My last day in Saigon, I got caught in a torrential rainstorm. To keep myself entertained, I shot some pics of the crazy scooterers as they flew by in the wetness.

Shooting an AK-47. G-Sus Kryst.


Shot these two this afternoon. This is the river that runs through Hoi An. Below are some sweet kids I hung out with for about 15 minutes. They laughed at my white (pink) skin, blue eyes, and hairy arms and loved seeing themselves in pictures. I've been hanging out with groups of kids all over Southeast Asia. The language barrier doesn't seem to be a problem with them.

Not much to report today. The flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang was delayed for an hour due to a mega thunderstorm. Surprisingly, they decided to take off before it was over and for the first 20 minutes of the flight, we experienced awful turbulence. There were a few instances when the Boeing 777 lost serious altitude, sending my stomach into my throat and causing a number of the passengers to scream in terror, but we passed through the clouds quickly and the rest of the trip was smooth.

I landed in Da Nang and arranged a car to drive me for an hour or so to Hoi An, a beautiful old French colonial town known for its tailors. On Demetri and Mary Beth's recommendation, I am staying at the Thanh Binh III Hotel. I am splurging, spending $16/night (after negotiating it down from $20). This is not only, by far, the nicest hotel I have stayed at on this trip, it is likely one of the nicer hotels I've ever stayed in. Built in an old and refurbished Chinese trader inn, there is an entire inner courtyard dominated by a wonderful pool. The staff are remarkably friendly and helpful, the service has so far been almost silly-good, and the architecture is beautiful. I'm enjoying it and will likely stay in this spot for the few days I am in this town. My room is huge with a queen sized bed and a single bed, a great marble bathroom with a huge bathtub and mood lighting, a balcony looking down onto a quiet street, cable TV and a/c. Really wishing Steph was with me, especially now...

Gonna go find some pho to eat and call it an early night. I have to find a tailor tomorrow (there are literally hundreds in this small town) and get fitted. They even make hand made shoes, in any style. Thinking of getting a custom made pair of Pumas...

R*

Took a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels today with Demetri and his wife, Mary Beth. These tunnels are an hour outside of Ho Chi Minh and were a guerrilla stronghold during the American War. After the Americans started bombing the crap out of the area and using exfoliants like Agent Orange, the Vietcong went underground. Their tunnels are still accessible and after watching a hilarious black and white propaganda film from 1967 and visiting a number of vivid exhibits depicting the horribly painful traps they set for the American GIs, we crawled through about 100m of the incredibly tight tunnels. The Vietcong are not only smaller than Westerners, but as a result of the deforestation caused by the Americans, they were severly undernourished. The tunnels, therefore, were made for little tiny people. Crawling through was a trip.

Throughout the visit to the historical site, the sound of machine guns could be heard in the background. As we neared the end of the tour, we were asked if we wanted to shoot the guns. Well, Demetri and I were still feeling very manly after our scorpion eating escapade the evening before, so, hell ya, we shot the guns. For about $1 US per bullet, we shot a Kalashnikov AK-47. We each used 5 bullets. Mutherfucker, what a rush. First of all, I had no idea just how loud those things are. After the very first shot Demetri took, while I stood beside him videoing, my ears started to ring, even though I was wearing those construction site ear muffs. More impressive than the superhard pop sound was the blasting power of the gun in your hands. I have to admit that I totally and completely loved it. The power rush is not like anything I've ever experienced, no where close. BANG! BANG! BANG-BANG-BANG!!! Now I want a Kalashnikov for Christmas.

We made it back to the city around noon and after a quick lunch I took Demetri and MB to the galleries that sell the painting copies. I bought a great copy of van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet", my favorite van Gogh painting (and, as of a few years ago, the most expensive painting ever sold at auction). Not sure what they picked up. When I left they were deciding between some very nice Cezanne works. Apparently, Demetri proposed to her in front of a Cezanne, so they have a thing for the Frenchman.

Gonna plan my trip to Hoi Ann now and then meet up with the crew later. Perhaps I'll have a chance to post again today...

R*

First of all, Ho Chi Minh City rocks. Compared to that cesspit of sin called Bangkok, this is a terrifically beautiful and livable city. Apart from the insanity of the scooters, that is. The weather, though hot, is not nearly as unbearable as all the other places I've visited on this trip. The architecture is wonderful, there are parks everywhere, and the people are generally nice and mind their own business (except for the taxi touts who, I am told, harass everyone, not just the whities).

I set out early this morning and found myself at the national gallery of contemporary art. Impressive. I take back all my comments yesterday about the Vietnamese not having original ideas. Clearly I was looking in the wrong places. The museum was wonderful and I saw some amazing paintings. Lucky for me, there were four contemporary art galleries attached to the museum and I absolutely loved what I saw. Though a bit commercial for my tastes, I saw wonderful paintings by many of the best new crop of Vietnamese painters. In fact, I wound up having spontaneous meetings with the directors of three of the galleries and expressed interest in curating a show in Toronto of contemporary Vietnamese painting. I didn't promise anything, but I do definitely think a show could be viable given the quality of the work, the large size of the Vietnamese community in Toronto, my new connections, and the relatively cheap retail price of the excellent works. Many of these artists have shown in Europe and all over Asia, plus numerous artist monographs have been published, but most (or all) have never shown in North America. Hmmm... My mind was racing and we'll see if I can make anything of it.

