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.