Sunday, August 31, 2003

in the entire 11 days i spent in thailand, i never saw the moon. how odd.



i'm now in the tokyo-narita airport...not quite sure what i'm going to do over the next 7 hours. i'm kinda hoping they have one of those excursion things for passengers with long layovers, much like in amsterdam...but i have a feeling tokyo is quite far away from this airport. ah well...i'll figure something out. i decided to check my bag in, with the assumption that there's a snowball's chance in hell that i'm going to be able to jump on an earlier flight to seattle. it's so sad---anna arrives in nyc only 13 hours after i arrive in seattle--and she leaves 24 hours after i do and has much farther to travel. i'm kicking myself for not spending a bit more and getting the more direct flight. what kills me even more is that i have over 35,000 miles with northwest--enough to upgrade to business class; however, because i spent so little on my flight, i'm not allowed to upgrade, even with my miles. ridiculous. that's why i like southwest--they don't care how much, how little, you've spent on a flight--if you've earned the miles, you've earned the reward. plain and simple.
for our first day back in bangkok, we just shopped shopped shopped. we headed to siam center where there are malls galore and wandered around for a few hours. at one point, all the lights went out in the building we were in, reminding anna of the blackout in nyc a couple weeks ago. in the evening, we ate dinner at our favorite restaurant in the hotel, hamilton's, and then headed out for the famous Suam-Lum Night Bazaar. There are over 3,000 stalls there and there were beer gardens and concerts all over, complete with fireworks due to the celebration of some sort of festival. We didn't last long, however, since we had to wake up early the next day.



In the morning, Anna & I bid our goodbye to Julia to go on a day excursion to Kanchanaburi. We first headed to a war cemetery where thousands of foreign soldiers (mostly British & Australian) are buried from World War I, after helping the Japanese to build the railroad from Thailand to Burma. All in all, over 16,000 soldiers died during the building of this railroad--quite morbid. We then headed to the actual railroad--specifically the part that is the "bridge on the river kwai". After that, we took a bamboo raft ride down a river over to some Elephant Trekking! Anna & I got on top of an elephant and took a short ride around the area, even for a little swim along the river! What a touristy thing for us to do eh? Anyhow, we then saw a short elephant show where the two of us got "elephant massages" (the elephant essentially lightly tapped us on our backs)...then we ate some lunch, took a train ride for half an hour along the railroad, & then sat in the mini-van for the long 3 hour journey back to Bangkok....



Surprise! Julia was still in the room! For a more complete goodbye, the 3 of us headed up to the fancy schmancy Tiara restaurant for a final toast. Anna & I then literally crashed and didn't wake up til the next day.



Today, Anna & I went shopping again---to the much larger Chatuchak Weekend Market. Whew--that place was overwhelming but quite enjoyable to go to. The bargains there were incredible---Anna & I both got a small lamp that we LOVE for less than $10.



[sigh] I have to wake up quite early in the morning (3am) to catch my 6am flight--I might as well not sleep. Not really looking forward to my journey---I spend a good 10 hours of it just in layovers: 7 hours in Tokyo and 3 hours in Hawaii. ugh. It's going to be a looooong day tomorrow. Sadly, I get in late in Seattle--10pm--and so won't have much time to recuperate before heading back to work the next day. Ah well. This has been such a wonderful, restful, peaceful trip. I had great company, ate great food, indulged in more massages than I think I have ever received in my life and really caught up in all my lost sleep from the past few months. This is absolutely what I needed after my crazy project launch. Time to head back to work and launch another store!

Thursday, August 28, 2003

btw--all my entries are still in seattle time..although i'm in thailand. if you're confused by the timestamp, that's why.
well. today was quite the adventurous day. for the first time in the history of my web log, i'm going to have a guest writer---ms. julia cassaniti--to describe today, as she is such a beautifully verbose writer......



A nine-transport kind of day



The day started out like any other - a knock on our pastel bungalow well before 6 am, a sunrise over the silent water of the Gulf of Thailand, a non-swim in the curvy pool and we're off, missing the songtauw pickup and hailing a cab to the dock, to go to the mainland of Surat Thani. Of course, the dock we go to is (of course) not the one we're actually to leave from, and the bus scheduled to bring us to it is 5 minutes gone - the three of us jump on the back of waiting motorbike taxis and speed bond-like across the island [Audrey: "Anna & I FEARED for our lives"; Anna: "I was thinking about my funeral and who would speak and if my mother would be mad at me for dying in such a stupid way"], cutting ahead of the bus barrelling down just as we spot water. The slowboat of two hours meanders its way past some spectactular islands as Audrey's magazine flies out of her hand in the wind and Julia climbs over the fence with the sign NOT ENTRY to retrieve it, waiing to the disgusted bridge-man leaning out watching. The transport continues as we're shuttled onto our aircon bus for an hour to town - on getting there many people are looking out for our welfare, asking us "Where you go?" and "You go Samui? You go Phuket? Bangkok? OK Tuk-tuk - 10 baht". Disoriented the three intrepid, burnt explorers find our way (via pickup) to a vegetarian restaurant, where we point and nod to noodles and ginger, ready again to brave the throbbing chaos of early morning Surat Thani. Two hours later a phone card has actually been procured, Julia and Audrey walking the streets as Anna valiently guards the luggage and chats it up with the lady-boy at the internet cafe.