Then I wandered over to the War Remnants Museum. I'm not going to get into this very much right now because it is late and I cannot do justice to my experience there. Suffice it to say that I have never been so happy NOT to be American. What a shame, what a smear on their history. The most remarkable part of the entire exhibition of American atrocities wrought on the Vietnamese is the fact that ALL of the evidence they use to present American aggression is taken directly from sourced American press. Though there is clearly some sort of propagandistic angle to the museum, it is hard to deny the evilness the Americans caused in this country. Very sad. For the first time on my entire trip, I was upset and depressed. I had to come straight home and lie down.

Of course, that passed. Around 7:15 I met up with Demetri, a great friend from Rotman, and his wife, Mary Beth (MB). They are staying with Marc, the brother of another friend of ours from Rotman. Marc works in HCMC and is engaged to a very nice Vietnamese girl. They took us out for dinner to a fun outdoor restaurant where we cooked our own food on mini BBQ's placed on the table. I am proud to admit that I ate scorpion tonight. Yup, scorpion. It was Demetri's call and I couldn't chicken out. The waiter took us to the back of the restaurant to show us the live scorpions in a tank. They were all black, 3 inches long, and ugly as the worst nightmare you have ever had. Ten minutes later, the waiter brought a plate of 5 cooked scorpions to the table. Lest you doubt my truthfulness, I have video to prove it. Very crispy/crunchy, the scorpions actually tasted kinda good. A little like crispy pork. I didn't even retch, though I admit I did not eat a whole one. Demetri, on the other hand, ate one and a half. His wife refused to even touch it. The strangest part was having 2 and a half uneaten scorpions on the table while we ate the rest of the meal. Demetri and I sang The Scorpions "Rock You Like a Hurricane!" and "Wind of Change", a song he credits with single-handedly bringing down the wall in Germany.

We walked around for a while then wound up at a very cool nightclub, packed with Vietcong hipsters. Sitting outside on the patio, Marc told us the story of how he visited SE Asia 3 years ago on a 3 month backpacker trip, then wound up staying in Ho Chi Minh where he works in finance for a startup investment bank. Totally fascinating. He loves it here, speaks more or less fluent Vietnamese now, and faces very exciting opportunities daily. I was very impressed, liked him a lot, and looking forward to hearing more of his tales tomorrow night.

Tomorrow off to see the Cu Chi tunnels the Vietcong used to evade the Americans. Demetri and MB are joining me. Should be claustrophobic fun.

R*

Holy crap. Saigon, er, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), is perhaps the wildest city ever. Certainly rivals Bangkok. The most awesomely retarded thing you notice right away are the scooters. They are *everywhere*. At every intersection, they wait by the hundreds, literally, for the light to change. Then like a river they zoom forward in a flood, honking and revving, exhaust fumes everywhere. Most of the time, intersections do not even have traffic lights and somehow oncoming traffic simply blends and swirls and roars and the scooters pass through to the otherside like poltergeists. Crossing the road is an acid trip. Luckily, I spent 5 years in NYC learning how to jay-walk and dodge traffic, so I feel I have the skills to cross the road when necessary. I admit, though, that sometimes I have no idea how to get across and I wait for a group of Vietcong pedestrians to lead the way.

Anyone want a painting? Store after store, famous paintings from world art history are copied in oil on canvas and the quality of many is surprisingly high. I spent much of this evening visiting "gallery" after gallery, flipping through the copies of works by Seurat, Monet, van Gogh, Picasso, ... I'm definitely going to buy a few as they are too awesome. They even make them on request, just provide an image. The whole copy/theft/plagarism industry in Asia confuses me. If I could paint that well, why wouldn't I make original works? Just not their culture, I suppose. This is not the land of original thinking.

My hotel is very sweet. Down a little laneway called Minihotel Alley, my room has an armful of charm. Though I don't have a window (and really, who needs a window?) I do have a fake tree growing out of the wall (plagarism again), cable TV, blessed air conditioning, and a very clean bathroom. Oh yeah, and free internet in the restaurant. Oh! The food! Awesome! I had a beef Pho for lunch and it rocked. I even ate the beef tripe and loved it.

Anyway, meeting Dimitri and his wife tomorrow for dinner, hopefully. That'll be goodtimes. Going to continue my wandering during the day with the only specific destination The Museum of American Atrocities, now called the Museum of the American War.

Going to bed...

R*

Had a great sleep in my air conditioned room in Siem Reap, Cambodia last night. My flight for Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC, also known as Saigon) is in a couple hours, so I have been bumming around the sweltering, dusty streets of Siem Reap. Gawd, is it hot here. Even though my body has adjusted and it does not bother me as much as it did, fuck it is still hot as sin here. Yet, you see Cambodian women walking around wearing tight black jeans, long sleeved sweaters and even scarfs! I just cannot fathom that. I am pretty sure I would die.

Yesterday was a photographers dream (sorry, weird keyboard). I went back to Angkor Wat for the sunset and spent two hours shooting the landscape and the people. More incredible shots of monks in their flowing golden robes and Cambodian children, happily selling their crappy shit to tourists. I bought a copy of First They Killed My Father, a famous first-person account of the evilness of the Khmer Rouge. I thought I got a great deal, buying it for 4 bucks, until I got back to the hotel and unwrapped the plastic to discover it is a photocopy of the original. They copy everything here, even plagarize their own culture. Shame. Regardless, I shot some amazing pics, some of the best of the trip.

Excited to see Vietnam and go through yet another culture shock. I will hopefully be comfortable planted in HCMC tonight and may write more then...

