Sunday, February 15, 2009
Whoa, check out those shoulders
Hmm . . . so guess the sex industry is alive and well. Last night, heading out for a bite to eat, we must have run across 6-7 boys/ladies strutting their stuff in the one block between our hotel and the restaurant. For sure the ones standing right next to the hotel had suspiciously male voices. Around the corner, a couple of them were hitting on a white guy who may or may not have been willing. At the restaurant itself, we saw a few white dudes escorting some cuties in and out. Gregg pointed out that the shoulders on one were pretty masculine. I'm thinking for once that wedding ring and having me around might be coming in handy . . . no one seemed to bother us too much. :)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A great deal
Heading to the Grand Palace yesterday, a very nice Thai man offered us an incredible bargain. The Grand Palace was apparently closed yesterday in the morning for a royal family visit. So instead, this guy pointed out some other cool places to visit in the morning and then suggested coming back to the palace at 1. He looked at our map and highlighted a few locations. And then suggested that a tuk tuk ride (a three wheeled moped type thing) might be the best way to catch in all the sites. The tuk tuk driver would wait while we visited each site and the whole morning would cost us about 40 bhat, little over a buck. Not a bad deal actually. And really who wants to go some where that's closed anyway. Beware, the man told us, of tuk tuk drivers who charge more than 40 -- this is the thai local rate. Especially yesterday, which was a holiday so all tuks were running at a discount. Pretty killer deal huh?
And lo and behold, while we're standing there, trying to walk away but also a little curious, a tuk tuk happens to drive up. Talks to our helpful host for a second about the places to visit and says he'll do it for a 100. No, no, our host said -- just 40! The tuk tuk driver quickly agreed and would have practically pushed us into the tuk tuk if we had let him.
Fortunately, we had been warned by our hotel to stay away from tuk tuks AND people that told us the Grand Palace was closed. Still we hadn't been prepared for such an elaborate concoction. It was pretty good, had me even wondering if it was too good a deal to pass away.
As we firmly walked away, our very kind host yelled out how stupid we were for insisting on still going to the Grand Palace.
About a block away, we were met with an identical (seriously verbatim) story. Same list of must see tourist attractions, same reason why the palace was closed, a different tuk tuk driver that reluctantly agreed to a reduced "local" rate. G said he was watching more closely this time and saw the guy wave the tuk tuk over when it seemed like he had made the kill.
Anyway, for a closed palace, the place had hundreds of visitors walking around when we finally got there. I wonder what its like when the royal family isn't in town.
And lo and behold, while we're standing there, trying to walk away but also a little curious, a tuk tuk happens to drive up. Talks to our helpful host for a second about the places to visit and says he'll do it for a 100. No, no, our host said -- just 40! The tuk tuk driver quickly agreed and would have practically pushed us into the tuk tuk if we had let him.
Fortunately, we had been warned by our hotel to stay away from tuk tuks AND people that told us the Grand Palace was closed. Still we hadn't been prepared for such an elaborate concoction. It was pretty good, had me even wondering if it was too good a deal to pass away.
As we firmly walked away, our very kind host yelled out how stupid we were for insisting on still going to the Grand Palace.
About a block away, we were met with an identical (seriously verbatim) story. Same list of must see tourist attractions, same reason why the palace was closed, a different tuk tuk driver that reluctantly agreed to a reduced "local" rate. G said he was watching more closely this time and saw the guy wave the tuk tuk over when it seemed like he had made the kill.
Anyway, for a closed palace, the place had hundreds of visitors walking around when we finally got there. I wonder what its like when the royal family isn't in town.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Winners and losers . . .
So its all over now. . . the wedding, the honeymoon. And its a little weird, suddenly having nothing to do. I think I got used to being busy, that I don't know how to deal with all the new time on my hands. It kind of makes me want to almost do nothing at all -- the whole week I've been walking around kind of dazed and feeling lazy, thinking it'd be nice to just sleep all day, even though there's still work and lots of clean up around the house.
While opening our gifts and emailing/reveiwing our vendors, its been hard to not go back and analyze everything, good and bad. So it occurred to me the other day that I kind of have a hit list and shit list brewing in my head now. By that I mean the people who came through (in sometimes little but totally awesome ways), and the ones that I'm probably going to be po'd at for a while. So on the whole, general hits were friends who were flexible, helpful, letting me throw random tasks at them without blinking, or letting me talk about wedding stuff ad nauseam. People who asked to bring guests politely (one person offered to pay cuz they knew it was last minute!), or were nice when I told them they couldn't. The team players! People like that are total troopers in my book and will be rewarded when I figure out how.
On the other side of the spectrum, aka my new #1 pet peeve -- bailers. You know, people that backed out at the last minute or thought they "might have to" right when we were finalizing our numbers with the caterers. People that promised to help but bailed. Or better yet, people that said they wanted to help but had so many restrictions that it was easier to just not ask. Its sad but I have a little mental note now.
Overall, though, the wedding itself was AWESOME. I almost can't believe how well it all turned out. And its so nice to be finally married. During the next week, I'll try to post up little recaps and pictures from the 2nd wedding and the honeymoon. And then, it really will be all over and life will go back to normal. I guess I'll have to find something new to fill up my time.
While opening our gifts and emailing/reveiwing our vendors, its been hard to not go back and analyze everything, good and bad. So it occurred to me the other day that I kind of have a hit list and shit list brewing in my head now. By that I mean the people who came through (in sometimes little but totally awesome ways), and the ones that I'm probably going to be po'd at for a while. So on the whole, general hits were friends who were flexible, helpful, letting me throw random tasks at them without blinking, or letting me talk about wedding stuff ad nauseam. People who asked to bring guests politely (one person offered to pay cuz they knew it was last minute!), or were nice when I told them they couldn't. The team players! People like that are total troopers in my book and will be rewarded when I figure out how.
On the other side of the spectrum, aka my new #1 pet peeve -- bailers. You know, people that backed out at the last minute or thought they "might have to" right when we were finalizing our numbers with the caterers. People that promised to help but bailed. Or better yet, people that said they wanted to help but had so many restrictions that it was easier to just not ask. Its sad but I have a little mental note now.
Overall, though, the wedding itself was AWESOME. I almost can't believe how well it all turned out. And its so nice to be finally married. During the next week, I'll try to post up little recaps and pictures from the 2nd wedding and the honeymoon. And then, it really will be all over and life will go back to normal. I guess I'll have to find something new to fill up my time.
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