Live from Halloween celebrations in the US V

The best costume I saw all day was not the skinny dude covered head to toe with green lycra (we asked him what he was and all he said was 'green'.) but the girl walking next to Michael Jackson number 32587 (so many Michaels, and all different). My friend Robert asked her what was her costume. I managed not to crack up when I heard the dialogue. 'What are you?', The girl smiled 'I'm a fan'. Robert was lost. 'A fan of what?' She looked at him like he was stupid, then at her Michael Jackson buddy, rolled her eyes then said with a clear voice: 'A fan of Michael Jackson'.

And with that note, I'm off to bed. Let's hope no one trashes the place, I ate most of the chocolates :)

Live from Halloween celebrations in the US IV

My biggest surprise all day?

Two guys sitting outside my local supermarket, smoking and relaxing ask a guy in a costume 'hey, dude, what's this Halloween thing all about?' The guy in the costume smiles and keeps walking. I stop and start to chat. 'I mean, where did it come from? When did it start?' So there I was in front of two Americans who had little or less clue than me.

Live from Halloween celebrations in the US III

Things confirmed by the movies:



- You don't give chocolates/candies then your place gets trashed/pranked/something happens.

- People of all ages dress up, there are people in costumes in every corner, in every street.

- There are so many parties and events it's hard to decide where to go.

- Never seen so many pumpkins...

Live from Halloween celebrations in the US II

What I didn't know about Halloween before actually being in the States during the holiday and before being surrounded by Americans:

- Moms go trick or treating too. In most movies I saw the kids go out alone and adventure off, apparently to get candies and chocolates for free at strangers' homes, what I actually saw was moms (ok, ok, I saw ONE dad too) waiting by the gate while the kids walk up to the door. One mom was scarier than her kids' costumes.

- No one gives fruit or cereal bars anymore. Too many people died from it, stuff got put inside fruit, poison etc. As I heard this I chuckled and said I thought all that were urban legends, then 3 grown mature people stared at me super looking all serious, 'real people died.' Right. Got it.

- Kids come up to your door, they say 'Trick or Treat' and then YOU, the person holding the chocolates decide what they get. Chocolates, or a trick. My friend Robert had a kid howling. I love him.

Live from Halloween celebrations in the US

First of all, we regret the weather. We, of the skirt wearing kind, regret it even more.

In the movies we don't see people shivering or wearing raincoats, do we? We also don't or at least I haven't seen women dressed as witches walking their dogs. Why is that? It would work for me as an audience...

Live Halloween posting (considering the time difference most of you won't really care about the live bit)

the live posting starts in 5 minutes. I'm not ready are you? :)

My first Halloween themed party

It happened to be a kid's birthday party but it had Michael Jackson's Thriller dance, food and drinks so does it matter?
The house was unmissable. Imagine driving in while hearing kids scream in the background. Passers-by stopped to chat as well, it was very nice.

I still think this 'clown' was the scariest bit. I slept in the living room that night and kept having to remind myself it wasn't some creep sitting down watching me.

This was the toy I hated the most, you hear screams and shrieks every time you press the button so of course the kids pressed it every five minutes.

The spiderweb touch was a great detail, it's still all over the house. I hope I'm not the one that has to clean it up.
The spiderweb included details such as different size spiders hanging from the ceiling.

As well as a tiny doll trapped in the spiderweb. Clearly I was born in the wrong generation.

Halloween is already next weekend!

Man, where does time fly off to? This weekend is homecoming weekend, DC is insane with parties, events and general celebration. Homecoming, if I understand it correctly, means celebrating the return of students/alumni. There are balls, galas, parties and of course, alcohol. And before you have time to recover from homecoming weekend, Halloween is already here.

