Back in Memphis

Back in Memphis, jet lagged, tired and trying to get my life back. The last day in Bangkok I did not do much, walked around a bit, did some last minute shopping and headed over to Khoisan road for one last visit to hang out with my friend Costal. I did not stay for a long visit for I had to get up early the next morning and make a flight out at 815am. I did how ever ride a motorbike taxi back to the hotel, it was a wild ride for sure. The travel guides said to get there 3 hours before, so I did but the check in counter for Japan airlines did not open until 545. I got on the plane it was a nice 6 hours to Japan from Bangkok sitting next to this Japanese business man who did not smell like he had time to take a shower before he got to the airport. Got to japan and waited for two hours for the long flight to take off. I guess the flight took off around 6pm Japan time. I was suppose to have a aisle seat according to my itinerary but no, I had to sit between two dudes which makes for a slightly less comforting flight. It only took 10.5 hours to get to Dallas Fort Worth, but hey, I got there. I then had to go through immigration and recheck bags, exchange my currency back to US dollars and find a Hamburger and frosty beverage that yelled American. I sat down to wait for the plane and woke up to the boarding announcements, I had no idea where I was then I figured it out quickly. got my self together, got on the plane and headed to memphis. Don picked me up, we went to a Christmas party and then home.

Would you go back to Bangkok?? Yeah, but not to stay in someone's house like that again. I actually met this guy at the Christmas party, don took me to, that spent two months in Thailand many years ago. he described doing a few things I wished I had, like renting a motor bike in Chaing Mae. It was somewhat interesting being incorporated into someone's family but it got old since they were not the best of hosts. I do believe that I could go back and have a grander time than I did on this trip. I experienced a culture far different than the one I live in and that is what counts most of all to me. There is far more to Thailand that what i saw although I saw a good bit. What i saw more of than I had wished was a troubled and tormented family man. You can't always go on a trip like this an expect every moment to be grand. I had some grand moments and I had some terrifying ones, as well, all the in between. Did I do this trip the right way?? Not sure, I would do it different next time. I actually met a guy from colorado on the flight to Japan. He had been on the south beach islands of Thailand partying very hard. Is that worth doing?? I would not want to have had it any different to tell you the truth. It was truly a growing experience.

I new beginning in Bangkok

Now I am in Sukhumvit in a nice little hotel not far from the center of activity for the area which is mostly comprised with street markets, street food, large malls, bars, restaurants, 711 after 711 and other various businesses. I am doing the tourist thing now for the last couple of days left in Bangkok. Instead of living in someones house and abiding by their rules. I now make up the rules and do what ever I want. It is almost noon here in Bangkok while it is 11pm at night back where my buddies in United States reside. It has been an interesting ride to say the least the last three weeks. I have seen a lot, done a lot and have gone past what the usual tourist might see experiencing what it is like to live in Thailand as a real Thai. That does not mean that all my time was entertaining and fun, its means I saw life as it is lived...the good, the bad and the ugly. While in my high school friends home I had to resign my usual everyday routines and abide by the house rules. It was exhausting some days when your host snapped at you about leaving a light on in the bathroom or leaving your rooms air conditioner on when you were not in the room at the moment. There are slews of instances like this, every little thing I did was scrutinized in one way or another as though trying to find fault in the most unimportant events to make me look like a unworthy house guest. I don't think they wanted me there from the beginning but I don't really know that, maybe it was after the first week. I should have gotten a hotel room a long time ago but I kept hanging on because I did not want to give up on the person who I thought was my friend. People change is all I can say, and the person I knew was not the person I met in Bangkok three weeks ago.  Enough of that....and don't think I have had a bad time here either because that is not true, I have had a great time here other than a few set backs here and there.

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to meet up with a friend I met when I was in the South of Thailand two weeks ago. I took a taxi to a area known as Khoasan Rd were my new friend Costal is staying. He gave me a address and google map location and to meet him there at 4pm. So we meet up. Costal is a great guy, real easy going,  we have a  lot of things in common. He lives in Basel Switzerland,  works as a I.T. professional, has a girl friend and lives in a warehouse apartment were he makes tents and bike trailers among other things. I met him at his hotel and then we set out over to a local bar for a sit and chat. We started walking towards the street and I asked Costal where his shoes were?? No shoes he said, he walks bare foot every where. You guys ever heard of Dean Potter, the famous mountian climber, slack liner and base jumper. Dean does not wear shoes either because he says walking bare foot makes your feet at their best and even improves posture. Costal is a climber as well but I dont think he knows Dean yet, I bet he will after reading this. You should check out the documentary on Dean Potter, its really good. So after sitting a while and watching people by the street side restaurant we headed for a cab to Siam square which is right by my hotel. We just continued to talk and walk around. Costal gets a lot of attention walking around Bangkok with no shoes.  We walked around the Siam Square mall, went into a tobacco shop to pick up cigars and the girls in the shop were so taken by his lack of shoes. They laughed and giggled, asked him a million questions, it was really funny and definitely an ice breaker conversing with strangers.  He says he enjoys the attention and that having the confidence to walk around with no shoes builds character. I go back to Dean Potter and if Dean Potter does it then..... Dean is the best climber in the world by the way. So we parted ways around 930 or 10, I headed back to the hotel for a goods nights rest on a comfortable bed. Not sure what I am going to do today, Costal said something about a Imax show or something.

 Anyway, tomorrow is my last full day in Bangkok. I leave Saturday morning on a 815 am flight. That means I have to be at the airport around 6am or before. I will have to get a cab at 430 or 5am then, uhgg. I can't wait to see my own stuff again, haha - later.