R*

I forgot to mention that I bumped into Ryan and Adam, two guys from my Rotman program, while walking down the Khao San Road my last night in Bangkok. It was great to see them and we hung out for a couple beers. Then, last night, after an amazing day checking out Angkor Wat, I was walking down Bar Street, the Cambodia equivalent of Khao San, and bumped into Dave, another Rotkid. Awesome to see him and we went for a few beers together. I was still hanging out with the Quebecois couple and the three of us wound up eating "happy pizza" around 10:30pm. By "happy" the Cambodians mean "pizza with ganja". At least 15 of the restaurants in this little city advertise that they sell this delight. Dominic was very excited about the idea and ordered us a "very, very, very happy pizza." When it arrived, it was clear that there were some odd spices in it, but none of us could tell if it was spiked with pot or not for sure. The whole thing, the size of a large pizza, was $5 US. After we ate, we all went home to our guesthouses before anything happened. About 30 minutes after I got home and had had my 5th shower of the day, it kicked in. I was completely stoned for the next 12 hours. I managed to sleep after watching the Cartoon Network and a documentary about the history of China but when I woke up I was still completely buzzing. Chaum, the driver, picked up all four of us around 10:00 and Dave was also still feeling it. So, for the first few hours of the day, we walked around ruins baked. It was quite pleasant, apart from the heat.

Most of the day was spent driving. We drove far out to visit a waterfall about 60kms from Angkor Wat. It was interesting, with carved stones amongst the waterfall, but there was not really enough water flowing through to make the waterfall very impressive. The drive through the rural areas was the best part as we got to see how most Cambodians live. It *poured* all afternoon so by 4:00 we were all back in our hotels.

Dinner was quite special. For $12 per person, we went to a very nice restaurant where we were served a delicious Cambodian buffet and entertained by lovely Cambodian dancers. Very soothing and enjoyable experience.

The frenchies have already gone back to the hotel. Dave and I are going to have a drink or two on Bar Street. He heads to Japan tomorrow while I have another day in the Angkor ruins before heading to Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday. Gotta book that flight tomorrow.

R*

(a.k.a Angkor Hot!)

I'm sticky and dusty and sitting in a third world internet cafe after what was surely one of the best days of the trip so far. I arrived in Siem Reap, a dusty tourist town on the edge of the ***remarkable*** Angkor Wat, the ruins of the Angkor civilization/empire. I have no idea where to begin as so much happened today and I'm concerned that this inernet connection will die again at any moment.

My 7:40am flight to Siem Reap from Bangkok on a twin prop plane was relatively uneventful. I fell asleep instantly as I was running on 3 hours sleep and had to jump through hoops in the airport to get through Thailand's ridiculous exit system. Extortion would be a good one word way to sum up that process.

While being extorted for another $20US on the entrance into Cambodia, I met Isabelle and Dominic, a sweet Quebecois couple from Montreal. We shared a taxi into the town and have been hanging out together all day. We are all staying at the same very sweet guesthouse ($12 per night with cable TV and air conditioning) and the taxi driver, Chaum, has wound up being our own private limo and guide service, for another $20/day split between the three of us. Chaum is great, drivews us everywhere we need to go in his blessedly air conditioned, tinted, bling Toyota Camry.

After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we were at one of the sites of Angkor by 10:00. The heat was absolutely blistering. We are talking deadly. And humid, even though the roads are dusty with red silt that gets in your teeth and ears. But the temples are just too amazing to describe. Made of stone blocks, each is carved with relief images of buddhas, gods, dancers... And the site is sprawling with amazing columns and towers and walls and ponds... Simply spectacular. Wish I could post some of my pictures but the connections here are WAY too slow for such a feat of technology.

We took our Camry limo back to the hotel in mid day after a beautiful lunch in an expensive ($7) Cambodian restaurant and then, after a break and a shower and nap, headed back to Angkor Wat to catch the sunset. This time we went to the Wat (temple) portion. Though the sky was overcast and we did not get a sunset, we did climb stairs that run up six stories at 170 degrees and chilled out for an hour or so with three very blissful and kind monks, draped in golden flowing robes. The monks were 23 years old and explained how they had been monks for 5 years, bringing great honor to their families. My favorite was So Thea who spoke English very well. I asked him to write something in my journal and he spent 20 minutes writing a page long note in Khmer. I obviously can't read it but it looks cool as hell. He explained that he described the view we were sharing over the tops of the sugar palm jungle, his feelings about Siem Reap, and how he likes being a monk. Shot some great video of the view with So Thea and the other monks.

Other features of the day included hanging out with a family of monkeys, buying postcards from and taking pictures of heartbreakingly cute Cambodian children, and photographing a family of Cambodians as they waded in the moss covered, muddy water pond, collecting edible roots.

Cambodia is amazing. Though I am constantly harassed by locals trying to sell something or beg, the rampant capitalism found in Thailand is not to be found here. Cambodia, a far poorer country, is calmer, nicer, and the lovely people seem more straightfoward and honest. So far, anyway. Loving it here.

I hear singing groups of children across the street. Gotta go check out what that is all about, then get home to shower and get ready to meet Isabelle and Dominic for dinner on Bar Street...

R*

I've been getting around Bangkok like a local. Figured out how to take the local bus and tried it out last night. It was a trip. I had no idea if I was going where I intended. The woman on the bus who takes the money from passengers was trying her best to be helpful but her English was nonexistent and she could not read my map to show me where we were going because all the streets were labeled in English. Eventually I found someone on the bus who could communicate with me and turned out I was going exactly where I wanted. I arrived at the Night Market a little while later.

You know, last night I wished I was more of a shopper because Bangkok is clearly a shopper's town. Damn, there is so much good crap to buy here. I wandered around the Night Market (Lindsy's recommendation) for at least three hours, negotiating and trying stuff on. In the end I bought a pair of fake Diesel shoes for about $15, a t-shirt for $2, and a fake LaCoste golf shirt for $8. I can definitely feel the crappy quality of the fakes compared to the real shit, but... Still good enough. Because all the fakes are so readily available and so cheap, everyone in Bangkok is dressed so well! Store after store sold women's shoes for the equivalent of $8 a pair.