I haven't been taking my camera with me lately so you'll have to take my word when I tell you that each day there are more Halloween decorations popping up. The supermarkets have an extra aisle for chocolates, pumpkins are seen everywhere, scary and funny costumes are sold on the streets. I think only now do I realize I really am in the States. This Sunday I'm attending a birthday party whose main thing is doing the 'Thriller' choreography. Life is good.

I've recently discovered cupcakes. So far my favorite are the peanut butter cupcakes.

Supermarket

You'd think any Western supermarket would be simple for a Westerner, right? At least that's what I used to think.

Just imagine the biggest supermarket in your country and know that that's a normal size one in states. Then imagine different names for things you knew all your life. Not just different names but different packaging. Different places to put things.

Imagine all that and try and go and shop under 20 minutes.

It can't be done.

This is the main reason why the kitchen cabinet is full of Oreos and apples.

American ads

You have not seen advertisement until you've watched American TV. A single children film (yes, I watch kids' stuff) has at least six or seven commercial breaks.

Here is what I've noticed so far:

• Lose weight ads come on mostly in the afternoon, specially lunch time.
• Halloween is coming. There are ads, cartoons and movies about it.
• Thanksgiving is coming. Now that I don't eat meat I see tons of turkey. Typical.
  
• Christmas is coming. There are more toys' ads now than all summer together.
• Starwars is still going strong. Silly me, I thought it was over and done with.
• Michael Jackson mania. ('nuff said)
• If you have a new drug to sell mention 3 good things about it then 32 side effects (I've heard stuff from hallucinations, depression, losing of arm and leg control, to losing ability to speak, you know, minor things.)

And yes, some of pharmaceutical ads go on during the day. It's hysterical.

Love of information

Americans love being informed. Love being the source of information. They love information period. And they're very practical about it.

In the beginning it annoyed me. It really did. 'What is the purpose of your visit?' 'How long are you staying?'

Then it started being entertaining. 'This bus ain't movin' until everybody moves to the back! So if you want to get to work today I'd get moving!'

Now I depend on its precision. 'Ladies and gentlemen, the metro will begin moving in 20 seconds.'

I guess love can start with annoyance first, hun?

Thai cheetos

I was so excited when I saw cheetos in Thailand! I love cheetos. Then I opened the package...

Bangkok: weird, insane and lovely

Took me a long time to get this photo without cars in it, long live the Queen.

I clearly did not go to smart school...

A market can be anywhere really, just need a few inches.

I do not want this guy job.

Believe it or not it's the inside of a shopping center.

Entrance to a alley market/ collection of tiny shops in an alley.

He looks happy enough with braces, come and be happy too!

What other name would a postcard store have? in small letters it say ''love blood & love u".

Bangkok: Grand palace & Esmerald Budha temple

It's hard to miss the Palace and the temple (it's inside the Palace's grounds) but somehow it had eluded me so far.

Believe it or not I forgot to ask how long it took them to build the place.

A lot of people call it the Golden temple. I think you can easily understand that.

It's always full of tourists, for some photos I had to wait a few minutes or reshoot a few times in order not to get some blonde in it. Don't get frustrated, see it as an opportunity to really find the perfect angle. Most of all I enjoyed the statues, tomorrow's post will be dedicated to statues and other 'creatures' I met at the compound.

And the palace...

When I grow up I want an entrance just like that one.

No, I did NOT teach them how to do that...

Here we have typical boys growing up in Thailand as normally as they can.

And yes, they are hitting themselves with inflatable thingies indeed.

What Jesse is telling them in Thai is that she could hear them all the way in the bathroom and that she thought they were playing 'Muay Thai' (Thai boxing) not that.

I'm up, I'm up!

The average Thai wakes up around 5am, and that does not include those who work at the market. For me waking up before 7am is wrong, just wrong.

This morning at 6.15am I woke up to strange noises coming from my night stand. Being me I immediately thought the world's biggest cockroach was going for the chocolates. As I tried to focus and adjust my eyes the noise gained momentum. It was my next door neighbors having sex. Sigh.

