Joel's Journeys

Happy 2012 Chinese New Year

2012-01-21T19:22:00.000+07:00

Kids channeling their inner dragons.

Sun sets on 2011

2011-12-31T21:45:00.000+07:00

Cccchappy Cccchanukah!

2011-12-27T04:25:00.002+07:00

With the Human Dreidel at Siam Paragon

DOUBLE RAINBOW, OH MY GOD! (Cambodia version)

2011-12-15T00:23:00.000+07:00

We all know the Double Rainbow video (click here if you are not one of the 31 million people who has already seen it).

And you probably saw the autotune version (click here if you are not one of the 3 million people who has already seen it).

I am now posting my version of "Double Rainbow... Cambodia Style". After an incredible day of checking out this very special ancient temple in Angkor Wat, followed by a hike up a mountain to see ancient carvings etched into a riverbed, I was on my way back to the hotel and I saw a totally amazing double rainbow (when is a double rainbow not totally amazing, though?). I had a video camera, so I had to pay homage to the original Double Rainbow guy. Though it's not nearly as awesome as his video, it has a little local flavor that makes it a little distinctive, if I may say so.

Also, the double rainbow was a little hard to see in the video, but it was there! You can see it in this photo, though it is a bit faint.

So here it is, the Cambodia Double Rainbow Video, or VDO, as people tend to write here.

And for those who have read the first portions of my Cambodia trip, stay tuned, the next post is coming soon.

Battambang Hang

2011-11-29T15:48:00.000+07:00

[You may wish to start with part 1 of my trip to Cambodia here; part 2 is here]

So I had been out of Bangkok for a good ten days, already double the four or five days I had originally intended for my trip to Cambodia to last, and it soon became apparent that I was lucky that I had extended my trip, since the big floods that had swept through the Northeast and Central Thailand were indeed going to roll down into the big city. Seeing that I live right on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, it seemed like a good thing that I wasn't at home and, if anything, I came to the realization that I should stay a while longer. I've actually had real nightmares of the river overflowing and water creeping up to my window, even though I'm on the fourth floor. Not too realistic, I know, but that's why they're dreams.

As long as I was going to stay longer in Cambodia, I figured that I might as well live it up and take advantage of some of the very cool things to do in the Battambang vicinity. First on my list of things to check out was Wat Banon, an 11th century temple that requires 340 steps up to reach the top. Good exercise and one of the coolest temples I've ever visited.

At night, I hung out with new Battambangian friends that I mentioned a couple of posts ago and becoming more familiar with the local art scene; I also checked out the Phare circus again, and regularly looked online to see how bad things were getting in Bangkok. Thankfully, instead of stressing about whether the monster flood would leave me stuck in my apt without food or water, I was having a blast.

I had heard about a fantastic bike tour with a local company, Soksa Bike, which is a play of the Khmer expression - sok sabai - which means "how are you," and the tour guides took me to a bunch of interesting places that I would not have easily found on my own. It was just me on the tour with a guide and a trainee, which meant that I could do whatever I wanted on my own timeframe, and they were very patient with me as I was snapping pics and rolling video all over the place.

Temple commemorating the victims of the Khmer Rouge,
with the victims' skulls housed inside

The first stop was a bit heavy - it was to a temple looking structure filled with Khmer Rouge victims' skulls (which you can see on the left). It was literally on the road less traveled as there was no one there other than us - totally different from the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, which was filled with tourists when I went there.

Next, the guide brought me to check out how the locals make this awesome snack consisting of sticky rice flavored with coconut milk that is cooked inside a bamboo husk. It's called krolan in Khmer and khao lam in Thai and I've had this treat many times in Thailand and always loved it but I never did know how it is actually made.

I learned that the key is to slice off the charred outside of the husks so they don't actually burn and then they use these charred slices as the burning material to further cook them, as you can see below. Not rocket science, but it's an eco-friendly method as no trees are cut down to keep the fire burning.

It was a the perfect energy snack for my 30K ride, too.

Preparing krolan - yummy sweet sticky rice treats cooked inside bamboo husks with
87-year-old woman looking on

Insanely cute girl with cute pup. And for those who might think this is exploitative, I asked her mom first about taking her photo, and she was totally cool with it and the girl was giggling hard when she saw the pics.

Some of the bike trip involved cruising through some super raw dirt road areas where people
may be poor but they live in a paradise-like setting that people only dream of

Yummy flattened banana snack which kind of had the consistency of a fruit roll up

All smiles from yours truly

Happy Khmer family

We proceeded to check out a fish paste making facility, which was kind of disgusting actually. I'm almost 100% vegetarian, but even before I was, I was grossed out by fish paste found in some Asian food. I was reluctant to even go to check this place out, as I correctly predicted (wasn't such a stretch) that it would smell really bad. Once I saw how many flies were buzzing around the thousands of rotting fish that are contained in big vats for a long time, it served as confirmation as to why I've never liked fish paste or fish sauce even in my pre-veggie days.

Scooping up some rotting fish by pitchfork

Left: Sun dried orange and silvery fish (not used for fish paste)
Above: Loading up supplies
Below: Not your ideal river color, but still beautiful

Scooping up some water in the swampy, jungly "suburbs" of Battambang

We also checked out a rice wine making facility, and I tried the A grade and B grade varieties. I really like sake, and I've enjoyed moonshiney rice wine before in both China and Nepal, but this was on a whole other level. I forced myself to swallow about four slugs of it, but I couldn't take anymore beyond that. It was super strong and went straight to my head.

For anyone interested in seeing more highlights of my awesome bike trip, click below to see a little video I put together with music in the background from some Khmer wedding I stumbled upon (which wasn't so eventful, I actually came across about four weddings during the bike ride with the same kind of music blasting). This was shot post-imbibing, which might be apparent in some of my shooting during the video. :)

The next day, I had another adventure - on Battambang's semi-famous bamboo train!

Found this guy while waiting for the bamboo
train to get going. He didn't have a rare skin
disorder - he just endured some "cupping" meant
to promote blood flow and overall good health.
Basically, someone places a really hot cup all
over your body. I think I'll stick with massages.

The bamboo train is probably Battambang's most famous attraction, although it is not exactly a real train. It's basically a flatbed made out of bamboo that fits four people sitting down (well, four foreigners - I saw a lot more Khmer people cramming onto one), and it's powered by an engine that you might find on a speedboat or maybe even a lawnmower.

The train is easily disassembled and about three or four times during the trip, we had to stop and wait as the train "conductor" took the the train apart and moved it off the rails when another bamboo train approached, since there is only one rail for trains to go on in either direction.

Bamboo trains are a traditional way in Cambodia to get around from small village to village, but apparently the Khmer transit authorities are redoing the whole railway system, and supposedly within a year or two, there won't be any more bamboo train to use, at least not on the Battambang - Phnom Penh line, although apparently in other areas around the country, the tradition may continue. At $5, which is the foreigner price, it's considered to be crazy expensive for Cambodia. In my view, though, it was easily worth it for a truly unique experience, and I don't use the word "unique" lightly. And, of course, outside of Cambodia, one doesn't really sweat $5 too much, which won't even buy you a beer in a bar in most Western countries. But if you look on comments on TripAdvisor, you'll see indignant people outraged at the high price.

I also put together a little video below about the bamboo train, so you can get a sense of what it's actually like.

A quick aside - I shared my train with three Catalonian women, who rather snottily insisted that I move out of the way when they took their photos on the bamboo train, but didn't think to move out of the way when I asked someone to take my photo. I thought of asking them to leave like they did with me, but didn't really want to make a fuss with my new trainmates and spoil the trip.

With my Catalonian bamboo trainmates who didn't care to have me in their photographic memories of that day, but they'll be with me forever, at least on this blog

View of rice fields from bamboo train

Once I arrived at the destination, which was about 20-30 minutes away, some kid came up to me to get me to buy something, and offered to show me around. Yes, the whole thing was a little tourist trappy, but the kid showed me a cool old rice mill, which was really dusty, and a brick factory. Maybe not the most thrilling of sites, but I kind of liked them.

Kid who showed me around

Old and very dusty rice mill, but it was kind of cool. Let's hope the rice I ate in Battambang didn't come from there...

The aforementioned brick factory kind of looked like Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen's hut in Star Wars

There wasn't too much going on in this tiny village that the bamboo train took me to,
but the dogs seemed to make the most of it

Shot from the return trip on the bamboo train

Mutual photo taking along the tracks

So as each day brought more fun and joyful adventuring, it became clear that I should keep the trip going. Things in Bangkok were more and more sketchy sounding, and in a week's time, there would be the first ever arts festival in Battambang, which my friends at the Make Maek art gallery were helping organize.

I thought that it would make for a good article, so I pitched the Phnom Penh Post, where I had a couple of friends working in key positions. After a day or so, they gave me the green light so I had a professional reason to stay now!

I didn't want to stay put in Battambang until the festival, though, and since I have a good friend in Siem Reap, which had just got over a long spell of flooding of its own, I thought I'd swing through there. By bus, it's only a couple of hours, but there is a six-hour boat ride that you can take between Battambang and Siem Reap across the Tonle Sap Lake, which I was told was stunning, so I figured that it would be a fitting new voyage to take to continue the escapade.

My plan was make a move to Siem Reap for a few days, check out some ancient temples at Angkor Archeological Park, take in the new scene, then come back for the arts festival. So I booked a ticket and got ready to wake up at the crack of dawn for my next mission by boat...

Cleaning up at Battambang's Central Market. This kid was just playing, not really working, just in case anyone might be outraged at seeing this.

It was goodbye to Battambang for now, but not farewell. I'd be back soon enough.

Quick glimpse of the Phare Ponleu Selpak circus

2011-11-21T15:36:00.001+07:00

While I'm preparing my more lengthy next entry about my recent trip to Cambodia, here's a snippet of the fun and most entertaining performance you can find at the Phare Ponleu Selpak circus. Hope you enjoy!

Battambanging!

2011-11-16T10:11:00.001+07:00

Photo of mine that appeared in the Phnom Penh Post

[You may wish to first read an earlier post on my Cambodia trip here]

Kid riding bicycle way too big for him
which I saw pretty often

The bus ride from Phnom Penh to Battambang was harrowing. It was supposed to be five hours, and ended up being six, and was about 45 minutes late taking off. But hey, it's Cambodia, and I had plenty of podcasts loaded up and three mostly unread New Yorker magazines to keep me busy, so I was OK.

Shiva is livin' large in Battambang

There were two disturbing things on the bus ride, though. First, we passed by what was the worst accident I have ever seen.

Well, I saw the aftermath, actually, and there were bloody bodies strewn about on the road, an overturned pickup truck, a seriously smashed semi truck and people desperately trying to help. It must have just happened within the past couple of minutes, and it was horrifying. Made me nervous as well to know that maybe if the bus had been delayed just a little less, I might have been part of the mess.

Then, about halfway into it, we came across a massively flooded area. Fortunately, a woman clamored for the bus to stop before we hit it so that people could collect their belongings from the bottom storage area, which I somehow spaced on.

Anyway, the bus driver stopped and I got my stuff, making the very crowded bus even more crammed. But had I not gotten my stuff, my clothes and video camera would have been completely soaked. The flooded area only took about a couple of minutes to drive through, but I held on to my stuff for the remainder of the trip anyway, despite the fact that I had no room to move my legs.

I had a booking at the King Hotel, which was on the river, for $23 a night - a pretty great deal, since the hotel is nice, clean, safe, offers free breakfast, wifi and a view of the river from the balcony. It's hard for a Westerner to imagine but $23/night is sort of splashing out in Battambang and I was only planning on staying a couple of nights and then would head back to Bangkok. Or so I thought at the time.

So what to do in Battambang that evening? Nothing, since it turned out that the moment I stepped out of the hotel, a torrential rain swept in. So I had a dinner at the King, a nice amok dish, and turned in for the night and was ready to fully check out the town the next day. I was particularly looking forward to seeing the Battambang circus that I had read of but didn't know much about.

I spent the next day walking around town, taking photos and enjoying the local flavor. Everything was much more quiet and pleasant than Phnom Penh, which really does seem like a big city comparatively, yet puny in comparison to Bangkok.

I particularly liked that not every single tuk tuk driver in Battambang tried to cajole me into taking a ride with them. I liked the architecture and temples. The only thing I saw that was a bit troubling was this:

A Mike Tyson-looking Cambodian guy having trouble eating and forgetting to wear shorts (or underwear).

I was really curious about the circus, which is run by an NGO, Phare Ponleu Selpak, Khmer for "Brightness of the Arts". Besides running the circus, Phare, which was founded in 1994, is a school for students - mostly disadvantaged kids, some with broken homes - who are trained to become circus performers, artists, dancers and musicians. Phare was started by refugees who were on the run from the Khmer Rouge and the school has benefited from many international volunteers who have helped develop the students' skills over the years.

The students from the first graduating classes have gone on to perform internationally and Phare is going strong as a most positive NGO doing something to make a real difference in children's lives. Without these skills, they wouldn't likely have much hope for the future as people who live in Battambang generally make less than $100 per month. It sounds crazy, but it's true. Maids in my hotel were earning $50/month, and that's good compared to some farmers or laborers who are working their tails off.

Flipping out at Phare

Anyway, back to my story. When I bought my ticket for the circus, this guy Gunnar comes up to me and says, "You're American, right?" He introduced himself and said he could tell that I was from the US because I wore a baseball cap (although I had bought the hat in Phnom Penh and it had a bamboo rattan pattern where a logo should be, so it wasn't like the cap was a total giveaway, but I digress...).

Anyway, Gunnar is from Minnesota and is a contortionist (!) who had been volunteering as a contortion teacher at Phare for six months and he showed me around the Phare area, including their art gallery, the training facilities and the lush place where I took the photo at the top of this blog entry.

The show itself was phenomenal. The performance wasn't flawless, but that didn't matter. The players still pulled off many seriously awesome acrobatic maneuvers and routines perfectly, and when they dropped a juggling pin or didn't quite stick a landing, they still smiled and tried again and you couldn't help but just root for them more. They had great determination and the joy in their eyes during their performance was invigorating!

More of my photos of Phare can be found here

Still from "Rouge" a performance that is a response to the horrors of the Khmer Rouge

I left the show feeling inspired and I wanted to learn more about it so I linked up with Gunnar and some of his friends, who volunteer at Phare and who are almost almost all French, for some drinks at the Madison - one of the only spots in Battambang that stays open late, and they serve up some killer crepes and very tasty coconuts.

I met a young artist named Kat there who also comes from Minnesota coincidentally (she and Gunnar had only met once or twice in Battambang before). Now I've only met like a one other person from Minnesota in my life, so I did think it was kind of weird to meet two people in the middle of Cambodia on the same night who separately came from the North Star state.

Kat runs an art gallery called Make Maek in Battambang with an artist named Soviet Mao (his real name!!) who went to the art school at Phare and a bunch of us headed back there to chill and I grew further intrigued with this Battambang place.

Kat in Make Maek gallery

Hanging at Make Maek

Many of the artists who developed their skills at Phare's art school (and some who didn't go to Phare) are now coming of age and pushing their creative talents further along and are starting up galleries and developing a scene. At a certain point that night, I realized that I ought to check out Battambang a little more and find out what makes it tick.

So I went back to the King Hotel and decided to increase my stay by a couple of nights - which soon became weeks.

Coming up next on the blog: Battambang's bamboo train, 340 steps up to an ancient temple and a six hour boat ride to Siem Reap, where the adventure further unfolds.

Battambang at twilight

Some of Battambang's classic colonial architecture has been restored, some buildings have faded but still are cool.

(clockwise from top left) Battambang's temporarily closed train station; Gotta love a country that has a government office for cults; Battambang sunset silhouette

A month in Cambodia Part 1: Phnom Penh partying and pensiveness

2011-11-14T00:23:00.001+07:00

I took off from Bangkok on an Air Asia plane for Phnom Penh on Oct. 9 for what was supposed to be a quick visa run. My work in Bangkok had just come to an unexpected end after the organization I was working for at the time ran into financial problems. So I needed to make a quick move to renew my visa and I thought about Bali, but ultimately opted for Cambodia as I have a couple of friends in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital city, and I thought it would be fun to pay them a visit, and, of course, it would be cheaper than Bali.

View of Phnom Penh from BJ's

I imagined the trip would last 4 or 5 days, so I booked a room for $25 at BJ's, which is right on the river, and, contrary to what the name might imply to some, the hotel provided a very clean, wholesome and safe environment, located a block from the river, with a nice balcony, a flat screen TV, free breakfast, safe wifi, which made it a pretty good deal.

Kenny G shop in Phnom Penh. Sorry to say I
have no idea about the back story behind this.

I basically went out drinking every single with my aforementioned friends, Will and Chad, who both work for the Phnom Penh Post. I normally am not such a major drinker, but I figured that I might as well live it up while I was away, not to mention that beers are generally a buck each, which made it easier on the wallet to party like a Khmer rock star every night. I met their friends, who were a friendly bunch and I enjoyed getting to explore the city a bit.

I had been to Phnom Penh with my old friend Rob once before, five years ago, but I was kind of turned off by it at the time. However, it genuinely seems to have come a long way since then. The riverside is nice, and there are some wonderful streets around town with good food and chill spots. One thing that is a major annoyance is that every single tuk tuk driver, and I mean every single one, will bother you about taking a ride with them, even if you are on a bicycle, or even in a tuk tuk already! Well, maybe I'm exaggerating with that last example.

Last time I was in Phenomenal Penh (Rob's brilliant tagline that the Cambodian tourism industry should adopt), it was only for a couple of days and I didn't get a chance to go to Tuol Sleng, otherwise known as S-21, which is a former Khmer Rouge prison where thousands of victims were tortured and killed. I also didn't get to the killing fields, which most people at least know from the movie of the same name, and its former purpose is rather self-explanatory from its name. So this time I went to both, which was a most heavy experience since it really doesn't get more depressing than genocide.

Here are some pics of my experience.

This sign posted at S-21 gives you an idea of
how twisted the Khmer Rouge was.

Victims of the Khmer Rouge who met their demise at S-21

Victims' cells

More photos of frightened victims

If I can add one moment of levity to this depressing post, it was this sign at S-21.

OK, back to depressing. Victims' skulls at the Killing Fields museum, Choeung Ek

Speaks for itself

Mass grave site of victims who were left without heads.

Other than being utterly floored by the horrific information I learned through the audio guide (I'll refrain from the gory details here), I did admire the grounds at the Killing Fields, which are actually quite pretty these days...

After about four or five days, I started to read about how there were floods on the way to Bangkok so I thought I might as well extend my trip in Cambodia by a few days and wait it out.

However, I was getting a little tired of Phnom Penh, so I didn't want to stay there, but wasn't really sure where to go next. I had been to Siem Reap before, but it's always cool to go to the nearby ancient temples of Angkor Wat, plus I had a good friend there from Bangkok. But there was a problem, Siem Reap was flooded at the moment, so I had to scratch that off the list.

I had been to Sihanoukville beach area before and was thoroughly unimpressed and kind of grossed out by the filthy beaches and other dirty things that go on there. I looked at Kamphot, which seemed OK, but the main highlights were that it is a chill riverside vibe and that there is good pepper to be found there. Hmmm, sure it's great, but next?

I noticed Battambang as a possible destination and asked Will about it and he gave it the thumbs up. He told me about how there is a nice little art scene developing there and about some of the other interesting attractions like nearby ancient temples and a beautiful countryside - it's considered to be the "rice bowl" of Cambodia, and also known for its oranges. It was on the way to Bangkok anyway, so I figured that could stop off there, wait out the flood a few days and then bus it into Thailand. Or so I thought.

So I bought a one way ticket to Battambang...

Bangkok flood anecdote and flood photo set

2011-11-13T13:14:00.001+07:00

So I thought I sort of braved the floods in Bangkok by getting a little down and dirty to make this video that I posted last time, but really it was just a minor glimpse into the very real hardships that people are going through.

For example, someone I know lives with his mother near the Rangsit area, just outside Bangkok, in a subdivision where there are about 100 residences. The area now is submerged in two meters of water that has stagnated for weeks and isn't expected to be gone anytime soon. My friend and his mom have moved everything up to the second floor of their home and they have decided to stay put because there are too many valuables in the home and, according to my friend, almost every home that has been deserted - about 95 percent of the residences in the area - have almost all been robbed.

He went on to tell me that just the other day some sketchy people approached his home at 3 a.m. by boat and shouted up, saying that they were from an animal rescue group. My friend was fairly sure that it didn't make much sense that such a group would come by at that hour, so he grabbed a gun (I had no idea that he had one, considering that he is one of the most gentle, nicest, innocent seeming people I've ever met) and he shot it in the air (although he said that instead of actually shooting it into the air outside, he hit the overhanging roof shingle outside, and shot a hole through it). In any event, they took off whoever they were.

To get proper food, he needs to travel by rowboat and it takes six hours round trip. That's really kind of crazy. He said that government boats won't help him and his mom out either, other than some basic food distribution every week or so, although the food is meager and bland. Of course the authorities are swamped (pun intended), but still.

Anyway, hearing his story put my little video mission in perspective. And where I live is basically normal, other than a big puddle outside my condo with sand bag steps in place to avoid getting my feet wet.

Not so bad, comparatively. Anyway, if you feel like seeing some other stills I took on Thursday like the ones below, check out my set on flickr.

Video of Bangkok Flood - 11.11.11

2011-11-12T04:25:00.000+07:00

As promised, I went out on a mission and shot some video of the flooding in Bangkok. I've been kind of feeling weirdly guilty that I stayed away in Cambodia this past month until now, but the situation just seemed too heavy to deal with and I live right on the water, so I opted to jet out.

So to make up for it, I got down and dirty today as I biked across the river to the Pinklao section of town, mostly staying on the elevated roads, but in order to check out different areas, I had to cruise through some flooded spots and my socks and shoes soon got completely soaked in nasty, stanking floodwater.

I must say that it was nice to see the congenial spirit of people helping each other and trying to stay cheerful amid the presence of the lingering and festering gray liquid that is dominating life here in the Big Mango.

On a positive note, have a fantastic 11-11-11 everybody! I spaced on the moments when it was 11:11 and 11 seconds in and a.m. and p.m., though. If you are read this in the U.S. now, though, you can still geek out on it!

