South East Asia adventure

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Wow. Where to begin....

I started my trip off on a layover in Taipei's trippy ass Hello Kitty airport. I had a 5 hour stop-over on my way to Indonesia so I got some Taiwanese beers and soaked up the randomness of the airport. There was free whiskey testing stations, Gucci and Prada stores, bright pink neon lit Hello Kitty lounges with couches and recliner chairs, fully themed different gates decked out with dinosaurs, flowers, underwater ocean scenes and so on. Each wing of the place was completely different and felt more like a crazy mega mall then an airport. Caught my connecting flight and I was off to Indonesia.



I landed in Bali (One of Indonesia's 17'508 islands) which is somewhere I've always been told I would fall in love with and want to stay. My cousin Dave who was on this whole adventure with me had already arrived and was waiting for me with an old school buddy of mine named Keen. He's an incredible chef from Vancouver and moved to Bali about 6 months earlier to open his new restaurant. In arrivals they were waiting for me with a sign that said "Emotionz" and was a great way to start my trip on the right foot. We drove through Denpasar and headed for our villa in a town called Seminyak. Palm trees, narrow streets and lots of motorbikes kinda reminded me of Thailand but with more art everywhere. We got to our spot and it was nicey. Private pool, exotic plants and an open house concept with sliding glass walls that open up right to the pool. The Mount Agung volcano had a minor eruption about 3 weeks before we arrived so tourism was down 85%. That obviously sucked for the locals who depend on that but was kinda refreshing for us getting to see more of the local lifestyle and people instead of mostly foreigners. Bali has its own language called "Balinese" opposed to most of Indonesia who speak Indonesian. We checked out a few really cool bars and restaurants in our neighborhood and felt out the lay of the land. The culinary culture there is awesome and Bali definitely prides itself on having great food, fresh ingredients and both local and international cuisine that is world class. We ended up staying for 6 days and I never ate anything that wasn't really good. We hit a spot called Champagne lounge for some Bintang beers and Dutch food. After some yummy Vlammetjes (spicy beef spring rolls) we hit a couple bars and crushed some street eats from a family running a little food shack out of their home. The next day we ventured into Kuda which is an Australian party district. It wasn't really my cup of tea but it's almost like going to Vancouver without checking out the Granville strip, So we had too. Huge 1000+ person nightclubs, street vendors, massage parlours, carnival rides, big LED screens, drunk Aussies and food trucks. The next day we went to Canggu which is a really cool artist neighborhood. There's murals everywhere and even a graffiti shop "All Caps" and a graffiti festival called "Tropica" that happens every year with artists from all over the world. Whole complexes full of murals from top to bottom and even the rice fields in the surrounding areas have graff and art painted all over. Multiple skateparks, funky bars, pubs and gastronomy everywhere. The next day we headed out for Ubud which is a beautiful lush mountain neighborhood filled with beaches, yoga retreats, spas, monkeys, art galleries and so many creative people both local and foreigners. Our villa was breathtaking with infinity pools, hand crafted wooden furniture and personal masseuses on deck. My boy Keen wanted to paint a mural together so we got some spray paint and painted some pieces undercover in a jungle rainstorm. They came out dope and it was definitely the most unique spot I've ever done graffiti. After that we went and checked out his new restaurant "Bonito" which ended up being our favourite food on the entire island. I had blue cheese mash potatoes, sirloin, lamb burgers and some other great appies. After some local wine selections we hit up a bar called Potatohead for some "Arak" which is Indonesian moonshine (oh boy) that quickly put us to sleep. On the next day we hit up an amazing art gallery called "Yarri Toya Studios" and got to hang out with the artist Yarri Rom. He's a world famous painter/designer from the States who's stories are just about as crazy as his work. We all went out to a spot afterwards called Bamboo and I got to do a beatbox performance with a live Balinese band. After that we went and smoked shisha and watched live music at a Dutch bar called XL Shisha Lounge. The owners were mad cool and we hung out talking about Bali and the new school that they had recently opened for children with disabilities. On our last day we decided to hit up Monkey forest which was epic. Thousands of monkeys in an old growth forest. The sun rays shining through avatar looking trees with monkeys running everywhere and beautiful Hindu statues covered in bright green moss. The weather, people, culture, art, nature and vibe of Bali was all around 10/10 and we loved it there. Was tough to leave that island but it was time to head out to Thailand.





