I woke up in my hostel bed in Singapore with a throbbing head ache. I felt the back of my head where two large bumps brought back a painful reminder of the previous nights proceedings. I would leave Singapore that morning. I caught the first bus to Johar Baru, then 2 connecting buses to Mersing, followed by a one hour speed boat ride to Air Batang on the island of Paluau Tioman off the East Coat of Peninsular Malaysia. Tioman is a sleepy tropical island filled with empty beaches, friendly locals, cheap accomodation and some of the best snorkeling and diving [View Full Entry]

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I was sitting at a table underneath a Coca Cola umbrella at a sidewalk cafe in Singapore's China town when it started. Slowly at first, then with more intensity. The rain trickled off the edges of the umbrella. A shop keeper across the road held out a plastic bag to collect the water. I was trapped with no where to go. I finished the mysterious rice dish that I was eating. It was kind of good, but mostly really bad (I should probably invest in a thesaurus). I ordered a beer to help wait out the storm, and made small talk [View Full Entry]

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Day five of my adventures in Oman promised to fulfill all of my Kitschy tourist desires as we drove to Wahiba sands to stay at a desert camp set up like a traditional Beduin village in the middle of the dessert. Barzani the sketchbot Land Rover drove over the dunes in the mid day sun. We approached the abandoned village. I was "Mahid" (the equivalent of the Spanish Siesta). Lying on a bed of pillows under the camps main shelter was Salam, the owner/ operator of the camp. Salam immediately began explaining to us that the reason for Mahid was so [View Full Entry]

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Dubai and Muscat are like sisters. Dubai needs to be at the center of attention at all times; she wears revealing clothing, lots of makeup, and chances are she'll be pregnant by the time she's 16. Muscat is the cooler, older, hippy sister; she is more modest, laid back and wears her beauty effortlessly... I could feel the pace of life slow to a leisurely halt as the plane touched down in Muscat. Everything about travelling in a foriegn land that was challenging and difficult washed away when I saw the familiar faces of Dave and Jana on the other side [View Full Entry]

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The most airconditioned city in the world tries really hard to convince visitors that this is a habitable part of the globe. One only has to walk out the doors of the airport into the sweltering 8 am heat to realise that this is a massive lie propegated by the obviously evil, Dubai Board of Tourism. I came to Dubai with expectations of Pristine buildings and streets, and lavish wealth. What I didn't expect as I rode the city bus towards Deira was the throngs of struggling immigrants, looking for a fortune that isn't there. Indian and Pakastani people make up [View Full Entry]

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7:45- Heathrow departure lounge. I look around at the fellow passengers who are about to join me on the 7 hour flight to Dubai; British Families with young children, wealthy sultans with heirems, and ignorant American oil men whose rampant usage of the term "sons a bitches" and confederate flags on their worn t-shirts single handedly perpetuate the global antipathy towards America (Especially in the Middle East) . I imagine a "Lost" situation with these people. Visions of Three Kings meets Lord of the Flies meets National Lampoons Vacation dance through my head... shudder. At least I woul [View Full Entry]

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Its raining again. Pretty hard this time. Rain drops fall on cracked pavement in spite of my exhuberant mood. I walk out the door. Away from angry fat british children, away from a class room filled with badly drawn penises, away from cold and heartless staff members who resent me for reasons I do not understand. I am free again to roam the world, and rejoin the ranks of the travelling community. Living out of a backpack and catching foriegn diseases never sounded so sweet. The Itinerary is ambitious. It follows: April 8- Bus to london then night time flight to [View Full Entry]

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Krakow is the new Prague. I've heard this uttered many times from circles of pretentious and self-righteous back packers. Once a legendary secret on the backpacker trail, Prague got cool. Now, Prague is the place for British Stag Parties and inexperienced Gappers. The two cities share many things; cheap beer, cobbled streets, magnificent architecture, beautiful women, cold weather and fur coats. The difference is in the air. In Prague the air is electric. In Krakow the air is cold with blowing snow. The women smile less, the hobos have skinnier dogs, and the expats are few and far between. [View Full Entry]

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I am sitting at my desk falling in and out of consciousness, as paper airplanes and spitballs whiz past my head. I stare absent-mindedly at the back wall where "MR DUEK IS GAY" is crudely written in bright blue letters with permanent marker. I squint to see the letters more closely and notice that someone has scribbled "I NOW" with a black pen beside the original statement. Underneath the two messages is a badly drawn penis. There are a lot of badly drawn penises in my classroom; three of them occupy spots on the seats of random classroom chairs, others live [View Full Entry]

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The tree that will not bend will break. There’s something to be said for diplomacy. When those around you show signs of teenage angst, decades past their teenage prime, it is necessary to remain the beacon of neutrality, the shoulder to cry on, the sounding board of gossip. There comes a time however, when your turn comes to be unreasonable. Teachers and mothers have the most nervous breakdowns because they are the ones who must maintain cool in the face of adversity. One day “Serenity Now!” doesn’t work and ‘Pop’; I think that’s what a nervous breakd [View Full Entry]

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