Old Men Love Red Fingernail Polish

Saturday night = the night Al was brought into our lives.

After many beers and some home made ritas thanks to miss Kelly, we decided to venture out to the Londoner. (see previous post) We knew a band would be coming on that night so thought why the hell not? Not long after we arrived and after the band played a song by The Police which I've never heard (apparently I am supposed to be embarrassed by this and "never in my life admit that to anyone")..anyways, after all this is when we were introduced to a 70 year old man from Missouri named Al. Ohhh Al. Well let me start off by saying Al's introduction was not of the norm. All of a sudden we see this old man dance --more like shimmy-- his way across the dance floor and start beckoning me towards him. At first, of course, I politely shook my head. It was only after it began to look like he wasn't going to leave until I agreed coupled with Kelly saying in my ear "just DO IT." so again I thought why the hell not? To top it all off "Big Girls Don't Cry" was playing. Yes thats right...BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY...not the radio version either- the Thai band version. As I got up I mouthed a "I really hate you" to Kelly. Now when I'm a little tipsy or more so drunk is when I can pull out the dance moves. But when I am completely sober? That's just pure embarrassment. Even though I should have been more embarrassed that I was dancing with a 70 year old man who was yelling at me the entire time "you aren't supposed to talk when you dance so stop asking questions", I was more ashamed of my dancing than anything. I mean I could feel just how bad I was, but that's OK because without that there would have been no Al story. FINALLY the dance was over and Al and I went back to the table where little Miss Kelly was just waiting to pull out the jokes. He sits down next to us and proudly says he's been in Thailand for 40 years and will be for the next 40 more. (UMM ok Al) Then he screams "I'm a single 70 year old bachelor and the COOOOOOOLEST guy in town!!" WOW. Woooow. I hope I can never proudly announce that in my life. (maybe the coolest guy in town part..) So yes. Here we were, two 23 year old Americans getting hit on by the coolest 70 year old kid in town. After we politely declined some more dances and decided to head home, Al walked us out and gave us some sound advice "you two girls stick together--one girl is dangerous, two girls very very goooooooood." OK Al...Thanks Al...we'll be sure to do that. Oh and the best part...he looks at my hands and goes
"Honey, I love your fingernail polish...Old men LOVE red fingernails."

And that was Al. I think he frequently visits the Londoner (maybe even has his own chair) so next time we go back I'm thinking there will be some more good stories to post.

Let's go to Cabbages and Condoms

(Ryann)


Thursday night.

Another great night out with Uncle Gary. We started off at Gullivers..this huge expat bar with lots of pool tables and Thai ladies. It was his friends going away party so a bunch of his co-workers were there to celebrate AKA get drunk. After watching Kelly play pool with this guy who thought he was way better than he actually was, and after witnessing her unexpected/awesome comeback, we were ready to hit the streets. And by streets I mean the coolest freaking street of bars we have ever seen- and yes, we have seen some baaaaaaaars. It was this alley which had all these built up wooden bars side by side separated only by a thin wall...most had a pool table and the best ones towards the end of the alley had their own stereo systems. The one we finally decided on was a fun little bar with Rhianna's "Umbrella" blaring and a nice bartender named Khun Jane (note to reader: not real name). And thank goodness we graced ourselves with Khun Jane's presence. She was so excited that we had chosen her bar and then her friend, Khun something-I-can't-remember, made some darn good B-52 shots.

Kelly and I proceeded to play some pool and soon we found ourselves surrounded by a few onlookers cheering us on. Since...I can spot a tranny from a mile away...it immediately occurred to me that ohhh yes these were guys in little skirts and tube tops probably trying to look for more than just a pool game. The real shocker came when we got escorted by this nice young lady who said here you go girls..or more like "HERE YOU GO GIRLS" (imagine a man's deep voice)...whoa that hurt my I can spot a tranny ego...failed to notice that one. But this is Bangkok and you gotta love it. This alley was exactly what I was looking for in Thailand. A row of small bars with some pop music and a couple games of pool. And can't forget the B52 shots. Whats a vacation without those? Thanks again to Gary for showing us to another great part of this city..First Titanium and then this (I was too drunk to remember the name) ??? Street. The best 2 nights of our trip so far!!

