Oh Bosco

So, while we were on our holiday, we left Bosco in the hands of our friend, or rather our friend's mother. He was at a house with two other dogs, a shiba and a pug-shiba mix. Bosco loves other dogs, and our friend says he had a great 8 days running amok amongst his kind.

The trouble is, I'm not sure he's enjoying being back. We had a playdate this last Tuesday, and his best friend, Copper the pug mix came over. It was the happiest Bosco has been since we got back.

As the week went on, he's been okay, but today is my first day off since we've been back, and Bosco is not his usual self. We went on his morning outing, he played with the neighbor's dog a bit and we went for a walk. But after that he was mope-city.

I probably shouldnt have made things worse by trying to clip his nails. He's usually pretty tolerant but today I couldn't get past the fourth clip before he was screaming in protest.

Then he stormed off down the stairs and he's been in a strop ever since. What a drama queen.

I took him outside, tried to give him food, he met up with the neighbor's dog again, nothing! He cheered up a little after a car ride, but when he discovered he was back home and not with Copper he started moping again.


Fast forward a couple of days. Bosco is doing much better, he's still a fussy little diva. Everything is a chore when it comes to regular routine. He can be such a pain to walk! His doggy backpack came in the mail a few days ago, so we're trying to use that to wear him out and get him enough exercise. He is not a fan.

We went on a walk this morning, but it was pretty hot so we only did 40 minutes and went home. Now he's collapsed on the floor and will probably stay there until I get home from work. The pictures are all from today's walkabout.

Beijing

I really wish I'd had a better impression of Beijing, but judging by it's airport and the people in it, the verdict is: don't go. 

People push, spit, and are generally rude. I could not believe my eyes. Literal disbelief. Anytime we saw someone acting properly, they were from Taiwan or somewhere not Beijing. It was really sad. Maybe I'd go there to see the Great Wall, but aside from that, I don't really see what the place has to offer (I just did a quick google image search and I am not impressed)

My favorite moment at the airport was when Bret went to the bathroom, leaving all his belongings with me in the seat next to him at the terminal gate. There were plenty of seats, but this random couple charged over, pushed aside his things, and proceeded to sit down. They were careful not to look my way, as I was giving them a what-the-bleep-are-you-doing glare of contempt. When Bret got back 2 minutes later he also gave them a what-the-bleep-is-wrong-with-you look, but to no avail. I could never live somewhere like that. Never ever ever ever ever. 

My chinese friends say that attitude is generally prevalent everywhere except Hong Kong. Not inspiring. 

Oh wait, that wasn't my favorite moment, my favorite moment was when we were trying to exchange yen to wuan so that we could get something to eat and the girls at the changing counter refused because, and I quote, yen isn't worth anything. Ummmmmmmmm okay. Sure......... Then they asked WHY we were exchanging money in the first place and we said we were trying to get something to eat at the airport restaurants. THEY POINTED AT THE PIZZA HUT AND SAID WE COULD USE OUR CREDIT CARDS THERE SO WE COULD SAVE THEM THE TROUBLE OF EXCHANGING OUR WORTHLESS MONEY. When we calmly said we don't want to eat at the Pizza Hut, they looked puzzled, and kept repeating that we need to go there, because we are American and they take credit there. So lame.

Anyway, we found another place that takes credit. This place looked good.

 You'd think this is the restaurant, right? Wrong. The food comes out of those shift looking metal doors!

 What's going on back there?

I say these things, but later on we had a layover in Macau, and I found myself daydreaming fondly about Beijing. Macau airport had a whole lot of nothing. No food, no internet, nothing! Way to go.

Kao San Road

 Crickets, maggots, and scorpions

 Don't buy drinks in Thailand, it is such a waste of money

 The trusty tuk tuks

 tourists as far as the eye can see :)

Not India

We didn't get to go to India. It was very sad/shocking. There was a problem with Bret's visa, some of the infomation didn't match up, and the sympathetic staff of KIX airport told us it was a no go. They wouldn't even print our boarding passes. We had happily skipped up the the ticket counter and left with our spirits crushed.

But, we were already in Osaka, after over 14 hours of travel and waiting, so we went on the airport computers and at 100 yen per 10 minutes of internet use, furiously tried to find the best alternative possible. Thailand was the cheapest place, so off we went!

We're still determined to go to India, and it's actually going to be great because over Christmas break I have a ton of time off, so we'll have even more time to explore.

How to check if you're not in a first world county: Are there feral animals everywhere? If yes, you might be in we'renotatthestagewherewefixouranimalsville.

Literally, dogs everywhere you look. When we were at a remote countryside temple, I was trying to take pictures of these awesome roosters and 3 huge dogs started barking and running at me full speed. I was sort of thinking that was the end for me, and started yelling No! No! Nonono! and they luckily stopped their charge and let me pet them. hahaha. phew! Good thing I kept a cool head :)

Six days was plenty for Thailand. Plenty. We had a great time, but you can only eat so much, buy so many 50 cent tees, and go to the Safari park so much before they give you the "you guys again" looks. It was a great experience for a week, but I am not a "sit on the beach" person, so it was plenty of time for me to see everything I wanted to see.

*Random closing rant*

One of the things that really bugged me while we were there was haggling. I mean, there are shanty towns everywhere, people are working hard to get by, and you get these tourists haggling over the lamest stuff. Oh, you got that for 100 baht instead of 150 (4 dollars instead of 4.75)? Do you feel like a big man? Congratulations on being such a savvy consumer!

I was getting a massage (they are dirt cheap everywhere, like 6 dollars an hour sometimes) and overheard this guy asking how much it would be to get his entire upper body waxed. He was told it'd be 1,000 baht, which is like 36 dollars or something. He then argued about the price, trying to reduce it to 800 for about 10 minutes, while people all around are trying to relax. He kept saying, "no, that's too much, it's too much." UMMM NO THAT IS NOT TOO MUCH. We don't want to hear about your body hair problems, take a hike! First of all, no one wants to wax your upper body, weird indiscernible accent guy. Second, I don't want to listen to you being a miser. Thirdly, can you hear yourself? Do you literally have no shame? Ugh. You can/should barter/haggle/whatever when someone is trying to rip you off, or is clearly quoting a high starting "bid" but walking into an establishment with set prices clearly on display and arguing in front of a room of people is classless.The sad thing was the lady took his offer and told him to come back in 30 minutes.

*Rant over*

Bret Playing with Bengal Tigers

I wrangled them as well, they were super cute and awesome. Going to this park was a wonderful experience and I feel really lucky!