Thursday, October 27, 2011
womp dance wompity dance.
http://youtu.be/DPFxZviWzyA
and then this one...
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
where were you five years ago?
http://chronicle.com/article/For-Sciences-Sake-a-Small/128815/
Monday, August 29, 2011
I love eating pretzels while thinking of a title.
Anywhoo, I was going to publish this post only with this quote but I started rambling and let it roll for a little bit.
My "roomate" had this on her facebook page and it was the first thing I read. (shes my roomate but shes never home because shes always on really awesome work trips..we have spent more time together at festivals than at home...)
-Hunter S. Thompson
(also an excuse to put a picture of the sooby loaded up for a canoeing trip earlier in the summer...)
this summer magnetic man, nero, afrojack essential mixes have helped put the first 10k miles on the whip. my friend ashleys stack-o mix cd's has helped. kanye and mumford on a double disc has certainly been on repeat lately. incubus is always right there. and sometimes you cant beat the radio.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
victory
In the last few months I have been extremely lucky to take a step into the world of the Boston Bruins. While I have always been a playoff hockey fan and loved watching the hurricanes and the B's as the school year was ending, this season was different. For the last 2 months I have dived headfirst into a world I could never trully grasp. Grasp is even too strong, as I was barely checking the pulse. With Kenmore celebrations and victory parades and cup sightings and wild casino nights and fenway duck boats I was only seeing a part of it. Running into Tim Thomas on the street and having him give some daps to my passengers as he walked to his car, a mob of 300 people behind him as the police paved his way. Seeing Marchand off his rocker at 3 pm the day the cup came home and again on fathers day as he danced on the front of the duck boat with papelbons jersey waving in the air. The text from Rich Peverley asking for a pedi cab ride for his wife and his to a "secret" victory dinner and bar night at Stella's in the south end. His question on whether it would be ok to crack open a beer on the ride. and my response that "you just won the stanley cup man, you can do whatever you want". His recounting locker room details about the victory in Vancouver and the plans that he and the guys had for the next few days. ("No wives or girlfriends allowed after the parade" he said to his sister over the phone, " so you might want to wait until next week...I can get the cup for us then" so so awesome.
I could go on for quite some time about all the awesome stuff in the last week and still not talk about meeting Joey and James, and working with those guys at the garden. Getting my friends to come and help out and experience everything as well, meeting the season ticket holders, eating the press box buffet with sportswriters and national commentators, hearing the pregame soccer ball workouts, posing in front of the net, and the atmosphere of a Boston Garden post game.
But when I read this article my uncle wrote it brought it to another level. It might take a few minutes but you should absolutely take the time.
HERE
(also, the first time i have uploaded pictures from my phone to my computer....)
Monday, June 20, 2011
not enough but a start.
theres so much i want to type i dont know where to start. Looking forward to camp bisco now that my new roomate is down for the adventure and hopefully fast action will buy his ticket soon....big time excited....
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Stanley
I havet even posted my bonnaroo post yet but I jusneed to reitterat how awesome it is to be in boston for game 7 baby!!! 3-0 bruins!!!!
Life is so good!!!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
woodstock 1969
the first post i have uploaded on my phone...types like the ipod but much more sensitive and not quite as used to it. nice to type.such a long message...on my way to bonnaroo with caroline, mia, and nicole packed in nice before we stop in roanoke and before a chatanooga via atl via germany pick up. keeping the car journal going. were going to roo along with 3 other cars from new hampshire.and maine and new york. we all had a connection...
we will.meet with a mini van and stake out a great 2 car site and await dani and laurens arrival...
listening to jack beats essential.
i think i will turn my phone off very shortly and use the flip phone i bought at the homemaker thrift shop. love that place.
until next time.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
lp
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
rip lcd soundsystem
Instead, the last scene in the LCD Soundsystem biopic gets to feature slo-mo shots of 16,000 saucer-eyed disciples in black and white swatting at oversized party balloons. Stories just can't end better than this, and James Murphy understands a good story as well as anyone. That's how this whole thing started in the first place."
taken from spin magazine....im not ready to talk about this yet. all i can say is that i was lucky to be a part of hipsterdoms biggest party.
