Asmo's Travel Log - Pt 1 [Archive]

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Asmodeus

02-09-2005, 05:59 PM

Part 1 - The ride

To teh Airport + Chicago->LAX
Got to siral's mothers place which is only about 15 minutes from Chicago O'Hare Airport. The plan was, so as to avoid traffic and parking fees, etc would to call a cab and take that in and then Siral would take that back home. total cost, $30.. still cheaper than parking.

Hoped on the bird to head to LAX. Security was pretty uneventful actually. No one asked me to remove my boots nor did I get any special searches for it. The plane itself once I got on it tho. man o man, what a coffin. I forget teh designation, but it was 2 seats, an aisle and then 3 seats. I'm not a small person by any stretch of the imagination but god damn, asian women would feel cramped on these things.

Note: AA (American Airlines) has THE most uncomfortable seats in history. by the end of the 4 hours trip, i was cramped as hell and my ass was numb.

Oh, and the gate change that made me jog across the entire damn airport was a nice touch too, thanks guys.

LAX Airport -
Didn't see much of it actually. After a bit of confusion about how to get out of the terminal to the international terminal things ran smoothly. Security was again uneventful. Only thing is, to get to the international terminal you actually have to physically leave the main terminal, walk an unspecified direction from there on teh outside sidewalk over to the international terminal. I guess you're just supposed to know where it is. funk dat!

Jammed in a window seat again, had 2 people next to me that were mostly interested in sleeping. friendly enough tho. still all cramped up despite this. Found teh secret to legroom is to put everything in teh overhead if you can and then use teh space under the seat in front of you for legroom.

The food? not bad actually, had some curried chicken and rice concotion and a bean salad. skipped breakfast tho. not appealing.

Observations: one big difference ive noticed between american pirports/planes and qantas (so far).. the speaking volume. american style, loud and clear, qantas: quiet. had some trouble understanding. seems cultural since the others were used to it it seemed.

The arrival:
Evidently, immigration and customs wanted to do the full monty on me, well, teh full monty short of having some guyjam his fingers up my ass. was through but brief and professional actually. mostly unobtrusive and friendly almost. took a bit. my thoughts: mainly understandable but damnit man, hurry up. i got people good enough to be picking me up and they have to get to work still. sorry guys if you were late for work, that part does bug me.

got to shoons. found out my power adapter is only for 2 prong american devices, not 3, so my laptop quickly powered out. sat on shoons machine and wowed a bit while i got my head together. note, first oders of business when shoon gets back, procure a lighter. shoons housemate was good enough to lend me one of his, but me being the kind i am, id rather not push it.

crashed on teh matress provided for about 6 hours after that. luckily the sound of funk sharpening knives on a shaprlening stick snapped me out of my dream of parachuting lawn gnomes invading the amazing 50 foot tall lesbian pirate woman. (yo ho ho!)

Initial impressions:
Not what i expected at first honestly. I pictured it a bit more dense urban. comparing this to back home, i'd call this a cross between subdivisions (the road sstem seems a bit more.. organic compared to the chicago grid) and low density urban (not suburban as there appears to be mainly street parking).

I'll get pics later but teh view here, pretty damn good from teh balcony. visually, the most confusing thing to me is watching people drive on the wrong side of the road. the brain can't assimilate this yet. its easier to take when you in a car being driven but not watching from a height. not bad mind you just.. visually confusing to someone like me.

more later. maybe pics when i get to it.

requested observation #1 has been thrarted, have yet to find a swirling toilet to see if the water really does swirl counter clockwise.

sharpie

02-09-2005, 06:13 PM

american style, loud and clear
loud being the main word there

replace "clear" with obnoxious, crass, overbearing, annoying

bloody seppos lol

gooey

02-09-2005, 06:17 PM

crashed on teh matress provided for about 6 hours after that. luckily the sound of funk sharpening knives on a shaprlening stick snapped me out of my dream of parachuting lawn gnomes invading the amazing 50 foot tall lesbian pirate woman. (yo ho ho!)