Back in flooded Bangkok

2011-11-11T11:20:00.000+07:00

The recent flooding in Thailand has claimed more than 500+ lives so far and has cost billions of dollars in damage to people's property and businesses - some big ones too, like Toyota, Mitsubishi, Canon and Western Digital (apparently, sixty percent of Western Digital’s global computer hard drive production is based in Thailand causing hard drive prices to soar).

And it isn't being helped by the failure of the Thai govt and media to give solid information. For example, what are people supposed to do with this?

I'm going to explore the situation by bicycle later on today for the first time, actually, since I've actually been away in Cambodia for a month of awesome adventure (to avoid said floods). I'll be posting on my flood expedition as well as my month in Cambodia soonish with pics, and at some point, video.

And yeah, I know it's been a while.

rockin out in Ko Phi Phi

2011-07-16T08:21:00.000+07:00

Despite what you may have heard, I'm not a menace to society

2011-07-16T01:50:00.001+07:00

a hundred things about me

2011-07-14T03:32:00.001+07:00

Counting down a hundred things about me on Twitter. More than half way done at the moment.

Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang, Malaysia

2011-07-13T22:08:00.003+07:00

Click me down here, too!

walker stalker

2011-02-03T23:22:00.002+07:00

My mansion from above (courtesy Google maps).

There's a great swimming pool in my mansion (my condo is called a "mansion") and these days it's my main form of trying to stay in shape. But there's this woman who creepily walks around the pool like every night for exercise. There are several other cooler places to walk, including a nearby track at Thammasat University (where I teach). Even my mansion's roof would be way more interesting since there is an amazing panoramic view of the city and the river and it's got a bigger circumference or whatever you call the outside edges of a oddly shaped polygon.

But she likes to walk around the pool. She also does have this intense look on her face, which adds to the curiosity of it. Maybe I should just get over it. Instead, I find myself sort of whispering the word "walker" under my breath when I get out of the pool and she walks by. Am I the one with an issue then?

Another Joel's journey

2010-08-31T23:41:00.003+07:00

I googled "Joel's journey," just to see, because I do that kind of thing (I'm a bit ashamed to admit) and I saw a site called joelsjourney.org and my immediate reaction was of annoyance that someone stole the name of this blog (although it's my own fault for not registering it). Anyway, I saw that it belonged to a family of a very young boy named Joel who was in a car accident and was badly injured but made a great recovery.

Now his family is dedicating it to teaching others about proper car seat safety. So here's to a different Joel's journey and good luck to you, Joel.

War in Bangkok

2010-05-19T22:19:00.005+07:00

The army attacked the Red Shirt camps today in an offensive that has worked somewhat, as the main leaders surrendered and fortified areas have been liberated. But the rest of the protesters aren't going without a fight.

The city is burning, as the protesters are setting fire to tires, lighting off whatever weapons they have and burning and looting the luxury malls in the area.

I'm staying home through all of this. More journalists were shot today, including an Italian photographer who was killed. The best I could do under the circumstance is to take pics from my roof where I got some shots of the smoke over the city and I put together a little video.

My neighborhood, Banglamphu, not far from Khao San Road, is totally safe. The only difference is that it normally is a bit overrun with Western tourists. Interestingly the only ones that seem to be remaining are Korean and Japanese travelers according to the local guesthouse owner I spoke to. Everyone is off this week and most people are fleeing the city.

But even outside the city, provincial halls have been burned down, and things look bad up in the northeast, where most of the Red Shirts come from. Even in Chiang Mai, things are hectic.

Personally, I can't imagine why anyone would still come here right now. The city is a warzone.

Not going out of my way to get shot

2010-05-19T01:03:00.002+07:00

Although I am a writer and video maker, I'm not feeling compelled to go to the protest areas, especially since I don't have a flak jacket and helmet. Although today the violence cooled off, I would have to go out of my way to get into the dangerous zones, and while I do enjoy a healthy dose of danger, this is a bit unhealthy for my tastes.

Four journalists have been shot in the past few days and one was killed last month. This has been chaotic as all can see on TV and in reports. The NY Times has been doing the best job, I think, on the story, especially literally interviewing the rogue general Seh Daeng who defected to the Red Shirts, as he was assassinated.

There have been a lot of good photos and video all around so I can't say that I have to get my own, too.

I do kind of feel like I'm missing out on a chance to see some crazy stuff, but there really is no rhyme or reason as to where the serious violence might break out. And I wouldn't want to die covering this story. There aren't that many stories I would be willing to die for, but I can say with certainty that this isn't one of them.

So I'm taking it easy at home, keeping aware of the sitch constantly.

Oh that last post about the Thai situation being over... forget it

2010-05-13T08:07:00.004+07:00

The Red Shirts didn't end up going along with the road map that Thai PM Abhisit came up with. Not really a surprise, actually.

Meanwhile Abhisit keeps issuing ultimatums to the Red Shirts to get out, like cutting off their water, but the military and police don't have his back so there's no bite to his barking.

People outside Thailand may not realize that a MAJOR part of Bangkok is shut down. It's kind of the equivalent of Times Square, in terms of its central location, and major malls and hotels continue to be shuttered. Billions and billions being lost each day.

I'm actually in Vietnam now, which is a great break from the craziness (and heat) in Thailand (it's hot here, but Thailand is experiencing a major heat wave right now). Just a few days in Hanoi and now in Nha Trang, a fun beach town. Too many motorcycles around, and not enough amenities for me to really consider moving here, but it is really refreshing in many aspects. Although the Red Shirt thing doesn't really directly affect me too much, it's just making a major bummer cloud over everything there.

Pics of 'Nam to come.

Possible truce??

2010-05-05T12:13:00.004+07:00

Looks like the Red Shirt drama in BKK may end in a way no one saw coming. Peacefully.

Probably the negative publicity from the recent hospital brouhaha that the Red Shirts were getting, the imminence of rainy season, which would certainly take a big toll on the demonstrators and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's shiny new road map, which he unveiled yesterday, contributed to the possible withdrawal of the Reds (it's not quite a done deal yet apparently, but looks good).

The road map calls for elections in November, at which point another kerfuffle will likely begin from whichever side doesn't get their people in. November is sooner than the government had offered before and later than the protesters demanded for new elections, so it's a compromise. Very nice, children.

Couldn't this have been worked out before close to 30 lives were taken and many billions of baht were lost by businesses in the protest areas? Thailand's economy and image have taken a massive hit that will take a long time to recover from. (And they're still recovering from the airport takeover last year).

But who knows, maybe if a crackdown happened and many more people died, it would have been much worse. Maybe this was political genius? It's actually more like the military forced the PM's hand because the generals weren't doing what the PM told them to. Probably if the PM recognized this earlier, some of this could have been avoided.

Wonder what this guy is going to do now.

WTF news from Bangkok: Red Shirts Raid Major Hospital

2010-05-02T21:52:00.012+07:00

Fortunately for me, the protesters that were around me on Ratchadamnoen are long gone, so there aren't going to be any clashes close to where I live (at least that seems to be the case right now). But anything can happen at any time, look at the Times Square incident that just happened.

But tomorrow, I'll be in the middle of the craziness as I have to give a final exam to my Advanced Reporting class tomorrow at Chulalongkorn University, which is ground zero for some bizarre events that have occurred over the past few days.

The short version of the story is that a group of Red Shirts apparently "stormed" a hospital at Chulalongkorn, which was filled with patients as any major hospital would be, and the Red Shirts went looking for troops that might be hiding. Why they would be hiding in a hospital, I don't know. And they were apparently given permission to search.

But now, as a result of the storming of the hospital, along with the protester takeover of the street in front of the hospital, it's impossible for patients to easily get in or out. So all of the patients have been evacuated, including the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand - the top Buddhist monk!

The Red Shirts then apologized, which makes it better, I guess?

Meanwhile, the military and police are not following Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's orders to crack down because they don't want blood on their hands and many in the forces apparently must think that he should step down, since he didn't really come to power in the cleanest of ways.

His party, the Democrats did get a parliamentary majority during the last elections, but it was in part an after effect of the Yellow Shirt airport incident against the then-government, the People's Power Party (PPP ) - the party that the Red Shirts like.

There was also the perfectly timed and rather severe court decision which actually dissolved the PPP, which made it harder for them to win the elections, now didn't it..

Back to the military, and I say this as a pacifist, but I thought that it was supposed to be their job to get their hands dirty if things are getting out of hand. And things are out of hand.

That being said, it's as mellow a takeover of a city by a protest group as oen can imagine.

Maybe the military thinks that it will just make the situation worse to crack down. But you can't allow your capital city (or any city) to come under siege. And what is the chain of command? The PM has no authority?

However, at the same time, people are living a totally normal life in other parts of the city, and even a block or two away from the protest areas, there's no hint of problems. That might change. Or it might not.

The real problem is that there is no good clear thinking about this in the country at any level about these issues, it seems. This can be witnessed in this rambling, bizarrely reasoned opinion piece in today's Bangkok Post.

I took this shot a while back. Nice vocab!

Red shirt standoff on Silom

2010-04-28T01:34:00.004+07:00

Yesterday, I stopped by Silom Road, where the Red Shirts have built a makeshift fort of sorts out of bamboo and tires and whatever else they could find.

Thaiglish protest sign

The Red Shirt camp is located in the mouth of Bangkok's prominent Lumpini Park, across from where Silom Road starts. It's a major Bangkok intersection, and it's where grenades were tossed last week, killing one person and injuring a bunch more.

This area normally bustles with office workers by day and people seeking adult entertainment at night, as well as many others since there is plenty of shopping, restaurants and other activities on Silom. Now it seems like it could be ground zero of a very major bloodbath in the near future.

Bullet or shrapnel remnants at a McDonald's

Across the street from the protesters' camp, soldiers are entrenched on the Silom side. But I also saw many police just sitting around in the surrounding areas doing nothing - I guess their saving up their energy to spring into action?

Barbed wire cutting off the public from a footbridge for the Skytrain where the military have set up their position above and across the street from the Red Shirt camp

There are also anti-protest protesters in the area, who call themselves the "multi-color" or "no color" shirts, even though everyone knows they are really the "yellow shirts." And in case you weren't up on it, it was the yellow shirts who, in late-2008, held two airports in captivity for more than a week, causing billions in losses, because they didn't like the red-friendly government in power at the time. Yes, it's hard to keep track of all the different colors - there are also pink shirts, blue shirts, and black shirts.

The red shirts have now supposedly taken off their shirts to go incognito but, as local journalists joke, you can still smell them. Well, they have been out there on the streets protesting for almost two months now, so they've got an excuse...

It does feel a bit like both sides are making moves aa chess board, except this is real life. I just can't imagine that this could really come to that, but it really might.

Because this whole situation is kind of complicated, if you want to know further details about it, maybe look it up elsewhere like here and here.

A solider lurks above on the Skytrain footbridge on the Silom side

In sum: Basically the reds are unhappy because the ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a coup and eventually got about a billion and a half dollars taken away from him, after a court decision a couple of months ago.

Of course Thaksin's many critics would say that he ripped off the country for much more than the penalty he was forced to pay, and that actually, the penalty wasn't enough. They are angry at how corrupt he was, and they are right, he was definitely corrupt. But the red shirts, many of them poorer, rural farmers in the northeast, were well taken care of by Thaksin, and they still love him dearly for that.

It is ironic that this lawsuit over so much money sparked this whole thing into action, since the protesters are mostly very poor and rural farmers.

The same anti-Thaksin critics say that the Red Shirts are being paid to protest and causing unrest in the nation. Again, this is true. However, during the last seven weeks that the Red Shirts have been out doing their thing, it's been excruciatingly hot, and they have continued though one blood bath already when a total of 25 people died and hundreds were injured during April 10 incident on Ratchadamnoen Road. Yet the Red Shirts have not been deterred.

They have shown great resilience and dedication to their cause, which is to get rid of this current government they claim was unelected, since the present leaders now came to power through horse trading deals, essentially. So the Reds want a new election immediately. The government is insisting on getting another six months, for somewhat unexplained reasons except they don't want to get voted out so quickly, I guess, since everyone believes this is what will happen.

Meanwhile, the current PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, keeps on threatening to sic the military on the Red Shirts, but the military doesn't seem to be moving too quickly on that one. This could change any day but the military seems hesitant to do anything that will lead to another bloodbath or a civil war situation.

Photoshopped pic of Abhisit, making him look kind of not so great

And, of course, this is taking a massive toll on the economy, although for some reason, the Thai stock market and currency exchange rate have mostly continued to get stronger through this turmoil. Not sure how that happens.

So far, this political crisis has hit the tourism sector for a cool $300 million, and recently revised estimates to the GDP show there will be a $1.5 billion loss in output in this year's economy due to the protests. There are already so many major malls closed in town, and other businesses, too. Many foreign companies are probably considering whether they should pack up and leave. So this will likely end up being even more devastating impact for the economy.

Let's all hope for and strive for a peaceful solution.

Here are some tourists who decided to come, taking photos of the red barricades from the Silom side

2010-04-25T11:07:00.002+07:00

Video depicts a Red Shirt rally in Bangkok, before things got really ugly. But it was a significant day in that they tossed blood around in a Khmer black magic ritual in order to curse the govt. Weird stuff for sure.

The blood came from their own arms and they spread it around the Government House and at the headquarters of the Democrats (party in power who they are protesting).

I personally do not favor the reds or the government, but I will say that by enabling the Red Shirts to pull off a stunt like this (the police actually escorted the protesters to the Govt House and Democrats HQ), the govt allowed them to become emboldened and gave them reason to feel like they could push even harder, which they have done.

The Red Shirts now currently occupy major intersections in the city in a surreal standoff. We'll see what happens. Hopefully an agreement can be reached without more blood shed, but few are so optimistic, especially since a counter rally against the Red Shirts is now in effect. We shall see...

I was away in NY on April 10 when 25 people were killed as the Red Shirts and military traded fire, but I'm not sure I really would have wanted to take video during the cross fire. But I did manage to document this day.

Kumbh Mela Haridwar 2010

2010-02-21T12:08:00.002+07:00

Article and video on Beliefnet on my recent trip to India and the Kumbh Mela.

Or just watch video below.

Kumbh Mela 2010 from Joel Gershon on Vimeo.

Elephants/gravity defiance

2010-01-23T12:34:00.004+07:00

A piece I did a while back on the Surin elephant roundup in Thailand that was on CNNGo. The elephants were fun, but at the end it clearly goes too far, giving any outraged animal rights people out there an "I told you so" moment.

Also at the Surin fest - motorcycles and cars defying gravity!

Indian guy going off in Old Delhi at around midnight

2010-01-23T12:23:00.003+07:00

Random encounter. He didn't even ask for money. The funniest part (if I do say so myself), are the people who were gathering around. Watch this til the end if you have the patience - it's pretty funny.

10,000 year old cave painting in Bhimbetka, India

2009-08-27T00:59:00.003+07:00

Very cool site and a peaceful spot.

Also taken at Bhimbetka. I have no idea who these people are, though.

Young tribals in India.

As you can see I got into it when I was there.

More India to come...

Nepal photos and video from a few months ago

2009-04-29T20:14:00.014+07:00

Went to Nepal over New Years this year and it was amazing - probably my favorite country in Asia that I've visited. You can't beat the mountains, temples, people and all around vibe. Extremely chill place.

This devotion to Krishna can give you a taste of the atmosphere (btw, with this video, I officially turn this blog into a vlog!):

(Open your browser window wide to see photos in full)

Impressions of Nepal

This was my favorite temple out of them all - Changu Narayan - where the above video was taken. It also happens to be the oldest temple in the Kathmandu valley, built in the 4th century. Yeah.

Loved seeing this guy getting a shave on the side of the main highway, which is a common thing in the region apparently.

Then this went down on the way to the airport, about two kilometers away.

A much cooler longer version of this exact scenario can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6llirxRJf4&NR=1

Stroll through Red Hook

2009-04-26T21:43:00.006+07:00

When I was back in NY a couple of weeks ago, I checked out Red Hook, Brooklyn as I've been hearing more and more about how it's developing a cool little art scene. So my friend Gabe and I took a long walk to Red Hook from Bklyn Heights on a really beautiful crisp spring day.

When I was a kid, it was a no mans land, and we used to make jokes about people who lived there being from another planet. No subways go near there and it became a little hard to get to after the BQE and Brooklyn Battery Tunnel were both built in the mid-20th century, essentially slicing Red Hook off from the rest of the borough.

Its heyday ended decades ago when New York was still a major port city, but it's been having a resurgence now, both industrially and residentially, and it's a cool old school 'hood.

The summer before I came out to Bangkok from Brooklyn four years ago, I used to go swimming on the weekends in the Olympic size public pool in Red Hook. Afterwards I'd buy a sliced mango on a stick sprinkled with paprika from Mexican vendors on my way out. Very yummy.

Anyway, here were some impressions from this afternoon jaunt.

Moon over Brooklyn

Read everything here

Remnants of Red Hook's industrial past

Overlooking the Erie Basin

Here's an old laid-up trolley with Lady Liberty (and an airplane) in the background.

Another view of the super cool old trolleys with this fantastic Civil War era warehouse in the background.

The old building is now the home of Fairway Brooklyn, which I'll go ahead and say is the best supermarket in New York. The entrance to Fairway is on the other side of the building, although they run a great cafe on this side, right beyond the trolleys.

It was right around Easter, but there's something a little creepy about this.

Caught some cool street art around the hood.

I wasn't exactly sure why Thailand was fully represented on what seemed to be a steam exhaust pipe cover, but I would guess that Thais would find it funny to know that their country is getting this unique kind of promotion in NY!

NY flight

2009-04-24T02:11:00.007+07:00

Just got back from NY a few days ago. Beautiful spring weather... not a bad time to go since I didn't really need to be here in Thailand during the riots.

A few images to remind me of my flight into town. These were taken in the Museum of Natural History and Brooklyn Heights:

Burmese John Belushi

2009-03-25T03:56:00.004+07:00

This was not staged! At Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon. Couldn't believe this when I saw it and I was lucky that I had my camera out.

love this story

2009-03-25T03:42:00.001+07:00

from AFP:

Thai 'Spider-Man' to the rescue

Firefighter Somchai Yoosabai embraces the boy
The child was persuaded off the ledge by his favourite superhero

An unusual disguise has helped a Bangkok fireman rescue an eight-year-old boy who had climbed on to a third-floor window ledge, Thai police say.

The firefighter dressed up as the comic book superhero Spider-Man in order to coax the boy, who is autistic, from his dangerous perch.

Police said teachers had alerted the fire station after the boy began crying and climbed out of a classroom window.

It was reportedly his first day at the special needs school.

Efforts by the teachers to convince the pupil back inside had failed.

But a remark by his mother about his passion for comic superheroes prompted fireman Somchai Yoosabai to rush back to the station, where he kept a Spider-Man costume in his locker.

The sight of Mr Yoosabai dressed as Spider-Man and holding a glass of juice for him, brought a big smile to the boy's face, and he promptly threw himself into the arms of his "superhero", police said.

Mr Yoosabai normally uses the costume to liven up fire drills in schools.

Ignorance is (was) bliss when it comes to the financial meltdown

2008-12-20T10:41:00.004+07:00

My dad didn't allow me to spend my Bar Mitzvah cash many moons ago when I turned 13. I was annoyed at the time, but the annoyance turned to smugness as the years went by and the money snowballed during the high flying 90s and through the rough and tumble 2000s, a time when the markets still were definitely going up.

I have no need to use this money at this point in my life, thankfully, so I chose not to view where my funds were at since the financial meltdown started. I knew I lost money in my investments, of course, and I figured it was bad. But I just took my first peek in six months at my UBS statement, though, and I'm in serious disbelief.

This is UN-BEE-LEEV-A-BULL!!!!!!! (Emphasis on the BULL.)

Seems in retrospect, it would have been better if I had gotten that super cool 1985 edition Fisher double tape deck stereo with remote control with that Bar Mitzvah bonanza (well, I did end up getting it as a Hanukkah present a year or two later).

So I officially hate the financial market world. (Although ironically enough, I just started doing freelance work for Forbes.)

And the reds...

2008-12-15T02:04:00.015+07:00

Here are photos of the red protester "team" in Thailand. They don't take over airports, but their peeps are about to be voted out of the majority coalition in the government, which means they will lose the PM spot.

So you can expect some possible future shenanigans from them and there was a massive, but peaceful, gathering at the National Stadium in Bangkok yesterday. And I saw the red leader, Veera Musikapong, speak last week at the Foreign Correspondent's Club. He was very articulate and funny and made it clear that he wanted to protest within the laws. Of course he is a politician, though, and cannot control everyone in his minions. Of course, it sounds like he's posturing, but the reds have been pretty much keeping things cool at their rallies.

Veera's unflagging support of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra is questionable, considering how divisive Thaksin is. Veera has a long history in Thai politics, though, and it'll be interesting to see how big he gets this time around.

The photos below were taken about two weeks ago, right when the airport siege was about to end and a big crowd came to Bangkok City Hall to counter-protest the inaction of the military

So I present to you, the red posse!

These participants look intense, but there was really no serious hostility that I normally detect around the yellows.

This guy is feeling the red.

Gotta get your red souvenirs, like clapping red feet.

And, of course, your red shirts (I was wearing a white and green shirt, for the record).

Thumbs up, and an unusually light haired Thai woman

Sheepish protester hiding behind her foot poster (pointing or showing your feet to someone is a total insult here). And you don't want to know what that says in Thai about the PAD (yellow) leaders. As a Thai might say, "OOOOOOooh weeeee!"

Uhhhh, is she at the wrong rally? The national misspellers convention, that is, what did you think I meant?

Doing yoga while holding protest signs. Gotta multi-task at protests these days.

Protesters on the scene with the king's image in the background at exactly 17:06:15

Monks representin'

And dried cuttlefish seemed to be the snack of choice on sale at the red rally. I would say more so than the yellow rally, which was more about satay sticks.

All told, it was an interesting scene, and while I'm sort of poking a bit of fun at it, people have died in this struggle and a lot of people have been hurt physically and financially.

I have no idea how it will shake out. Right now it's looking like the Democrats (the Thai Dems of course, Obama doesn't run things over here) may be able to overcome Thaksin's ex-posse in government. They've been running things since 2001, except in 2006-7 when military installed government was in control. But the Democratic Party has been kind of inept here, kind of how the Democrats used to be in the U.S., in that they just haven't been able to capture the minds of the segments of society they need to in order to pull off a majority. The Thaksin peeps, when they were in power, took care of themselves, as well as the poor, who had been ignored under the Dems when they were in power last.

