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While in Cuernavaca Mexico my Powerbook G4 got zapped through the electric cord by lightning. I lost some data and had to reinstall the whole operating system.
I also lost all of my web site " Ernest's Whirrled 2.0"
So now I have created "Ernest's Whirrled 3.0"
To go to the new site click the link below or just copy and paste it into your browser.
http://web.mac.com/ernestrodriguez/iWeb/Ernest%27s%20Whirrled%203.0/Welcome.html
Ok, I hope you can find me.
If not, please send email to me at:
ernestrodriguez@mac.com
- Ernest |
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I know that the site takes a while to load but after you've visited a few times it should load faster. I don't know why you couldn't get into the site but here's another link that should take you directly to my web site blog page:
http://web.mac.com/ernestrodriguez/iWeb/Ernest%27s%20Whirrled%202.0/Blog/Blog.html
- Ernest
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Well, here it goes...
My new web site is located by CLICKING HERE.
You will find a welcome page, an about me page, a blog page, a photo album links page and a page I call "Things you may or may not want to know about" This page will contain links to some of my thoughts and opinions on travel, sex, gay issues, relationships, prostitution, stories, poetry etc. So if you are NOT able to handle more explicit thoughts and opinions... don't go there. The page will only be a page of links to other pages that I've written or will write in the future, it's like the table of contents of a book, not the actual essays. To get to those you'll have to click onto the links to get to a specific page. Right now it's empty but I'll be adding content later.
Let me know what you think about the site and how I might be able to improve it. I'm using iWeb so there's only so much I can do but so far I think it's ok.
- ErnestCurrent Mood:  accomplished Current Music: (none) |
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I went to a travel agency to price tickets one way from San Jose CA to Mexico City and I was really surprised at how cheap it was, only $216.50. I didn't buy the ticket because I'm deciding whether to get the lapband surgery done in Mexico. I found a Dr. that does it in Tijuana, Mexico. Click here to check it out. I'm still not 100% sure about when to get it done. I've got concerns about how to manage my diabetes and medication before, during and after the surgery. I am not currently under a Dr.s care so I am managing my diabetes on my own. I sent them an email and I'm waiting to hear back from them. It is essentially the same procedure that I was going to have done in Thailand and believe it or not it costs $8500, in Thailand it would've cost me closer to $10,000.
I went dress shoe shopping today. I had 2 pair of Wolverine dress / work shoes. They had this comfortable inner air type sole thing that was great for my feet. So I went to the same store I went to last time and they had me in their database. They looked up what I bought in the past and told me they didn't have it in stock. So they ordered them for me, I paid and they'll call my sister when they come in, which should be 3 tp 4 weeks. Once she gets them she'll ship them to me in Mexico. Being diabetic I'm always careful about how I treat my feat.
Once I get the email back from the Dr. I'll make a decision about what date exactly I'll fly to Mexico. I told the school to expect me some time during the week of May 8th. The thing about the date is this, after the surgery I won't be able to lift anything for a week or so due to sutures from the surgery. I have about 9 suitcases to take with me to Mexico and some are BIG and heavy. I may end up making 2 trips. Not sure yet.
I'm relatively happy with the progress I'm making on my website. Though it seems slow to load I think that will not be a problem once the site has been cached on your hard drive. Just a couple of more days.
My allergies are killing me. I started taking Claratine, hope that helps. Also, moving from the humid tropical climate of Thailand, my skin was moist and supple. Now living in dryer climate my skin is drying out. I guess I'll have to start using lotion again.
- Ernest
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I'm working on creating a website that will have my blog and photos pages all in one place. It may be up and running some time next week. When it IS running I will stop posting to my livejournal blog and in order to find my new blog / website I'll provide a link to the new place so you can find me.
I'm still awaiting my suitcases. They should arrive at the Port of Oakland on April 28th. I hope they arrive on time.
Tomorrow I'll go and buy my airplane ticket to Mexico City. I also have to go shoe shopping and buy some comfortable dress shoes. I bought 2 pairs 3 years ago before leaving for Thailand, 1 black, 1 brown. I wore the hell out of them while living there and need to replace them.
