Brisbane: 5 days until take off
Because I don’t want to pay $20 a night for internet these will be delayed a day, it was my goal to write an entry every day from Monday on. Well it’s Wednesday now and I (well my company) went ahead and paid the $20. So here we go, belated.
Monday Entry (So really 2 days until I take off)
I slept maybe at max one hour of light sweating sleep Sunday night. It was very hot in my Tudor style room in St Kilda and my mind has been racing thinking about a million different things, particularly my trip coming up. I finally fell asleep to the pitter patter of rain outside my window only to be awoken by my alarm clock 15 minutes later at 6am.
I’m up in Brisbane this week for work and Friday morning I’m flying out to Singapore and then to Siem Reap Cambodia to begin my solo adventure of my lifetime into the beautiful hell furnace of South East Asia. With all the rain in Melbourne it took the taxi (honk honk 132 227) an hour to get to me. That’s one hour of me standing out in the rain holding an umbrella trying to stay awake.
Finally a very friendly Sikh in a taxi pulled up like a champion and got me to the airport in record time by taking the roads that other taxi drivers avoid so as to bolster their fair. It’s like I’ve always said, “If you find yourself in a stink….find yourself a Sikh!” (I’ve never actually said this) But seriously, Sikhs are some of the noblest of people and should always be paid respect, which brings me to the image to your left…. Dont EVER cross a Sikh!
So I get to the airport and the ticket I had booked was actually for the day before. I had no flight so I after trekking back and forth across the airport I finally found a cheap Jetstar flight to Brissy for $200 that was leaving only 45 minutes after the one I thought I had booked. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me. My last Tasmania trip I missed BOTH flights do to my own retardation.
I’ve found as I get older and my anxiety over the years has begun to take a toll on me, that flying has become a terrifying experience for me. I have flown probably 100’s of times since I was young no problem and perhaps it’s the whole “realising your mortality” thing you hit when you reach a certain age, but now I’m a wreck at the slightest bump.
Do you see this picture of Jetstar seating? Yeah, well I don’t know what mythical alternate 1st class world this plane came from but I couldn’t even cross my legs. Still, they got me there safe so for that I’m grateful.
Despite Jetstar having a cheap reputation and the plane sounding like a toy as it takes off, I’ve always has the smoothest ride with them. Even though I have twice the legroom on Virgin Blue, their planes and pilots scare the hell out of me and after my last flight into Hobart where I reached the point of complete helpless terror, I’ve never been the same since.
I met up with one of my flatmates who was up for a work conference at “Tempo” on Brunswick Street in the Valley (he didn’t know any better he’s from Perth) which is one of countless dodgy TAB pokie (push button slot machines) and betting pubs throughout Queensland (and Australia) that generally only tradies (what Americans would know as blue collar tradesman such as dry wallers or painters) lurk in mid-day knocking back schooner after schooner (schooner is 425 ml or 15 fl oz of beer popular in Queensland) of XXXX.
Tonight I had really wanted to continue catching up on Asian assimilation by watching such classic films such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Good Morning Vietnam however I didn’t have these available to me in my apartment (Miro) here in the Valley so I decided instead to buy an “Asian Beer Collection” at the drive through bottle shop down the street to help ease me into the various flavours of “The East”.
I had my Lonely Planet guide to Laos with me and the guy working behind the counter asked me “You going to Laos?” and then proceeded to tell me all about the areas he visited. Some people can be pretty unassuming, particularly in Queensland, and Joe Bottlo here was an example. He had been all over the area and gave me a few friendly tips such as don’t get killed and don’t go to the hospitals if someone fails at killing you.
The beers were a bit of a joke being that I will in all likelihood not come across them where I am going. Tiger, Tsingtao, Chang, and Sapporo. They were gimmicky and probably not very relevant being that I wasn’t going to China, Japan, or Thailand, but we’ll see. I plan on doing a full expose on the beers in the area and bring a much needed and detailed report to you. The Reader.
By the way Reader. If that’s your REAL name. This entry cost me $20. Enjoy it.
