Thai Hard: With A Vengeance

Last December (yes, there is a slight delay between what happens in my life and the point at which it eventually bursts headfirst out of the womb and onto the internet, where it is promptly spanked and swaddled), I was fortunate enough to be asked by one of our teams at work to go to Thailand with them to lead a training / team-building session over a few days. Naturally, I leaped at the opportunity like a starving lion at a sickly gazelle. I had been through the airport in Bangkok before, but had never actually left (which was not a bad thing - it resulted in many hours of inexpensive massages as I was waiting for my flight).

The offsite was to be held in Phuket, specifically Patong Beach, a somewhat resort-y area along the coast. No matter, it was all part of the adventure. I met a few of my Sydney coworkers at the airport at just a little after 4 AM. As a side note, there are times when it is wise to disregard the 'arrive at the airport a few hours early for international flights' rule. One such of these times is when your departure airport doesn't open until 5:30 AM. If you think it's painful passing time inside of an airport, doing the same staring wistfully through the closed glass doors from the outside is an entirely new level of patience-testing annoyance altogether.

After checking in and boarding, we set off on our 12-hour flight, which connected in Perth. For once, it was good to have the company while travelling - these guys were an eclectic mix of funny, cynical, level-headed, and more funny. When we reached Phuket, we found the van that had been arranged to pick us up and take us to the resort.

Arrival! Thank goodness for English translations

- my Thai is a little rusty.

I am enamored with the idea of mini-restaurants

attached to a motor bike. It's almost like the

flying boat restaurant in The Fifth Element.

Almost.

A temple of something along the side of the road.

We blazed by it so fast that I didn't have time to

read the sign, much less translate it.

There were quite a few of these small kite stands

along the side of the road. Anytime it's windy /

I see a kite, it makes me realize I need a kite.

Kites purchased to-date: Zero.

Waiting at the intersection, there was a large

LED numeric display which was counting down.

I don't really know what its purpose was, as the

traffic seemed to go arbitrarily as the numbers

ticked down.

Some fascinating reading material in our van.

Note the kid in the lower-right who appears

to be barely pushing 4 years old.

This road looks like it was in the midst of a

major earthquake. It wasn't. I don't think...

Descending into Patong Beach. Note the 'eh, just
string another wire up there' phone lines.

The Phuket Carnival sounded kind of interes-

OMG THEY HAVE LITTLE GERHARD

AND ROCK-BORIS PLAYING?!

Buy me dinner first. (insert phone number)

Finally arriving at the Novotel in Patong Beach!

It was in a great location right across the street

from the beach.

The view from reception - I don't recall how

many pools there were. Something between

2 and 3,144.

Sunset on the first evening. I would have taken

the picture from my room, but there about 154

hastily-strung phone lines blocking the view.

Instead, I ran downstairs (which ended up being

something like 3,000 steps, as we were at the

top of a hill), across the street, and onto the

beach to get this.

A pretty lily pond in the hotel. The hotel was

quite nice - the rooms had A/C, which made it

exceptionally difficult to leave them.

The view away from the city. Actually just a

composite image I made of Positano and Isla

Nublar from Jurassic Park.

As the sun went down, the city lights lit up.

You know what really makes me sad? The fact

that Thailand actually celebrates Christmas

more than Australia does. I am so disappointed

in you, Australia.

So, remember that sign for the Phuket Carnival that I mentioned earlier? Well as it turns out, it's actually kind of a big deal.

The streets were packed with cars, people,

food stalls, more people...I could have gotten

an entire suit tailored for about $100.

I wouldn't quite call this the same level of

culture shock as in Hyderabad, but it was close.

One guy on the street tried to put on an Aussie

accent to ask if I wanted a suit. He then addressed

my friend Bryan as 'dawg.'

Shortly after this, a massive flock of bald eagles

lowered Bruce Springsteen from the sky onto a

giant papier-mâché apple pie as he played the

star-spangled banner on his guitar.

Awesome - some entertainment as we ate dinner

outside. I've always thought fire-spinning would

be an interesting hobby. But not enough to

actually do it.

A massive bottle of the local brew. And eyes

going all Marty Feldman.

Dinner was tasty - adding to the ambiance was a

local who was singing a number of American Top

40 hits from the 80s and 90s. It's like they knew

I was coming or something.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel...

I felt a bit guilty taking a picture of this, but its

just not something I've had to worry about

before. Plus, the sign is a bit misleading, as it

appears to be instructing you to run toward

the wave.

I had a few hours to kill while the team was doing their own business thing, so I got a massage (the first of 3) and headed over to check out the beach while I was waiting.