I went to meet Delfina and Bob for lunch yesterday. I waited outside the Thai restaurant for 45 minutes!!! 45 MINUTES!!! I thought that was long enough to wait. Delfina DID call the restaurant and they gave me the message that she would be late but didn't tell me how late... So I left. Bob just never showed up.
I went to the Apple Store at Valley Fair to use their free open wi-fi network. I was there about 15 minutes and Delfina came up and scared me from behind. We ended up going for a bite to eat at the food court there at Valley Fair. It was nice chatting with her, though I didn't really say much. I felt like most of the stuff i've been doing, she already knows because she reads my blog; Hi Delfina.
I guess that's about all for now.
- Ernest
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| » I'm in California |
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I'm in my home town of San Jose it's about 40 minutes south of San Francisco. When I'm asked where I'm from I say San Francisco because even though San Jose IS the heart of silicon valley no one knows where it is. I'm staying at my sister's house... in the purple room. It's painted lavender and serves as a guest room / sewing / crafting room. I'm comfortable there but at night my feet are cold. Actually it's been 19 to 25C degrees here during the day and it feels a bit chilly to me.
I was at the Apple Store in Valley Fair Shopping Mall and chatted with one of the employees there, hi Bill, thanks for the help. He remembers me from when the store first opened and I would spend hours there at the "Genius Bar" asking questions and getting help. I was watching the presentation class on using iWeb, new software that comes with iLife 06 and who but Van comes up and says hello. We worked together at my last job here in San Jose. He complimented me on my writing and said he liked my blog. I don't think it's anything really interesting or special, though I try not to write about things like what I had for breakfast.
I bought a new POWERBOOK today. It's an investment of about $2000... but I'm worth it. Plus I got a good discount because I'm a teacher. So with the savings from the discount I had more RAM installed.
I went shoe shopping today and bought 2 pairs. I have to be careful that I don't buy too much stuff, I already will be attracting too much attention to myself when I go through customs and immigration in Mexico with my 7 suitcases. I'll be entering with a tourist visa that I buy at the airport. Yeah right a "tourist" with 7 BIG suitcases? I'm prepared to be inspected. As usual when I arrived here in the USA I was separated from the rest of the passengers to have my bags inspected. When I started complaining that this has happened to me EVERY TIME I return to the USA, NOT every other time, NOT every third time... EVERY TIME and that it can not be random. I said that it's because some people think I look middle eastern when I'm really mexican american and the inspector guy looked at his screen after checking my name and found that I was correct... he had me open one bug, he didn't even look in it and then just waved me through. It's still a pain in the ass.
Any way, I'm waiting for Sophina to call me. She's going to try to set up a time to get together for lunch with Tina and me and herself. I'm also waiting for my best friend in the world, I've known him since I was 13 years old to call me. We had tentatively planned to meet in Las Vegas for a couple of days, we'll see how that turns out. It's been several years since we've seen each other.
I still constantly think about Pong. The Thailand Body Building Association's Mr. Thailand Competition is this coming week end. I know Pong must be SUPER tired. I sent him an iCard to encourage him and wish him good luck. He said he's hoping to at least be in the top 5 in his weight class.
I guess that's about all for now.
- Ernest
Apr. 20th, 2006 @ 04:08 pm
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| » Beijing Day 6? April 16th 2006 |
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Yesterday I went to the "Dirt Market" I provided a link to it the last time I posted. It's really just a big flea market. The difference is that it's in Beijing China so a lot of the stuff for sale is stuff you're not going to find in Colorado or California. One of my favorite stalls was run by an older man who had a bunch of historical things like communist army pins and hats and bags. Chairman Mao clocks and watches and ash trays and tea cups from 30 years ago. Try finding that in a flea market in Wisconsin.
I had lunch while I was there and the food was good. There was a nice young man working as the bus boy. He smiled a lot when I motioned to him that I wanted something to drink, I thought he would bring me a bottle of water. He brought me a 40 oz bottle of beer which cost 3 yuan or .37 cents in USD. He also brought me a napkin when I made motions like I wanted to wipe my mouth. When I left I gave him a 5 yuan tip. He looked over at his brother and had the biggest smile on his face. I guess he doesn't get many tips. As I walked out They 2 brothers followed me and tried to talk to me in Chinese, that didn't work so well so we said good bye and they went off in a different direction. They both seemed pleased with the 5 yuan.