I can spot a tranny from a mile away

I don't think I ever want to leave this city. And no, not because of the "Who-can-spot-a-transvestite-first game." This place is like Sixth Street on steroids...I think you can live here your whole life and still not go to all the bars in this city...well ok ok maybe WE could. But seriously, every night this week has been a new adventure- as cheesy as that sounds. I'll start with Wednesday night.

"The Londoner"

Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Gary's friends own this pub called "The Londoner" which is an English bar/restaurant with good American music and traditional English food. All they had to say was "Wednesday is buy one drink get one free" and we were sold. So the four of us show up to the pub at around 7 or 8 and immediately Kelly and I go for the "pint specials"-- her with the Vodka/Redbull, me with the Vodka/Cranberry Juice. The owners ended up coming the same night and immediately we were invited to join them at their table for dinner. Two drinks in and we were both feelin' pretty good. It was only when I started swaying and singing too loud to Santana's new song "Into the Night" featuring Chad Kroeger from Nickelback that Kelly had to step in and "politely" ask me to abstain. Obviously I was beginning to embarrass her. Anyways, we ate dinner (club sandwiches) and were probably four "pint specials" in by now, feelin' pretty darn good...Then our night got a lot more interesting. Gary announces that he wants to take us to this club called "Titanium" a few streets over and of course we are sold on that as well. WHAT A CLUB. So far, probably the best place we have been to since we've gotten here, hell maybe even better than most of the places we went in Sydney (besides Scary Canary of course...note: see older posts) Every night they have this all girl band called "The Boss" who play any and all American songs you could imagine. A lot of pop songs=my dream come true. They busted out everything from The Cardigans "Love Fool" to "Murder on the Dance Floor." These girls could siiiiiiiiiing AND played guitar/drums/bass really well...I was so amazed with their performance and not to mention borderline Suze that I cornered one of the girls in the bathroom to express my amazement at their talent. I went on to say how "OMG, you need to move to America and play, you could be famous, you don't understand, you are better than all the bands in America, i know..i know when people can sing, i love famous people." Uhh slightly embarrassing now that I think back...Needless to say she was very flattered and I even got a wave from her when they did their next set.

"Bathroom girl is on the far right"

So then Gary and Kelly decided it was time to make a visit to the Ice Bar that was upstairs. And when he said Ice Bar, he meant ICE BAR...it's in a separate freezer type room and the bar is carved completely out of ice. I think they have something like this in Milan... It was awesome- we were in short sleeves and flip flops so we could only bare it for one vodka shot, but it was all worth it. (Thank you Gary!!) After more drinks and some dancing to California Love we were ready to head back home and get some much needed food.

New Obsessions

(Ryann)

1) Bryan Adams "Please Forgive Me"
2) the TV show "Koffee with Karan" - what a guy
3) Tiger Beer
4) Pad Thai
5) Tanya Tucker and Randy Travis. songs from my childhood
6) Ping Pong shows.....NOT


more to be added

The Pong Show

So Ryann and I went out to an Irish pub tonight called O'reilly's. This place apparently has this awesome Beatles cover band, but it's a Monday night here so when we got there they told us they aren't on til Friday. It's supposed to be awesome so we are scheduling to be there at 930pm when they come on fri. We did meet a group of Americaners at the bar who were in Bangkok for a 6 week excursion through UNC business school. They were all really cool so we joined them for a local "pong show" that they had heard about on the street. For those of you wondering what a pong show is, think amsterdam sex show with a lot less class and skill. So Ryann and I walk with this group down the street and we all decide on one of the local clubs to go in to. Girls no cover, nice, but not surprising. Well five minutes in to the show we are accosted by some intensely angry older woman who basically seemed to be the "mother pimp" of all the girls at the club. She demanded all of us to bad 200 baht for our beers. . . one of the girls we were with vehemently argued with her and said how we were told at the door that girls could get in free and a beer was included. The mother hen was a total UGH and told our friend that nothing was for free but kept repeating that if she wanted to take her shirt off and get up on the stage she wouldn't have to pay the 200 baht . . . needless to say we all paid the 200 baht each to avoid even further a seen. Anyways, soon after we leave with the group and Ryann and I go on our way back to Rhonda and Garys. When we reach the major street there are a group of taxi drivers waiting to give us a ride, obvi trying to rip us off. We get in a cab and immediately the driver asks what hotel i'm staying at . . . I say The Davis, which is right next door to our apt. I am quoted 300 baht, HAH! Cab ride there was barely 60 baht, I laughed at the guy and scooted out of the cab, he quotes me 150, now I start yelling. I told him 50, knowing that that was possibly a little under what a meter would cost, we settled on 100 even though I knew i was being ripped off. Ugh. I think I'm learning how to negotiate though, i regrettably didn't bitch more at the cabby but, I think i was just tired . . . tomorrow's another day though!

