When everybody is awake we check out of the hotel and walk to the Ambassador hotel (that I've stayed at a few times before). Unlike the previous night's hotel, the room and bed is more spacious and the rooms quieter with very good sound insulation. My room isn't ready yet, so we go to Central World for lunch and then Myo and Zaw head for their homes as I go back to get my room in the hotel. I spend the afternoon relaxing before having dinner. And then I go walking around for a bit before returning to my hotel. I am ready to go back home.
I start Monday with a workout in the hotel's fitness center. It gets the blood pumping for the day. But it is another slow day. I've seen everything that I want to see in Bangkok, so I just grab some lunch and stay close to the hotel. Later in the evening Myo comes to visit and we walk to Pier 21 and take pictures of holiday decorations, wander around the mall, and have ice cream. The last day of my trip and its the first ice cream I've had.
Tuesday is a typical transit day except that Myo wants to ride the trains with me to the airport since he has never been to the airport. Thus we get two trains and then I wait with Myo for my flight check-in to open. When it does Myo takes leave. The flights go smoothly through Ghanzhou, China and to Los Angeles. It takes a while to get through immigration, luggage retrieval, and customs, but soon I'm waiting again for a shuttle bus. When I get on the train there is a lady who does not speak English trying to get somewhere. She's going to my second train, so I take her with me. It turns out she is from Ecuador and I'm able to surprise her by telling her that I was just there in August and September. I have difficulty getting into Spanish mode from Thai mode and I'm slurring many of my words. But we enjoy the ride and I point her in the proper direction to Los Angeles when I go the other way to Long Beach. And then I catch an Uber ride home from the train station to a house which is sitting at 56 degrees on the inside.
Wednesday and Thursday are quiet days at home. I get in a good walk on Wednesday morning and a good session with the weights on Thursday morning. I also make a number of phone calls related to financial moves and to get a new Internet modem for faster speeds (at a lower price). I also do a number of tasks around the house including hard pruning the roses, mowing the overgrown lawn, and getting down on my hands and knees and cleaning the entire set of hardwood floors. I take the two days easy since I still have a cough from the trip and there is heavy rain on Thursday precenting any serious outdoor activities.
Friday is a good day. Despite an hour of non-sleep on Thursday nght into Friday morning, I get out the door for cycling on my mountain bicycle before 7 am. It feels super-great to be back on MY bicycle. During the ride I run into an acquaintance, Tony, so I turn around and ride with him for a while and hear his tales of dealing with his partner's cancer treatments. But it seems that Tony and his partner are both positive about the outcome. After the super ride and a shower I drop off amil, get two books from the librabry, pick up lunch from Togos, and do some grocery shopping. Then I cook a medley of vegetables for the next week and take some time to relax.
There is rain on Saturday morning so I do not get out cycling. Instead I clean the house and do some small tasks until the rain has subsided. At that point I for a 48 minute run. After the run I change the oil and spark plugs on the edger and lawn mower and clean the shower as I clean up. Then I relax a bit and do some web programming before the football playoff games. This year the games are going against me as the teams that I kinda wanted to win end up losing. MY Detroit Lions los when they cannot stop the run, there are some questionable calls against them, and their quarterback isn't quite himself as he nurses an injury.
On Sunday I am lazy and get out for an hour long walk and then lift weights before the football game. Why did I not get out cycling? The playoff games pass with both games going against my desires. And I do some reading and cleaning up of the roses and some crime statistics web programming to finish off the day.
I wake up on Monday morning at 2 am and enjoy the sound of rain coming down again. I cannot sleep so I read a bit as the background rain noise pleasures me. When I get up at 6 am it is still raining so I deal with some international friends and wait the weather out. Before 9 am the rain halts and I get out for another 48 minute run - the left calf threatening to go bad but barely hanging on. After a shower I walk to the grocery store for some supplies and finish off the Long Beach crime statistics web programming that I started. Throughout a slow Monday I do more web programming on sports statistics and perform a few small tasks around the house. The rainy, blah day taking its toll on me.