While wandering the stalls I saw one with just a pile of dirty pots and vases and bowls. There was a man and his little boy, he was maybe 2 or 3 years old. It was a bit chilly out and he had on like 3 or 4 layers of clothes, he could barely walk. He was very cute. He was playing with his Dad's lighter. He would click it and watch the flame for a moment and then blow it out and do it all over again. Now I don't think that teaching a 3 year old how to play with a lighter is a wise thing to do, but the Dad didn't seem to have a problem with it. I looked at a few vases and tried playing a little bit with the little one and he showed me how to use the lighter with a bit of encouragement from his Dad. I took a couple of photos and he was fascinated with seeing his picture in the back of the digital camera. After a couple of shots I put the camera away an d he started to cry. He reached out for it, he wanted to play with it. Now I bought that camera in Hong Kong for a couple of hundred dollars and I wasn't about to let this little kid play with my camera. I pulled it out and pretended to throw it away and he watched it with his eyes fly away while I secretly put it in my pocket. The Dad gratefully gave him the lighter back and distracted him from wanting the camera and throwing a fit.
Any way, I leave Beijing tomorrow. I've had a good time here and wouldn't mind visiting again. I like the weather and while the people here aren't as friendly or quick to smile as the Thais I get along ok. I think it will be a nice place to have The 2008 Olympics.
It may be a few days before I update the blog. Flying from Asia to the west coast of the USA , the jet lag is TERRIBLE. I'll most likely sleep for the first day or 2 and then be wide awake at 3 or 4 in the morning for another week.
To see the photos I took at the Dirt Market CLICK HERE
- Ernest
Apr. 17th, 2006 @ 09:54 pm
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| » Beijing Day ?, April 15th 2006 |
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Today I took a day tour of The Great Wall at Mutianyu. Near Beijing there are 3 places to see the great wall. The closest and most crowded is at Badaling about 30km outside of the city. I decided to go to the one that was about 80km outside the city to try to avoid the crowds. I'm told that badaling gets so crowded that it is difficult to even walk on the Wall let alone take any good photos.
The Grey Line Tour was nice, they picked me up at my hotel and dropped me off later in the afternoon. On the tour bus there were about 15 other people. I met Marcus from Sweden and Katherine from Hungary and we chatted most of the way there.
There is a small village at the base of some VERY steep and rugged mountains, at the top of the mountains running along the ridge sits The Great Wall. It was without a doubt... imposing. Just walking up to get to the cable car that took you up to the Wall was a tough climb. It was VERY VERY steep. It was a bit chilly yesterday also and up on the Wall the wind was blowing really hard which made it feel even colder. Sadly the path leading up to the cable car had been turned over to souvenir sellers who were a pain in the ass. Coming off the cable car on the way down the path is a bit narrow and you couldn't walk around some of these people trying to sell their junk. One woman stood in the middle of the path holding up a t-shirt insisting that I "Looka looka" I tried to be polite and said, "No thank you." After several attempts to get past her and her refusing to move out of my way, I actually had to push her aside so I could continue walking down the mountain.
These souvenir sales people are sharks. The woman standing in my way near the top of the cable car exit tried to sell me 1 t-shirt for 285 yuan. Farther down the path I ended up buying 5 t-shirts for 200 yuan and I still probably got ripped off.
On the way back from The Wall, Marcus and Katherine invited me to join them because we were all "single" and traveling on our own, to go to the "Dirt Market" that evening. The Dirt Market is a flea market and I plan on going before I leave Beijing. The problem was I had slipped into a funk, walking on the Wall wishing that Pong were with me. I declined their offer and went to my hotel to sleep.
