Sunday, April 15, 2007
redefining randomness.*do not, under any circumstances, attempt to enter a foreign country when you are under the influence of alcohol*
friday night sounded innocuous enough: clubbing at trinity with friends.
and yes it was the usual clubbing experience - doing shots and dirty dancing and going apeshit when songs like sexyback came on.
but then what happened after we left the club at 2am was just nutso. somehow we went from talking about supper and having prata cravings, to deciding to go on a roadtrip to vancouver.
we then proceeded to pick up our i-20s from our apartments and hit the freeway.
reached the canadian border in record time, under 2 hours. then all the crap unravelled. somehow tony said we were going to EDMONTON (which is 15 hours away) which aroused suspicion. then the cop said turn left and park under the canopy, but no one heard the last bit. so he parked at the usual place where everyone parks when they're at the border. the next thing we heard was the sound of a siren wailing, and the next thing we saw was five cops running towards us yelling EVERYONE GET OUT OF THE CAR.
damn, they looked like they were gonna draw their guns. apparently, it's a federal offense and a $1000 fine for overshooting the canopy we're supposed to park under. and of course for not following instructions. then in our dazed and confused state, we get escorted to the port of entry building. that certainly snapped me out of my high-ness.
the canadian border patrol guards were so pissed off and tough talking it was scary. they probably thought we were ignoramuses for having no inkling as to where edmonton was. this cop was like, "singapore is like this small (presses two fingers together) and canada is like, the size of this building. driving to edmonton from here is like driving from singapore to russia."
omg, that's just so fucking ridiculous.
anyway, we were kept there for 1.5 hours and interrogated individually outside in the freezing cold because they were under the impression that tony was on drugs since he didn't follow instructions. they searched the car, our bags, ourselves, took our student IDs to check for signs of drugs, asked us all these questions (like what's one guy doing with two girls?) and told us how screwed we would be if our stories did not corroborate or if they found drugs. we were definitely under the alcohol limit but the funniest thing was they did not have breathalyzers!!! lol.
okay, it was definitely a serious situation that could have had dire consequences but it did have its funny moments, no?
so we proceeded to richmond near vancouver for breakfast at a chinese restaurant. had milk tea and toast with butter and condensed milk. oh how good it was to be warm and well-fed again.
we were so tired when we reached vancouver, we didn't even make it to the beach to watch the sunrise because it rose at like 6ish am, shortly after border patrol released us. so we just drove across the lion's gate bridge and headed for home because we were tired after not sleeping the entire night. that means we were in vancouver for like, an hour or something. :p
but you know what, going there for the second time, it's still as beautiful as ever, with its cornflower blue skies, snow-capped mountain range and sparkling waters. somehow it just isn't as gorgeous here and the colours are not as rich. i hope to come up here next month, schedule permitting, but of course when i'm fully sober and thinking straight.
it feels really really good to be back in the states. i was so relieved when we finally crossed the border.
beautiful northwest skies
i came home, slept for three hours and headed out to the ave to study. i was so famished and chowed down this plate of penne pasta for dinner.
rachel at 8:22 PM