monday, monday, monday

[9-22-08]

Today was a very interesting experience. Boss 2 and I went to the Grand Palace. To get there we took a taxi (which if every in thailand make sure to take a metered taxi, otherwise you will have to negotiate the price once you get there) As soon as we stepped out of the taxi we were re-directed to, what seemed to be the entrance. well, as it turned out it wasn't. We were then told that the palace was closed for lunch [which i found suspect but boss 2 went with it] and the man we were talking to told us that it would be a good idea to take a tuk tuk ride to the giant buddha statue, which seemed like a good idea. Half way into our adventure, and after the second store that we didn't want to stop at, I mentioned that I didn't believe that the palace was actually closed and my boss agreed. So, when our driver mentioned stopping at yet another store we asked him to just take us to back to the palace, but he didn't really like this idea. He turned around and informed us that if we went into 3 more stores for a minute he would get gas money. [i believe he only told us about the scam because i saw him getting money from the guy at the second store] Instead of being side tracked from our original adventure any further we decided to just offer him 100 extra bot to just take us back. [the ride was supposed to only cost 20 baht, but he ended up getting 120 baht instead] Once we were back at the palace it really sunk in that we had been, literally and figuratively, taken for a ride. But all in all we only spent an extra $3.50 or something close to that, so it really didn't affect us very much and probably helped the tuk tuk driver eat that night. Either way we got to the palace and took a lot of pictures [to be posted soon] and to night....the ping pong show. [i'm slightly concerned with what i might be getting in to]

that's not my name

ahh, so its off to new lands again. Lets see again i have been neglecting this page and not updating anyone on what I have been up to. I guess the luster has dulled a bit on this toy, but I digress.

While in HK not much happened I didn't really have any time to go galavanting around as I usually do. oh, except for the whole boss tackling the old man thing, apart from that not much happened. Okay, so I guess I should tell the story then. We were walking past the small group of people protesting the Jewellery fair, on the way to the MTR, when an old man basically runs my boss over. Well, everything might have been fine if we didn't see this man again but when we got to the ticket counter he was waiting at the window. So, in order to get to the second window you have to pass through a roped off section that passes the first window...well, instead of letting well enough alone she decided that barreling through him would be the best revenge. I really do think that he may have left at least half his face on the window. By the end of this debacle we end up on the wrong train since she was too amused with the result to function properly. Other than this not much happened in the HK.

Now, in Thailand, thats very different story....to begin the trip we first had to get on a plane, I don't know if anyone reading has every flown on srilankan air but I don't suggest it, not in the least. The plane on take off shook so violently that I thought the whole thing would burst into a million pieces. It was quite possibly one of the scariest moments in my life thus far.

The second day, sunday, we went to the weekend market in Mo Chit. I've been to quite a few markets but non of this size and chaos. It seemed as though we might have a quiet (well as quiet as markets go) day but as soon as 12pm hit it was one of the most chaotic places i've ever been. Most foreigners were buying shirts with thai phrases that they couldn't read, or things that they deemed and "crazy thai" objects. Meanwhile, I'm following my bosses around (who are really doing the same previously mentioned things), that have been here before, just observing the culture clash that comprised the market.
Since we had walked around for several hours, we decided go get rubbed on. The thai massage is definitely an experience in itself. I opted to just get a foot and leg massage while one of my bosses (male) went for a full body massage. My boss chooses not to partake in the accustomed happy ending of the massage but there were a few men that came down that had clearly taken part.

show me, show me, show me how...

much like any other country that has housed the olympic games china is all a buzz about the opportunity, so much so that fights and angry mobs have affected the torch race.  this information and topic is all over the news here, but i learned that it made it safely to tibet yesterday.  [I really want to go to tibet before it is overly influenced by the chinese government] There is also an abundance of little anime style olympic figures everywhere you turn...even at the jewelry fair there were little jade figures for the olympics being mass produced and available for mass order.  

Speaking of mass production... i was sitting at lunch yesterday and these two [identical] black boats went speeding by, and i thought to myself that this can't be a regular person's boat [they looked too put together and expensive]....and then I started thinking about how it would be interesting to get a behind the scenes look at the military stuff they might have...bc you know they have access to a lot of high tech stuff and the man power to produce it quickly. 