Lon-don-don-don-DON
Arriving in London on my first day I was lucky enough to sleep for a massive majority of my 17 hours in the air. My lack of sleep for the last 2 days in singapore paid off in dividends and when I landed in London Heathrow and Cristina was there to greet me at the arrivals, I was ready to carpe diem and have a great time. We took the tube back to her house and i started unfolding some of the awesome things I had done since the last time I saw her for lunch last time I visited. We got back to her house and seeing how it was such a beautiful day, spent the entire day hanging out on her porch with the hammock and the stereo and some mixed drinks. It was a perfect way to spend the day! AT night one of her and her roomates italian friends came over. Marta was a super cool italian lady and was full of energy and a spice for life.
Seeing how i hadnt made dinner for myself since i left home I was excited to cook and offered to make dinner for them all. While at the grocery store I made a consience decision to make something that had the most steps in it. I landed on tacos as that allowed me to make some rice, vegetables, meat, and chicken, along with cutting some veggies and warming the tacos. I was pumped to do it all and i think that everyone enjoyed it becuase we ate everything and i never cook too little food. it was great. I passed out HARD when i went to bed and it felt great to sleep with a blanket and a big comfy mattress.
On Monday, Cristina had taken the day off to adventure and that was super super cool becuase she rarely does that. We took our time waking up and i think we were both finally up by around noon-ish. We decided to go for a run. I had thought about going for one becuase i know cri is a big time runner but(i think she does like 30 or 40k a week) i really wanted to go for a run and do what i could to get into shape for pedi cabbing. She told me she was doing ten miles that day. Although massively intimidated ( I havent run that far since april 19th 2010) i went with it anywy. It was great to get some fresh air and have such an intense workout. I was behind her mmost of the time but it was a great way to explore her area. We made it by Wimbledon which was really cool too. It made me really miss running and training but it also made me supppper exited for riding a bike so soon. especially with all the bikes we saw around london, where bikign has risen in popularity big time in the last few years. I survived the run and we made it home. For dinner we had a little rice and vegetables and made plans to go see a movie at an art house cinema where Cri knew a guy that worked there that got us in for free-99. Super awesome. We saw a movie that i posted about after i saw it. check it out below a bit.
On tuesday I went on a citywide adventure via the bus and tube. I still had lots of rides on the card i found the first hadl of the trip so i used it to its potential by riding on random trains in random directions. fun times. I eventually made it to the waterloo station where I knew i had seen some cool graffiti last time i was in london. I made a personal mission to find it and after some hunting i stumbled upon the tunnel again.
^make that bigger...it was so awesome sit and watch these dudes create these amazing pieces.(just click on it)^
Essentially a underground tunnel, it is totally legal to paint on the walls and hundreds of people do it every month, constantly transforming an ugly tunnel into something beautiful.I made it to a few museums and the southbank skatepark and the eye (where some movie was being filmed too). Later that night I was able to meet Cri in Hyde Park after riding a bike through central london during rush hour. crazy silly but i survived.
For dinner we went to a really awesome Morrocan restuarant that cri had heard of but never been to before. The food was delicious (lamb and seabass for entrees along with an awesome app sampler) and the atmosphere of the place was great. We had some great dinner conversation and it was fantastic.
On our walk home I wanted to show cri the graffiti tunnel because she had never seen it. We found it and she was super impressed by it and i think that she'll probably paint something on it someday. While we were there though there were two guys drinking a bottle of grand Monqiua (?) straight and eating some oreos. They offered us a sip and i politely declined until a few moments later when one of them said it was his birthday. My sip opened the floodgates of conversation and we eneded up hanging out with the guys for a while. We didnt drink anymore of their stuff but instead using some pens we had in our bag, made a little picture for the guy celebrating his birthday. Happy Birthday Alex in graffiti art was really cool and the guys happiness as we drew it was worth every second of it and more. The two guys were brothers and it was the older ones birthday and he was taking a break from work to drink with his brother and celebrate. (i hate to think how ineffective he was after half a bottle of liquor at 11pm but thats his issue...) The dudes were great fun and while we easilly could have been intimidated by them when we walked in they turned out to be one of the best parts of the night. (well it was an awesome night but they were still really cool)
For my last day I woke up kind of late-ish and spent the morning cleaning the apartment up and packing my bag. I met Cri before I left at her work, and we went out for some fro-yo from a place called SNOG. check it out. this place is bomb. Sidenote: The day earlier cri had told me that all morning the day before Kate Middleton had been in her office, trying to decide on a piece of jewelry that eventually Cristina would make. Yes, the kate middleton. anyway, all morning while i was cleaning up i had this reoccurring thought that Ms. Middleton was going to be at her work again and that when i went to meet cri for lunch she wasnt going to be able to leave becuase she was busy but then i would just invite kate middleton for fro-yo because i read an article that she likes SNOG a whole bunch and they might have it for desert at her wedding.
