I arrived back in Bangkok ~4am and checked back into the Sitdhi Guesthouse just off of Khao San Rd. Grabbed my journal and went to use the internet at the Israeli house. There was no one manning the desk so I wound up there for about two hours.
Went back to my room and got two hours sleep and then I was up for breakfast and to go shopping for my airline ticket to OZ. Value Air, pronounced "Waloo Air" by the Thai's, is the best deal. However, I can't use them because they are apparently suffering a slow death , don't have a schedule past October and may not even be around by the time I'm ready to return. So I pay a few bucks more for Royal Brunei which in the end was well worth it.
I then went out to replace my stolen flip flops. Also bought some rubbing alcohol to dry out my ear which is still clogged with water and really starting to annoy me.
Later I found Alan my dive buddy from Koh Tao and had a Singha and a springroll while taking in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". The original is much better or maybe I'm just an old nostalgic fart?! Spent this night just like we would the next two, cruising Khao San road , the clubs and people watching. We even got gutsy the last night and ate some street vendor's octapus on a stick. Not bad actually. We passed on the cockroaches, grubs, grasshoppers and scorpions though. Interestingly these delicacies only become available late at night (When everyone is pissed!) I Spent the next two days mainly shopping for shirts and shorts for OZ and splurged on a dive watch which I honed my haggling skills on.
My last night I spent my last $4 on a t-shirt, said goodbye to Alan, retrieved my bags and headed to the bus stop for the 1am airport bus. I made sure to get there early and that's always a good idea in Thailand. They tend to make up their schedules according to god knows what, often leaving earlier than forecasted. I got there at 12:30 and confirmed it was the 1am bus and then confirmed I had enough time to take five minutes to get some Pad Thai from the corner. "Oh yes, 10-15 minutes at least before the bus leaves". Well 4 minutes later I returned and they hurriedly ushered me onto the bus which promptly left for the airport at about 12:36!!
My flight wasn't till 7:50am so at the airport I alternated between trying to sleep and watching CNN. I got no sleep and recieved little information. Around 6am I checked in, paid the 500 Baht departure tax and went thru passport control. At this point I thought it best not to fall asleep so I perused the Duty Free Shops and waited to board, hardly able to keep my eyes open.
Nearly on time we boarded the Royal Brunei jet which is very nice. Everyone gets their own video screen complete with movie choices and video games. The seats are comfy and the food was very good also. They even had a vegetarian meal for me even though I didn't pre-order it.
We were to have a stop over in Brunei which is a country I was not at all familar with. It is apparently a very weathly country mainly from Oil. It is also a dry Muslim country, the kind that gives out the death penalty for drug possesion. Both the flights to Brunei and then on to Perth began with a prayer to Allah. I guess that us infidels are also covered since we are all together in the cabin?! Altogether they were nice flights, but between the meals, the video games and a screaming toddler I didn't get any sleep.
So I arrived in Perth tired and in a fog. It was quite cool, spring just having started, and a nice change from the heat I've experienced of late. Auzzie customs, the toughest in the world, wanted to confiscate my Indian hand drum. In the end they compromised and only cut off the skins allowing me to at least keep the shell. Oh well, I'll reskin later.
My Auzzie mate, Shannon wasn't around yet, but showed up shortly as I was talking to a Perth local. So we hopped into his old man's pickup truck and began the journey to Bunbury. I had no idea it was 2.5 hours away!! Geez, if I had known that I would have never let Shannon pick me up. After taking a wrong turn in the "big city" we eventually made it to Bunbury where I met Gup's mom. She made me feel at home and the combination of being in an acutal home and taking my first truly hot shower in 6 months was fantastic. I slept like a baby in thru the chilly Bunbury night.
Spent a couple of days chillin and walking around. Tonight we head up to Perth for the weekend. It turns out that the Western Australia Eagles are playing in the AFL semifinals this week and Gup got us tickets. So my first Aussie Footy game should be a great experience.Now all I have to do is try to understand the game and keep up with Gup and his buddies!!!!
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