No cock fights today sorry...

(RYANN)

So today we woke up and went to the outside market. Now the outside market is HUUUUGE. literally it's like the Louvre- you can be there all day and still not see everything. it covers i don't know how many blocks and blocks of downtown Thailand...they had everything from Mark Jacobs goggles (sarah and JD) to GOLDEN RETRIEVER puppies. seriously- there was a whole section full of just animals...from hundreds and hundreds of puppies and kittens all the way to flying squirrels, snakes, spiders, and fish...lots of NEMOS!! it really was unbelievable and so so cheap. then on our way out we discovered bootleg DVDs...movies that have been recorded from theaters across the world for sell on the street like National Treasure and American Gangster and even...HANNAH MONTANA!! which i was very tempted to get but refrained myself just to evade Kelly's criticism and ridicule. we spent most of the day there then came back to her aunt/uncle's apartment to order pizza and salad and watch one of the bootleg movies we had just acquired. Kelly is currently taking a nap (surprise, surprise) and I am waiting for her to wake up so we can maybe go out. that's all for now, but miss y'all and hope everythings well back in the US of A.

Who will be the one to pee outside

Oh, how I love Bangkok.
So Ryann, me, and my aunt and uncle (Rhonda and Gary) headed off to dinner tonight round 530. We went to a place called Coyote which was a short cab ride away from there place. Man, theme restraunts are SO entertaining. We walk in and two asian girls open the doors and are wearing dark jeans, boots, hard core belt buckles, denim collared shirts, and, of course, cowboy hats. Surprisingly though, some great rita's and nacho's at this place . . . if you ever come to Bangkok and want some good Texas food I definitely suggest Coyote. So anyways, midmeal Rhonda spots an ELEPHANT walking down the street we are looking out on. Nevermind it's a major street, nevermind there are tons of cars parading down the street . . . THERE IS AN ELEPHANT WITH A MAN RIDING ON IT DOWN A MAJOR CITY STEET. Old news in Bangkok apparently, but, I got pics of it and it will be posted on facebook soon enough.
After all the gooooood nachos and empanada's (personally didn't eat any, too much pastry for my) we headed off to one of my uncles' fav bars, Mojos. At this point Gary begins to talk much shit to me about how he will kill me in pool, so we head over to the pool tables across the street where, how shall I say this delicately, . . . I kicked his ass in pool. But, I guess soon enough he will request a rematch. Maybe I'll let him have one.

When in Rome? . . . no, Bangkok!

All apologies to ya'll, sorry it has taken so long for us to post another entry. Currently I am in Gary and Rhonda's (my aunt and uncle) high rise in Bangkok. We just returned from lunching at a restraunt at the local mall where we devoured three vodka punches (each) . . . and Rhonda just whipped up some strawberry rita's in the blender.

Ok, so continuing from the last post . . .
Cowboys lost, ugh. Ryann found out she got into Miami law school, so we decided we must go out to celebrate . . . not sure what we were celebrating though. She's happy she got in but still not sure if she is going to go in the fall . . . but she sure as hell has a while to figure that out - specifically April 16th. So we go out and have a fun dinner on the water right by the Sydney Harbor bridge and so we "got our drink on" enough to be tempted back to this HUGELY metro bar Cargo. Got to Cargo. Ordered a round of drinks for me and Ryann, finish those. Ryann orders a round, we get up to move seats, I straight up drop my glass. Dropping the glass actually wasn't too bad bc we met a lot of ppl after that. . . Hassan Sr. and his friend Baba who we later went to the Scary Canary with (bar next to our hostel).*

Anyways I'm gonna fast forward a bit bc I'm lazy.