The Wat Son Mok Forest Monastery is the destination, a renouned sprawling center an hour away, where Julia will spend a 10 day retreat at the first of September and her kind and benevolent friends have come to drop her off for a night. On arriving via large orange bus with many flowers and hacking smoking women we arrive at the grounds. The grounds are sprawling and strange, with robed monks wandering around distantly, and we wander around confusedly until we collide, figuratively, into each other. We're then led into the Women's Quarters, which should be more appropriately entitled the Women's Ward: Barbed-wire fences, thick gates around cement, bars on windows in the cement cell, a cement bed and wooden pillow. The accomodation is fine, mosquito net and all, almost charming in its rustic minimalism - it's the barbed wire and heavy locks, the obvious inferiority of the women (head warden: don't walk alone. Don't go to the meditation hall. Don't think you're equal to the men, who have the rest of the 5/6 of the place to themselves.) - as this is accompanied by a dramatic rape story of a couple of weeks ago we look at each other and, after laughing near tears back in the room at our sorry position, leave. Julia doesn't have to be there until the 31st, 4 days away, and Anna and Audrey are ready to never set sight on the place again, so we think, what should we do? The thought comes in a flash: Bangkok, a good 15 hour train-ride but only 45 minute flight away. And, pickup truck ride later, we're at the airport, booking Royal Executive Class tickets on the economy-full flight to our favorite 5-star city. The flight is, as they say on Thai, smooth as silk. At this point we're beyond tired, that absurd time when everything, just one step off, seems purposefully bizzare. At the baggage claim we tromp around restlessly, only to realize everyone else had gotten their bag but Audrey. It's lost! We ask the belt-man desperately, as he points quietly to the next baggage belt over, where Audrey's bag sits silently alone, the whole flight come and gone. A taxi ride and then we're Home: The Dusit Thani, our favorite all-inclusive suite with three rooms and vases and bed-side air-control and crystal glasses and swimming pool, spa, buffet breakfast and stunning vista in the heart of the Thai capital.



Of course we don't sleep, as any sane person would, and instead, after captivated for a full two hours by a castaway tom hanks, trip over furniture and find our way outside, across the street, to the tourist-crazed, redlight-district, "you wanna buy a rolex? polo shirt? ping-pong show?" Pat Pong. We've wandered around now for a few hours, well after midnight, too energized even to sit down for a drink. Weaving in and out of streets, it is time for Anna, Audrey and Julia to go to sleep.

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

we were out in chaweng until midnight last night---that was late for us! amazing how on vacation, we've been going to bed so early and waking up pretty early (usually around 8). lots of shopping in the chaweng district last night--it was a pretty hoppin' place.



this morning, we jumped in our jeep (i must say, one of the better decisions we made on our trip---i love the freedom of having this jeep) and drove out to na muang waterfalls which was gorgeous, though it was quite the hike to get up there in our flimsy flipflops. i've gotten really used to driving on these roads...though a bit scary at times. i never know when a motorbike is around me..and people pass each other all the time, so i often see another car coming straight onto me.



we've returned the jeep and are just going to lazily enjoy the rest of the day. we have to wake up very early tomorrow morning to jump on a boat to surat thani and then bus it to the forest monastery with julia--should be really interesting!
yesterday was brutal for all of us. well...not that it was a horrible day at all...it's more that we are *feeling* the activities of yesterday. the day started off with us jumping on a speedboat, first to pick up some other people at koh pha ngan and then off to the marine park. we were all riding at the front of the boat, with julia & i sitting on top, catching the cool breeze. little did we know how rough the trip would be---we were going against the current and hitting some major waves. anna would bounce above her seat like a foot before landing hard back down. julia & i were constantly getting splashed by water. it was crazy! anyhow, after enduring that for a bit, we finally landed at the marine park's headquarters, which was this island paradise, for lunch. ah--what an oasis this place was, especially after our long, bouncy boat ride. after eating, we jumped in some kayaks for a not-as-exciting-as-we-had-expected-it-to-be kayak trip around the park...which was really just going in a big circle around a smaller island. after getting back, we just swam and lay in the very soft, white sand. we then jumped back in the boat to head to another small island (the whole marine park is made up of 42 small islands) where we climbed up to the top for a gorgeous view of the islands, in addition to viewing the "Emerald Lake", a lake whose source of water comes from a small tunnel fed from the water. This lake was the "inspiration" for The Beach. Afterwards, we got back in the boat for a much nicer, cruising ride back to Koh Samui.