I tried to go back to sleep, naturally. A few minutes later the tap in the bathroom open all by itself and water was running. I have no explanation for that. I closed the tap and even before I reached the bed a sound like a foghorn blasted through the window.

I sighed and put on some clothes and went outside. Clearly, the world wanted me to be up and running.

(Today I take, once again, the wonderful 7 hour bus to Sangklaburi. Yay for motion sickness!)

A-going to Thailand: arrival in Bangkok

There is a significant number of things I had forgotten about Asia. Considering I was away only a couple of months I am oficially worried about my memory. And no, I didn't drink that much in Belgium.

I had forgotten the amount of people, how it's hard to walk in a straight line as you keep moving away from little kids, adults speeding up, ladies with bags, adults speeding up while dragging little kids (those are very dangerous - if the kid is really small you only see them after you bumped into them), old ladies that stop right in front of you looking around as if they just forgot where they are going..., the smell of 32 different dishes being prepared at the same time that comes at you from every corner...

I had totally forgotten that even when there seems to be a queue there really isn't one...

I had also forgotten how my body feels after being in the air for over 16 hours. It's not just tiredness, it's like my muscles are made of clay and are all stiff until they warm up. I was awake for 27 hours and as soon as I thought I was doing well I crashed, it just so happens that I was at the airport waiting for the bus when I fell asleep. I woke up 1 hour later...

Since I am still in US time it means I'm 11 hours behind Thailand time. Yay...

A-going to Thailand: quick stop in India

The stop in Mumbai was of only 2 hours but it was more than enough time to befriend a Thai lady who lives in Newark, to be harrassed by a few Indian men, to eat food so spicy I wondered if my teeth were going to fall off and to say once again ''only in India!''. It's a bit like the sign above, my Thai friend thought it was funny while I just looked at her with a serious expression and said 'you've never been to India.'. She was surprised. 'No, no I haven't.' I smiled. 'If you had you'd think that that sign should be in a more visible spot.'

One of my favorite bit was passing 5 security checks all with x-rays and the very modern system of... stamps. However my ultra favorite was being told to hurry to the gate, being told to walk faster to boarding, having of course 3 different queues each time and then... waiting at the stairs. Waiting for what? No one was quite sure. 20 minutes later the crew arrived and passed the crowd. We still waited. One passenger in the front was reporting to the back: 'It's raining.'

When at last the door was open, we were still stuck, the rain was ready to make boats out of the airplanes. There was only one light outside making the scenery even more eerie. Imagine hearing the biggest amount of water you'll ever hear falling while seing glimpses of airplanes (depending on where the lightning struck) and people walking back and forth. Part of the ground crew was chatting away next to us, oblivious to the moment.

I turned on my flash and decided to have fun. My feet were already wet so why not? After a few moments someone turned on the lights.

That dude with the automatic riffle was suddenly standing next to the passengers. Where did he come from? Had he been there all the time? I mean, had a creeepy guy with a gun been standing next to us in the dark?...
And this is how we entered the bus. We crossed a puddle that was anckle deep as quickly as we could (did I mention wheelchair bound passengers?), the lady with the umbrella was standing at the door instead of walking with us trying to cover us and the bus was wet inside, chairs included. And yes, we had to do the same while leaving the bus and entering the plane except that while walking to the plane we had a guy scream at us 'Faster! Keep going!' even tough there was only one door and five people stuck trying to get in. I was rarely that happy to be in shape.

Back from the dead

Apologies, readers. Life is crazy. Yes, that's my only justification. The blog will return to normal, I am beyond hope for that one.

I am now back in Brussels (arrived this morning) and I leave for Thailand on the 3rd of September.

A lot has happened but I will recover from the jetlag first before I lay it out for you.

I couldn't resist posting this

Before you ask me how if it's related to traveling, it isn't. (Well, maybe traveling back in time.) But I thought I should share this literal video with you all...