That was the title that I would've used if I had written an entry first thing this morning; it was too good not to use now. The title concisely describes how I began this Friday here in Laos. My ass was explosive, creating a hazmat situation in two separate toilets at Viradesa. And Paul and I once again left one place to go to another new one.
We left Luang Prabang on a scheduled 9am mini-bus that actually departed at about 9:15am, so I could unload in the main toilet at Viradesa guesthouse, while the group of six other travelers waited for me. The bus ride was a solid six hours, with two pitstops at about the one-third and two-thirds points. Because Paul and I were the last two to get onto the minibus we were stuck having to ride shotgun -- normally a good thing, but in this case not so much so. I sat in the middle of the front bench seat, right next to the driver, so that every time he shifted to third gear, he was jabbing me in my left thigh. Paul was squeezed up against the passenger door in order to make room for my legs, which necessarily had to face away from the stick-shift. It was a difficult six hours, with pins and needles and also cramping in our muscles. I was so tired from last night, though, that I was in and out of sleep for a good part of the ride.
When I was awake, there were many observations to be made. The road from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng is not particularly long, but it winds and twists and bends through some high mountain terrain, thus making the trip much longer than it would seem on paper. The scenery looked very much like it does in the Vietnam war movies: high, limestone mountains rising straight up out of the ground, interspersed by rice paddies and open fields. The road, once again, was quite stereotypically Third World: wooden shacks on small stilts built right next to the road; more little kids running around naked than you can count; cows, water buffalo, pigs, and even ducks with ducklings walking idly along the side of the road -- or in the case of some cows, in the middle of the road; the road itself so beat up and potholed in places that the driver drove just as much on the shoulders than on the actual road.
We finally pulled in to the new bus station on the outskirts of Vang Vieng at 4pm. From there, I somehow convinced Paul, along with a British couple: John and Jenny, to walk into town -- like authentic backpackers -- instead of hiring a tuk-tuk for the umpteenth time. The 3km walk into town wasn't too bad; I passed the time by talking with John. He told me that he and Jenny quit their jobs back in the UK to come backpacking for a solid 6 months; they'll keep going until the beginning of February.
Paul and I checked into Pan's Place right on the main strip in town. Our room is in a modest bamboo bungalow, with mattresses on the floor, and geckos running on the wall (I told Paul that they're our friends because they eat insects and save us 10% or more on car insurance). This place will be our first experience with a shared toilet/shower; Paul was a bit reluctant but I told him it would be a good way to meet other travelers. We both liked the fact that there's internet right here on the premises and a television room upstairs, fully stocked with tons of movies on dvd. So that's where we stand now.
Tomorrow we'll go tubing down the Nam Kong River; it should be an awesome experience, but I won't ruin the reader's surprise by telling you why this town is packed with backpackers and exactly why the tubing will be a kick-ass experience. You'll just have to check back, ya heard?
To be continued . . .
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Bad Moon Rising
Earlier tonight, while we were picking up the laundry (proud to say: first time on this trip) from another guesthouse down the lane from Viradesa, we saw the large, orange, full moon rising immediately to the left-hand side of the well-lit Buddhist temple at the top of Phou Si hill. It was surreal. That alone justified our decision to stay an extra night in Luang Prabang.
Tomorrow morning we leave at 9am on a mini-van to the village of Vang Vieng, located about 4 to 5 hours to the south. Just a few minutes ago, after we had a nice dinner -- at the Hive Bar -- of pizza and Pepsis (hey, every once in a while on a trip like this you gotta give your digestive system a break, especially after my sticky situation this morning), we popped our heads in the Lao Lao Beer Garden, just a few doors down. And whaddaya know? Who else was there but Nick and Josh, our fast-growing friends from the land down under. We found out that they're heading down to Vang Vieng on an 8am mini-van tomorrow. So we'll very likely have some more good times with those guys in the double V (not to be confused with the double-deuce and Spruce).
Well, I'm having some more rumblings originating in my intestinal area, not unlike the sounds that Jeff Daniels hears in the movie Dumb and Dumber. I think Vesuvius might be getting ready to destroy Pompeii, aka our toilet in room 12 of the Viradesa Guest House. I'll be thinking of all you guys back home while I'm doing it. Cheers!
Tomorrow morning we leave at 9am on a mini-van to the village of Vang Vieng, located about 4 to 5 hours to the south. Just a few minutes ago, after we had a nice dinner -- at the Hive Bar -- of pizza and Pepsis (hey, every once in a while on a trip like this you gotta give your digestive system a break, especially after my sticky situation this morning), we popped our heads in the Lao Lao Beer Garden, just a few doors down. And whaddaya know? Who else was there but Nick and Josh, our fast-growing friends from the land down under. We found out that they're heading down to Vang Vieng on an 8am mini-van tomorrow. So we'll very likely have some more good times with those guys in the double V (not to be confused with the double-deuce and Spruce).
Well, I'm having some more rumblings originating in my intestinal area, not unlike the sounds that Jeff Daniels hears in the movie Dumb and Dumber. I think Vesuvius might be getting ready to destroy Pompeii, aka our toilet in room 12 of the Viradesa Guest House. I'll be thinking of all you guys back home while I'm doing it. Cheers!
Oh shit!
Today got off to a shitty start, as you'll soon see. Paul and I slept in this morning after a really rockin' good time last night at the full-moon party (more on that below). Actually, although we both woke up at 10am, I stayed in bed to listen to some tunes on my iPod in order to ease into the day, while Paul went out to a local internet spot to do some emails. I took my time getting up, but eventually made my way out to meet him. From there, both of us feeling quite hungry at that time, probably about 11am, I suggested that we find a place to eat along the wide, brown, "mighty and mellow" Mekong River, on which we had not eaten since our first evening after checking into our guesthouse here in Luang Prabang. As a sidenote -- and in response to a beautiful reader's question -- we are staying at the Viradesa Guesthouse here in LP (not to be confused with Linkin Park). Back to the story, then: we went to a wooden table overlooking the Mekong; I ordered a crepe with honey and Paul ordered a full omelet with a baguette. As you can see, the legacy of French colonialism here continues to endure, most especially in the cuisine. Well, I'm just finishing up my crepe, when I feel an urge that many of us feel day in and day out: I discretely picked up one ass-cheek and let one rip, but instead of a toot it was a squirt. Oh shit! The look on my face immediately telegraphed to Paul what had just happened; I told him to pay the bill and I'd get him back later, I asked the waitress where the bathroom was, she said across the street, just wonderful I thought to myself. So I gingerly stood up and made my way, step by step, across the street, into the woman's own personal home, and went directly to the bathroom, where I took off my boxers, wiped down and left them there as souvenir. Of course I went back to Viradesa, where Paul had already returned, and I took a nice long shower (the water pressure and temperature has been as good here as anywhere else). I'll have to be a bit more deliberate when busting ass throughout the rest of this trip.
Yesterday evening, after we had gotten back from the waterfalls, we decided to follow a fellow traveler's (not that kind, at least I don't think) advice, and climb to the top of Phou Si hill, which is located on the center of the peninsula that comprises most of Luang Prabang. At the top of this tall hill there is a Buddhist temple with a golden spire that can be seen for miles around. We were told that watching the sunset from the top of Phou Si is priceless, as much as or more so than any Mastercard commercial. We found out first-hand that watching the sunset from Phou Si is beautiful, perhaps even borderline magical. The sun sets behind typical green Asian mountains -- by that I mean that they look like the ends of French baguettes sticking up out of the earth -- with the slow-moving Mekong down to our right-hand side, and all below you can see the village of Luang Prabang. This experience alone -- watching the sunset -- convinces one immediately why Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
A funny little thing also happened just after the sun set. All of a sudden a guy with a heavy French accent starting asking everyone (and there were tourists packed in shoulder to shoulder) to move out of the way in order to do some filming. A couple guys with professional cameras and a guy with one of those boom microphones on a long pole were there too. Then this actor with a backpack comes running up the steep steps to the cement landing where all the tourists had been taking their photos of the sunset. A minute later, a few more actors, some a bit older, came up. Since I was standing right there, one of the French actresses asked me, in French, what my nationality was. I answered her directly: "Je sui americain." I'm really losing track of all the languages I've used at least once on this trip! When the filming was over, I asked the sound guy what the filming was for; he said it was for a French reality television show called "Peking Express." Seeing all of that proved to me once and for all that reality tv is nothing but a fabricated illusion.
After climbing down the multitudinous steps from Phou Si back down to the LP night market, Paul and I headed to dinner. It was a shame to see a group of several young tourists causing problems with the Laotian owners of the restaurant. At one point I heard a young tourist say loudly, "do you know how much money we've spent here all day?" The arrogance pissed me off; I mean, really, they probably spent a total of $10 for their entire meal for all of them, which they'd be lucky to get an appetizer for that price back home. That's the kind of cultural arrogance that really irritates me. As Paul said, those tourists probably think they're superior to the Laotians; really shitty approach to life. And unfortunately I know people like this back at home. When you peel away all the money and material possessions, these kinds of people are essentially really pathetic and insecure, if you ask me. That's my two cents; which can buy a nice drink here, ha!
The highlight of the day yesterday was our night. Earlier we had stopped off to get a cup of coffee at a little spot on the lane where our guesthouse is located. We ended up having a nice conversation with a young Laotian woman there, and she recommended that we go to the full-moon party at Wat That Luang, a Buddhist temple just outside of the main drag, but not too far from Viradesa. Paul and I had met a couple Swedish girls the night before while walking through the night market, and we ran into them by chance after climbing down from Phou Si and while walking to find a place for dinner. We told them about the full-moon party and asked them if they'd wanna come along; they said yes, so we met them later in the evening so we could all walk together to the party. We also mentioned the party to Nick and Josh, the Aussies, and they ended up meeting us there later on.
The full-moon party was such a fun time! As we walked there, we could hear the music from the main road, so we knew we were heading in the right direction. Once we got there, we realized it was a summer carnival type atmosphere: games were set up all around the outside of the temple, there was a tent under which there was a guy on a microphone and another guy on a keyboard blasting out all sorts of beats and music, there was plenty of plastic patio furniture for everyone to sit down, and there was beer aplenty. We walked through the carnival and realized quickly that we were the only non-Laotians there; this was true for the rest of the night, with only one exception that I observed. Finally we had come upon a truly authentic cultural experience that was not overrun by throngs of tourists taking photos! We went to the back of the grounds, where many Laotians were offering yellow flowers as a donation at the foot of the golden Buddhist shrine, then perambulating the outside of the temple. Back that way, too, there were games set up for the kids. Of course we got involved. One game was darts, which you had to throw toward balloons stuck in wooden cubby holes. For 1000 kip, you got 3 darts. I went first and got 2 out of 3, so I got a little coffee-flavored candy. All four of us took turns throwing the darts and we laughed a lot when someone threw a bad turn. While we were doing this, a group of Laotian kids came by and watched us. Later, when Paul won a carton of orange juice, he gave it to one of the kids, who looked so happy to get it. After tossing darts for a while, we walked back toward the front of the grounds and sat down to play a game of large dice that is just too complicated to explain right now; we'll have to show you the photos when we return. Needless to say, we were surrounded by tons of kids at this point and we kept giving away our "yellow cards" (which you use to play the game) to the children so they could take part in the game with us. We all had so much fun.
And then we ended the rest of the night as a full-moon party should be enjoyed: dancing under the full moon and drinking lots of Beer Lao. And still we were the only "white" people there! We did all of this back where the microphone and dance area had been set up. While Paul, me and the Swedish girls (Linda and Emma) were having fun dancing with all the Laotians, the Aussies showed up and joined us on the dancefloor. At one point we created a circle among us and the others that were there, and we took turns jumping into the middle and dancing like fools. Also, when what must've been a traditional Laotian song came on, and the Laotians lined up in two parallel circles, I got up to join in, and did my best to mimic the hand movements that they were making. The Laotians, particularly the girls, seemed to get a real kick out of that. And then later, we all joined in a Laotian line dance, kinda similar to the electric slide, though not as corny. All of us had so much fun that we danced there for a long, long while. But eventually the girls left because they had to get up early today to go on an organized tour that would take them elephant riding. And then not long after that, the four of us guys began the walk back into the village. We agreed unanimously that it was an excellent night that would not be forgotten.
So, to all my friends reading this, wherever you may be, I hope you're enjoying the stories, and Paul and I will do our best to keep the good times rolling, hopefully with some time here and there to share our good times on our respective blogs. Because we really like this town so much, we'll stay an extra night, then tomorrow morning we'll head out to our next destination: Vang Vieng. After my long shower, I now feel fresh and ready to stroll the streets of Luang Prabang!
Yesterday evening, after we had gotten back from the waterfalls, we decided to follow a fellow traveler's (not that kind, at least I don't think) advice, and climb to the top of Phou Si hill, which is located on the center of the peninsula that comprises most of Luang Prabang. At the top of this tall hill there is a Buddhist temple with a golden spire that can be seen for miles around. We were told that watching the sunset from the top of Phou Si is priceless, as much as or more so than any Mastercard commercial. We found out first-hand that watching the sunset from Phou Si is beautiful, perhaps even borderline magical. The sun sets behind typical green Asian mountains -- by that I mean that they look like the ends of French baguettes sticking up out of the earth -- with the slow-moving Mekong down to our right-hand side, and all below you can see the village of Luang Prabang. This experience alone -- watching the sunset -- convinces one immediately why Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
A funny little thing also happened just after the sun set. All of a sudden a guy with a heavy French accent starting asking everyone (and there were tourists packed in shoulder to shoulder) to move out of the way in order to do some filming. A couple guys with professional cameras and a guy with one of those boom microphones on a long pole were there too. Then this actor with a backpack comes running up the steep steps to the cement landing where all the tourists had been taking their photos of the sunset. A minute later, a few more actors, some a bit older, came up. Since I was standing right there, one of the French actresses asked me, in French, what my nationality was. I answered her directly: "Je sui americain." I'm really losing track of all the languages I've used at least once on this trip! When the filming was over, I asked the sound guy what the filming was for; he said it was for a French reality television show called "Peking Express." Seeing all of that proved to me once and for all that reality tv is nothing but a fabricated illusion.
After climbing down the multitudinous steps from Phou Si back down to the LP night market, Paul and I headed to dinner. It was a shame to see a group of several young tourists causing problems with the Laotian owners of the restaurant. At one point I heard a young tourist say loudly, "do you know how much money we've spent here all day?" The arrogance pissed me off; I mean, really, they probably spent a total of $10 for their entire meal for all of them, which they'd be lucky to get an appetizer for that price back home. That's the kind of cultural arrogance that really irritates me. As Paul said, those tourists probably think they're superior to the Laotians; really shitty approach to life. And unfortunately I know people like this back at home. When you peel away all the money and material possessions, these kinds of people are essentially really pathetic and insecure, if you ask me. That's my two cents; which can buy a nice drink here, ha!