So we just got to Bangkok last night. We went out out Thursday night and at 345am on Friday a cab picked us up from our hostel to go to the airport. 6am, flew to Melbourne, and 9am got on a flight to Hong Kong. Holy Hell I am never flying long distances in economy, bc we flew business class and it was the shit. There were 3 of us in business class out of 18 seats. So basically William (out steward) was Ryann and I's personal butler. My highlight of the ride was the many cafe latte's that William brought out to me and Ryann's I am guessing was the cheese platter . . . does anyone remember that scene in the movie French Kiss with Meg Ryan on the train and all the cheese, ha, this reminded me of it.

Alright, nap time. I'll post more later, kinda tired right now.

Oh, just fyi, Iaw Atonement with Ryann in Sydney bc she just finished the book. I laughed the entire way thru it, . . . not supposed to be a comedy.

*If you want a good laugh and further details of this evening, contact me privately hence I have rated that night TEB aka Too Embarrassing for a Blog.

Bizarro Cheers

So Saturday night Ryann and I decided to do a touristy thing and ate dinner at Darling Harbor. It reminds me of some sort of boardwalk in the states, and is really similar to Baltimore. Anyways, so after dinner we aren't sure where to go "out" so we settled on the bar next door to our hostel. Let me initially say, sketchy. We get to the door and this scantily clad girl says it's a $20 cover. Psh. That wasn't gonna happen. So Ryann was like, umm we are staying at the hostel next door so do we have to pay? The girl let us in for free. So we survey the clientele, let me tell you it was not too appetizing. Some fool who I referred to as "Hassan" (if you have read Kite Runner, you should know what kinda person I am describing) starts chatting it up with Ryann. Ryann's topic of conversation for most of that night was how she couldn't believe that people talked so much smack about American and ALL the music in the bar was American music, and how "where would they be" if America didn't create their music. Needless to say that got pretty redundant, ha. Anyways so Hassan tries to get us to come with him and one of his friends to their beach house, but they weren't leaving til 4am, sketch again. I slightly entertained the idea til we met "the friend", I will call him K Fed. Ohhhhh man, this kid was a trip. Skinny, shaved head, diamand earings (fake, obvi), and a, i think, burlap looking GREEn (and i mean like pea green) suit. Wowee. So ry and i ended that night soon after and went to sleep at the hostel.
So yesterday we stumbled upon a bar called Cheers, which JD and I have now lovingly refer to it as Bizarro Cheers. I have to hand it to Ryann, she did drag me to a REALLy good and fun bar - we are actually about to go watch the cowboy came there now. FYI, it is 745am monday right now, and we are about to watch the 330pm sunday game. So this cheers is THREE stories, 3 plasma's on the street level - about 5 on the top level that have a couple pool table, lower level has a full restraunt menu and pool tables and more plasma's. This place is awesome, and we actually ran in to a decent amount of Americans. Oh and turns out they have a Jute Box. Ryann's first tune was "I'm so Hood." Although it was not the "remix", we were thoroughly entertained and amazed that this place had that song.
After a few pints, we decided to go see a movie. Shockingly the movie theaters here have assigned seating. My jaw dropped when I paid for my ticket and the girl asked me if I wanted to sit in the front middle or back. Weeeeird.
Well must be going, Cowboy game starts i thirty mins.

They have American Idol in Australia!!!!!!!!!!!!

(ry)
Another little thing to add. If you've ever been to Europe, you know that there is always the "IT" place to go to. In recent years it's been Prague and even more recently, Dubrovnik in Croatia has slowly started to take its place. Well in the Pacific everyone tells you: "you HAVE to go to Thailand." They say this over Fiji, New Zealand, etc. etc. So I guess it's the "Prague of Europe." This makes us extremely happy and excited!!!! Also, as of last night, over beers and many shots of (I can't say the name because it is way too vulgar and when I ordered it at the bar, I whispered the name out of pure embarrassment)...anyways it was decided we are going to Hong Kong for a week after Bali and before we head back to Aussie land!!!!!!!

We aren't going out tonight because Kelly is dragging me to a sports bar that opens at SEVEN IN THE MORNING to watch the damn Cowboys game. It starts at 8 AM on Monday here. Not that I am complaining or anything because who could pass up breakfast, beer, and American football? Not me friends, not me.

