Abroad Trip Day 15

Today was a nice, relaxing day. We got to sleep in and didn't leave til 9:45. We only went to ISDSI for a 2 hour lecture, then had the rest of the day off! Hoorah!

After eating lunch at OrgVeg and doing some homework, a few of us went to get a Thai Massage. 200baht for an hour is well worth it! Including the 20baht tip, that is an hour-long full-body massage for $7.34! We went in the nice shop, where they gave us tea and clothes to change into. Loose, baggy, light blue fishermens pants and a loose, baggy spring green long-sleeve shirt. We proceeded to go up 2 flights of stairs (there's a bedroom on the 2nd floor. I will leave you to your own conclusions), and through a hallway and down another flight of stairs. We proceeded to get pulled on, elbowed, pushed, slapped, kicked and gently rubbed. I felt so nice afterwards, but she could have been a little rougher on me.

After, we went to the night market to get dinner. Harder than it sounds. I walked along while other people bought some things, looking for a place to eat. We walked by a couple Arabic, Irish, German and American restaurants (expensive, and we didn't want to eat at McDonald's or Burger King), to stumble upon this hole in the wall Thai place. Er.... hole in the buildings, because there were no walls on this restaurant. It was a street vendor kitchen in a lot with some tables with a tarp over it. When we figured out it was a restaurant, we got really excited that we finally found a place we were willing to eat. Forget the fancy foreign food, give us a sketchy Thai street restaurant! I had been craving Indian food, so I got yellow curry soup with chicken and a lemon smoothie for 100baht ($3.34). Yum!

After, we seelaw-ed back to the hotel, then out to the bars. We started off, fittingly, at Warm Up, which is a pretty popular bar. It's a chill place with a lot of tables and a live band, and a goldfish pond where the goldfish were about the length of my forearm. We tried to go to Blar Blar Bar, but it was closed for a staff party, and the other bars were too fancy/empty or too crowded.

So, we went to Mike's. Mike's is a restaurant chain like an American diner. I got a chicken cheeseburger combo with fries and a chocolate milkshake. It was a perfect late-night drunchies fix for only 160baht ($5.34).

Day 15 - Ljubljana!

Last night, we decided to spend the night enjoying ourselves. We bought a couple bottles of wine, intending to spend the night in the hostel lobby, watching TV and movies and having a good time. We ended up at the sketchy (yet safe, no worries) bar called De Noi which has been frequented by less sleepy and more alcoholic members of our group over the course of this trip. I got fairly drunk. LaVana, Rob and I were the last ones there. Paddy is a little protective of LaVana because her dad is worried about her, so he came to get us at 11:30, which was a little weird. It was a fun time, but we had to leave at 9 in the morning for Ljubljana, which is about an hour and a half bus ride away. No hangover or anything, so it's all good.

So we went to Ljubljana, where after we got over the mountains, it was snowy! With a large pine forest! It was so beautiful! It's crazy how much the climate can change just through a tunnel. I took some great pictures of the snow covered forest through the bus window, and cute little Slovene towns that spot the hills.

Mostly, in Ljubljana I shopped. I bought two shot glasses from someone at the market and some clothes from H&M. I love H&M. It's fantastic. And cheap. I didn't buy too much, either. After we went to a place called Sokol for lunch, where they charge you for everything but it still tastes good. I drank 4 cups of tea, and I was charged a euro for them all, even though I would have been fine with more hot water. I ordered goulash and vegie soup.

Slovene goulash is not like most goulash I have had. I expected egg noodles with a tomato and meat sauce, but instead I got a beef stew with a large dumpling in the middle. Still tasted good. They had horse on the menu. It was a little weird. I didn't eat any, at least I don't think I did. I don't really know what meat was in the soup, but I think it was venison. Or at least the menu said ˝game.˝ Whatever that means...

Anyway, the bathroom at this place is also really cool. Well, at least the doors are. The rest of it isn't so great. The doors are wood with sliding wooden latches. Old school.

Anyway, I should go pack. We leave for Zagreb tomorrow morning, and won't be back to the hostel for 8 days. I think I will survive with just my backpack, but we shall see when I pack. If I can fit 8 shirts and still have room for undies, socks, and notebooks, then backpack it is! Otherwise I'll just leave a large bag of stuff here, since we're renting a room for just storage for the week.

Ciao. (I still haven't learned to say goodbye in Slovene. I usually just end with Hvala, thank you).