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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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....
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.