Oh, by the way, I'm going to Nepal for New Years...

Portraits of protesters

2008-11-29T18:15:00.007+07:00

Well, I guess I'm not bad ass (or crazy) enough to head down to the airport, which is making me wonder what kind of reporter I am, but I did go to the local park to check out a rally from the government hatin' yellows (A.K.A. the PAD).

There have been gunshots and grenades going off in this park (read my last blog wrote yesterday below this one), so it is a little hard core. Last night there were serious blasts, too. In the last hour I've heard three noises that definitely sounded like gunshots.

This is what I saw today:

Intense looks

Defaced poster of government official

Couple purposely stepping on poster - doesn't quite fit with the image of a country that prides itself on its kindness

Guy stepping on another poster of government official

Protesters gotta eat too, and these protests feature free food. A friend who was stuck at the airport (and is still stuck here) said there was ice cream, noodles and even haircuts being given out for free there

Also, I meant to post these a month ago when I went to check the protesters at the Government House, so these aren't totally fresh. They were taken in the innocent days of the protests a month ago, when the PAD only had control of the Government House, which is totally a crazy thing on its own.

Inside the Government House compound - formerly where the Prime Minister worked

On Rachadamnoen Avenue

The PAD's enemy - former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, and his now ex-wife, Pojaman

Selling souvenirs at the protests

Tired protesters

Two days of blogging in a row from me. So you know that things must be serious!

The situation

2008-11-28T22:56:00.006+07:00

Here's a Reuters article describing the situation as it stands here in the Land of (no) Smiles (right now).

So click here for the Thai scenario at present.

My life is totally normal, other than being completely consumed by new about the airport takeover and shaking my head at how unbelievably shortsighted the PAD (the so called People's Alliance for Democracy) movement is. This is just not a reasonable method to get your way, and innocent people will most likely die as a result. Some already have in previous skirmishes over the past few months. This is costing the country billions of dollars and this is not a really rich country.

There is need for a real democratic movement, because the democracy that is practiced here is deeply flawed and overtaken by corruption and populist policies which don't serve the country well. But they're not going to be able to make the majority of the country who support the corrupt government go away. There are other ways to try to bring awareness. Four years ago, it seemed like the Republicans might rule forever in the U.S., but after a great candidate emerged and enough people were educated, something entirely new is on the way.

PAD has had many supporters along the way, at times when their methods constituted a much more palatable form of civil disobedience. I'm sure there are far less people backing them up now. They certainly are not helping Thailand, and I can't understand how they think they are. This is a crisis the country may not come out of for many years.

I saw a panel speak the other day about what Obama means to Southeast Asia, and someone asked about what would happen if people tried to take over the White House like they have taken over the Government House here. One of the speakers, a former ambassador, simply replied, "They would get shot."

Here in Thailand, the authorities have shown great restraint. Amazing restraint. But the PAD has taken this graciousness for weakness, and it won't continue forever. A lot of people will get very likely get really hurt. Innocent people too, as children are inside the airport with their irresponsible parents.

But, strangely, as I said, things in 99 percent of the city are totally normal, other than around the Government House and the airports. It's bizarre how people are drinking and carrying on normally. It's not totally normal though. There is a certain pall over the city, but nobody seems to be freaking out.

I am, though, a little.

Today, when the electricity went off in my office for more than an hour, I kind of got nervous. This isn't entirely uncommon here. But the Israeli Embassy is in the same building too, and seeing what happened in Mumbai, I think anything is possible. The electricity came back on eventually though.

However, I actually did hear gunfire and a grenade go off outside my apartment last night. I live right near the office of ASTV/Manager, which is owned by Sondhi Limthongkul, the PAD leader. My first job was with his company actually, which is why I live so close to their office, and one of his office buildings was attacked in the middle of the night.

I live on the river, and apparently a boat rolled up and repeatedly shot at the office from the water, and the noise woke me up. I thought it was some kids throwing firecrackers at when I first heard it. Crazy ass sh*t!

Guess I just kind of buried the lead.

SIGNS OF OBAMA

2008-11-08T21:05:00.007+07:00

It was great to tap into Obamamania when I went on a ten-day trip to LA in late October.

I took these shots below of Obama/Biden lawn signs in Venice, in an area that's a few blocks off the beach and features a pretty cross-section of canals. Apparently, Venice was originally modeled after Venice, Italy, which you might have heard, has canals as well. Most of the canals in this Venice, however, have been paved over for decades to create streets for many decades already.

I never even knew about this part of Venice before, and it's cool. There are very interesting looking (and expensive) homes alongside these pleasant canals, which feature boats, bridges and ducks, and surprisingly, the water looked pretty clean.

There was a lot of love for Obama here.

It was right before Halloween, but the graves next to the Obama sign looks bad.

These volunteers were making calls to people in swing states and encouraging them to vote early for Obama.

I was here with my family: my sister Leah, who lives nearby, my father Martin and his wife Marilyn (we call them "Martilyn" in the spirit of "Brangelina" and the former "Bennifer") and my brother Robert who isn't pictured.

At a certain point my family was getting a little annoyed at me taking so many Obama sign pics. But looking back now, I wish I had taken more. It would have been a super cool project to photograph like thousands of them, possibly book-worthy... (I should shut up and actually do it for real in 2012.)

There was also fun stuff to look at along the canals, like ducks.

And signs about ducks

Later on, when I went to the Venice boardwalk (which isn't really a boardwalk, since it isn't elevated and it's paved over), plenty of people had Obama shirts on, and I caught a glimpse of this nice piece.

Goodbye George W. Bush... time to fly away.

Crazy Thailand situation

2008-10-07T21:43:00.008+07:00

For those who have sent concerned emails to me, here's the quick rundown on the Thai political situation.

Things just really got crazy today here. I try not to use the word crazy unless it really applies, but it does now.

Protesters, who ironically are being directed by my ex-boss from the newspaper where I used to work, got into serious skirmishes with the police today. The protesters continue to control the Government House here in Bangkok, as they have for the last six weeks.

Today, there were two deaths (so far tonight), dozens wounded, a lot of tear gas thrown, two separate severed legs, gunshots, lots of riot gear, and it looked like a war zone in the streets near where I live.

Six weeks ago, the protesters took over the Government House, where the PM does his work, and fortified it off. The protesters, the so-called People's Alliance for Democracy, wear yellow, the color that represents the king - who is absolutely revered in Thailand. Meanwhile, the people who like the current government have been wearing red. It's color war, for real.

Today, the yellows (protesters) surrounded the Parliament (which is different from the Government House) to try to stop the brand new PM, Somchai Wongsawat, from speaking to the legislature for the first time. Somchai (Thais use first names) is the brother-in-law of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted two years ago via a coup, Thailand's 17th in the last 70 years.

Thaksin is a very polarizing figure and there's a lot of evidence suggesting he was extremely financially corrupt, that he bought elections in the poorer regions of the country. He's in the UK now, seeking asylum.

There was also much speculation that he was challenging the monarchy in Thailand when he was prime minister, which is a revered institution here.

When he was PM, he sold his enormous private telecom company to the Singaporean government for a massive profit -- right after he changed the tax laws to benefit such a sale. He also made the deal through his children, who sold the shares using an off shore account. So there were a lot of shady elements involved.

But the poorer people he helped, as well as many others, felt, and continue to feel, that Thaksin was a good PM and they don't appreciate the protesters' movements.

A year after the coup, after the dust settled and new elections were held, the party that was basically the same as Thaksin's, took over. (Thaksin's party, Thai Rak Thai had been outlawed by the court after the coup.)

The new PM, Samak Sundaravej, was pretty well disliked by many. In less than a year, he was removed by the courts because he had cooking show on TV. True story.

However, the court may have been swayed by the masses of yellows, who had already taken over the Government House. It was thought that if Samak left, that things might get better.

But bringing in Thaksin's brother-in-law was inevitably going to lead to this.

This has taken a decisive turn for the chaotic, and there's no end in sight. I guess in these situations that's how it usually is. But the protesters are entrenched and are getting bolder. The cops are getting aggressive. It's hard to see that masses of people are going to change their minds. So what happens?

This is all taking place near my home, but I haven't gotten photos yet. I was extremely tied up with other things today and, to be honest, I'm not sure I want to be near that chaos - where anything can happen. There were random gunshots fired in the air.

In the meantime, most people in the mountains and on the island are living their lives unaffected. Even in Bangkok, people are sipping Chardonnay in fancy restaurants.

And you thought the U.S. had political madness... well it does, actually.

On the bright side, I just ate the most amazing food all week here, as it was the vegetarian festival in Thailand. It's the one time of year I can eat all street food and taste what everyone else is eating and drooling over all the time.

Singapore swing

2008-07-30T01:07:00.004+07:00

Went on a visa run to Singapore a couple weeks ago and managed to not get fined or caned for anything. It was my first time there and I liked it, as it was a nice change of pace from Bangkok. I didn't love it though - a bit too sterile for me, but it was fun enough.

I went by myself, and walked and walked and walked some more. Here's some of the stuff I saw.

Interestingly painted old shophouses in Chinatown. The architecture all around features aesthetically pleasing details and is much nicer than what is on offer in BKK, other than the Thai temples and some preserved old mansions.

Of course, Singapore is well known for its rules, and for its strict punishments for breaking them. Here's an example. A little steep, no? (One Singapore dollar equals about 75 cents these days)

And another one, straight to the point. Somehow, a prominent Australian journalist didn't get the message recently, even with the information everyone gets when they come off the plane.

One really great thing is Singapore is the food. I love the cuisine in Thailand, but it's nice to get a different variety. As a vegetarian it was really easy in Singapore, too, in part because everyone speaks English and because there is a large Indian population, many of whom are veg, as well as Buddhists who adhere to the no harm to animal principle that most Thais Buddhists don't adhere to (as they are part of the southern school of Buddhism). Anyway, I got this tasty peanut dumpling dessert in soymilk that made for a great afternoon snack.

This was a "fish head" (actually veg) curry.

In the lounge area of the stately Fullerton Hotel, where coffee is $12 (and not that good) and where window washers repel to do their job.

It may be more refined and clean and all, but Singapore is still part of Asia.

As mentioned above, there are many Indians who have moved here over the years, and this is a pic of the Sri Mariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in the country. There was some pretty cool drumming when I was there, and nice smelling incense.

One of the featured touristy areas in Singapore is Sentosa Island, which is just a monorail trip away from the main area, but it's seemed too Disneyfied, with fake rocks and too-perfectly arranged landscape on the beaches and lots of overpriced theme-park like attractions. I did go on a cool little authentic jungle hike, though, and visited an insectarium where I got up close and personal with some freaky little creatures.

A volunteer on duty basically started putting all of these giant bugs all over me.

I also learned from the volunteer that apparently most scorpions won't attack or sting unless it's totally dark and they don't know what's going on, like if they're hiding in your shoe. But in the light, apparently they're cool with someone rolling them around in their hand. The volunteer was holding and playing with this scorpion for like an hour to prove it.

So even though I'm veg, I couldn't resist this pic. Keep in mind, this scorpion was not harmed in any way, and I obviously didn't eat it (although they are on sale throughout Thailand in specialty street food carts).

Back in Bangkok now where I feel secure that I won't be fined for carrying the wrong fruit on the subway (true story - durians are not allowed on public transport - although, in defense of the Singaporean law, durians do smell quite bad).

How I spent my birthday

2008-06-22T22:00:00.003+07:00

It's been a while for me on the blog, as usual, so I thought I'd at least post a few pics of my awesome recent trip to Krabi for my -gulp- 36th b'day.

Boatin'

The coastal scenery in Krabi is beyond spectacular...

The view from my hotel room in Ko Lanta, a great, laid-back island, but comparitively, not the best one in Thailand in my humble opinion.

Zipped around by moto on Lanta, and just relaxed with my old buddy Rob and his gf Tiffani. Snorkled, read, saw monkeys, ate really well and took it easy. I'm not the whippersnapper I once was, I guess, although I still got some whippersnapping in me, though.

Ruthie awards

2008-05-20T09:18:00.003+07:00

I forgot to mention, this happened in New York when I was home. If anyone out there has a photo of my mom please send it, I just occurred to me that I don't have one.

Ruthie Award Recipients Focus on Family —
Both Those Present and Missing

By Ryan Thompson
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

ADAMS STREET – Perhaps it was most fitting to have the recipients of the Ruth E. Moskowitz Award — named after the late justice who died in 1996 — focused on their families. After all, Moskowitz was much more than a fine judge who presided over the Brooklyn courtroom; she was “mom.”

But when she stopped playing Atari with her son and put on that black judicial robe, she suddenly got all this respect from everyone, her son Joel Gershon remembered. “She was then the Honorable Ruth Moskowitz, not just mom.”

A judge, a major and a court attorney received this year’s “Ruthie” awards. Newly elected Surrogate Judge Diana A. Johnson, Major Luz G. Bryan and Jeanette Mercedes, Esq. were the three women bestowed the honor of the award whose namesake helped pave the way for women in the Kings court.

But besides the work that they all do for the legal system in Brooklyn, it is perhaps the work that they all have done at home that they are most proud of. As Mercedes put it, she once thought that becoming an attorney was her greatest accomplishment; now she realizes that it is being, “Jack’s mommy.” Her young son Jack, dressed in a red, white and blue jogging suit and playing with a toy dragon, watched from his father’s lap as Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei presented his mother with the prestigious award for her work as a court attorney.

Surrogate Johnson, however, opted to have her sister Cheryl King-Lawson present her award to her. Her family too was in attendance, and she acknowledged her son who was proudly standing at the back of the room.

The third award-recipient was tragically absent. Major Bryan, who has been a court officer for most of her life and is now in command of the entire courthouse, was out of town with her husband. Their 28-year-old son had died suddenly after a long battle with an illness.

Appellate Division Justice Ariel Belen called Bryan “one of [his] best friends in life” and “the most professional court administrator in the state.” Belen also noted that he had the honor to serve with Justice Moskowitz for a few years on the bench before she died.

Moskowitz too had died suddenly after battling an illness. “It was November 2,” her husband, Martin Gershon, remembered as he exited the courthouse. “It was the day before Election Day.”

Martin Gershon, their son Joel, and several other members of their family attended the awards ceremony last week at the Kings County Supreme Court. Prior to the Ruthie awards being handed out, Joel spoke about his mother with fond memories.

Joel, 35, who now lives in Thailand, was back home in New York last week, and for whatever reason, the subway was unable to stop at the Clark Street station in Brooklyn Heights. Joel was unexpectedly forced to exit at Borough Hall. When he surfaced, he found himself suddenly in the place that he once knew so well; he was at the Brooklyn Supreme Court, where his mother was the judge.

“I stopped and looked at it, and memories came back,” he told a crowd of about 100 court employees, jurists and judges last Thursday. “I paused and I stood and memories came back.”

He remembered a time when there were no security guards at the front door of the courthouse, and how he would sneak in the back door of his mother’s judicial chambers to meet her for lunch. He also remembered how his mom came to his rescue when he was in high school and taken into custody by the police. “Oh, so you’re the criminal in the family,” they said to him, as he sat handcuffed to a chair. Moskowitz came down to the station and advocated for the police to “throw the book at him” and punish him severely. It was all reverse psychology, she later told her son, believing the police to be more inclined to let him off easy if they felt that she was too severe.

Moskowitz had spent her own stint in jail in the 1960s while participating in civil-rights activism in Mississippi. “Her motto was `From jail to judge,’” Joel remembered of 1976, when he sat on his father’s shoulders and passed out flyers for her campaign. Twenty years later, she would be re-elected in November 1996, the day after she died.

“She would just be happy that these awards are being given out, and wouldn’t really care that it was in her name,” Joel concluded.

Bangkok taxis

2008-05-10T21:46:00.006+07:00

Taxis here are cheap. A half hour ride only costs $3 or $4, and there are many taxis to go around. However, they won't always take you to where you want to go.

Certain times, you have to pay the drivers extra, which is annoying, but necessary. They hate traffic - for one, it's boring and frustrating for them; secondly, the meter doesn't run as fast so they can't make as much money.

But the drivers can be whiny about taking people where they want to go, even if there's no real traffic. So before you get in a taxi, at rush hour times, or in crowded areas, you need to ask the driver first before getting in.

Now I'm from New York, where there is the law is that taxis must pick up and take people anywhere they want to go within the five boroughs. So I'm used to that. True, this is not New York, and cabbies make a lot more there (a taxi driver here may pull in $30-40 a day, whereas in NY I believe it's closer to $100). But how much they make is beside the point since it's all on a different scale here and it really shouldn't make a difference anyway.

So Friday, I was trying to get home from Chit Lom, a street that's about 25 minutes from my apartment. It was about 7:45 pm, and I just finished a yoga class, and I just missed the last klong (canal) boat home, so I had no other options other than to try and taxi it. I guess I could have hopped on the back of a motorcycle taxi, which is something I do too much, and I not to rely on it, especially at night.

From the back of a moto-taxi - see the blue taxi up ahead (and my mouth and chin in the mirror).

I also could have taken the bus, but that really would have taken forever. The Skytrain, unfortunately, doesn't take me that close to my house, and I'd have to take another form of transport from Ratchathewi station, the closest one to my home.

The slick, sleek Skytrain

But I tried the taxi route, and I was promptly dissed by like twelve taxis that would not take me. I got in the faces of a couple of them, out of frustration, which, I admit, was in poor taste and didn't solve anything. Finally I bribed a guy, and even still, he wanted to dump me off about halfway home, because indeed there really was bad traffic that day.

Anyway, I'm over it now, but just thought I'd mention it. And while I'm on the subject of taxis in BKK, I might as well say that they're almost all Toyota Corollas and they come in weird colors: pink, yellow/green, blue/red, light green, blue, orange, and yes, yellow. They usually have an amulet around the rear view mirror, and sometimes shrines on the dashboard. I should take photos of them. But for now, enjoy this overview of different colored taxis below.

And by the way, given what's going on in Burma right now as well as everywhere else in the world, why exactly am I talking about taxis? I guess that's the point of blogs.

new motto for my blog

2008-05-03T00:20:00.002+07:00

Courtesy of the Brooklyn Public Library (Bklyn Hts branch)

NY April '08

2008-04-25T02:32:00.004+07:00

Went back home for 2.5 weeks got into a lot of fun stuff. Saw a lot of people, did a lot of things. Here's a few snaps of it.

One amazing foggy morning where NY took a page out of the San Francisco book. Taken from my dad's apartment (where I grew up).

My awesome nephew, Josh, munchin' on some matzo.

My niece Sara, who looked like an Indian princess after I gave her bindis and bangles from India, along with my sister Leah, who just tok a job with the California attorney general's office, working for Arnold Schwarzenegger. (BTW, that's grape juice in that wine glass I promise.)

Old relic of NYC past.

Classic fire escape.

Yours truly, truly.

Back to the blog

2008-01-20T02:32:00.001+07:00

Been traveling a lot, but obviously that's no excuse for totally neglecting this blog. I just tend to want to write these massive tomes rather than short little notices to the world about what I'm doing.

Anyway, went on this huge trip to India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines to research for a report I'm writing for an NGO. And I have a huge post I've been working on forever. Someday it'll be written.

Until it's done, here are some tastes from India and Sri Lanka.

More to come, I promise. Oh and if you never saw my recent documentary on the aftermath of the tsunami that was aired on Current TV check here.

more veg

2007-10-12T14:27:00.000+07:00

SO, by the way, I didn't mention in the last post that kin jay means eating veggie. "Jay" is actually a lot stricter than that tho, as it extends to a moratorium on alcohol, garlic or onions, eggs, dairy. Kind of like vegan plus.

Anyway, let me catch up on my meals. After the initial bacon and ham danish thingies (I should be taking photos of my meals, I know), I had a great lunch where I ate phad kee mao, which translates to "fried drunken shit." It tasted a lot better than the name indicates with fake shrimp, squid and other fake seafoody things mixed in with wide noodles and a hot, hot, HOT sauce.

That night, I intended on hitting a street stall, but I thought I'd check a movie first, so I went to a Thai horror flick, Body, which ended up being OK in the end, but most of the time it was more annoying than scary. By the end, though, I was tired, not hungry so I just went home and fixed myself up with a cup o' noodles type thing although I put in these special mushrooms, which tastes exactly like beef, it's weird.

The next day, I went back to the Japanese bakery and got a Chiang Mai "sausage." It walked the fine line between yummy and kind of nasty.

For lunch, I hit the street and ordered a macaroni and "seafood" concoction, but it wasn't very good. It was basically macaroni and ketchup and a few fake fish balls and shitake. I left half of it over and went to another stall and got some eggplant and rice dishwhich was standard, but nice.

For dinner, I met two high school friends who are in town, John Lothian and Sean O'Neill, and since neither of them are veg, or particularly interested in eating veg, I didn't go to a special vegetarian place (which have yellow flags hanging outside of them to show everyone that there are veggie-friendly during the fest). Had a nice tofu green curry though.

This morning, I had the fakin bacon danish thing again, and I'm pretty sick of them by now. Lunch, I'm sort of embarrassed to say, I had a grilled cheese and fries - not exactly the jay food I should be eating, but I was quite hung over after chilling and drinking with my friends for the fist time in a long time.

And that brings me to now. More food updates later...

Yay, time to Kin Jay!

2007-10-10T09:42:00.000+07:00

It's the vegetarian fest now in Thailand, which means, I can enjoy many more treats I normally don't get the chance to, as many restaurants and street food places forgo meat for ten days, and use tofu and the fake stuff in place of the dead animals. To celebrate, and so I can later remember what I ate during the rest of the year (when I'm still eating lots of other great veggie food), I am recording all of my meals here for a week. Let's see if I can keep up.

10/10 Breakfast: Two danish thingies bought at the Japanese bakery at the SkyTrain station near my work. One was with fake ham, one with fake bacon. The bacon one was smeared with bbq sauce, and was kind of sickly sweet by the end, but it was tasty. The ham one was nice, still warm out of their oven. Washed them down with fresh squeezed OJ. I can never get enough of that here.

The latest

2007-09-19T00:38:00.000+07:00

Well, I've been definitely short of time lately - I'm like down to one blog entry a month, and I need to get the Sept one out of the way, I guess.

Took a job a couple of months ago with BK Magazine, which is a cool weekly in Bangkok. I'm also teaching journalism at a couple of universities. Still doing other freelance work, too. My favorite thing that I've been up to, though, is producing videos.