The seasons are changing from winter to spring here in Beijing soi it's still cold but the trees are blossoming and my allergies are acting up. Yesterday was terrible. I was sniffling and sneezing and had a runny nose and watery eyes all day long. Before I went to my hotel to sleep I went to the nearby shopping mall and found a pharmacy, a Chinese pharmacy. Of course no one spoke any English but after I showed them my symptoms, I pretended to sneeze and made motions like snot was running down and out of my nose and I wiped my eyes like I was crying. They all ( there about 8 staff crowded around me ) started talking to each other in Chinese then one started talking louder and 3 started what sounded like arguing with each other then 1 turned to me and made a motion of wiping him brow and fanning himself with his hand. I shook my head, no I did not have a fever. Another made coughing motions and sounds and I answered, no I don't have a cough. The staff collectively gave a, " aha!" sound and they all agreed on the right medicine I should take. While all this was going on there were maybe 10 or 12 other customers in the store that had all been abandoned by the staff to help me and they were all crowded around me too. I got the medicine and paid 14 yuan and understood that I was to mix it with hot water like a tea and take it twice a day. All I really wanted was some claratine for my allergies.
Today I will try to get to the Dirt Market. It's Sunday and I leave on Tuesday at 12:00 direct business class on United Airline from beijing to San Francisco. I leave on the 18 and I will arrive some time in the afternoon on the 18th. It's always strange traveling back to the USA from Asia. Usually from bangkok to SFO I leave and arrive on the same day about 2 hours later even though I've been in the for 14 hours.
I guess that all for now.
- Ernest
PS: To see the photos I took at The Great Wall CLICK HERE As usual the password is "abc123", and you thought I would forget again, didn't you?
Apr. 16th, 2006 @ 11:07 am
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| » Oopps again |
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I keep forgetting to include the link to the photos I took.
Here are the photos for day 3 in Beijing April 13, 2006.
To see them CLICK HERE, the password is "abc123"
- Ernest
Apr. 13th, 2006 @ 10:54 pm
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| » Bedijing Day 3 April 13 2006 |
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I went to the Forbidden City today. It was HUGE!!! About 6 city blocks wide and maybe 20 or 25 city blocks long. I paid extra for the guided tour listening device which was helpful if a bit dull. There were SO MANY gates and halls and palaces in the complex and they mostly looked all the same to me I wouldn't be able to tell you from the photos which one was which or what they were all for. One was just for the Emperor to change his clothes in, one for greeting minor government officials, one for greeting major government officials, one that was only used for 3 days when the Emperor and the Emperess first got married and it was their "honeymoon suite" or the place that they officially consumated their marriage... they had sex. Near this palace there is a big box that I think may have been the actual bed, not sure, but people were walking by it and rubbing the lettering on the side. I was told by a guide that it would bring good luck in bed. The whole complex was awe inspiring and I'm glad I went.
I then took a rickshaw tour of several hutongs near the Forbidden City. It was interesting to see how people lived in Beijing hundreds of years ago and still do. Due to progress many hutongs and being destroyed and new housing complexes are being built to replace them. They are complexes of narrow winding streets, mostly of one story houses without indoor plumbing. All throughout the hutongs there are public toilets for the people. Mr. Dong, my rickshaw driver said that government policy is that for every 80 people living in the hutong there had to be one toilet. Some hutongs housed 4000 and 5000 people. Crammed down these little alleyways were barber shops and markets and schools just like any other neighborhood in the world. Mr. Dong stopped to show me a quadrangle house ( Click Here, which had been turned into a restaurant. I offered to buy us lunch. About 10 minutes later another rickshaw showed up with 3 people from Europe in it. They asked me how the food was and I said it was delicious, which it was. They decided to have lunch. They didn't invite their driver to join them. Their driver and my driver chatted for a minute and my driver said to me that he had joked with their driver that I was from America and I invited him to join me for lunch, why didn't the Europeans invite HIM for lunch? The other driver looked at me and said in English, " America good, Europe not so good."
And that ended my trip for the day. Later in the evening I went to see the China National Acrobatic Circus. I remember that last year they were touring and came to Bangkok. I asked Pong if he wanted to go and he said he didn't want to, so I didn't go at the time. While I was sitting there watching the show I kept thinking that Pong would have enjoyed the show.
I miss him every day and I know I will for a very long time.