The highlight of the day yesterday was our night. Earlier we had stopped off to get a cup of coffee at a little spot on the lane where our guesthouse is located. We ended up having a nice conversation with a young Laotian woman there, and she recommended that we go to the full-moon party at Wat That Luang, a Buddhist temple just outside of the main drag, but not too far from Viradesa. Paul and I had met a couple Swedish girls the night before while walking through the night market, and we ran into them by chance after climbing down from Phou Si and while walking to find a place for dinner. We told them about the full-moon party and asked them if they'd wanna come along; they said yes, so we met them later in the evening so we could all walk together to the party. We also mentioned the party to Nick and Josh, the Aussies, and they ended up meeting us there later on.
The full-moon party was such a fun time! As we walked there, we could hear the music from the main road, so we knew we were heading in the right direction. Once we got there, we realized it was a summer carnival type atmosphere: games were set up all around the outside of the temple, there was a tent under which there was a guy on a microphone and another guy on a keyboard blasting out all sorts of beats and music, there was plenty of plastic patio furniture for everyone to sit down, and there was beer aplenty. We walked through the carnival and realized quickly that we were the only non-Laotians there; this was true for the rest of the night, with only one exception that I observed. Finally we had come upon a truly authentic cultural experience that was not overrun by throngs of tourists taking photos! We went to the back of the grounds, where many Laotians were offering yellow flowers as a donation at the foot of the golden Buddhist shrine, then perambulating the outside of the temple. Back that way, too, there were games set up for the kids. Of course we got involved. One game was darts, which you had to throw toward balloons stuck in wooden cubby holes. For 1000 kip, you got 3 darts. I went first and got 2 out of 3, so I got a little coffee-flavored candy. All four of us took turns throwing the darts and we laughed a lot when someone threw a bad turn. While we were doing this, a group of Laotian kids came by and watched us. Later, when Paul won a carton of orange juice, he gave it to one of the kids, who looked so happy to get it. After tossing darts for a while, we walked back toward the front of the grounds and sat down to play a game of large dice that is just too complicated to explain right now; we'll have to show you the photos when we return. Needless to say, we were surrounded by tons of kids at this point and we kept giving away our "yellow cards" (which you use to play the game) to the children so they could take part in the game with us. We all had so much fun.
And then we ended the rest of the night as a full-moon party should be enjoyed: dancing under the full moon and drinking lots of Beer Lao. And still we were the only "white" people there! We did all of this back where the microphone and dance area had been set up. While Paul, me and the Swedish girls (Linda and Emma) were having fun dancing with all the Laotians, the Aussies showed up and joined us on the dancefloor. At one point we created a circle among us and the others that were there, and we took turns jumping into the middle and dancing like fools. Also, when what must've been a traditional Laotian song came on, and the Laotians lined up in two parallel circles, I got up to join in, and did my best to mimic the hand movements that they were making. The Laotians, particularly the girls, seemed to get a real kick out of that. And then later, we all joined in a Laotian line dance, kinda similar to the electric slide, though not as corny. All of us had so much fun that we danced there for a long, long while. But eventually the girls left because they had to get up early today to go on an organized tour that would take them elephant riding. And then not long after that, the four of us guys began the walk back into the village. We agreed unanimously that it was an excellent night that would not be forgotten.
So, to all my friends reading this, wherever you may be, I hope you're enjoying the stories, and Paul and I will do our best to keep the good times rolling, hopefully with some time here and there to share our good times on our respective blogs. Because we really like this town so much, we'll stay an extra night, then tomorrow morning we'll head out to our next destination: Vang Vieng. After my long shower, I now feel fresh and ready to stroll the streets of Luang Prabang!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
"Waterfalls" by TLC
For those not up to their 90s pop music, the title refers to a song from that era in American music history. I'll have to post the video from Youtube retroactively upon my return home. But for now, hopefully I have you singing the song in your head while you read this entry.
The highlight of the day was going out to Kuang Si waterfalls, about 35km outside of Luang Prabang. We started our day by going to a small open-air restaurant on the main road where the night market takes place later at night (of course). We each ordered foe mu = traditional noodle soup with pork. And actually, on our way there we went to a roadside vendor to have a shake; I got a blend of banana and dragonfruit, into which was mixed milk, coconut milk, a light-colored water (which we assume was some kind of sweetener). The fruitshake and the soup really hit the spot for breakfast.
From there we continued on to the Lao Lao Beer Garden, which is where we hung out and played pool last night (winning our first game, but then letting the Beer Lao affect us too much for our second game, which we lost). We had to go back there to meet up with Nick and Josh, a couple of guys from Australia who've been traveling throughout southeast Asia for a while. We met them back at Lao Lao Beer Garden at 11:30am, so that we could pool our kips (the Laotian currency) to get a covered flat-bed pick-up truck to take us out to the waterfalls. The four of us bargained hard with a couple of guys, until we finally got this young, good-natured (possibly high on something) Laotian guy to take us out for 140,000 kip for the four of us. Did I say 140,000?!?! Yes, the exchange rate is about 8,600 kip to just 1 U.S. dollar; it wasn't easy switching gears from the baht-dollar calculation to the kip-dollar calculation, but we college-educated American boys can roll with the punches.
Kuang Si waterfalls are amazing. The water is the color turquoise. The water was chilly, as mountain water all over the world must be, but it was tolerable, especially once you jumped in. And jump in we did. Well, actually I was the first one to wade into the water to check the temperature and more so to check the depth of the water to see if it was safe for diving; it was. So then we each, the four of us, took turns jumping off of a large branch overhanging the water, probably a good 15 feet above the surface. It was exhilirating. And the backdrop was absolutely gorgeous: tropical grass growing among the rocks right near the ledge of the waterfall, bounded by a forest on both sides and behind. The sun was shining brightly and we were all very happy to be there.
I must say, before I finish this entry -- as we will get ready to go to a full-moon party at a local temple, replete with dancing, drinking and merry-making -- that the ride to and from the waterfalls was also memorable, for me because of its nostalgic qualities. The small wooden shacks lining the road, the narrow bridges either wooden or metallic over small creeks, the high green mountains rising in the not-too-far distance, the young children running barefoot or in flip-flops along the sides of the road, and the overall ambience of the whole scene was so reminiscent of so many other roads throughout other parts of the Third World -- I was especially reminded of remote areas of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It made my heart feel warm. People all over the world really do have so much in common.
And with that, I leave you to enjoy your Wednesday back home as my Wednesday night is about to begin. Hasta la proxima, mis amigos!
The highlight of the day was going out to Kuang Si waterfalls, about 35km outside of Luang Prabang. We started our day by going to a small open-air restaurant on the main road where the night market takes place later at night (of course). We each ordered foe mu = traditional noodle soup with pork. And actually, on our way there we went to a roadside vendor to have a shake; I got a blend of banana and dragonfruit, into which was mixed milk, coconut milk, a light-colored water (which we assume was some kind of sweetener). The fruitshake and the soup really hit the spot for breakfast.
From there we continued on to the Lao Lao Beer Garden, which is where we hung out and played pool last night (winning our first game, but then letting the Beer Lao affect us too much for our second game, which we lost). We had to go back there to meet up with Nick and Josh, a couple of guys from Australia who've been traveling throughout southeast Asia for a while. We met them back at Lao Lao Beer Garden at 11:30am, so that we could pool our kips (the Laotian currency) to get a covered flat-bed pick-up truck to take us out to the waterfalls. The four of us bargained hard with a couple of guys, until we finally got this young, good-natured (possibly high on something) Laotian guy to take us out for 140,000 kip for the four of us. Did I say 140,000?!?! Yes, the exchange rate is about 8,600 kip to just 1 U.S. dollar; it wasn't easy switching gears from the baht-dollar calculation to the kip-dollar calculation, but we college-educated American boys can roll with the punches.
Kuang Si waterfalls are amazing. The water is the color turquoise. The water was chilly, as mountain water all over the world must be, but it was tolerable, especially once you jumped in. And jump in we did. Well, actually I was the first one to wade into the water to check the temperature and more so to check the depth of the water to see if it was safe for diving; it was. So then we each, the four of us, took turns jumping off of a large branch overhanging the water, probably a good 15 feet above the surface. It was exhilirating. And the backdrop was absolutely gorgeous: tropical grass growing among the rocks right near the ledge of the waterfall, bounded by a forest on both sides and behind. The sun was shining brightly and we were all very happy to be there.
I must say, before I finish this entry -- as we will get ready to go to a full-moon party at a local temple, replete with dancing, drinking and merry-making -- that the ride to and from the waterfalls was also memorable, for me because of its nostalgic qualities. The small wooden shacks lining the road, the narrow bridges either wooden or metallic over small creeks, the high green mountains rising in the not-too-far distance, the young children running barefoot or in flip-flops along the sides of the road, and the overall ambience of the whole scene was so reminiscent of so many other roads throughout other parts of the Third World -- I was especially reminded of remote areas of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It made my heart feel warm. People all over the world really do have so much in common.
And with that, I leave you to enjoy your Wednesday back home as my Wednesday night is about to begin. Hasta la proxima, mis amigos!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
A lil' banged up in Luang Prabang
Our flight arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos earlier this afternoon. Met a group of about 12 women from Brazil (Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo) on the flight; they taught me some key phrases in Portuguese.
Paul and I walked through the night market tonight, cool stuff. Then we went to hang out at Lao Lao Beer Garden, where we drank a few Beer Lao's. We played pool with a group of Aussie blokes; we'll meet some of them tomorrow morning and we'll all go to the Kuang Si waterfalls together. They were nice guys. The bartender gave us all a free shot of some pretty harsh stuff that was the color green: might've been Mekong whiskey. Didn't go down easy, although I did order some french fries and then garlic bread to soak it up afterwards. But I'm off to bed now either way.
Hope all is well in the States. Plus the computer that I'm on really sucks right now, so I'm done for the night. I'll write again tomorrow, God willing. As Will Smith said, "yo homes, smell ya later!"
Paul and I walked through the night market tonight, cool stuff. Then we went to hang out at Lao Lao Beer Garden, where we drank a few Beer Lao's. We played pool with a group of Aussie blokes; we'll meet some of them tomorrow morning and we'll all go to the Kuang Si waterfalls together. They were nice guys. The bartender gave us all a free shot of some pretty harsh stuff that was the color green: might've been Mekong whiskey. Didn't go down easy, although I did order some french fries and then garlic bread to soak it up afterwards. But I'm off to bed now either way.
Hope all is well in the States. Plus the computer that I'm on really sucks right now, so I'm done for the night. I'll write again tomorrow, God willing. As Will Smith said, "yo homes, smell ya later!"
Monday, November 10, 2008
Up in the sky again
It's now 11:40am in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In just a little over an hour, we have to catch a songthaew (the Thai version of a taxi) to the Chiang Mai airport; our flight departs at 3:05pm and arrives in Luang Prabang, Laos exactly one hour later at 4:05pm.
Now, to continue where I left off on the last entry. Paul and I rented motorscooters for the past two days. The day before yesterday we picked up the bikes so we could ride from the center of town out along one of the main roads that then climbed up the mountain just west of town to the Doi Suthep shrine. This was my first time riding a motorscooter, so I was a bit excited and nervous at the same time. Don't worry, though, I wore a helmet that said, in large letters on the back: "BEER".
Surrounding the ancient city of Chiang Mai is a moat in the shape of a square. The rest of the city has continued to grow beyond the outside of the moat. Trees and sidewalks line the banks of the moat, and then immediately on both the inside and the outside of the moat are three-lane roads that run in opposite directions (one clockwise and the other counterclockwise) around the moat. So Paul and I rode our bikes from the center of town, near our hotel, to one of these main roads, riding alongside the moat, until we got to one of the corners of the square. From there, we had to turn onto the major road that ran diagonally out from the corner of the moat and out towards the mountain. We had stopped for a red light at this intersection and we were at the front of the traffic, since the motorbikes can manuever their way to the front of all the cars. When the light turned green, I took a wide left turn to go onto the right-hand side of the road, as is normal in the United States, when I quickly realized that I'm in Thailand, where vehicles drive on the left-hand side of the road. This meant that I was driving my motorbike directly into oncoming traffic! Fortunately for me, that traffic was stopped at a red light, and I reacted quickly enough to drive my motorbike up onto the sidewalk next to that traffic. From there, I slowly drove along the sidewalk until I got to a break in the traffic and I drove across the road to the other side, where Paul was pulled over waiting for me. After the initial scare, I started laughing my ass off, and thought to myself that I'm not gonna screw that up again.
Paul and I continued on the road out toward the mountain, and after just a couple kilometers the road started climbing up the mountain. The road reminded me a bit of the road that one takes through Braulio Carrillo National Park in Costa Rica when leaving San Jose for the Caribbean coast: two lanes in each direction, with many turns and bends in the road, with amazing vistas of the lush, green mountainside below and beyond.
As we were making our way up the mountain, we saw a big sign of a Thai word; Paul joked that it said "Hollywood." That sign was on our left, and just after that the road turned very sharply to the left, while also climbing very quickly, thereby putting the sign that we just saw below us and to our left-hand side. I made the turn first, and while making the sharp turn, I tried to look down at the sign from above. But by doing this, I started veering toward the left curb, and before I could right myself, I crashed up onto the curb. I let go of the bike and because of my momentum I had to run a few more feet. Luckily the curb was large enough to stop the bike at the side of the road. Please don't worry, dear reader, I was only slightly injured: I've been wearing cargo pants my whole time here, so the long pants protected my left leg when it was caught for a second between the bike and the curb as I lost control. Even now as I write this, I have just a slight surface bruise on the inside of my left calf. For the rest of the day after it happened, my muscle felt a little cramped, but I feel fine now.
After that minor mishap, we continued riding our bikes up the mountain, honking our little horns at other motorbikes that we passed and waving at people on the side of the road. We stopped at a couple of places to get photos of the fantastic view of the city below us. From this perspective, we could see that the city of Chiang Mai really did appear to look like a city, spreading out along much of the valley below us. I think it is only because there are no tall buildings that Chiang Mai does not seem so much like a city when we Americans are inside of it.
Finally we arrived at the entrance to Doi Suthep, near the very top of the mountain. We parked our motorscooters with the long line of other motorscooters and we walked up the stairs that led to the entrance. The final stairway leading to Doi Suthep is tall and beautiful. In place of handrails, there was a dragon-head at the foot of the stairs and the tail of the dragon went the entire length of the stairway, all the way to the top. On both sides there were many trees, providing shade, and giving it a uniquely Asian feel. We made the laborious climb to the top and entered the grounds of Doi Suthep. There were beautiful buildings gilded in gold. There were also many large bells along the outside of the buildings. One larger bell, not unlike Philly's very own Liberty Bell, was inside an open structure; we took a photo with that one. All around there were courtyards and open areas. The views of the city were spectacular; and the view down the forested mountainside was breathtaking and peaceful. Also there was the International Buddhist Center; we went into an adjoining bookshop and did some reading about the basics of Buddhism. The entire scene was very serene and, as with so many ancient sites, got one to wondering about how it was all built nearly 700 years ago, how the materials were transported there when cars did not exist at that time. We took some time after we had walked around to sit down for a few minutes. I took the opportunity to drink a cantaloupe milkshake, while writing in my handwritten journal (those entries will be uploaded to this blog once I get home).