Look for pictures and videos to be posted soon. Miss y'all!!

Saved by the Bell . . . the College Years.

A few observations that Ryann and I made thus far:

1. Target is not the cheapest place on Earth - $39.99 beach towels.
2. No one looked attractive in the US in the 80's. So, all the boys here wearing white high tops, with untied pink laces should reevaluate their fashion choices.
3. No gratuity necessary . . . yessssssss.

Tracy takes on...

It's Ryann now..I feel like I need to respond to Kelly's post below. Not surprising in the least and actually very expected, even the Aussies loved Kelly's aura of anger and "bitterness"..we all know what I mean. After only about an hour talking to us, one of our new Aussie friends pulled me aside and commented on how much he loved her cynical personality and that he very much enjoyed the prospect of pushing her buttons just for fun. Obviously I agreed to take part in this and as the night went on we both were loving just how easy it was. That's where the Patriot and Cowboy talk came into play the most..also threw in random comments on how a Democrat was definitely going to be our next President (which I do still firmly believe.) But aside from all this and the "yall frustration" Sydney really has been a blast so far. Last night was awesome and the club Cargo we went to was half inside/half outside with views overlooking the whole harbor. One thing we have found is that the drinks are quite expensive..don't think that is going to stop us though.

Stage 5 Clinger

Well not much is different in Sydney when it comes to the party scene. We spent last night at an outdoor bar happy hour (which extended into the late evening) that was situated in the middle of downtown Sydney. Man there are some hot guys here, sheesh. So we found out about this place from one of our sorority sisters, Heather Gillett, who has been living in Sydney for the past year and we hung out with all her friends. Then we went to some bar near the shore called "Cargo" - I swear people in these parts are sooooo ultra trendy and metro - WAY more so than Dallas if you can imagine that. I asked one of the guys we were with last night actually how to differentiate btw the guy guys and the straight guys. Well apparently ALL the guys that were at the bar that we were at were straight, coulda fooled me!
So on a side note, I got into a huge argument last night with some fool that was talking smack about the Dallas Cowboys. Ugh. Even ppl so far removed from the Texas have some grudge. Then I had Ryann sitting there talking about how she just "knew" that the Patriots were going to beat the Cowboys in the Superbowl, gimme a break. I'm not gonna even get into how I feel about fair weather fans . . . ugh, now I have re-angered myself.
Today we hit Bondi Beach for the second day in a row. I think Ryann and I have officially gotten our first coat of Sydney sun, yes . . . let the tannning come on down!
Anyways, that's all for now.

ps. if I hear one more person comment on Ryann and I's affinity for using the contraction "yall" words will be had . . . ha.

Souless in Seoul

Alright I take it all back. The Koreans are not all happy . . . well maybe the stewardesses but certainly not the ppl if you aren't paying them for a service. Over a ten minute span, I think I was cut in front of at least three times in one line or another. No apologies, no acknowledgment of rude behavior. Just people A LITTLE too rushed at the airport for my taste. Ugh. And for some reason, don't know why, everyone keeps staring at me and Ryann. Ha. We do stick out pretty bad, but it could be worse. We decided to respect their customs and put on pants and not just shorts, which is what we were planning on doing for the plane. Ugh. Can't wait til we get to Sydney for some beer and friendly Aussies!

Two Lost Souls in Seoul

Yay, we started our adventure off with a delayed plane flight to Seoul, South Korea! Well, atually it wasn't that bad, just made our trip more entertaining. We arrived at the Incheon, S. Korean International Airport a little outside of Seoul right at the same time that our connecting flight to Sydney was taking off. The plane flight wasn't that bad at all, Ryann and I attribute most of the great flight to the ultra attentive Korean stewardesses. Those girls had freaking smiles plastered across their faces for the entire 15 hour flight (I am assuming they were on some uppers of some sort, bc it boggles my mind that ppl can be so friendly - but maybe that's just bc I am American and/or I'm a huge cynic when it comes to believing ppl can be genuinely happy). So anyways, Ryann tried one mean on the plane - aside from the seaweed soup she claims that her vegetables and rice were very good. I on the other hand brought my own food from the airport Einsteins's to sustain me.