Days in the past, The Ching Mai experience and now alone in Bangkok

Ok, so Sunday I woke up and headed out with Joe and his family to get breakfast. After which they dropped me off at a hair salon were I got my hairs cut. Once I got back to the house I pretty much spent the day packing for a little side trip up to North Thailand to a place called Ching Mai. Ching Mai is the capital city of Bangkok and a tourist spot to say the least. We boarded a bus in Bangkok at 830 pm at night. Buses are a choice way to travel around the provinces of Thailand. The bus we were on was a double decker bus with reclining seats and a video screen to watch movies. All the movies are in Thia language so I did not have much interest in watching Planet of the Apes with a dubbed over thia voice. It took ten hours to arrive in Ching Mai and I did not sleep. So we get there, sleep a little and then I headed up to a mountain top Buddhist temple named Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. I had to get a taxi to the top of the mountain, the taxi is just a small pickup truck that is covered and has bench seats. You go to the taxi stand at the base of the mountain, get in the back of the truck and wait until they have filled the truck with who ever is going, you pay 100 baht and off you go. The temple was amazing, I even got a foot massage while up there. We came back and then headed out about town. So we went out that night, had some grub and I will leave the story at that. Things happened that night I cannot discuss in this forum, I ended up moving out of the condo we were sharing and getting my own room that night. At that point I was alone in Thailand far far away from Bangkok. I got a bus ticket back to Bangkok the next day and rode the 10 hours back into the city of Bangkok. I really lucked out on the bus. The seat I got was on the bottom and the girl i was sitting next to was Thia who spoke a little bit of English. She was great, very nice, helpful, made me feel very relaxed to sit next to a person that was human. So I get back into the bus station in Bangkok, get a taxi, go to dudes house, get my stuff and take the taxi to a hotel. I stayed at a nice place but it was way too expensive, so once I got into the hotel I got on expedia found a deal on another nice place for $50 bucks a night. I got up this morning and ate breakfast and transferred hotels. So now I sit and write this blog.

Hey, dont worry, I am having a great time. Life is full of ups and downs. This afternoon I am going and try to meet up with this dude i met on the south beach. He messaged me on google+ and we are going to hang out. He is from Swizterland and traveled with a bike and trailer that he pulls with the bike. It will be good to hang out with someone that acts like a friend. I thank Joe and his family for their hospitality.  later

PHOTOS

Saturday in Bangkok

I woke up early yesterday and climbed in the car with Joe and his family. First we dropped off Loma at his mothers's house, then we dropped off Nemo at stadium were his school was having a sports day function. After this we headed to the Chatichuk market, a street market they say is the largest in the world of its type. I bought a bunch of stuff for christmas presents and such. After the market we caught a Taxi to place to eat and ate thai food yet again. I then parted ways with Joe and Oil catching a subway back down to Sikumvit were I walked around for hours. While there I went to the famous MBK mall.

My biggest story of the day was when I was walking in front of the US Embassy. I took a picture of the front and immediately a security guard came out and started yelling no pictures in thai. Ok, so I showed him that I was going to delete it but the screen on the camera had a problem. I borrowed the camera from my mom and the touch screen on the back side of the camera already had two cracks in the screen, not my doing. So I am sitting there trying to delete the photo and as I press the delete option on the touch screen the screen cracks into dozens of cracks, I thought he was going to take my camera or my SD Card for a moment. Luckly I was able to advance the picture, say it was deleted and move. Note, dont take pictures in front of embassies ever!!!

Tonight Joe and I are catching a bus to Ching Mai were we will stay in his aunt's condo. This is the capital city of Thailand and is worth a visit. cheers.  Photos

Finally, skating in bangkok and Sikumvit visit

I have not found a ton of things in Bangkok to skate, there is only one skate park located in a mall named Esponade. Then there is a DIY some where else called Queen Sirikit, or in that area near the Asok Skytrain Terminal. I received an email from Simon at Preduce saying that the DIY was really tight tranny with some vert, maybe I will go check it out later today. He also said that it was built incorrectly and did not seem that interested in skating it.

Getting to the Esponade mall involved my first Subway ride in Bangkok. I started down in Lumphini (Joe dropped me off here on his way to work) and made my way up to the Thia Cultural Center subway stop. Being my first subway ride, alone, I was a bit nervous but once I got my token and on the train it was no problem at all. The Thai people who work there are so nice and the subway is so clean, no reason to worry. I got off the train, went up to the street level and found my way to the Eponade Mall. Again, another huge 6 or 7 story mall busy with Thai people shopping and hanging out. The skate park is located on the ground floor inside a skate shop named NY/LA. It was a very nice skate shop, looked like a high end retail store. It had the usual brands, hoodies, shoes, shirts, skateboards, looked like Val Surf shop in LA with out the surf boards and ski equipment. You pay 90 baht ($3), get a wrist band and you can skate all day, I guess, I skated for an hour. The park is indoors of course, it has a small mini bowl that is sort of a kidney shape then there are various banks and ledges.

There were a couple of kids skating, not very busy at all, it was dead. It was the middle of the day and school is in session here in bangkok, so who knows. I was hoping to see some rippers but no one was there. I skated the 3 foot  bowl mostly and then a little of the street stuff. There was a fun bank and a small quarter. The bowl has pretty mellow transitions with metal coping. Not sure what the surface was, I think some type of Masonite that was flaking off in places. There are portions of the bowl that are almost not skate-able because of holes in the surface. It was fun to roll around on for a bit but I can see how this place would get boring after a while. To be the only real skate park in Bangkok is surprising to me since there are 12 million people living in the city. I asked Joe about the funding and he says there is none. In my mind the only way to get things built would be to set up a non-profit organization and collect funding through donations. Skateparks are not really considered an investment for the private sector. I know kids want to skate in bangkok. I was stopped by a 7 year old Thai boy   on the subway who asked where I was skating (he spoke good English), that he wanted a skateboard and that his favorite skater was Tony Hawk. Then I talked to his dad (also very good English) and he said he was going to buy the boy a skateboard next month. I told them about the skate park in the mall and they were very excited.  but to be honest I have not seen anybody skate in bangkok yet. So many stair sets, hand rails and ledges in the city. I know they are here. 