After the market I walked over to Patpong. Patpong is the premier "show girl" area of Bangkok and I went over there to try to see one of the shows I had heard about. Problem was that I could not find any. All I found in Patpong, apart from another great night market, was bar after bar after bar with prostitutes "dancing" on platforms. There were so many of these women that they poured out on the street and mixed with the shoppers and sellers. Really weird. I didn't even try very hard to find one of the shows I had heard about because everyone I asked just tried to get me to visit the bar they represent. I found the whole thing very annoying and took a cab home by midnight.

Negotiating in Thailand is a trip. I've discovered the best way to do it. Since there is really no such thing as any stall selling something you can't find at another stall a few feet away, I discovered that the best way to negotiate is to go in hard. Barter to get the price for a ridiculously low price relative to the asking price. Eventually you discover the point where the seller will not sell and will be pissed off at you for trying. A few baht more and they'd give it up but by that point they just don't like you. Then you go to another stall nearby armed with the knowledge of exactly what is a reasonable price. I figured this out pretty early last night and was able to get a few things for what certainly seems to be the fair price.

Today I visited Tum (the Thai guy who was part of our posse in Koh Phangan) at his store in the shopping area, Siam Square. First of all, Siam Square is a shopper's delight and this is where all the brands set up their real stores. All the big global brand names have locations here and you get the sense that there is a LOT of money in Bangkok. Only in this area did I get to see the upper class kids, and they are decked out. And you get the sense that these kids are wearing the real deal. I mean, someone has to be supporting these brand stores.

Anyway, Tum's store was very small but very very cool. He designs everything in the store and it all has this neo-communist design element. I liked it all but none of it looked good on me. Not cool enough, clearly. He also showed me some of his art work which is very impressive, very Pop (and therefore of interest to me) and we had a conversation about trying to get some of his stuff in a show or store in Toronto. Who knows if this will happen, but I do think his work (both design and art) is good enough and I'm willing to give it a shot, speak to some people and see if I can make something happen. He was obviously excited by the idea and promised to put together a couple CDs for me showing all his work. I made no promises and he understood. He's a good guy, very cool, as stylish as any hipster in Brooklyn that I ever met. Maybe something will come of it.

I'm off to Cambodia early tomorrow morning. I've had enough Thailand at this point and excited to move on. I assume I'll be able to post from there...

R*

On my way to the boat to the bus to the train from the south back to Bangkok, I rode a Songtheaw, a modified pickup truck taxi thingy. These three old ladies hopped aboard and I got some great shots. This is my favorite...

I'm sitting in a spanking new, super hi tech internet cafe. Some British wanker near me is freaking out about something. He's all agitated, smacking the table, saying "shit" over and over again. His behaviour is completely inappropriate in this country where Buddhist monks walk around the city in their barefeet, and it would be bothering me except for the fact that I recognize that way of being. Reminds me of me when I'm at home. Hot tempered, stupidly thinking that smacking the table and swearing will somehow make things better. Seems such a foreign manner now, though. Not that I'm Buddhist or anything, but I've been in a good, balanced, un-faze-able mood for weeks now. I assume he has not been in Thailand for very long as his skin is still a pasty white. He'll feel better shortly.

I took the night train into Bangkok last night. Left Lamai in Koh Samui around noon via a crazy open air pickup truck taxi, then travelled by boat for 3 hours through what seemed like a typhoon, then took a hilarious double decker bus for 30 minutes to the train which travelled for 12 hours and arrived in Bangkok around 6:00am. Somehow, it wasn't a difficult journey at all. I sailed through it comfortably. Apart from the hairy, stinky, coughing, long-toe-nailed, ugly Thai man sitting beside me, not much bothered me. I met some Kiwis along the way and spent a couple hours teaching them Texas Hold'em. At one point they asked me "Are all your friends at home this good at Hold'em?" I seriously laughed in their face at that; it felt very disjunctive being considered a Hold'em expert when in fact I am the rookie of rookies at the game, especially in comparison to my gambling addict friends (Stu, likely has three tables open right now as he reads this post). Anyway, once the train conductors (some of whom carried sidearms and wore polyester uniforms that were way too small and tight around their bulging guts) opened the beds, I was super comfy. I read for a few hours and wrote a bit and then slept for quite a while, waking occassionally to strange sounds and jerking motions as the train added new cars at various stops.

Rolled into Bangkok very early and within two hours had arranged for my Vietnam visa (pick it up tomorrow), checked email, mailed postcards, ate and scored a decent hotel room just outside Khao San Rd, backpackerland. Definitely prepared to enjoy Bangkok more this time around. Going to walk around and check out some of the tourist crap today and then go shopping for Deisel (I mean, fake Diesel) clothes. Apparently I can score fake Diesel shoes for 200 baht (less than 8 bucks!). Anyone want a pair?

R*

On my drive to Plai Laem Temple, I saw amazing, if kitschy, sculptures like this one.




















This little kid kickboxed the crap out of a kid 4 inches taller.















This is the taller, and meaner, kid who got beat.




















My little bungalow on the beach.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes."
--- Proust

In an old hangar off a back lane, the Muay Thai (Kickboxing) stadium rusted in the moist evening air. There were about 150 people in attendance for the event that happens twice a week here in Lamai. There was a roof on the structure but no walls and a nice breeze filtered in. Tickets were listed at 600, 800, 1000 bahts for different levels. I negotiated to get a 600 baht ticket for 400 and then wound up sitting ringside anyway. Shot some great videos and pics, will post later if I can.

