Thailand Recap

Ok, I have no idea in what direction this post is headed - it might end up mind numbingly long and detailed or I might completely slack off. We'll see.

Right, so last week Kate, Kayvohn and I made our big trip to Thailand. It was a 6 hour flight, which I used to regard as insufferable, but after flying between Japan and the (East Coast) States, it's easy. We got into Bangkok kind of late and Elle, Kayvohn's Thai friend was there to meet us and drive us to the hotel. It was dark, so I couldnt see much, but man, traffic in Bangkok is KILLER. It took quite a while to get to the hotel cause we were going like 15 mph the whole time. Yowza. Anyway, first night, we just kinda checked in and made plans for the following day and passed out.

-The next day, Monday we got up and ate a fantastic free breakfast buffet. One of the, er, benefits(?) of traveling in a third world country is that we stayed in 4 star hotels for like $30 a night. Anyway, the previous night we had decided to hit up Vimanmek Manion and Siam Square before meeting Elle at the airport for our late afternoon flight to Ko Samui. So we grabbed a taxi, paid 65 cents to get across the city in 45 minutes and we toured around the grounds of this Mansion. It claims to be the "biggest golden teakwood mansion in the world"... does that mean it's not the only golden teakwood mansion in the world? I dunno. Anyway we were lucky cause we were able to catch one of the Thai dancing shows on the grounds. It was pretty interesting.

After that we headed into Siam Square where we did very Thai things like eating lunch at Au Bon Pain and buying things from MAC and Lacoste for wicked cheap. Heh.
We met up with Elle at the airport and went standby for a flight to Samui (they run like twice an hour). We only had to wait for like 20 minutes cause the next flight had spots. Sweet. So we got on a bus to the propeller plane we took to the Island. Not as small as I thought it would be but exposed propellers make me nervous.

We got into Samui an hour later, where it was already dark. Hopped another 75 cent taxi to our beautiful bungalow. Upon check in, they gave us these coconut milk things. I was hoping for some booze inside, but it was a nice touch anyway.



The next 4 days on Samui are kind of a blur because my schedule for everyday pretty much included:
-waking up at 10, hitting the free breakfast (banana pancakes, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs and bacon - yum!) at the open-air hotel restaurant
-shuffling down to the silent (it's low travel season in Thailand) beachfront with my iPod, book, sunscreen and water and cash for spur of the moment cocktails and spending the next 4 or 5 hours either on my stomach, back or in the sparkly blue water
-going back to the bungalow for a shower and late afternoon nap (or spa appointment)
-dinner and drinks (and suit fittings - we had suits custom made for like $100) in the main part of Chaweng Beach
-then early to bed. Beaching all day is exhausting!

The last night in Samui was more memorable though cause I made a concerted effort to go out and experience the nightlife/schmooze with the EuroTrash. While we were just warming up for the night, this little guy came by selling these necklaces. He knows no English other than "20 Baht, 20 Baht". It made me kinda sad that selling stuff to drunk tourists is his job, but I couldn't resist him. I gave him 100 Baht and bought necklaces for the 4 of us then managed to snap this picture.


The night carried on in good old drunk fashion with loads of beers and tequila shots and cigarettes (gross!). Nothing too notable happened other than these random Irish dudes chatting me up (not very cute) and me simultaneously making google eyes at the cute bartender, and the loads of Thai hookers crawling all over the place. Gave me the heebie jeebies, but we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves till last call (which was at the disappointing hour of 2am! - Lame!).

We went back to Bangkok the following day after picking up our new suits (sweet!) and lounging around Starbucks waiting (hungover) for when we could head to the airport, which incidentally, looks more like our bungalow than an international airport.


And our hotel in Bangkok on the final night officially wins the award for Shittiest Place I've Ever Stayed (it was only $6 a night though!). Ugh. We had to head to the airport at 4:30am, so luckily we only had to stay for like one hot second and it actually helped bring the Thailand trip to a close. If I had to leave straight from Samui, I'd have been devastated.