legit i must have ran through this scenario in my head a hundred times.
it didnt happen but it was really cool to think about anyway. I said goodbye to cristina and took my bus to make my way to the airport. (sidenote" I eventually made my plane with 5 minutes to spare....my foray in the opposite direction for a cadbury nearly cost me big time:)
my time in london was really really awesome though. cristina is probably the most positive and encouraging person i have ever met and you cant help but have a good time when your around her. even though my suprise visit in feb. was thwarted by her weekend in paris with her boyfriend our 4 days in March were more than enough to remind me why i thought it would be awesome to suprise her in the first place. She is really really fantastic and every conversation we had was one of those feel good, get to know you really well, super deep and meaningful, supremely ridiculous, awesomely encouraging moments you get only so often in life. we were just lucky enough to have 4 days of them.
Although my departure from London is essentially the end of my little adventure I dont like to use the word end. Its to close minded. My entire life is an adventure no matter where i go or what I do. i love it.
Its just time to open a new chapter and see where it takes me. I look forward to stepping off the plane and seeing my friends again. A story is only a story if you have someone to tell it to!
Malaysia and Singapore.
After leaving Koh Lanta I took a full day to travel by taxi, boat, bus, bus, bus, bus, to get to Kuala Lumpor, Malaysia. I arrived into the city at about 4 am and was surprised to see the bus stop was about a half hour away from the city. Not at all what i expected I was extremely lucky to meet a nice taxi driver who took me to the cheapest hostel he knew of and for a fair price for both of us. he told me all about how he had traveled when he was younger and my worry quickly turned to excitement as he was telling me all about his hippie days. pretty cool. KL as it is so commonly shortened was a really cool place. I was able to stay at a great and cheap hostel (i think about 10 ringets)
the main market in KL. (had the best imitation crap ive ever seen...luckily i had very little money left yet.)I had a cave of a room because they were out of dorm beds but that didnt matter much. I slept for a few hours which was probably not the best idea because when i woke up around 11 it was unbelievably hot. I went around and explored solo for most of the time. Just exploring the markets and the areas i walked all around and had a pretty good adventure. I walked across the city to see the Petronas Twin Towers, which at one point were the tallest buildings in the world. It was a pretty awesome experience and the buildings were really beautiful.
After traveling the entire day before i fell asleep at the food court of the towers as apparently i was exhausted. Later on in the afternoon I met some cool people at the hostel and had an awesome dinner from a Malaysian guy that cooked the food in clay pots on this huge fire on the side of the road. it was super delicious.. after dinner i was able to meet up with a girl named Genevieve that i met on Couch surfing. It had been a personal mission for me to meet this girl because i randomly stumbled upon her the night i booked my ticket and sent her this really long non nonsensical email like 3 months earlier. The fact that i found her online while at my house bored and dreaming of excitement and then following through with it and meeting her in her hometown was really really really really awesome. I seriously thought about it alot most of my trip and it was great when it happened. we had some food and drinks together, she showed me where she lived in the city and i got back to my hostel for the night at some ridiculous hour.
Leaving KL I had about a 4 hour ride to Singapore. I made a mistake taking a bus and ended up missing my bus and having to wait like 2 hours for another one. It was totally my fault and i felt pretty stupid but there wasn't anything i could do after the fact except take a cab to the right place and then just take the bus. I honestly think it was one of the bigger travel mistakes i made my entire trip so in reality i didn't worry about it at all because it made me think how lucky and skilled i was the rest of my trip.
