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Back to the US and A

Aug 20, 2008
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Ok, so my brother is finally putting a bullet in his head, huh, I mean getting married. So I am coming back home in september......... for two weeks. Also, I am going to be.................... an uncle. This is good news and I am looking forward to being back in the states for a while. After the wedding it is back to Thailand.

Ok, Ok, sorry to everybody for not updateing the blog. There has just not been much to report. I am currently living in Bangkok and teaching english at a high school just outside of BKK. My foot is almost back to 100% other than some scaring and I can finally swim and shower without having to keep my foot dry. Still with the g/f and all things seem to be going well in that department. The other day we took a big step and became parents to a beautiful baby..... cat. A few weekends ago we went to "Tiger Temple" which is close the the boarder of Burma. Got my picture taken with several big cats and a few small ones but I am writing this from school and dont have the pictures on me to post, sorry.

Back to BKK.... this time staying a while

Jul 25, 2008
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Ok, due to numerous factors including but not limited to

1) Fuel prices
2) Bill's need to get home early from eastern europe
3) My love for Thai food
4) my need to return to the US and A in September (will elaborate at a later date)

.......... and yes the girl as well

I am now back in Thailand and looking for work. Got hear about a week ago and started going on interviews for English teaching jobs. Yea yea, i know i cant spell but they dont know that. Havent done too much since being back since I have been looking for work and all.

So today I get a call from one of my English teaching recruiters. Does he have an English teaching job for me? No.... better. A friend of his is looking for extras to be in a John Cusack movie that is being filmed here in Thailand. Thats right ladys and gentleman...... NEDS GOING TO THE BIG SCREEN! Nothing certain yet but I will keep you posted.

Hong Kong

Jul 16, 2008
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Hong Kong is chaos and organized at the same time. At least where I am staying, there are people all over the place at all times but the city runs with great efficiency. Now when I think Hong Kong I think infrastructure. The entire city is covered with subway stations that all seem to have 15 exits and go everywhere. It is not uncommon to see a subway station, walk 4 blocks and see another entrance to the same subway station. They are everywhere so it is almost impossible to get lost even in a city this size. If thats not enough, there is a great network of busses and a trolly that goes around the island. One other thing that takes a bit of getting used to is the walkways. You can almost cross the entire city without ever walking down to ground level. After learning an area it makes it extremely quick to get around because you never have to worry about traffic lights.

If you ever find yourself in Hong Kong I must highly recommend that you go to The Peak. It is the highest point in HK and you can see the whole city from there. The Peak Tram is very reasonably priced and it seems they make most of there money from all the restaurants and shops up there. The view is amazing and my camera just doesn't do it justice (no i am not complaining about the camera Allianz, thank you very much).

They are defiantly gearing up for the olympics here. The other day I saw thousands of people lined up for "special" olympic money. Not sure if its worth more or something, but people are camped out on lawn chairs waiting for days for this stuff.

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Like most other Asian countries I have been, there are plenty of markets selling anything people will buy. The difference here is they are more honest. People pop out of nowhere and say "want to buy a fake rolex?" I appreciate the honesty since most other places neglect to mention the watch is a fake.

Finally, after months of searching I have found it! The holy grail! Thats right, it is possible, I finally found a decent cheeseburger in Asia. The Hong Kong Brew-house will make you a all beef medium cooked burger that is the best in asia. I have been craving it for many months now and it was well worth the wait. O yea, the other food here is pretty damn good as well.

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Here are some misc shots.

Ko Phang Nga

Jul 13, 2008
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Ko Phang Nga has it all. White sand beaches, clear water, waterfalls, and a not too overbearing nightlife scene. Of course there are a few over populated beaches but if you look around the island you will also find some nice quite spots to enjoy yourself. The island is building more bungalows by the day so there is a good selection to find what your looking for. An added bonus is that you can find very cheap places right on the beach for a very reasonable price in the off season. I spent $15 a night for a bungalow just off the beach with air conditioning. On the inter island the forest is outstanding and untouched with the exception of the occasional house.