- Ernest
PS: Peter from the 15th floor, be nice to me, big meany
Apr. 13th, 2006 @ 10:15 pm
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| » I remembered "Cuties" name!!! |
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I looked back at photos I posted of my students from that school a couple of years ago. The page is called " Sports Day" and there is a photo of "Cutie" his name is Kriengkai!!!
- Ernest
Apr. 13th, 2006 @ 09:39 pm
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| » It's a small small world |
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Today I went to the Forbidden City and hired a rickshaw to give me tour of the hutongs. I'll write more about that later.
Tonight I had the most amazing unbelievable experience.
Yesterday I got tickets for the China National Acrobatic Circus. I went tonight.
I arrived and was seated and had about 20 minutes before the show. There was a group of students sitting in front of me and they were speaking Thai. I started chatting with them, they are high school students from Rayong. I had forgotten my camera at the hotel and I gave one of them my email address and asked him if he would send me some of the photos he took that evening, he said it was no problem.
Then from behind me I hear some one yell, "Teacher Ernest!!!" I whip around and see one of my former students from the second school I taught at in Bangkok!!!! WOW!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!
We chatted and he is in Beijing for one month on a Chinese language summer camp trip. He will be starting university in a few weeks. We were both just stunned at meeting each other again and in Beijing China of all places!!!
I remember him from my classes at the second school I taught at. I remember that his family owned a university... the whole university! A very wealthy family. His ability to speak English is really good and now he's learning Chinese. He was also one of the cutest kids in that class. At the time he was in Matthyom 5 which is like the 11th grade in America.
I wish I could remember his name. I'll just call him Cutie. He was a really sweet kid and I also remember that he gave me a Christmas present, one of about 10 students who gave me a Christmas present that year. I had about 300 students at the time.
If you want to see a photo I took of him back in 2004 CLICK HERE As usual you have to put in the password which is "abc123"
It IS a small world and getting smaller.
- Ernest
PS: The acrobatic show was great too. I didn't take photos because I left my camera at the hotel but I did buy the DVD of the performance.
Apr. 13th, 2006 @ 09:18 pm
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| » Day 2 Beijing Boring |
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I had no energy today. I stayed in my hotel room most of the day sleeping. In the late afternoon I went to see a movie, Firewall with Harrison Ford. It was in English with Chinese subtitles.
I was feeling very empty and hollow inside today.
I miss Pong.
I promise to do something more interesting tomorrow.
-Ernest
Apr. 13th, 2006 @ 05:10 pm
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| » Oops forgot the photo link |
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I forgot to include the link to the photos I took for day 2 in Beijing:
Here it is, as usual you'll have to use a password and as usual the password is "abc123"
CLICK HERE
- Ernest
Apr. 12th, 2006 @ 11:04 am
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| » Beijing Day 2, April 11 2006 |
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I woke up a few times during the night, didn't sleep well at all. I finally got out of bed around 9:30. Arrived at McDonald's hoping for a sausage McMuffin but they had stopped serving breakfast and I couldn't see a breakfast menu around so I don't even know if they have sausage McMuffins. In Thailand they don't have them. McDonald's is open for breakfast but they serve a lunch and dinner menu. Big Mac for breakfast, no thank you.
I really had no set plan for the day except to wander from my hotel down Wangfujing Street then over to Tienamen Square. First I walked a couple of blocks over to Wangfujing and made a right hand turn, I was heading to what they call, "Artist's Supply Shopping Street". When I start working at the school in Mexico I will be able to take all of the art and / or sport classes at the university that I want to, for free. So I bought a sketch book, a set of water color paints and a set of good quality water color brushes. Most of this stuff bought in America is "Made in China" any way so I figure I should buy it here.
I then made my way with a LONG but leisurely walk back down Wangfujing to the subway station. Stopping now and then to peek into a shop. Wangfujing is a no vehicle traffic shopping street. It is filled with high end stores like you'd find in any mall in America or Europe. I took the subway from the Wangfujing station to the Tienamen Square West Station.