.

what a great dream!

i want to know what happens :)

dozer

02-09-2005, 09:30 PM

you came half way round the globe then jumped on a pc and played wow?

any observation on oz/yankee differences?

Uther Pendragon

02-09-2005, 10:15 PM

Time to hit the piss methinks. Always a good way to give a new city a test drive, get drunk in it :)

Where are you, brisvegas?

ShinymetalASS

02-09-2005, 10:18 PM

He most certainly is, and those softcocks had better not let me down in my absence.

Blind evil overlord.

Get fucking blind.

:ha:

Manshoon

03-09-2005, 12:03 AM

He shall be tomorrow night!

Asmodeus

03-09-2005, 04:43 PM

loud being the main word there

replace "clear" with obnoxious, crass, overbearing, annoying

bloody seppos lol

ya, too busy thinking about GWB. im talking about as in enough volume to be heard over the general din usually found in a room full of people talking.

Asmodeus

03-09-2005, 04:55 PM

PT II:

... so we hung around a bit at hight here and waited for arso to show up. decided to take an easy night at first. with my jet lag and everyone being short on sleep, hitting a pub just seemed like it would end up a doomed effort.

grabbed some beers from teh bottle shop (and i thought they just sold bottles, who knew they'd be full of beer!) and ordered some food from teh htai place here. wow, the money here is plastic. thats kind of cool. and as arso told me, the $5 bills are smaller then the rest. and no one knows why. thats cool, if i was running the treasury, i'd do that myself just to fuck with people.

the food? pretty damn good actually.

we played a bit of wow and actually i crashed about 11pm after making myself stay awake. id been fighting sleep since 9pm and i wanted to sleep as close to midnight as I could. hope i didnt snore too loud. :) damn jet lag.

so woke up the next day and after a bit we got going to the city. got my money changed over and hit the souviner crap stores. gotta get stuff for everyone while im here. yep, malls are mostly the same all over, but this open air thing is pretty cool.

Finally had a kebab (not kebob)... interesting food. kinda like the gyros they serve here, but with different meat and no titzi.. tzeek.. tziki.. er.. cucumber sauce. portions seem about the same as back home. most greek places tho will vary between this size and about double the size. depends on the place.

went up ona mountain i can't remember the name of and got to see the city from a height. of course i forgot my camera, but .. wow.. a lot more greenery than I'm used to seeing in a city and surrounding areas, then again keep in mind im from the northern midwest of the USA. the glaciers took care of most high spots around here so if you want to see anything from a height, go in a tall building and hope theres not another one blocking your view. the lack of smog was refreshing.

yeah about that. i mentioned it to shoon, the air here has a smell to it. was interesting. not a bad smell but just the smell of air. i grew up near industrial areas and airports, and even wher ei am now theres always traffic. you just stop smellin gthe air after a while.

hearing thebirds in the morning was interesting as well. different species, much different calls. sounds cool.

off to have another beer. luckily we found out that my laptop concerter will handle the local power as long as I can get an adapter for the plug, obviously, thats working.

more later.

annie

03-09-2005, 05:12 PM

I think the cucumber sauce you're talking about is Tzatziki, hella yummy, and the mountain would be Mt. Cootha.

Hope you're having a blast though!

EvilMuppet

03-09-2005, 05:17 PM

What kind of weirdo kebabs do you have up there in brisvegas that dont come with tzatziki sauce???

Asmodeus

03-09-2005, 05:24 PM

What kind of weirdo kebabs do you have up there in brisvegas that dont come with tzatziki sauce???

i dunno man, but tzatziki sauce it the bomb. i eat that shit on fries even.

EvilMuppet

03-09-2005, 05:26 PM

I dont think ive ever been to a place (in melbourne) where they dont automaticly put it on and you have to ask if you want it left off. hehe oh well.