We eventually left to head back down the mountain, realizing that the sun would be setting soon. About halfway down, we decided to stop off where there had been a sign for a waterfall. When we pulled off the mountain road, we noticed a sign that the site had already closed at 5pm; at that point it may have been about 5:30 or even a little bit later. Of course we decided to continue toward the waterfall anyway. So we drove the mile or so through a very thin, although paved, roadway back towards the waterfall, hoping to take some photos. By the time we got there, though, dusk was already setting in so much that we couldn't get any quality photos. We joked that we were gonna get stuck and lost in a dark park like we had in Costa Rica five years ago (the reader can find that post on this blog somewhere around March 2003). Wanting to avoid that type of harrowing experience again, we decided to get on our bikes and get the heck out of there as quickly as possible; which we did.
We got back to Eagle House No. 2, our hotel, just in time to meet up with Andrea, a 22 year old recent college graduate from Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. We had met her soon after we had checked-in, as she was staying at Eagle House too. Since her friend had just left her to go somewhere else, and Andrea was by herself, we had invited her to come with us to the Chiang Mai Night Safari; she said yes. As we had discussed with her earlier, we met her at the hotel at 7pm, so we could hit the road to the Safari, which was located about 12km outside of town. We all sat at an outdoor table in the courtyard of the hotel, looking at maps to figure out how to drive to the safari. Then Paul gave her his helmet, and she got on the back of my bike, and we all rode out into the streets of Chiang Mai. Our next mini-road trip on the motorbikes was beginning, and I was hoping that this time it would be incident-free!
While leaving on a different road out from the city, Paul started zooming ahead on the bike. Because I had someone else on the back of my bike, though, and because I wanted to make sure that we were going in the right direction, I was more moderate in my speed. Well, we soon got to an intersection, where I knew we had to turn left onto Canal Road -- the two directions of the road are divided by a canal in the middle -- but Paul had already sped through the intersection. We had no choice but to pull over at the corner of the intersection and wait for Paul, and wait we did. Finally, about ten minutes later, I heard my name being shouted from somewhere, but I couldn't tell where. So I just started waving my hand in the air. Then I saw Paul stopped at the opposite intersection; I waved for him to turn right, so that he could get to where we were waiting and we could all start driving along Canal Road toward the Safari. The road seemed to go on for a long while, in part because I had noticed that my gas-tank indicator was on "E" and of course there were no gas stations anywhere in sight. Finally, after several miles of the wind blowing briskly in our faces on this fast highway-like road, we saw signs for the Chiang Mai Night Safari. We turned right off of Canal Road and drove a little farther until we reached the entrance.
Chiang Mai Night Safari was really fucking awesome. There's no other way to put it. It was a very modern place, with all the amenities, I felt that we could be at a theme park in the United States. And in fact when we paid for our entrance tickets and the attendant told us that we had just two minutes to make it to the tour, we hustled our way to the tram, that's when I commented that this was exactly like Jurassic Park. Seriously, watch the scene in the movie where they climb into the SUV and drive through the park, well this was the same exact thing, except we were in open-air trams or trolleys. There were two circuits/tours at the park and we did both. We saw, and amazingly close to the tram: lions, white Siberian tigers, orange and black Bengal tigers, Asian elephants, rhinos, hippos, emus, zebras, giraffes, leopards, cheetahs, and all sorts of deer and antelope and ibex. It was an awesome experience that really cannot be expressed in words. These animals were not behind cages like any zoo that I've ever been to; although I'm sure there were boundaries to their areas, these animals were out in the open. For the big cats, only a large moat separated them from the tram's roadway. For many of the other animals, they were right there, some (like the zebra) even within arm's length of the tram. It was really cool!
Besides the two tram tours, we also saw a laser light show, which was projected on to a natural screen of mist, along with an accompanying fountain show (like you would see at the Bellagio or Longwood Gardens). Before leaving, we also walked along Jaguar Trail, a trail along the outside of a lake, along which there were lots of other animals, like lemurs, flamingos, turtles, and tropical birds.
By this time we were all pretty exhausted, since all of us (including Andrea) had come into Chiang Mai earlier that day from overnight travel. We drove back to Chiang Mai, stopping off to finally get some gas, and went back to the hotel. Andrea went to her room for the night, and Paul and I, starving as we were, went out for some food. We went to a place across the street from the hotel, and not long after we had ordered our food, met a couple girls who have been living in Thailand for a while: one for months and the other for over a year. We invited them to sit down with us and we talked over dinner. A couple interesting points to our conversation. First, we talked about the king, and how there is a very real and omnipresent reverence for him throughout Thailand -- there are photos of him in practically every restaurant and establishment of any sort; his face is on all the money; and there are large posters and billboards of him alongside all the roads. The king is now 82 years old, I believe, and there is apparently a very real, though unspoken, concern about what will happen when he dies, since the people don't seem to like his son, the prince, a guy who has supposedly fathered hundreds of children with hundreds of women, and who lives a decadent lifestyle. The other interesting point of conversation was my question to the girl who has been living here for over a year: why do so many Thai men, and some women, constantly use Vapex: these nasal vapor bottles that they stick into their nostril and sniff? They use it incessantly, as if it had some kind of narcotic effect. The girl said that it is more prevalent in Bangkok, due to the smog, and that the Vapex really opens up the airways with its strong menthol odor. It is very commonly used among cab-drivers, since the Vapex is something of a stimulant, kinda like coffee. We went out with these two girls for just one round of beers at a local hang-out: the Rooftop Bar. I had a Tiger beer and Paul had a Leo beer. But by then we were really feeling beat. So we said good-bye to the girls, and Paul and I went to crash for the night.
Well, that was a long and detailed re-cap of the day before yesterday. Yesterday was pretty uneventful, but I'll catch that up later. Now we have to get ready to go to the Chiang Mai airport to catch our flight to Luang Prabang. Speaking of stimulants, I'll get a coffee now. Next time I write, it'll be from Laos. So until then, take care!
Now, to continue where I left off on the last entry. Paul and I rented motorscooters for the past two days. The day before yesterday we picked up the bikes so we could ride from the center of town out along one of the main roads that then climbed up the mountain just west of town to the Doi Suthep shrine. This was my first time riding a motorscooter, so I was a bit excited and nervous at the same time. Don't worry, though, I wore a helmet that said, in large letters on the back: "BEER".
Surrounding the ancient city of Chiang Mai is a moat in the shape of a square. The rest of the city has continued to grow beyond the outside of the moat. Trees and sidewalks line the banks of the moat, and then immediately on both the inside and the outside of the moat are three-lane roads that run in opposite directions (one clockwise and the other counterclockwise) around the moat. So Paul and I rode our bikes from the center of town, near our hotel, to one of these main roads, riding alongside the moat, until we got to one of the corners of the square. From there, we had to turn onto the major road that ran diagonally out from the corner of the moat and out towards the mountain. We had stopped for a red light at this intersection and we were at the front of the traffic, since the motorbikes can manuever their way to the front of all the cars. When the light turned green, I took a wide left turn to go onto the right-hand side of the road, as is normal in the United States, when I quickly realized that I'm in Thailand, where vehicles drive on the left-hand side of the road. This meant that I was driving my motorbike directly into oncoming traffic! Fortunately for me, that traffic was stopped at a red light, and I reacted quickly enough to drive my motorbike up onto the sidewalk next to that traffic. From there, I slowly drove along the sidewalk until I got to a break in the traffic and I drove across the road to the other side, where Paul was pulled over waiting for me. After the initial scare, I started laughing my ass off, and thought to myself that I'm not gonna screw that up again.
Paul and I continued on the road out toward the mountain, and after just a couple kilometers the road started climbing up the mountain. The road reminded me a bit of the road that one takes through Braulio Carrillo National Park in Costa Rica when leaving San Jose for the Caribbean coast: two lanes in each direction, with many turns and bends in the road, with amazing vistas of the lush, green mountainside below and beyond.
As we were making our way up the mountain, we saw a big sign of a Thai word; Paul joked that it said "Hollywood." That sign was on our left, and just after that the road turned very sharply to the left, while also climbing very quickly, thereby putting the sign that we just saw below us and to our left-hand side. I made the turn first, and while making the sharp turn, I tried to look down at the sign from above. But by doing this, I started veering toward the left curb, and before I could right myself, I crashed up onto the curb. I let go of the bike and because of my momentum I had to run a few more feet. Luckily the curb was large enough to stop the bike at the side of the road. Please don't worry, dear reader, I was only slightly injured: I've been wearing cargo pants my whole time here, so the long pants protected my left leg when it was caught for a second between the bike and the curb as I lost control. Even now as I write this, I have just a slight surface bruise on the inside of my left calf. For the rest of the day after it happened, my muscle felt a little cramped, but I feel fine now.
After that minor mishap, we continued riding our bikes up the mountain, honking our little horns at other motorbikes that we passed and waving at people on the side of the road. We stopped at a couple of places to get photos of the fantastic view of the city below us. From this perspective, we could see that the city of Chiang Mai really did appear to look like a city, spreading out along much of the valley below us. I think it is only because there are no tall buildings that Chiang Mai does not seem so much like a city when we Americans are inside of it.
Finally we arrived at the entrance to Doi Suthep, near the very top of the mountain. We parked our motorscooters with the long line of other motorscooters and we walked up the stairs that led to the entrance. The final stairway leading to Doi Suthep is tall and beautiful. In place of handrails, there was a dragon-head at the foot of the stairs and the tail of the dragon went the entire length of the stairway, all the way to the top. On both sides there were many trees, providing shade, and giving it a uniquely Asian feel. We made the laborious climb to the top and entered the grounds of Doi Suthep. There were beautiful buildings gilded in gold. There were also many large bells along the outside of the buildings. One larger bell, not unlike Philly's very own Liberty Bell, was inside an open structure; we took a photo with that one. All around there were courtyards and open areas. The views of the city were spectacular; and the view down the forested mountainside was breathtaking and peaceful. Also there was the International Buddhist Center; we went into an adjoining bookshop and did some reading about the basics of Buddhism. The entire scene was very serene and, as with so many ancient sites, got one to wondering about how it was all built nearly 700 years ago, how the materials were transported there when cars did not exist at that time. We took some time after we had walked around to sit down for a few minutes. I took the opportunity to drink a cantaloupe milkshake, while writing in my handwritten journal (those entries will be uploaded to this blog once I get home).
We eventually left to head back down the mountain, realizing that the sun would be setting soon. About halfway down, we decided to stop off where there had been a sign for a waterfall. When we pulled off the mountain road, we noticed a sign that the site had already closed at 5pm; at that point it may have been about 5:30 or even a little bit later. Of course we decided to continue toward the waterfall anyway. So we drove the mile or so through a very thin, although paved, roadway back towards the waterfall, hoping to take some photos. By the time we got there, though, dusk was already setting in so much that we couldn't get any quality photos. We joked that we were gonna get stuck and lost in a dark park like we had in Costa Rica five years ago (the reader can find that post on this blog somewhere around March 2003). Wanting to avoid that type of harrowing experience again, we decided to get on our bikes and get the heck out of there as quickly as possible; which we did.
We got back to Eagle House No. 2, our hotel, just in time to meet up with Andrea, a 22 year old recent college graduate from Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. We had met her soon after we had checked-in, as she was staying at Eagle House too. Since her friend had just left her to go somewhere else, and Andrea was by herself, we had invited her to come with us to the Chiang Mai Night Safari; she said yes. As we had discussed with her earlier, we met her at the hotel at 7pm, so we could hit the road to the Safari, which was located about 12km outside of town. We all sat at an outdoor table in the courtyard of the hotel, looking at maps to figure out how to drive to the safari. Then Paul gave her his helmet, and she got on the back of my bike, and we all rode out into the streets of Chiang Mai. Our next mini-road trip on the motorbikes was beginning, and I was hoping that this time it would be incident-free!
While leaving on a different road out from the city, Paul started zooming ahead on the bike. Because I had someone else on the back of my bike, though, and because I wanted to make sure that we were going in the right direction, I was more moderate in my speed. Well, we soon got to an intersection, where I knew we had to turn left onto Canal Road -- the two directions of the road are divided by a canal in the middle -- but Paul had already sped through the intersection. We had no choice but to pull over at the corner of the intersection and wait for Paul, and wait we did. Finally, about ten minutes later, I heard my name being shouted from somewhere, but I couldn't tell where. So I just started waving my hand in the air. Then I saw Paul stopped at the opposite intersection; I waved for him to turn right, so that he could get to where we were waiting and we could all start driving along Canal Road toward the Safari. The road seemed to go on for a long while, in part because I had noticed that my gas-tank indicator was on "E" and of course there were no gas stations anywhere in sight. Finally, after several miles of the wind blowing briskly in our faces on this fast highway-like road, we saw signs for the Chiang Mai Night Safari. We turned right off of Canal Road and drove a little farther until we reached the entrance.
Chiang Mai Night Safari was really fucking awesome. There's no other way to put it. It was a very modern place, with all the amenities, I felt that we could be at a theme park in the United States. And in fact when we paid for our entrance tickets and the attendant told us that we had just two minutes to make it to the tour, we hustled our way to the tram, that's when I commented that this was exactly like Jurassic Park. Seriously, watch the scene in the movie where they climb into the SUV and drive through the park, well this was the same exact thing, except we were in open-air trams or trolleys. There were two circuits/tours at the park and we did both. We saw, and amazingly close to the tram: lions, white Siberian tigers, orange and black Bengal tigers, Asian elephants, rhinos, hippos, emus, zebras, giraffes, leopards, cheetahs, and all sorts of deer and antelope and ibex. It was an awesome experience that really cannot be expressed in words. These animals were not behind cages like any zoo that I've ever been to; although I'm sure there were boundaries to their areas, these animals were out in the open. For the big cats, only a large moat separated them from the tram's roadway. For many of the other animals, they were right there, some (like the zebra) even within arm's length of the tram. It was really cool!
Besides the two tram tours, we also saw a laser light show, which was projected on to a natural screen of mist, along with an accompanying fountain show (like you would see at the Bellagio or Longwood Gardens). Before leaving, we also walked along Jaguar Trail, a trail along the outside of a lake, along which there were lots of other animals, like lemurs, flamingos, turtles, and tropical birds.
By this time we were all pretty exhausted, since all of us (including Andrea) had come into Chiang Mai earlier that day from overnight travel. We drove back to Chiang Mai, stopping off to finally get some gas, and went back to the hotel. Andrea went to her room for the night, and Paul and I, starving as we were, went out for some food. We went to a place across the street from the hotel, and not long after we had ordered our food, met a couple girls who have been living in Thailand for a while: one for months and the other for over a year. We invited them to sit down with us and we talked over dinner. A couple interesting points to our conversation. First, we talked about the king, and how there is a very real and omnipresent reverence for him throughout Thailand -- there are photos of him in practically every restaurant and establishment of any sort; his face is on all the money; and there are large posters and billboards of him alongside all the roads. The king is now 82 years old, I believe, and there is apparently a very real, though unspoken, concern about what will happen when he dies, since the people don't seem to like his son, the prince, a guy who has supposedly fathered hundreds of children with hundreds of women, and who lives a decadent lifestyle. The other interesting point of conversation was my question to the girl who has been living here for over a year: why do so many Thai men, and some women, constantly use Vapex: these nasal vapor bottles that they stick into their nostril and sniff? They use it incessantly, as if it had some kind of narcotic effect. The girl said that it is more prevalent in Bangkok, due to the smog, and that the Vapex really opens up the airways with its strong menthol odor. It is very commonly used among cab-drivers, since the Vapex is something of a stimulant, kinda like coffee. We went out with these two girls for just one round of beers at a local hang-out: the Rooftop Bar. I had a Tiger beer and Paul had a Leo beer. But by then we were really feeling beat. So we said good-bye to the girls, and Paul and I went to crash for the night.
