Communal Vomiting

Janelle wasn't arriving until later tonight, so today I decided to just have a low-key 'me' day here in Bangkok. I slept in, watched some TV, had breakfast, and then wandered out into the city. I had a few errands to run, some banking to do, and then I took a long stroll all the way to Siam Centre to go and get my hair cut. I had my hair cut the last time I was here in The Kok, and so I went back to the very same Toni & Guy salon as before. I trust almost no one in Asia to cut my hair, as I've had it butchered more times on this continent than I care to remember, but the stylists at Toni & Guy actually seem to know what they're doing. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and relaxing in a Starbucks and it was soooooo nice to just chill out in a familiar (although nevertheless still evil) piece of Western civilization.

That evening I took a taxi to Bangkok International Airport and low and behold just as I was strolling into the terminal, there she was emerging from the gate. HOORAY! It was so wonderful, yet completely surreal, to see MY SISTER here at the airport in Bangkok. It's like two worlds colliding head on - the past me from Thunder Bay and the present me here in Asia. Crazy stuff I tell ya!

It only felt weird for about ten minutes to be with my sister again, and then it was just like old times again. We had LOTS of catching up to do, which we put a good dent into over dinner on The Strip. She didn't seem to be too overwhelmed by all the chaos of Khao San, but then again she had just spent the last sixteen hours or so in an airplane so she seemed a little spacey. Mother Nature put on a show with her daily ritual of thunderstorms bringing torrential downpours, and it was fun to watch all the travellers scurry to find protection from the unbelievably heavy rains. The street soon flooded ankle deep - and more - and it was like Khao San had been turned into a canal. Suddenly a group of people started screaming and jumping around, as not only were there giant cockroaches scurrying around, also trying to avoid the waters, but apparently a bunch of rats were pouring out of one of the flooded sewers. COOL!

We had a solid three days in Bangkok to just hang out and catch up, and allow Janelle to get herself acclimatized to the change in time zones, climate, and culture. She seemed to adjust remarkably well and experienced very little jet lag. And she didn't seem too weirded out by all the insanity that is Bangkok, so I have to say I was quite impressed. We did *a lot* of shopping during those three days (mostly clothes and cheap CD's) and also made time to visit Wat Pho (home of the very impressive gold-plated gigantic Reclining Buddha statue) and also the Grand Palace, which has gotta be THE palace of all palaces, as every single building is like covered from top to bottom in gold and jewels. We also went to go and see a movie at the Gold Class theatres, where each guest gets their own large reclining lazy-boy chair, and the chair comes with little socks, a pillow, and your own blanket! Now this is how all movie theatres should be like! Luxury, baby! ;-)

We spent a good deal of our last day in town just hanging out by the pool on the roof. It was actually a warm, sunny, rain-free afternoon so we wanted to take advantage of that. Upstairs we met up with a guy from California named Brendon, who we had met a few days earlier during breakfast. He seemed like a really friendly, laid-back, cool guy so we made plans to go out for some drinks later on. We ended up at a little bar tucked into an alley off of The Strip and had cheap beers while playing a drinking card game that Janelle taught us. I was quickly getting a buzz, and knowing that we had to get up really early the next morning, and being the sometimes-lame-ass-old-man that I am, I checked in early leaving the two youngins to stay up late and party more.

The next morning Janelle and I caught at 7:30am flight that took us from Bangkok down to the lovely island of Penang in Malaysia. Penang is a fairly large island on Malaysia's West Coast, and we were just going to spend a day there as it was really just our launch point for crossing into Indonesia. We got a room in Georgetown, which is the largest city on the island, and is the oldest colonial settlement in this part of Asia. It used to be quite the thriving trading post back in the days when the European countries battled each other for control of Southeast Asia and the trade routes, and although it's a lot less busy now, Georgetown has been left with a legacy of some very nice architecture.

Janelle and I had some more business to take care of (like buying ferry tickets and Indonesian rupiah) and then in the late afternoon got back to playing tourist again. We took a special train that went up Penang Hill, which is the highest point of land on the island. It took about a half hour to climb that steep hill and the sun was just going down over the horizon by the time we got to the top. Georgetown lay far below us like a sparkling Lite-Brite set and it was actually really pretty. Nelly and I took some silly photos (as we're famous for) and went back into town for a truly scrumptious dinner at an Indian restaurant. Penang is famous for it's great food, and after tonight's dinner I can surely see why! Mmmmm....yummies!!!

