Upcoming Holiday Preparations

I'm going on holiday next week. After teaching 43 classes a week for six months, believe me I need a holiday.

This is the first proper holiday I've ever had in my life, as I was discussing with someone the other day. Actually, I was probably just telling them and being mildly irritated when they interrupted my talking with an opinion of their own. Usually, when I go abroad, I've just quit my job. Occasionally when I've had a job for long enough, I've taken a few days off for a holiday, but simply used to it to piss about. But this time, on my week's holiday I'm actually going on holiday, to Laos.

I picked up my flight yesterday. I'll arrive in Thailand on Sunday morning, and from there it's about an hour's drive to the Lao border. The capital, Vientaine, is more or less right there. I should be meeting with friends from home - Emily and Rosie - at 3pm that day.

Emily and Rosie are lovely girls, even if Emily does have socialist opinions and is one of the few people that can raise emotions in me. Except for the emotion of "disdain" - a lot of people make me feel disdain. Disdain is also a word that if you think about too hard, you start doubting its a real world.

Emily and Rosie together are a potent combination and I actually have fear that their uninhibited wildness might be too much for the quiet creature I have become. Back in Scotland, Emily was second only (to another friend, Jenny) for sheer capability for excess and endurance. With her friend from Glasgow, Rosie, added to the equation, it was like to volatile chemicals being mixed with dangerous results. Set loose in Asia, I have no doubt that there are already many traumatised Thai and Lao people who will talk for ages after about the two crazy white girl whirlwinds that scarred their little villages for generations.

Thus, I know that this duo will be a bad influence on me, and so I've recently been in slight training for our reunion. The Friday before last I got mildly drunk, and this Friday I actually went out till 7.30am and was definitely not sober.

It was Matt's fault. He's started to drink again and the leery, sleazy perve that I first became ingratiated with has returned. We had a couple of drinks near his area of town, outside a Family Mart - a chain corner store much like Spar or Alldays, but open 24 hours, selling beer, and with seating outside so you can drink your beer on the premises.

Into town then where we met up in some technically good bar but mysteriously sterile in atmosphere. Eileen and Maebh were also here and they seemed happy to see me for the first time in months.

A conversation about Iraq and the war then started, which I was forced to participate. Mainly because most people don't like the war but have these facile reasons, and I like to argue with them. I have no idea if I am pro-war or anti-war, but by default I always seem to be pro-war, just because most of these anti-war people are such asses.

Anyway, it was a very good natured discussion, and through it I ended up talking to some guy called Owen. He disturbed me, frankly. It was because he had this giant baby face. Really, he looked just like a big baby. He was unnaturally clean shaven - more clean shaven than any man, boy or even girl I know - and had curly locks. It was exactly like somebody had cut a baby's head off, inflated it, and stuck it on his body.

Well, maybe not "exactly like", because that would be a bit crazy.

Anyway, despite creeping drunkenness, I resisted telling him about his giant baby face and was, in fact, very well behaved and good company. At about 5am, most of us headed to Bubble Bar. It still had the same reckless, carefree attitude that appeals to me, but I continued my good behaviour and just had a few drinks and talked to some half Scottish guy (but Canadian being his predominant half) about Scottish football and other such stuff.

I got on well with him, but an incident later on did alarm me. He had a Korean girlfriend, whom he pointed out on the dancefloor. She looked like a pleasant female specimen and so I told him she seemed very nice. He then asked me if I wanted to dance with her. I didn't really know, to be honest, but he insisted I did and so she she started dancing this very suggestive and physical dance with me, as the boyfriend watched on. For a young gentleman like myself, having a girl dance provocatively before you while the boyfriend looks on approvingly, is a very confusing thing to occur.

Anyway, I managed to escape from this situation and the club closed soon after, where I managed to get a taxi home. I had a numb headache for a good chunk of yesterday, but still managed to go "orphan-saving" at the orphanage.

Today I intend to just have a day of peace. Some shopping, and I may meet with Matt later.