After I finished up walking around the Esponade mall I headed back out to the subway and headed down to Sikumvit. Sikumvit is probably the center of tourism for the city that is packed with hotels, bars and street markets. You get up to street level and the sidewalk is jammed with street vendors selling tshirts, watches, gold shirts, dvd's, and other various nick-naks. Then the other side of the sidewalk are restaurants, massage parlors, suit shops, silk shops, and more. And as you walk through the people on either side of you are asking you do you want to buy, do you want to eat, spend your money here. It is a bit over whelming to say the least. I dont even know how to describe it all, I guess look at the photos. Well, I ended up at a bar, had a beverage and then caught a taxi back to Joes. Before I hailed my taxi I stopped at a noodle stand and had brothy pork soup with noodles.  I could have stayed out longer but my feet were killing me from walking, then the air is full of exhaust, you almost feel like you cannot breath sometimes when you get caught between street vendors and buildings. It was a fun day, I can see why Sukimvit is a tourist hot spot.

PICTURES

The mundane is not easy in bangkok

Futsol match from when with Bp, not boop.

First of all, Joe and I had a long talk the other night about Taxis in Bangkok. If you are not careful you could get in a taxi, tell them were to go and end up taking two toll ways, an hour of traffic to find your self parked in front of the Grand palace when you wanted a 15 minute cab ride to Sukhumvit. So instead of 100 baht you are stuck paying a taxi 1000 baht and in the wrong part of town, then you are going to get out of that taxi and find one that will not screw you, but who knows. So the best plan of action is either have the address written down in Thai to show the taxi or call Joe on my mobile device and have him tell the cab driver over the phone where to go. I am lucky to have Joe, yeah, I know.

Today I decided to just do normal things. Woke up, had a few coffees, checked the FB and Email from the internets, tweeted, look at the you tubes, twiddle my thumbs. I decided while twiddling my thumbs to finish my laundry and do a small load since Joe showed me how the other night. I dont have a lot of clothes so keeping what I got clean is key to not smelling like stale pair of under wear. Because you tend to sweat a lot since the average temperature during the day is in the lower 90's and the nights aint no walk in the park either. So doing laundry first consists of turning on the washing machine with a light type switch located on the wall next to the sink. Then you load your clothes, add detergent, fabric softener and then a cup of water to the detergent bin to liquefy the power, set the cycle to what ever you want, 40 minutes today (small load). Then once the load has finished you take your clothes outside, put your clothes on hangers and hang them on the various racks outside the house. If the sun is not shining on the spot by the house then you get the portable rack and place it in the street in front of the house where the sun is shining. If you can get good, direct sun light your clothes take a mere hour and half to dry. And if you hang your pants and shirts in a nice neat fashion on the hangers when they are dry it is like they have been pressed with an iron. Neat huh. At Joe's parents house the younger girls wash the clothes outside in tubs, no washing machine, at least from what I saw, they might have one in the house somewhere. And yeah, in a traditional Thia house the young carry a good amount of the house hold chores, they serve their elders.

Once I got my laundry out and drying I took a shower and got dressed. I decided I would just do a little sight seeing around the area. There is a shopping mall, a small one, its only two stories. It had the usual electronics store, Dental office, restaurants, super market, various eye glasses shops, bank and pharmacy.  After leaving there I headed to a grocery store to buy razors, milk for coffee and some nail clippers. I walked into the grocery store and headed to the cosmetics section to get razors and nail clippers, there were several Thai girls standing around the woman's section (makeup and stuff) that worked at the grocery, they had name tags on. They just kind of stared at me and I think were commenting to each other while sort of laughing at me, not sure but what ever right. Every time I walk into this place it sort of terrifies me because I have to use my terrible Thai phrase book to communicate and they dont understand my thai because I suck at it, so I end up using English and it some how works. Every time I check out the cashier speaks a rambling of Thai as I look dumb founded. So the store was out of razors and clippers so I got my milk and headed to the pharmacy next door. Surely they would have the goods, and they did, she-sh. I mean, I walk into these places and hope someone does not ask me if I need help in thai, but the the thai people are very gracious and are always helpful no matter my short comings. The other day I was in the grocery to buy a afternoon beer and the cashier shook his head and pointed at a sign that said no alcohol sales at grocery stores between like 230pm and 530pm. You can imagine my embarrassment  as he took my two cans of Chang away from me. Those same girls in the cosmetics section saw me with the beers having a laugh at the dumb American that day for sure. Well, maybe not.

I get to the main drag by riding Joe's bicycle the one kilometer, past security and to the main drag. I park my bike with many other bikes in kind of a bike parking area. I guess many residents ride their bike to this spot, park it and either get a cab or catch a bus. Anyway, now that I got some house work and shopping done I will go out in the city tomorrow. There is a small skate park in a mall if I can make it there with out ending up in Cambodia.

Other tid bits of the house are that there is no central cooling system. Each room has its own air conditioner, kind of like the units found in hotels. Also, there is no hot water heater tank. The shower has a heating unit that the water passes through, it is just a little box right there is the shower with you. And I think all the walls are straight concrete from inside to outside. Kind of like a slab. Crazy stuff and kind of mundane but it is the way things are around here. late.

PICTURES 

Just another tuesday in Thailand

Well, I woke up and had instant coffee. I am beginning to enjoy it more now since I discovered adding just a touch of sugar makes a huge difference. Joe and I went out to a driving range the night before and then a local late night spot called Chili, like the red pepper. So we both woke up a little late. I felt bad for Joe because he had to go to work the next morning. It was not like we tied one on or something, just stayed up late lamenting about old times and new times.

I arrived at his parents house around 1030 and then went across the alley to his aunts house. Joe left me and went to work. It was a special day here, there were 6 Buddhist monks performing a ceremony siting in the first room. I call it the first room because I dont know what you would normally call it. They were doing some type of chant in unison, of course I did not understand a word but it was fascinating to witness. All the adults were kneeling/ sitting on the floor with the their hands together as though praying. There were bowls of rice, dishes of pork, cut mango's, glasses of water and various other foods on the floor. The monks are there to bless the house and wart of evil spirits that may be lurking around. In return Joes mom cook all this food and feeds the monks after the prayer session is over. Most every house I have been in the floors are marble, most of the house unless there is a second story then is hard wood. I can tell you that sitting barefoot on your bum on a hard marble floor is not easy for this Fa Lang (foreigner). They had not finished the ceremony but Joe's mom and aunt were like you look uncomfortable, come over to the other house and eat. So I scarfed down larb, rice, broth soup with pork and a few other dishes. The larb was  a bit spicey, tell you about that in a minute. I was called back over to the house after eating where the head monk showered my head with blessed water. Then Joe's female cousin, Boop, led my to another house next door were we sat and tried to chat. She does not speak much english and I do not speak much Thia, so we struggled through some short conversations. Luckly I had my phone and could show her pictures worth a thousand words. She then would be my driver for the day.