Music played the entire time. During the actual fighting, it was traditional Thai fighting music with strings and clanging beats. In between the matches and rounds, blasting hard techno filled the stadium. In both cases the music was loud, aggressive and awesome.

When I first arrived, I sat in the bleacher seats and began a conversation with a couple Canadians. The guy was nice, a chilled out oil patch worker like every other Western Canadian I've met so far. But his girlfriend was, well, a total bitch. When she heard I was from Toronto, she launched into a harsh anti-Toronto rant. I was a mix of stunned and amused. I've never really heard anyone say Toronto was dirty before. Nor smelly. At one point she actually said, "It ain't no Cow Town." No shit, lady. Thank G-d.

Luckily, I was rescued from releasing the counter-offensive I was preparing in my mind when Gavin and G-Sun appeared. I hadn't seen them since Koh Phangan but we had arranged this meeting spot. I was very happy to see them and we sat ringside together.

Even the first rounds with the 60 pound ten-year-olds were awesome and by the time the experienced fighters came out, I felt like I understood the sport. Violent and vicious. Giant Thai-sized flies with long wings buzzed around the ring, attracted by the overhead lights, as the fighters performed an elaborate ritual/prayer/stretch/warmup before each fight. The farang (whities) in the audience sat calmly in the stands cheering politely and appropriately. The Thais in the crowd, however, were wildly enthusiastic. Openly gambling on every fight, they were clearly increasing their stakes within each match, mid-round. They all sat together on one side of the ring, and their hand symbols and frantic yelling seemed like a stock trading floor. All men, they traded slips of paper and yelled at the fighters. The lighting was perfect; the fighters' bodies gleamed from the pre-fight application of oil, sweat and water. Spit and sweat splattered off their bodies and flew through the air with every good hit.

The coolest part was the respect the fighters constantly showed one another. Before each fight they sat together on chairs, side-by-side. They prayed together before the match when they entered the ring and even bowed to one another briefly after each solid hit. At one point, a fighter in blue shorts kocked a red-shorts opponent unconscious. Almost immediately after red hit the ground, out cold, blue kneeled beside him and bowed his head to the ground in respect. Nothing personal, just business and competition.

I'm doing very little today. Still have my bike and already ran some errands (like picking up Tiger Balm for my mosquito bites and arranging my overnight train back to Bangkok on Sunday). Now going back to my bungalow on the beach where I'll read and finally get around to writing some postcards.

Over and out,

R*

Today was another one of those awesome days. After getting a great sleep to the sound of the waves lapping a mere few metres from my head, I woke up refreshed and charged this morning. And feeling ballsy. I've been wanting to rent a scooter for days but on the other islands and in Bangkok, it seemed simply too dangerous. The roads on Koh Tao and Koh Phangan are nothing if not psychotic and I met a bunch of farang (westerners or whities) with bike wounds. But Koh Samui is far more built up and the roads are all perfectly paved and mostly flat. So, after a nice crepe breakfast, I turned in my passport and received an automatic scooter.

Damn it was fun. I drove over 60 kms today and went all over the island. There are not many roads so following a map was relatively simple. I checked out Chaweng, the bustling city just north of Lamai. I went into a modern mall and almost stuck around to see Mission Impossible 3, not for the film itself but rather to continue to indulge in the air conditioning for another few hours. But I thought better of it. I found an amazing Buddhist temple where I snapped some pix, fed catfish the size of cats, and hung out with a monk who spoke to me for a while and let me video him while he, strangely, busied himself burning documents. Yeah, weird, I know.

Drove and drove and drove more and found a great waterfall where they have elephant tours. Didn't do a tour but I did feed a baby elephant who grabbed my hand at one point and almost pulled me over the fence. That was fun and dirty. My hand smelled after that, I'll tell ya. Went down to the waterfall to wash it off. I also happened upon a beautiful resort that had a zoo. I shot videos of GIANT tigers and colorful birds and strange crying mammals that seemed like otters or something. The birds all seemed fine but none of the mammals were particularly pleased to be there. Not much I could do for them.

Anyway, loved trekking around by bike. The driving on the left side of the road is weird at first but once I got the hang of it it was a lot of fun. My friends Gavin and G-Sun sent me an email telling me where they are now that they've arrived in Lamai, so I'm going to go hunt them down and convince them to join me for the men's Muay Thai (kickboxing) event at Lamai Stadium tonight.

Oh, I'm feeling 100% better now. Thanks for the concern. It was just a bit of a cold and the sleep last night and tea got me over that little bit of discomfort. Back to normal now...

R*

Feeling better today. It's just a bit of a cold I have. I think I caught it a few nights ago sleeping under a fan without a blanket. All the relaxing I did today helped.

I took an early morning speed ferry to Koh Samui, a much larger island next to Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. On the way, I sat in the air conditioned passenger compartment which was nice as I had not experienced a/c in weeks it seems. They played the film The Beach on a TV which is all about travellers in Thailand. Not sure if this was coordinated or not but just as Leonardo di Caprio makes a visit to Koh Phangan in the film to pick up supplies, the boat stopped in Koh Phangan to drop off passengers and pick more up. Kind of surreal.

I arrived here with little information but the name of a town recommended by friends earlier in the trip. I arrived in Lamai via minibus and jumped out to find a place to stay. It was so easy. Within 5 minutes, I had dropped off my bag on my bed in a little bungalow right on the beach. This time I am really directly on the beach. I have a hammock on my own little porch and the sound of the waves lapping the shore will help me sleep tonight. The place is perfect except for the fact that there are a lot of rocks in the water outside my resort (hilariously called "Beer's Bungalows") and I have to walk down the beach to find a nice spot to swim. Given that this is my biggest problem, I'm in very good shape.

