First off, I am two weeks behind. Sorry to all the readers who were expecting daily updates! I made (yet another) overnight journey down south to an island called Koh Tao. This place is supposed to be really good for diving. I was thinking that I might take my "Advanced Open Water Diver Course". Koh Tao is sort of the Diving instruction mecca for South East Asia. I got on the boat, and proceeded to listen to the hard sell from about 1000 guys who each claimed that their school / resort was the best. They all had impressive sounding, but [View Full Entry]

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So I am back in Bangkok, after many crazy adventures with the group of 14 (the crew that I went trekking with). Before I move on to Bangkok, let me recap some of the highlights of Chaing Mai: Gong Si Fah Cai! (I hope I spelled that right) Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! We ended up in China town for the big celebration. It was quite spectacular, actually. We saw a pagent of some sort in which a bunch of little boys and a bunch of little girls got dressed up in qhat looked like traditional costumes. Not understanding a bit [View Full Entry]

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I recently got back from a trek into the hills surrounding Chaing Mai. It was a 3-day, 2 night adventure. It was a lot of fun! The whole group really bonded together, and we had a great time! It was a bit wierd in that I was the oldest person on the tour. I suppose as I get on in years, that experience will happen more and more. In any case, I'll get a full description of the events soon. For now, I'll just upload some photos. [View Full Entry]

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So my last few hours in BKK are now ticking away. Why am I in an internet cafe, you ask? Well, there are a few reasons actually. 1. It REALLY stinks outside. The pollution is so bad that I have developed quite the sore throat. Though that's probably just the softie American in me talking. Brian's Revenge 2. (Perhaps more importantly) I am doing this for free. Well sort of. Remember that scam I mentioned last time? A tuk-tuk driver agrees to take me around to some "sites" and also to do some "shopping". How could I fall for the same [View Full Entry]

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So I am already pretty far behind in this blogging thingie, but i wanted to get my first impressions of Bangkok down while they are still fresh. I still have to account for KL Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Langkawi. Though Maybe I'll give it a miss... In any case. Bangkok. Wow. This is an insane place. I didn't take any pictures, so I'll have to give you mental images. On the bus: Crammed to the max of whittie back-packers all in various stages of cleanliness and disorder. My favorite image from the ride: Two girls on a scooter crossing a five [View Full Entry]

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This is currently a place holder for KL pictures. I'll type up a journal entry soon. I wanted to get the pictures done first. [View Full Entry]

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My first impression of Malaysia reminded me of a Paul Simon song "You can Call me Al". in one of the verses, the narrator finds himself a stranger in a strange land. He doesn't speak the language, holds no currency. Hears the sounds of cattle in the marketplace. Yadda Yadda. I arrived in a bus stop half way to Melacca (or Melaka, or any of the other 15,000 ways I have seen the city's name spelled). I was starving, and really needed to use the toliet. Too bad for me I forgot to covnert some cash into Malaysian before I left. [View Full Entry]

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So I decided to head out to Malaysia on Monday. But before I did so, I wandered over to an island with Sanif. We took the train all the way to the Eastern part of the island, then a bus to a village by the airport, then a ferry over to the island. It was really a lot of fun! We hired (I love to say "hired" when I really mean "rented" - it makes me feel so sophisticated) bicycles (for $1.50 US), and cruised around the island biker-style. The island was totally remote. In fact, it seemed that 3/4 of [View Full Entry]

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On this day I was to meet up with Sanif, another of Sam's friends. Sanif took me to a Satay joint. In case you are ignorant to the ways of Satay (like I was moments before I ate it), it's basically a mini-shish-kebaab with beef or chicken. They cook the meat in a spicy peanuty sauce, and also serve it with assorted bread and vegetables. Simply put - this is heaven on Earth. How can food be this good? Stupid American! So I thought I'd relate the case of how dumb travellers can seem to the locals. I wandered up to [View Full Entry]

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Afternoon with Gwen The main mission for this day was to hook up with Sam's friend Gwen and learn all about the city and what-not. The funny part about our arranging to meet was me telling her to look for the "confused-looking white guy, wearing a Boston Red Sox hat". The secondary mission was to do a little selling on Chow's behalf to Gwen. Sam is a bit keen on her, and wanted me to put in a "good word". On the train over to meet her, I pondered my strategy for the sell. Sorry Sam, for spreading your laundry in [View Full Entry]

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