I arrived in Singapore after the bus ride a few hours later than i had originally told Arno but he didnt mid too much. he was going into the city to a nice club to sell some tickets for his big party, Singatronic, but i ended up meeting him at the bar later after showering and doing a load of laundry. I had to buy one more $17 dollar pint before i left.
My time in Singapore with Arno was really really awesome. Even though it was only a day he was as expected an amazing host. Besides being an awesome host though he was extremely generous and so were all of his friends. Seeing how I had met many of them before i left they were eager to hear some stories and hang out with me. It was a really really great night that took us to a few cool bars (stereolab was a great music club) and some interesting places. Its never where you go but the company and his friends charlie, and -- ( i cant believe i forgot his name already) were outstanding. Even when Arno left around 2 or 3 his two buddies stayed out with me and showed me all around and we had a great time together.
I ended up taking the metro back early and was awoken by Arno around 11. that day and the next he was actually moving into another apartment with his girlfriend. Just across the street it was much nicer and had a pool on the rood. pretty sweet! For lunch I went to a great basement food court with Stella and FEASTED on a bunch of different foods and soups and drinks and snacks. I waited in a long line for this peanut, cucumber, pineapple thing in a honesy sauce and it was amazing. worth the 20 minutes in line.
AFter lunch we went back to their new apartment and Arno and I enjoyed some awesome time relaxing in the rooftop pool with a Tiger beer. A great way to end my trip i was packed and ready to head back to london shortly after. For dinner we went to a great hot pot restaurant that arnos girlfriend liked alot and again FEASTED on a huge assortment of stuff. I mean feasted. i like the way stella goes big or goes home with the food! fried pork, rice, vegetable soup, bacon, chicken, frog, aloe verra juice (yes), and a bunch more snacks made me more than full before i hopped in a taxi to the airport. I spent as much time in the best airport in the world before heading out for my flight that took me from singapore to frankfurt to heathrow.
I dont like to think that it was ending. but it certainly wasn't starting. :/
Koh Lanta- the island life.
this was my inspiration for my trip. its all i wanted.pictures to be added when i can go upstairs and get my cameras card.
After picking up a bunch of snacks and goodies for the hours on the train we were off. The goal was koh lanta, a medium size island off the west coast, but we made goals of south, a ride to the coast, a ferry, and a guest house on any island were the only requisites. After we were on the train for an hour or two I made the statement that it would probably be about this time the next day when we alas put our toes in the sand at our hotel. At the time it sounded pretty wild but it eventually turned out to be true. The train wasn't nearly as bad as the last time I took it by a long shot. For one thing there were leas than half as many people on it and more importantly I had someone to talk with. Jess is a super cool German
chick. She's into alternative music and puts nirvana, white stripes, and audioslave amongst some of her favorite. She is 22 but will start university next year. She has a bunch of cool tatoos and at one point I
used the line" I can't wait to see you in a bikini to see all your different ratios" even before unsaid it I knew it sounded ridiculous but that didnt stop me. Haha. she told me all about them and there
meanings and it was pretty awesome to hear their story. She had 8 stars around her body that stood for her birthday on 8/9/88, a pinup girl on her leg, some white stripe lyrics on her ribs, and two birds on her back. She also told me about her girlfriend who at the moment was traveling in central America. They couldn’t agree where to go so one went east and one west. Wild. That's one way to counteract all the couple I have see traveling. We had great conversation on the train and both got significant sleep.
This night train also didn't have nearly as many hawkers, or at least it didn't seem like it.
When we got to Trang we had to find a bus that would take us to the island. About a 2 hour drive and 2 ferries it cost just as much as our 14 hour ticket! By the time we got to the island we were feeling a
little weary so weren't to excited at the prospect of having to find some cheap accommodations. We would have had to take a tuk tuk abiut 7km south to find a place but didn't want to pay that fare. We
started walking and eventually gave in to paying for the taxi. I hate getting nickel and dined and it's the easiest way to bleed money but it was hot and we had our bags and it was what had to happen at the time. When we told the driver where we wanted to go he suggested somewhere else. Favorably priced he also said he would take us there for free. Generally a bad idea to take advice like this but we went with it. If we did t like it, at least we were closer to somewhere else. The place he brought us to wasn't very nice and didn't have a great beach view. We thanked him for trying and hustled off down the beach to find another place. About a hundred yards down we found a sweet reggae bar and bungalow. nice views, restaurant, stereo, wifi, cheap, sold. We dropped our bags in our beachside bungalow for 350b a night and called sea culture our home for the next 3 nights.