I said something to someone about this and all she said was, "yeah but a war with China would never happen bc all they would have to do is call in their debt and our economy would be crushed."...which is just an illogical thought bc we aren't the only ones capable of waging war....but i digress 

anyway, when we got to the show yesterday.... I went to open my water bottle [which actually had coke in it] and the lid shot 20ft in the air with a really loud bang [there was no fizz and no mess just a lot of noise], but everyone just carried on about their business as though nothing had even happened [which also fuels the scary war machine theory in my head].  One would think that a loud bang would elicit some sort of response, but the fact that it didn't sparks the notion that people just expect there to be loud gun like noises at any given time.  

oh, and we had dinner with scary food people but as i am out of time for the moment i will have to talk about that later.  

just run with me through rows of speeding cars

speaking of italians...the loud rude ones that are staying at my hotel got yelled at last night for having a business meeting in the breakfast lounge last night.  [only e-club rooms can be down here and their guests aren't even staying at the hotel] It was really funny. 

anyway, I went to the night market last night...I couldn't justify buying anything, but now that i've thought about it a little more I think i should have bought those few things that caught my eye.  I guess i'll have to just go back tonight or tomorrow night and get them.  

so far the show is going well and we are buying a lot of great product. We have two more big meetings but we've already gotten a lot and don't really need much more...i guess more is better than not enough though [oh how economy and consumption baffles me sometimes, I think the trends and patterns of the mass market are funny though] everyone has to have the newest thing and then a week later its something completely different.  It's an easy thing to see when you are the one doing the buying for the propulsion  of these trends, or even if you are buying just to keep up with them.  The thing is, I get to see the trend before it becomes big and thats really strange to me....its almost like making a snow globe.  you put all the right ingredients in and then set it down on the table, the trend spreads but only when you shake it up a bit, and then shortly after everything settles until you do it all over again.  

this love type thing

okay so, we may have missed a few posts since the last...let's see I arrived home safely from the last trip [to Italy] and now I am in Hong Kong for a week on yet another buying trip.  

The flight over was very long and un-eventful, I watched almost all of the movies available on HBO during the 18 hr flight and didn't sleep a bit.  I typically try to stay awake for the flight to HK since we usually arrive at 10pm and if I slept on the flight I would never get any sleep and be jet lagged for days.  

I think I actually prefer HK to Italy.  The business day starts later [around 10] and ends around 5, but even though business is over it doesn't mean that the night is over.  They tend to stay up very late here [unlike the Italians who tend to shut down around 10pm] and things go on way past 11pm.  In fact if you try to go do anything before 8 there isn't anything going on.  

And although the people in Italy were helpful [which isn't always the case] the people here [HK] are more than willing to wait on you hand and foot.  [in some cases they tend to hover and become overly doting]  

Another observation/comparison is that the pace of business and life is much faster here, where the take to a more laid back approach in most of europe there is always movement here, always something to do.  There are also more options for transport here,  they have one of the best subway systems that i have ever been on...it's always on time and, although they pack it in like sardines,  it is very clean.  I think the whole sardine idea can be applied to the city as a whole, they have a tendency to use up all of the land that is available and have to re-claim or make some new land to build more.  Every time I come here the canal gets smaller and smaller, and I think eventually there will be a land mass connecting the two islands [kowloon, and HK].  

This is really all I have for today [6-19-08] and I am off to the show to buy some jewelry.  

salut!

I'll Stay up with you all night

[5-20-08] 

Leaving Florence at 8:30pm, it's going to be late when we get back to the hotel...it will be about 11:30 or so.  We didn't go see David, but we did see the cathedral.  While at the cathedral we decided to go up to the top of the dome where you could go out on the balcony on the roof...well...first we need some back story...okay, so I am absolutely terrified of heights, as in if I am near a ledge I either pass out, throw up, or run the other direction completely dizzy and unfunctionable.  Now, back to the Cathedral...we decided to go up to the roof.   Everything starts out well, but as we get further up the winding concrete stairs I begin to notice the view out of the random small windows...everything is still fine, and then we get to the walk way that overlooks the inside of the church from the base of the dome arch [the ceiling].  Okay, so i'm trying to be a good sport...I go out to the ledge/walkway, I take a look around and then turned right back around to go down the wrong way, but I stayed there for a min before I did.  [I really wish I had thought to take a quick picture]  Now, some people may say that it's a waste of time to go up all of those stairs just to turn around and go back down before getting to the roof, but at least I tried...I stayed there longer than I ever had before.  So get over it, I'm working on it.  

I've got bigger hands

[5-20-08] 

Ha ha, I couldn't resist this title [reminiscent  of a convo with Sam] 

So, I've missed a day of blogging but not much has happened.  We ended up not going to the show on the 18th instead we went into the city and drank a lot of wine, but we did go the next day.  Nothing really came of it though.  I'm now on a train to Florence.  We decided that since it was raining on our last day here we should try going somewhere that it wasn't raining.  The ride is quiet and really pretty.  Today may be the best day in Italy.  Rilo kiley and Cat Power take the ride to a level of perfection that would otherwise not be achieved.   This really solidifies my want to do a train tour of Europe.  It will happen one day, I'm going to make it a point to do it before I'm 30.  Maybe with a group of friends, maybe family, maybe a little of both, or maybe I'll do it twice, once with each group.  Either way it's going to happen...