Lamai is a bustling town that runs along the 3 or 4 km stretch of beach, with the town buzzing on a main drag behind the strip of bungalows and nicer resorts. I went for a long walk this afternoon to check it out and wound up taking shelter in a cafe with a large covered patio when it started to rain. Once again, the rain was absolutely torrential, unlike anything you normally see in Toronto. It lasted over an hour and then I walked home along the beach. I took an amazing nap and chatted a bit with the mildly friendly Germans in the next bungalow. I read for the rest of the afternoon and now that it is getting dark, I gotta figure out what to do for the evening. This is the first time I'll be having dinner alone since my very first night in Bangkok as I've had new people to eat with every other day. It's cool, though, I'm in the zone and enjoying myself.

Thanks, by the way, to everyone who has been posting comments and sending emails. The love is much appreciated and enjoyed.

R*

Just a quick note. I added some photos to this blog to posts from earlier in the trip. Scroll down and you will see them.

I ended up going diving today afterall. Had a good time, the diving was nice, relatively cheap and saw all sorts of cool animals. At one point a black and white banded sea snake went right by me and my divemaster as he was showing me how to take your mask off underwater (I already know how to do this but they forced a refresher course on me). He didn't see it go by as his mask was off, but I did and my heart pounded. It was about 6 feet long, as thick as a clementine, and very confident underwater. I freaked out, but it went by without further incident. Other than that, saw some sting rays, trigger fish, parrot fish, the regular stuff. Glad I went but pretty sure I'm not going to dive again on this trip. Planning to head to Koh Samui tomorrow.

Going out for dinner now with some Canadians from Toronto I met while diving...

R*

Yesterday was a travel day and likely the dumbest day of the month to travel as apparently everyone leaves Phangan the day after the day after the full moon party. The boats were absolutely packed. I took a ferry to Koh Tao, an island known for great SCUBA diving. There were over 350 people packed onto the boat. Luckily I had a great spot right on the bow of the boat with my two Swiss friends, Tomas and Iris. It was relatively smooth sailing but my throat started to hurt on the boat and is still bugging me this morning. Crap.



Koh Tao is all about diving. It's a one trick pony, it appears. The strangest thing is that, after months of dreaming about diving here, now that I am on the island, I have no desire to dive. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. I actually think I am going to skip it, as strange as that is. I'm surprised at my utter lack of enthusiasm. It's too bad too because I went out of my way to get here. Maybe it is because I'm not feeling 100%. So, I'm going to bum around the island for the day, write and read a lot, and see how I feel in the morning. If I'm still not feeling it, I'm going to get off this rock and head to Lamai in Koh Samui. Comes highly recommended.

Today is the first time I am alone in over a week. Actually, right now is; I just walked Iris and Tomas to their boat. They are bound for Bangkok today. Won't be seeing them again. We had a very nice time last night. Found a nice, loungey bar near the beach and watched the sun set. Drank beers and talked for a few hours after it was dark. Very good people, I'll miss them. Now it is just me again. I need a day or two to myself anyway. Haven't read or written in my journal in a few days, so that is the plan. Hope to meet up with Gavin and G-Sun in Lamai in a couple days.

I'm in Mae Haad town. It's busy with divers and taxis and little restaurants. Kinda crusty. Lots of tourists. It's raining out, the leftovers from a mega storm last night. Gonna go find a spot to sit and chill out. May write more here later...

R*

The best move I made last night at the Full Moon Party was drinking water only and totally staying away from any drugs. 10,000 people jammed onto a long beach, smashed out of their minds, walking around fire-throwers and ladyboys, is a pretty fun but dangerous environment. I drank a couple Red Bulls to keep me going and danced and sweat all night, but maintained my sobriety amongst the insanity all night.

9 of us went for dinner in our jungle village at 8:00. Great time all eating together. I was the ninth wheel with 4 couples. Then we all got on a 10:00 longboat for the 45 minute ride from our beach to Hat Rin where the party was located. Obviously, the full moon was out. There is something very special about travel by boat in the full moonlight. Looked like a movie, very surreal. The boat was absolutely packed and as a result it was very low to the water which splashed in and made the girls on the boat complain. But the guys were having the best time. Every 10 minutes or so I would yell at the top of my lungs "PAAAARRRRTTTTYYYY!!!!" and everyone would cheer. It got funnier and funnier each time. Two German guys sitting in front of me with their bought-and-paid-for Thai girlfriends loved it.



As we approached the beach, the scale of the party became clear. A kilometer long beach was lined with nightclubs, each fronting the beach with huge speakers, all playing different music; progressive house, hip-hop, jungle, pop... We arrived by 11:00 and there were thousands of people but by 1:00 it was sheer lunacy. Firethrowers tossed fireballs into the air with reckless abandon. People walked around with blacklight paint all over their bodies. One guy had "I'm Swedish, I get it for free" painted on his back, a reference to the fact that all the massage parlours offer thai and swedish massage, amongst other "special" services.


I was surprised at how many Thai's there were. For some reason I imagined it would be mostly Westerners, but about 50% of the crowd was Thai. The bars were packed with beautiful Thai prostitutes dressed like complete sluts. Ladyboys were everywhere. Very entertaining. I snapped some pictures of one of them with my friend Gavin; he can't wait to show it to his friends back on his military base in Korea. I danced with one of them for a couple minutes at one point. Very strange sensation. As weird as it is, these "girls" are sometimes sexy and pretty and it messes with your sense of your own heterosexuality.