Thailand is the funnest country in the world for me. From the people being light hearted and funny to there being copious amounts of entertaining and fun things to do. My cousin Dave and I both love big cities so Bangkok (population 8.2 million) is like the New York of South East Asia. We only had 2 days in town so we planned to stay busy our entire time. We got settled into our hotel Aloft in the berangi district and headed out to explore. The skytrain system in Bangkok is awesome and makes it super easy to get around. You also pay your fair depending on how many stops your going which seems to be a really logical way of doing public transit. Tuk Tuk's (carts on motorcycles) are also a rad way to get around and see the city, just don't forget to bargain your way down to a normal price with your driver. After some authentic pad Thai we hit up the 63rd floor rooftop at Lebua Skybar for some amazing agave and lychee cocktails. I actually got turned around at the door because I had shorts on and it's a pretty fancy spot with a pants/shirt dress code. As I was bumbed out walking away I saw a dude who was renting dress pants haha. So I threw him a couple bucks and he laced me up so I could get in. We bar hopped around and ate some legendary street food with different vendors all night. In the morning we hit up the Muslim district for some culture , pineapple rice bowls and Arabic breakfast. After Pool side chillin at the hotel we linked up with my Canadian buddy Dalley who was visiting from Vancouver as well. Drank some cold Singha's with him and we headed out to venture into the Thong Lo district. We started the night off at my favorite bar in the world (honestly my #1 favorite spot for drinks in the world) called J Boroski's. It's a secret unmarked door in a side alley that you'd have to know about to find. Inside is almost pitch black with a few candles lit and thousands of creepy bugs (dead ones) on the walls and roof. Everyday they get completely new fresh ingredients in for the mixologists and one of their themes is that they've never made the same drink twice. There's no menu and you can't order drinks you can just suggest flavours, styles or certain tastes that you like and they create you something original. The bartenders and drinks are amazing. After that we hit up a really cool speakeasy type absinthe bar called Iron Ferries. Got twisted off some wormwood absinthe and watched a jazz band play some gems. The next morning we headed out to Jomtien beach and got a really cool/funky hotel called Siam@Siam. The rooftop bar/pool at our spot was one of the nicest I've ever seen and was really hard to leave. Beach strolls, -10 ice bar, shitty food at Hooters, girly bars, 50 cent Chang beers and hanging with locals was the rest of our night. Woke up in the morning and headed out for Cambodia!





