lostinmyneighborhood-blog

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Bangkok

Today was an insanely productive day. I woke up at 7 am to venture to Khamphiri Park for a run. It was invigorating to see how lively the park was even so early in the morning. Copious amount of elderly chinese people practiced tai chi in the grass., brightly coloured yellow exercise ,achines permanently installed like playground fixtures were installed along the sides. However, it also made me appreciate Auckland a bit more. The park, which my guidebook describes as the lungs of Bangkok, even so early in the morning, was stifled by the smog and heat, and the pond was green and overgrown with algae. I then went to wat pho to see the giant reclining Buddha. For a mere 100 baht, I got to see a whole lot of Buddhas and astounding architecture. I also hesitantly visited the Grand Palace, hesitantly because 500 baht seemed like an exorbitant amount compared to anything else I'd done for the past two days. It was amazing, with museums admissions included in the ticket, which honestly weren't that amazing and were insanely crowded, but only added to the sheer volume of things to see in the area. The jade Buddha did not dissapoint, with its elaborate surrounding shrine and it's beautiful cool season clothing, but I must say my favorite part of the day was grabbing some ice cream at the end of the visit. I attempted to make my way to the other wat and got hopelessly lost using public transportation, landing myself in an area completely devoid of any tourists, which was both a very wonderful and frustrating experience. Eventually I gave up and hailed a taxi and decided to go climbing instead. The climbing place I met a wonderful group of local Thais who were extremely welcoming and fantastic boulderers! I was even offered a ride out of the alleyway by one young man.

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Bouldering at Proclimber Gym in Bangkok.  Everyone was so friendly and welcoming!  

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Wat Pho, Giant Reclining Buddha's feet.  People I took pictures of because I have no friends.  

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Layover in Sydney

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Back on the road again! To Bangkok I go.

After working most of the New Zealand summer holiday, i decided as a spur of the moment decision to go to Thailand .  Wowee, this place is absolutely the bees knees! though, admittedly, it is only my first day here, it was getting to a point where even New Jersey seemed like a fun place to be compared to Auckland, and I'm mainly enamored with the wonderful and wonderfully cheap food.  I visited Chinatown by taking the public buses with the aid of Google maps.

    i highly recommend using the buses; if you have a phone, the data is affordable (through AIS it is less than 70 Baht for a week) and pays for itself with the money you save by using the buses, which cost between 7 and 12 Baht.

I had some delicious grilled squi, which would've been even better if I didnt have the hubris of asking for it to be spicy.  To put it into words:

squid grilled at the stall

sprinkled hellfire chilli

my tongue now ashes

Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and dashed into the nearest 7-11 and chugged a bottle of milk in the time it took my to walk from the register to the door.

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In the library at Lyttleton

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Puzzle Migraine

I must be a masochist for attempting to complete a Where's Waldo (Wally in NZ) 1000 piece puzzle.  MY head is throbbing from the eye strain alone.  Everything is blurring together :(  55/1000 pieces put together (Yes I counted)

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Zzzzzzzz.....

To all ecology lecturers:  I love that you have so much faith in our self discipline, but if you are going to talk exclusively about ancient dispersion of plants for 55 minutes, I can assure you that dimming the lights and lowering the mic volume may not be the most effective delivery method.  Though this may add to dramatic tension in some theaters, this isn't one of them :(

IswearItriedmybest.

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Daily Tally of My Pet Peeves

7 people wearing hipster glasses without lenses 2 people stage whispering behind me in class 4 hours brutally murdered by the Internet and my very poor attention span.

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My version of sleepwalking

The sleep eating returns! Woke up yesterday with candy bar wrappers surrounding me on my mattress and melted chocolate on my forehead, and no recollection of consuming them except for a sickeningly sweet aftertaste in my mouth. I feel cheated and dirty that I didn't get to enjoy them. Rest in reeses pieces, oh chocolate I unwittingly consumed.

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I've got class! Just not this one....

First day at a new school. It's 8 AM, and I haven't even had a chance to grab with a cup of coffee. But I know, or at least I think I know where my classes are, as I stagger to Chemistry class with a zombie gait. I feel my way towards a seat in a lecture hall ,smack dab in the middle of hundreds of students. I sit there as the Chemistry lecturer goes through the introductions. Twenty minutes into the lecture, the professor welcomes us to the wonderful world of engineering. Aw, shit. I've just become one of those freshmen I used to make fun of. Hah, but no one knows who I am. For all they know, I am a brand new engineering student! I can just play it cool and...stay here till the end. Somehow, this seemed like sheer brilliance in my mind this morning. Writing it out, I think I seriously need to reevaluate my planet.

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Rawer

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Going to need all the luck I can get to sort out my visa in time for the new semester. LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS!

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Owww

Went to the beach today for a picnic. It was gorgeous out. Unfortunately I missed some patches on my back when I was applying sunblock...

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Cuttlefish flavoured chips, in the shape of fish! Sounds odd but very delicious.