There's an elephant docu on the way, as you can see, one on the Akha people in northern Thailand (and in Bangkok), and one on the tsunami aftermath. I'll be posted these here as they are completed.

Thanks for checking in. Oh, I just realized, it's the one year anniversary of the coup right now. Will probably be some serious protests later on in Sanam Luang, which is close to my home. I'll try to snap some photos or something. And, yeah, I fortunately wasn't on the One Two Go plane that crashed in Phuket.

Alright yall, สันติ

R U A VIDIOT?

2007-09-05T00:00:00.000+07:00

Does anyone else out there from NY remember that graffiti under an underpass on the BQE in the early 80s that read R U A VIDIOT?

Well anyway I am a vidiot. Check here to check my latest piece.

Please register and vote for it so it can get selected to be aired on Current TV (a cool and modern stylie cable/satellite network). You'll see when you get there if you look around. And spread the word pleeeeez. -J

Pee Pee Island

2007-08-08T00:37:00.000+07:00

Actually Ko Phi Phi, as it's normally written in romanized Thai, is supposed to be one of the nicest islands in the world, but I haven't ever made the time to go there. And regarding the sign, there's lots of Thinglish around, always providing a chuckle.

Been super busy, even by my standards. Working on four documentaries at once, got a new F/T job, wrote five stories for The Hollywood Reporter for the film fest that recently went down here, will begin teaching journalism at two universities in a month. Kinda hectic. But I'm having a lot of fun, and doing work that I enjoy, which is what it's all about for me.

I do intend to eventually get my Vietnam entry up, that I wrote a teaser for before, but the blog has been reduced to a low priority thing, I guess.

But no need to worry, I'm OK and thanks to those who keep bugging me to get back to this.

Just to let you all know that I'm still out there

2007-06-26T00:55:00.000+07:00

I once again have been neglectful of writing here. I wrote a big Vietnam blog which I need to finish up - and I will soon. In the meantime, heed this message above.

My birthday - a month later

2007-06-16T21:28:00.000+07:00

I had a serious month of working, Check here and here and here for a few examples of what I've been doing.

So the blog took a hit. Anyway, here's what I meant to post a while ago about my birthday bowling party on May 29 at "Major Bowl Hit" on fashionable Thong Lor, Bangkok.

I'm not a good bowler, but I love trying, and bowling seemed like a fun activity to do on my B-day, bringing back memories of 8-year-old birthday parties of yore. About 15 of my friends showed up at the spot called: "Major Bowl Hit," adn they allowed me to provide the music for the night, which was great so I didn't have to hear the crappy music they normally play.

I really stunk at bowling as usual until two things happened: 1. I drank about ten beers 2. I started to roll with a 15 ball, which improved my score dramatically.

My friend Craig, was the bowl master, and even won a "Ray" VCD (a poor man's DVD in case you don't know) for hitting three strikes in a row or something like that. Don't know where the "Ray"/bowling connection came from though...

In the last game, Craig and I were up against each other, and like the 1969 Mets, I came out of nowhere and was rocking it! I started nailing strikes and spares and by the 8th frame, I was around 90, with the chance to maybe hit 100 - which is something I've never done. I closed out with a strike and a spare and ended with a 138 and was neck and neck with Craig, although he ended strong too and got something in the 150s. Still, this was a big breakthru for me. [Note : Last night, I bowled again for the first time since my birthday, and this time I beat Craig 132-128, and it came down to the last roll. If he hit a spare, he would have beaten me, but he missed it by 4 pins, giving me a most improbable win. Once again, the beers and 15 ball were the keys.]

Anyway, here are a few highlights...

Pim, my friend who went to Syracuse and loves talking Orangemen once she's drank a few herself, is a serious bowler (my apologies to her about the angle here).

Afterwards some remaining peeps went at Tuba a cool bar on Ekkamai, another hip part of town close to Thong Lor.

Craig and Jeep going for the menu tux look.

The late night crew.

35: The beginning of a new demographic

2007-05-29T02:54:00.000+07:00

Goodbye 21-34. Hello 35-49. I've become part of a new marketing demographic at 35. Marketers will never look at my TV watching habits the same again.

I'm embracing it more than I did at 34. For some reason, I'm feeling good and ready to face this new age. I'm not giving up on my youthful adventures; just ready to approach them in a mature and wiser way. At least that's my plan.

So I have some activities planned for my 35th. It's not going to be like when I was 10 and went to Shea Stadium to catch a Mets game; or my 21st when I was in Prague with no one I knew, drinking the night in an old bohemian pub; or at 30 when I hang glided over the Swiss Alps. But stay tuned for the report on my 35th.

I already enjoyed some festivities with my friend Chris (one of a few Chris's who I'm friends with here), who I drank a few beers with and shot some stick. My game was better than usual, too, and the beers were the perfect coldness. A good start to my late 30s.

I'v been here in Bangkok now officially for over two years, which is also a trip. It's hard to fathom that I'm actually used to this life. But there's always something to keep me shaking my head in wonderment of it all like today when this crazy monsoon swept across the sky; or that I can get a delicious frsh lychee mint shake for less than two dollar at my favorite expensive lunch spot; or that I can get busted for resting my feet up on a park bench for reading a book, but a bummy looking Thai guy a couple of benches over doesn't get hassled. Or just gazing at the old, beautiful temples right near my home, or on a Sunday, if my nice-sized, refreshing pool happens to be closed for renovations, there's a park right on the river that boasts an old, giant, well-preseved fort, where people do aerobics every day at 6pm.

OK, enough anecdotes. 3:37am. If I'm going to enjoy my B-day, I better crash now...

Ode to a Durian

2007-05-27T22:00:00.000+07:00

I love exotic fruit, but durians were always elusive for me before I came to Thailand as they're rather rare in the U.S. (although apparently they're around in some Asian markets in big cities). Since durians are the proclaimed king of all fruits, I couldn't wait to try one when I got here, along with custard apples, mangosteens, longans, or mango plums, all of which I had never tried (as well as rambutans and sapodillas which I had tried before and loved). It is a definite plus to be able to get all of these in any supermarket or on the street here in the B-K-K (also known as the Big Mango by some). I'm still searching for eggfruits, but they're more of a South America thing.

Durians are notorious for their stinkiness, and they live up to this reputation. It's true that if you take them home, you better eat them quick before it will stanktify your place and make everything smell like sweet vomit, or some undefinable, overwhelmingly pungent stench. And at many hotels and offices, and even on the subway in Singapore, you're not even allowed to bring them inside. But they taste SOOOOOO good. At least I think so. They're cheescakey and each messy bite is filled with lip-smacking yumminess, and the durian's lethal armor of spiky skin only adds to the fun when eating one, as it gives off the allure of a forbidden fruit.

Durians sell in Bangkok for about $3 on the street. The vendors pick one out, poke at it and hit it with something to make sure that it's OK and ripe. I don't know exactly what they're listening for, but I guess the tapping needs to elicit a certain sound.

Part of the fun is watching the sellers cracking them open to get to the edible portions. The giant, heavy, blobby round fruit could kill you if it fell on your head or at least seriously injure you, as they weigh a couple of pounds each at least. If you put your finger on one of the external thorns, you'll find that they're dangerously sharp and tough. So it's almost like you are getting over on the fruit, when you eat them.

They're not for everyone, as they can be messy and smelly to eat, but lots of people love them, and the many durian street merchants seem to barely be able to keep up with the demand. The dealers are cool; they usually have on big, old-style field hats, as they wheel their primitive carts around, giving off an old world Siam kind of vibe.

So with a powerful formidable blade, the durian dealer goes to work cutting out the parts for the eagerly awaiting customers who better plan on eating it quick so as not to infiltrate the olefactry buds of any durian haters, and incur their wrath.

MMMMMMmmmmmm, durian loaves. Really makes me want to go out now, buy one and munch down. It's 10:49pm, I could still find someone within walking distance I think...

Bangkok Electric!

2007-05-23T03:07:00.000+07:00

[Open your browser wide to get the full lightning experience]

This was taken from my roof tonight. Crazy electric storm, but no rain... yet. The bats seemed to be going a bit crazy, and a security guy from my building, who was apparently doing the roof rounds, came up to me while I was shooting. We spoke in Thai for a bit, and we actually had a sensible conversation for about ten minutes which reassured me that my Thai is OK. Sometimes people don't understand a word I say, and I then, naturally, lose a little confidence. Then sometimes when I speak, they get it all. I guess I get in the Thai zone.

You probably got my email already, but this article came out today.

And click here to watch a recent mini-documentary that I shot and produced with my friend Megan. We just posted it on the Current.TV site. And if you like what you see, "green light" it, and it may get on TV (Wowee! TV!) and we'll make a bit of dough-re-mi. It's a cool site anyway.

So it's 3:21am - I'd say it's bedtime. ZZZZZZzzzzzzz........

EARTHQUAKE!!

2007-05-18T01:31:00.000+07:00

Well, yesterday there was an earthquake 500 miles north of here in Laos, and hi-rise buildings did sway in Bangkok as a result, which is kind of frightening, but this photo of the broken sidewalk has nothing to do with it.

There's just this long stretch of sidewalk near the Phrom Phong section of town where there used to be this super long protruding blue pipeline looking thing popping out above the sidewalk (some people called it the blue anaconda), and now they've dug it up and it looks like this. It does make walking difficult and is kind of third worldy in a town that doesn't normally give off those kind of vibes.

This would obviously not fly in NY, and there would be endless lawsuits of people who would inevitably be making up all types of ailments because of the broken sidewalk. People just sort of navigate around it here. Older people, blind people, businessmen in suits, motorcycles (yes, they sometimes ride on the sidewalks...)

Anyway, I needed to post something, as it's been a while. Turning 35 in less than two weeks. How did that happen?

Back in NY again

2007-04-20T20:02:00.000+07:00

I've already been back in Thailand for a couple of weeks now, but at the super slow rate I've been going with the blog, this lag time getting this posted isn't so bad--

I got in Wednesday morning, March 28, from a ridiculously humid Bangkok to a wonderfully pleasant spring morning in New York. I had stopped over in Tokyo and had a fun time in the airport, buying a few gifts like Kamikaze headbands, socks with special compartments for the big toe, funny but stylish work gloves... I also enjoyed a nice noodle soup with sides of tofu and vegetables for only about $6, which I thought was reasonable considering how often I hear how expensive Tokyo is.

I arrived well-rested actually, as I’m a great airplane sleeper by nature. And when I arrived in NY, my Aunt Ann picked me up and brought me back to my dad’s place in Brooklyn where I was staying, which was very kind of her.

My aunt had to run uptown, so I went out to lunch with my dad who happened to be in Brooklyn near his apt which he usually isn't during the day. We went to Siggy’s, this tasty organic style lunch spot that opened up sometime in the last couple of years since I left Brooklyn, and is conveniently located right across the street from my dad’s apt. By the way, for those who haven’t ever visited me at my dad’s apt, the view is phenomenal, and growing up, this is what I saw from my bedroom window.

That night I had an excellent Mexican dinner with my dad and his wife, Marilyn, at this really great Tribeca restaurant Centrico, owned, of course, by Robert DeNiro and Drew Nieporent (The Myriad Group) who basically own every restaurant in the neighborhood.

There are a couple of Mexican spots in Bangkok including one that my friend manages, which is good, but it's more of a Tex-Mex place. But you don’t get great avocados in Thailand, which is an Mexican food essential (love that guac), and you surely don't get an authentic Mexican wait staff in Thailand. That would actually be a pretty weird move for a Mexican worker to make. I wonder of there's even one laborer from Mexico here in this whole country? If I had to bet on it I'd go with no.

Anyway, I went to see my old friend Stew that night, and, amongst other things, we wrestled. I know that sounds strange and maybe, well, something else, but it definitely wasn’t. We ‘rassled cause Stew is really getting into Jiu Jitsu and he’s obsessed with UFC. I did manage to put him in a guillotine hold (a kind of headlock). I think I could have submitted him, but I didn’t want to embarrass him. Heh heh heh...

It was nice to read The Onion, on the late-night subway ride home from his place. Those are two things I really miss in Thailand - both The Onion and the NYC subway.

The next day, I started running errands around town such as bringing my camera in to be fixed. It was apparently ruined by moisture during a particularly muggy night of shooting in BKK right before I left. They ended up fixing it, but it took a week so I couldn't shoot in NY until the very end of my trip (the images posted here were taken on my last full day there). Other errands from that day included: working on my taxes, buying an external hard drive for my dad (he had never heard of them before and when he asked for me to buy him Zip discs, so I had to school him). It was great to step into a Whole Foods again to buy some of my health food and environmentally-friendly products that I love and miss so much in Thailand. I walked around downtown, and got a nice New York rush after having been gone for a while.

Outside "The Cage" at West 4th Street, a legendary spot for pick-up basketball games.

Interesting pair of chess players in Washington Square Park. A lot of chess hustlers lurk in the park and there are a lot of exciting matches to check out.

A fenced-in dog run, unlike in Thailand where dogs roam free everywhere, which includes highways frighteningly enough.

Went to dinner that night again with my dad and Marilyn; this time to a cool vegan restaurant Blossom located in Chelsea. Ethan Hawke was eating there that night and I ordered an incredible seitan dish. Definitely recommended spot.

I went with my dad that night to pick up my sister, who was flying in from L.A. It was her birthday on March 31 (two days later), and then the first Passover Seder a couple of days after that, which is the main reason I came into town as well. There was also a special event taking place the following morning at the Brooklyn Supreme Court in honor of my mom who served as a judge there for many years.

The ceremony, the Ruth E. Moskowitz Awards (my mother used her maiden name as a jurist), has been in effect for five years, and it takes place every year during Women’s History Month (March). The “Ruthie” awards are given to members of the Brooklyn court system who have displayed gender fairness and equality in their work. It’s a touching tribute to my mother who truly was an exceptional woman and a well-respected judge. Every year, the presenters all have great stories to tell about her: how she was one of the first women judges in the Brooklyn courts, how she served a several week prison sentence in the 1960s in Mississippi during the Freedom Ride to protest the racial inequality there. And my sister gave a great speech to represent our family, and my brother Rob, Ann and my dad were all there, also reppin' for my mama.

That night, I kept up another tradition – going to see the Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theatre with my friend Drew. The Allmans play there each spring for a couple of weeks, which is a long run, but they always leave the crowd wanting more. The show I went to this year was amazing as usual, and to make the experience even more memorable, we got to sit next to Muscleman and Musclewoman, this completely ripped couple - ripped, muscle-wise, that is. We were pretty ripped ourselves, having drunk some pre-concert wine and some in-concert beer, so it made for an interesting encounter. We had been sitting in their seats, and when the guy showed up, he didn’t even tell us to get up – he just kind of stared and grunted and we took the cue.

Drew jokingly said, “Hey we don’t want any trouble here.” The guy didn’t seem amused though.

But Drew kept with it, and the brawny duo soon relaxed and started joking around with him. We found out that they owned a gym on Long Island, and they intended to vacate their assigned seats and move further down to the front rows where they said, no one would stop them, "because." Then Muscleman proceeded to flex his python arms.

Afterwards, Drew and I went for a bowl of midnight minestrone at the NY classic joint Big Nicks’s Pizza near the Beacon. After the yummy soup, we took a refreshing breezy stroll through Central Park, stopping to sit at the Imagine mosaic - the tribute to John Lennon and we continued to catch up on old times. I cut out around 2am, feeling great to be back home in NY.

Next day was my sis’s b-day but she had plans during the day so I did my own thing and went to Stew’s place so he could help me fix my bike - my beloved Schwinn Paramount, as Stew is knowledgeable when it comes to bikes. My bike gave me problems the last time I was in town, or perhaps I was hallucinating that it was, because miraculously, it rode fine when I filled the tires with air so Stew didn’t do much other than oil the chain a little. So instead of stressing about my bike, I just hung out with Stew, his daughter Lucia, at hip, but more expensive than Starbucks, Vox Pop coffeeshop in the newly hip 'hood of Ditmas Park, and had a nice bike ride home through Prospect Park – another thing I realized that I miss a lot about living in NY.

That night, my fam and I celebrated Leah’s dinner at this fancy Italian restaurant called Centolire on the Upper East Side. I can't remember exactly what I ate except that it was a lot, but I do remember the chocolate soufflé, which was was particularly out of control.

After dinner, my sis and I hit this bar, Drop Off Service, located in the East Village where she told a bunch of her friends to meet her for her birthday. I told my friends to meet there too, since it seemed like a good centralized place to get together. It was a good, but typical, East Vil spot – decent jukebox, etc. A smallish group of my friends showed up – interestingly, those who made it out were mostly from my study abroad program in Rome from my junior year of college, 14 years ago. I gave out little gifts from Thailand to those who showed up and I chilled 'til pretty late.

The next morning, Leah woke me up inadvertently as she was going to yoga in the city and she had to grab the yoga mat out of my room. But once I was up, I thought it would be a good idea to go with her, because I hadn’t done any yoga since I was in NY and I really enjoy practicing as much as I can these days. We went to OM yoga near Union Square, in part because my friend Adrian, who owns the yoga studio I go to in Bangkok, got his yoga teaching certificate there. And strangely enough, in all of my years living in New York I hardly ever went to so many of the famous yoga studios like OM, as I was happy enough with the places that I went to, which weren't all that great in retrospect.

We went to a 45-minute short class called “Sweaty Express.” For me it was express without the sweat, although after the class, the other people in the class who I spoke to were overwhelmed with the difficulty, so I guess it’s all about your perspective.

I met up afterwards for lunch with my old friend Gabe at Angelica’s, the classic vegetarian restaurant in the East Vil. I ordered my favorite thing there, a Reuben sandwich, although it wasn’t quite as good as I remembered it. It was great to catch up with Gabe, and afterwards I stopped at American Apparel to buy a couple of organic cotton undershirts. Then I went around the corner to Moo Shoes, the vegan shoe store on Allen St., where I buy almost all of my footwear, as I like to keep my clothing animal-free and Moo Shoes has a nice selection. Picked up a cool pair of Sauconys and they were my first pair of Sauconys ever, as I’ve always been a swoosh, three stripes or Chuck T. kind of guy. But these Sauconys were made from hemp, and they looked good so I wanted to support them. I also picked up a cool pair of shoes made by the company, Earth, and they feature Kalsø negative heel technology which you probably don't know - but you should! So click it...

Guy at Union Square blowing on his sax, while babies, with their mothers, listen in.

The iconic Bleeker Bob's record store in the heart of the Village, which, doesn't have too much of its original heart - or soul - anymore, I'm sorry to say.

New York hot dog guy.

Washington Square Park - still nice, but surrounded by hidden video cameras so cops can watch your every move.

Because I felt like I didn’t get enough yoga earlier, I went back to the Union Square area, after my lunch and shoe buying, and I went to a studio across the street from OM, to the world-renowned Jivamukti. A lot of celebs that go there, both from the entertainment world as well as "yoga celebs," and the owners David Life and Sharon Gannon, are two of the biggest yoga-celebs out there. I also saw Russell Simmons leave as I was walking in.

The class was packed and we started by staring at a candle in the center of the room for ten minutes to focus on our concentration abilities. I thought about how many people in New York, right outside, would definitely be laughing at us. But I thought it was cool - for that very reason.

The class was great, especially in comparison to the last one, and I felt an blissful yoga high. I went home, shared a pizza with my family that we got from Grimaldis (If you’ve lived in NY in the last fifteen years and you like pizza, you should know it). Then I watched the Mets demolish the Cardinals on opening night with my pops while playing backgammon, another nice tradition.

The next night it was Seder time, and I went to my brother Rob’s on Long Island for the first one. Leah and I headed out early in the morning so we could get some extra quality time with my niece Sara and nephew Josh. I gave them a toy turtle to share that was made of a coconut shell and walks by itself after you pull a string - a very cool toy I picked up in Thailand.

The Seder service led by Rob was stellar and there was a good family vibe going on. I hung out with the kids, including Rob’s wife’s sister’s kids. I started to feel a cold coming on though and by the time I got home, it started to feel pretty bad. By the next morning, it was clear that I was illin'.

I still managed to get out of the house and to the health food store to pick up some other treats and things, and I met my friend Sara Cross there. I knew Sara from my previous involvement in the eco-friendly clothing world, as she has a organic cotton fashion company, Cool Not Cruel. I was going to call her, but I was so rushed with everything that I hadn’t yet.

Afterwards, we headed back to my place where my friend Michael, who runs a photography business, came by to pick up some souvenirs I got for him in Thailand. But I couldn't hang with with my friends for too long as I had to crash as my cold was worsening, and there was still the second Seder upcoming at my dad’s place that night. I put my best game face on at the Seder, but I was clearly not well and had to rest after a while. Seing family was really nice: I saw my Uncle Peter and his fiancée Carol, for the first time since they made the announcement. And Marilyn’s sister, Barbara and her family, who are always super-friendly. Barbara is the only person I think who sent me a holiday gift here in Bangkok, which was a nice surprise. After the Seder that night I got a visit from one of my oldest and best friends, David, who drove down from Boston to come check me. We caught up on old times, even though I was feeling so crappy and couldn't really chill like I would have liked to have.

The next day, in an attempt to shake the cold, I just stayed in bed all day and watched TV on my dad’s ginormous hi-def mega-TV.

The day after that, my aunt drove me around town to run errands, since I really wasn’t well enough to get around on my own. We had dinner that night and I was afraid that with two days to go before my 17-hour non-stop flight to Bangkok, that I would be too ill. I already bumped my ticket up a day from Friday to Saturday due to my state.

But then Friday I started to feel better. Feelin emboldened, I took another yoga class at Jivamukti and Russell Simmons once again was in the house. I took care of some other loose ends in the city like going to the health food store to pick things up for my return to Thailand -- checking a few friends. It wasn't exactly a thrilling last day, but I wrapped up everything that I needed to.

View of the Empire State Building through the window, taken from my friend's nearby office.

Another view of the Empire State.

And yet another.

I haven't been to any Thai restaurants in NY since I moved to Thailand. I am curious to try one to see if I notice any big differences. Here's one of the many Thai restaurants in NY, next to the legendary Blue Note jazz club.

Brooklyn's Junior's Restaurant - Best known for their award-winning cheesecake, but I used to love their cheseburger deluxe, complete with big steak fries and super crunchy, battered onion rings. And then I went veg and that was the end of that. But I have a lot of fun memories of going there as a kid.

