And the world’s your oyster

Yes I have had “One Night In Bangkok” stuck in my head approximately since Dubai.

As I have informed my family and probably at least three of my friends, boyfriend and I have gallivanted off to Southeast Asia and it is still early enough in the trip that I feel obligated to blog about it. This may or may not last but at least if I forget to email my parents will know I’m alive (hi parents!).

So far our trip by the numbers:
3 – fountains in the Dubai airport
12 – hours from Boston to Dubai
10ish – hours of that flight that I spent asleep
3 – hours in the Dubai airport admiring their fountains and contemplating whether it would be weird to eat at the Shake Shack (probably equally as weird as eating at a copy of DC’s Paul bakery, which we ended up doing anyway)
1 – number of Shake Shacks in DXB
6 – more hours to Bangkok
4 – hours spent in BKK airport almost getting in the wrong Visa line, finally getting in the right line thanks to the very kind lady at the money exchange booth
10 – the factor by which we miscalculated the conversion rate and thus withdrew more money from the ATM than I wanted
6 – number of blisters I think I have developed despite convincing myself that walking around Somerville was totally enough shoe break-in time
15ish – how many pounds my backpack allegedly weighs
15000ish – how much it feels like my backpack weighs when we get lost and can’t find our hotel in the early afternoon heat
probably at least 40 – how many more degrees hotter it is in Bangkok than in Boston
at least 5 – how many times I have verbalized my wish that we had bought a guidebook
at least 50 – how many times I have wished I packed a thing I didn’t pack or that I didn’t pack a thing I did or that I had packed further in advance
3 – approximate hours before my flight that I actually packed
2 – how many 7-11s I stopped at trying to get a SIM card that would fit my phone
7 – number of times the 7-11 employees tried to put SIM cards in and my phone rejected them. This was the point at which we gave up and went back to the hotel pool.
3 – how many inches in diameter I think my feet have swollen.
5 – how many pounds I think my camera weighs
many – how many times I have wished I did not pack my giant Nikon D80 and had brought a point-and-shoot instead
8 p.m. – the arbitrary bedtime we set for ourselves to feel like we had defeated jet lag. To be honest, I’m not sure we’re going to make it the remaining 2 hours.

Every heartening small victory has been met with an equally disheartening setback. We made it through customs with minimal issues! And then totally bungled our ATM transaction. We found a restaurant and successfully consumed food! And then promptly took a walk in the wrong direction and ended up near the site of a protest with some poster of a bunch of decapitated people because that’s not at all ominous. (Parents, the protest was done, the area was empty, and we promptly turned around.) David got a SIM card! I epically failed at getting a SIM card and now can’t get my old one back into my phone.

Hopefully the victories will start winning out over the nuisances soon or else I am not sure we will leave our hotel until we figure out which beach we’re heading to on Monday. I am taking suggestions for beach islands that will allow me to do nothing but lie on the beach all day with absolute minimal hassle and no bedbugs.