On the island I did a whole bunch of not much. Sitting on the beach and reading a book was the main source of entertainment and for a change of scenery I would take up residence in the hammock I brought. The island was pretty nice but as would be expected was extremely touristy. So full if westerners in fact hat it was difficult to find a decent priced and tasting Thai meal. By far the most rouble I have had trying to find something to eat. A quiet first night was spent on the beach with a few beers to ring in my birthday. I walked the beach but it was relatively quiet on our little inlet. The next morning I awoke to the waves crashing on the shores and I was super nice because it hadn't
been high tide when we arrived an everything looked much much nicer with higher waters. Anyway a book on the beach was how I spent the morning until Jesse and I took the moped we rented the night before out for some exploring and lunching. We enjoyed riding along and had freshly picked bananas for lunch. (like they were hanging on the tree a few hourds ago) We rode by some poorly treated elephants on the side of the road and an interesting entertainment complex with a man made lake you could fish in. Kind of cool I guess, but your on the ocean....there should be some cooler stuff to catch than a stocked pond smaller than a football field. Regardless. we rode around on he moped for awhile and explored the island and it's multiple beaches and busy areas for half if he day For lunch we
stumbled upon his market that had some sticky rice ( a wild phenomenom I don't think I've given justice to...) with little bits of fried onions mixed in. I started with one packet but needed 2 more before I left.
I grabbed my first freshly squeezed sugar cane juice for a drink and we headed to the hostel to sit on the beach. By the time we rode back I was craving the deliciousness of the onions I had just devoured and
made the decision that I was just going to drive back and get some more. 6 little packages total (most people would have 2 or 3 with a piece of chicken and be plenty satisfied) i was sitting on the beach
with my book in hand. I had traded the Dan brown book digital fortress for an Ozzy Osbourne biography. Although highly entertaining it didn't get very personal or delve to deep into anything but just told alot of very funny stories. (addicitve though, as I finished it the next night) Before dinner Jesse and I wandered around the edge of our little cove area into another seemingly deserted beach. There were no
bars or hotels on that little patch and it was pretty cool to see such a nice uninhabited little stretch. We didn’t have our camera with us so we didn't get any pictures but a few times we took mental snapshots
that we won't soon forget. For dinner I had some fried rice (surprise) and a papaya salad with some Orange fanta. It was delicious and Jesse said happy birthday for the first time when she went and paid the bill. As we were riding back we found this coffee shop that looked like it might have ice cream
so I pulled an abrupt stop for a visit. I ordered a big ice cream sundae with chocolate chip ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and cherry. Yum yum yum is all I can say. Not an ashleys cake but a close second place. The coffee shop was really well designed and had some comfortable furniture. Apparently it was attached with a high end reality company so all around were brochures and guides selling these absolutely amazing and beautiful houses on surrounding islands. Houses that cost millions of US dollars but that would have multiple pools and levels on a cliff face overlooking the waters of Bali or some other serene location. Amazing. We stayed there until it closed looking through the phot books and before heading home for (suprise) some hammock laying and reading while Jesse used her computer. By far the most mellow and low key birthday I ever had I think I only heard the words 2 or 3 times all day. I had a great day on a beach which was all I really wanted anyway.
The next day we again spent exploring on the moped checking out the island again. We made our departure plans for the next day and did a loop around almost the entire island. At the very south of the
island we found some nice resorts that would be worth commuting to if we ever went to the island. When we got back in the late afternoon we narrowly missed a massive rain shower that poured it on for about 3 hours. Luckily the hammock was set up on the covered porch!! We were supposed to return the moped at night but the shipowner wasn't around when we went (scared off by the rain is our only guess why) that allowed us to go a little farther and explore a little bit more before we left and so a few more hours on a bike were a nice little closing time. The next morning I would be up and out by 7:30. I had a massive travel day ahead. Before I went to sleep that night though I used Jess computer to hop on facebook and see all the goodwishes everybody sent my way. That was pretty awesome and the picture Nate and Alex took on haight st. was a major highlight. So cool. It definitely made me miss alot if things and people back home but it's ok though because I am pretty ready to head back. I have alot of awesome stuff to look forward to and it starts up Boom! right when I get back..