The plane ride home was rough as my cold relapsed and I had the horrendously bad chapped lips on the plane without any lip balm to relieve me. When I touched down in BKK, I instantly appreciated the tropical warmth again. But although it wasn't an easy trip, I really did appreciate NY this trip more than usual. But I've quickly reverted to my Thai life, although if I had to bet on it, I'd say that I'll be living back in NY at some point again in the next few years.

We'll see.

Some things I wrote while giving my midterm last week

2007-03-11T11:17:00.000+07:00

I just had a moment. I stepped outside the classroom, where I am currently giving a midterm exam to my journalism students, and the Talking Heads' "Same As It Ever Was" came into my head. I thought about how it applies to my life these days, and it could go like this:

And you may find yourself... giving a midterm to journalism students at a university in Thailand
And you may find yourself... riding on the back of a motorcycle to work each day
And you may find yourself... drinking guava juice on a beautiful island beach
And you may find yourself... getting a foot massage at ten thirty at night to rejuvenate for partying until dawn
And you may find yourself... friends with people named Mee, Dodo, Aoy, Bee, Jeep, Sub, Paew, Pook, Pop, Preecha, Pu and Yeen
And you may find yourself... watching begging men with no legs slide themselves along the sidewalk with their hands

You get the idea. Sometimes I forget just how cool things are, although that last verse was a little dark. But for all of the fun here, Bangkok, of course, has a lot of f'ed up sh*t. I do currently love it here though, but I do go back and forth.

Just had an article published in The Hollywood Reporter about this huge Thai movie trilogy, King Naresuan - a historical epic that is breaking all the Thai box office records. Reuters picked up the story and now it's been re-printed in everywhere from Yahoo! News to the Brunei Times.

Click here for a link to the ABC News version.

Meant to post this before: There was a big fire near my home about a month or so ago. It looked as though it might reach my building, but like fifty other people in the surrounding area, including me, were holding superhoses and blasting water at it. As vicious as this fire was, thanks to the neighborly efforts, it went out in an hour or so.

The aftermath.

The nicer side of Thailand. At the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek month-long extravaganza up in Chiang Mai.

As usual gonna try and stay up with this journal. Things, as usual, are hectic without much time for sleep. Sawatdee kap for now...

quick rundown

2007-02-28T18:22:00.000+07:00

I sort of have to write something since it's Feb 28, and I haven't written a dang thing on this blog all month. I've taken a copy writing job which has kept me busy every day and I've been yogaing it a lot, teaching journalism at a top university here and I wrote a couple of freelance articles this month, so I've been a little tied up.

Can't believe it's almost been two years since I came here. Life here has gotten to be way too normal, which should feel good, but I guess I like things to be a little edgy. I'm sure that before long, some new craziness will pop up.

My sis came to visit last month. Will post photos soon, write about the adventures taken as well as post the videos I promised a while back. Really need to get on that actually, since we are living in a YouTube world and I'm lagging a little in this department.

Listening to Herbie Mann, drank about five mugs of yerba mate (my usual dosage to get through the work day) and I have an Ashtanga primary series class in less than an hour, so I'm going to sign off now.

There is a lot to tell though so I'll start cranking again on this here blog - just you wait.

Muay Thai madness

2007-01-17T12:13:00.000+07:00

My latest assignment is to write a story on Thai action movies, so I thought I'd get warmed up by hooking a Muay Thai blog up here.

Guy in blue shorts taking one to the dome, while red shorts gets nailed in the...

Muay Thai is a centuries-old martial art that orignated in old Siam. Soliders used it overpower enemies back in the day although in present time it's not used to kill (except for inadvertently, or in the movies).

Once upon a time fighters wrapped their hands in cloths that contained broken shards of glass and it was a true bloodbath. While it's still brutal, it's not as deadly these days. It's not unusual, however, to see the loser carried out on a stretcher.

My friend Itai (see last blog entry) who just came to Thailand to visit wanted to check some Muay Thai out, so we went to Ratachdamnoen Stadium near my home and got ticket for the cheap seats, which at $25 actually wasn't so cheap. Thais actually pay about a tenth of that and there are even two separate cashiers at the stadium, one for Thai nationals and one for foreigners!

Once inside, it's gritty and feels slightly dangerous. There is open gambling everywhere, and I have no idea how people keep track of everything. Mobs of people wave their hands in the air and apparently get a nod from somone else, but nothing seems to be written down or worked out formally. The crowd really gets into some of the matches, although others can be kind of boring.

Getting backed in a corner is not what you want

Before the fight begins, fighters perform ceremonial sacred dances. During the match, the blare of the mystical-sounding pi chawa (a Javanese oboe) and the pounding of hand drums help add to the mystique.

I'd like to train a little without actually sparring, as it's a great way to stay in shape judging by the ripped abs that fighters all seem to have.

Alright I better start writing my piece. My sister Leah is coming today for a two week visit so I won't have that much time to do it with her here. Going to write about the actor/Muay Thai master Tony Jaa who starred in Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong (The Protector in the U.S.) along with some of the cool action movies coming out in 2007.

If you are intrigued at all by this genre, I encourage everyone to see Tears of the Black Tiger, a Thai movie playing in the states now, although it came out here a few years ago. And this summer, check Dynamite Warrior which will be released by Magnolia Pictures.

See you next time (something Thais say all the time, even when it's someone you are unlikely to ever see again).

first 2007 journey

2007-01-12T13:08:00.000+07:00

What's up yall in Internetland,

Among my new years resolutions is to stay up on this here blog and to be writing a lot more in general. I haven't gotten off to a good start, but bettter late than never.

Fortunately, as you saw from the last post, I was nowhere near the New Years bombs. I was in a small town called Pai in the mountainous north of Thailand where it actually gets gets cold at night during Dec-Feb. It was lovely and refreshing and felt safe compared to the craziness in BKK. It was mellow, but I was with friends, and ran into other friends from Bangkok up there which was interesting since it's a good 15-hour drive away. Pai is known as a hippie/backpacker kind of place but recently it has been overtaken by Thai tourists, which is cool since it is their country after all.

A friend of mine from Journalism School named Itai (pronounced Eat Thai) had come to visit and he didn't care for BKK too much, which was where we were originally planning on celebrating New Years. But he and his cousin Ziv wanted a more mellow scene, so I figured it would be nice to get away. Glad that I did.

Bangkok wasn't totally shut down during the bombs although the main outdoor events were. Most people who I've spoken to said that they were not in the partying mood and just stayed home, although some did manage to go out and have a little fun, although the bombs did obviously put a damper on how much people wanted to celebrate.

No one has taken responsibility for the bombs yet and the gov't doesn't seem to have a solid answer except that it was done by people trying to make the government look bad, probably connected to the old pre-coup regime. In the end, three people died and dozens were injured from the six bombs that went off. Sad that humans can be so crazy and misguided.

Well, here's beautiful Pai... to help brighten this depressing mood.

This is the river with cool cozy bungalos similar to the ones we stayed in. ($5/night which was actually jacked up higher for New Years)

At night

There are some nearby hot springs which are great but expensive, at least for foreigners. I had to pay $10 to get in compared with 50 cents for Thais. But I got my soak on, and it was worth it (remember in Thailand $10 is a lot, you can get 20 good meals for that money!)

As you can see the temperater (Thinglish spelling) was 80 degree -- celsius!!

Itai soaking it up

Pai sunset

happy new year and I'm OK

2006-12-31T21:40:00.000+07:00

Just to let you all know that the bombs in BKK didn't affect me as I'm nowhere near the capitol now. It is quite sad and hopefully the city will not be brought down by this. I'm still going to have some drinks with an assortment of friends but I must say this takes some of the joy out of the holiday.

But 2006 was a lot of fun, thank you all for checking in and I look forward to sharing with you my upcoming adventures in the new year!!

Onward...

finally... a new post

2006-12-08T10:34:00.000+07:00

Yes, I'm still alive.

OK, I haven't written a dang thing here in forever basically because I've been writing another travel thingy for this little travel book company called Lonely Planet.

I'm still not totally done with my LP assignment, which is a chapter on Thai Culture, and it's been a non-stop type of thing, which is my excuse being a deliquent blogger. Plus my university class that I teach has kept me preoccupied. Grading 120 assignments usally takes about 10 hours. Plus there's the usual freelance things that pop up.

The Lonely Planet dealio I must say is a dream come true, but it's not an easy thing at all. I'm stepping my reporting and writing up another level (make that four or five levels) and I've become aware of so many things here that I never paid that much attention to before. It's definitely cool, but there's a saying that painters love to paint, but writers love to have written. I'll be very happy once I see my stuff in print...

I've been still traveling a bit though. My buddy Ed Han and his wife Sung Hee came through for a couple of weeks and we had some adventures. Went to the Phuket vegetarian fest, which I defintiely will get to in a future post with pics galore. Not at all your typical veggie fest at all - in fact it's totally brutal.

Here's an example:

Yes that's real.

Then my pops and his wife, came thru to Bangkok and Chaing Mai, which was fun. Got to eat in really fancy restaurants and stayed with them at the Oriental Hotel in Chiang Mai, which is totally over the top. It's a six-star hotel, but it's more like a real palace.

The thing is, that it's too much, really. Besides the hotel being so expensive, the over-the-top decadence made me feel uncomfortable, especially when I am used to paying a fiftieth of the price to stay in a perfectly fine guesthouse with aircon, TV, a balcony and a nice spacious room.

I enjoyed it, but felt bad when I saw the people cutting grass arond the hotel for $100 or so per month, which was what breakfast for three cost. And nobody complains, because that's just not how it's done here.

It was definitely fun seeing my daddo though.

Here he is resting:

No, just kidding, that's Xuang Xuang from the Chiang Mai Zoo. Here's Xuang Xuang's female playmate, Lin Huey, who was a little more fun to watch:

Here is the venerable Martin Gershon, with his wife Marilyn.

After checking out some elephants with them, going to temples and chillin by the pool, they broke out for Cambodia and Vietnam and I headed North for Chiang Rai, where I met with Hill Tribe people. The Hill Tribes are semi-nomadic groups like the Akha, the Lihu and Hmongs who aren't Thai but come from all around Asia and ended up in northern Thailand where they can live and farm in peace. They are defintiely old school, and believe in spirits, ghosts and doing it the way they did back in the day. Many have been converted to Christianity recently though and have started to lose their identity a bit, but a lot of them are still keepin' it real. They may not smoke opium like they used to (or at least not as much), but they are sweet and kind, and anthropologically totally cool. I learned a lot about them, which was largely for the benefit of my culture chapter. And this cool guy Jon from Kentucky who lives amongst them showed me around via motorscooter. Very cool expereience...

I had dinner with some Hill Tribe people and Jon, and let's just say I didn't have the dish to the right. Even if I wasn't vegetarian, I think I'd still avoid it. Think woof, woof.

I did enjoy the morning glory though which was the green vegetable dish.

Back in BKK, things are the usual. Fun times, parties, running around...

Here I am chillin with my man Craig, a fellow NYer at one of the New York Chivas parties. My bud Jeep put together the artwork behind us.

And bizarrely enough, Xmas is in effect. I'm not totally against it, but it is weird considering Christians make up less than a half a percent of the people here. But the malls lap it up.

Getting into the holiday spirit.

I will be back with more regularity soon especially once my chapter is done next week. Hope you enjoy and thanks for not giving up on this site!

Life in Bangkok

2006-10-09T01:00:00.002+07:00

It's been five days since I've been back in Thailand, and adjusting to sleep isn't going so well. I've sort of been going out on the town with a vengence.

I met my friend Chris who I know from Columbia J-school on Thursnite for drinks in an area known for its British pubs. When we both first arrived in Bangkok, Chris and I were on the same flight, without knowing that the other was coming here, almost a year and a half ago. I've always though how weird it was that this occurred.

We both came for journalism jobs with different organizations - me for the now-defunct ThaiDay newspaper and Chris for AP. Recently we've been making up for lost time as we've only chilled like ten times or so since we've been here. He also teaches at Thammasat University, where I teach, and was in fact, how I found out about it.

When we made our way to our second pub, The Londoner (after the Bull's Head), I ran into another journalism friend of mine, Karen, who works at the Bangkok Post. She was with a couple of her friends, and we all got smashed together. From there we rocked karaoke til 1 am. "Hot in Herrre" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" were highlights - if I remember right.

We kept it going, old-school Bangkok-style and went to an after-hours joint where they pick up the outside metal grating of a storefront and they escort you upstairs by flashlight. I'm sure the police are in on it though and are probably getting some sort of kickback.

Anyway we drank and moved and grooved til daylight making it tough to get up the next day - delaying my re-adjustment to Thai time.

Karaoke with Karen, Sara (Karen's friend who I had met before but never really spoke to until tonight), and Lorence (sp?), Chris's friend.

Chris singing his sing

Friday night brought more revels. A whole bunch of people I knew from around town were going out for Sara's birthday and we went go-carting which is something I wanted to do here for months now.

It definitely was kick-ass. We went pretty fast, 60K I think, and it was a twisty, turny course where you tried to pass people. I came in fourth out of a heat of 12, which left me personally disappointed.

The full group

Joelio Andretti

The go-carting place is located on Royal City Avenue (RCA) which is Bangkok's biggest club zone. So afterwards we had our pick of twenty places to go to, and settled on the Tip Bar, a cool spot where a band played Thai punkish/hard rock band and were actually pretty good. I'll admit it: I'm not a big fan of the usual Thai pop music, which I find too sappy.

We ended the night smoking out of an apple tobacco sheesha hookah thing and eating falafel, humus and amazing fresh baked big bubbly pita. It's all served up at this Egyptian restaurant that stays open til real late where many people I know usually end up.

At the Tip Bar

Another memorable thing about this night: I met this guy from the go-cart crew named Dominic, who I discovered went to my high school, Stuyvesant(!), and was two years ahead of me. This was a super-cool coincidence and we reminisced about Stuy, very happy that we made the Pegleg connection (yes, our football team had that unfortunate tag, as Peter Stuyvesant, whom the school is named for and was the first mayor of NYC, had a wooden leg).

The next night - more craziness. I met a couple of fellow Bangkok bloggers who I've been in touch with, Kitty and Bua. I went along with their crowd and it was very cool to check a new spot and hang with some locals, which is something I'll admit I don't do enough of. We went to a cool, loungey, hip-hoppy spot named Escobar located on Thong Lor, a happening part of town. Afterwards some of us cruised to RCA for food although there was no veg options for me, so I just sat and talked. I liked hearing Kitty and Bua's perspective on things and they had some funny banter, and their friends were fun.

This Danish guy Ben, who was part of the extended posse from Escobar but who didn't join us on RCA, gave me a call while I was there and convinced me to meet him at another after-hours spot. Unfortunately I had the wrong address though, and was searching over an hour for the place. Finally I found it and it was closed. But Ben was on to the next after-hours spot, which was filled with the kind of people you might expect to find at a late-night Bangkok spot. Stayed there til 5 am, thoroughly trashed but made it home in time to catch the Mets sweep the Dodgers!!

It's great, every game has been broadcast on ESPN out here, but unfortunately it's part of the reason I haven't been sleeping at night as I've caught each game almost in its entirety. Fortunately they don't play again til Wednesday...

---

Saw this trash-dwelling cat which here in Siam, although it's not officially Siamese, as there's no black on its face. But I think, looking at its cool blue eyes, that maybe it's a relative of one.

Alright it's 3:46 am - time to sleep!

Bangin' again

2006-10-05T06:29:00.000+07:00

Just got in from a 23-hour flight from NY, stopping off in Tokyo. It was fun checking the Japanese airport scene, I bought some sake and walked around, and the food on the plane was very nice, but I definitely prefer the non-stop.

But without any delay, here are my tank photos I've been meaning to post, but couldn't because of bad technical planning on my part in NY. To remind you, I left town on the first night of the coup and only knew there were tanks in the streets for the first time when I was in a taxi going to the airport - and I must say was I was a little freaked out when I saw them.

So these pics aren't award-winning, but I didn't want to get out of the taxi and start examining different angles and settings (or concentrate on focusing better apparently) because I didn't know that this was going to be a bloodless coup at the time. These tanks looked pretty bad ass to me (check how the cannon is in my face). Maybe you think I'm not gonzo enough... I do take a lot of risks, but ultimately I'm pro-life when it comes to my own, so I chose to snap a few just out the cab.

This one was through the front window of the taxi with Anantasamakhom Palace, the old Government House, in the background.

---

In NY, I hung out with my family during the Jewish High Holidays...

I chilled on my dad's balcony with its ridiculous skyline view (which I grew up with of course with the WTC front and center).

Hung out with my friend Lisa and met a guy on the street in Brooklyn who was walking a pig. For real.

Took a picture of myself while waiting for the elevator at my friend Stew's place.

I did a few more things that I'll eventually get to I hope.

And when I arrived back in Krung Thep...

Krung Thep is Thai for "Bangkok" - a lot of people don't know this, but locals don't call it Bangkok except when not speaking Thai. The full name is actually...

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit
.
which means

The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.

... I arrived in the new $3.3 billion Suvarnabhumi airport, with its 6,060,081 square foot passenger terminal, and is the talk of the town (besides the coup and the new government being installed).

The airport has been heralded as a major achievement, and it is, ending a years-long saga.

Suvarnabhumi (pronounced su-wan-na-poom) is the airport of the future, but has had its problems. It was originally scheduled to open a year ago, and again was supposed to open this past summer. There have been budget issues and media stories of possible cracks in the runways, which created a big uproar resulting in prominent government officials taking a political offensive against the press. There is, of course, the usual corruption and profiteering by political figures, although now with the coup, and a promise to move away from corruption, maybe it won't be as bad. Of course, we'll see how that shakes out.

Suvarnabhumi is located further out of Bangkok than the previous, super old skool airport, Don Muang, which was too outdated, unexpandable, but still kind of classic.

Suvarnabhumi is super cool but it felt almost a bit too cavernous. It boasts the tallest air traffic control tower in Asia at 433 feet, 120 parking bays, five of which are capable of accommodating the new super jumbo Airbus A380 planes. It is also eventually planned to handle up to 100,000 passengers a day, up from Don Muang's capacity of 37,000 passengers per day.

Feeling reflective...

So that's my ode to the airport. More deets on NY and life soon. It's definitely time to sleep...

Thailand's gone coup coup

2006-09-20T23:58:00.000+07:00

I have gotten plenty of emails from people wondering if I'm OK, if Thailand is OK, if the king has been replaced (obviously they have no idea about what's up in Thailand), whether I've been covering the story....

Well - I kind of missed it because I'm in NY right now.

But I didn't fully miss it. I had a flight to NY scheduled for last night, or whenever the night this happened was (still jet lagged - just got in actually so th days are a daze). I originally heard about the situation when I was in BKK from a friend of mine who works in a bank, and she was told to leave her work early on 9/19 (well early for her, because she works til 9 pm every day).

My flight was scheduled for 12:40 am that night, and I checked the news on the Web, thinking that the southern extremist Islam separatist violence in Thailand maybe made it to BKK. Instead I saw "Strong rumours of coup."

I didn't know what to think. As a correspondent for different news outlets I thought, "I should be on the scene."

As someone flying I thought, "Will my flight take off?"

As someone who wants to live a long life, I thought, "Could this end up becoming dangerous?" although after a year and a half in BKK, I strongly doubted that anything really bad would happen, as Thais are by nature not the type to start killing each other or looting or anything like that.

So I checked with Thai Airways, and they heard nothing about the coup and said flights were running as usual.

Of course, I was running late, as I always do for flights, but I made it out of my place by 10:15, which was perfect timing to drive right past the rather startling scene of the tanks in the streets, which I had no idea was happening until I saw them.

I did get some interesting pics but I haven't been able to upload them yet because I shot them in RAW format, which means that I need Photoshop or Aperture or another fancy photo edit program to open them. So stayed tuned for that.

After I passed the tanks, a TV network I correspond for called me up from Singapore and asked me if I could cover the situation. Pefectly bad timing, huh? One of the biggest stories of my life and I was going to miss being on TV for it! I told the guy I had to check in with Thai Air at the airport to see if I could change my flight.

I got there, and explained my situation. But since I had a cheapie ticket, they weren't sure if they could change it. They tried to call their office in NY to see if they could accommodate (strange how NY had to dictate what Thai Air does in BKK), but the time for me to check in was approaching and if I didn't go to my flight, I would have to eat the ticket (an English expression for my Thai friends who read this and may not know that one).

Thai Air still hadn't heard back and I wondered if I should have just stick around. But in the end, I flew, but the whole flight I thought about my decision and wondered what if ... especially since the head flight attendant guy who I spoke with about it, told me like ten times that I should have stayed.

But I'm here now, wishing I was there.

As it turns out, the coup was totally bloodless (so far at least), and things are as normal as they can be during a coup. Since the king was ok with it, the people seem ok with it, and without wanting to editorialize too much, the P.M., Thaksin Shinawatra, sort of had it coming. I will say, though, that it's not a great thing for democracy.

Anyway, there's another HUGE story out of Thailand right now, which may replace the coup headlines - check it here

Coup fotos coming soon.

Quick look at Burma-Chiang Mai-Railay

2006-09-13T22:30:00.000+07:00

I can't write too much here because I have an enormous workload right now, but I received an email from someone who found my site while surfing, and emailed me to offer great compliments. So I got inspired to keep the blog torch burning...

A month ago, I had breakfast in Burma/Myanmar although I really only stayed there for the morning to restamp my visa for Thailand.

Breakfast included a churro-like fried dough thing and Burmese style tea with milk and some kind of sweetener and while I generally don't like milk in things, it was good!

Being there was an eye-opening experience as I got a glimpse at what this mysterious country, that many consider dangerous, is all about. It started on a weird note as I walked past the visa stamp office, unknowingly, and started crossing the bridge to Burma. I almost made it, but the last person who could have said something, did. Otherwise I would have been in Burma illegally, which actually isn't the best idea.

I was with my friend Joe Zefran (AKA: JZ) who I used to work with at Air America Radio, back when people paid attention to the "Al Franken network."

I linked up with a Burmese guy who told me some frightening things about the town I was in. A few years ago, the government decided to take away all of the cars in the town one morning. That was it, no cars anymore. Pretty crazy...

I also found out that there is almost no web-based email allowed, and the Internet is a scarce commodity. The guy who I met said he had to go across the border to Thailand to check his email. But I had a cool and beautiful experience as the people were great and nice.

