Soi Cowboy!

After an uneventful and long flight from Vancouver, we arrived in Thailand early on Saturday morning. Our room here at the hotel did not disappoint us when we finally got here at about 2 am. We crashed pretty hard and when we woke up we enjoyed our free breakfast buffet before heading up to the roof to check out the roof top current pools and fitness room. We knew it was time to head back down to our room when we heard the thunder crack overhead. The rain started soon afterwards and it was intense. We waited until it had started to diminish and then headed out to check out the neighborhood that we are in. A snack of sticky rice and black bean cooked in a banana leaf refueled us a little, but we still ended up napping when we got back to our room. It seems that the 13 hour time difference is a little tricky to get used to.

After the nap we decided to go for another little walk around and discovered a mini red light district a couple blocks away from the hotel called Soi Cowboy. Neon signs and bars cover the whole strip, with bars offering services that require signs such as "We have 20 gorgeous girls, some ugly ones and some fat ones too" and "We have more ladies that you can handle".

On the way back up to our room we talked with our amazingly friendly concierge and he arranged for us to get a ride out to the floating market the next day. We tried to get some sleep to prepare for our early morning trip but we (especially Ryan) were unsuccessful and didn't get as much shut eye as we would have liked.

We were both awake before our wake up call came and got ready to leave early as it is a 1.5 hour car ride out to the floating market. Once we arrived we hopped onto a long tail boat and headed out to see what the market had to offer. Since this is generally a tourist market it was mostly souvenirs, spices, Buddha statues and other little trinkets. The salespeople were a little pushy but friendly and I love the way they would grab the boat with a long hook on a pole and drag you over to their stall. We ended up getting a couple little items and learned to barter in the process. It was scorching hot so we bought our boat driver a pop while we chugged our water.

About half way into the ride we pulled over to a beautiful little wat and got out to take a look around. It was stunning! It was surrounded by bells that you bang with little wooden sticks that they leave in buckets for that purpose. I couldn't resist and had to make some noise myself.

On the way up to the wat we noticed the water thrashing around. We realized then that the water was teeming with large silver fish. Our driver grabbed us a bag of fish food and we fed the fish from the boat and then from the dock at the wat. Quite an experience. Then it was back to the hotel to grab some rays at the roof top pool and find ourselves some dinner. Tomorrow the new year's (Songkran) festivities start, although it seems like the water fight had already started by the time we returned to Bangkok. Time to get prepared with our water guns.

Gravel bars are sexy places!

Hello from Vancouver!

We have had a wonderful couple days here so far. It started with a smooth flight from Edmonton and then we headed to the hotel. Our hotel is lovely and the staff have been excellent.

After we were settled in on Monday we headed out for a bite to eat and ended up at a nice little cafe with a view of the mountains. Since flights always tire me out no matter how short they are, we came back to the room for a little nap. Once we woke up we called my brother Graham and went out for dinner at a little Japanese restaurant. The meal started off with a deep fried pumpkin ball containing a cooked egg which was delicious. Next up was an oyster dish that was to die for, I could have eaten 4 of them. Afterwards the three of us split 2 sashimi tuna steaks and washed it all down with the best green tea I have ever had.

With our bellies full we started walking down to Stanley park and wandered around the park for a couple hours. At one point we heard a strange humming noise coming from behind us. We turned around and saw an electric skateboard coming down the path towards us towing another boarder behind them. Then at the end of our walk, Ryan saw a waddling movement in the grass that turned out to be a cute little skunk. No worries, we still smell lovely.

On Tuesday we started our day with a icky tasting dose of Ducoral, our anti-diarrhea vaccine. Once we had washed the taste of that out of our mouths we decided to head down to the Vancouver aquarium. Our favorite parts were the belugas, the otters, the sloth and the techno jellyfish which looked like they had little multi-coloured lights shooting up and down the sides. After the aquarium we were getting a little hungry so we grabbed a slice of pizza and people watched while snacking. Then it was off to check out Graham's boat!

We headed to the seabus station and set off on our first boat ride of the trip. The seabus is an excellent way to travel and has never missed a crossing. Graham met us on the other side and we headed towards the marina. We hung out on his boat for a little while chatting and having a little snack of pita chips and dip. Then we wandered off to check out the rest of the marina. Among the boats there are also some really cool floating houses. One of them was very reminiscent of a little hobbit home, all it was missing was the round door. On the way down the dock the first time we heard an interesting noise that sounded like a drowning banshee. We tried to figure out what it was but couldn't so we just kept walking. On the way back we saw one of the residents standing out on the dock outside his house. He then informed us what the crazy noise from earlier was. Apparently, otters were having some sexy time under his house...

SOLD!

On Monday night we got our usual call from Bob, our real estate agent, and since I thought it was his normal Monday night update on the housing market I didn't call him back. I figured, well we only have a week left on this real estate contract before putting plan B in effect (renting the house) so I'll just call him back in the morning. The next morning he called me at work and to my complete surprise, we had an offer!

After we made a quick counter offer and it was accepted we did a muted jump for joy, muted because last time we had an offer it was quickly dashed by our uniquely crappy condo documents. This time, after another initial scare over the documents, the other conditions were smoothly removed from the contract. Now our house is officially sold!

Time for the flurry of activity to begin. We have so much to do and less than a month to do it in as the possession date on the house is March 27. Luckily most of our stuff is already in storage and house is pretty empty. Tommorrow we head out to buy our backpacks, shoes and some other sweet gear and I am so excited.

Look-out Graham, we are on our way! First stop Vancouver!

My First Tattoo

Finally, after a lot of thought, procrastination and nervousness, I headed over to Urge Studios and had my first tattoo done by Dylan.

It is the Egyptian cat goddess Bast. She is the goddess of, among other things, the sun, women, dancing and entertainment. On her chest is the eye of Horus which is a symbol of protection, and a scarab which is the symbol of creation. Behind her is the sun, which symbolizes the god Ra.

I must admit that the process was a little more painful than I had anticipated. However, as soon as the outline was done there was much less wincing on my part. When the color was being done I had a little snack while reading my book which was a great distraction. I was in the chair for about 3 hours, including a couple breaks, but it was totally worth it and I am very happy with the results.