Well, that was a long and detailed re-cap of the day before yesterday. Yesterday was pretty uneventful, but I'll catch that up later. Now we have to get ready to go to the Chiang Mai airport to catch our flight to Luang Prabang. Speaking of stimulants, I'll get a coffee now. Next time I write, it'll be from Laos. So until then, take care!
Greetings from northern Thailand
I'm absolutely exhausted today, in spite of getting 7.5 hours of sleep last night. In this kind of a trip, there are inevitably days like this one. Thankfully the weather has been perfect today -- as it has since our arrival in Chiang Mai: highs in the mid to upper 80s, lows in perhaps the upper 50s -- warm sun and dry air in the day, cool and pleasant at night. So it's not the weather; it's just that over the course of a weekend back in Philly, I would normally lay out on the couch to watch some college football on Saturday and some pro ball on Sunday; none of that here, though, since we want to see as much as (reasonably) possible. So please bear with me on this post, mis estimados amigos.
Yesterday will quite likely go down as one of the best -- and most memorable -- days on the trip. The highlights can be broadly divided in 2. First, the Doi Suthep shrine, and second, the Chiang Mai Night Safari.
[Well, Paul just arrived from his late afternoon nap, and I desperately need to lay down and shut my eyes, if even for just an hour. So I will pick up this entry either later tonight or first thing tomorrow. But hey, you got your little tease for the day; you can look up the photos online. LOL!]
Yesterday will quite likely go down as one of the best -- and most memorable -- days on the trip. The highlights can be broadly divided in 2. First, the Doi Suthep shrine, and second, the Chiang Mai Night Safari.
[Well, Paul just arrived from his late afternoon nap, and I desperately need to lay down and shut my eyes, if even for just an hour. So I will pick up this entry either later tonight or first thing tomorrow. But hey, you got your little tease for the day; you can look up the photos online. LOL!]
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Chiang Mai, Thailand -- early evening
I'm sitting now at the top of the mountain ridge just west of the city of Chiang Mai. Doi Suthep is the holiest shrine of Buddhism in the north of Thailand. A steady, cool wind is blowing, making the windchimes chime, and rustling the leaves on the trees. The vista from here reminds me a bit of Braulio Carrillo National Park in Costa Rica, although perhaps not so tropical since we are in the north of Thailand. There is music playing from a nearby tourist shop: mostly the sound of lutes.
Paul and I rode motor scooters to arrive here at the top of the mountain, very much a la Motorcycle Diaries. At one point, while rounding a very tight curve, and uncautiously looking back over the ridge, I lost control of the bike and ran into the curb, which was thankfully there. I slightly bruised my left inner calf muscle; the bruise is not bad at all since I'm wearing cargo pants, but my muscle feels a bit tight or sore right now, nothing too serious though.
Also, since I'm talking about the motor scooter, I have to say that I'm having issues with the lane patterns here; more specifically cars drive on the left-hand side of the road. Not long after we drove out of the center of Chiang Mai, we stopped at a major intersection; when the light turned green, everyone made a hard left right there, but I went wide, aiming for the right-hand side of the road, right towards oncoming traffic that was fortunately stopped at a red light. To salvage a very bad decision, I drove the motor scooter up onto the sidewalk right next to the stopped traffic, then I slowly drove ahead along the sidewalk until I was able to cross to the opposite lanes, where I met up with Paul, who was pulled over on a median. I laughed my ass off. But I'm hoping not to make that mistake again.
Alright, time to drive back down the mountain into town. Final thought: from up here, Chiang Mai looks much bigger than it feels when you're walking around inside of it.
Paul and I rode motor scooters to arrive here at the top of the mountain, very much a la Motorcycle Diaries. At one point, while rounding a very tight curve, and uncautiously looking back over the ridge, I lost control of the bike and ran into the curb, which was thankfully there. I slightly bruised my left inner calf muscle; the bruise is not bad at all since I'm wearing cargo pants, but my muscle feels a bit tight or sore right now, nothing too serious though.
Also, since I'm talking about the motor scooter, I have to say that I'm having issues with the lane patterns here; more specifically cars drive on the left-hand side of the road. Not long after we drove out of the center of Chiang Mai, we stopped at a major intersection; when the light turned green, everyone made a hard left right there, but I went wide, aiming for the right-hand side of the road, right towards oncoming traffic that was fortunately stopped at a red light. To salvage a very bad decision, I drove the motor scooter up onto the sidewalk right next to the stopped traffic, then I slowly drove ahead along the sidewalk until I was able to cross to the opposite lanes, where I met up with Paul, who was pulled over on a median. I laughed my ass off. But I'm hoping not to make that mistake again.
Alright, time to drive back down the mountain into town. Final thought: from up here, Chiang Mai looks much bigger than it feels when you're walking around inside of it.
Chiang Mai, Thailand -- afternoon
Chiang Mai is a clean and beautiful large town. The ancient city is surrounded by a moat. Paul and I checked into our hotel after walking from the train station into the heart of the ancient city. We're staying at the Eagle House 2; hopefully that bodes well for the Eagles' game later tonight against the Giants.
I just took a shower after getting a haircut from a local Thai man for 70 baht, about 2 dollars. He did a very good job; I feel much cleaner now.
Not far in the distance a fairly large mountain ridge overlooks the small city. Its really quite a scenic place. I'm happy to have left the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, as much as I did like it, to come to another authentic side of Thailand.
I'm still amazed that I'm here, halfway around the globe. I truly thank God for the opportunity to travel and see other parts of the world. People here have been very nice and friendly. Of course some of the taxi drivers and tuk-tuk drivers and vendors can be a little bit pushy, but I don't fault them for trying to make a living. Besides them, everyone else has been very welcoming. I've already seen and done things here that have made this trip totally worth it, and yet there's so much more to see and do. Well, I've gotta get dressed now to get ready for some more experiences.
I just took a shower after getting a haircut from a local Thai man for 70 baht, about 2 dollars. He did a very good job; I feel much cleaner now.
Not far in the distance a fairly large mountain ridge overlooks the small city. Its really quite a scenic place. I'm happy to have left the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, as much as I did like it, to come to another authentic side of Thailand.
I'm still amazed that I'm here, halfway around the globe. I truly thank God for the opportunity to travel and see other parts of the world. People here have been very nice and friendly. Of course some of the taxi drivers and tuk-tuk drivers and vendors can be a little bit pushy, but I don't fault them for trying to make a living. Besides them, everyone else has been very welcoming. I've already seen and done things here that have made this trip totally worth it, and yet there's so much more to see and do. Well, I've gotta get dressed now to get ready for some more experiences.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
I sang "hi" in Chiang Mai.
We arrived at 7:30 this morning (today is Sunday) in Chiang Mai, Thailand's second-largest city, although as throughout much of the world that term "city" is used more loosely than in the United States. Chiang Mai, at least based on our first impression, is more like an overgrown village.
The overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was 12 hours long. We bought a second-class ticket for seats in an air-conditioned car; tickets for the sleeper car were already sold out. We had bought the tickets the day before yesterday, so we knew that we had to make it on time for our scheduled 7:20pm departure. Well, at least that was the plan...
As I said in yesterday's post, we got a late start. So our time was limited to just the afternoon. We decided to visit the Grand Palace, which we had missed the day before, and to get there, we decided to take the express boat along the Chao Phraya River, that is very efficient (I really wish Philly could develop this kind of transportation, and in general more development along the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers). Anyway, we took a boat down to the pier that put us near the Grand Palace. By the time we got there, we only had about half an hour until they closed. And that seemed to typify our luck for the rest of the day. The thing is, we were moving much slower than the first day due to going out late and having several beers the night before.
After the Grand Palace, a huge palatial estate within which were pagoda-like temples gilded with gold, we decided to find a place to find some cold drinks. So we walked to a small place across the street. The ambience of the place gave me the feeling of being in a small biermart in Germany: dark wooden panelling and dim lighting, all in a small area, with small round tables and chairs, the wall onto the sidewalk were sliding and folding wooden doors. Paul and I took our time, I had a pineapple fruit smoothie while he had two glasses of iced tea (hand-made, not commercially pre-made). We had a nice conversation, mostly talking about stuff from our past, but then also talking about our hopes for the future, especially what --and whom -- we look forward to seeing when we return. The whole time we were in the small shop, it was pouring rain outside. The weather in Bangkok has been typically humid during most of the day, the sweat sticking stubbornly to our body, as all the Thai people look as cool as cucumbers; we cannot escape our Americanness after all. Then, both afternoons in Bangkok, the clouds rumble in and the sky opens up to relieve the humidity. Yesterday's rain was more persistent than that of the day before. But Paul and I have already grown to love the rain. At least psychologically it makes us feel cooler, although the bottom of my pants invariably get soaked.
After spending a relaxing hour or so in the shop, we decided to move on. Based on a recommendation, I suggested that we try to go to Jim Thompson's house, the house of a former CIA undercover agent here years ago, and an architecture aficionado, who built his elaborate and unique house without any nails whatsoever. But according to our guide book, we had to get there before 5pm. Well, we walked back to the pier to get another express boat heading south on the river to the final stop, where we could catch the Bangkok Skytrain that would get us very close to JT's house. While we were on the train, of course, 5pm came and past; again our luck with timing didn't seem positive this day. But speaking of the train, it puts the Broad Street subway to shame; its air-conditioned, clean, modern, and even has flat-screen tv's on every car, very nice!
Since we were too late for JT's house, we decided to catch a train back one stop to Siam Square Mall. This mall puts the Gallery to shame (trust me, I still love the city of Philadelphia!), the best way to describe it is that it looks like the type of mall that you would expect to see all the rich, neo-punk/hip-hop kids in Tokyo to go to. The four-floored mall was clean and very modern; the prices reflected this, though, since they were on par with the KOP mall outside of Philly. Paul and I went to the food court on the top floor and each got a bowl of noodle soup with pork in a large, enclosed area called "Food for Fun." When we got to the check-in counter, I asked the kid if they had food there, he said yes, then I asked if it was fun, and he said yes again, that was very reassuring. Of course we had to eat there, sitting on plastic, orange-colored seats, with several groups of teenagers, mostly girls, either doing homework or gossiping as girls of that age tend to do. After that, we realized that our time was getting tight, because we still had to go back to our hotel on Khao San Road (all the way on the other side of this large city) to get our backpacks, and then still go from there to the Hualamphong train station to catch our 7:20 train for Chiang Mai. At that point, it was just past 6pm; uh oh!!!
For whatever reason, perhaps ignorance, perhaps a slight hangover, perhaps being brain-dead, Paul and I were as serene as the Buddha, despite all indications that we had screwed ourselves with our timing. We decided that we had no choice but to catch a taxi from Siam Square Mall back to the hotel, and we realized quickly that traffic was bumper to bumper, probably because it was a Saturday night in Bangkok. Our cab-driver was doing as much as he could to make it through intersections and weave through the traffic, but I realized later that it probably had more to do with his gas-tank being near "E" and less to do with us -- but who knows. He dropped us off at the end of the pedestrian-packed (think South Street on a weekend night in the summer) Khao San road, and we didn't waste a second running like Brian Westbrook, dodging and sprinting through the crowd to get back to the hotel, get our bags, then start running back out to the end of the road. We did all of this in about five minutes; when we got into our next cab, it was 7pm on the dot, we had only 20 minutes, we told our new cabbie our predicament and he told us that it would be 30 minutes to get to the train station. Again, we were resigned to our fate, whatever it would be. Well, the cab somehow pulled up to the train station at 7:22, two minutes late, but we ran directly to platform 10, hoping for the unlikely. There was a train there, we ran up to the train conductor and he said that it was our train, so we sprinted to the first car, jumped on and went to our seats, where we unloaded our bags and then looked at each other in amazement as the train began pulling out at that very instant. If we were even 30 seconds later, we would have been out of our tickets and stuck for who knows how long. We just started laughing and then slapped hands. Finally, our luck turned right when we needed. FAITH, baby, faith, that's what it's all about.
With that, I'll leave you all. Thanks again for checking in! We're now off to book a safari for tonight, to see some lions, tigers, and elephants. Don't worry, we'll take plenty of photos. Peace from the Southeast (of Asia)!!!!!
The overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was 12 hours long. We bought a second-class ticket for seats in an air-conditioned car; tickets for the sleeper car were already sold out. We had bought the tickets the day before yesterday, so we knew that we had to make it on time for our scheduled 7:20pm departure. Well, at least that was the plan...
As I said in yesterday's post, we got a late start. So our time was limited to just the afternoon. We decided to visit the Grand Palace, which we had missed the day before, and to get there, we decided to take the express boat along the Chao Phraya River, that is very efficient (I really wish Philly could develop this kind of transportation, and in general more development along the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers). Anyway, we took a boat down to the pier that put us near the Grand Palace. By the time we got there, we only had about half an hour until they closed. And that seemed to typify our luck for the rest of the day. The thing is, we were moving much slower than the first day due to going out late and having several beers the night before.
After the Grand Palace, a huge palatial estate within which were pagoda-like temples gilded with gold, we decided to find a place to find some cold drinks. So we walked to a small place across the street. The ambience of the place gave me the feeling of being in a small biermart in Germany: dark wooden panelling and dim lighting, all in a small area, with small round tables and chairs, the wall onto the sidewalk were sliding and folding wooden doors. Paul and I took our time, I had a pineapple fruit smoothie while he had two glasses of iced tea (hand-made, not commercially pre-made). We had a nice conversation, mostly talking about stuff from our past, but then also talking about our hopes for the future, especially what --and whom -- we look forward to seeing when we return. The whole time we were in the small shop, it was pouring rain outside. The weather in Bangkok has been typically humid during most of the day, the sweat sticking stubbornly to our body, as all the Thai people look as cool as cucumbers; we cannot escape our Americanness after all. Then, both afternoons in Bangkok, the clouds rumble in and the sky opens up to relieve the humidity. Yesterday's rain was more persistent than that of the day before. But Paul and I have already grown to love the rain. At least psychologically it makes us feel cooler, although the bottom of my pants invariably get soaked.