Here are some views:

Some of the nice people I was talking about. They look a little different, no?

Getting down with some protective sun cream, southeast Asian styleeee...

JZ chillin with the Burmese youth and buying some of their bags.

=====

After Myanmar, came Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. I don't have the time to explain all of the things that I liked about CM right now, but in a few words: it was relaxing and fun, a little city/big town that is a lot more sane than BKK. I look forward to spending more time there.

A long four-headed dragon at Doi Suthep, a temple located on a mountain right out of CM.

A band of elders doing their thing at Chiang Mai's famous night bazaar.

========

On to Railay Beach, Krabi towards the south of Thailand. A mecca of rock climbing, top notch beaches, crazy limestone karst formations and overall great vibes. Check it.

I got very high at Railay as you can see.

Of course there is so much more to say about these places. Like I wrote above, I can't get into it all now, so you'll have to hear about it in person or wait til I have the time.

Embarrasingly long non-blogging

2006-09-01T00:27:00.000+07:00

Yes, I've been slacking, but with good reason.

I've been travelling, (yes I know I should be writing about it - more about that later actually...), I also took another intensive Thai language course, I've been getting serious with the yoga, and I've started teaching a university course.

Yes, for a three-hour class each week, I lecture to 124 19-year-old Thai students about Integrated Humanities/Western Civilization. I'm aiming to be a School of Rock meets Dead Poets Society meets Yoda kind of professor though.

It's a lot of fun I must say. The students are smart and for the ancient Greece portion of the class, I had them present various projects on different facets of ancient Greek life. The food group brought in Greek food (hard to find here!), there was an ancient Greek style fashion show with togas and crowns of leaves, and some light hearted Greco-Roman wrestling.

I've also been writing some freelance articles for a few places. And I just got a very nice hook up that will require my travelling around and writing about it. That's all I'm going to say about it now. If you really want to know, leave a comment below and I'll tell you what's up.

Say hello to my new friends here, especially the deer who looks like he's saying something.

The ESPYs

2006-08-01T00:52:00.000+07:00

Rollin' in style on the red carpet at the ESPY awards, a couple of weeks ago

OK, so if you've been keeping up on this here blog, you know that I went to LA a couple of weeks back. When I was there, it just so happened that my boy DK from high school, who works as a producer at ESPN in their headquarters in Connecticut, was coming into town also, because the sports network was having their annual awards show, the ESPYs, in California's city of angels (don't forget, Bangkok is "angelic" too!).

It took place at the Kodak Theater, where the Oscars also go down. But the story doesn't start there. It begins a couple of nights before the ESPYs, at SkyBar, the ultra-exclusive bar that's part of the Mondrian, which, if you don't know, has been one of the hottest hotels in LA for twenty years. Now you know.

Everyone who was invited to go to the ESPYs was staying there, including DK, so he hooked our extended posse up with his ESPN cred and we were given access.

RE: the extended posse - if you don't know me too well, I'm still super tight with my friends from high school (Stuyvesant class of 1990, yo), and there's about thirty of us or more who stay in touch regularly. A contingent of this group has moved to LA, including Rob, who recently came out to visit me and I referenced him in my Cambodia blogs here, here and here, Chuck Lee, who I wrote about here (I also wrote about Rob in that post too, as he's visited me twice now - ahem, ahem, all of you who still haven't come out yet - better get your act together), and Ryan, who was the first friend to visit me, and we went to the full moon party on the Thai island, Ko Pha Ngan (I wrote about that episode here). Another high school friend, Kane Lee came along to the party and Ryan's girlfriend Erin was part of the crew, and the first night, she brought her friend Siobhan. So we were rolling eight deep. That's kind of a lot of people to get into a place like SkyBar.

But with DK pulling his weight as a big shot producer, there was no problem and it was a beatuiful night at the outdoor club, where there is a large swimming pool, plenty of king-size beds to chill out on (does every club have this amenity now??), an overall funky decor and a cool view of the city. It's a big area but it still got plenty packed that night. There were players, wannabe players and everything in between. To someone who isn't used to the Hollywood-style glitz and glamour (even though I write for The Hollywood Reporter), it was fun, but probably not as much for those who see this kind of scene all the time. Anyway, here's a couple of snaps.

Erin, Chuck and Ryan (and the almost full moon)

Woman in camo shirt, profilin'

After the bars closed at 2am, we were hardly done for the night, so it was time to make our way up to DK's huge party suite for some late night throwin' down. But first there was an obstacle to overcome. To get up the elevator to the room you have to pass a bouncer/doorman type guy, through a velvet rope. And even though we were legit, with an actual suite to go to, it can be a hassle to penetrate the pomposity. As you can see below, there was a bit of a hassle to get in.

But once again, DK hooked it up, and once upstairs, it wasn't exactly like The Who or Led Zep in the 70s, but we definitely rocked the house.

I'm looking like I've had a few, no?

We stayed until the wee hours and made our way to the after, after party but I have to leave the details to your imagination...

The next night, there was the official pre-party to the ESPYs at the Hotel Roosevelt, which is also one of those happening LA spots and is featured on shows like Entourage, (which I just got into during this trip to LA, as they don't have it here in BKK yet, and I'm hooked now!)

We kind of had our own Entourage with DK as Vince Chase, the guy on the show who takes care of his boys, although in reality, he's more like Kevin Dillon's character, Johnny Drama (just kidding, DK!)
Any resemblence?

The Stuyvesant entourage at ESPN Party

Inside the massive party space which featured tasty free food and a boxing ring

Can you guess which one in the crowd might be a basketball player?

Sports stars and celebs were definitely in the house. And because I didn't want to make a big deal with a camera, I just brought along a point and shoot, so thats why these photos may not be of the same quality and size that I normally post. Anyway, here's LeBron James.

And here's LeBron James' crew, note the security guy who looks like he's about to throttle my throat

Sam Cassell, who, along with Hakeem the Dream, killed the Knicks in 1994. I'm still not quite over that.

Venus Williams looking lovely

And her stunning sister Serena

The Williams sisters, along with tennis player James Blake, I think

By now, the Williams sisters' publicist was telling me to chill on the photos, but with the delays I was having while using the point and shoot, I couldn't get the shots I wanted. So I blew the guy off, who was not so cool in asking me (there is a cool way to ask and a not-so-cool way), and so I took a couple of more. I mean, maybe I was starting to get a little stalky ... But I needed good shots for the blog!

Upstairs, a little later, Busta Rhymes rapped for a quickie set, about a half hour. But to get up where he was playing from outside where I was, I had to pass a very large bouncer who was not letting anyone up - ESPN production crew, sports stars or anyone, because he was insisting that it was too crowded up there. Meanwhile, Rob, who was actually in the room, was sending me text messages telling me that it was hardly crowded at all. This was a case of a typical bouncer trying to flex his limited power in this world, and there's nothing you can do about it. You just have to wait it out until the guy feels important enough, in this case it was five or ten minutes, and then you can proceed. It's unfortunate but there are many people like this in the world.

Anyway, here's Busta rippin' and rhymin'

Later on, towards the end of the party, as we had more and more drinks, things became wilder. Cuba Gooding, Jr. asked Erin to take a photo of him with the Williams sisters and after she did, she showed him the shot. What happened next is controversial: What I saw was him hugging her and picking her up in the air, in a basically innocently way. She claims that he may have been trying for a little more than a hug, but I still have my doubts. In any event, here's Erin, Ryan and Cuba in happier times.

Here I am with old school legend, Dr. J himself - Julius Erving, who has a hands free thing in his ear. I have one too but I'm not sure I like the style of keeping it in your ear at all times. That's like one step removed from putting a computer chip in your brain!

After the party was over, we strolled around Hollywood a bit and I snapped a few shots of my favorite stars.

Where would I be without The Simpsons in my life

Thelonius Monk, who went to Stuyvesant, although he dropped out

So finally, onto the actual awards show the next night. DK actually wasn't sure he could get us tickets until about an hour before, and I, brilliantly, didn't bring any suits or nice clothes for the event. In my defense, I only knew that I was coming to LA the day before I came (check the LA post here for the story on that if you missed it), so I had no idea that the ESPYs were even going down. But I was going to LA and I, admittedly, should have been a little more prescient.

No matter, because Rob came through for me and lent me everything I needed and even though the suit etc. came from him , I still managed to come off like a sharp dressed man (yes, that was a dis), ZZ Top style sans beard and sunglasses.

Our seats were total nose bleeders, and there weren't any big monitors up to let us see clearly what was happening and everything felt really far away. But it was totally cool being there and we saw Lance Armstrong do his thing as host. The awards were a little boring, with too many feel good stories and not enough action. At least that's how it was watching it live - on TV they included a lot more footage. But it was still very cool. Here's our view, from about a mile away.

At the end, the O'Jays came out to do an old school/new school thing along with rapper Talib Kweli and it was hot! (It's not like you can see what's going on here but they played "Love Train" and "Money, Money, Money, MUH-NAY!")

Afterwards, there was one last party, right next door to the Kodak Theater, at the Hollywood and Highland complex. The free food, once again, was excellent. There were Asian, American, Italian and seafood buffets, which I went kind of nuts on. And after, as I was dazed in a food coma, I was woken up by the sounds of Sugar Ray, who did what seemed like a 25-minute version of I Just Want to Fly. Yeah, the photo is poor quality, but I was still using the point and shoot.

Hip hop legend Biz Markie was spinnin'

Afterwards, we made it inside Lance Armstrong's after-party in the Mondrian replete with famous actors like Jake Gyllenhaal and Matthew McConaughey. But by this time, I was kind of toasted and not trying to step to any famous people. So at around two or three in the morning we broke out.

But for a few days there, I was living large, or was at least pretending to. Hey, it's LA!! That what people do there.

But this entry just covers the ESPYs portion of my recent trip. More LA drama is coming your way... including my face off with the LAPD!

Cambodia finale

2006-07-23T12:17:00.000+07:00

As usual, I'm totally behind on everything I want to post to this blog. But I appreciate that you all continue to visit the site. So while my LA tales will come soon, in the meantime, please enjoy the last of the scenes from my Cambodia trip last month that I've wanted to get up on here ...

To start with, here are some more Angkor Wat flicks. Even though these photos look cool, it was truly overwhelming for me to see it live. Next time, I really want to go back and spend more time with certain temples instead of flying around from place to place. I would love to just relax and chill as it's a most inspiring place to read, write, sit and think.

After leaving the town near Angkor Wat, Siem Reap (which means "we defeated Siam" a reference to the difficult times between Thailand and Cambodia), Rob and I took a bus to Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh. While waiting for our bus in Siem Reap to take off, we noticed the throngs of motocycle guys who swarm passengers as they get off the bus. The moto-drivers are hoping to get hired as a chaffeurs so they can earn somewhere between $5-8 per day (depending on the bargaining skills of the tourist/traveller).

This scene, as you can see, can get hectic, and we preferred not to be beholden to motorcycle guys, who will wait around for you in the hotels and wherever you are and kind of stalk you. To avoid this scenario, Rob arranged with the concierge at our hotel in Siem Reap to have a taxi waiting for us at the bus station in Phnom Penh where we would be whisked away to the sister hotel of our hotel in Siem Reap. And, of course, when Rob gave them our names, he made sure to make it memorable.

Although we only stayed for a couple of days in Phnom Penh, we both liked it, despite its grittiness. For example, garbage from the markets is routinely thrown into the streets - in a contrast to Bangkok which is really good about street cleaning, at least in the major areas.

Cambodia's rough and tumble recent history is not easy to overcome and it will stay a solidly third world place for some time. But I could detect that there is movement towards a more "normal" existence.

However, there are no McDonalds, Starbucks or 7-Elevens even, which is nice actually. People whom we asked hadn't even heard of them. But on a more unpleasant note, we saw scary amounts of very young looking prostitutes, poor and disfigured people from land mines were everywhere, a legacy of the brutality of the Khmer Rouge.

But besides the sad aspects of life in Cambodia, the third worldiness offered some funny moments: like when we hired rickshaw drivers to take us to our hotel, somewhere that should have been easy to get to as it was on a numbered street. They had no idea where they were going though, even after insisted that they did. Another memorable moment was when we were watching Revenge of the Sith on TV, which was dubbed into Khmer language (with English subtitles!) and during the annoying love scenes between Anakin and Natalie Portman's character, they didn't play the regular Star Wars music but dubbed in a muzac version of "That's What Friends are For."

Phnom Penh infrastructurally is coming along and from these views, it doesn't look so different from Bangkok ....

Some of the nice sites include the temple, Wat Phnom, which is located atop a hill and is inhabited by many monkeys.

The Royal Palace was good for some photos, but as beautiful as it was, it felt wrong that so many resources should be given to it while so many people outside are hungry and poor.

Atop the one big mall in town, there is this cool, mirrored roof made up of pyramids where Rob and I took photos of our reflections. These photos are always fun.

Sitting down for a meal in an outdoor cafe means that you are open game to beggars and people selling all types of things that you don't need.

This young mother was definitely working her assets - her cute baby - to get a buck out of me. At first I said no, but she continued to play with her kid in front of me for about ten minutes until I finally caved in.

Ironically enough, these orphans below seemed to be the happiest kids around, as they were well taken care of, while the kids with their mothers begging in the streets seemed distraught.

The markets had inexpensive goodies and lots of fun, bustling, photogenic moments.

There is a bit of a nightlife as well. The expat scene is small and it seems like everybody goes to the same place each night. But we did stumble across a couple of cool spots where we met foreigners working at the local English newspapers and at NGOs who had interesting stories and analysis of the area.

Need a banana?

Leaving Phnom Penh, we saw this and thought it was kind of funny.

Next for us after Phnom Penh was a trip to the south of the country to explore some of their beaches, such as Kep and Sihanoukville. On the way down, we experienced the legendarily bad Cambodian roads. Although I knew about them, it was crazy to see that major roads are made of dirt and need to be smoothed out by bulldozers every so often because the potholes are so out of contol.

The ride was, to put it mildly, bumpy. We were constantly being thrown out of our seats and hitting our heads on the bus structure above us.

The beaches totally disappointed. Kep was once a French luxurious getaway but has been reduced to pretty much nothing now. The beach was small and not nice and the whole area was desolate. Looking to our Lonely Planet guidebook, which totally overhyped the area, we saw a recommendation to take a ferry to Rabbit Island, which sounded cool and supposedly had better beaches.

It was late in the day and we wanted to at least make something of the trip to this area so we hopped on board a private boat with a Dutch guy who we met on the bus. We watched as dark clouds from a different direction raced us to the island and it was clear that we were going to have to stay there for the night.

As we approached, we wondered why we couldn't see anything on the island but jungle, but once we arrived, we realized that indeed there was nothing at all going on there at all. Near the water, there were a few bungalow huts for people to stay in - otherwise the island was thick deep jungle, not unlike Skull island in King Kong. There was a nicer beach, but that wasn't saying much, and with the rain that ended up pouring down, we weren't going anywhere but inside the leaky huts.

We did have a not-so-tasty overpriced dinner made by the hutkeepers. But that was the only thing to do. There was electricity for a bit, run by a generator, but that cut out around 8 or 9. Other than watching the hutkeepers playing cards in the rain there was little to do but sleep in the uncomfortable beds in the wet huts.

But even sleeping was made difficult as Rob brought up the fact that we were totally at the hutkeepers mercy and that, really, they could do anything to us that they wanted and probably no one would ever find out. That wasn't the best thought to go to sleep to.

We left early in the morning and I took this shot which makes Rabbit Island look pretty awesome, but in reality there was so much garbage thrown everywhere that whatever pristine elements existed were overwhelmed by the poor upkeep.

Next was Sihanoukville, which was better but that isn't saying much. The beach was very dirty and the motel we stayed in seemed littered with pedophiles. As it was low season, the only thing to do at night that we could find, was to watch World Cup at an English bar. At that point it was an early round and as Americans, we found it kind of boring. Afterwards they had karaoke to Weird Al Yankovic songs, but not to any of his "hits" like "Eat It" or "I Lost on Jeopardy" So that wasn't exactly the most happening thing. Motorcycle drivers did want to take us whoring, but that wasn't going to happen.

We left Sihanouville after one night and went to the port where we took a roach infested ferry to the Thai border. But before going, Rob and I were surprised at how badly kept the Sihanoukville port (pictured below) was. The road should be an important one, it's a main pier where goods are imported and tourists pass through, but yet the road, as you can see was in total disrepair.

I won't go back to the Cambodian beaches, that's for sure, as when we hit the island, Ko Chang, in Thailand, it was clear how much a difference an awesome clean environment with a beautifully kept coast can be.

But I will go back to Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh though and I'd like to explore deeper in Cambodia as it was a fascinating experience filled with adventure.

Stay tuned for L.A.!

Welcome to Angkor Wat

2006-07-06T14:44:00.000+07:00

Although I'm in L.A. I wanted to finally post some Angkor Wat flix and try to catch up on some of the things I've been up to that I haven't posted here yet.

Meanwhile, things in California are wonderful, of course. To me, Los Angeles is the Prozac of all cities.

What I mean by this is that everything is great and nice and nothing is wrong and there's no stress and the weather is perfect and the beaches are beautiful and good for surfing and the food is great and the people are beautiful and have perma-grins. And I've spoken to many Angelinos who agree with my theory. It's not a dis, really, after all. I mean, hey, it's not so bad to go through life happy.

Back to more serious matters - like the powerful temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

So kids, open your screens wide and get ready to feel the energy of this incredibly well-preserved ancient holy world.

These monks and others were posing in front of the main temples of Angkor Wat for someone else to snap a photo, but it seemed like a really nice shot to take, so I took it

There were so many interesting viewing angles, each revealing new details and surprises

Here's my old bro, Rob Samborn, from Stuyvesant High School, class of 1990, who I traveled with through Cambodia (who I'm hanging with again now in LA)

The tree growing out of a temple definitely gave off serious Indiana Jones vibes

One not so great thing about Ankor Wat though are the people who try to sell you anything and everything they can, as someone is doing to Rob right now

Monks walking toward the ancient majestic temple, which is still very active as a Buddhist worshipping area

Apsara, the Hindu and Buddhist spirit, who is depicted all over Angkor Wat

There many land mine vicitms that you can't help but see throughout Cambodia. It's so sad to see such as large number of people without limbs, eyes or with other deformities, but yet so I met so many who were so nice and inspirational with their perseverance in life like these people who played some beautiful traditional music outside the temple areas

Cute kids on a long dirt road amongst the ancient temples

As they passed us

OK, that's all for now. More Angkor Wat photos and L.A. stories to come, including a recent run-in with the boys in blue.

In L.A. of all places!

2006-07-05T15:17:00.000+07:00

Forty-eight hours ago, I had no plans or intentions to be in Los Angeles right now, the other city of angels (Krung Thep, the way Thais actually refer to Bangkok, means "city of angels" too!). But here I am in California, enjoying a cool night, something, you almost never get in Bangkok, with nice clean air, something you never get in Bangkok (without the "almost").

It went down like this: I was feeling a bit down after the exhilarating high of my trip to Cambodia. On Monday, I met with my friend Chris on Khao San Rd. for lunch and we both agreed that we were not feeling our best. He had the idea to go shoot guns at a shooting range, which sounded kind of interesting except this I'm anti-gun and it was expensive although I've heard that it really helps you blow off steam. However, after more thought I nixed that idea. Then, we considered going to a golf driving range - a more civilized way to relieve my stress, I figured.

So Chris went home and I started emailing pitches for some story ideas I have to different publications. It was about 5:00pm when I saw that Chris was calling, presumably about the golfing. Instead, he asked me if I wanted to fly to L.A. the next day, suggesting that this might be a good way out of the little rut I felt I was in.

I had trouble believing it was real, but indeed, his girlfriend Pim's friend's uncle (it's always something like that, isn't it?) needed someone to courier some Nike bathing suits to a manufacturer in Irvine in southern California by Wednesday at 10am when a buyer from Macy's would be there to look at the Nike 2007 collection. If the goods couldn't be delivered by then, millions of dollars could potentially be lost.

I was incredulous. It seemed too good to be true. I would fly premium economy class non-stop on Thai Airways and could stay as long as I want but I had to leave the next day - on July 4.

Everyone who I asked whether I should do this or not, said that they wouldn't. They suggested the obvious: What if something was stashed somewhere in the bag like drugs, diamonds ... or worse? Some were like, "hey ... it's Bangkok, I wouldn't get involved with something like this."

But my friend Pim, who I do trust, vouched for him and everything the Bathing Suit Guy was saying totally checked out.

I insisted on inspecting everything and that I would use my own bag which BSG had no problem with. So everything seemed OK.

My sister Leah, uncle Dan and aunt Marguerite live in L.A., as well as a bunch of old friends including Ryan (who visited me last year in Thailand), my ex co-worker from Air America Radio, JZ (who will be visiting me in Thailand in August), my oldest friend Aram and his wife Dunia, and weirdly, Rob, who I had just spent the past two weeks with in Cambodia and Thailand.

So with so many peeps in gold ol' Tinseltown, I decided to go for it. The drama didn't quite end until takeoff though, as I had to get to BSG's office by 4:00 to pick up the samples. I got stuck in horrible rainy Bangkok traffic and ended up getting there at 4:30 - a half hour later than I was suppsed to and the flight left at 7:00.

It turns out that BSG's stuff arrived late too, and his employees were still putting the suits togther: threading through the strings to tighten the bathing suits, tagging the suits, and cutting holes in them to make sure that they weren't of any monetary value so I wouldn't have to declare anything.

That wasn't it though. Someone was to meet me at the airport less than an hour before my flight took off and give me more samples, which she also strung, tagged and cut - in the airport waiting area!

But everything was completed in time and I just have to deliver the materials to Irvine tomorrow morning. Hopefully there's no problem with that ...

I even got to see some July 4th fireworks while I was stuck in terrible L.A. standstill traffic on the PCH from LAX. It's funny how I left at 7:00pm on July 4th from BKK and arrived 8:00 pm in L.A. because of the time difference.

When Rob left Thailand on Sunday, I said to him, "I don't know when I'll see you again. It might be a while since I don't think I'll be coming to California any time soon."

Well, here I am.

Cruising through Cambo

2006-06-29T01:15:00.000+07:00

This is another photo-less entry. The accompanying photos will come once I return to BKK, but you'll have to use your imagination for now.

====

After staying in Siem Reap for three nights, where I thoroughly absorbed the ancient power of Angkor Wat, Rob and I moved on to Phnom Penh, the capital, and biggest city in Cambodia.