After an hour Boop then took  me to have Thai massage at a local parlor around the corner. First you have your feet washed by a girl who washes feet. You take off your flip flops, put your feet into a tub and she uses a scrub brush to thoroughly clean your dirty feet. You then trade your sandals for a pair of house slippers and are escorted to a massage room. The room must be like 12 by 20 foot room that has a raised area where there is a futon type mat. You then disrobe and put on the house pajamas and go lay down on the mat. Then your massage person comes in and uses her body weight to massage you. Thai massage is a type of massage in Thai style that involves stretching and deep massage. This form of bodywork is usually performed on the floor, and the client wears comfortable clothes that allow for movement. No oils are used in Thai massage. The thing was I had just eaten all that food back at the house and that spicey larb was not really settling well. My stomach sounded like a pack of rabid dogs, growling at anything that moved. Then the growling moved past my stomach and you know what the means, clinch and breath, clinch and breath, just don't let one go. The massage was great other than feeling I was about really make my massage therapist very unhappy. Well, I made it through until the end were I darted for the bathroom when it was over. Trumpets is all I can say.

Ok, so Boop waited the two hours in the lobby for me and she paid, Thai people are so loving. We then went to a place called The Mall, a mall, go figure. This is the fifth or sixth mall I have been in and they have all been gigantic, atleast 5 to 8 stories, no less and full of places to buy stuff. The mall to day looked like the traditional western mall but much much bigger, some of the malls look like flee markets. O yeah, then there is always another market outdoors that is a flee market of sorts. Anyway, we walked around a bit and then ended up on the like 6 or 7th floor and found a Futsol tournament that was free admission. We sat and watched a game then left. Turns out that Boop is a Liverpool FC fan, hmm..... It is fun driving with Boop as well. She is less than five feet tall driving this Honda CRV pushing through traffic just as well as Joe, she is the best girl I have have ever driven with, for real.

She dropped me back at Joe's moms were I ate again, this time a omlette and rice. Joe's dad gave me a ride home, now I am thinking of taking the bike to the store and get some Chang. I dont have a lot of pictures to show for the day since I spent it with the family. I dont really feel right about snapping a million photos like some wanna be tourist. I will take some photos of the family to remember them by soon enough. My interaction with the family becomes more interesting since they are trying to converse with me more and more. One of the Aunts and her husband speak a little English but they are not around all the time, so I am struggling with my crappy phrase book to communicate in Thai. Boop spoke a little but it is still hard, not just for me but them as well. It is a fun culture shock to say the least.

Gulf of Thailand - Bang Saphan Noi area

So Friday was the big day to drive south down to the long skinny part of Thailand that boarders Mynamar on the west and opens up to the gulf of thailand to the east. The drive down hwy 4 usually takes 4 hours but since the traffic was so congested getting out of bangkok it took closer to 5 and a half hours. My first road trip in another country and Thailand no less in a BMW 735LI, which is rather comfortable in the passenger seat driving around 150 kilometers an hour.

Once we got to the area we were going to stay we stopped at a house in the village located a few kilometers before we got to the beach resort. This house is were we would stop on a frequent basis as we traveled around the area and would visit the  family that lived there. Each time we left the resort we would stop at the house, visit  short while and then go on our way. The occupants of the house were the elder gentleman that was head of the village, so all the villages goings on are centered around this gentleman's house. He, his wife, older son and youngest daughter all live in the house. There might be others in the family that live there, I need to sit down and ask Joe more questions and write it down. The house is really two houses although if you look at my pictures it looks like one house. it is really two houses joined together by a covered walk way that is open to the outdoors. In the back of the house, the bigger lot behind, there is a factory were they produce coconut extract that they sale to China. I understand that China is the extract to make beds.

Friday we checked into the Beach resort after night fall. Joe and I set a tent up on the beach and camped closer to the gulf. The gulf was amazing looking to say the least. After being in the car for so many hours, being over whelmed by all the sites of traffic, little towns, motorbikes and just imagery that is so unfamiliar to me, when I stepped up to the beach it was like all my troubles fell away to the sand beneath my feet. So joe and I camped out and were merry the first night while Oil and the kids slept quietly in doors.

The next day we had breakfast at the resort which always consist of rice, broth and noodles with some kind of crazy spicey hot sauce that I stay away from. the last thing you want to do is eat something that will make your plumbing go wacko. We packed up in the car, stopped at the head of villages house, visted a short while and then drove 100 kilometers north to a army base that is located on the coast. You drive into the base through a gaurded check point, go a few kilometers and bam, you are on a perfect looking beach front that is littered with umbrellas and reclining seats on the gulf side. Then across the street from the beach there are rows of bath houses and food courts for eating. This is where we had lunch and then headed to the beach for a swim. So we packed it back into the car after a shower and a change of clothes and drove back towards the resort where we stopped back by the head of the villages house. So we would go back to the resort, collect ourselves shortly and then head right back to the head of the villages house. That night I got to witness a gathering of family that cooked out doors, laughed and ate food. yeah, I was in a awe from it all, this is a whole new experience for me and every little step is a real eye opener. We went back to the resort that night, slept inside this time since it was raining. I woke the next morning, had a breakfast buffet of rice, broth, noodles and instant coffee.

We took our time coming back, stopped at the head of village's house again, drove about 200 kilometers and took a sharp left toward the Myanmar boarder. "Where are we going I ask, there are immigration signs and I have no passport?" Joe's reply, "no worry, we go to Myanmar boarder were we sell you, no need for passport." My reply, "cool." So we looked at the boarder, ate some street food and headed back on the highway, tplachis time to the floating markets which was the opposite side of the highway from Myanmar. Actually first we stopped at this crazy sea food place were all the waitresses were really men dressed up in drag, they call them lady boys in thailand. yeah, kind of weird but the food was very good. Then we headed to the floating market which is somewhere close to Phetchaburi or something, om the coast again. Interesting place, basically a fancy street market all outdoors on this beautiful wooded structure that is on the water, look at pictures for a better articulation.