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Bangkok
koh san rd ^
Bangkok bangkok bangity bang bangkok
I had been given good advice from someone i met while eating lunch (!!) that I could take a public bus to kho San road , the backpackers number 1 starting and ending point of Southeast Asia. Barely stopping, the public bus picked me up to the left of the train station entrance, next to a kfc. For only 7b it was a great way to get there and soak in the sights along the way. Always interesting, bangkok’s china town was in full hustle and bustle mode with flowers seeming to be the main item being dealt with in the area we drove through, with hundreds of stalls selling any kinds you could imagine. While I had wanted to book a room in advance my luncheon friends had assured me I could find a place. They were right and within about an hr and a half of getting off the bus( I took my time exploring) I had found an incredibly cheap room. Bare minimum but a place to sleep. There was another solo traveler from Switzerland already there and it was cool to be back in a multibed dorm again, the best way to meet people. After dropping my bag off I went back out to explore, passing on the idea of consulting lonely planet for advice and just deciding to go do. Passing by a guy reading a lp at a bench a little later I chuckled and mentioned to him that I thought that was a fruitless endeavor. He agreed (but was doing it anyway) and when I started to walk away he got up and followed along with me. He was an interesting dude. Kind of strange but whatever, I wasn't doing anything except walking through a mad world with him so it was ok. He told me a crazy story of how he ended up here. A few months ago he had traveled to Chicago. He had previously been in America for 6 months ( a monthh longer than his
passport allowed) surfing in california and still had some personal items in Cali even though his gf there had broke up with him and he had gone back to holland. ( a beat up van he lived in, some surf boards, clothing, tpys, etc) anyway when he returned a few months later to chicago at immigration and customs, when asked why he was back in the states he said he was going to be traveling and maybe looking for a job. Now, that was his mistake. Taken to a holding cell he spent a few hours waiting before a dutch speaking customs agent entered and told him he would be returning to holland on the next available flight. He wouldn't be allowed back into America for at least a few years unless he got a work or study visa. Just like that his American vacation had started an ended. Arriving back home he wallowed for a few weeks before booking a 3 week trip to thailand. Where I met him on a street bench readig a lonely Planet.
While walking with him I saw 2 guys with loaded bags. Offering to show them a cheap place to stay they were happy to get some good advice. I walked them back to my hostel and they were happy to have their bags off after their journey from London to Bangkok. 120 b was about 800b less than what they were planning on spending but they were nonetheless agreeable and glad to have met someone. Leaving the Dutch boy( Martin) waiting on the main road, he had disappeared when we got back. Regrettable but there wasn't much we could do. Hopefully he found something or someone he was
looking for.
The two Brits, myself and the girl from Switzerland went out for some drinks and some conversation. Never having traveled before the Brits were full of questions. The switz girl and I obliged and tried to relate to them but were in a clearly different agenda and frame of mind. We still enjoyed each others company greatly but it was a unique dynamic to witness. After a tower between us we walked -- back to the guesthouse and told her we were going to explore and see where the night took us. I wasn’t really wanting to have a wild night because I still was not 100% but I was going to carpe diem with some cool dudes. I hung out with alot of girls on this trip but it's nice to drink a beer with a dude and have dude talk. we ended up going all around the area and tuk tukked to patpong for some essential Bangkok story making. The kinds of story that the firepit crew will eat up after a few cold beverages. The kind of storey that would disgust and amuse William, make matty d howl, and Mickey ask ??. Joe and Andy will laugh, Joe will shake his head, And Dan Tom and Eric will just say only paul... I did not buy myself anything or anyone but saw a part of town that fat old russian men flock to and pretty much epitomizes all the stereotypical ridiculous things you might hear about Bangkok. I should have found a more eloquent way to type out this little event but Its much more of an in person story to be retold. Essentially, I didn't do anything I wouldn't tell my mother... ( but ideally she won't read this far down and ask for too many details. ;) but saw some really wild and ridiculous stuff.