I got out and walked a couple of blocks to Tienamen Square, if you want more info. on what is there Click Here. For me it was not all that interesting. It is a huge open square with several important buildings and statues, but it's the center of China. The most important place politically and has a lot of history. Remember the student uprising in 1989 for democracy? That lone man standing in front of the tank? Daring it to run him over. The weather wasn't so bad, a bit cool but it was windy as hell and so it felt a lot colder. I realized how cold it was when I noticed that my nipples were hard. All I had on was a button up short sleeved shirt, a light jacket and a scarf.
I took some photos and you can see them at the end of this entry.
After Tienamen Square I wandered over to the back end of the square, past the mausoleum for Chairman Mao and found hundreds and hundreds of people lined up waiting to go in and file past his preserved body. It was only opened from 2PM to 4PM that day so the crowd was big. I didn't go into it because I wasn't willing to stand in line for an hour just to walk past a dead guy for 15 seconds. Plus you had to check in your bag and cameras were not allowed.
I ended up in an area a few blocks past the mausoleum called Qianmen. I stumbled onto a Hutong. I wandered in and around it for the rest of the afternoon. I stopped to have lunch in a little hole in the wall restaurant. I ordered stir fried pork with spring onions and rice. I had to point at things on the menu which had pictures as well as Chinese characters. This took a bit of effort but the food that arrived was delicious. They also have the hot pot soup there that Pong and I have had many times in Chinatown in Bangkok. It was around 4:30PM and getting colder and even more windy. The wind was also blowing a lot of dust around. Beijing sits at the edge of the Gobi Desert. So I decided to head back to my hotel.
Along the way I passed another little shopping street at the edge of the hutong and checked it out. I found a shop that made chops. What is a chop? It's kind of like a rubber stamp but made of stone. In China, the chop has the same weight and authority as a signature does in Western culture. The use of a chop, or seal, started thousands of years ago and continues to this day. Chops are commonly seen on Chinese artwork, but they're also used by everyday people to simply sign their checks or greeting cards. First he asked me what year I was born, 1964 so he determined that I was born in the year of the Dragon. Then he showed me several different styles and I chose one with a nice carving of a dragon on it. He then asked me to spell my name and he wrote it out in phonetic chinese characters. He then used sand paper to sand the stone a bit, he wrote my name in the characters in ink then proceeded to carve and chisel it out of the stone. It was interesting to watch and only took about 15 minutes. It took me longer to haggle and bargain the price down from 200 yuan to 150 yuan, about $19.00 USD.
I finally went to my hotel and had the Italian Buffet in the restaurant and ate way too much. So I took a nap. and woke up in the middle of the night.
So far Beijing has been interesting and an adventure. Today what will I do? I'm not sure but I will make reservations to see one of the Chinese Acrobat shows in town ( Click here to read a bit about them )and I saw a show advertised featuring the Shaolin Monks doing their martial arts ( Click here for a bit of info. on them ) thing.
Well, it's now 11:00Am and I'm heading out for the day. What adventures will I find today?
-Ernest
Apr. 12th, 2006 @ 09:55 am
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| » Intimate emails |
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I sent this email to Pong upon my arrival in Beijing:
Mi Amor,
The flight to Beijing is 4 hours long. I cried half the way there. I
could tell that you were fighting back, trying to keep from crying at
the airport too. I wish you were more in touch with your feelings and I
wish you trusted yourself to share those feelings with others,
especially people that you trust. That is an important part of keeping
a relationship happy, sharing your heart.
I will miss you for a long time, my baby. You are a good man and a
strong man. You were taking care of yourself before you met me. I know
you will take care of yourself after I'm gone. I know it's scary but I
know you will be OK. I believe in you.
I arrived safely in Beijing. It's not that cold here, 24C in the day
time, not -8C like the lady in Bangkok said. My hotel is nice. Beijing
is one hour ahead of Bangkok. It's now about 10PM. I'm getting ready to
go to bed. I will dream of you.
- Ti Rak
He replied with this email:
Tirak,
I am glad to hear that you are fine. I didn't cry at the airport because I thought I cried enough when I was alone. I don't want to show my weakness. I must be strong even though I am not strong enough . Don't worry about me because I will be ok to live by myself . You are the only wonderful thing came to my life. Thank you very much for taking care of me all the time when we were together. Remember that you are the only man I love. No matter where you are or where I am, I will keep in touch with you for the rest of my life.