So I am back in bangkok, today, not sure, maybe Golf joe says, Maybe Thai massage?? Then it is the King's birthday today and the city is shut down to pay respects to this fact. As you drive around the city there are special decorations, special lighting and a slew of other decorative items that indicate the King's day. The Thai people are said to congregate at the temples were they open up certain parts of the temples only on special occasion as today. We will see what the day brings. later.

PICTURES 

In Bangkok its about getting around

Today it is thursaday morning around 9 am, nothing fantastic is planned today other than catching up with my email, FB and writing about what I did the last two days. I have two and half more weeks, so why rush anything. Tomorrow we will wake up really early (430am), drive to Samut (4 hrs) and hit the gulf of Thailand's beaches until Sunday. We are also supposed to go to the floating market where all the trade is done on small boats.

Tuesday we woke up really late and drove around downtown, visited the MBK shopping center. MBK is this 6 or 7 story mall that is like a huge flea market. They don't have a Gap or Dillards, nothing like that at all, it looks like a big flea market where there are booths of vendors set up selling photo equipment, glasses, clothing, jewerly and a slew of other merchandise. It is a mad house to say the least. After that we picked up his wife Oil and headed to Joe's parents house where his kids stay frequently. Here we eat dinner cooked by his mom and watch Thia soap opera drama on the Tele.

Wednesday was another story, it was my big day to get my feet wet in traveling around Bangkok alone. I woke up super early and headed out in a taxi with Oil (joe wife) to a Sky Train station not to far from his house. The Sky Train is a above ground rail system that takes you to areas of the city like a any public transport does, although the Sky Train is not like the Tube in London or other more expansive rail systems. The access is limited, there are only so many lines, but when you combine using a taxi it works out really well. I got on the train with Oil and she showed my how to get my tickets, change trains and just basically get around. The sky train is great because it allows you to by pass inner city traffic for the most part. The train does go to the important sections of the city so it is great.

I ventured down to the river where I then caught a boat which took me to the old part of the city of Bangkok where their Grand Palace of the King and several temples. I was really nervous about venturing out alone for my first time, but as the day went on I became more and more confident in finding my way. My biggest accomplishment of the day was making my way back to Joe's house all by lonesome which I did with much ease. I know feel like I can get around Bangkok with out needing Joe or Oil to hiold my hand.

PICTURES are up here but because of limited bandwidth I am only uploading a few pictures, so I have more that will come sometime soon.

Now I feel the buz in Bangkok

In front of Joes house

So this is really my second day here in Bangkok, the first night I got here did not count since it was 12am here and I did nothing. So yesterday I got the experience in.

Lunch Stop 1

The start of the day was not entirely crazy, we woke up, showered and headed out. First we went to get some lunch at this outdoor eatery  just down the street from where Joe lives. We pulled up and before we even parked he had some conversation with a woman, rolled down window, cooking on a flat top searing meat. We parked, found a clean table ( all out side, its better to sit outside because of the heat) and before we barely sat down we were served duck on white rice with some type of hoisin type sauce over the dish.

Picking up Nemo

We left there and picked up two of his kids, Nemo and Yan. Once we had them in tow Joe dropped the three of us off at a mcdonalds located somewhere in the area called Siam while he went to the office for 45 minutes. So I was left with these two adorable 6 year olds to order what ever they wanted at McDonalds, fun stuff. I was nervous a bit since I was in charge of the little guys, can speak no Thai and are white as hell, although I run into Europeans and Westerners all over the place. Joe showed back up and then we went to the shopping mall there in Siam.

After Siam we went to another part of town to pick up Joe's wife, Ion. I have no idea where I was. Trying to figure out where you are based on Thai street signs and land marks is far beyond me at this point, I can't really do it. This place has so many people and is so huge it is over whelming. Then there is the traffic, you think you have seen traffic in the states think again, this traffic is grid lock every where you go about. Some times on the express way you get a mile or two of 100 kilometer an hour driving for short stretches, but that is always side lined by stop and go traffic at some point. Driving is crazy here, very fast, very aggressive.....Then there all the moto-bikes and motocycles that are buzzing between cars, yeah, it just gets more and more intense. We picked up Ion and then headed to Joe's parents house where the third child was being kept at.

Joe's Mom cook for us

At Joe's parents house I ate fried chicken and rice, had brothy soup with water melon chunks with in it, Ginger soup with some other fried vegtable side dishes. We left the Nemo and Yan at his parents and took there youngest child (2 yrs old) to Ion's father's house where we left Ion and the little one. Joe and I went back to his house and then called a cab so we could go down town.

Destination was Khaosan road, the gate way to eastern asia. I will just say we walked around and stuff. I do got stories already and have not been here 24 hours, the story is not here fully, dont have time or energy to write every little thing.

Today we go to palace and stuff, I am waking up and writing while Joe is still sleeping. Later dawgs. O yeah, Joe has a yellow lab.

And no, I have not gotten to skating yet. and for those in the know, I finally lost my toe nail.
PICTURES

In bangkok

I got on a plane in Memphis like two days ago now, I think, my sense of time is screwed up at the moment. I took three planes and 30 hours to arrive in Bangkok Thailand. I found my friend Joe, it was 12 am here, we went and had some refreshments at a local place by his house. Now it is day time, almost 12 pm here now. we have some stuff planned. Today we go downtown and do a little shopping and hanging out. so far I am having a blast.

They took my skateboard from me in japan because it was too long, but I got it back in bangkok since japan made me check it, no worries.

Also. at the airport in Bangkok people park their cars all over the parking garage but they leave their car in nuetral so you can push it out of your was if you are blocked in, we had to push three cars out of the way, bizarre.

So today we are headed out to do some light duty, I feel pretty good considering I have not slept much but hey, no worries. I will try and post more as time allows. Love yall.