That night back at the guesthouse it turned out to the coldest night in Thailand in like 10 years for some strange reason. It was nice to bundle up with blankets and wear pants and longsleeves the next day. One of the British guys stayed out a little later than the other one doing things he probably would t want to share with his mum but that was all up to him. He was out until 7 or 8am and eventually slept most of the next day.
When i woke up that morning I was feeling better and went out for some fruit and a drink. While perusing I walked into a tailors shop and began talking with an Indian man nicknamed Papa Jim and his 2 sons, Raja and Andrew. I was in a Thai tailor shop and was falling hook line and sinker for everything they were telling me. Not that I was being had, but I had thought about maybe buying a suit and I could
only be awed at how easy it was and how good it felt. Draping fabrics after fabrics over me I felt like a king being waited on by the three of them. Endless colors and design choices it was tough to even find
a place to start. Eventually i decided on a silver and a black suit, along with a variety of shirts and ties. Before I left though I tried on a suit that somebody else had ordered and was picking up later that day. When I tried It on I got that feeling that only a guy can understand when he puts a nice suit on. It's magical really, how it feels like you just put on a jacket made of success and power. I immediately disregarded the silver and went with the brown. It was that awesome. One of the neat things about buying the suit (besides that try took a visa card) was that I went back to the tailor 4 or 5 more times over the next two days to get fitted. Each time was a new experience with a tea or a water or a pepsi or whatever to add to the moment. It's the little things that make it special and it was a great experience. Watch out world-I look fresh to death!
We got to know each other pretty well throughout the day and definitely had a good time getting lost. In Bangkok wherever you go you are solicited by tuk tuk drivers asking if you want to go to a certain place. They are all the same spiel and it's unbelievable how many times you'll hear the same things. 10 baht each, standing buddah special opening today, grand palace tour, 1 hour anywhere you want to go! It's all the same and it's all just a ploy to get you to buy some fake gemstones from a professional scam artist. We wandered around all day and I splurged on a ridiculous laser pointer that I had been eyeing at every market I stopped at.
To get back to our guesthouse around diner time we decided to try and take this boat taxi thing. We didn't know where it went or anything about it but that just intrigued us more and it turned out fantastic in the end, almost right where we wanted to be. We met back up with –- at the hostel and all grabbed some dinner together. the British guys were off to star heading north the next afternoon , but I decided to stay an extra day and see another part of the city. Although koh son road was a pretty unique place I knew Bangkok is a major metropolitan city and I wanted to get out of the one corner I was in. I was given some advice to head to a part of town called the Sukhomvit road area. More upscale and commercial it had a pretty different flavor to it for sure. After bid adeiu to the Brits I headed to the Sukhomvit for one more night and day in Bangkok. Although the guesthouse prices were more than triple what I had been paying I tried not to let it bother me too much. I found a hostel called soi1 hostel and , although expensive, it had a tremendous vibe to it when you walked in the door. notes and directions all over the wall, pictures and advice, big communal area, made the decision for me.
It was about midday on the 18th when I arrived to soi 1 and after a little while I went out for a little exploring with two Canadian girls on holiday for two weeks from med school in Canada. (you keeping dr. count Travis) they were pretty cool girls. It's wild when you meet people traveling so differently from you yet still with so many similarities.
We wandered for awhile and had some noodle soup for dinner. Nothing special except that the soup had some chicken feet in it which was a new experience. The desert was the topper though. An egg, nutella, and banana pancake smothered with cream and chocolate this thing was a sight to behold.
I hadn't eaten one my entire trip but this one made up for anything I might have missed. We were originally going to get one to share but made the very good decision to each get one as we watched it being made. After dinner and desert we kept wandering and made it over to soi cowboy, a spot notorious for old men to relive the glory days persay. Err I dont know how to put it. It was a wild street of fluorescents and girls inviting you to have a drink with them. It was so overwhelming that I totally forgot to take out my camera and take a picture. Woah.