It was steamy hot out and I sweat buckets as I danced like a wild man for hours. Literally. I was drenched the entire time I was there. We walked back and forth along the beach checking out the whole thing and then planted ourselves in front of a bar playing a good mix of everything. With that as a home base, we each took turns going on solo missions to explore.

Around 3:00, things started to get particularly ugly. Tomas, the Swiss guy in our group, was drinking "buckets" (a small child's sand pail filled with coke, 6 ounces of Thai whisky, and Red Bull) and he was a mess. He fell over at one point and hurt his neck and his now annoyed girlfriend Iris had to take care of him. Gavin started slurring his words and stumbling. I told him to drink water and when he didn't rally pay attention, I affected a drill sargeant's tone of voice and looked him directly in the eyes and yelled "Go drink some water right now soldier!". His military training shone through his drunken stupor and he immediately straightened his back and went in search of water. I laughed for the entire 3 minutes it took him to come stumbling back, a half empty bottle of water in his hands.

The crowd was beginning to fall apart. People were getting violent and pushing others around. Thai girls and guys were passing out all over the place. It was clearly the time to go and both Zach and I knew it, so we rounded our platoon together and went to search for a boat home. One of the Thai dudes who worked at our hotel was with us and he helped us secure a speed boat ride home for only 50 baht ($1.40 or so) more than the long boat. Way better. We were home happily within about 20 minutes.

Perfect night. No one was seriously hurt or lost. And I returned with a camera full of party pics and videos...

Today it's hot as sin out. Going to hide in the shadows like I did yesterday until 4:00 when the sun lowers under the palm trees, as I've done for the past 5 days, then I'll get in the ocean and continue to perfect floating.

R*

Today is a day in the shade. No sun for me. I managed to sleep in somehow,
woke up at 8:30, then hit the restaurant outside my hut where I met Batra and
Niels, a smart Dutch couple. We chatted for over three hours about everything
and nothing. Good people.

All I have on the agenda is to pick up my laundry from the front desk. You
gotta love it when your list of things to do has one item on it and that is
just to pick up work that someone else did for you. I think I'm actually
supposed to take a nap, too. The Full Moon Party is tonight, starting around
midnight in Had Rin. Everyone on the island goes, including many of the Thai
workers. Apparently it is a drug infested rave but you kinda have to see it.
I have a great crew of people to go with: Gavin (my friend in the US Air Force)
and G-Sun, his girlfriend; Zach and wife Stacie (Hollywood workers); Tum (super
cool Thai clothing designer who owns his own store in Bangkok) and his
girlfriend; and the Swiss couple that Zach introduced me to last night whose
names I cannot remember. We all drank together last night.

Shot some great nocturnal pictures of the moon last night, shining off the palm
trees on the beach. Unfortunately I cannot post them now as these comps don't
have proper USB connections, but I will get them up from Koh Tao or Bangkok if
possible.

All this typing and doing stuff is messing up my busy day of lazing around in
the shade. I have to hurry up and get back to absolutely nothing at all.

R*

I still feel like I am on a boat.

Just returned back to my little beach village from a 6 hour boat excursion around the island. I'm a little pink but nothing serious as I was wearing 45 waterproof lotion all day. Made all sorts of new friends. Snorkled and fed bread to hundreds of fish right out of my hand. Hiked up to a waterfall and swam in the cold clean water. Lay out on a beach with sand as white as salt and as soft as pepper. Drank Singha beer in a beach cove restaurant served by a hilarious Thai waiter who entertained us for 30 minutes. Then got home and received a giant sack full of email from all of my friends wishing me a happy birthday (though, due to the time difference, y'all are a day late!!!). Thanks to all of you. It is hard to express how awesome love feels when it is received from 18 million billion miles away. Tonight I'm having dinner with my four awesome new friends and then pub crawling around to all the little watering holes on the island, just like last night. :)

I'm quite certain today could not have been better.

R***

Too much has happened in the last 24 hours to try to capture it here now. I'm on Koh Phangan, a glorious island surrounded by white sand beaches. I've got my own little hut 10m from the beach and the ocean water is at least 85 degrees. It poured all night last night and the thunder and pounding of the rain on the thatch roof of my hut woke me up now and then, but the breeze was amazing and I slept like a baby inside my mosquito net and thin layer of deet repellent. Unfortunately, it rained all morning and is still overcast, which ruined my SCUBA diving plans for my birthday, but the coolness of the morning was a nice reprieve from the heat and humidity that has dogged me since arriving in Thailand. But it's coming back and I can feel the humidity on my fingertips as I type.

I must tell a bit about the characters I hung out with last night. I made three Israeli friends during the day and we went to a bar last night, suspended from the rock high above the jungle floor, where we listened to Bob Marley, drank sangria, and lazed about on divans. Beside us were three HILARIOUS characters from the working class suburb of London called Brixston. These guys had a thick cockney accent. They were all EXACTLY like Ali G. I am not kidding. One guy in particular, a used car salesman named Ian, is the model of Ali G. His white mother got knocked up by her Jamaican boyfriend of 2 weeks and then never saw the father again. Ian had not taken any of the shots needed to travel here, had no travel insurance, bragged about all the sex he was having with Thai bargirls without "connies" and carried a quarter ounce of pot with him in this very anti-drug country. His pronunciation of the English language was exactly like Ali G's and his knowledge of the world was quite close to nil. He asked my Israeli friends at one point: "So, wha' is it wit dat Israeli problem? Israel is a paht uv Palestine, init?" He went to great lengths to show how he is not "racialist" in the very same sentences in which he would say the most racist things imaginable. I loved it. All three of these cads were the genuine article, the real deal. Very likable, charming, stupid, honest and direct. Bunch of hooligans. When I asked them if they liked Ali G, they all said no, they don't find him funny. The whole thing was too perfect.