After spending a relaxing hour or so in the shop, we decided to move on. Based on a recommendation, I suggested that we try to go to Jim Thompson's house, the house of a former CIA undercover agent here years ago, and an architecture aficionado, who built his elaborate and unique house without any nails whatsoever. But according to our guide book, we had to get there before 5pm. Well, we walked back to the pier to get another express boat heading south on the river to the final stop, where we could catch the Bangkok Skytrain that would get us very close to JT's house. While we were on the train, of course, 5pm came and past; again our luck with timing didn't seem positive this day. But speaking of the train, it puts the Broad Street subway to shame; its air-conditioned, clean, modern, and even has flat-screen tv's on every car, very nice!
Since we were too late for JT's house, we decided to catch a train back one stop to Siam Square Mall. This mall puts the Gallery to shame (trust me, I still love the city of Philadelphia!), the best way to describe it is that it looks like the type of mall that you would expect to see all the rich, neo-punk/hip-hop kids in Tokyo to go to. The four-floored mall was clean and very modern; the prices reflected this, though, since they were on par with the KOP mall outside of Philly. Paul and I went to the food court on the top floor and each got a bowl of noodle soup with pork in a large, enclosed area called "Food for Fun." When we got to the check-in counter, I asked the kid if they had food there, he said yes, then I asked if it was fun, and he said yes again, that was very reassuring. Of course we had to eat there, sitting on plastic, orange-colored seats, with several groups of teenagers, mostly girls, either doing homework or gossiping as girls of that age tend to do. After that, we realized that our time was getting tight, because we still had to go back to our hotel on Khao San Road (all the way on the other side of this large city) to get our backpacks, and then still go from there to the Hualamphong train station to catch our 7:20 train for Chiang Mai. At that point, it was just past 6pm; uh oh!!!
For whatever reason, perhaps ignorance, perhaps a slight hangover, perhaps being brain-dead, Paul and I were as serene as the Buddha, despite all indications that we had screwed ourselves with our timing. We decided that we had no choice but to catch a taxi from Siam Square Mall back to the hotel, and we realized quickly that traffic was bumper to bumper, probably because it was a Saturday night in Bangkok. Our cab-driver was doing as much as he could to make it through intersections and weave through the traffic, but I realized later that it probably had more to do with his gas-tank being near "E" and less to do with us -- but who knows. He dropped us off at the end of the pedestrian-packed (think South Street on a weekend night in the summer) Khao San road, and we didn't waste a second running like Brian Westbrook, dodging and sprinting through the crowd to get back to the hotel, get our bags, then start running back out to the end of the road. We did all of this in about five minutes; when we got into our next cab, it was 7pm on the dot, we had only 20 minutes, we told our new cabbie our predicament and he told us that it would be 30 minutes to get to the train station. Again, we were resigned to our fate, whatever it would be. Well, the cab somehow pulled up to the train station at 7:22, two minutes late, but we ran directly to platform 10, hoping for the unlikely. There was a train there, we ran up to the train conductor and he said that it was our train, so we sprinted to the first car, jumped on and went to our seats, where we unloaded our bags and then looked at each other in amazement as the train began pulling out at that very instant. If we were even 30 seconds later, we would have been out of our tickets and stuck for who knows how long. We just started laughing and then slapped hands. Finally, our luck turned right when we needed. FAITH, baby, faith, that's what it's all about.
With that, I'll leave you all. Thanks again for checking in! We're now off to book a safari for tonight, to see some lions, tigers, and elephants. Don't worry, we'll take plenty of photos. Peace from the Southeast (of Asia)!!!!!
Another day in Bangkok
Another day in Bangkok begins now. We got a late start today due to our late night last night; we figured we couldn't pass up the opportunity to drink a bunch of Singha beer on a Friday night in Bangkok. When I get back to the States and have more time on the internet, I'll have to post the video for that song ("One Night in Bangkok" (?), an eighties song) on to this site.
Well, we're on Soi Rambuttri, a very beautiful tree-lined, red-brick road -- located near Khao San Road --that we'll walk to the end to get to the Chao Phraya River again. From there, we'll get on an express boat like yesterday and visit the Grand Palace, an enormous compound that looked absolutely amazing from the outside yesterday, and will almost certainly blow our minds away in just a short while.
The weather is a bit overcast today, but it's keeping the temperature slightly down. Nevertheless, I'm sure its still much warmer here than in Philly.
Finally, because we're gonna get going in a minute, I want to say that I loved the feeling I got from Bangkok as soon as I got here. As much as I thought language might be a problem, it hasn't been at all. Although I feel badly to appear to be a typical American tourist speaking English in a foreign country, it doesn't seem to be taken badly here, so I guess it's okay. But I always try to show my respect for their culture and language by using the Thai greeting and by saying thank you in Thai.
Well, folks, thanks again for checking in. I'll likely post again later this evening, before our 7:20pm overnight train to the northern city of Chiang Mai. Alright, bye bye from Bangkok for now!
Well, we're on Soi Rambuttri, a very beautiful tree-lined, red-brick road -- located near Khao San Road --that we'll walk to the end to get to the Chao Phraya River again. From there, we'll get on an express boat like yesterday and visit the Grand Palace, an enormous compound that looked absolutely amazing from the outside yesterday, and will almost certainly blow our minds away in just a short while.
The weather is a bit overcast today, but it's keeping the temperature slightly down. Nevertheless, I'm sure its still much warmer here than in Philly.
Finally, because we're gonna get going in a minute, I want to say that I loved the feeling I got from Bangkok as soon as I got here. As much as I thought language might be a problem, it hasn't been at all. Although I feel badly to appear to be a typical American tourist speaking English in a foreign country, it doesn't seem to be taken badly here, so I guess it's okay. But I always try to show my respect for their culture and language by using the Thai greeting and by saying thank you in Thai.
Well, folks, thanks again for checking in. I'll likely post again later this evening, before our 7:20pm overnight train to the northern city of Chiang Mai. Alright, bye bye from Bangkok for now!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Sawat dii!!!
"Hello" in Thai. So I'm finally here in southeast Asia, more specifically I'm writing from a small internet cafe in one of the tiny alleys behind Khao San Road, here in Bangkok, Tighe-land.
Despite getting a pretty solid 7 hours of sleep last night, I still feel a bit fatigued from a combination of the 3 hours of sleep I got on my last night in Philly before the trip, the 13.5 hour flight from Newark to Tokyo, followed by the 6 hour flight from Tokyo to Bangkok, and also the fact that here in Bangkok we are exactly 12 hours ahead of the clock in Philly (meaning that I'm typing this at 9:20pm Friday night in Bangkok, while it's currently 9:20am Friday morning at the double-deuce and Spruce). But, in spite of any fatigue or jet lag, I'm loving the fact that I'm here. But bear with me if my prose in this entry is not quite up to par; I'm just gonna go in chronological order so I don't miss anything.
So last night (i.e., Thursday night), Paul and I met up near the baggage claim in the brand-new (and beautiful) Bangkok airport. Because our hotel for the first night was already booked, and it is located near the airport, we were hooked up with a pre-arranged van ride to the airport to the hotel. Once we got there, a hotel worker slid open the door to the van, bowed with his hands pressed together in a greeting of namaste, and said sawat dii khrap, thereby greeting us. We went up to the room, and after taking turns in the shower, hit the sack by 2am.
This morning we got things started at about 9:30am. We brought our backpacks down to the front desk, and then went for a walk to get some food. I had a bowl of egg noodles with roasted pork in brown broth, healthy and very tasty way to start the day. After that, we got a taxi to take us to our next hotel, located off of the famed Khao San Road, for better or for worse, main street for the backpacker crowd. The cab driver was a guy who asked us to call him Mr. Pao, and he was a really nice guy who spoke pretty good English. We took advantage of the half-hour car ride to ask him lots of questions. During the ride, Paul mentioned to me that there had been a bombing the other day here in Thailand. So I asked both Paul and the driver where the bombing had taken place; the cab driver said that it was in Bangkok and that it had to do with the ongoing demonstrations regarding the prime minister. The cabbie also warned us not to wear red or yellow, because those are the colors of the two respective political parties that are in disagreement. Fortunately neither one of us was wearing either color, and I'm pretty sure I didn't bring any shirts of those colors. The cab driver also pointed out a road where some demonstrators were camped out; of course by total accident Paul and I walked down that very same street later in the day, no bombings much to our relief.
The hotel that our cabbie delivered us to is called Sawasdee Banglumpoo Hotel, and it's located amidst a maze of back alleys, lined with vendors' stalls, selling everything from leather products to food to bracelets to cds to sandals. And as narrow as these alleys are, we learned when we got here that the Thais are skilled enough to drive motorbikes through these alleys, somehow managing to avoid the shoppers. The road itself that lends itself to the hotel's address -- Khao San Road -- is lined with all sorts of street-front restaurants and bars, with signs everywhere. Now that it's nighttime, it looks like a smaller, Thai version of the Vegas strip -- all the signs and lights and people just sitting at roadside tables and also walking by on the street.
After checking in to our room, we began our exploration of the city of Bangkok, and as any journey truly begins, we started one step at a time by setting off on foot. Navigating by the useful maps in our Rough Guides book, we slowly and not-always-certainly made our way to Chao Phraya River. From there we actually accomplished our plan of riding a boat down the river to get us closer to our first cultural destination: Wat Pho.
Wat Pho is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it surely deserves that recognition. It's centerpiece is a 45 meter long statue of the Reclining Buddha. The smile itself is 5 meters wide. The enormity of it can only be appreciated live, and its beauty was breathtaking. Because it is a holy Buddhist site, we had to take our shoes off before entering the building in which the Buddha reclines. The statue was the color gold and its feet were inlaid with iridescent mother of pearl. Also very interesting was seeing Buddhist monks walking through and taking photos of the Buddha with their digital cameras -- welcome to the 21st century.
But Wat Pho is really a large complex of temples, fountains, and courtyards, all within the confines of a white wall about 15 feet high. After leaving the Reclining Buddha, we started walking around the compound, and that's when I thought to break out my iPod to listen to the songs "Shambala" and "Boddhisatva Vow" from the Ill Communication album by the Beastie Boys; the first track is an acid jazz track that begins with the chanting of Buddhist monks and the second track is MCA's hip-hop track laid-over the subtle background of the chanting, dedicating himself to the Buddhist faith. Hearing those tracks in the heart of a holy Buddhist site was something very special. And I will always think of Wat Pho when I hear those songs.
Right before leaving, I pointed out a small temple that we had not yet entered. And boy was that a good decision. When we started to take off our shoes, a couple of guys said that we couldn't go in because there was a film being made inside the building. We looked in and saw a couple of beautiful young women who were getting make-up put on by others. After much cajoling and many attempts to get information, we eventually got the name of the film. But we did it by asking one of the guys to take our guide-book to one of the attractive actresses and have her autograph it for us. She did so, writing the name of the film as "In Search for Sunshine"; she signed her name as Miss Thailand Universe 2006. So we met a star!
Anyway, time is getting long here, and it's nighttime in Bangkok, so we oughtta live some life. Our afternoon and evening after the visit at Wat Pho consisted mainly of walking around, lost for much of the time, but not minding it since we were exploring the city. We ended up eating at a restaurant where we were the only "white" (European-descent) people. There we had our first taste of Chang beer. Then we got a taxi to Hualamphong train station to buy tickets for an overnight train to Chiang Mai, which we will take tomorrow evening at 7:20pm.
Alright, amigos, thanks for checking in. I will continue to post everyday if possible. With love from southeast Asia. Peace!
Despite getting a pretty solid 7 hours of sleep last night, I still feel a bit fatigued from a combination of the 3 hours of sleep I got on my last night in Philly before the trip, the 13.5 hour flight from Newark to Tokyo, followed by the 6 hour flight from Tokyo to Bangkok, and also the fact that here in Bangkok we are exactly 12 hours ahead of the clock in Philly (meaning that I'm typing this at 9:20pm Friday night in Bangkok, while it's currently 9:20am Friday morning at the double-deuce and Spruce). But, in spite of any fatigue or jet lag, I'm loving the fact that I'm here. But bear with me if my prose in this entry is not quite up to par; I'm just gonna go in chronological order so I don't miss anything.
So last night (i.e., Thursday night), Paul and I met up near the baggage claim in the brand-new (and beautiful) Bangkok airport. Because our hotel for the first night was already booked, and it is located near the airport, we were hooked up with a pre-arranged van ride to the airport to the hotel. Once we got there, a hotel worker slid open the door to the van, bowed with his hands pressed together in a greeting of namaste, and said sawat dii khrap, thereby greeting us. We went up to the room, and after taking turns in the shower, hit the sack by 2am.
This morning we got things started at about 9:30am. We brought our backpacks down to the front desk, and then went for a walk to get some food. I had a bowl of egg noodles with roasted pork in brown broth, healthy and very tasty way to start the day. After that, we got a taxi to take us to our next hotel, located off of the famed Khao San Road, for better or for worse, main street for the backpacker crowd. The cab driver was a guy who asked us to call him Mr. Pao, and he was a really nice guy who spoke pretty good English. We took advantage of the half-hour car ride to ask him lots of questions. During the ride, Paul mentioned to me that there had been a bombing the other day here in Thailand. So I asked both Paul and the driver where the bombing had taken place; the cab driver said that it was in Bangkok and that it had to do with the ongoing demonstrations regarding the prime minister. The cabbie also warned us not to wear red or yellow, because those are the colors of the two respective political parties that are in disagreement. Fortunately neither one of us was wearing either color, and I'm pretty sure I didn't bring any shirts of those colors. The cab driver also pointed out a road where some demonstrators were camped out; of course by total accident Paul and I walked down that very same street later in the day, no bombings much to our relief.
The hotel that our cabbie delivered us to is called Sawasdee Banglumpoo Hotel, and it's located amidst a maze of back alleys, lined with vendors' stalls, selling everything from leather products to food to bracelets to cds to sandals. And as narrow as these alleys are, we learned when we got here that the Thais are skilled enough to drive motorbikes through these alleys, somehow managing to avoid the shoppers. The road itself that lends itself to the hotel's address -- Khao San Road -- is lined with all sorts of street-front restaurants and bars, with signs everywhere. Now that it's nighttime, it looks like a smaller, Thai version of the Vegas strip -- all the signs and lights and people just sitting at roadside tables and also walking by on the street.
After checking in to our room, we began our exploration of the city of Bangkok, and as any journey truly begins, we started one step at a time by setting off on foot. Navigating by the useful maps in our Rough Guides book, we slowly and not-always-certainly made our way to Chao Phraya River. From there we actually accomplished our plan of riding a boat down the river to get us closer to our first cultural destination: Wat Pho.
Wat Pho is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it surely deserves that recognition. It's centerpiece is a 45 meter long statue of the Reclining Buddha. The smile itself is 5 meters wide. The enormity of it can only be appreciated live, and its beauty was breathtaking. Because it is a holy Buddhist site, we had to take our shoes off before entering the building in which the Buddha reclines. The statue was the color gold and its feet were inlaid with iridescent mother of pearl. Also very interesting was seeing Buddhist monks walking through and taking photos of the Buddha with their digital cameras -- welcome to the 21st century.