In the evening, Anna & I indulged in another massage at this place that we have now called the "Temple of Love"--really, there's just a lot of red light and red curtains. Very nice.



This morning, we all woke up completely in pain and soreness. Julia & I headed into town to rent a jeep (originally, we were going to get motorbikes...but i freaked out a bit for my own safety)---I'm the driver since a) I know how to drive, and b) I know how to drive manual. But it's so crazy! That is--everyone drives on the left side of the road here, so the whole car is flipflopped around...takes a bit getting used to. The drivers' seat is on the right side of the car, the gear shift is to my left, etc....but it's not too bad. Pretty impressed with myself. Anyhow, so we took the jeep and drove to see the "big buddha"....unfortunately, I started feeling really really faint. The heat plus my soreness plus my sunburns just made me feel awful. perhaps I was dehydrated. Well, whatever it was, we had to go back to our bungalow where I had to pass out for about 2 hours. Ugh. But it was much needed.....after waking up, Anna & I headed to the Peace Tropical Spa for....



...another massage! Ooooh, this one was fabulous. We both got an "oil massage" with some essential oils. This place was just an oasis of relaxation. It was just what we needed....Anna & I were so sore...and after the massage, we felt so much better.



We've been joking with how often we've been getting massages...ah, the luxury. I'm getting spoiled here since it's so freakin' cheap!



Anyhow, we're in Chaweng right now, waiting to get our plane tickets from Surat Thani back to Bangkok (after Anna & I drop Julia off at the Forest Monastery just north of Surat Thani)....and then get dinner and check out the nightlife here.



Whew.

Sunday, August 24, 2003

It's really heaven here--the scenery is just ridiculously gorgeous. The three of us spent all day just relaxing and lounging around. It started early with a complimentary breakfast..and then we headed to the beach. The ocean water is fantastic to swim in. From where we are, we can see the island's golden Buddha afar--it's really shiny in the sun. We then changed to a different bungalow where there were 3 separate beds...much nicer...and then spent the rest of the day at the pool. Tough life. Anna and I splurged--we both got not one but TWO massages today! hey--at $5-$10/hour, it's hard not to! The one we just got after dinner was surreal...it was in this candlelit place with gorgeous red thai silk hanging on the walls. This is a life I can get used to....



Admittedly, I'm still trying to get my mind off of work. It's hard...but it'll come.



Tomorrow, we're going to go snorkeling and kayaking at the Ang Thong National Marine Park...can't wait!

Saturday, August 23, 2003

yay! i'm in thailand right now..and i feel like we've been doing so much. anna & i arrived late late on thursday night, greeted by a "sawadee" by julia at the airport, who quickly whisked us off to the very fancy & nice Dusit Thani Hotel in downtown bangkok. the next morning, we headed to khao san road -- the "backpackers' ghetto" -- and check our email really quickly. then--it was off to wat po in a tuk-tuk where we indulged in an hour long thai massage---oh so wonderful. after that, anna & i walked around the grand palace for an hour....we then headed back to the hotel, took a swim in the pool and then had dinner. today, after eating our free breakfast at the hotel, anna & i checked out the spa--she got a pedicure and got a themoactive mudwrap...and then it was off to the airport to our where i am now...



Ko Samui! It's a gorgeous island in the south of Thailand. We're currently in a small little village called Bophut staying at a bungalow called "Peace". The water, the sun, it's so beautiful. We'll be here for a few days....absolutely delighted.

Thursday, August 21, 2003

last saturday night, pierre and i had the most amazing dinner at The Herbfarm--the theme was "A Basil Banquet": Nine courses, Six different wines, Five hours. Whew. The food ranged from yellow corn soup to lamb to salmon, etc etc...Highly recommend this to anyone in the area.



Work was super hard upon coming back. This project is just dragging on and on....of course, we want it to be the best and it will be a kick-ass store...we just have some bugs to work out and want to increase the selection.