Reflecting on John Cardiel

I recently watched Epicly Later'd the other day, a documentary about John Cardiel, one of the most Epic skaters of his time. I think his rein of terror went from the Early nineties until 2003 as one of the gnarliest skaters ever. In 2003 he was shooting Tent City in Australia, while there his spine was injured due to the van he was running beside ran over his back with the trailer it was pulling after John lost his balance and fell in its path. The Doctors told him he would never walk again let alone skate. They were wrong about the walking but he really can't skate anymore. I think he plays golf, rides a fixed gear bike, shoots guns and is heavy into DJ-ing Reggae music.

The Documentary is mostly a interview with John sitting in his living room at home. He talks about the past as film clip after film clip shows John just killing every place he hits. Its great because they show a film clip and then John fills it out with a story. The guy is so chill as well. I know if I saw him out somewhere and said hello he would be really happy to meet me, that kind of guy. Then again, the skating community is full of those kind of guys. Yeah, there are a few cut throat people out there but all in all, the skateboard community stick together. That was one of the ideas that John talked about in the documentary was how skaters from all over the World just get along or see eye to eye, we all speak the same language. Not every single skater can be said to be like that but I will say that as I travel around and meet skaters from other cities I tend to agree that they do exist.

Anyway, I have watched the film several times before the other day but I might watch it again tonight and get something new about yet again.

Al Town Fund Raiser October 21st!!

Come out the Buccaneer Lounge in Midtown Memphis on Friday October 21st and Support ALTOWN DIY!!!! The shows start at 9pm and there will be raffles going off too! 5$ at the door, and raffle tickets for sale.

Items for Raffle:
75$ gift cards from Underground Art
Goner Records grab bag
25$ for bar bucks at Murphy's
Free BlackLodge Video rentals
And Some Skateboard Products

All proceeds go to DIY! So come on out and support your favorite Memphis Skate Spot!

Buccaneer Lounge is Located at:
1368 Monroe - Memphis TN 38112 901-278-0909

Al Town Pump Bump Pour, Hammond LA and Jackson's Red C Ramp.

AL TOWN:
Saturday morning I was called into duty at 830 am, serving in the regiment of concrete workers that assembled at Al Town on October the 8th. The plan?? To create a pump bump and finish the ledge. We mixed somewhere in the range of 30 bags of quick crete, not sure the ratio of bags used for which project. After you have mixed about 8 bags things start to become a blurr. The Team work was great, we mixed the crete while every one else molded it onto the form. Then we poured the finishing work on the ledge which did not leave us with out its issues. Come skate it, you can see.

The pump bump is great, I skated it yesterday and it really improves the flow of the place. The faster you hit it the better. Photos.

JACKSON MS:
The day after the pour, Sunday,  I drove down to Jackson, MS and stopped by the Red C Skate Park. It was  a little odd to find since it is hidden with in this giant warehouse space somewhere in Jackson's industrial area. They rent space in this old industrial complex to anybody who needs space. So here it is, it was a 3ft mini ramp that has a waterfall into a larger, looked to be maybe 7ft or 6ft half. They are trying to bowl it in on the corners, so it will end up being this rectangular bowl with two sections. I did not skate it, my body was messed up but it looks really fun. I actually have to go back to Jackson in a couple of weeks and I will try and skate it then. Other wise, party on, well, not here. They do not let any drugs, beer, cigs or anything else like that into their park. Also, if you smell like booze when you come in there they will kick you out.

HAMMOND LA:
I was able to break away from my job and drive down to Hammond which was only a 15 minute drive for me since I was working just north in Amite. First thing I did was go to the local skate shop to get the skinny on things and build up my new board. Small Time Skate Shop is owned by Chris Daniels  and today my new friend Jordan was working. Jordan is apparently a sick skater according to SW. Jordan built my board and filled my head of how sick the concrete park was and if it gets to dark to skate there you can then head over to the Chicken Coop, an indoor wood bowl. He also claimed that Hammond's park is one of the best in the States. The park consists of a huge bowl in the center with a flow street area circling around the bowl. There are pump bumps that lead into banks and back into banks then back to the flow bumps. You can get away with never pushing. Then there is the bowl, it is sick. Check the Photos.I did not go to the Chicken Coop, Jordan said things get started late and I had to crash. Then there is Baton Rouge skate park another 45 minutes west. If you hit Jackson, Hammond and Baton Rouge all in one trip it would be off the hook, a screamer. Photos.

I did not do a whole lot of skating but consider it scoped out.

And if you want like our FB fan page for fun.

Back to Memphis after Denver, its all good...why are you sorry?

I tell people that I am back to the Memphis scene after returning from a week and a half long trip in Denver, where I hit sometimes three different skate parks in a day. A general reaction from some people have been , "Sorry you had to come back to Memphis."  Which I understand what they are saying, Denver has a whole lot more to offer than the city of Memphis, I do agree, to a certain extent. For me, at the level of skating that I am currently, Memphis and the surrounding areas are pretty good. Denver did raise the bar for me, I went to Denver with limited transition skating and left Denver with a whole new familiarity for many different varieties of curved concrete and a bit of metal. Seriously, Denver took my tranny skating to the next level, thank Ja. Memphis has what I need at the moment: my mini ramp, the Wood Bowl, Tobey Park, DIY, Little Rock, Oxford, Jackson MS, Louisville, St Louis, I don't know, Kona skate park is a 12 hr drive. Yeah, I know, its not like Denver where you can live in Arvada and have access to 6 kickass parks with in 15+ minutes from your living quarters. No Memphis is not ideal, you can't drive an hour west, catch a ski lift up 2500 feet and bomb down the mountain on your new Never Summer Snowboard, then do it again, true dat. But you can go skate with some cool ass people, drink Busch, listen to music and watch TV. Its just where I am at I guess in life at the moment. Ok, yes, if you gave me a free pass to Denver I would take it for sure but things are good in Memphis.