Asmodeus

03-09-2005, 06:05 PM

I dont think ive ever been to a place (in melbourne) where they dont automaticly put it on and you have to ask if you want it left off. hehe oh well.

this was a food court mall place, they had a choice of 6-8 sauces. who knows. still was good.

ShinymetalASS

03-09-2005, 06:22 PM

Hope your all having fun ;)

Don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Then again, don't do a lot of stuff I would either.

:D

sagit

03-09-2005, 06:28 PM

... luckily we found out that my laptop concerter will handle the local power as long as I can get an adapter for the plug, obviously, thats working.

more later.

first up, welcome!

second, the adaptor should be available at one of the "tourist crap" places..or one of our local "electronics crap" places by the name of Dick Smith Electronics.

see? http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/4319507e0c973572273fc0a87f9c0713/Product/View/M7323

edit: Turn on TV to Channel 7 NOW and watch Australia do battle with New Zealand in Rugby Union

Asmodeus

04-09-2005, 10:29 AM

getting something to eat:

well, we headed off to gilhooeys for some food and drinks. boy we know how to pick days, I tell you that. seems the fact it was river fire that night escaped us both here even tho we read it a few times through t the day while setting things up. traffic and the population there were to say the least, a bit dense. Had some fish & chips which were pretty damn good, I must say. Place was a bit loud due the the rugby game on the screen and later the people coming in from river fire, etc. No worries, it happens. Always good to see a place is going good business and is popular with the people.

Some things I've noticed over the past few days: I use my area as a baseline so you can scale it/reverse scale it as you want. The cleavage factor here I'd have to put at about triple what it is back home. Maybe its a temperature thing or what but i see a lot more clothes that are showing a pretty damn good bit of cleavage and no selfconciousness about it. this is a good thing (tm). Speaking of breasticles, I've also noticed the same lack of middle ground as well, theres either some pronounced ones, or not really any at all on the women here. some things I guess never change. :P

Mostly seen it in the bar but caught hints of it around before, but what is it with younger Aussie men and dressing up in what seems either semi outdated eurotrash / 70's reject style clothes and strutting around like you're cock of the walk? That part just gets me. Oh and if he's somehow got a chick with his, look out, here comes full virtual plumage.

Rugby: I'm pretty sure thats what I was watching. Interesting sport. Looks like a cross between American football without the pads and a pretty intense game of smear the queer like in grade/high school. Not bad points at all, seemed pretty fast paced and a hell of a lot more interesting to watch than most of the American sports, not that I was a fan of them to begin with.

Moga2 & foxfire showed up which was cool. I think my lack of energy and aversion to crowds put a slight damper on things but getting to make foxy freak slightly while we were dropping them off was a bit priceless. Hung around at the house a bit after that before hitting the sack.

I don't know what it is yet, but man, I'm just dying here before midnight. I'll sleep anywhere from 6-9 hours and still ill just be falling over. Last few times I had something like that I think it was due to some R word.. regurgitation? no, thats not right.. rope burns? none evident right yet.. er.. what the fuck is that word.. oh yeah.. had to look it up. relaxation. maybe thats what it is, and now I'm paying up on a good year or so of sleep debt little by little.

My habits of an early riser are finally starting to reassert themselves, can't be helped, love my blue collar timetable. breakfast will be in a bit and we'll be going out an meeting a bunch of people. i'/m definitely bringing the camera this time. I've been a bit laxed on it.

love the weather so far. its not getting all that hot, and the mornings are pleasant. its that kind of morning weather that makes me go yeah! i wanna go outside and do some gardening work! hey, I'm a freak, deal with it.

The driving tho still gets me, its just cool, kinda like being on a roller coaster that makes frequent stops. it's starting to make sense to my brain now but the turns get me at times, ah well.. makes life more interesting. keep in mind, with where i'm from, the land is about as bumps as a young Asian schoolgirl's chest, while in comparison, this place I would put at about.. beyonce's cellulite with the mountain being her ass. girl has got some cottage cheese going on. turns seem sharper (or shoon's an indy car driver :P ) and the top speeds slower but its not exactly taking that long to get anywhere so its not seeming to be a big hassle.