When I got back to the hostel I grabbed one of the few English books they had and gave it a go. Eat pray love. Although I only got through about 50 pages I don't think I was enjoying it very much. A good read, I didn't really like the main character as a person I don't think. Later that night I would end up trading the book for digital fortress, another Dan Brown thriller. Guys good man, I had to go for a third one!
Anyway there weren't to many people at the hostel but I started talking to hr owner, a guy named Dave. Dare I say infinitely interesting, Dave is a true personality. We talked about all kinds of big and small stuff and I eventually joined him for his late night dinner. He showed me all around on the walk to his favorite burger joint. Seeing how he lives there it was wild to see how many of the restaurant owners ad ladies of the night knew him. It was great hanging out with the guy for few hours and hes a personality I won't soon forget. Back at the hostel I talked with 2 of the girls that worked there and had a good chat before heading off to bed. Right before I went to bed though I started talking to the night desk worker about America and eventually sports. I got all riled up about NCAA basketball and probably went into 10x more details than he could possibly comprehend (cindarella, dickey v?!) as I was about to walk upstairs he turned on the tv above his head. Uh oh. it was about 2am in Bangkok so about 2 in America. It was first and second round action!!! Sure enough they got the international channel that was showing the games and mr. Gus Johnson himself was on the play by play. I was trapped within 10 seconds, and eventually stayed up for the entire thing to watching George Mason pull off the win. I love college bball man. March really mgt be the best month. Spring , pattys day, spring break, march madness, birthdays....
Anyway the next morning I packed my back and stored it I the closet. My plan was to head south to some island on the night train. I had hopped to find a friend to take the trip but to no avail. I went out for lunch but came back to grab a map. When I came back there was a German girl doing some stuff on her computer. I asked if she wanted to join me and we went off. She had arrived that am from chaing Mai and was just going to unwind and chill for a bit. Our lunch adventure took us a little farther than we expected but eventually we found a really nice street vendor who hooked us up with a massive plate of fried rice and veggies and tofu. We had to wait kind of a while to get our food but were having great conversation the entire time so it didn't matter at all. A Chinese man next to us kept doing his best to enter our conversation but his English wasn't that great. He was super super friendly though so we didn’t mind a bit. After he had finished eating and chatting with us he asked if he could write my name down in case he ever came to America. Of course I said, and gave him all my info. I took his down because he lives near guangzhou china, which is a big city that happens to be where two of my cousins were adopted from. Undoubtedly I think that our paths will eventually cross which is a wild thought that I love to think about. As he paid for his food and left he shook our hands, smiled and thanked us again for "meeting him" we later found out he had even paid for our lunches for us. So so cool, and just one of those minute details that make being a friendly, good hearted and open minded traveler so great. More than a few times I have alluded to how such a minute detail can influence a person’s life and this is another of those.
After lunch we continued walking and Jess and I stumbled onto a major Thai -red part democratic rally. Thousands of people all wearing red were listening to speeches and music and showing there support for the cause. It was a pretty wild site to behold and at one point we get to a coection of images that showed how violent and oppressive these rallies have gotten. It was a big time reality check to see the dates being only in the past few months of some major outbursts and scenes of violence. By now our quick lunch had been going on for 2 or 3 hours. I went back to pick up my suit from koh San rd. It fit like a charm and I can't wait for the first excuse to wear it. Taking the boat taxi back was another great experience. On the way I told Jess how cool it was to meet her and have "lunch" with her. I halfway jokingly said she should cone with me south to an island and the next thing I knew she was joining me in my dash to the train. Even though she had just been on a 9 hour bus ride and arrived in bkk that a.m. she was down to take a train 14 more hours south with me. Bad freakin ass. She eventually told me that she didnt really have a plan and that when something seems to be going right it's usually better to just roll with it. Still, I commend her on her random spirit because that's super rad. While she was packing her bag I talked to Dave the owner about the situation and he had no problem letting her leave and just letting her use the night she paid for in a week or two when she would return. So great.
in the middle of a rally you can stand in the middle the busiest road and take a picture. me and jess right after she told me she was going to team up for my next adventure.
and this dude is just something to look up to...
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