We made it!

Of course we made it  to Bangkok. After leaving Winnipeg, we flew to Vancouver and spent 4 hours in the Vancouver Airport - beautiful airport. We were there from 12pm until 4am. I didn't sleep at all from Winnipeg to Vancouver. On the next flight they fed us right away which was weird because it was like 5 am. After the confusingly timed meal, I fell asleep for about 7 hours. I was sitting in the middle, so I found some pretty weird sleeping positions. The two best positions were "head on the tray-table" and "feet in magazine pouch"-use your imagination. When I woke up, my ankles were no longer there. All of the blood had pooled and my ankles her super puffy! Once we got to Bangkok, we waited in the customs line for an hour and then proceeded to retrieve our luggage. All nine of our checked bags made it! 

 

After an exciting drive, we got to our apartments at about 3:30pm and jumped in the pool immediately, since it was a beautiful 36 degrees outside. When we got into our rooms we found out that the beds ARE actually the hardest beds in the world. Luckily a lovely girl from the U of W gave me an extra mattress pad she had. It made such a difference!

 

Our first stop after unpacking was the Big C Super center. Big C is like a big Thai Walmart, where you can by anything you might need while you are here. I bought some apples. The cab ride from the apartments to the Big C is only about 5 minutes, but it only ends up costing about 40 Baht, which is a bit more than a Canadian dollar. In the evening Jerome and I went for a short run on the main street. The sidewalk is quite an adventure to run on with the mopeds, scooters, bikes, pedestrians, food vendors and dogs. 

 

Monday Morning I was going to go for a run, but the Campus two reps came to show us around town. They took us to the Big C to get phones (which were only 465 Baht) and then get us set up with talking minutes at 7-11. There are 7-11's everywhere here, but the Slurpee machine seems to be out of service. In the evening the Phys-Ed teacher from Campus 2 took Jerome and I for an awesome run! We ran down some side streets to a beautiful canal that you can run along for a couple miles. It was awesome. He told us that there is a Half-Marathon in Hua Hin thus weekend. I'm actually considering doing it because we will be in Hua Hin anyways this weekend for a retreat. Pretty awesome!

 

Tomorrow our orientation starts at Campus 2 at 8 am. I am going to get up at 5:30 and do a pool run before school. 

 

That's all for now,

Alice (Ms. Fat-Ankles)

Peace Out Winnipeg!

My adventure starts today. With the University of Manitoba Education program, I will be embarking on my journey around the world. I don't really know what to expect, but I'm boarding a plane tonight at 8pm for Vancouver and then from Vancouver to Taiwan and from Taiwan to Bangkok. It will be the longest flight of my life, but all of my years stuck in the paddling van has more than prepared me to be the most irritating travel buddy ever (i.e. Phil and I one time had a argument about apple juice for hours - and yes, it was chunky). I hope that the 8 other people I am traveling with will be able to tolerate me for that long! 

Apparently the weather in Bangkok will be 38°C when we arrive on Sunday, but don't worry, it only feels like 47 with the humidity. May be a bit of a shock to the system. I have the day off Monday so I will try to go for a run. Wish me luck!

Goodbye Winnipeg!

PS - Here are some pictures of the Carlton apartment before leaving today! So clean! We'll see what it's like when I get back :)