Ko Phang Nga is home to the full moon party which has expanded to also include the half moon party and the Sheva moon party. Basically there is 4-5 large parties each month. Full moon is on the beach, the other two are in the mountains. While there we caught a half moon party which starts at 11pm and goes until the sun rises. The best way to describe it is a rave with lots of drinking and tecno music blasting.

The beach in which the full moon party is held is always a night spot. The top of the beach is lined with small make shift bars selling "buckets" of whiskey, vodka etc and there are more traditional bars as far as the eye can see as well. Some of the more prominent places have fire shows, drinking games and other activities going all night long. Its funny how much people will drink and then play with fire.... LITERALLY! (see pics below). Dont worry mom, I neither drank any buckets nor did I jump through any fire. I wanted to, but I figured with the way my hospital run has been going the bandage on my foot would be up in flames in no time. We did see some people get really hurt doing these things. One guy jumped face first into the hoop and not through it, got a nice burn across his eye. Another genius got his leg caught in the jump rope.

Well that brings this Thailand experience to a close. With the two weeks in the hospital it certainly didnt last long but nothing beats the craziness and the beauty.

Took a van back down to Malaysia (KL) to catch my flight to Hong Kong. My camera battery was dead so I dont have pics for this next little segment. So when they sell me the ticket they tell me I am going to be on a actual bus. WRONG, they put me in a damn van with no shocks and a driver that really didnt have a clue how to drive. He must have been the last resort because the travel agency sent me all over the place to find a seat even though I booked the ticket several days in advance. Left Ko Phang Nga at 7am and didnt reach Penang Malaysia until about midnight. You read that right, I booked a ticket to KL (the capital) and they put me on a van to Penang. Ok ok, thats sort of on the way but when I get to Penang the guy there tells me there are no seats left on the bus (which I repeat, I already payed for) and if i wanted to continue that night me and my new aussie friend would need to sit on the floor the rest of the way (4hr drive). So we decided to just crash in Penang for the night and take his offer of an actual seat tomorrow. He takes us to a "guest house" so we can get some sleep without offering to compensate us any and on top of that the place he takes us to I wouldnt let my pet snake stay in for the night. I am not a picky person when it comes to a place to sleep, I am used to traveling but this place was awful. I wish my camera had batteries because words cannot describe how much of a shit hole this was. I didnt want to step foot in the bath room let alone hunker down in there, and there were roaches EVERYWHERE! Now realize that I had no sleep the night before and had been on a bus for the last 17hrs and really had no options at this point. The next day we get a decent bus but the usual 4 hour journey takes more than 6 because our bus driver "speedy" didnt know how to drive a bus either. This puts me in KL around 6pm having not slept for about 60hrs and a flight leaving the next day at 7am. At this point there is no use getting a hotel or hostel as I need to be on my way to the airport by 4am and by the time i shower and eat I will never wake up on time. so I throw down my 5th and 6th redbull and tough it out. By the time I get to HK I am soo tired that I cant sleep, so here I am sitting in my "private" hostel room typing this blog. At least its clean and I have a shower but this place makes a room in Manhattan look like a ranch in Texas. Sorry if that was a bit of a rant, but its been an interesting couple of days and that damn redbull refuses to wear off.

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Stay tuned for the Hong Kong experience....

Phuket Thailand

Jul 4, 2008
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Ok, so Phuket is one of the busiest tourist spots in all of Thailand. It has beautiful beaches, lots of entertainment and you can find rooms under any budget ($15 a night gets you a nice guest house). There are soo many beaches to choose from and they all carry different amounts of nightlife and quietness. Phuket town is very low key with not much going on but its right in the middle of everything as long as you can drive a motorbike. Taxis here are very expensive by Thai standards and for the price of one ride you can rent a motorbike. Be careful though, as many people dont know how to drive or have too much to drink so I wouldn't recommend it for a newbie.