Side note: I'd just about bite off my pinky finger for a few good shots at next door nikki.

kleph

04-09-2005, 10:40 AM

having made this little jaunt before i have some advice...

1) avoid vegemite at all costs

2) keep on the lookout for dropbears

3) randomly poke pirate with a stick whenever the opportunity presents itself

4) make a visit to the petting zoo a priority

5) don't think for a second this travelog will even come close to the glory of my long-lost Global ZMeet Diary.

sagit

04-09-2005, 10:46 AM

asmo: try having a sleep during the day (possibly with beer before it). that way you can last til after midnight.

Manshoon

04-09-2005, 10:46 AM

If you think I drive like an indy car driver you should be seated next to Shiny when she drives.....OH MAN is that FUN!

BtrFly

04-09-2005, 12:36 PM

asmo - i found when i came back from the states last year it took me a lot longer to readjust to the time difference (about 3 weeks!!) - you will be fine flying home, unless you are doing a round the world trip... then you are just doomed...

and yes gilhooleys, is awesome - though you should take him to that place we had lunch manshoon (i cant remember it...)

also it is going to be an awesome weekend next weekend - cant wait to meet ya! and see the brisbanites again!! :D trying to get jimi up - its doubtful at this point...

RAWK ON! and keep eatin that tzatziki... next food adventure - turkish from auburn - best turkish food in sydney!

excalibur

04-09-2005, 03:05 PM

having made this little jaunt before i have some advice...

1) avoid vegemite at all costs

2) keep on the lookout for dropbears

3) randomly poke pirate with a stick whenever the opportunity presents itself

4) make a visit to the petting zoo a priority

....

1)LIES!! ALL LIES!!!! you must try vegemite. It's an Australian icon. That's like having come to Australia and not seen a roo splatted on the side of the road.

2)As much as the las point was lies, this is truth. They will claw you're face off.

3)Substitute stick for red hot poker.

4) Do this, find out just how big a roo can get (I'f you're lucky they'll have a full grown western red. They get up to 6'6) You'll also find out that koalas are nowhere near as cute and cuddly as they are made out to be. They are like the drop bears, and, given a chance, when they are not sleeping, will claw you're face off.

Manshoon

04-09-2005, 03:32 PM

and yes gilhooleys, is awesome - though you should take him to that place we had lunch manshoon (i cant remember it...)

Done.....went to the RG for lunch with Stygian and Fenaughty......a couple of pints of Guiness later....A trip into the city to see Sinwah......back home....and now I am very sleepy!

Thank god Im on holidays!

Asmodeus

04-09-2005, 03:39 PM

note to self. morning pills + 2 beers + lack of smokes makes walking around.. interesting...

Fenaughty

05-09-2005, 12:42 PM

Done.....went to the RG for lunch with Stygian and Fenaughty......a couple of pints of Guiness later....A trip into the city to see Sinwah......back home....and now I am very sleepy!

Thank god Im on holidays!

RG.... Mediteraen Eggs... tabasco sauce... Guiness... Yum

meeting Asmo, Stygian and Sinwah for the first time, pretty damn cool

Meet Shoon, Shiny and Moga2 on the thursday night (hope you guys got up on time to pick up Asmo) Drinking Fun, wipe on Sex appeal for shoon :D

Manshoon

05-09-2005, 01:24 PM

RG.... Mediteraen Eggs... tabasco sauce... Guiness... Yum

meeting Asmo, Stygian and Sinwah for the first time, pretty damn cool

Meet Shoon, Shiny and Moga2 on the thursday night (hope you guys got up on time to pick up Asmo) Drinking Fun, wipe on Sex appeal for shoon :D

Getting to slap you on the back of the head for outrolling me on the Shadowcraft Tunic was fun too!

