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