as much as i had planned on writing the rest of the blog entries of the remaining days we were in thailand on a notepad on the plane, i didn’t. i hate writing, i like typing. so, for our readers, the coolest parts of the trip are over. we spent our last days in bangkok shopping for last minute things in the weekend market. saw some cool buildings while we were riding in the cab. went to the mall where dee got a really nice hair cut. i was scared for her. one, they don’t speak english and two, she was a bit vague on what she wanted. but they guy proved to be a pro and did a great job on layering her hair the way she wanted it. the mall is ridiculous. it is huge but it feels like a miniature tokyo. at least what i invision tokyo to look like. huge advertisements about things that i can’t read. oh, i did see an ad about a phone that could handle music, take videos, act as a camera, and numerous other things. the future of having a single device for everything is not far off now.

anyways, we shop around and return to khao san road. we walk to a popular restaurant that was playing some really good chillout loung music. just my kind of place. as dee was heading to the restrooms, who did she run into but Frank from the full moon party. i had just sent him an email about getting the photos for the party, which he had just read. such a cool place like thailand where you have such a concentrated friendship and then you think you will never see them again and then boom, there they are.

Frank had a good time diving in koh tao and gave me the pics for the full moon party. they turned out really good. he was leaving to home as we ran into him, but he stayed and had a drink with us.

after dinner, we hung out on khao san road for a while. haggled on some prices and got a few things and went to bed.

the next day was nothing special. for our last day in thailand, we thought out going to the thai boxing but we had spent so much money that we couldn’t afford it anymore. oh well, it would have been cool to see. so, we hung out on khao san road, which seemed even more crowded than when we were there last.

to make a long story short, we got to the airport before it was light. dee had serious problems passing the overstay police. her visa had ran out and we had anticipated the cost to be 200 baht every day. well, the increased it to 500 baht and she didn’t know where i was. i had checked through on with my airline and was waiting for her at the gate since she was taking off before me. i was growing concerned and then she grabbed my arm, almost in tears, and led me back to the overstay place where i gave them the remaining money. later on, dee said she didn’t want to fuss about it cause there was a military man next to the agent with a big gun.

i walked her to her gate and said good bye. we would see each other in NYC.

i barely made it to my gate. i had the gate all wrong. it wasn’t being displayed on the tvs and i thought they had said 24 when it was 54. i started running as it was now flashing boarding on the tv. as i was passing gate 40 something, they made the announcement that it was final call. WTF?!?! i was freaking out cause when i got nearer, i had to pass through an additional security. they had one lane open for several hundred people. i pushed passed people and probably pissed off a few on the way. some arab couldn’t seem to pull his cell phone out of his robes and was holding up the line. i tossed my bags ahead of him and pushed through the security gate. there were several other people who were on my flight and they were behind me so i wasn’t freaking out too much, but damn if i am going to miss this flight. i don’t know what i would have done.

we flew to hong kong and the guide said i would be able to watch the da vinci code, MI:3, and other movies and tv shows. we arrived in hong kong and waited for four and half hours for the next plane. it was delayed.

in hong kong, i realized they were removing liquids from passengers bound for the US. so, i went to the bathroom and hid the oil in the back part of the fanny pack i was wearing and shoved the snake whiskey down deep into the bag. i also placed the small hand sanitizer in my pocket behind my passport.

when i went through, they felt the pockets, but only felt the passport. score! i saved the hand sanitizer. then they went through my luggage. i placed the fanny pack in a way that would hid the compartment. the looked through it and found my other hand sanitizer. i chalked it up as a loss, but they didn’t find the oil. however, they did find the snake whiskey. damn! they placed both things in a bag and told me to follow the agent to a table where they wrapped an id around the bag and placed it in a box. i was on the verge of saying i would dump the whiskey since i will never ever try it cause i want to keep the bottle, but their method allowed me to “check” my liquids in a box. very cool! if i had known that, i wouldn’t have gone to the trouble.

So, we board the plane and i have a window seat and stay awake long enough to watch the da vinci code. the book and movie end differently and i enjoyed the movie ending more than the book. i also think whoever decided on tom hank’s hairdo for the part should be fired. after the movie, i watch a little bit of mi:3 and some tv before falling asleep and sleeping all the way home.

I arrived around midnight to dee laying on the couch half awake. i soon joined her in falling asleep in our own bed. it was nice to be home finally.