Phnom Penh is a bit intimidating at first as it's pretty crowded (population 1.5 Million) and definitely has a 3rd world feeling to it. Once you get your berrings in though and realize how nice most of the people are it's an awesome city. The street kids are amazing salesmen and hustle bracelets and trinkets hard. They're also super smart and can count to ten and say a few words in about 10-20 different languages. They'd ask where your from and when you answer they'd say your Prime Minister or Presidents name, it was impressive. The resilience of the Khmer people is very powerful. From having a horrible genocide and evil regime (Khmer Rouge) take over the country in the 70's to bouncing back and being a happy upbeat Country in present times. It's sad that Cambodia was littered with millions and millions of landmines during the war and it's definitely the most amount of amputees I've ever seen anywhere. It's very regular for a man or woman with no legs to slide up to you asking for change on the street. My favorite book I've ever read is called "First they killed my father" and I bought it from an amputee who had survived those years. It made reading the book in Cambodia that much more powerful and real to me. It honestly made me shed tears a couple times but I felt that out of respect for the history of Cambodia I had to read it while I was there. We got a nice air bnb spot by the riverside and set up shop for the week. On our first night out we accidentally walked into a private birthday party and were invited to stay, eat and drink with the locals. We learnt how to dance some traditional birthday celebration dances in unison with the whole party. They also randomly played the Slim Shady album front to back which added some nice weirdness to the ambiance. The next day we headed out to meet up with our friend Eddie who's a hip hop promoter that moved to Cambodia years ago from Scotland. We also linked with his boy Jason who moved to Phnom Penh from England and has a sick street wear company called "40 Thieves". They took us out for Iraqi cuisine which I'd never had before and was really good. After lamb kabobs and a bunch of goodness we bar hopped around in Tuk Tuk's and checked out a few of the local go to spots. My cousin got pretty sick when we arrived in town so we tried to stack him up on medicine, vitamins, gravol, tums and sleep. Some crazy dude outside our crib kept trying to sell us on coming to shoot machine guns and missiles in the jungle. He said "Hey bro, You wanna blow up a cow with a missile?" and our natural sane reply to that was "Fuck No". The next day was my big show with Stanton Warriors who Eddie has booked a few times out there from the UK. The event was at one of the most famous clubs called "Heart of Darkness". It's a crazy two floor venue that looks like something in between a posh nightclub and an epic Buddhist spa with amazing statues, lighting, art and decor. I got to rock the mic with Stanton and the show was packed and off the hook. The night was going really good so far and we hit up a brick oven street pizza spot on our way home. All of a sudden I felt really fucked up. I'm pretty sure it was some bad/cheap local liquor that was bottled in a different brand name bottle or I may have accidentally drank someone else's drink that had something funny in it. Regardless of what it was I got heeeeeella sick. After so many trips to the bathroom all night to puke I just brought my pillow into the bathroom and slept on the floor. Was one of the roughest nights I've ever had. In the morning we had a 5 hour drive out to Seam Reap so that was a tough one as well. I tried to fill up on liquids and take as many Chinese herbs as I could. This city has a fun/vibrant vibe and is where everyone stays who's visiting the Angkor Wat temples. When I was in Seam Reap last year I ate frogs, scorpions, alligator, ostrich, kangaroo, crocodile, grasshoppers and some other weird foods. I had planned to try tarantulas and silk worms this time but I arrived in no shape to be adventurously eating anything. I played it safe with a tumeric coconut soup and prayed to God that I wouldn't feel this sick for the rest of my trip. I did however manage to get a 2 hour massage in town and a fish pedicure. After hundreds of fish nibbling at my feet we headed out to the airport en route to the Philippines.