But first - a quick word about the roads in Cambodia. My friend Ian, who worked for the Cambodia Daily newspaper in Phnom Penh for a year, had told me extensively about how the roads are not paved and get muddy and nasty during the rainy season and are filled with giant potholes. I had a picture of it in my head from his descriptions, and it turned out to be worse that I had imagined. It really was that bad. Every few seconds everyone in the bus would go flying in the air after hitting crater after giant crater, or would be thrown out of their seats because the driver was swerving to get out of the way of one.

Back to Phnom Penh.

It was wild. There were few traffic lights, many rickshaws, endless streams of motorcycles, disregarded mud paths that count as streets, mounds of garbage dumped on the mud paths that count as streets, people with limbs blown off from landmines or eyes cut out from the legacy of the Khmer Rouge, battalions of prostitutes, in-your-face children trying to sell you everything you don't really need, "happy" pizza parlors ready to serve you a pie that will fry your brains out, along with sweltering heat that seemed more intense than even in Bangkok.

Heart of darkness, indeed.

Our hotel, which was actually pretty nice, also seemed to serve as a brothel. At least dozen or so young females looking less than 18 and scantily-clad, would greet us each time we went in by blowing kisses and saying "Helloooooo handsome!" which was disturbing, not flattering.

And yes, we did see some pedophiliac looking older dirtbags holding hands with them walking up and down the stairs in the hotel and around town. Very sad and nauseating.

There is an outlaw spirit pervading the city, as it is well documented that the police can easily be bribed. Drugs are a problem too, specifically the Asian speed-meets-crack drug which has plagued the region, Yaba. While I have only heard about Yaba, as I haven't seen it for myself, I did in fact meet an ex-pat junkie, who introduced himself to Rob and me while we were eating a late lunch. He was a nice enough guy, but clearly too slow to by any normal standard.

He .... would .... talk .... like .... this .... and .... it .... was .... strange .... but .... he .... was ... also .... kind .... of .... amusing ....

He raised our curiosity and we wanted to know what his deal was.

What we gathered from our first conversation with him was that he is a photojournalist from the midwestern part of the U.S. And why did he want to hang with strangers? He said that the ex-pat scene was small and he wanted to hang out with some new Americans and he told us about some fashion show that was going on that evening and invited us to come along. Sounded good.

So the plan was to go to his place first, which we were interested in doing so we could figure out what his deal was, and then go see the fashion show.

Well, we figured out his deal quickly. Within five minutes of arriving at his place that night, he started sniffing heroin ("China White"), which definitely was creepy. But he had a nice view of the river and city from his balcony though, so we stayed out there while he medicated.

He really was the quintessential junkie: living in the third world as a talented artistic photographer in a dark artistic heroin chic-y kind of way, looking real skinny and constantly lying terribly. But for all of the negatives, he was a nice guy who took us to a cool party we never would have known about (we took separate motorcycles rather than jump on the back of his!) After the party, we ended up at a cool bar on the Tonle Sap River until the wee hours, when we met our faithful moto drivers outside the club (they waited outside everywhere we went, along with all of the other moto drivers, all of whom would basically swarm anyone leaving a bar, club, hotel or museum to get the fare).

It was sad seeing so much prostitution along with the begging and people deformed by war and past political purges, but there was a spirit of survival that seemed to prevail. And as destitute as it was, the people were very nice and mostly wore smiles.

One positive thing I saw was a non-profit restaurant that was part of an orphanage where the kids seemed much happier and in better spirits than the kids I saw begging with their mothers or fathers. There are many people there, either locals, or ex-pats working in NGOs or otherwise, who are trying to make a difference and that was uplifting to see.

We were only in Phnom Penh for two days but it seemed like two weeks. We also went to some basic sights: the temples, the royal palace, the main market, but there is more to see and I'm looking forward to going back and exploring it further. While it may have been rough and difficult, it still had a good spirit and was fascinating in its own way.

But we wanted to leave the city quickly to get to Cambodia’s beaches on its southern coast. We read in the guidebook that they were nice and up and coming, and everyone we spoke to said what a great respite they were after being in Phnom Penh.

Well, they weren't. If you plan to go to Cambodia, skip the beaches, at least for the next ten years, because they have a far way still to go. The most happening beach town, Sihanoukville, was broken down, depressing and filled with garbage, but at least attracted a crowd. In the other towns, like Kep, there was nothing redeeming and no one was there. The coast used to boast a slew of happening French beach getaways but they were heavily destroyed during the civil war and were never properly fixed up again. They might serve well as a backdrop for a photo study, but not for a relaxing vacation on the beach. But we met a backpacker woman who loved it and stayed ten days, so I guess it's what you make of it and get out of it.

The worst place, in our experience, was Kep's offshoot, Rabbit Island, which sounded nice in the guidebook. But where we were dropped off was filled with garbage and there was literally nowhere to go (and no one was there but us and a Dutch guy we met on the bus), because other than the few scattered bungalows off the beach it was an island filled with thick jungle (and its malarial!). We would have left right away but after we arrived by boat in the late afternoon, it started pouring. The bunglaow was also the only place to get food, which they heavily overcharge for, because guests have no other choice if they want to eat. Our bungalows’ roofs leaked too, adding to the misery.

But after the boat back to the mainland, a moto ride to the next major spot on the road, Kampot (another ghost town), we rode a grimy mini-bus to Sihanoukville, first stopping somewhere in the middle of nowhere where we (maybe ten of us) were forced to switch and pile into a dirty greasy stationwagon (I sat in the trunk with my legs hanging out with the back open). The next day, after deciding Sihanoukville was not for us, we took a moto in the pouring rain to a greasy cockroach-filled, dilapidated ferryboat to the Thailand border, where we immediately noticed the big difference between the countries. After Cambodia, I must say that I respect Thailand's infrastructure more than ever and it felt good to come back and practice my Thai with the fun-loving people of this country and eat the food I enjoy so much!

And we landed on Ko Chang, a great island with gorgeous beaches, cool, cheap accomodations, a chill vibe and ultra-relaxing. So we were able to unwind after our Cambodian capers. But like I said, despite the difficulties, I'll be back to see more of the Khmer culture soon enough.

So stay tuned for photos! And please comment if you have ever been there and agree/disagree with my assessments.

Cambodia Calling

2006-06-21T22:51:00.000+07:00

This will be a quickie, cause I haven't uploaded photos yet from this latest adventure to accompany this. But here I am in Cambodia in the town of Siem Reap, close to the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. And I'll be hopscotching around these parts for the next week or so. I've been wanting to take this trip since I got here a year ago, so it feels great to finally be doing this.

I won't get into detail about my experiences here but it easily lives up to the hype, and when you see photos I will post you'll understand why. Giant carved faces and amazingly intact buildings of worship that have been covered by jungles until relatively recently = really cool.

The food here has been OK so far, contrary to what I had heard. It's nowhere near as good as Thai food, and it is a bit of a struggle being veg here, but so far, not too bad. What is bad is the non-stop chorus of people who hound you to buy something - anything - from them. "Hello, suhhhhhhh. Hello, Mistuhhhhhhhh. Please buy some [fill in your own tourist item]!!"

As I am basically situated in the middle of the jungle, there are non-stop creepy crawler bugs everywhere. I don't mind it so much, although Rob, my old friend and travel mate, does. He like to go on killing sprees which are a bit too much for me. I will admit finding them in you bags, shoes and towels is not so pleasant though.

Enough about bugs, and more about cartoons! Check out my latest piece here.

I'm looking forward to sharing my pics with you, so stay tuned!

Everything's Yellow - The King's 60th Annversary on the Throne!!

2006-06-12T10:27:00.000+07:00

It's a very special time in Thailand right now - King Bhumibol Adulyadej, also known as Rama IX, was coronated 60 years ago and royalty from all over the world are here now to commemorate the event. This includes Japanese Emperor Akihito, Britain's Prince Andrew, Spain's Queen Sophia and Jordan's King Abdullah.

There have been fireworks every night in different parts of the city including this impressive display in front of the Grand Palace

More on Khao San Road

Fireworks behind one of the thousands of 7-Elevens here

But besides fireworks, the people are adding their own color - specifically yellow - which is the King's official color since he was born on a Monday. (Thailand has an interesting system involving colors that correspond to the days of the week.)

So yellow is beyond hot right now. Everyone who is anyone is wearing it.

On the boats...

These flower-selling girls in awe of the fireworks are showing their colors

The fruit seller is getting into it (note the Osama and Saddam masks behind him - no one seems to think that selling them, or the many T-shirts emblazoned with their faces, is wrong or strange)

The kids playing music in the park are down with yellow

These military dudes have traded in their camo-tops

On Khao San

These yellow-wearers are climbing this cool tree to get a look at one of the boat processions that have been taking place every couple of days in honor of the king.

From my window, I have a great view of the boats - which are very cool traditional longtail vessels. They sing some traditonal chants as they go and it attracts a gi-normous crowd (wearing yellow, of course) as you can see.

The king has earned the love of his country. Since the end of World War II, when he took over the monarchy from his brother who was mysteriously killed, the king has offered reassurance and guidance to his people. He has funded great social programs of the poor, he encourages organic farming, alternative fuels through biodiesel programs, and is an accomplished photographer and jazz musician. And I'm not saying this because I'll be arrested if I say anything bad about him (which can happen). Although it felt weird at first, I'm happy to get up before a movie starts in the cinemas here in Thailand to pay respect to him as his official anthem is played.

And while the king has already lived a long life at 80, LONG LIVE THE KING ...

Looking back on a year of Bangkok (and this blog)

2006-06-05T11:25:00.000+07:00

It's been a year since I landed here in Bangkok, which means it's been a year of this blog, and what a unpredictable ride it's been.

It's been as great as any year I've ever had. So many memorable moments and non-stop adventures ... I still can't believe it all myself.

But this entry is dedicated to mostly to Bangkok itself, which has been home base for me for the last year. It's gritty, it's wild and it feels good to call this place home.

When I came here last year, I didn't know anything about the place. That would explain why on the first night I wore a fleece vest, thinking it might get chilly. I soon learned that fleece and the tropics aren't a great mix.

Although it's embarrassing to admit, my previous knowledge of Bangkok came mostly from the song, "One Night in Bangkok," which, as corny as it might be, made the city sound dangerous. That first night, while I walked around though, I realized immediately what was going on here. It occured to me that I ended up somehow, though the forces of nature and luck, in an amazing situation in a most exciting part of the world.

With "One Night in Bangkok" in mind, I wandered around my guest house the first night protectively looking over my shoulder every few moments, thinking someone might try to bust out some Thai kickboxing on me and try to steal my new Canon Rebel digital camera and iPod I bought just before coming here.

I laugh when I think about that now because while anything can happen anywhere, getting jumped just isn't the vibe in Thailand. I soon recognized, instead, that people generally have a kind Buddhist mentality and like to smile a lot (although I have noticed definite exceptions to this rule).

Example: When a friend of mine had money stolen out of his bag while sleeping on a bus, the thief still left $25 for the guy in his wallet and didn't take his credit cards or IDs. Sort of a nice gesture if you're going to be robbed.

As I absorbed everything around me, I literally shook my head in astonishment at how lucky I was to be zapped into Bangkok.

Little-known fact: Red Bull was "discovered" in Thailand and was co-opted by an Austrian company (Yes, this bull isn't red, but it's the best that I could do)

I barely had any time to process what it might be like to be here before I came. I had only secured the job here only the week before as a reporter with the newspaper, ThaiDay, the local section of the International Herald Tribune in Thailand. The scramble to vacate my Brooklyn apartment, and Brooklyn life, was like nothing I had ever attempted before. I only pulled it off by going into superhuman multitasking mode for the week - buying the airplane ticket, getting medical shots, buying my camera, selling off or giving away everything in my apartment, dealing with a mountain of loose ends, saying goodbye to everyone.

Somehow I did it, by barely sleeping all week, staying up the entire last night and "finishing" at the last moment before my sister took me to the airport. When I could finally breathe freely on the plane, it ended up being a wonderfully liberating experience.

And that first night, as I set foot out into the night, I felt the energy of Bangkok rippling through the streets. The hectic leadup to the trip and the 17 hours it took to get here melted away. Instead of crashing, I felt energized to celebrate that night the right way after meeting a posse of French, Brits and Thais who I proceeded to get smashed with.

My work happened to be right near the Khao San Road area, a well-known backpacker zone, and a fun place for me to be situated.

The Khao San carnival

Although my second job was nowhere near this area, I stayed in the same apartment, because I enjoy my little neighborhood, which is full of windy alleyways, an impressive temple, kids playing in the streets, nearby cool cafes and a fun park sandwiched between an old fort and the Chao Phraya river, where hundreds come out every day at sunset to do aerobics (as they do in many open spaces throughout Bangkok).

The masses movin' to the aerobic beat under the Rama VIII Bridge

Also in the park are dozens of jugglers and firedancers,

there's an informal skateboarder area

and at sundown, the breakdancers get busy.

I wonder why I had never considered visiting Bangkok earlier, why it was never on my radar, even though I had heard such cool things about Thailand. I guess picking up and moving somewhere on the other side of the world isn't the most common thing to do. Of course, since I've been here, I've met many people who have pulled it off. These people planned it out, knew what they wanted and decided to re-establish themselves here. I just sort of ended up here - as a gift of circumstance.

The pleasure of being here though was counterbalanced for the first eight months by my crazy first job. There's a good chance that I wouldn't have come here if I knew that I was going to have to write stories six days a week with no holidays - ever. Also having no official editor in charge for the first three and half months except for a guy who was more like a coach, made it a challenge since I, and much of the staff, knew little about the country and couldn't speak the language.

Although I was definitely not happy with the American recruiter guy who conveniently neglected to tell me about the real situation about the job (he later said, "You never asked," when I asked him why he left the 6-day-a-week part out). But I already made the trip and I loved being here immediately, and I wasn't going to quit right away because it was still an incredible opportunity to get to know this region as a reporter.

The Government House, where I covered a few stories

I got a chance to see parts of Bangkok that I would never have experienced if I wasn't a journalist. And in the beginning I slept as little as possible so I could absorb all the free time I could on my day off and after work. But I still didn't really see the museums and "must see" places until I had been here several months. And being limited to Bangkok kept my journeying local for the most part.

It's not all good here though. The air and noise pollution with the constant traffic and the motorcycles and tuk tuks buzzing around. But interestingly enough, the streets are surprisingly clean here and I think Thais take pride in that.

The architecture is not so inspiring, but there are cool shaped hi-rises that take on a certain aesthetic that makes the city interesting and original in its own way.

I've learned a lot about the Thai people and culture. As different as they are, there is a lot about their personalities that makes it easy for a foreigner to jump into the world here. The people generally are super hip, but totally unpretentious, friendly, gentle and cool.

Rockin out in the non-stop party that is the B to the KK

At the same time, there are a lot of wannabe elite types, (called hi-so's here, short for high-society), who hang out at malls like this, Siam Paragon, but they aren't to be taken too seriously.

I love the food - it's hot, tasty and crazy cheap. It's much spicier here than the Thai food that you get in the U.S., and there are different dishes - things are a lot more deep-fried in Thaiand for instance. Thankfully they do foreign food like Italian, Japanese, Mexican and Middle East really well here too because even Thai food, as delicious as it is, can get a bit repetitive after a while.

Yummy pizza that ranks up with the best I've ever had

But I can't front on the Thai food either. "Aroy, mak mak!"

And I just love that I can get an hour-long massage for $5! I go to a more official place that cost $7.50 and I choose the "healing massage" option which is more painful than soothing. It has Ministry of Health official status, so it's clean, and I'm scream in pain as he works out the problem areas. But afterwards I feel fresh and new.

Even in the city, you can't hold back the nature from popping through. Tropical flowers burst out of every possible spot and although you may not notice it at first, there are many healthy trees in the city. Sunsets are monumental (checking out an inspiring fiery orange one right now), fruits that are exotic in the West are sold on every street here, on the walls and ceilings geckoes crawl and dart. I even saw an eight foot iguana slithering around in the canal near my home. Getting out of the city ony costs a few dollars and nearby trips offer dreamy beaches and pristine national parks with monkeys, elephant and waterfalls.

It was my birthday last week - so I'm a little reflective because of that also.

Me, gulp, 30 years ago

I had a fun gathering and I was happy that it drew a lot of people, especially for a Sunday night. It was held on a funky rooftop bar near my home, with a lot of Thai whiskey and beer to help lube people's party engines. I got some cool gifts - one notable one was from some Russian race car driver who was friend of a friend. He gave me a bottle of genuine Rusky vodka called Red Army that came in a container that looked like a missile.

I got a ride back to my place with the Rusky race car dude and he lived up to the hype: He drove like a maniac and even though we got a little lost, we still beat our other friends back home for the afterparty on my roof. Up there, I plugged my ipod and speakers and we rocked it until late with the view of the city to keep us inspired. A security guy came up at around 3:30am and broke it up though as we were making a lot of noise and were disturbing the people in the penthouses below. We may not have kept in going til the break-a-dawn like I had wanted, but I considered the gathering very successful, especially for a Sunday night.

My peeps hooking me up with a birthday cake.

BKK skyline from my roof

In a year, I've gotten to Hong Kong, China, Cambodia for a minute, Laos, around Thailand (although not nearly enough) so here's to the next year - as I plan to take it all to the next level. I'm learning Thai language now, which will help my situation here in many ways, as I plan to explore many more regions of the Kingdom. I also hope to try to explore Vietnam, India and Nepal, and try to see Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and maybe Myanmar.

Although I've documented many of my trips out of the city in this journal, this past year was all about getting to know Bangkok. It's a indisputably cool place with styles for miles. I was surprised when I first came here how good the music is and that lots of young people are wearing the funkiest clothing with wild rockstar hairdos alongside the ancient traditions.

The beaming smiles, the quiet temples, the crazy parties, the spicy food and the exotic styles all blissfully blend together. I feel lucky to be here to be part of the excitement - like I've hit the jackpot or something.

Wow Laos part III (Still don't pronounce the "s")

2006-05-21T00:09:00.000+07:00

The trip from Vang Vieng going north to Luang Prabang is pure magnificence. The six-hour trip is a memorable rollercoaster joyride through hypnotic mountains and scattered tiny villages located atop the cliffs that you pass along the road.

We took a mini-van, which took an hour less than the big buses which have difficulty traversing through the windy mountainous passes and we scored a bonus by securing front row seats. I was so inspired by the scenery, I kept taking photos of everything I saw out the window, like the photo above.

We pulled over only a couple of times to go to the bathroom, and when we did, I snapped away to glimpse a bit of life in the villages.

Although the scenes above were all amazing to take in, right outside the roadside bathroom, I saw something sad - another monkey in captivity. The monkey, as you can see, had a leash on, and monkeys as pets with leashes is just wrong in my book. Still, it was a trip to just see a monkey hanging out after I walked out of the bathroom.

The sad monkey

The ride had a great payoff: Immediately upon getting to Luang Prabang, I felt the good vibes.

Luang Prabang is a perfect town. Clean, friendly, surrounded by mountains, it enjoys the presence of two rivers flowing through it, the Mekong (which looks much heathier here than it does in Vientiane), and the Nam Khan.

Coolin' off with a coconut while I kick it on the Mekong (much healthier looking than in Vientiane)

There's a steep mount, Phusi, that stands dominantly in the middle of the town. It has a temple on top of it, and you can walk up a lengthy staircase to get to a great lookout point where you can catch sunsets and a panoramic lay of the land.

Views from Phusi

We stayed in a nice old-timey guesthouse that had a great balcony overlooking the Mekong, a nice touch, and it only cost $10 a night, (or 100,000 kip - the Laos currency, which could benefit from dropping a couple of zeros). The room had character, it was comfortable and well worth it. $10 was considered a little pricy, but we were looking for a while for the "right" place, and this was it, so we threw down the big ten spot per night. Sounds funny, but over here, you start watching the smallest of money.

The view of the Mekong (and a lot of wires) from our hotel room balcony

Luang Prabang felt a little Euro and for some reason reminded me slightly of New Orleans, but only if you turned the volume and craziness dial down from ten to one. Both cities have a French influence which may be the reason the two reminded me of each other. But the town totally shuts down at 11 pm, so leave your beads at home - there's no Mardi Gras going on here. It has been recognized by the UN as a World Heritage Site, which helps it draw a diverse international group of visitors too.

We rented bikes and went to relaxing cafes, temples and to the main museum in town, which houses an ancient Buddha statue that the town is named after. (The museum doesn't allow any photos).

Luang Prabang's best temple, and the most famous one, is Wat Xieng Thong, which was built in 1560, and ranks as one of the coolest Buddhist temples I've ever seen.

Every night, we would stroll by the night market and buy inexpensive clothes or other cool gifty things, sold by villagers who make most of the goods.

But, for me, the top highlight of this leg of the trip was the Khuangsii waterfalls - a nice and breezy 45-minute songthaew trip away.

The waterfalls had many calcified tiers, with each higher level offering an even better area to jump in.

This looks crazy, and I wouldn't have tried it if I had seen lots of others doing the same thing

Ropeswingin' it and loving it. Who's got the Mountain Dew?

It was a tough climb to the top but well worth it as it was dreamily gorgeous and offered a super fun jump into the water, as you can see.

This looks insane, but the current wasn't strong at all, although it was probably a 100 foot drop

There were little caves and coves to dip into and a stunning background of jungles, waterfall and mountains. I really didn't want to leave, but our ride was only hired for three and a half hours. I really love waterfalls, but then again, is there anyone who doesn't? There must be. Probably someone who loves to watch the home shopping network.

The whole trip I kept on saying, "Wow!," and after a while, I added the "Laos" part. I'll bet I'm not the first to do this.

While at the waterfalls, I probably said, "Wow, Laos!" fifty times.

This waterfall is totally off the hizzy

The next day, we checked out the Pak Ou caves which required taking a songthaew an hour north and crossing the Mekong in a cool longtail boat.

Approaching the cave

The two caves were shrines and were filled with lots of Buddha statues and was cool, but after all the caves and waterfalls I had seen on this trip already, it wasn't mind-blowing. Maybe before I came to Asia a year ago it would have seemed like the coolest thing ever, but it didn't feel nearly as cool as it looks in this photo. But it still was pretty awesome.

And there was the view from the higher cave that requires a crazy steep climb, which was memorable.