I returned home from Denver on Tuesday night after dealing with delays from the Airline. Never fly United, I know at least two other people that were delayed by that airline this week alone. Wednesday night I headed to Terry's, dropped in and got to know the bowl all because of skating in Denver. Before that night I had previously  stood over the threshold of skating Terry's and did not do it,  but this Wednesday night I had not problem with the attempt. It took me a while that night but I even got over my Sea-Legs as Jungle Jeff put it. Skating that bowl    makes me crazy. I don't know how may times I finished  several runs back to back and my lungs were burning from breathing so hard. My lungs would be burning, my back soar, my legs weakened but screw it, I am taking another run. Skate until you drop. The next day, as I drove to Little Rock, vivid memories of skating that night kept recurring to me over and over,  giving me as strong a feeling as if I had encountered some beautiful woman's lips, intoxicating.

I decided to stop off at Kanis on my way to Hot Springs that Thursday afternoon, maybe get a run in on the Bowl and hit some wall rides. Yeah, the bowl was flooded so I hit some wall rides and their quarter ramp until it started to rain. So I went to Hot Springs were their is nothing to skate but before  I did Kanis left me with a little present. There are several different variations on wall rides, so I decided to hit a jersey type barrier that went vertical. I get up to the run up thinking that it is a little concave, but it was not, it was convex. I hit the convex and was tossed off the board onto my knee. Any way.... So went to Hot Springs Thursday, Friday and part of Saturday.

I returned back to Little Rock Saturday afternoon,  thought I was going to check out En Joy skate shop and indoor complex. I went to the address listed, even called them on the phone and followed their directions but I could not find it. After  agonizing in my frustrations and yelling vulgarities to my self in the rear view mirror I decided to go back to Memphis and skate Terry's. So Terry's I skated, what a fun and mellow sesh, thanks to all those there. And to top it off, Ron M said they had problems finding En Joy as well, so it all worked out. Hello transitons.

I also visited Tobey Park: Almost done - Photos.

Late

Plane Delays lead to more Skating

So Sunday, yes, Sunday, I left you there I think. I got to Denver International Airport early in the morning only to realize that the time on the ticket said 740 pm and not 740 am. The lady who issued the ticket to me days earlier told me it was a morning flight so I was just following what she said. Long story short, the airline canceled the flight and could not schedule back to Memphis until Tuesday at 1245. I stayed in a nice hotel off of 70 Sunday night. Monday I took a cab over to my little brothers school to meet up so we could go skate on his lunch hour. We collected one of his buddies, Vedder, and headed to Walker Branch. The first session of the day went well. I took John's car after the lunch hour sesh was over and headed up to Arvada Memorial Park.

Arvada Memorial Park is just a city park that has big open fields,  a frisbee golf course and tucked off to one side a skate park. The skate park itself is fairly minimal with a sloped bank that is wicked steep, a manual pad/hand rail, a 3 foot mini and a 7 foot half pipe. The two half pipe ramps are really the main focus of the park. They are well constructed and covered in quarter inch metal plating. I have never skated on metal like this before, it was fast. I actually only took one run for I had hit the ground skating to the park it self. I was skating down this hill to a wooden bridge, I did not know that the wood planks on the bridge were wacko, so when I hit the bridge I got ejected onto the ground. The keys in my pocket along with the grenade smashed into my thigh leaving it painful to just move. So I skated one run to just get a feel for it. I got to know a few of the kids at the park, they all must have been in high school. One kid had just finished community service but could not go home yet because the guy he worked for only made him work an hour and in turn gave him 4 hours. His mom would get really pissed if she knew. The next guy was disassembling a gold ear ring so he could sell the gold. While the last kid was going on how this friends mom let him stay the night and gave him a $20 spot this morning after he left. These are just neighborhood kids and it sounds like their family life is dysfunctional, welcome to the family.

I went back to Walker Branch ( additional photos taken) after my Memorial visit, skated an hour, picked up my Bro. We then went back to his apartment. I could not take it, I headed over to the Xanthia bowl by my self for my brother had some business. I skated the Xanthia bowl until I could not see any more, night fall.

I got on a plane Tuesday afternoon and landed in Memphis. The plane was suppose to take off at 1245, they delayed my flight until after 4pm. I would suggest to never fly United Airlines Express if possible. The United Airlines staff said that delays are very common on the Express flights.

Parting shot:
If I was going to move to Denver today where would I try to find a place to rent?? I got to know the city better than I have in the past. I spent a lot of time in Edgewater, a suburb of Denver. Why this place? If you look at Team Pains's project list you can see that Edgewater is ten minutes from Arvada who have Little Arvada and now Big Arvada, also Layette, Denver Park, Glendale and Broomsfield are with in less than 15 to20 minutes depending. That's not even mentioning the smaller parks like Walker Branch. Edgewater is a blue collar neighborhood for the most part and rent is cheaper here but it looks great. Big Arvada is going to be bigger than Denver Park as well, is what it looks like, and will probably take some of the emphasis off other parks. I only say this because the amount of traffic at a park makes or breaks your experience. Less traffic, more skate time, better experience. Living around the Denver City Park is probably the best place to live because it is like Midtown Memphis, more so than not, but the draw back is location, add 25 minutes or more to a lot of driving time to parks. The traffic in Denver is the killer about the city, you can't get around it so deal with it. And don't get fooled that every one in Denver is happy to see you, because there are kooks every where.

When am I going to move to Colorado?? Not yet, gotta get totally sick of skating in the Mid-South first.
late.

Denver, the rest of the trip.... Skate Parks Galore

I thought I was going to keep a daily record of where we went to skate and how it all went down, but once I started to hit place after place or just skate session after session, I was to tired or involved to keep track of anything other than the next jaunt. This is the first down time that I have had since the trip began really. The irony of today is sitting here at the Denver Airport all day because of a mix up on my ticket. When I re-booked my flight the lady told me it was a 740 AM flight, well, now that I am here at the airport bright and early I find out that the flight leaves at 740 PM, hmm... Whatever, so I am stuck because I can't get cell service to call my brother and getting him to come pick me up and then drive me back, man, if only I had cell service.

I gave a brief update on Monday, we did not even skate a park, just looked at Redstone Park that was over run my kids on the Razor skooters, BMX bikes and young skaters. That is just the way these parks go, they are said to be hit or miss depending on their location. Highly inhabited suburbia with easy access to the park makes for a busy place. We ended up finding a parking lot and skating a curb. Photos.

