Safe and sound in Canada with a hot shower and a good sleep in me.
There isn't much to report about our last day in Hua Hin - we picked up our clothing (wow, it's really fabulous to have something that fits), went back to the cloudy beach (the sun only came out for a few minutes) and then headed back to Bangkok.
Once in Bangkok, we went back to the same little place we stayed at originally. We had a drink when we got there and were rather entertained by the live entertainment who favoured the Eagles, Elton John, the Beatles, Eric Clapton and many other late 60's & 70's hits... There were still lots of police out everywhere while was nice to see. We got up super early the next morning so that Lisa & Jay could go to the Myanmar Embassey to get their visas. I poppeed into an internet cafe to make sure Air Canada hadn't changed drastically since I left while they waited but they ended up packing it in since they were numbers 34 & 35 and an hour and a half into things, it had only progressed as far as 12.
We went off to that temple that was "closed" earlier. Someone tried to scam us on the way in, saying the temple was closed to tourists in the morning and that we should go see sitting Buddha instead. Jay said a few things and the guy tried to insist that he worked there... We went further down to the real entrance and got in with no problem. There is a dress code so we had to borrow some clothing - I was okay in my skirt but Lisa needed to get a long skirt, Jay needed pants and Lisa & I both had to get shirts since we were in tank tops. Once we did that, we were off into the temple. It was absolutely amazing - there really aren't words that can describe how stunning these temples are and you can't really tell how much they glitter from pictures, though I took a whole big pile of them.
After that, it was running a few errands and then finishing off some shopping on Khao San Road. I managed to spend almost every last baht (are you surprised?) before the night was through, though at some points, the idea of bartering was starting to tire me so I'm pretty sure I overpayed for a bunch of stuff. Lisa had a cute experience where she bought a purse like one I had bought early in the trip (for 150 baht) - she asked how much and was told 100 baht so she just took it without bargaining. Another lady who was rather loud and obnoxious asked about a larger version and was told 350 baht. She asked about the little ones and how much if she bought 4 and was told 150 baht each. Tee hee hee.... We had one last dinner (hmmmm, fresh orange juice, spring rolls, pad thai) before heading back to the hotel to pack and call it a night. Packing didn't take too long - thought, it looked like a tornado hit the room. The bags weren't that heavy either!
I headed off to bed early while Lisa & Jay went out for a bit. The alarm went off way too early and it was up to get dressed and into a cab. The cab driver tried to get me to give him 400 baht, off the meter, to take me to the airport which was so silly (on the meter, it cost me 200!) and made me kinda sad that even on the way out of the country, they are trying to take advantage of foreigners. The airport was already SWAMPED when I arrived at 5:30 so it was a morning of long lines to check in, pay airport take, get through security, etc. The plane was full and much nicer than the plane I had from Thai Airways on the way to Bangkok. I tried to sleep but didn't have too much luck. Once landing in Toyko, there was another line up to check in for the connecting flight that moved slower than anything I've ever seen (three hour layover - some people were still checking in right before boarding). The flight to Vancouver went fairly quickly and then it was off to customs (the man seemed suspicious I was on my own), baggage (why was my stuff last off the plane) and to re-check my bags. Unfortunately, I was put in the wrong line and my bags almost ended up going nowhere since I hadn't been given new luggage tags. The guy sent me off to a new line where I waited for ages and then confused the lady by saying I had a boarding pass but no tags (her response: You can never expect things to be done properly in Aisa). By the time I got all through, I had to motor it across the airport to get to the domestic gates, through security and to my gate. I had just enough time to get a cinnamon dolce latte (YAY! they are back!!) before boarding. The flight from Vancouver was awful - I had the world's most obnoxious family behind me. Two parents who bitched about everything and called people tools and idiots, two kids who wouldn't shut up... Once into Toronto, I just had to wait for my bags before taking off. I caught Airways Transit back to Waterloo and am now snuggled up at home with only the terror of unpacking still looming.
I'll take a photo or two before I start... Just remember - the second bag is all Lisa's & Jay's stuff (I'm a very cheap courier... or very expensive if you consider what my plane ticket cost). Today is still a vacation day from work but I have so much to do so it should fly quickly and then tomorrow, it is back to the normal daily grind. I'll update this with a few pictures once I get those settled and sorted and let you all know where all my pictures will be (some won't be coming until Lisa is back in February).