burmese Kid Broke My Umbrella

It's rainy as fuck today so we're probably not going to leave the house (again). Come on Sydney, what the hell, why you gotta be acting like Melbourne. I guess it's technically Spring though, which is annoying because in the Southern hemisphere there isn't a fancy little rhyme to get you through the rainy parts like "April showers bring May flowers". "September showers bring October flowers" just sounds retarded.

They should totally change the names of the months here. May, June, July, those have a summery feel to them. That's not supposed to be winter! June should always be summer. They need to change Christmas too, it shouldn't be the peak of hotness for that holiday. I'm sure Jesus would understand.

Anyways. I guess a couple days of rain in the near-month that we've been here isn't really that much to complain about. I always just think about Yangon, Burma, where it rained nearly constantly and my complaints dissipate. Seriously, I don't ever remember seeing the sky, it was just a constant cloud and rain orgy. That's why it was so annoying when the Burmese kid in the beer station broke our umbrella. How does one brake an umbrella, you are obviously enquiring? Well, first you need to find someone that has never seen an automatic-opening umbrella. Then you need to have them attempt to close it. They will pathetically wrestle with it while you are distracted, and then dramatically snap it shut, ruining the opening mechanism but feeling very proud for conquering the challenge. You will be unable to yell at them because A they do not speak English and B they make $20 a month and life in unspeakable poverty.

The umbrella in happier days:

One good consequence to the breakage was we were forced to purchase a new Burmese umbrella. We found the one with the most horrible nonsense "Engrish" possible.

We still have that umbrella, although not with us here in Sydney. It served well in its protect-from-wetness duties for the duration of our SE Asia trip but suffered a rust infection as a result. I also worry about losing it, being that it is our one souvenir from Burma and the best Engrish we've ever seen.

Now we carry a new black automatic opening umbrella. I will ensure to keep it away from foreign children.

2011-09-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

Buster Has Abandonment Issues

This is his reaction whenever Anton goes into a store. Such a pussy!

2011-09-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

You owe it to yourself

to read Self Titled. It has been the funniest blog ever for years and it's written by a chic, which is weird, because as a general rule of life chics are not that funny. Anton and I discussed this yesterday while we imbibed a $3.30 beer mid-walk. Yeah, that $.30 is not a typo. Australia is fucking stupid with their prices. We've seen pints for $5.10. Keep in mind that the lowest denomination of currency is $.05. Why is the $.10 necessary?! Why can't it just be $5?! Every 10 beers you sell, you earn one dollar more! Scumbags, creating more change to obesitize Anton's wallet.

Back to girls not being funny. Anton agrees in general but really likes the twitter of Megan Amram. I'm not allowed to follow it because he likes to tell me the super funny ones so he can pretend like he's creating the laughter that arises, when really he's just repeating her. But don't worry, he gives credit where credit is due. I'm going to go ahead and assume that most of her feed is related to poop/incest if he finds it so hilarious.

Back to Erin being hilarious:

I've spent my whole life being skinny and thinking I don't like McDonalds. I like McDonalds, y'all. McDonalds is so fucking good! Holy shit! I don't know why I thought I didn't like it. I guess these are the lies thin people tell themselves.

You're welcome for all the lolz.

2011-09-26T07:04:00.002-07:00

I Got 99 Problems & Obesity is One

~~Wasn't~~ Isn't Anton adorable?

Returned to the downtown all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant today, all told we walked just under 10 miles. Yesterday was a rain-fest so today we were extra excited to get out of the house. I'd describe yesterday as worthless, being that we didn't leave the house and had pizza delivered, but the new face of the blog indicates that I did squeeze in some productivity. Likeeeeee hours and hours of productivity. Happy as hell to have it over with, I'd been intending to tackle the issue for months.

The weekend was uneventful. Saw this feller on the way to the grocery store and had a giggle-fest in response.

Buster was pumped to bury his nose in the nether regions of his doggy friends.

15-year-old me would be shitting herself. Anton didn't believe that I was aware that they'd originally been called Blink. Ha! Don't doubt my teenage Mark Hoppus obsession.