Anyhow, I'm finally on vacation. I'm in the Narita airport in Japan right now with a 3-4 layover before heading to Bangkok. It's been a long trip---I started at 8am this morning (er..yesterday..since I crossed the Int'l Date Line) in Seattle and went to Honolulu. Now, I'm just waiting for Anna to get here eventually..and together, we'll meet Julia. So tired...want to sleep...must stay up.

Friday, August 15, 2003

Wow. What a week. Let me recap:



Saturday, 8/9

As I expected, I got over to Pierre's around 4:30am to find him barely packed. We finally left his apartment around 5:20am, arriving at the ExtraCar parking lot---a service I hadn't tried before (I usually go with SeaTacpark.com), but they had some good rates so I was curious. Wrong. Their customer service was horrible. I had to give them all this information which was already previously supplied on the website. Really poor. Very disappointed. As a result, they wouldn't wait to take me to the airport and we had to wait 10-15 minutes for the next shuttle to pick us up. We arrived in the terminal around 5:55am (for our 6:15am international flight) to, of course, find out there was no way we would make our flight. Even if we had arrived an hour before that, I don't know if we would have made it. We then spent about 45 minutes with a ticket agent, finally deciding to try standby all the way there via Los Angeles. We first attempt the 8am standby to L.A. (the "harder" flight to get on) and get on! Yay! One down, one more to go. We hang out in LAX for a few hours...and well...we never make it on the flight, although (we find out later) that our bags continued onto Mexico. So there we were, in L.A. for a night, without our bags. No problem. We got a "distressed passenger voucher" to stay at the Westin, which was really nice. Then we rented a car and got lunch, going to Greenfield's Brazilian Bar-B-Q Steakhouse upon recommendation of the Thrifty guy. Oh my god--it was incredible food. For $21/person, we had all you can eat buffet--it was okay. But the best part--the waiters kept walking around with HUGE skewers of meat to serve you: chicken, sausage, t-bone, filet, ribs, etc.... all slowly cooked over an open fire. It was sooo delicious. After lunch, we drove over to Monterey Park to surprise my grandparents--boy, they were surprised to find out I was standing right outside their door! After spending some time there and stumbling over my Chinese, we headed out for a drive around Hollywood, Rodeo Dr. and Beverly Hills just to drive around...and eventually headed back to the hotel.



Sunday, 8/10

We finally arrive in San Jose del Cabo! The hot weather slaps us so hard--but it feels good. I was immediately conned into thinking the timeshare guy was actually the shuttle guy. After spending way too much time with the guy and eventually refusing his offer, we realize we missed the shuttle out to the hotel and are left with only the option of an expensive $65 "private taxi" to our hotel. Not happy with this, we consider renting a car---only to be "helped" by an airport employee who, in the end, just drove us over to the other terminal to show us that there were other shuttles--thus "saving us a lot of dinero" and then expecting a tip. [sigh] welcome to mexico. We jump on the shuttle and get to the Westin Regina Hotel which was just gorgeous. It was an open air lobby and just so bright. The room was incredible and spacious with a balcony facing out to the ocean. After settling in, we changed and headed out to one of the seven pools at the resort to finally sit down, have a strawberry colada and relax. We finished the evening with a fancy schmancy dinner at Arrecife, the fancy schmancy restaurant at the resort...and fell asleep really quickly with such good food in our stomachs.



Monday, 8/11

Happy birthday to us! If I haven't mentioned it already, Pierre and I bizarrely share the same birthday. It started off a bit rocky unfortunately. Once again, we were led into being invited into a "first time visitors' breakfast" (coupled with 50% off all activities). We realized soon after that it wasn't just a breakfast but another skillfully operated attempt at getting us to buy some 43 year vacation package. ugh. After about 2 uncomfortable hours of that, I saw Pierre storm off angrier than I had ever seen him in my life. Ah well--we recovered fast and immediately took advantage of the activities discount and booked an ATV tour trip for later in the afternoon. After resting by the pool again for a bit, we headed out for an ATV Tour out in the desert. It was soooo much fun! It was a 3 hour guided tour with so much freedom to drive around and explore on our own. After getting more comfortable, I drove as fast as 65 km/hr! (although very briefly--it was a bit scary) It just felt incredible to ride through the wind like that, out in the open desert. After that completed, we headed back to the hotel, changed and went out to Cabo San Lucas, the larger of the two "Cabos", about 21 miles from the hotel. We grabbed a seafood dinner at a restaurant recommended by our taxi driver---saw the biggest oysters ever--the kind that you can only eat by chewing and chewing..ew. I eventually had to just cut it up because I'm the "slithering down the throat" sort of oyster eater only. But I got a lobster tail that was so yummy. Together, we ate so much food. Great birthday dinner. Finished off the evening getting a drink at a club called Kaboo.