On Tuesday my brother John and I headed to Roxborough Park  in the afternoon after I got off work. We were about to go to Cornerstone Park  but were persuaded other wise by some Memphis Folk (Hammond and Kim).  Good call... Roxborough is located to the very far west of Denver and right next to were the mountain range starts to jettison out of the earth, so the views are spectacular. This park has two distinct parts to skate as many of the parks have, a flow/street section and some big bowls. The way these parks flow is different in each park, not one of their flow/street sections were the same.  Roxborough's emphasis was much more into transition as the flow section went. There was a pocket of tansitions that had a quarter that then opened up into a section of that had many different lines and tranny. Just look at the photos from the web site. Then there are two bowls, like a smaller eight foot bowl and then a larger, maybe, 12 foot bowl, could be smaller. Roxborough was our favorite place to skate. We did not make it back, but if you ever go to Denver you got to hit this park. I also dropped Wrex Cook's name and sure enough, I met this guy named Cameron that knew Wrex well. PHOTOS

Wednesday was a bust since it rained all day. This was the last day of my job in Denver, I was free to wonder about after today. I turned in my rental car, checked out of the hotel and found a nice corner in my brothers apartment. He is located across the street from Denver City Park (not skate park) and just a few blocks from the famous Blue Bird theater, I mean the Dwarves are playing there this next week. Now I was sleeping on the couch, surviving off Cliff Bars and drinking what ever was in the fridge (PBR.)

Thursday the weather turned out to decent with sunshine and cloud coverage. I rode with my brother to school were I then took over the Ford Escape and headed to a park in Edgewater named Walker Branch. This is one of my brothers go to spots since it is five minutes from where he goes to school. Pictures of Walker Branch dont look like much but this was my second favorite place to skate. I skated this park a good part of the day until my little bro got done with class. I think we sessioned Walk Branch first then headed to Lafayette Park. Lafayette is pretty far north, almost to Boulder. It was kind of remote but that did not mean it was full of kids on skooters and many local kids just out for a shred in the park. It had everything there, flow section, mini bowl with pump bump in the center, big bowls, medium bowl with a mini snake run, street stuff, marble many pad. I just dont know how to properly describe the park, please check the web site link or look at my Photos. I was so tired from hitting Walker Branch all day that I did not have a lot of energy. My legs were starting to cry out a bit from hitting so much tight tranny. That is the thing in all these parks so far, all the tranny is 6 1/2 or steeper from what I can tell were I am used to 7 1/2 or 8. We decided to skip Broomfield, which looks to have some nice bowls and a very heavy street ledge section, but we were getting super tired, so we went home. That night I hung out with Mike Eck and he took me to some Steam Punk themed bar in I dont know were Denver. Very cool though. Photos.

Friday started out super early since I dropped my bro off before 8am at school and headed to Denver Skate Park which is located right next to the Bronco's stadium. I had heard rumors that Dpark  is kind of ruled by local skaters. That outsiders get a vibe from the local shredder's like they own the park and dont want you skating in their lines. I showed up so early that I thought I was safe for there was only one guy skating along with me. So I started hitting mellow stuff, some banks and a some of the flow bowls, minding my own business. Then out of no where the lone guy skating the park started skating were I was skating, like he was skating circles around were I was skating. He got pissed at me at one point because I was standing near a ledge he wanted to hit although he had not hit it since I had been there. I moved to another section but he showed up there as well. After a while I was like what the hell. On top of that my legs had no strength in them, I guess from skating so much. After a while I just quit, what a dick man...that guy just ruined it for me. So I left there and went for some lunch, picked up my bro and did a lunch hour session of Walker branch again. The more I went to Walker Branch the more you got to see who showed up and the better I got at understanding the lines. After Walker Branch I decided to just rest and wait for Saturday. John had heard about this bowl in neighborhood off a street named Xanthis just ten minutes from his apartment. It is a nice little bowl, mellow but again was over run by kids on scooter and young teenagers who just want to drop in at then air out of the bowl. It was ridiculousness, but we will try again tomorrow. That night we went to Red Rocks for my first time to see some Standard Snowboard Movie, it was fun, Red Rocks is amazing. Photos.

Saturday was epic!! We woke up and went back to the Xanthia Street Bowl. There were a couple of shredders there but no annoying kids, except one. We basically had the bowl to ourselves. Such a fun little peanut bowl that has a three foot shallow section that feeds into a deeper 6 foot section with a 7ft extension. The tranny was super mellow, just made for good time. We then regrouped back to the apartment, made some calls and headed back to Walker Branch after picking up one of my brother's friends. We got to Walker Branch and the rain settled in just enough to make us drive North, this time to Northglen. Northglen was pretty dope, had a big bowl and street section that was set up to flow. You will have to look at my photos since the park is brand new and the site has not been updated. There were a lot of kids and skooters but by this time we don't care anymore, why let those kids spoil all your fun. So we skated and owned since that is what you have to do. After we eventually got tired of fighting skate traffic at Northglen we went bak to Walker Branch. My legs and lungs were back up to full strength. We so owned Walker Branch, I was skating every inch of that place now, never stopping except for the occasional breather. I was really getting the feel for the steep tranny after my last day of skating. My brother had to tear me away from the park, I did not want to leave, just one more run. Well, we went bak to the apartment, hung with a few peeps and then went back to the Xanthia bowl. It had rained again, in that area so the bowl was a little wet but deserted except for a couple of other shredders who were having just as much fun as us. Photos

Sunday, sitting at Denver International, thought I was going to be able to skate Al Town today, jokes on me. This was the first time I got to take in the whole experience of Denver. It is a very chill city with lots to do, skated parks every where, great food and a crap load of traffic. There are bicycles every where and you can just about get any where in the metro area as fast as a car, but then you need a car for getting out to the burbs where some of the primo spots are. Great City to live in for sure. Then you can get a Summit County ski pass for about $450 and snowboard all winter. Anyway, I just rebooted my phone and I got coverage now, lets see if my brother comes and picks me up for a few hours. later.