If your looking for nightlife then Patong Beach is where you want to be. The whole area is littered with every type of bar you could think. The people on the street are crazy (see pic below) and there are "massage parlors", gogo clubs, and ladyboys

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everywhere and they will not leave you alone. Several times I have been walking down the street holding my lady friends hand (I dont need the emails) wearing a shirt that says "No I do not want a F*#King Tuk Tuk, Suit or Massage thank you very much" WRITTEN IN THAI and people are still grabbing my arm asking "Massage mister???"

Although if you are in the area, I recommend "FantaSea" which is a great performance. It is culturally accurate, has many amazing acrobatics, comedy, and lots of wild animals (elephants, buffalo, birds to name a few) running around on stage. The dancing alone is worth the ticket in my opinion. The place is a bit disney redone with people in costume walking around but its a very nice area to walk through.

Next I am off to Ko Phang Nga to see the quieter side of Thailand.

Before I get emails asking about the above mentioned g/f, below is a pic.

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Free at last!

Jun 28, 2008
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Ok, so i am back out of the hospital (since Wednesday) but cannot travel far for about a week or so. I need to go back each day so they can clean the open wound and rewrap it. Other than that things are going better. I am walking almost as normal and other than keeping my foot dry (which can be a pain in the rain season) i dont have many limitation. Trip should continue as normal in a week or two soo stay tuned, should have some good stuff up soon.

Update

Jun 22, 2008
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Things are going well here except for the huge freakin hole in my foot. I am now walking again almost as normal and the infection is gone. I am off the IV except when they give me my antibiotics and the wound needs only one cleaning a day. The doc wants to keep me here for a few more days so they can continue giving me antibiotics but as of today (Sunday) he is thinking of releasing me on Wednesday. If you would like to be completely grossed out feel free to send me an email and I can send you some pics of my foot pre/post surgery. I was thinking of posting them but thought better of it (its pretty ugly).

The hospital is very nice here, I recommend that if your going to be sick or injured in SE Asia you do it in Phuket! Cable TV, internet, A/C, private room, private bath, balcony........... and the nurses haha. One of the CS locals here says most people in town refer to it as "the hotel" because its the nicest hospital in Southern Thailand and probably one of the nicest in SE Asia.

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Still cannot tell what is going to happen from here as far as my plans. The way things are I will not be coming home anytime soon but the progress of my foot will be a big influence on my travels. If all goes well I will be in Hong Kong in a few weeks and I put my chances as better than not I will make it to Greece/Eastern Europe in a month.

Back to Thailand....and the hospital

Jun 18, 2008
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Ok, so as many of you already know I am now in a Phuket Hospital (Thailand) at the moment. Instead of typing the same Q&A over and over why not blog it right? Thats kind of what i set this up for, not expecting to use it in this manner.

Why I am I in a hospital????????

Infected foot, had surgery the other day.

How bad is it?????????

They removed the skin and tissue on the inside of my foot/ankle (right leg, yes same as knee) down to the bone. When they unwrap it for my twice a day cleanings (which hurt like hell) i can see my foot bone (or part of). The area is about 4 centimeters by 2 centimeters, enough to put an American quarter in with no problem.

What happened????????

NO IDEA! Stop asking! It was either a bug bite of some sort or while walking I may have stepped on something like a stick. If it was the the second option, it must have pierced and come back out without me really knowing because they did not find anything during surgery. I have been to three doctors and have consulted numerous people and nobody knows for sure.

How did it get that bad?????

In Singapore one morning I was having some pain around the heal of my foot but it looked like mosquito bite and i had been walking a lot so I didnt think much of it. When I got to Malaysia it started to turn black but was still very small so I simply put the triple antibiotic that I had purchased from the states along with Benadril cream on it and took a few pills figuring it would be fine. A few days later riding north it started to get bigger (quickly) and I went to a hospital in Malaysia. They drained it and gave me some oral antibiotics and said it would be fine in a few days. By the time I reached Thailand my foot had swelled quite a bit and the area looked worse. I went to the hospital and havent left since (it was Sunday when I arrived). After seeing a specialist and taking some X-rays he recommended surgery and here i sit.

How long will I be here??????

