Hello from Bangkok!

So I still haven’t blogged about my six weeks of road trippin around the US yet (someday, someday) but this trip deserves real time posting. Because yes, I am finally on that solo southeast Asia trip that all of my nearest and dearest have had to listen to me hem and haw about for about five months. Thanks for putting up with me friends. I didn’t think I was actually going to go either :).

Since I’m so terrible at updating my blog I thought I might take the Mark Twain autobiography approach to my travelogue. Basically I’m going to talk about whatever, wherever, and whenever from my trip as I see fit. Otherwise I’m just not going to write anything, and I want to because there is so much that is worth sharing.

After a 13 hour flight from SF I had a strange but fun 17 hour layover in Taipei (more on that another time), then caught a packed and delayed 4 hour flight into Bangkok. Lucky me, it was so packed that I got bumped up to the sleeper cars upstairs!

Yes, I had room to put my feet up/lay down, there was a Financial Times AND plenty of wine. Thanks China Air! I apologize for thinking ahead of time that you were going to be a miserable economy carrier. Anybody that offers free wine in economy is all right by me.

Bangkok was rainy and miserable, oh and it was also 3 am (after a full day of Taiwan and mad jet lag) but the moment I hopped in the cab I was all like

Bright lights, bigger city…

Actually let’s be real. There was a little bit of this too:

Girl my body don’t lie. I’m out of my mind. Let it rain over me!
(I’m totally Marc Anthony. You can be Pit Bull. What do you mean you don’t want to be Pit Bull?)

I’ve been here three days and so far things have been good. I’m eating well, partying hard and getting some culture. Bangkok is definitely going on the “I could live here” list. Its a real city with a complex history and some kind of filthy hot magic- like a Saigon and New York City lovechild. I’m headed up north today but am already looking forward to coming back later in my trip.

So I went to Miami for a couple of days… I think the pictures don’t need much explanation.

Lincoln Mall Road, the main South Beach shopping drag

For some reason, this cracked me up. Very Miami.

The ceiling of the Miami Post Office

Hanging out at the beach

I almost forgot to take a picture of myself.

I wish I could have stayed here.

Walking around South Beach

Cuban coffee

Sandwiches from the Sandwicherie

Okay this looks familiar….

The famous, the very necessary, the Deuce. This dive bar was amazing. All I remember was talking about The Secret and some guy coming in and trying to sell a case of bananas and strawberries.

Morning in South Beach

Cafe con leche

and an egg sandwich on Cuban bread

Off to Little Havana

To look at studio space? Er…

Then chilling at the pool

And leisurely walks past cat naps

To hot dogs

Miami was my very much delayed third annual solo trip, and I think it worked out really well. Don’t ask me why Miami, I don’t know why. I could say the food, the architecture and the beach, but really “just because”.

This rarely happens to me, but once I got to Miami I felt an instant connection with my super friendly Airbnb hosts. As a result I had someone to show me around for a day or two. It was kind of like living someone else’s life for a few days, if that makes sense. It was eye opening and so much fun. I am incredibly grateful for the experience, especially because it got me out of myself, my thoughts, my routines and my ideas about how to go about life. It sounds heavy, but surely you’ve felt this before when you’ve traveled?

A few things I liked about Miami:

-Heat. I liked being able to wear shorts all day.

-The Art Deco everywhere.

-Beaches, pools, parks…

-The art scene is actually very lively, and there seemed to be festivals all the time. Turns out that I missed the Food Network fest by a week :/

-Diversity

-Food was pretty tasty

-The beautiful parts of town are quite beautiful

Things that were questionable:

-Sexual harassment. Holy shit. People driving across the street would slow their cars down to talk to me! Everybody had to say hello, let me know how gorgeous I am, blah blah blah.  I’m “America’s Next Top Model” – whatever. Also, I had two stupid 20 something stalker guys who approached me while I was on the beach in my bikini. One called me Chino, then asked me why I was ignoring him,  and didn’t I like Latino guys? Thankfully, my rage took over and I verbally blasted the hell out of him, all without putting my novel away. I was a little scared afterwards about running into them again, but it worked out ok.

-Racial insensitivity. I got the slanty eyes gesture here from my Starbucks barista. That’s all I’m gonna say.

-Driving sucked. Taking the bus sucked. I don’t think I could live here.

-Club culture

-Miami restaurant service is slow and they autocharge you a tip, which you can then add an additional tip to.

-The fashion scene here kind of looks like Forever 21 and Prada threw up all over the city

 

Anyways, all in all a good trip. I don’t have anything else planned on the horizon, but I won’t let so much time pass before my next solo trip.