Take care
Pong
Tirak is Thai and it means, " my darling". Mi amor is Spanish and it means, " my love"
- Ernest
Apr. 12th, 2006 @ 09:44 am
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| » Beijing days 1 April 10, 2006 |
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I made it through immigration and customs with no problems at all. It was quick and the whole process lasted maybe 15 minutes. I gathered my bags, all 5 of them at the baggage area and used 2 trolleys to move them to the left luggage desk. I was having trouble driving both trolleys at the same time, they only move when you push down on the handle. They kept trying to go in opposite directions, one veering left one veering right. Then some stranger, a nice Chinese guy stepped out of the crowd of people waiting for arrivals and took one of the trolleys and drove it along side me half way across the concourse to the left luggage desk. He wasn't an employee of the airport, just a helpful guy. Nice.
To leave my luggage it cost me 30 Yuan per bag per day for 8 days, I left 4 bags so had to pay 960 Yuan, that's about $120USD. Given what happened a couple of hours later, it's a good thing I left my extra bags at the airport.
I took the airport bus into town. It took 1 1/2 hours to get to the final stop in downtown. By that time it was getting dark. It was cold and foggy. As I got out of the bus I was assailed by about 15 Chinese people yelling at me in Chinese trying to get me to take their taxi or tuk-tuk type rickshaw. I tried negotiating with a couple but it was pointless. It was also obvious they were ALL trying to rip me off. I walked away and looked around a bit and got my bearings. I realized that I was in front ot the main railway station in downtown Beijing. If you've traveled you know that the railway station of any major city is usually good hunting grounds for unsuspecting tourists.
I decided to get away from the area. So I walked across the street and down a block or two and found a huge taxi stand. There must have been 70 or 80 taxis lined up waiting for customers. That's when I realized I had a little problem. I didn't know where my hotel was. I didn't have the phone number written down or the address, only the name. When I said the name to several taxi drivers they looked like they'd never heard of it. I had booked a room on the internet at the Novotel Peace Hotel. How tough can it be? It turns out there are 4 Novotel hotels in Beijing. I had my Lonly Planet Beijing Guide book with me and it listed a different Novotel, I gave the book to several taxi drivers and asked them to call the number of the wrong Novotel I then got on the phone and asked the person on the other end of the line to give the taxi driver direction to the Novotel PEACE Hotel. After 5 or 6 very frustrating attempts with different taxi drivers which took a total of about 45 minutes I finally arrived at my hotel. I settled in and went in search of food. After being beaten over the head with cross cultural communication I was looking for something that I knew. So I walked 3 blocks from my hotel to a McDonald's and had a Big Mac Meal. I felt better.
Beijing is one hour ahead of Bangkok in time so I was a bit tired and went to bed around 11PM.
Tomorrow I'll write about what happened today, plus I'll have photos to post. The bar in the hotel has a free open wifi network.
All day I kept thinking, I wonder what Pong is doing now? I know it will take time to get over this but man it's fresh in my heart and mind... and it hurts.
- Ernest
Apr. 11th, 2006 @ 08:46 pm
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| » The leaving |
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Pong spent the night with me my last night in BKK. We laid cuddling together all night gently kissing each other at times and talking, falling in and out of sleep. We also made love and it was sweet and wonderful. I had to wake up at 5:15AM so I had packed earlier in the day. Pong kept holding my face in his hands and looking me deep in my eyes.
At 5:45 we went down to the restaurant so I could have breakfast and check out of the hotel. Pong isn't eating normally these days he's getting ready to compete in the Thailand Body Building Associations "Mr. Thailand National Body Building Competition". He is dieting and eating only protein shakes, steamed chicken breast, non-sweet fruit like sour mango and guava, and steamed root vegetables like carrots, but mostly just protein shakes and chicken. I gave him multivitamins and told him to take one a day plus some vitamin B-12 pills for energy. Last year as some of you may know he won second place in the 65 Kilograms category. He is ranked number 2 in the whole country of Thailand. He isn't hoping for much more this year though. I just want him to be happy.