But Wat Pho is really a large complex of temples, fountains, and courtyards, all within the confines of a white wall about 15 feet high. After leaving the Reclining Buddha, we started walking around the compound, and that's when I thought to break out my iPod to listen to the songs "Shambala" and "Boddhisatva Vow" from the Ill Communication album by the Beastie Boys; the first track is an acid jazz track that begins with the chanting of Buddhist monks and the second track is MCA's hip-hop track laid-over the subtle background of the chanting, dedicating himself to the Buddhist faith. Hearing those tracks in the heart of a holy Buddhist site was something very special. And I will always think of Wat Pho when I hear those songs.
Right before leaving, I pointed out a small temple that we had not yet entered. And boy was that a good decision. When we started to take off our shoes, a couple of guys said that we couldn't go in because there was a film being made inside the building. We looked in and saw a couple of beautiful young women who were getting make-up put on by others. After much cajoling and many attempts to get information, we eventually got the name of the film. But we did it by asking one of the guys to take our guide-book to one of the attractive actresses and have her autograph it for us. She did so, writing the name of the film as "In Search for Sunshine"; she signed her name as Miss Thailand Universe 2006. So we met a star!
Anyway, time is getting long here, and it's nighttime in Bangkok, so we oughtta live some life. Our afternoon and evening after the visit at Wat Pho consisted mainly of walking around, lost for much of the time, but not minding it since we were exploring the city. We ended up eating at a restaurant where we were the only "white" (European-descent) people. There we had our first taste of Chang beer. Then we got a taxi to Hualamphong train station to buy tickets for an overnight train to Chiang Mai, which we will take tomorrow evening at 7:20pm.
Alright, amigos, thanks for checking in. I will continue to post everyday if possible. With love from southeast Asia. Peace!
Bangkok, Thailand -- early morning
I met up with Paul near the baggage claim upon arrival here at the Bangkok airport. Now we're at Queen's Garden Hotel near the airport. Paul just got out of shower; now its my turn. Be right back . . .
Wow, what a great feeling after a nice, warm shower and a thorough brushing of teeth. Well, it's now time for bed. Gotta rest up to begin the trip in earnest.
Wow, what a great feeling after a nice, warm shower and a thorough brushing of teeth. Well, it's now time for bed. Gotta rest up to begin the trip in earnest.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Tokyo, Japan -- evening
I'm here in Asia! It's 5:38 p.m. and I just finished eating a bowl of udon with shredded beef at a small restaurant near my departure gate in Narita Airport. My flight to Bangkok should begin boarding in about half an hour, with a scheduled 7:00 p.m. departure time.
I'm realizing now that it's a bit hard to concentrate, quite certainly as a result of travel fatigue. Due to my normal last minute preparations, I didn't get to bed until just before 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday night. Part of that, though, I must say, was due to watching Barack Obama's historic victory speech on television. It was about 11 p.m. when ABC news projected that he had won enough votes to win the presidential election. Then, at midnight eastern time, after John McCain's gracious concession speech, followed by plenty of commentary by the news anchors, Obama took the stage in Chicago's Grant Park.
Anyway, by the time I was done watching that, then shaved, packed, and took a shower, it was nearly 3:30 a.m. My alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. And that's when things got moving, up until and still through the present time.
After breakfast and last-minute check of everything, I walked to 30th Street Station. I had to wait a little over half an hour to get onto an 8:30 a.m. train heading north to Newark-Liberty Airport. Even then, I recall feeling tired. And now, my eyes feel tired, and as of the last time I looked in a mirror, they're a little bit red.
On top of the travelling, though, the jet lag may have much to do with my fatigue. While its already Thursday evening here, the sun having set earlier as I was running around between Terminals 1 & 2, back in Philly it's still Thursday morning; I imagine the sun will be rising there very soon.
The flight from Newark to Tokyo was a direct, 13.5 hour flight; it covered 6830 miles, nearly halfway around the globe. Surprisingly, though, the flight didn't seem so long, mainly because I was in and out of sleep almost the entire time. When I didn't have my eyes closed, I did about ten pages worth of reading, I ate two in-flight meals and a snack, and I listened to some music on my iPod.
Well, I should get packed up here since boarding should begin soon, and I ought to move closer to the gate. Next time I write, I'll have to re-count how I tried to find Paul here in Narita, but was ultimately unsuccessful. I really would have liked to have seen him, since travelling solo like this, especially for so many hours on end, tends to depress me just a little bit. Then again, that probably has much to do with the fatigue too. But hey, I can now say I've been to Asia! Alright, off to Bangkok.
I'm realizing now that it's a bit hard to concentrate, quite certainly as a result of travel fatigue. Due to my normal last minute preparations, I didn't get to bed until just before 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday night. Part of that, though, I must say, was due to watching Barack Obama's historic victory speech on television. It was about 11 p.m. when ABC news projected that he had won enough votes to win the presidential election. Then, at midnight eastern time, after John McCain's gracious concession speech, followed by plenty of commentary by the news anchors, Obama took the stage in Chicago's Grant Park.
Anyway, by the time I was done watching that, then shaved, packed, and took a shower, it was nearly 3:30 a.m. My alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. And that's when things got moving, up until and still through the present time.
After breakfast and last-minute check of everything, I walked to 30th Street Station. I had to wait a little over half an hour to get onto an 8:30 a.m. train heading north to Newark-Liberty Airport. Even then, I recall feeling tired. And now, my eyes feel tired, and as of the last time I looked in a mirror, they're a little bit red.
On top of the travelling, though, the jet lag may have much to do with my fatigue. While its already Thursday evening here, the sun having set earlier as I was running around between Terminals 1 & 2, back in Philly it's still Thursday morning; I imagine the sun will be rising there very soon.
The flight from Newark to Tokyo was a direct, 13.5 hour flight; it covered 6830 miles, nearly halfway around the globe. Surprisingly, though, the flight didn't seem so long, mainly because I was in and out of sleep almost the entire time. When I didn't have my eyes closed, I did about ten pages worth of reading, I ate two in-flight meals and a snack, and I listened to some music on my iPod.
Well, I should get packed up here since boarding should begin soon, and I ought to move closer to the gate. Next time I write, I'll have to re-count how I tried to find Paul here in Narita, but was ultimately unsuccessful. I really would have liked to have seen him, since travelling solo like this, especially for so many hours on end, tends to depress me just a little bit. Then again, that probably has much to do with the fatigue too. But hey, I can now say I've been to Asia! Alright, off to Bangkok.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
El viaje continua...
The journey continues...
And so, once again, I take flight to see another part of God's great creation that we call planet Earth. This time, the winds will carry me to southeast Asia, where I hope to find some tender-lovin' care in TLC: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia.
As always, a trip like this provides me with an opportunity for self-reflection, a chance to step away from my life here and figure out what my heart tells me is the right direction to take at this point in my life.
Quotes are a good way to set the tone for a journey of any kind. And so I offer a few, for your enjoyment and for my own edification:
Finally, I'd like to THANK YOU for checking-in. I truly and sincerely mean it when I say that every one of you is with me on this trip. Any time I leave home, I can't help but think about and appreciate the people that I've left behind; by your very existence in my thoughts, and by virtue of my physical presence in southeast Asia, so shall you be in southeast Asia too. And to those of you whom I've lost touch with, I hope that we can re-connect when I return to U.S. soil. Although my time on the internet may very likely be limited while I'm overseas, I'd still very much love to hear from you, either by posting a comment here or else by sending an email to my personal account.
And so, with that being said, let this humble ambassador from Philadelphia get ready to continue on my journey. Up, up, and away!!!
And so, once again, I take flight to see another part of God's great creation that we call planet Earth. This time, the winds will carry me to southeast Asia, where I hope to find some tender-lovin' care in TLC: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia.
As always, a trip like this provides me with an opportunity for self-reflection, a chance to step away from my life here and figure out what my heart tells me is the right direction to take at this point in my life.
Quotes are a good way to set the tone for a journey of any kind. And so I offer a few, for your enjoyment and for my own edification:
"The boy felt jealous of the freedom of the wind, and saw that he could have the same freedom. There was nothing to hold him back except himself." -- The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, page 28.
"'There is only one way to learn,' the alchemist answered. 'It's through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.'" -- The Alchemist, page 125.
"It's a good thing to drink when dancing, because dancing stops you from getting drunk, and alcohol keeps you going." -- The Age of Reason, by Jean-Paul Sartre, page 240.
"Yes, this is the place where we must breathe, dream and lengthen the hours through an infinity of sensations." -- Invitation To The Voyage, in Twenty Prose Poems, by Charles Baudelaire, page 33.
"Every man carries within him his dose of natural opium, incessantly secreted and renewed, and, from birth until death, how many hours can we count that are filled with positive joy, with successful and decisive action?" -- Invitation To The Voyage, pages 35-37.Now, as if the website you've been so kind to visit right now isn't enough, may I direct you to my travel companion's very own travel-blog? Check out Paul's site HERE.
Finally, I'd like to THANK YOU for checking-in. I truly and sincerely mean it when I say that every one of you is with me on this trip. Any time I leave home, I can't help but think about and appreciate the people that I've left behind; by your very existence in my thoughts, and by virtue of my physical presence in southeast Asia, so shall you be in southeast Asia too. And to those of you whom I've lost touch with, I hope that we can re-connect when I return to U.S. soil. Although my time on the internet may very likely be limited while I'm overseas, I'd still very much love to hear from you, either by posting a comment here or else by sending an email to my personal account.
And so, with that being said, let this humble ambassador from Philadelphia get ready to continue on my journey. Up, up, and away!!!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
PHILLIES WIN THE WORLD SERIES!!!
In the seven and a half years that I've been living in the city of Philadelphia, I have never seen anything like what I saw and experienced last night. As the title clearly indicates, the Philadelphia Phillies won the 2008 World Series, clinching the championship last night with a 4-3 Game 5 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays.
I watched the game here at the double-deuce and Spruce. I cooked a nice dinner for Diana and I to eat during the game: spaghetti with tomato basil spaghetti sauce, into which I mixed in a) roasted garlic-flavored chicken sausage, b) diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil, and c) chopped spinach. Over the top of the finished product we sprinkled some parmesan/romano grated cheese. Along with the food we drank a glass of sparkling apple cider. As we sat down to eat, we listened to the end of "Star/Pointro", a song off of The Tipping Point album by Philly's very own hip-hop heroes: The Roots, then we turned that off to listen to the (anti-Philly-biased) commentary by the Fox sportscasters. So the scene is set, right?
Even before the game began, you could sense the anticipation in the air in the city of Philadelphia, like the feeling one might have to hear the ticking of a bomb. And as the game wore on -- one run by the Phillies, which was then matched by the Rays to even it up, and then the go-ahead run by the Phillies to make it a 4-3 score -- you could somehow feel the excitement building in the air; it was like the static ions building up in the air during a thunderstorm. And then lightning struck! Brad Lidge threw the final strike for the final out in the final game of the 2008 World Series.
The city exploded. POW!!!!! Like a bunch of kids busting out the double-doors on the last day of school before summer break, all the two-fifteeners inside the neighborhood bars sprinted out into the streets the very moment after Lidge released that final bolt of lightning. As my upstairs neighbor, Corey, told me later, a group of guys went streaking up Spruce Street moments after the game's conclusion. Carhorns started sounding-off across the city. The pops and crackles of fireworks were heard from all directions.
Diana and I went outside to the stoop to check out the scene. Groups of people were walking by on the sidewalks, dressed in Phillies red. Cars went driving by, heads sticking out, yelling and screaming. People from other buildings came outside to see the scene from ground level. A minute later, my upstairs neighbor Corey came down, drinking a bottle of beer, and joined us to talk about the game and the electricity that was so palpable in the Two-One-Five.
After several minutes of talking and soaking in the atmosphere, we came back inside to warm up momentarily. I put on some warmer clothes and closed up shop, and Diana and I went to get her car back from my man Fred at the local garage near my gym. We drove down the double-deuce to Chestnut Street, and drove that for just two blocks, although it took us about ten minutes to make it that far because of all the slow traffic, and because there were people literally walking down the middle of the street. I stuck out my hand from the passenger seat to exchange high-fives with all the party people. Racially and ethnically it was a mixed crowd, but besides that petty difference, it was really one crowd: Philadelphia pride. And that's what this city is.
Smiling ear to ear, we turned on 20th, then again on to Market Street. We took that down to 16th Street, which was as far as we could get before there were just mobs of people walking down, across, and in the middle of the streets. Driving north on 16th, passing over JFK Boulevard, we looked to our right-hand side, toward Penn Square (surrounding City Hall), and we were astounded to see a sea of Philly-humanity: a jubilation congregation.
As we had seen on Fox 29 immediately after the game and then again later that night, there were massive crowds that had spontaneously gathered on Broad Street. Here's a video of what it apparently looked like at ground level; be sure to play through to the end because there's some crazy shit in there; check it, check it out:
I love the city of Philadelphia. And at no other point have I felt the unity and pride of this city so beautifully expressed than it was last night. Sure, there might've been some crazy shit, as the video showed, but some of that is expected from drunkards feeding off of the natural high that was already floating in the air around the city.
But I love a city that puts its collective middle finger up to the national sportscasters and sportswriters who sold out the Phillies before, during, and yes, even after, the World Series. The Phillies won, plain and simple, they were the superior team in all aspects of the game, and it wasn't even close: a 4-1 game series advantage, and it wouldn't have taken much to make that single loss into a Phillies win.
A lot of people, especially fucking New Yorkers, like to try to shit on the city of Philadelphia. But there's more heart in this city than the materialistic "i gotta be somebody" cities of New York and Los Angeles, or the yuppie "my parents are rich suburban snobs" cities of Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. There used to be a mural above a shop on 20th & Market Streets that said "heart" over "capital." (as an aside, click HERE for an interesting Catholic analysis regarding the priority of humanity over capital). I'll choose the heart of Philadelphia over the empty souls of those other cities.
Philadelphia: the heart of a champion, humble and hardworking, tough outer shell but a compassionate inner soul. The Phillies showed the world that teamwork wins championships. And that the heart of Philly is its greatest strength and beauty.
Finally, in honor of that spirit, here's the archetype of Philadelphia's soul to inspire you:
I watched the game here at the double-deuce and Spruce. I cooked a nice dinner for Diana and I to eat during the game: spaghetti with tomato basil spaghetti sauce, into which I mixed in a) roasted garlic-flavored chicken sausage, b) diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil, and c) chopped spinach. Over the top of the finished product we sprinkled some parmesan/romano grated cheese. Along with the food we drank a glass of sparkling apple cider. As we sat down to eat, we listened to the end of "Star/Pointro", a song off of The Tipping Point album by Philly's very own hip-hop heroes: The Roots, then we turned that off to listen to the (anti-Philly-biased) commentary by the Fox sportscasters. So the scene is set, right?
Even before the game began, you could sense the anticipation in the air in the city of Philadelphia, like the feeling one might have to hear the ticking of a bomb. And as the game wore on -- one run by the Phillies, which was then matched by the Rays to even it up, and then the go-ahead run by the Phillies to make it a 4-3 score -- you could somehow feel the excitement building in the air; it was like the static ions building up in the air during a thunderstorm. And then lightning struck! Brad Lidge threw the final strike for the final out in the final game of the 2008 World Series.