Next Stop: Hong Kong October 7

My hair is gone/a 23rd birthday mullet

So, remember those many many inches of thick Irish hair I had, well, they are all gone. But the plus side is that I don't have a mullet. For the sake of laziness, I'm just gonna copy the email I sent out to my friends when I was still mulletized (and traumatized). But first, a picture of me minus about 6 pounds of hair:


Well, it was bound to happen soon but last night, on my 23rd birthday, I got my first bad (and I mean baaaad) haircut in Japan. I should have known this would happen given the slightly odd circumstances, but here's what happened.

I met my friend Makiko's friend Shun a couple weekends ago and basically he's like one step short of getting his hairdresser license or whatever. So, he's done the school and the dummy hairsyling, etc etc and now he has to do 30 free haircuts before he can start seeing paid customers. Well, I havent had a haircut in a few months so I was like sign me up! So Aaron and I went to the salon, they did Aaron's first and it went well. But, basically he had to have the cut checked by a licensed salon person before it was over - and the person checking Aarons hair actually made a big difference in helping Aarons cut. I felt fine about it then.

So I was next. I found a magazine picture of a girl with long thick hair, with long layers, I said, I want this. It wasn't too much different from (what was) my current style. For those of you who know what Japanese mullets (that EVERYONE has) look like, I flipped through the rest of the magazine and pointed to like 90 of them and was like NO! Dame! No! NOT THIS! So Shun did a good job actually, but I did notice he was running those thinning scissors through my hair more than I would have liked. And we noticed a pile of my hair about the size of two of Paris Hilton's dogs on the floor behind me. He went to go get the other guy and at that time, I was satisfied with the cut. But, apparently he didnt explain to the other guy that I am not Japanese and therefore do not want to be given the Japanese mullet that is all the rage these days. So the second man just like wacks my hair into the mullet of the year, thus turning Paris Hiltons dogs into the size of that dog in the movie, Beethoven (love that movie, by the way). So you know, I act cool(!), we leave and Aaron and I start like FREAKING OUT about the mullet.

I know I'm exaggerating a little (a lot?), but I know that once I wash it I'm gonna be trailer park-worthy, and let's face it - I can't pull off the Jgirl look either. So alas, after a restless night of tossing, turning and stroking the mullet, I decided that today after school (the mullet is pinned up today) I will be chopping the mullet and returning to my sophomore year of college short hair look. But, uh, change is good right?

As Bob Dylan once said: How many mullets must a girl go through, before she can sleep at night? The rat tails, my friend, are blowing in the wind. The rat tails are blowing in the wind.

love,
Melissa Mullet Curran

PS - Dont bother asking for pictures. Just do a Google image search of Joan Jett, you know the 'I love Rock N Roll' lady...

Nihongo pera pera!

I just got back from my post-sports day (that actually got rained out) drinking party with my co-workers. And I spent 2 hours speaking entirely in Japanese with my Vice-Principal. Finally, it's starting to click... and it feels awesome!
Sugoi desu ne?

How many Zima cover models does it take...

To attach a pig dangly to a keitai?


Apparently, more than two! Look at the concentration going on here. Who could tell we're already 5 drinks deep? But it's all in a day's work as a gaijin face of Zima: Japan.

How do you say "cool" in many different languages?

ZIMA!


That's right, folks. Add Zima to the list of things-that-never-really-took-off-in-America-but-are-wildly-popular-in-Japan. Already on that list are the Backstreet Boys, the Carpenters and that homeless layered look that many girls sported in the 80s. I expect I'll see Clear Pepsi make another appearance before I return to the States - and frankly, I'm kind of excited about that. Clear Pepsi was such a headtrip!

So Aaron, Will and I decided to be awesome and order some Zima last night at dinner. It was the three of us and like 10 Japanese folks. And one dude actually told Makiko how cool the foreigners were for drinking Zima. We get way more credit than we deserve, but I'll take it. Anyway, we decided that the three of us are going to be the gaijin faces of Zima: Japan. We are hoping to get jobs as promoters so we can hand out Zima frisbees, lighters and trucker hats to our students when they win BINGO in class. Also, what an ice breaker - we'll never be without friends again!

All this typing has exhausted me... I'm gonna go have a cool, refreshing Zima!