Another thing to do in Luang Prabang is to wake up early, at the crack of dawn, and feed the monks. They get their meals by the generosity of those who drop food into their bowls, an ancient tradition. I got a little annoyed, though, when a woman, who I thought was just giving me food to give to the monks, told me afterwards that it would cost me a lot. I could have just paid and let it rest, but the New Yorker in me was not willing to be scammed.

I don't like making a big deal about these types of things, and considering how much poor most of these people are, I feel awkward about the haggle and hassle. But I don't like people pulling shifty deals, trying to shake me down, thinking I'm a walking ATM, especially during a sacred event like feeding the monks. In the end, we settled on a better price but it left a bad feeling for soemthing that should have felt good.

Anyway, here's some pics of the monks

After nine days of adventure in Laos, it was time for Fon to get back to work and for me to get back to a couple of writing assignments I needed to complete. So we boarded an early bus from Luang Prabang with the intention of spending the night in Vientiane.

This time we didn't take a mini-bus, but instead opted for the so-called VIP bus with the thought that we'd get some comfort for the long ride. But the bus was slow, dirty, lacking air-conditioning, crowded (people sat in the aisles) and smelly - not at all how it was advertised. But what can you do once you've bought the ticket and are on the bus? You can't go back to complain. You have to smile, and try to be more careful next time. Another scam though ...

When we passed Vang Vieng, with its striking peaks, we were really tempted to get out. It was rainy though so we didn't, but we came really close.

Once we got to Vientiane though, we felt crammy and crappy but decided not to prolong the ride, so we decided to keep cruising to Bangkok.

We took a tuk tuk to the border, where we had to wait an hour unnecessarily, then got in a government transport over the Thai-Laos "friendship bridge."

On the other side, we got yet another tuk tuk to the bus station. There, we caught the last bus leaving to Bangkok, just as it was leaving. Unfortunately, every seat was taken, but they were willing to drive us to the next major stop where we caught a later bus to Bangkok. This time, we got a real VIP bus, with seats as wide as a first-class section on a plane. At 7:00 am, just about 24 hours after we left Luang Prabang, we were home.

Laos ... wow, and thanks for all the memories

Laos II: "Wow, Laos" (don't pronounce the "s")

2006-05-09T17:12:00.000+07:00

[NOTE: you can get the first part of this story by scrolling down or linking straight to it by clicking on the right column on "Laos Prequel"]

We took a propeller plane from Bangkok to Vientiane, Laos' capital. It was a hour's ride as opposed to a 12-hour bus trip that would have involved an annoying border stop where you fill out some paperwork and fork over some extra $ to cross the bridge and then switch buses (you drive on the right hand side in Laos U.S. style, and in Thailand it’s UK left-side-of-the-road stylee).

After a quick visa purchase, I got my bag and Fon and I headed to the center of town and booked a room in a Euro-y boutique hotel for $10. There were three beds in the room, along with cable and a balcony, and breakfast included the next morning - normally a $100+ room in a Western country, at least.

The sweet hotel

Knowing not much about where to go, we headed to the most obvious place to check out - the Mekong River.

It was too dark to see the river really and the whole "city" seemed asleep on a Saturday night that was during the New Year weekend (Laos and Thailand share a common Buddhist new year called Songkran that I briefly went into in my last entry), so no matter where we went, there was no party-time action in Vientiane.

We immediately started drinking Beer Lao, which is a great brew. There is nothing that Laos is known for producing except for this lager (other than opium), but they do it really well. It tastes even better when you're used to drinking Thai beer, which supposedly contains formaldehyde (although there are raging internet debate arguing whether this is indeed the case).

After we drank a few beside the Mekong we headed back, as there wasn't much to do. At the hotel I glanced at the Vientiane Times, an Laotian English newspaper that is essentially a propaganda sheet (I guess the communist Laotian government doesn't want bad news, otherwise known as "news," going out to their generally happy people). But the paper wasn't offensive, it just has very positive about things to say - about everything. It was actually nice and made me smile so maybe they're on to something. I mean, free speech does seem to bring a lot of stress, but then again I guess it also does allow someone like me to be allowed to write a blog like this.

Checking out the not-so-mighty Mekong (not in Vientiane at least) the next morning.

A glimpse of Vientiane, which was nice but a little boring

The next morning we made a move to Vang Vieng, a village about four hours north of the capital. I had heard from friends and a brief mention in a guidebook that it was a great place to hang out and relax, although I really didn't know much else other than that. I was just told to go, and I went.

Immediately upon arrival, I was blown away. Right in front of me was a magnificent range of giant karsts, distinguished by their mountainous angular jagged peaks with lots of caves.

If you are interested in how karsts become karsts click here; I had never heard of them before but they sure do dominate the Vang Vieng landscape, just behind beautiful greenery and a windy river, and despite the swirling misty clouds and light rain that was falling when we arrived, I immediately wanted to jump in.

I put that urge on hold though and instead, Fon and I looked around for a place to stay along with an American guy named Keith who was supposed to meet his brother at an organic cafe that was somewhere around town. His brother came up separately by motorcycle from Vientiane.

We ended up at the Riverside Bungalows pictured above, for five dollars a day, with a balcony looking out onto this view.

I couldn't help but smile. I was surrounded by such inspiring nature in a most relaxed, comfortable setting where I felt so safe in a place that was unlike anywhere I had ever seen before.

We decided to rent bicycles and ride to the organic cafe, which my guidebook said was three kilometers out of town. Taking in the scenery by bike is always nice getting some great exercise, making my own trail and moving to my own beat and in Bangkok, because of the crazy traffic and bad air, biking around isn't a viable option.

I was also excited because I have a serious weakness for organic health food cafes and Bangkok hardly has any, which is surprising, although it's just a matter of time until they get hip to the OG scene.

The food was amazing. The tofu tasted different than any I had ever had before. It was almost crunchy without being too fried. It had a real homemade taste, and the accompanying peanut sauce was too tasty for words. But the best thing they had going on was this...

Mmmmmmm, fried mulberry leaves! Prepared like tempura, this was so fun, and funny, to eat especially when dipped in the honey sauce it came with, instantly becoming an all-time favorite food of mine.

The organic cafe actually is part of a farm, where they specialize in harvesting mulberry and they make teas and smoothies with it that are all very berry-licious.

Unfortunately for Keith, his brother didn't show up, which unfortunately meant for my girth that I had to keep eating and taking photos of people walking on their way to the river.

One weird thing that the cafe had going on were these giant elephant bones just stacked up.

We did go down to the nearby water for a nice swim where some traditional Laotians were bathing and washing clothes. It was totally National Geographic style. I took photos and didn't even realize that one of the older women was topless until afterwards. Is it wrong for me to put this up on here? If so, I'll take it down.

We biked back and Keith seemed worried by the look on his face. It was certainly in the realm of possibility that his brother could have run into some sort of trouble on his motorcycle ride. It was Songkran (New Years), where people shoot water guns and hoses at passersby on the road, even at motorcycles. As a result, several hundred of people die in accidents every New Year in Thailand and Laos.

I didn't want to say anything to make Keith trip out any more though and we parted ways as Keith went wandering around the village to look for his brother while Fon and I went back to the room to watch a great sunset.

After showering up, we went to get some food in town, which was really one or two dirt roads, filled with restaurants where you chill out and lie on these comfy Asian-style cushions. Just about every restaurant had TVs showing DVDs, which is a fairly common attribute of Southeast Asian backpacker spot. Often they'll show current movies as they certainly are up on their piracy here.

Some offered movies, but the hot spots in town were the places that showed "Friends" non-stop. Those places attracted the biggest crowds of people. I've never been a "Friends" fan though, so we went to the place that showed the Simpsons.

Flipping through the menu though I noticed that there were some interesting things on the last page.

Indeed Vang Vieng is a bit of a lawless village as there were at least several restaurants offering the same "happy" options on the menu. How these places are allowed to do it, I'm not exactly sure because drugs are illegal in Laos. But there are certain places in the world where you can get away with it for whatever reason, somehow slipping by the authorities or maybe slipping some paper to them not to notice.

Later on in the night, we saw Keith ... and his brother. It turns out that there was an organic cafe also in the town, which was a second branch of the first but was too new to be included in the guidebook. Keith looked much happier.

I was in a great mood the next morning after walking down the road and seeing this woman holding this and then allowing it to climb all over me (the monkey, that is).

But I was really sad to learn afterwards from her that she killed the monkey's mother in order to get it. That really made me sad.

There were many fun things to do in Vang Vieng, notably spelunking. There are a variety of amazing caves, but the one that was clearly the winner in my book involved a seven-kilometer hike through dirt roads and a river. We could have biked, but it was so hot and it was a little complicated to get there and the signage was kind of weak we were told, so we hired this driver whose tractor tuk tuk could go through the river and over the rocky terrain on the other side.

He charged five dollars to bring us and wait a couple of hours for us to enjoy ourselves.

These kids followed us in the river and ran along with us. It was really funny and I gave them a buck each.

The cave was massive and elaborate ... and, well, cavernous. If you were under the influence of something you would probably see weird trippy things in the stalagmite and stalactites. Not that I would know anything about that.

We explored a bit and hung out in the cool cave for an hour or so, and only two other people came and they left soon after. Once upon a time, some caveman was living large up in there.

After that cave, we went down and jumped into the perfect blue pool which had an awesomely fun rope swing. The perfect way to cool down and feel like you were in a Mountain Dew commercial.

Another memorable thing in VV was the tubing. Right near where the original organic cafe/farm is located you can float down in the river in a tire tube and stop off at many different bars or mini docks along the way to drink a beer, swing off a giant rope swing or eat. When we got tubular, though, it was a little late in the day and kind of chilly, so we sort of rushed through it.

Also, the current wasn't that strong when we went, so there was a lot of paddling. But at the place where you are supposed to disembark the current suddenly became fierce, which makes you wonder why that's the place to get out. Anyway as soon as I got on my feet, I noticed that my dry bag with my wallet and passport was missing although I had it secured on top of my stomach the whole way. But when I got up, apparently it became detached somehow from the strap around me.

Two eyewitnesses from a bamboo bridge quickly shouted to me that they could see it floating down the river. I couldn't see it from my vantage point, plus it was dusk, and getting dark. But Fon immediately went headfirst on the tubes and tracked it down. Otherwise I would have been up a different creek.

I am definitely going back to VV. It's a seriously magical place. But next came Luang Prabang, which I'll write about in my next and final Laos entry.

At another cave in Vang Vieng

Spelunking in style

Vang Vieng

Laos Prequel

2006-04-30T21:53:00.000+07:00

Because my recent Laos trip was so epic, I have to spread it out over three installments. So here's the back story, the pre-trip if you will, and a few photos to give you a sneak preview of what is to come!!

Talk about a journey - this trip represented the first time since I've been here that I was really a backpacker, and the magic was all there again. That magic that first mesmirised me in 1993, during a semester abroad to Rome when I wandered around Europe and saw a different side of life and the world that changed the course of my life and world.

That first experience travelling set into motion a spirit and a longing to do what I'm doing now - living on the other side of the planet and allowing the adventures to unfold in a most exotic way. And although I am living in a completely foreign city to me which is always full of surprises, living full-time in Bangkok with a full-time job is much different than running around as a backpacker.

But now that I'm freelancing, it's all opening up for me again. (By the way, the freelancing is going nicely so far - click here (I wrote the right column in blue) and here for examples, and there is more to come.) This new freedom is allowing me to finally see new places that spark these wonderfully unanticipated and extremely fulfilling emotions.

Enough poetry, though, and onto the story.

Fon was able to take off a little time from work for the Thai new year that just passed, also known as the Songkran Festival. During Songkran, the whole country engages in a four-day, massive water fight which is a blast. Actually many blasts ... of water.

I was in town for the first couple of days of Songkran and I had a pretty sweet Super-Soaker water rifle. But I wasn't armed with the bazooka style water cannons that others were packing, so I got nailed more than my fair share. But it was a refreshing antidote to the crazy heat, and so much fun. It was mostly me doing the damage anyway, takin out suckas who dared challenge my Brooklyn style.

I couldn't take photos because my camera would have been likely destroyed, so you'll have to use your imagination. As it turned out, my mobile (what you Americans call cell phones) had to be set with a new LCD the next day due to the drenching it took in the pocket of my supposedly waterproof pants.

And here's a piece of advice - don't try to make travel arrangements in Thailand during Songkran. We waited until the last minute to get tickets, 4:00pm on Songkran eve. We discovered that buses and trains weren't running for the next four days and the only way to get up to Laos was to fly. By the way, Laos is pronounced without the "s." The "s" spelling came about because of a French faux pa, back in the days when they were being aggressive colonizers in Southeast Asia, and somehow the name stuck.

The plane tickets were slightly expensive, for these parts at least, but I was being pressured a little to hurry up and decide from the travel agency and I did want to maximize my time in Laos so I figured I would go for it. But when the travel agency said they couldn't take credit cards, Fon and I went out to get cash, and we started discussing it a little more. We decided to pass on the airplane tickets and wait until the buses were running again (a bus cost less than $10 as opposed to $100 for the plane). So we went back to tell the travel agent to forget it.

But the travel agent had other ideas.

The woman I was dealing with said it was too late because she already ordered the tickets, which she said couldn't be refunded. Incredulous, I we explained that we didn't even paid them yet, which prompted this other mean, large woman to both lock and physically block the door. I couldn't believe it.

I wasn't having it. After a few minutes of trying to talking sense with them, explaining that I didn't even have the cash with me, as we didn't even go to the ATM, I nudged the woman aside and forced my way out, enduring a scratch on the arm from her. But Fon, acting as a typical Thai, was being polite and decided not to fight.

I was actually in a rush because I was trying to get to a Passover Seder that night on the other side of town. So this was becoming a problem because Fon was being held hostage and I felt like I had to do something.

Choosing what I thought was my best option, I got the cash to rescue Fon from the insane travel agency. So Fon got freed and I got to my Seder just in time.

At the Seder, I encountered Jews from far flung places like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Paris, and even some middle aged German-born Jews (which I thought was the weirdest because they were born and grew up there in the 1950's and 60's). The Rabbi was from New York, though, which was cool because it provided a little sense of home, on a holiday that is all about family.

Anyway, that's the back story of how we got the tickets. Below are more coming attractions to the soon to be published Laos entries. I'm trying something new, by making you click on these links below and giving you the ability to make the photos bigger by opening your brower windows wider . Anyone care to say what style of photo delivery they like better? (Shameless attempt to get feedback.)

So click here to get a glimpse of this 500 hundred year old funeral chapel at Wat Xieng Thong in Luang Prabang.
My new all-time favorite waterfall that I've ever swam in (respect to Niagra Falls and the 420-foot high Akaka Falls on Hawaii).
I occasionally had to use these
I saw wonderfully nice people like this smiling woman.
and these guys playing Takraw, like volleyball and soccer combined. It's nuts. This guy is spiking the ball with his foot!

Stay tuned ...

A beach in paradise and a tropical rainforest

2006-04-14T18:21:00.000+07:00

A couple of weeks ago, two long-time friends from high school, Carol and Marcello, who are married, came to Thailand for a week-long visit and we had an amazing time in Amazing Thailand, as the tourism board here likes to call this country.

I had just gotten back from New York where I attended my grandmother's funeral. I saw a bunch of friends and took care of some personal business. And NY was cool, but with the cold weather and with everything so expensive compared to BKK, I wasn't feeling any need to move back, and I was looking forward to coming back here - to thaw myself out.

And now my life here has totally changed. Right before I went to NY, I quit my editor job here because it just wasn't right for me. The ethical standards were way too low and the employers didn't care about real journalism at all. I knew I made the right choice to quit, when my boss agreed with my decision to resign, and said that I "was too smart for the job."

Now I can finally enjoy being in this tropical paradise a little, as a freelancer, with the chance to breathe easy. I have a few freelance hook-ups already lined up and it's all been great so far.

So Marcello and Carol came, as well as their friends, Pete and Karen, who, over the years, have become my friends too. I featured them on this blog a while back, in fact, when I visited them in Hong Kong.

They all converged in Bangkok right when I got back from NY (Pete and Karen were already on a separate trip through Southeast Asia) and we had great fun in BKK visiting some of the wilder parts of town and getting into a little trouble. (Hint: one of us overturned a tip jar that at a rather seedy establishment in response to a disputed bill. And going "tip jar" became a theme of the trip.)

First we went to Ko Samet, an incredible island just a couple of hours away from Bangkok, according, at least, to the local travel agent who sold us tickets.

Unfortunately it took more like six hours including a transfer that we barely found out about in time. Then we had trouble finding a place that suited everyone (I was on a tighter budget, since they were all on holiday and spending baht to them was like spending monopoly money).

We settled on the more exclusive west side of Samet, which was absolutely beautiful and we just chilled out by the beach, ate, swam (with fun underwater distance swimming competitions) and chilled some more.

The beach where we stayed.

A ridunkulous Ko Samet sunset.

Pete and Marcello chillin in the songthaew (pickup truck used for transport).

Carol and Karen cool off in the infinity pool.

On the ferry, leaving.

We came back to BKK (this time it took less than three hours) and the next day Pete and Karen had to take off to Indonesia for a separate trip and Marcello and Carol, and my special young lady friend, Fon (pronounced like "Phone?" as though you were asking a question), and I went to Khao Yai, a national park that was recently designated a World Heritage Site.

We kind of stumbled upon a lodging set up that was recommended in the guidebooks and it turned out to be this cool Thai Swiss lodge-y kind of place. It had a good vibe and was comfortable and had nice gardens with intermittant small ponds and windy paths.

It was the late afternoon when we got there so we couldn't hit the park, but the lodge staff was willing to bring us to this bat cave where we watched literally (and I mean literally) millions of bats fly out of this cave. We waited about 20 minutes until they came out and I was happy that they finally showed up on the scene so they could eat some of the bugs that were gnawing away at me!

BATS!

Bats moving wherever the wind takes them (that's what the guide said at least).

Here's a falcon picking up some dinner, an unlucky one or two out of the batstream.

The Thai Swiss Lodge set us up with a guide the next day named Mr. A. We rolled in a songthaew again and Mr. A kept on finding wildlife, way up in the trees, and I have no idea how he spotted it all.

There is an incredible variety of wildlife in Khao Yai - and we saw a lot. While we didn't see any of the wild elephants that live there, we did see their dung.

There are tigers that live there also, and while I would have loved to have seen one, I wouldn't want to be eaten by one so I was OK without seeing them.

There were, however, plenty of monkeys.

And they were doing what they enjoy doing best, doing it!

A swinging gibbon (with baby hanging on).

Gibbon and young gibbie.

Two great hornbills (they always stay in pairs and if one dies, the other one dies soon after).

A distinguished frog

I found this big but harmless bug crawling up me

Awesome waterfalls!

Marcello and I wearing our Khao Yai unity hats that were totally jungle ghetto style.

This is where the waterfall scene in the movie "The Beach" was set. This waterfall's water was actually kind of nasty though and as much as I wanted to swim, it was so unappealing, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Besides, I never even saw "The Beach."

To get to these other, cooler falls, it was hectic. But we did it, led by Fon, who was imitating some of the moves she just saw the monkeys use, as she hopscotched down these giant steep boulders. Marcello and I were way more cautious, practically sliding down as we held onto roots and jutting rocks (maybe I'm exaggerating a little but not much).

Fon doing a little pose in front of the much chiller waterfalls.

And I went in for a memorable swim.

We stayed there for a nice while and I didn't want to get out.

The hiking was awesome too.

Serious wood.

A bear's claw marks a tree to show whose turf this is.

Leeches were a bit of a problem.

I even bought leech socks, but one managed its way inside to my foot, and when I pulled it off there was quite a bit of blood. But after I saw that you could pull one off pretty easily, I ended up not being as afraid of them as I was before.

They were still pretty f'ed up though.

We ended the day with a "night safari" which was just a ride on a different songthaew with some woman who used a spotlight to point out animals. The animals, understandably, seemed kind of annoyed.

Still I enjoyed seeing this deer with big antlers

It ended up raining crazily and we got drenched. We made it to a shelter and waited until a minivan came to pick us up. In the van, Marcello asked the guy to turn up the heat, but in Thailand, the cars don't come equipped with heat. Funny, huh.

Marcello and Carol left the next day, ending one of the most fun weeks I've had in Thailand for choo-ah ("Thai English" for "sure.")

Going to Laos tomorrow for a week. The adventures unfold ....

Stopping and thinking for a second

2006-04-11T23:29:00.001+07:00

I ran into a couple of ex-coworkers of mine from my first job out here at ThaiDay and it reminded me that I meant to run a caveat a while back but never got around to it.

My experience at ThaiDay was pretty bad, and I slammed it in a post a few months back. I subsequently ran into one of the good guys who is still working there. In reality, about half the staff are good people, but the other dark half is so bad that they kind of overshadow them.

Anyway, my former colleague was pretty unhappy that I tore the newspaper a new one in this blog and when I ran into him maybe a month ago, he asked me to write a little something to let people out there know that there are definitely people with ThaiDay who bust their behinds to get stories and to try to make the paper good.

Then I saw him again and felt bad cause I had told him I would run the caveat but when I saw him again I hadn't gotten around to doing it. So here it is so next time I won't feel bad.

The episode also made me think about who might be reading this and how, I actually don't even tell these stories the way I might if I were just talking to a friend. In reality, I'd probably be much harsher to ThaiDay in a converation as well as tell much wilder descriptions in differnt postss of these crazy adventures I keep having.

But can I, or do I, want to overcome the invisible walls that I put up to protect myself instead of expressing myself on this blog how I really want to am concerned that it may affect me it in the future if anyone is ever does a big background check on me or something (as if there wouldn't be so many other things that would probably already be red flagged). I'm usually way too candid in conversations and give up way too much information, which, I believe, can be both a fault and a gift.

Anyway, with that said, here's a preview of my next blog entry which is coming really soon. It's all very exciting! Stay tuned ...

Goodbye Thaksin

2006-04-05T01:14:00.000+07:00

It looks like Thaksin has bit the bullet and is resigning. He announced this news this evening, which is a dramatic turn of events. Thaksin is usually stubborn and arrogant, and to see him take this conciliatory stance is quite unexpected. Just yesterday he defiantly stated that he won the election by the rules and that he should stay on.

This AP article sums it up pretty well.

I took these two pics early in my BKK career. Guess I won't be needing them too much in the future ... although you never know.