The next day was quite an adventure, and one that was full of a lot of uncertainties that fortunately all worked out in the end. We were taking the ferry from Georgetown across the Straits of Malacca to the massive island of Sumatra in Indonesia, and then somehow heading to our next destination - Bukit Lawang. The ferry ride turned out to a much-less-than-pleasant ride! Just remembering it now makes my stomach curl up in fear...

The Straits are quite wide, but the ferry is a high-speed one so it only takes a few hours to cross it. However, on the day that we were travelling, the waters were quite choppy, which made for a very bumpy ride. At first I was feeling a-okay, and a little sleepy actually, and wasn't too concerned about the choppiness. But, when they started handing out little black plastic bags (ie: Barf Bags) to all the passengers, I knew that I should be prepared for the worst.

It wasn't until about half-way through the ride that the choppiness of the ride was kicked up another notch, and that's when I started to feel rather queasy, rather quickly. It was mere minutes before I felt my breakfast coming back up again, and then next thing I knew I was making a dash for my barf bag and making full good use of it. Oh, it was so disgusting. And it just didn't stop! The boat was just being pounded, and kept bouncing up and down, up and down, up and down... I kept getting site of the waters and horizon only to have it disappear again in a flash. My stomach was SO NOT enjoying this!

As I lay hunched over ralfing into the little black bag, I couldn't help but notice that I wasn't the only one feeling like my entire stomach was coming up my throat. All around me were echoes and cries of mutual nausea coming from the other passengers. I couldn't really tell, but from my best estimate, it seemed like a good third or so of the other passengers were also too busy blowing chunks into their little baggies to be able to enjoy the sea views, much like myself. They say that misery loves company, and I guess there isn't really anything else in this great world of ours that's more bonding than communal vomiting. Janelle was doing just fine, but all around me I heard plenty of "bleeeeehhhhhh" and "cough choke cough" and "harrruuuuuuu....gurgle gurgle gurgle...splatter splatter splatter..." It was a chorus of retching and puking all around for a couple hours, and at one point I really didn't think that I was going to be able to make the rest of the journey once we got to Sumatra.

Six hours and two plastic baggies full of liquidy orange goodness after leaving Penang we arrived at the port of Belawan in Indonesia. After my partaking in the mass ferry performance of "The Sound Of Vomital Music" I had taken a nap/passed out and woke up feeling much better when we docked. We did our immigration routine again at the port (and I got another nifty full-page sticker for my passport!) and then were ferried onto a bus heading into Medan. Medan is the largest city on Sumatra and was our connection point for catching a bus to where we had hoped to make it to by that night.

I've read that Medan isn't exactly a lovely place (read: it's supposedly fucking disgusting) and upon arrival this description was confirmed. We were driven to a travel agency in the middle of the city, and from the windows of our bus I could see how gross Medan really was. It was loud, dirty, dusty, extremely polluted, and crowded full of bikes, cars, and giant trucks. Blech. Not wanting to be stuck in this urban hell-hole overnight, Nellz and I made quick arrangements to get our asses out of that city. We were driven to the local bus station by the travel agent's buddy (where we had to squeeeeze into the back of his cramped Suzukie Sidekick or whatever it was) and then got on a mini-bus that was heading up to Bukit Lawang.

Feeling very relieved to being on our way out of Medan, Janelle and I settled in for a ride that we really did have no idea how long was going to take. It took just over three hours to get to Bukit Lawang, but it was a long and very bumpy one as the highway heading up there was in absolutely terrible shape. Hell, this stretch of highway could give Cambodia a run for its money! The mini-bus was packed full of locals at times and poor Janelle and I were so cramped in that back seat, but we were just happy to be almost at our destination.

We arrived in Bukit Lawang at a very late hour, feeling very tired and very hungry, and were immediately greeted by a very friendly guide/tout who led us to the nearest hotel. At this point we didn't care where we were gonna stay, we just wanted a bed, a shower, and a restaurant. We were led to the Bukit Lawang Eco Lodge which turned out to be gorgeous! It was a collection of bungalows strung out in these beautiful gardens along the river, and to get there we had to cross over this Indiana Jones-esqe swaying suspension bridge. Wild! The air was cool and fresh and the restaurant looked really clean and inviting too. I get the impression that Janelle and I are really gonna enjoy our stay here.