Two weeks in the hospital, and then two more weeks in Phuket so I can come back each day for cleaning and rewrap. After that I will have to look after it for a few more weeks but should be fine tending to it myself (says the doctor).

How is everything two days after surgery??????

Good, the doctor says I am a bit a head of schedule and baring unforeseen circumstances the time frame above should stay true. There had not been much more infected tissue and I am in no pain except the cleaning and rewrap but that gets less painful each time as tissue grows back.

How will this affect my travels??????

Yet to be seen depends on recovery. I will be in Thailand for the next month, other than that I cant say at the moment. The doctor says that I shouldnt role out meeting Bill in Greece at the end of July but (in my words not his) I shouldnt be buying my ticket either.

Any plus side??????

Yes, If I made a calendar of the nurses here I would make millions, makes not being able to shower and having to sponge bath a heck of a lot easier!

DO NOT EMAIL ME WITH MORE QUESTIONS! I appreciate the concern but getting to the computer is a pain in the ass since I cant walk here and I would rather be laying in bed once I am here. I will post anything worth mentioning (as always) when I can.

Singapore 2 / Malaysia 2

Jun 15, 2008
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So I didnt stay in Singapore long, only three days before heading off and that may have been too many (keep reading a while and that will make sense). The time i did spend was nice and one of the highlights was seeing one of the newer Chinese temples (see pics below) and mostly strolled around the city with a fellow CSer. Did hit a club on my last night with a few friends which was pretty entertaining but the weekday nightlife seems to be pretty tame. Already booked my ticket to Hong Kong from Chang Mai (with a short stop in KL Malaysia, yes again) so I now have to cover all of Malaysia and Thailand within the next month and I plan to do it mostly by bus.

After Singapore I headed north to Thailand via Malaysia. Of course I needed to stop and see my JB friends for one last night on the town before heading up to Penang Island in northern Malaysia. The bus ride there was one of the best I have ever had. First they only had 3 seats to a row with big comfortable chairs, but even better was the country side. Huge rock formations and large palm tree plantations throughout the ride. Penang is a very lovely city that I haven't heard much about. My host in JB was able to connect me with one of her friends that lived there to put me up for two nights and show me around the island. It is a decent size and it is filled with large hotels and apartment buildings but also has plenty of nature throughout. From the mountain tops you can see over the city and the whole way down is covered with trees. The island is very calm and peaceful at night and the food there like all Malaysian food is top notch. My friends there also took me to snake temple which was interesting as there were actual live snakes throughout the temple. Although, from what I have been told there are much less there than there used to be. I didnt get a chance to go to the beaches but they seemed pretty ok. Not quite as tropical as KK but they seem an alright place to visit. There are a surprising number of resorts for how the city first appears driving in. It seems more of a commercial town than anything but it keeps a nice mix and I didnt seem to notice many tourists for the amount of resorts which made me enjoy my visit more.

From there on to Thailand, Phuket to be exact, arrived today and have a hell of a story for you but I am not posting it until completion. All I will say is it is not for the weak of stomach and certainly not the highlight of my trip....

Singapore!

Jun 10, 2008
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Well finally made it down to Singapore and it isnt quite what I had expected. Honestly I was thinking a town more like Manhattan with tall buildings tightly packed through out the city. I was quit a bit off, the city is very large and not so tightly packed (in most areas) with plenty of plants, trees, gardens, and parks everywhere you look. Of the cities I have been to only Geneva rivals its cleanliness and the organization is unmatched. All trains, buses and other transit run on a tight schedule and frequently. On the transit website you can see exactly when each bus gets to each stop, how long it takes down to the minute and how much it costs. Getting around the city is much easier with a card you can pick up at any train station (for a fee of course) and when entering/exiting the buses and trains you simply tap the card and it deducts the fare.

On the other hand, Singapore is as strict as the rumors. All around town you see signs of everything you cant do. Below are pictures that I took in one day haha. The trains and buses only run until about 11-12 oclock at night and taxis are very expensive (50% more after midnight) so people start migrating home sooner here than other cities I have been to.