Purple Ginger! Omg!

Very Melbournesque.

Approached the downtown from a different road, it was way more awesome-looking.

Oh yeah we also saw Willem Dafoe through the window of the apple store.

Trippy!

Probably shouldn't be advertising this.

What?

WTF?

We had hours to chat on the walk and came to the decision that, as I so eloquently stated, "we don't deserve A/C" when we return to SE Asia. Going to rough it worse than ever before in preparation for Mexico. No wi-fi, no A/C, no meals that cost more than $3! It's only for a month or so, which is NOTHING when you've traveled for multiple 5 month stretches. It'll go by so freaking fast. I hear that some people go on "vacation" for "a week". I don't even know what that means anymore. For better or worse, we are vagabonds through and through.

I cannot WAIT to be back in Thailand. Initially I was dreading the heat, the humidity, the bus rides...but now its been long enough that I am just excited. I think it's like pregnancy. Women always say that it's hell on earth but then they repeatedly do it. Do you just forget how awful it can be and remember the awesome parts? Oh yeah, I think I was miserable for nine months but BABYYYYYYY let's do it again. Oh yeah, I think I sweated for a year straight but OMG THE BEACHES ARE SO PRETTY AND THE STORIES ARE WICKED let's do it again.

Or maybe I'm just a fool for Bangkok.

2011-09-24T02:50:00.005-07:00

Parramatta

Thursday afternoon we excitedly set off for Parramatta. Sadly, we had to leave Buster behind. Parramatta is an area of Sydney about 15 miles from where we are, but we chose to take the scenic route due to Jim's (awesome) recommendation. We first caught the train to downtown and walked the 2 miles from Central Station to the harbor. Once there we bought tickets (just over $6) for the ferry to Parramatta. It's about an hours journey, and our timing could not have been better - boat was scheduled to leave in five minutes! It was sensational viewing the big buildings, the Opera House, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the water. The journey rapidly grew less exciting, mostly hotels and millionaires homes along the water. But still, new! And new is fantastic!

Once in Parramatta we walked around exploring the city. When Anton and Drew were here back in 2005 this is the area of Sydney that they stayed in, so Anton was excitedly pointing out their hotel and the bars they'd frequented. We wandered through a park and ended up grabbing some $7 steaks that we ordered RARE and were, without a doubt, the most well-done steaks I've eaten since childhood.

It was a beautiful day. Even the hour and fifteen minute long train ride after couldn't dull our enthusiasm. Parramatta isn't necessarily the most exciting place, but happiness was constant.

Upside-down here in Aussieland!

Yes. Those are bats.

Lol for all eternity.

2011-09-21T05:40:00.001-07:00

And look for the girl who has put up with all of your shit.

It was fucking WINDY yesterday.

Aw.

Oporto! Nothing frozen or fried...except their french fries. Went there after seeing menu online and being too lazy to cook in addition to having limited resources.

A grocery trip was in order. Coles is like a safeway/fry's for Australia. Fruit is cheaper at the little Lebanese shops though.

The guys there always stare at me and I feel compelled to make sure there isn't something grotesque going on with my entire body. Then I realize they're just creeps.

I'd feel like an asshole taking pictures of flowers back home (usually unless they're FANTASTIC) but here it's like "HEY HAVE YOU EVER EVEN SEEN THIS FLOWER WELCOME TO AUSTRALIA" it's a good excuse, regardless.

Anton walked 22.5 MILES today.

Through multiple cities...

He even took pictures of graffiti! I've taught him well.

Wal-Mart rip-off much?! Obviously in an Asian area...

Made it to Costco (the destination)!

Time for grubs. First a hotdog, next...

In my plans for the day, I set out to run 3 miles, got lost, ended up run/walking closer to 6 miles. Was very fearful of sunburn due to Australia's standing as the KING OF SKIN CANCER but survived unscathed. Tree lined streets, my skin thanks you.

Hurried home to photograph Buster...

making himself comfortable.

having a silly shadow.

being adorable!

Peace out broooooooos.