The beach was beautiful - and the sand was white

enough to make for perfect camouflage. It was

the wonky kind of beach where they make you

pay for a chair, though. Why would I bring money

to the beach?

Looking the other way - the water was lovely,

unlike Dubai where it was only 1 or 2 degrees

less warm (not cooler) than the surrounding air.

That evening, we were all going out for a special dinner. Details were scarce, but there was something mentioned about elephants. When we arrived, I wasn't quite sure what to think. When we left many, many hours later, I still wasn't sure what to think.

The best way I can think of to describe FantaSea

(which actually has nothing sea-related in it)

is how Disneyland would look if it were designed

by someone with an intense, seething hatred of

epileptic people. Oh, and that person is also Thai.

One must never gaze into the eyes of Mara,

or else one is sent on a 3 minute and 25 second

journey through a temple where they are saved

by a hatted man with a whip (and are then

given the option of waiting in line for another

90 minutes to do it again).

A map of the park. It did not help. At all.

The entry gate to the park. Loosely-translated,

I believe the signage says 'abandon all hope,

ye who enter here.'

We still haven't gone in yet - this is all still outside

of the park.

If you look really closely, you can see my eye

twitching.

Finally entering the park and- OH JESUS WHAT

THE HELL IS THAT? Thai clowns are infinitely

more menacing than U.S. clowns.

I think I had a dream like this once.

In all honestly, it was like walking through

a cartoon land. And not the friendly, feasible

cartoon land like at Disneyland. A stretching-

the-limits-of-your-imagination cartoon land.

Yes, kids, it's Yak Attack! Now you, too,

can be assaulted by a geometric gremlin

with a glazed twist donut...

...and add that little extra bit of holiday cheer

to your wardrobe...

...and...ok, I give up.

Yep - definitely had a dream like this before.

Probably after an evening of eating strong

cheeses and playing Monopoly.

Classy. So perhaps this is where the adults hang

out?

I got to touch an elephant!

*crosses 'touch an elephant' off to-do list*

There was a bridge over a body of water into the

main dining area, and the water was filled with

more of these fish than I could count. Each was a

solid 5 feet long. I actually don't know what these

are, but presumably they are some sort of man-

eating fish. That's what you put in a moat, right?

Dinner was amazing and consisted of a massive

buffet full of foods that I couldn't even begin to

tell you what was in them. Curries, gelatinous

dessert things, rice...so good.

The artwork in the restroom even had a certain

charm to it.

With dinner finished, we left and wandered over

to the main temple.

Sadly, this is where the photographic journey ends, as they didn't allow pictures to be taken inside. The line snaked through a plethora of tunnels akin to those found on the Indiana Jones ride, and was dotted with diversions, such as 'Have your picture taken with a baby tiger for $20!' and the like. Surprisingly, I declined - a struggling tiger cub was just not at the top of the list of 'Things I Would Like to Hold This Evening.' Anyway, on to the show. I had no idea what to expect, but it ended up being some sort of Cirque du Soleil-esqe show with a bunch of elephants. Quite entertaining, actually - though I made the mistake of going into it with a belly full of delicious food, which was all well and good until they got to the relaxing flute mus-Zzzzzzzzzzz...

Fortunately, I was not the only one to admit nodding off once or twice or a dozen times. It was all very serene and relaxing, and the parts I did see I rather enjoyed. Then it was home for one more evening before the long journey back to Sydney.

All in all, I really enjoyed Thailand, and would not hesitate to go back. The food was delicious, the signage entertaining, and the massages plentiful (I got a 30-minute foot massage in the airport before we left).

Carnaval in the Hunter

We recently had our annual office-wide company offsite. Last year, you'll recall, it was spent skiing down south. This year, the venue would be the Hunter Valley, one of my favorite places in Australia outside of Sydney. 3 days and 2 nights spent in the wine region, with a ton of fun in store for all. The morning we left was also the morning of the dust storm - and the dust was apparently worse up north in the Hunter.

Vonnie and Fadhila - notice how everyone is

wearing the same hat. One of the many pieces

of sweet swag we got as a result of the Carnaval

theme.

I dunno, I think it's a good look for me...

While there was a portion of the offsite dedicated to actual work stuff, there were ample opportunities to have a bit of fun. For example, my team had not spent our quarterly offsite budget yet, so we decided to go horseback riding. It was quite stunning - the sun was shining, the wind blowing the tall grass, magpies swooped out of the sky to attack your head. Really magical.