Any way at 6:00AM Joy showed up. He decided he was coming with us to send me off at the airport. He is such a sweet guy, I really do care for him a lot. In fact I love him. He's a good friend and has always been there for me whenever I needed him. So 6:15 arrived and we loaded up the taxi with all my bags and headed to the airport. 40 minutes later we arrive and have to wait another 40 minutes before my flight is posted on the departures board. I get checked in and pay an extra fee for my extra weight in baggage and go to buy my departure tax form. Now it's about 8:45 and my flight leaves in an hour and a half but I still have to go through passport control and the extra security check near the gate so I know it's time to leave.
I say good bye to Joy first. We hugged and kissed each other on the check. Then I turned to Pong and I lost it. I broke down in tears and we hugged and kissed many times right there at the entrance to passport control in the Bangkok International Airport. Neither of us caring what any one else around us thought. We both knew this might be the last time we see each other. At this point in time I have no plans to return to Thailand. Though I'm sure I will return for a holiday in the future but when, I don't know. Pong told me not to cry even while he fought off breaking down in tears himself. He has such strength within him, something I don't have but wish I did. I admire him a lot. Isn't that a wonderful thing to be able to say about your boyfriend?
Once I got through passport control and the security check I sat and waited for my flight to begin boarding, about 25 minutes. I just sat there in stunned silence. It was like everything that was going on around me was muffled and distant. Like I wasn't really there. The thought went through my mind, what have I done? Why am I doing this? It was only after they had made a second call for my flight that I got it together enough to walk to the boarding gate.
I quietly cried half way to Beijing. That's a 4 hour flight.
I arrived safely and will write more of my first few hours in Beijing
tomorrow.
- Ernest
Apr. 10th, 2006 @ 09:00 pm
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| » Yesterday and Today |
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I went to get my camera fixed yesterday. It took about 6 hours and cost about 4000 baht ( $100.00 USD ) but it's working now. It was just too damned hot to go anywhere else but I did go out for lunch.
I tried the lunch buffet at the Irish Xchange Pub on Soi Convent but they've changed the menu and days of the buffet. They used to have 4 or 5 vegetable choices, soup, 2 salads, bread, carved roast ham, lamb and beef plus dessert; All for 299 baht. A really good deal and there were a lot of customers for the daily buffet. Now, they only have it on Friday and Sunday. I went yesterday, Friday and they didn't have the carvery going. Instead they had a buffet of curries, yuck. So I called Peter from the 15th floor in my last condo building, the BKK Buffet King and he suggested the lunch buffet at the Grand Erawan Hyatt Hotel. So I went there. It was pretty good but too expensive for what I got. Oh well. After lunch I went back tom my AIR CONDITIONED hotel room and laid around watching my bootlegged copy of the TV show "Enterprise" on DVD.
Pong came over last night for a couple of hours and we just laid in bed talking and napping. We like doing that.
Today I got a foot massage, head / shoulder / neck / arm massage, pedicure and a manicure... a solid hour all for 900 baht; That's $23.55 USD!!! I feel very relaxed now. Then I went to Dick's Cafe on Soi Twilight to have lunch and flirt outrageously with Mr. Chang the bar tender there. I've been asking him to marry me for the last 2 years and he always says no. This time he said yes, but only if I buy him a HUGE gold and diamond ring... and promise to STILL move to Mexico. Great sense of humor and a real sweet guy.
Any way, Today is Saturday the 8th of April and I leave early on Monday morning. So effectively tomorrow is my last full day in Thailand. Pong and I will spend the whole day together tomorrow.
-Ernest
PS: To the "New Reader" who left me a message a few posts ago, I plan on answering your question about what type of guys I like... but right now I'm too emotionally on edge to delve into that topic. Later.
Apr. 8th, 2006 @ 04:06 pm
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| » A joke |
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Thanks Howard for this one:
Little boy goes to his father and asks, "Daddy, how was I born?
The father answers "Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find
out anyway. Your mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo.
Then I set up a date via e-mail with your mom and we met at a cyber-cafe. We sneaked into a secluded room, where your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive.
As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had set up a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a blessed little Pop-up appeared and said:
'You've got male."
HA!!!
-Ernest
Apr. 7th, 2006 @ 06:58 pm
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