The city exploded. POW!!!!! Like a bunch of kids busting out the double-doors on the last day of school before summer break, all the two-fifteeners inside the neighborhood bars sprinted out into the streets the very moment after Lidge released that final bolt of lightning. As my upstairs neighbor, Corey, told me later, a group of guys went streaking up Spruce Street moments after the game's conclusion. Carhorns started sounding-off across the city. The pops and crackles of fireworks were heard from all directions.
Diana and I went outside to the stoop to check out the scene. Groups of people were walking by on the sidewalks, dressed in Phillies red. Cars went driving by, heads sticking out, yelling and screaming. People from other buildings came outside to see the scene from ground level. A minute later, my upstairs neighbor Corey came down, drinking a bottle of beer, and joined us to talk about the game and the electricity that was so palpable in the Two-One-Five.
After several minutes of talking and soaking in the atmosphere, we came back inside to warm up momentarily. I put on some warmer clothes and closed up shop, and Diana and I went to get her car back from my man Fred at the local garage near my gym. We drove down the double-deuce to Chestnut Street, and drove that for just two blocks, although it took us about ten minutes to make it that far because of all the slow traffic, and because there were people literally walking down the middle of the street. I stuck out my hand from the passenger seat to exchange high-fives with all the party people. Racially and ethnically it was a mixed crowd, but besides that petty difference, it was really one crowd: Philadelphia pride. And that's what this city is.
Smiling ear to ear, we turned on 20th, then again on to Market Street. We took that down to 16th Street, which was as far as we could get before there were just mobs of people walking down, across, and in the middle of the streets. Driving north on 16th, passing over JFK Boulevard, we looked to our right-hand side, toward Penn Square (surrounding City Hall), and we were astounded to see a sea of Philly-humanity: a jubilation congregation.
As we had seen on Fox 29 immediately after the game and then again later that night, there were massive crowds that had spontaneously gathered on Broad Street. Here's a video of what it apparently looked like at ground level; be sure to play through to the end because there's some crazy shit in there; check it, check it out:
I love the city of Philadelphia. And at no other point have I felt the unity and pride of this city so beautifully expressed than it was last night. Sure, there might've been some crazy shit, as the video showed, but some of that is expected from drunkards feeding off of the natural high that was already floating in the air around the city.
But I love a city that puts its collective middle finger up to the national sportscasters and sportswriters who sold out the Phillies before, during, and yes, even after, the World Series. The Phillies won, plain and simple, they were the superior team in all aspects of the game, and it wasn't even close: a 4-1 game series advantage, and it wouldn't have taken much to make that single loss into a Phillies win.
A lot of people, especially fucking New Yorkers, like to try to shit on the city of Philadelphia. But there's more heart in this city than the materialistic "i gotta be somebody" cities of New York and Los Angeles, or the yuppie "my parents are rich suburban snobs" cities of Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. There used to be a mural above a shop on 20th & Market Streets that said "heart" over "capital." (as an aside, click HERE for an interesting Catholic analysis regarding the priority of humanity over capital). I'll choose the heart of Philadelphia over the empty souls of those other cities.
Philadelphia: the heart of a champion, humble and hardworking, tough outer shell but a compassionate inner soul. The Phillies showed the world that teamwork wins championships. And that the heart of Philly is its greatest strength and beauty.
Finally, in honor of that spirit, here's the archetype of Philadelphia's soul to inspire you:
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Sarah Palin booed
Check out the video below of Sarah Palin being booed loudly at the Philadelphia Flyers home opener against the New York Rangers on Saturday, October 11th. Click HERE to read an article in the Philadelphia Daily News about Palin getting booed.
Sarah Palin is not competent to be vice-president or president of the United States. A major component of either position is foreign policy, and she simply has no grasp on international politics. No sane person can disagree with either part of that statement (for the latter part, please cf. Palin's interview with Katie Couric). Thus, logic leads to the following conclusion: anyone who votes for McCain-Palin on Election Day is out of their mind. To friends and strangers alike, I will lose respect for you if you vote for McCain-Palin.
You gotta love the honest reaction of the Philadelphia crowd.
Sarah Palin is not competent to be vice-president or president of the United States. A major component of either position is foreign policy, and she simply has no grasp on international politics. No sane person can disagree with either part of that statement (for the latter part, please cf. Palin's interview with Katie Couric). Thus, logic leads to the following conclusion: anyone who votes for McCain-Palin on Election Day is out of their mind. To friends and strangers alike, I will lose respect for you if you vote for McCain-Palin.
You gotta love the honest reaction of the Philadelphia crowd.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
saSQUATch
That's a pretty stupid title, I know, but I couldn't think of anything more clever to incorporate the word "squat." Earlier tonight I went to the gym for a leg work-out. I did squats and lunges; here's how I did:
Squats:
1) 135 pounds, 12 repetitions
2) 185 pounds, 10 repetitions
3) 225 pounds, 8 repetitions
4) 245 pounds, 5 repetitions
Lunges:
1) 20 pound dumbbell each hand, 24 total repetitions (12 each leg)
2) 30 pound dumbbell each hand, 20 total repetitions (10 each leg)
3) 40 pound dumbbell each hand, 16 total repetitions (8 each leg)
My final set of squats today was the most repetitions I've done at that weight since I was in college. My personal best, set back then, was 315 pounds at 2 repetitions. I don't look to repeat that level of performance, but if I continue to get stronger, I'd like to reach 275 pounds for at least a couple repetitions. But even if I only maintain my current level of performance, I'll be content; that's not too bad.
Squats:
1) 135 pounds, 12 repetitions
2) 185 pounds, 10 repetitions
3) 225 pounds, 8 repetitions
4) 245 pounds, 5 repetitions
Lunges:
1) 20 pound dumbbell each hand, 24 total repetitions (12 each leg)
2) 30 pound dumbbell each hand, 20 total repetitions (10 each leg)
3) 40 pound dumbbell each hand, 16 total repetitions (8 each leg)
My final set of squats today was the most repetitions I've done at that weight since I was in college. My personal best, set back then, was 315 pounds at 2 repetitions. I don't look to repeat that level of performance, but if I continue to get stronger, I'd like to reach 275 pounds for at least a couple repetitions. But even if I only maintain my current level of performance, I'll be content; that's not too bad.
Monday, October 20, 2008
A bilingual United States of America
As this article (click HERE) explains, the Oprah Winfrey Show is going bilingual, i.e. it will be presented in Spanish in certain television markets.
I've said it before and I'll say it again now: globalization is not only an exporting of the U.S. culture and primary language to the rest of the world; globalization is a two-way street, which necessarily means that the U.S. is changing and evolving to the influences of other cultures and languages too.
In the area of language, then, this means that Spanish will become more and more prevalent -- and eventually mainstream (coexistent with English) -- throughout the United States. There are, unfortunately, plenty of cultural conservatives and plain racists who do not want to accept this reality. But a reality it is nonetheless.
As much as I wish this evolution would take place for reasons of cultural respect and exchange, the real reason -- as we can easily see from a savvy businesswoman like Oprah -- is money. The Spanish-speaking market in the United States is growing quickly and those who are quick to adapt to these cultural and demographic changes will reap financial rewards as a result. Whatever the reasons, though, the end result will be the same: a bilingual Estados Unidos de America.
I've said it before and I'll say it again now: globalization is not only an exporting of the U.S. culture and primary language to the rest of the world; globalization is a two-way street, which necessarily means that the U.S. is changing and evolving to the influences of other cultures and languages too.
In the area of language, then, this means that Spanish will become more and more prevalent -- and eventually mainstream (coexistent with English) -- throughout the United States. There are, unfortunately, plenty of cultural conservatives and plain racists who do not want to accept this reality. But a reality it is nonetheless.
As much as I wish this evolution would take place for reasons of cultural respect and exchange, the real reason -- as we can easily see from a savvy businesswoman like Oprah -- is money. The Spanish-speaking market in the United States is growing quickly and those who are quick to adapt to these cultural and demographic changes will reap financial rewards as a result. Whatever the reasons, though, the end result will be the same: a bilingual Estados Unidos de America.
text message to DG
Buenas noches mi linda princesa, tu eres el amor de mi vida. Te extrano cada momento que no estemos juntos, como una flor extrana las caricias del lindo sol.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Los Amigos Ya Son Visibles
Last night's concert was amazing. A group of my friends came to support the let's-have-a-good-time cause. And I feel pretty confident saying that we accomplished our mission. The music was non-stop and it was highly energetic and infectious, as is the nature of the music of Los Amigos Invisibles. My only minor complaint is that I feel the volume was a tiny bit too high; I think that last year's show at World Cafe Live was at a slightly lower volume level. But hey, that's a very minor point, so we're all still happy!
This morning, in anticipation of Evan and Paul coming into town, I wanted to take care of a couple things at the law library. I got done around 12:30pm, and the weather being so beautiful here today (72 degrees and sunny), I decided to walk back to the Double-Deuce and Spruce.
So I'm walking down Walnut Street and, as I'm on the 1200 block, I look across the street to the other sidewalk, and who do I see? The drummer and lead guitarist of Los Amigos Invisibles just walking down Walnut. So right there I cross the street, and as I'm crossing Walnut, I cup my hands around my mouth, and yell, "Amigos Invisibles!" They stop and look at me, I shake their hands, and then we talked for about five minutes. I told them that I saw their show last night, and had a really good time, that they did a great job. I also said that I would've loved to see them tonight down in DC, if not for a couple good friends (see supra) coming into town this evening. I asked them if they had ever played in Costa Rica, and they said yes, at Playa Tamarindo; I told them that it is a bit touristy there, but it's a really nice place. They explained to me how the style of their shows are different in the United States compared to Latin America, and how that usually means an indoor solo show versus an outdoor show with accompanying acts. They also seemed to imply that the songs that they play may also be a bit different. I told them that my family is from there, and that my mother is there right now. So the lead guitarist asked me in Spanish, "Eres costarricense?" and I replied, "Naci en Colombia, pero mi mama es de Costa Rica. Hace tiempo que estoy viviendo en Philly." And he simply replied, "Ay carajo." Haha! It was so cool to see and meet those guys after just seeing them play last night. I told them that this was my third time seeing them. They asked me my name and I told them, and they said it was nice to meet me. I wouldn't have minded hanging out with them for a bit, so I asked what they were up to, and they said that they were actually getting ready to drive down to DC in a little bit. So that was that.
But hey, from last night to today, things are rolling along nicely. I've gotta thank God for blessing me. As the Beastie Boys sing, "life comes in stages, take the good with the bad." Well, it's always more fun when you're in a good stage, and I feel like I'm just at the beginning of a good stage. The trip is coming up so soon, and I know that it will be an incredible experience, and to come back I hope to be blessed with a full-time gig again. And then, God willing, all I'll need is to find true love. And I'm truly hopeful for that. In the meantime, though, I'm just gonna keep on doing my thang, and see what happens.
This morning, in anticipation of Evan and Paul coming into town, I wanted to take care of a couple things at the law library. I got done around 12:30pm, and the weather being so beautiful here today (72 degrees and sunny), I decided to walk back to the Double-Deuce and Spruce.
So I'm walking down Walnut Street and, as I'm on the 1200 block, I look across the street to the other sidewalk, and who do I see? The drummer and lead guitarist of Los Amigos Invisibles just walking down Walnut. So right there I cross the street, and as I'm crossing Walnut, I cup my hands around my mouth, and yell, "Amigos Invisibles!" They stop and look at me, I shake their hands, and then we talked for about five minutes. I told them that I saw their show last night, and had a really good time, that they did a great job. I also said that I would've loved to see them tonight down in DC, if not for a couple good friends (see supra) coming into town this evening. I asked them if they had ever played in Costa Rica, and they said yes, at Playa Tamarindo; I told them that it is a bit touristy there, but it's a really nice place. They explained to me how the style of their shows are different in the United States compared to Latin America, and how that usually means an indoor solo show versus an outdoor show with accompanying acts. They also seemed to imply that the songs that they play may also be a bit different. I told them that my family is from there, and that my mother is there right now. So the lead guitarist asked me in Spanish, "Eres costarricense?" and I replied, "Naci en Colombia, pero mi mama es de Costa Rica. Hace tiempo que estoy viviendo en Philly." And he simply replied, "Ay carajo." Haha! It was so cool to see and meet those guys after just seeing them play last night. I told them that this was my third time seeing them. They asked me my name and I told them, and they said it was nice to meet me. I wouldn't have minded hanging out with them for a bit, so I asked what they were up to, and they said that they were actually getting ready to drive down to DC in a little bit. So that was that.
But hey, from last night to today, things are rolling along nicely. I've gotta thank God for blessing me. As the Beastie Boys sing, "life comes in stages, take the good with the bad." Well, it's always more fun when you're in a good stage, and I feel like I'm just at the beginning of a good stage. The trip is coming up so soon, and I know that it will be an incredible experience, and to come back I hope to be blessed with a full-time gig again. And then, God willing, all I'll need is to find true love. And I'm truly hopeful for that. In the meantime, though, I'm just gonna keep on doing my thang, and see what happens.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Los Amigos Invisibles
Listen up, friends! / Oye amigos!
One of my favorite groups, Los Amigos Invisibles, is performing tomorrow (Thursday) night at 7:30pm at World Cafe Live, 30th & Walnut Streets. / Uno de mis grupos favoritos, Los Amigos Invisibles, esta tocando manana (jueves) a las 7:30 de la noche en World Cafe Live, ubicado en la 30 & Walnut.
I've seen them live twice before, both times here in Philly: October 29, 2005 at the TLA and November 9, 2007 at World Cafe Live. / Los he visto dos veces antes, las dos veces aqui en Philly: el 29 de octubre, 2005 en el TLA y el 9 de noviembre, 2007 en World Cafe Live.
Their music is versatile and multifarious; different songs can be labeled as acid jazz, funk, disco, latin jazz, and/or dance. As LA Weekly said: ""Los Amigos Invisibles have taken the rhythmic sass in salsa, the bass-heavy fun in funk, and even the note-bending bile in acid-jazz, and mixed it all up to produce an infectious beat. They've put the joy back into dancing, sending a warm current into the cold alienating waters of industrial strength techno."
Su musica es versatil y polifacetico; piezas diferentes pueden ser catalogadas como acid jazz, funk, disco, jazz latino, y/o baile. Como dijo LA Weekly: "Los Amigos Invisibles han quitado el descaro ritmico de salsa, la diversion del bajo bien-bajo de funk, y hasta el mal genio de las notas-torcidas de acid jazz, y los han mezclado todo para producir un ritmo infeccioso. Ellos han repuesto la alegria en el baile, enviando un corriente tibio en el agua frio y alienado del techno de fuerza industrial."
If you're in Philadelphia, or at least happen to be passing through tomorrow night, then please think about stopping in. I can guarantee that you will have a good time. These guys put on an amazing show. As much as I love their music on cd or playing from my iPod, this is one group that I can truly say sounds even better live. You don't wanna miss this opportunity, party people!