Ok, arrival in Incheon, S. Korea . . . we walk off the plane and we are accosted by a woman with a Sydney sign. Obviously we missed our flight so we had to go thru customs and were directed to a Korean Air Kiosk for further details. Ry and I, along with a few other foreigners were given vouchers for a free night stay in the Hyatt Regency and three free meals. Wow we lucked out with this place! Dinner was fairly good, spaghetti, and although the beds were pretty rock hard, the soft duvet made it quite lovely. We met a guy from Fiji at dinner who chatty chat chatted with us. At one point during the convo he asked us "So how is America?" - ha, we said it was pretty good. He went on to tell us how he was planning in the future to move to the Us - we asked where . . . he said Missouri. Hmmmmm, odd? Turns out he has a gf up in Tokyo, where he lives, that is from Missouri which helped us to understand the randomness of his answer. Actually I'm not even sure if i have been to Missouri, oh well. Moving on . . .

We passed out round 930 pm Korean time, and of course Ryann woke up at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep. I woke up round 730 and heard her rumbling in the bathroom which was odd bc i could have sworn I had also heard her an hour before in the bathroom. Hmmm. So i proceed to changed the channels on the tv and she emerges from the bathroom, book in hand. She had been reading in the bathroom for the past hour or two trying not to disturb me by turning on the lights in the main room.

I talked to me madre right bf we headed out to breakfast and she asked what sort of attire we had been sporting when we got off the plane in S. Korea. The question seemed highly relevant since the temperature was 32F when we got off the plane, but more importantly she brought up the fact that Asian countries aren't exactly "cool" with the whole "wear whatever the hell you want" mentality that Ryann and I usually maintain. This point was illustrated when we went down to breakfast wearing wind shorts and the matre'd politely asked us to change. Ryann and I look at each other a little frightened. . . shit, we didn't have any other clothes. Then I remember I had some sweat pants and Ryann some capri pants that we wore on the plane. We quickly changed and returned, the guy was pretty cool about it - and we did explain to him that we had missed our plane and were actually supposed to be in 80F weather in Sydney.

Now we're just hanging out in the hotel room watching - can you believe it - Without a Trace on one of the many English speaking tv stations. Ryann even watched Good Morning American early this morning and has fully described the goings of the elections. Apparently Hilary teared up at some breakfast in New Hampshire after some woman asked her how she was doing, and now she has freaking won the state. Ugh. Oh well, it's not like a Democrat is gonna be elected into the Presidency anyways so I shall not fret too much!

Last night in America

Well in eleven hours we will be on our first plane ride (17 hours...) headed to South Korea. I have managed somehow to fit most of my entire closet into one big duffle bag that weighs 160 pounds. Plus a carry on tote bag and newly impulse-bought backpack...(thank you Kelly). Now Kelly on the other hand (minus the huge duffel bag she is taking also) has to carry around not only a very large, HEAVY red tote bag, but in addition to a second carry on bag AND a backpack. Now let's do the math...Kelly, with her bad back, three carry on items, a 17 hour flight, THEN another 11 or so hour flight...How bad do you feel for the person that has to not only travel with her for the next 30 hours but also sit by her...ie: ME.**

Besides all that, the thought that in a day and a half we will be FINALLY there on the beach makes it all worth it. We created Skype accounts tonight so if anyone has that just email us with your username etc. Also thanks to Donna we have wireless internet pretty much anywhere we are over there so be looking for some blog updates in the near future. We are going to miss everyone and don't think just because we are on the other side of the world, we don't want frequent updates on the current events in America..ya know...the Presidential race, ummm gossip? well you get the point.

Next time we post we will be there!!






*no offense Kelly, but it had to be said, and you know that not only will I be thoroughly entertained, but also will be using your approach: put on the ipod and pretend to listen. haha i kid i kid.

Apparently someone upstairs really likes us bc not only are we spending 40 days in Thailand, Kelly's aunt and uncle have booked us flights to Bali from Feb. 1-8 to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Up until now I guess I could have given a flying flip about the Chinese New Year but this year that all changes. I don't know how they party in SE Asia but rest assured that Ryann and I will be partying "Asian Style" til the wee hours of the morning each night we are in Bali. Jealous? I'm sure you are!

42 more hours til take offfff!