It appears that I have made it out of Bangkok alive. At the airport now, bound for Koh Samui where I'll catch a boat for Koh Phangan. Very happy to be getting out of the seedy city.

Had dinner last night with Ryan and his very pregnant wife. They have a very nice, huge apartment in the city and a very charming son named Miles. Miles is clearly going to be a ladies man when he is older. I suppose he takes after his dad. They took me out to a gorgeous Thai restaurant called Faces. Dinner was brilliant and I had a nice time with them. Headed back to my guesthouse afterwards with the intent of going on another night stroll but wound up passing out in the airconditioned comfort of my room. Was up by 4:30am, easily, and made it to the airport with time to spare.

Next message from the islands...

R*

I took a ridiculous Tuk-Tuk ride across town. After I walked for five hours yesterday in the blistering heat, I had no intention of walking home as well. The ride, driven by a hilarious Thai named Danat, was in a freaky little 3-wheeled vehicle run on a two stroke engine, steered with handle bars, accelerated with pedals. I sat in the back and held on for dear life as Danat wheeled us through narrow alleys to avoid the 6:00 traffic (and I thought Toronto traffic was bad!). At some points we were flying along wide avenues and careening around corners. I admit loved the temporary insanity of it and shot a great video.
Last night I walked around and saw the *extremely* seedy side of Bangkok. In my neighborhood there are a number of go-go bars which are actually just whore houses. Nasty trashy women assailed me as I passed each one and I found it so gross that my night walk around the city was cut short. First thing this morning I booked my flight to Koh Samui (then on to Koh Phan-gan) just to get me the hell out of here. Hoped to take the train but it is totally booked until May 12. I leave on a 7:00am flight, so I have to be up at 4:30am. This is not really a problem as I was wide awake by 5:30am this morning.
After booking the flight, I sat in a very nice cafe in the Arab district and smoked a sheesha pipe for an hour and wrote in my journal. Loved the bit of the middle east in the midst of Asian insanity.
Meeting Ryan and Eleanor tonight at their home. Should be a good time. I'll be sure to say hi to them from all the Gladmans...
Over and out,
R*

Uh, yeah. Hot. Bangkok is one muther of a hot place. And dirty.

This is a short post to let everyone know I'm fine and safely ensconced in my sort-of-ghetto pad in Bangkok. After I arrived and showered, I walked for 5 hours from my area (Sukhumvit) all the way to Khao San Rd., the traditional backpacker area. Ryan, Dan's friend in Bangkok who I'll be having dinner with tomorrow (and his wife and son) recommended this place called Suk 11. It's fine. Cheap, air conditioned, and in a cool area. When I was ready to head out for the day, I asked people about the walk to Khao San. They all told me I was nuts. One woman even said the walk would take "two days". Whatever. It took me 5 hours, including detours, getting lost, and spending time in temples ("wat"). Of course, I did sweat many litres of water. But I was picking up fresh squeezed OJ and coconut juice along the way, so I was fine.

Finally, I arrived at Khao San Rd and collapsed into a shaded patio to suck back three Singh beers and eat a beef curry. I forgot that curry is generally spicey. I'm likely going to suffer that curry again later.

I had planned to hang out around here on Khao San for a while, but I'm nearing exhausted. I think I'm going to catch a ride back to my guesthouse, take another shower and then go by this cool arab area I found to smoke a nargile (water pipe with apple tobacco) and chill out.

This city is filthy. And loud. And nonstop. Everyone has something to sell the "farang" (that's me, the white guy). I've seen a bunch of white guy/Thai girl couples that seem so weird. The only thing stranger are the Ladyboys. They are so obvious and so totally weird. Weird in that Michael Jackson kind of way.

Anyway, all is good. Had a great, super long, day.

R*

Gawd, 18 hours is a long time in economy class.

Cathay Pacific Airways did everything possible to make the flight not seem like hell on wings. The food was great, everything went smoothly and according to plan. But my legs were feeling pretty rickety by the time we were nearing HK.

The approach to Hong Kong was absoulutely stunning. Flying West all night we were running away from the sun and it was night for the entire flight until we neared HK when the rising sun finally caught up. As it rose over the horizon, it cut beautiful shadows along the clouds and islands off the coast of China. The ocean steamed as the freighters chugged slowly, off to who-knows-where. I wondered if one of the freighters was loaded with some junk I'd end up owning back in Toronto one day. This part of the flight was officially the first highlight of the trip.

Hong Kong airport, where I am now, typing away at a Samsung free internet cafe while I kill time until my leg to Bangkok leaves, is kind of disappointing. It is beautiful, but apart from the announcements in Chinese, this place might as well be NYC or Milan or any other Western airport. Still yet to get that culture shock.

Anyway, so far, so good...

R*

I admit that I am kind of freaking out. Within 10 hours, I'll be airborne,
on my way. For years I've been wanting to do this. I've been plotting it
for months. I leave tonight. I can't believe it.

All my friends and family are very excited for me. Seemed for a while that
both Steve and Aaron were considering joining me but they have both decided
not to. This is good and bad. Would have been awesome to travel with
either of them but I'm also happy to still have the solo status. Solo Rando
Polo.

I'm hung over. We went out for Steve's b-day last night but it was also a
bit of a send off party for me. All my friends are expecting good stories.
I'll be sure not to disappoint.

T: minus 9.5 hours

R*