Me and Rusty, who was generally well-behaved,

but who made a really dramatic scene when

walking downhill with me on his back.

While we waited for the one taxi in the Hunter

Valley to come pick us up, we entertained

ourselves with a few of the animals hanging around.

Anna, pictured here with Buddy, the happiest

little pooch you've ever seen.

There was also a very affectionate cat, who at

one point disappeared into a bag of sawdust

only to emerge completely covered in it.

The first evening there we had a fantastic pub quiz competition with 300 people, hosted by Lincoln, who dressed up as a bogan (the Aussie equivalent of a redneck). There really isn't a huge difference between the two - mullet, cut-off shorts, plaid sleeveless t-shirt. He was an awesome host, and the evening was great - mensa problems, balloon animal making, and my personal favorite, movie quotes (destroyed it). After an evening of drinking and dancing, most of us retired to bed to prepare for the next day.

After the work festivities were over the following day, and we had gone horseback riding, we all began to change into our costumes for the evening, which would bring the offsite's biggest party. Even better, it would be themed after Brazilian Carnaval, and everyone was encouraged to dress up. In my 4-and-a-half years, it was probably the best Google party I had ever attended. There were food stalls set up with Mexican, Indian, Asian, and American food (I think I had 4 massive tacos), and the mood was set with tiki torches burning in the darkness. Then, the party kicked off.

Out of the darkness emerged a massive Brazilian

percussion band, which immediately got

everyone dancing.

We also had dancers.

Bora and me - she was the only one who knew

that my mask was from Venetian Carnaval and

not Brazil. Curses!

At one point, the entertainment turned to

Capoeira dancers.

Fadhila and me - I wish I could say that the soft

filter was an artistic choice, but I'm fairly

certain I just touched the lens after eating my

tacos.

Fadhila post-lens-cleaning, with the

maracas we got as another part of

our swag.

The footballers, before things got rowdy.

Ashleigh and Joe, mid-meal.

Hooray for matching costumes!

The Golden Girls.

Jasper - part Brazilian, part Jamaican - and

Joel / Zorro.

The party rages on outside on the patio - which

was sadly right outside of some other guests'

rooms. They picked a bad week to come, I guess.

Verne, dressed up as...I really don't know.

Me and Victoria. I've discovered that the

amount of alcohol I consume is directly

proportional to the likelihood of me

making Magnum / Blue Steel / Le Tigre /

Ferrari faces in pictures.

Alan, our Engineering Site Director, maraca-ing

things up.

Isa and Roger. Little-known fact: Under the right

circumstances, a maraca can actually substitute

as a microphone.

Adam and Lu. Not shown: Lu's small shaker of

glitter, which she went around shaking on everyone.

I was still finding glitter in my hair several days

later.

What has been seen cannot be unseen - this is

one of the most disturbing photos of the evening.

Ashleigh and me...and my gills. My secret is out:

I am part mer-man.

The evening progressed (mostly) without incident, and eventually the party moved inside and continued into the wee hours of the morning. The following day, we had one last fun activity planned.

The following morning - guess who can't

take serious photos?

Ok ok ok, I'll give you one seri-DANGIT YOU

GUYS.

For our fun activity we did a wine blending and

cooking class. What better way to spend a day

after a party than drinking wine in the hot

sun at 10 in the morning?

Mark, apparently immune to or still recovering

from the night before. We only had one rule

at our table when it came to wine: if you spit

or tip, you leave the table.

After tasting several wines, we were then given

a mystery blend bottle and had to mix the

proper proportions of each wine to match

the bottle. Jon and Joe took it very seriously,

and in the end, we were SO close...

We then had to create our own blend, complete

with bottle label. Ours was named after the

blending process, which I developed. It was

mixed in the measuring beaker by capping one's

hand over the end and shaking vigorously.

Chateau du Paume en Sueur will be hitting

shelves near you soon.

Laura demonstrates our unique blending process.

Because our grill was not working, the chef actually

cooked ours for us. Mark wanted everyone to

think otherwise though.

We enjoyed a fantastic meal in the sun. Watch

Mark closely - his steady decline has been

cataloged for later viewing.

Not looking so good...

His last living photo - lots of red wine + scorching

Aussie morning sun = not a good idea.

Anna relaxing before we all took the long bus

ride home. In the Hunter, beer glasses come

in '512-ounce Big Swig' sizes.

Isa - the event organizer, still alive after

very little sleep.

We boarded the buses to head home, arriving back into Sydney just in time for rush hour, making our return journey time around 3 hours. The good news is that I slept through most of it.