I've always wanted to go to The Philippines. I haven't necessarily heard the greatest or safest things about Manila (population of 2 million) but as I mentioned I like big cities so I was excited to check it out for myself. We landed in Manila late night and I was still feeling pretty quisey. We got a hotel in Makati which is a financial/baller district. The people in The Philippines are some of the happiest and nicest in the world. Even those in extreme poverty are still laughing, smiling and willing to offer you whatever they can/have. We started the next day off by going to the hood to experience the real Manila. We cabbed out to a neighbourhood called Quiepo and walked around for a few hours checking out butterfly knives, gunshops on the street, a 500 year old church, Grannies recycling wax into candles, crazy karaoke arcade machines blaring pop music and stolen phones for sale. It was pretty intense there but was cool to check it out and I'm glad we hit it up. Next we headed over to Malate to roll through some alleys and side streets to meet the locals of the area. The first sketchy looking alley we cut down was full of street kids and people showing us love. A grandpa aged man in his shack invited us to come into his home and share his rice with him. We didn't wanna take his only food but we felt heart harmed and welcome from the really nice gesture. After a few neighborhoods and crazy big malls we headed out to check some midget boxing for the night. The little dudes were super cool and funny. We bought a round of drinks for all of them so that I was able to referee one of their boxing matches. It was hilarious and I had a blast with em. They were intentionally missing punches and trying to hit me in the balls which kinda sucked but was still funny. After lotsa drinks and a couple punches to the nuts I was finally feeling like myself again and wasn't sick (I don't know how that worked but it did?). Two street kids around 8 years old randomly rolled up to us beatboxing and singing. They were so cute and talented I had to jam with them. We did a colab beatbox together while the other kid sang and rapped over us jammin. Was a special moment for me and reaffirmed that Filipino's are born with hip hop in their blood. Culinary highlights of Manila for me were Hibiscus wild berry tea, Calamansi fruit drinks, Chicken inasal, adobo chicken, a French styled salmon benny and San Miguel lights. The next day we loaded onto a small commuter plane, then onto a boat and off to Boracay. It is such a beautiful island and one of the nicest places I've ever been too. The Philippines has 7'107 islands in it and most of them are insanely picturesque tropical beach islands. The boardwalk aka sandy path along the beachfront was really cool. Trendy bars and bamboo tiki hut looking restaurants are everywhere. Bean bag lounges along the water with live music, fire dancers, hookas and shisha everywhere. Merchants line the street selling everything from monkey skulls and balute (baby chicken eggs with faces popping out) to fake louis vuitton bags. We stayed in a really cool hotel right on the beach called Red Coconut. My cousin knew the owner Mike so he took great care of us and we shared some good drinks and laughs with him over the couple days. He offered us one of their signature drinks called a "brain drain" which we luckily turned down because it has 13 shots of liquor in it. My cousin Dave used to own a club in Boracay for two years so it was cool to finally meet all his old friends and fully experience how he was living out there. The sunsets were 2nd to none and completely blew us away with beauty. Every colour in the spectrum scattered across the sky with the huge orange sun melting into the turquoise ocean. I was stoked that the main people vacationing in Boracay were Filipino families from other parts of the country. There's also plenty of Koreans, Chinese, Canadians, Americans, Europeans and Russians but the town still had a predominantly Filipino vibe. We checked out some jaw dropping white sand beaches and got to record me doing a live rap at one of them called "Willy's Rock". We ventured out to another beach nearby and got to check out Manny Paquio's beach house, which was crazy nice. The food/drink highlights for me were Salpicao (Spanish steak), flaming kabobs at Nigi Nigi nu nuus, Sisig (pig face and brains) which is actually really tasty, Mango mojitos, mango shakes and Red Horse beer (8% alc). I could have definitely spent way more time in Boracay but we had to head back to Manila for our last night of the trip. We got to town and hit up a Cuban restaurant with live Cuban music and nice cocktails. I randomly looked up and saw my buddy Cole from high school sitting next to me in Manila. We were tripped out bumping into each other like that and got to quickly catch up on life and what we'd been up to. After that we met up with a couple of Dave's friends Barry and John who are from Vancouver and Florida but now live out in the Philippines. We ate some nice jalapeño appies and headed out to an artsy Columbian bar. We also found one of the only craft beer spots in town and got to try some crazy new hops and flavours before calling it a night.





South East Asia in general is sooooo fun and welcoming. It'd be hard for me to say I have a favorite country out of all of them because they all have their unique flavours and perks about them. What I can say though is that Bali (Indonesia), Cambodia, Thailand and The Philippines are magical places with amazingly beautiful welcoming people. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to experience such special places and I'd suggest anyone to travel there if you have the chance. Thank god for keeping us safe and healthy on this trip and thank you from the bottom of my heart to every single person we crossed paths and interacted with. Special thanks to my sponsors Neid Studios and Oh My Print Solutions for helping make this trip a reality and a big thank you to all my family, friends, fans and followers for sharing the adventures with us online. Last but not least a big thanks and mucho love to my cousin Dave Jackson for showing me the ropes out there and being the funnest travel partner ever. Til next time.... ?

David Nelson (Emotionz)

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