Tuesday, 8/12

Woke up early to catch the 9am shuttle back into Cabo to join a snorkeling tour which also just amazing. We saw pelicans, sea lions, a manta ray flip flop out of the ocean, and of course lots and lots of fish. We fortunately joined a very small tour---me, pierre, 2 others and our 2 tour guides. Throughout the day, I was so happy that I wasn't part of the 60+ person snorkeling tour boats that we saw. It was a lot nicer to just hang back with a smaller group. After snorkeling, we saw someone on the marina carrying a large marlin that they had just caught--it was huge! We then grabbed some lunch (i was loving all the guacamole I was eating) and then walked around town for a bit, shopping for jewelry and random things. Headed back to the hotel to chill next to the pool again. I then decided I wanted an oceanview massage as the sun set. They have these tents propped up right on the cliffside--quite private. My god--I'll never forget this massage. There's nothing like relaxing like that while the wind blows by and the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks. [sigh] Finished off the evening with a dinner at one of the hotel buffet restaurants where there was all you can eat steak and lobster tails! I ate so much good food on this trip...



Wednesday, 8/13

Time to leave! We spent the morning getting some breakfast and chilling by the pool a bit more. It was oh so hard to leave. Caught our flight in the afternoon and was back in Seattle by 8pm, having dinner at Figaro. We found Ludo and Jean-Michael there---Jean-Michael had apparently recently started working there and was our waiting for the evening. Anyhow, delicious food again. Came home. Found Misha eagerly waiting for me. I love my cat.



Thursday, 8/14

Got to work at 9:30am to hear a "Finally!!! She's back!!" No wonder. Crazy things happened with my project while I was gone. I ended up getting SLAMMED at work, working until 2am. Nothing exciting about the day except to get a phone call from my brother since he was in NYC and the huge East Coast Blackout had occurred and he wanted to know if I could check on the internet about any eta for electricity to be back up since his car was stuck in a parking garage. He told me people were climbing out of sewers from the subways below...crazy.



Friday, 8/15

...which brings me to today. Crazy day at work again. It's 9:48pm and I'm still at work, working on some crazy bug, feeling like I'm still in an intense launch mode. I'm not happy and I'm hungry. I should leave. Pierre and Jaiss are hanging out at the Cactus Club Restaurant. Yeah, I should leave. See how exciting my real life is?



I am soooo happy that I already have my tickets and have planned to be out of here, yet again, for Thailand this coming Wednesday. My mind still needs some clearing up before I can really get back into full work mode again--or else I'll scream.

Saturday, August 9, 2003

It feels good to have launched. We have a big bug today---and I'm proud to say that I enabled the fix--wahoo! So far, so good--site looks good. We just have some small things to clean up. Our selection is going to get bigger and bigger. So exciting.



but i'm really tired right now. the flight to mexico leaves in less than 4 hours. we're supposed to leaving seattle in about 2.5 hours to go to the airport. i'm worried as pierre's not picking up his phone...so i'm really scared he's going to sleep through all this and i end up scrambling trying to wake him up last minute. argh. i get too nervous when it comes to the night before a trip. i've probably packed too much. ah well.



i just can't wait to close my eyes and sleep. the idea of laying on a beach in cabos sounds so wonderful.

Friday, August 8, 2003

i'm very tired. i just got home from work. should expect the site up and online in about an hour. [knock on wood] now this is the real drama of a project launch--staying there til late into the night, making decisions about whether or not to go/no go near midnight. ha ha. i want so much to stay up and watch this flip online. i'm too tired to do that though--and i still have to run a conference call in about 6 hours.



came home and found a stray cat in my apartment's garage. felt bad for it. it had the most bizarre meow...it was like a really really loud MUHEOW!! and a fairly low tone (quite annoying if you ask me)---which is completely opposite to Misha's cute little high pitched "meow". I went up to it and it was rubbing against me like crazy hungering for someone to pet it and scratch its back. way more hyper than what i was used to with misha. went upstairs and got some cat food and brought it back down so it wouldn't starve.



speaking of cats, i completely missed misha's vet appointment tonight. bummer. this project launch just killed everything. i also missed betina's going away party. argh. (she's moving to san francisco)



okay--i need to sleep.
we're finally launching. content is pushing. it'll be online by 5am hopefully. it's been a loooong day. i can't wait to go on vacation.



speaking of, pierre and i booked a last minute flight to los cabos, mexico for this saturday--it was a great deal. i cannot wait until I am sitting on a beach, reading a book.