Yead we got up in time but I was wrecked on Friday.

And Ill take the wipe on sex appeal to sydney with me....never know ya luck in the big city!!

Edit: Asmo also said ya should have mentioned us dropping you off.....and him jumping into the front seat of Arsozahs car....while the seat was still all the way forward. Asmo isnt a small fellow....I believe his head hit the windscreen and rearview mirror.

Fenaughty

05-09-2005, 01:42 PM

BtrFly

05-09-2005, 01:49 PM

manshoon - i am attempting to bring one of my female (single) friends with me. like you said - never know your luck in the big city ;)

Arsozah

05-09-2005, 04:53 PM

Edit: Asmo also said ya should have mentioned us dropping you off.....and him jumping into the front seat of Arsozahs car....while the seat was still all the way forward. Asmo isnt a small fellow....I believe his head hit the windscreen and rearview mirror.

I am sitting here thinking "Asmo has never been in my car" *ponders*. Then I realised that it was because someone else had my car yesterday. So even my car got to meet fen but not me! *sob*

(fuckers)

Asmodeus

05-09-2005, 05:05 PM

I am sitting here thinking "Asmo has never been in my car" *ponders*. Then I realised that it was because someone else had my car yesterday. So even my car got to meet fen but not me! *sob*

(fuckers)
just saving the best for last :D

Manshoon

05-09-2005, 05:08 PM

How could I forget that *D'oh*, funniest thing I'd seen :D

Asmo must love these small cars compared to Yank Tanks, atleast you guys will have the pleasure of Shoon's car on the way down.

Note: Shoon's car is one of the cleanest, most immaculate cars I have seen. For a single guy it's just not right, it almost makes you question his sexuality..... actually it just makes you question his sexuality.

Asmo, beware the trip down, take plastic wrap to cover the seats and a dustbuster for crumbs *IF* he lets you eat in the car ;)

You think my car is clean????.....goddamn man you should see my housemates car.....Im lucky to clean my car out once every 2-3 months (empty bottles etc) it just happens that I did it a week or so ago while it was quiet at work!

And Btrfly.....single friends = good!! :)

BtrFly

06-09-2005, 03:34 PM

i would bring the new girl at work - but its a little early to be mixing work and social... at least with her... ;)

excalibur

06-09-2005, 05:28 PM

i would bring the new girl at work - but its a little early to be mixing work and social... at least with her... ;)
Tis never too early. and, judging by the wink, now is a good time to start.

The Cunt

06-09-2005, 07:40 PM

fastfood

06-09-2005, 07:48 PM

i was cramped as hell and my ass was numb.

hehe

Asmodeus

08-09-2005, 11:12 AM

ill post more wheni get time or get home. im hanging out and having fun and CBF to update right now.

omg, ami becoming more australian now. lol

just say no to vegemite. like i sai dbefore. it may be made from teh same stuff as beer, but so is my urine rightnow too.

Buffy

08-09-2005, 11:36 AM

lol :D
But you'll go home and your experience won't be as enriched with vitamin b :(

Juice Biscuit

08-09-2005, 11:49 AM

Vegemite is brilliant.

Out and about and doing stuff???

You un-australian cunt you.

rickbitch

08-09-2005, 12:44 PM

Asmo,

ring me bitch. You've got my phone number.

kleph

22-09-2005, 10:01 AM

you know, i expected so much more from this thread, but oh well...

anyway, this (http://forums.zgeek.com/showthread.php?p=125362#post125362) is what i had to show from my visit down there. what do you have to say for yourself, big 'un?

King_Crud

22-09-2005, 11:51 AM

Asmo can't write anymore. We killed him and ate him for lunch

Chocoholic

22-09-2005, 11:56 AM

Asmo can't write anymore. We killed him and ate him for lunch
He was yummy….

If anyone finds his camera can they please upload the pictures. There is one I want to use for my first Avatar *tear*