Kratzen vom Rathaus

Hey, Why Did Sean Go Past?

Are you turning around or what?

SteamCon

So, last week I went up to visit Holly in Washington state. (More on that later, as the visit certainly deserves its own post.) In case you have forgotten, I hate air travel with a passion that rivals on-screen pundits- or, rather, I hate all the crap that goes with air travel since the actual jets and airspeed thing is awesome. But I wanted to try Virgin America since they and Southwest are about the only carriers not actively seeking to alienate their passengers these days. On that, the flight was awesome. I'd certainly fly with them again- particularly since I scheduled $49 each way tickets. Their regular class chairs are actually comfortable and their in flight safety information is provided with pleasant sarcasm by a Tom Bodett styled voice actor. They recently enacted a checked-bag charge, which irks me because they were one of the last holdouts on that. But since the main carriers are halfway toward charging for cabin pressurization, what can you do? Besides, it makes the price of upgrading to first that much cheaper than the already inexpensive price of any unsold seats at check in. ($50 on my flight, but it's based on time in the air.)

Anyway, because I was going to go through Seattle anyway, I timed it to hit half of SteamCon up in Seattle. I didn't know if it was going to be worth the effort, but I'd rather go and be mildly disappointed than not go and build it up as another could-have like I did with the one around here last year. Besides, I love modding stuff and this was the perfect excuse. I decided I would put together something a little beyond just a few accessories and look like a complete fool. It was a good thing I did. The Steampunk community is based mostly as an artistic movement since there are a lot of things central to it that you just can't do. So the costuming was crazy- these guys made SCA look like rank amateurs and anyone who just threw together something cheesy looked like they did. I spent most of my time wandering and attending forums on Friday. sadly, the dealer room was quite small and more of my money went to tea than anything else, but I got some awesome blends from a company called B Fuller's. Anyway, the main point of this post was to show a few pictures, since as I was eeking out time 'til my flight on Saturday, I made mention to Tony over AIM that I hadn't taken a single picture this trip. None. Not of Holly and the kids, not of the visual overload of SteamCon. So I snapped a few right then just to show how inundated with costumes the place was. Literally. I stuck out more on Saturday in a t-shirt and jeans than I did Friday in full gear. The poor Marriott staff looked bemused and shell-shocked.

 

Is This a Joke?

At least Merrill was smart enough to get into a limited liability partnership with these guys- but seriously? Skidmore? Owings? It sounds like something off an NPR skit.

A Couple Angkor Pics

I sent these pics to Erin since she demanded them of me. Actually, she demanded my favorite temple pic while I was still downloading the hundreds I took today. Seriously, I killed the battery on the camera and that's when I stopped shooting. So here are a couple I like:

This was looking from the lower level up somewhere deep inside Bayon. No, I can't really get more specific than that- just google 'Bayon', you'll find there's hundreds of faces in this complex.

This one is somewhere in the Unesco site. I haven't the foggiest where because I haven't organized my pics yet (and may never, this is me you know.) My guess would be Baphuon.

Since TonyMom and TonyDad read this, here's obligatory 'us' shot, courtesy of our guide, Mr Manay. He was awesome and I really should write about him- but this is another picture post for all you tl;dr illiterates out there. So here we are at Ta Prohm feeling like we were on a jungle adventure like we used to have when we were eight.

Yeah. This really is that cool place you dreamed about when you were playing in the woods as a kid. I wish we had more time here in Cambodia.

Angkor Wat and Friends

This is Angkor Wat. At sunrise to be precise, which is why there's some pretty pink in the sky above and reflected in the pool. Ah. Oh. See, it's the obligatory tourist get up early shot:

And these are people waiting for the sunrise. Don't let the small group size fool you, there's tons more. Angkor is a big place and there are people waiting all along it:

And it really is beautiful. But the thing is, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of temples in the Siem Reap area, specifically in and around the Unesco site. Seriously. everywhere you turn there's another temple being reconstructed from the pieces like a giant jigsaw puzzle:

Or being bolstered against the forces to save them:

Or even just being made more user friendly. I like this picture because you can see they tried once before, too:

Anyway, there was just too much to see without your brain overloading. And yet, most of the visitors got up at 4 this morning to see the exact same view. Like much else around this part of the world, it's just crazy.

Siem Reap

Well, we're here and safe in Cambodia. The adventure started when we walked though the gate in Bangkok only to find a bus waiting for us. We made several jokes about driving to Siem Reap while the bus wound across the tarmac, stopping finally in front of a turbo-prop. Wow! I think the last time I was in one of those I was still in high school. Anyway, here's a picture of it for y'all:

I found out our hotel had a service that would whisk you through all the visa insanity that results in coming here and on an impulse did it. Boy was that a plan. Not only did we save at least an hour, but we got tons of funny looks from people wondering who the clunky Americans were who were whisked through by enough handlers to make up a small secret service. One of them was kind enough to take our picture under a Cambodia poster to freak out my dad because I'm that kind of daughter.

We're here. We have but one day, and it's raining the kind of downpour that I haven't seen since Florida. Hopefully it will stop by 5AM (ow) when we hit the temples. But ya know, mai pen rai. It's all good.

An Obligatory Phuket Photo

Here's the view from our room in Phuket. We had this cute private bungalow with a little private pool off to the side of the sala (patio). More later as time, energy (both mine and the MacBook's) and wifi access allow.

In Transit

We're currently gorging on wifi in Bangkok Airways passenger lounge while awaiting our flight to Siem Reap. This morning we totally ODed on it in Thai Airways lounge in Phuket awaiting our flight to Bangkok. We had more than enough time to get our bags, clear customs, clear security and get back on the departure side of the airport. Fun!
Tonight we should be happily ensconced in Cambodia awaiting a whirlwind tour of the Wats. I'd write more but my computer decided to happilly toil away on something in flight this morning and I'm down to 12% power.

Going Dark

In a half hour, we head for the plane and Phuket. Whimper. I know, life's rough leaving a congested city for a beach paradise, but... but internet. The eenternetz, they eludes us there. Dunno if I will be posting while we're in Phuket at all. But next Wed (and this is Wed, BTW) I think we have it back again. Any bets how long it will take me to get D(ns)Ts?
Oh, and please start commenting if you want more posting when we make eenternets- I always assume I'm boring people or tl/dr if I don't get comments. ;P

Tony and Friends

With Tony using the camcorder a lot and me actually keeping a camera of my own for once (thanks TonyDad for the nifty Xmas present!) I have been taking a decent amount of pictures- and guess who's my favorite target? Turnabout is so much fun!
This was near the democracy monument. The older, motorcycle cop was just resting near his bike so I asked to take his picture which thrilled him to death and he called his younger partner over as well. From the way he hailed him, I think the younger policeman was the elder's son.
There was a shop in random little plaza mall that had all these really cool sculptures made from bike and car parts. There were tons, mostly aliens and predators. It was cool just to look through the details and try to recognize the parts for what they were.
This is one of many, many stone statues at Wat Pho. Isn't he awesome? Also, notice Tony's bonus geek-points for both wooting and WWdNing around the world...