Si tu estas en Philadelphia, o por lo menos estas pasando por aqui manana en la noche, debes considerar venir con nosotros. Te puedo garantizar que vas a pasarlo super-chevere. Estos maes van a poner un show fantastico. Lo tanto que me encanto la musica de ellos en cd o escuchada por mi iPod, este es uno de esos grupos que puedo decir verdaderamente que suenan mejor en vivo. Ustedes no quieren perder esta oportunidad, fiesteros!
And in case you need any more convincing, check out the video for their song, "Una Disco Llena," which happens to be my favorite song by these guys:
Y si tu todavia necesitas mas para convencerte, chequea este video para la pieza, "Una Disco Llena," que por casualidad es mi pieza favorita de estos maes:
"SIEMPRE MIA TU SERAS, SI ME BESAS AL BAILAR."
One of my favorite groups, Los Amigos Invisibles, is performing tomorrow (Thursday) night at 7:30pm at World Cafe Live, 30th & Walnut Streets. / Uno de mis grupos favoritos, Los Amigos Invisibles, esta tocando manana (jueves) a las 7:30 de la noche en World Cafe Live, ubicado en la 30 & Walnut.
I've seen them live twice before, both times here in Philly: October 29, 2005 at the TLA and November 9, 2007 at World Cafe Live. / Los he visto dos veces antes, las dos veces aqui en Philly: el 29 de octubre, 2005 en el TLA y el 9 de noviembre, 2007 en World Cafe Live.
Their music is versatile and multifarious; different songs can be labeled as acid jazz, funk, disco, latin jazz, and/or dance. As LA Weekly said: ""Los Amigos Invisibles have taken the rhythmic sass in salsa, the bass-heavy fun in funk, and even the note-bending bile in acid-jazz, and mixed it all up to produce an infectious beat. They've put the joy back into dancing, sending a warm current into the cold alienating waters of industrial strength techno."
Su musica es versatil y polifacetico; piezas diferentes pueden ser catalogadas como acid jazz, funk, disco, jazz latino, y/o baile. Como dijo LA Weekly: "Los Amigos Invisibles han quitado el descaro ritmico de salsa, la diversion del bajo bien-bajo de funk, y hasta el mal genio de las notas-torcidas de acid jazz, y los han mezclado todo para producir un ritmo infeccioso. Ellos han repuesto la alegria en el baile, enviando un corriente tibio en el agua frio y alienado del techno de fuerza industrial."
If you're in Philadelphia, or at least happen to be passing through tomorrow night, then please think about stopping in. I can guarantee that you will have a good time. These guys put on an amazing show. As much as I love their music on cd or playing from my iPod, this is one group that I can truly say sounds even better live. You don't wanna miss this opportunity, party people!
Si tu estas en Philadelphia, o por lo menos estas pasando por aqui manana en la noche, debes considerar venir con nosotros. Te puedo garantizar que vas a pasarlo super-chevere. Estos maes van a poner un show fantastico. Lo tanto que me encanto la musica de ellos en cd o escuchada por mi iPod, este es uno de esos grupos que puedo decir verdaderamente que suenan mejor en vivo. Ustedes no quieren perder esta oportunidad, fiesteros!
And in case you need any more convincing, check out the video for their song, "Una Disco Llena," which happens to be my favorite song by these guys:
Y si tu todavia necesitas mas para convencerte, chequea este video para la pieza, "Una Disco Llena," que por casualidad es mi pieza favorita de estos maes:
"SIEMPRE MIA TU SERAS, SI ME BESAS AL BAILAR."
Monday, October 6, 2008
Windows closed
This morning was the first time that I took out the screens and closed the windows in my apartment since the last time I had my air-conditioning on for a hot day in the summer. Today was a little bit chilly in the morning. And now tonight, it's feeling even chillier. So autumn really is coming now!
Yesterday I was out and about, and walking around the city. I realized in the mid-afternoon that I still hadn't eaten breakfast yet (I'd had a second round of coffee around noontime, due to a completely restless -- and totally worth it -- weekend). So I went into Goodburger, on the 1700 block of Chestnut Street, to get a quick meal. I've eaten there once before, probably about two months ago, not too long after they first opened. I recommend it. Anyway, it was there that I was very fortunate to catch -- coincidentally -- the last two innings of the Phillies game, in which they were victorious over the Milwaukee Brewers, thus winning that series to move on to the NLDS (the National League Division Series).
And speaking of the NLDS, it starts this Thursday right here in the Two-One-Five. With all respect to Michael, I hope the Phillies make a statement and handily handle (that's a handful!) the Dodgers. We all know that this city is desperate for a championship. And especially with the prospects of a good Eagles' season going quickly down the tubes, we've gotta send all our good karma in the Phillies' direction. (Or better yet, in the economy's direction, whatever direction it may be -- but let's save that topic for another time).
Okay, amigos, time to figure out what's for dinner. "I'm audi, so check me."
Yesterday I was out and about, and walking around the city. I realized in the mid-afternoon that I still hadn't eaten breakfast yet (I'd had a second round of coffee around noontime, due to a completely restless -- and totally worth it -- weekend). So I went into Goodburger, on the 1700 block of Chestnut Street, to get a quick meal. I've eaten there once before, probably about two months ago, not too long after they first opened. I recommend it. Anyway, it was there that I was very fortunate to catch -- coincidentally -- the last two innings of the Phillies game, in which they were victorious over the Milwaukee Brewers, thus winning that series to move on to the NLDS (the National League Division Series).
And speaking of the NLDS, it starts this Thursday right here in the Two-One-Five. With all respect to Michael, I hope the Phillies make a statement and handily handle (that's a handful!) the Dodgers. We all know that this city is desperate for a championship. And especially with the prospects of a good Eagles' season going quickly down the tubes, we've gotta send all our good karma in the Phillies' direction. (Or better yet, in the economy's direction, whatever direction it may be -- but let's save that topic for another time).
Okay, amigos, time to figure out what's for dinner. "I'm audi, so check me."
Friday, October 3, 2008
Hunt for Green October
Hey there,
Last night I was thinking to myself that I've been so intent on posting old entries from my handwritten journal that I haven't posted anything in the present. So here's your update of the day:
The "green" in the title refers to money, since I'm still waiting for word on a start date for the next project. They had set it for this past Monday, but then called me at nearly 9pm last Saturday night (while I was in the middle of finishing a bottle of red Chilean wine) to tell me that it was being pushed back indefinitely. And that's the status still today. Let me tell you that I'm definitely ready to get back to a regular schedule (my body feels uncomfortable when I'm irregular) and back to making some dolla dolla bills, y'all.
I just officially picked up a new client this morning, though, so it's all good in the hood, at least for the time being.
Besides the job situation, everything else is pretty chill here at the double-deuce & spruce. Autumn has arrived and as you may remember from last year's entry around this time, this is my favorite time of year.
And just as autumn is a time of transition, so may it coincide with my personal life as things seem to indicate a transition there too. I won't speculate too much on that here, since that's not my thing on this site, but also because I'd rather let things unfold naturally without too much analysis or prediction.
Finally, I'm getting a bit more excited for the SE Asia trip with Paul. We've met once to do some initial planning. And since then, I've compiled a lot of info from various people into a single cheat-sheet travel plan. Paul and I will probably get together soon to fill-in some of the holes in that plan. But you can be sure that we'll be posting updates like mad once we're over yonder. And that's when you'll be entertained beyond all expectations.
Okay people, that's all you get for now. I will, in fact, keep putting up old journal entries at my own leisure. Thanks! And have a great weekend.
Last night I was thinking to myself that I've been so intent on posting old entries from my handwritten journal that I haven't posted anything in the present. So here's your update of the day:
The "green" in the title refers to money, since I'm still waiting for word on a start date for the next project. They had set it for this past Monday, but then called me at nearly 9pm last Saturday night (while I was in the middle of finishing a bottle of red Chilean wine) to tell me that it was being pushed back indefinitely. And that's the status still today. Let me tell you that I'm definitely ready to get back to a regular schedule (my body feels uncomfortable when I'm irregular) and back to making some dolla dolla bills, y'all.
I just officially picked up a new client this morning, though, so it's all good in the hood, at least for the time being.
Besides the job situation, everything else is pretty chill here at the double-deuce & spruce. Autumn has arrived and as you may remember from last year's entry around this time, this is my favorite time of year.
And just as autumn is a time of transition, so may it coincide with my personal life as things seem to indicate a transition there too. I won't speculate too much on that here, since that's not my thing on this site, but also because I'd rather let things unfold naturally without too much analysis or prediction.
Finally, I'm getting a bit more excited for the SE Asia trip with Paul. We've met once to do some initial planning. And since then, I've compiled a lot of info from various people into a single cheat-sheet travel plan. Paul and I will probably get together soon to fill-in some of the holes in that plan. But you can be sure that we'll be posting updates like mad once we're over yonder. And that's when you'll be entertained beyond all expectations.
Okay people, that's all you get for now. I will, in fact, keep putting up old journal entries at my own leisure. Thanks! And have a great weekend.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
real quick . . .
- i'm spending a lot of time uploading old entries, so be sure to browse through the blog archive in the years 2002 to 2004 for the latest entries
- don't be afraid to vote . . . i know you're reading this, so you're able to vote . . . c'mon, someone's gotta break the ice. and while we're on the topic, i just now read that the phillies have moved to a 1/2 game ahead of the mets
- if anyone has any advice on se asia, please send it my way
- this is enough bullet points for one night . . . don't wanna contribute too much to that negative image of our beloved city of philadelphia :-)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The end of a chapter
Today was the last day of the project. It was a good run: from October 22, 2007 until today: almost 11 months. That's not bad, considering that when we were hired they told us that the project would last only six months. But, despite this, it still sucks to be laid-off.
The warning signs had been there. We had one huge, seemingly neverending assignment that kept us mind-numbingly busy for nearly three weeks. Everyone wondered what, if anything, could possibly be on the other end of this assignment. There were rumors and speculation that the project would end once we got through all these documents. Trying to maintain my sense of optimism, I shut my ears off to what I interpreted as the annoying pessimism of unsubstantiated rumors. In the end, I was wrong. And I have to say that the gossipers seemed to barely veil their happiness when they found out that I was wrong -- but at what cost, I asked myself: we've all lost our jobs! Talk about a Pyrrhic victory.
There are a lot of great things that I took away from this job. First and foremost, I'm so grateful to have met so many nice people that I now consider friends. If there was one major thing, besides a girlfriend, that my life was missing here in Philadelphia, it's a circle of friends that live locally, especially within Center City. I think I can say that I have that now, and I'm very happy for it. I truly hope that I can do my part to maintain these friendships.
Secondly, I'm happy to report that I was able to do some things financially -- as a result of the project -- that I could have only dreamed of a year ago while I was waiting for the results of the bar exam. Among these, I have to be most grateful for being afforded the opportunity to catch up on all my rent and bills, of which I was at least two months behind at the time the project began. Along these lines, I'm very thankful that I was able to save up a significant rainy-day fund, which I knew would provide security for the inevitable period of unemployment and any other period of financial instability or emergency.
Thirdly, but directly on the tail of the financial benefits of the job, I'm so happy to have been afforded the chance to travel -- one of my great loves of life. Earlier this year, due to the flexibility of the job and the money that I was able to earn and save from it, I was able to travel to Egypt, Germany, and for one afternoon, the Netherlands. And not only that, but in less than two months time, I will be traveling to southeast Asia, hopefully to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. These incredible experiences -- of which so few people in this world are able to enjoy -- are a direct benefit of my employment at the project. For this I feel truly blessed.
The ending of project was certainly bittersweet. During the last couple hours of work today, many of us exchanged phone numbers and email addresses. And at the very end of the day, there were lots of hugs. It was really nice, and I don't take for granted the camaraderie and genuine feelings that were expressed in those hugs and warm handshakes. Towards the end of the day, the project lead, Lakisha, stood up to say a few words in recognition of the friendliness exhibited on the project and the fact that so many people, in her words, "gelled" on this project like no other that she has ever been on. I thought that was a very classy move on her part to say those nice things and it meant a lot to me that she said that.
But, all things must come to an end, and so it goes for this project. As one door closes, so shall another door open. It's just a matter of getting my bearings so that I can locate this next door. One thing is for sure, though: all those good things that I mentioned above can never be taken away from me, because they're now a part of me, and for that I'm a better person, and thus in turn I'm a very thankful person.
To all my friends from the project, thanks! and please keep in touch!
The warning signs had been there. We had one huge, seemingly neverending assignment that kept us mind-numbingly busy for nearly three weeks. Everyone wondered what, if anything, could possibly be on the other end of this assignment. There were rumors and speculation that the project would end once we got through all these documents. Trying to maintain my sense of optimism, I shut my ears off to what I interpreted as the annoying pessimism of unsubstantiated rumors. In the end, I was wrong. And I have to say that the gossipers seemed to barely veil their happiness when they found out that I was wrong -- but at what cost, I asked myself: we've all lost our jobs! Talk about a Pyrrhic victory.
There are a lot of great things that I took away from this job. First and foremost, I'm so grateful to have met so many nice people that I now consider friends. If there was one major thing, besides a girlfriend, that my life was missing here in Philadelphia, it's a circle of friends that live locally, especially within Center City. I think I can say that I have that now, and I'm very happy for it. I truly hope that I can do my part to maintain these friendships.
Secondly, I'm happy to report that I was able to do some things financially -- as a result of the project -- that I could have only dreamed of a year ago while I was waiting for the results of the bar exam. Among these, I have to be most grateful for being afforded the opportunity to catch up on all my rent and bills, of which I was at least two months behind at the time the project began. Along these lines, I'm very thankful that I was able to save up a significant rainy-day fund, which I knew would provide security for the inevitable period of unemployment and any other period of financial instability or emergency.
Thirdly, but directly on the tail of the financial benefits of the job, I'm so happy to have been afforded the chance to travel -- one of my great loves of life. Earlier this year, due to the flexibility of the job and the money that I was able to earn and save from it, I was able to travel to Egypt, Germany, and for one afternoon, the Netherlands. And not only that, but in less than two months time, I will be traveling to southeast Asia, hopefully to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. These incredible experiences -- of which so few people in this world are able to enjoy -- are a direct benefit of my employment at the project. For this I feel truly blessed.
The ending of project was certainly bittersweet. During the last couple hours of work today, many of us exchanged phone numbers and email addresses. And at the very end of the day, there were lots of hugs. It was really nice, and I don't take for granted the camaraderie and genuine feelings that were expressed in those hugs and warm handshakes. Towards the end of the day, the project lead, Lakisha, stood up to say a few words in recognition of the friendliness exhibited on the project and the fact that so many people, in her words, "gelled" on this project like no other that she has ever been on. I thought that was a very classy move on her part to say those nice things and it meant a lot to me that she said that.
But, all things must come to an end, and so it goes for this project. As one door closes, so shall another door open. It's just a matter of getting my bearings so that I can locate this next door. One thing is for sure, though: all those good things that I mentioned above can never be taken away from me, because they're now a part of me, and for that I'm a better person, and thus in turn I'm a very thankful person.
To all my friends from the project, thanks! and please keep in touch!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
