WOW

I parted ways with Nate in Chiang Rai, he took off towards Lao, and I headed south to Bangkok. In a few hours I will catch a flight to San Francisco. Life is good. I've been in southeast Asia for over eight months now, and all of a sudden this chapter of my life is coming to an end. It's been wonderful, some of the best eight months of my life.

I feel like I could write a bunch of stuff right now, you know, to kind of sum up all that has happened in the last eight months. But that's not really my style, I guess. I like to keep these blog posts nice and short, and maybe have a nice picture, or a short video, or something. Anyways, I chose this picture for this blog post because it kind of sums up my traveling. But actually, I didn't really travel here to Thailand, I moved here. I lived and worked here. My dad shared a quote with me not too long ago, by the travel writer Paul Theroux, that said, "I sought trains; I found passengers." And I guess that's what this has really been about for me. I've posted a lot of pictures on this blog of a lot of beautiful scenery, but really, the best part about traveling, or living somewhere, is who is behind the camera with you. Because whoever that is, they are the ones that really help make the experience. This is a picture of me and Oot playing the guitar together. I've probably spent more time with him and his daughter since I've been in Thailand than with anyone else. I will miss them terribly.

I'm going back to San Francisco now. This blog isn't done, really. Perhaps I can find some way to keep it interesting. I hope people have enjoyed it, my stories, the pictures, the videos, and my excessive use of reggae music in my videos.... anyways, I've had some beers tonight, and I'm about to catch a little van to the airport so I can fly home...

CHIANG RAI

It was a two day trip to Chiang Rai from Chiang Dao, with a night spent in Tha Ton, a lazy river town on the border of Myanmar. We made our way up and over some mountains, and through some small villages and towns, until we reached Chiang Rai. Chiang Rai is a pretty big city, with an awesome night bazaar, and an even more awesome outdoor food court slash beer garden. We had a great time hanging out and eating...

THAI WHISKY

There's not really much explaining to do about this one...

CHIANG DAO

Two days out of Pai and Nate and I found ourselves in Chiang Dao. It was a real nice little town, we stayed for two nights. Chiang Dao sits at the bottom of Thailand's third largest mountain, which seems to just come out of nowhere, I mean the area is pretty hilly, but the mountain just seems to pop out of the horizon. It's quite stunning. We explored a cave, ate some great food, drank some of the local liquor, and just relaxed for a day in small-town Thailand...

ON THE ROAD WITH NATE

I left the islands a couple of weeks ago and headed north to meet my friend Nate. Nate's on a massive bike tour of southeast Asia, and flew into Bangkok mid November to start his ride. By the time we joined up he was in Pai, and after a few days of hanging out, I rented a motorbike and joined him on his trip...

NICK

Nick flew out to Thailand in early October to join me in my travels, and I couldn't have asked for a better travel buddy. We didn't have much of a plan going into our journey, but it didn't take us long to realize that whatever we did, we would have fun doing it. Two months together, wow. And every minute of it was awesome. We parted ways a little over a week ago, I journeyed north to meet up with with my friend Nate, while Nick's girlfriend Izzy flew out to join him for a week in the islands. It was the end of an epic journey, but only a small chapter in the story of our friendship. I am very lucky and thankful to have a friend like Nick.

LANTERNS

A night on Ko Lanta with some of my bestest friends...

THANKSGIVING

Nick and I left Laos a little over a week ago, and after a brief stop in Bangkok we took off for the islands! We were joined by Nick's sister Zany, and our friends Timothy, Miki, Debbie, and Davis. The seven of us have been having a wonderful time together. I may not have been able to make it home for Thanksgiving this year, but I was lucky enough to be able to spend it with some of my closest friends. And for that I am extremely thankful...

KUOANG SI WATERFALL

There are some amazing waterfalls in the mountains surrounding Luang Prabang. They are great places to hang out, with turquoise blue swimming holes and trails that follow the rivers up and down the mountains. I spent a number of days relaxing by the waterfalls, reading my book, splashing around in the water with my friends, and just enjoying life...

LAO-LICIOUS!

We found a great guesthouse in Luang Prabang thanks to a recommendation from our old traveling buddy Jesse, and it ended up being a big reason why our two days in Luang Prabang turned into ten. It's run by a wonderful family, a husband and wife and their three daughters, and is located in an out-of-the-way alley a stones throw from the Mekong. We met Mathieu there on our second night, and the next day we met Julie, Delphine, and Allan. Great friends. They are the other reason why our stay was prolonged.

Two of the daughters who run the guesthouse offer a cooking class called Lao-Licious! Nick and Mathieu and I decided to sign up for it and holy shit was it awesome! The class started with a trip to the morning market where we purchased our ingredients and got a little lesson on what's what. After that we went back to the guesthouse where we spent the rest of the morning preparing the feast! We cooked four dishes, not including the sticky rice, which is a staple in Laos for every meal. The picture on the bottom left is Moak, a mixture of beef, pork, egg, and other tasty stuff, all mixed together, wrapped up, and steamed in banana leaves. It was quite tasty! The picture above that is Laos Salad, a fresh mix of greens with an egg yolk based salad dressing. Pictured on the top left are the fried spring rolls that we dipped into a homemade peanut sauce, mmm! And to the right of that is Laap, the national dish of Laos. That was my favorite! A spicy beef salad flavored with ginger, garlic, and lemon grass, it was amazing! The feast was extremely delicious, and the whole experience was wonderful. I will never forget that meal as long as I live...

SUNSET ON THE MEKONG

One of the reasons Nick and I have been stuck in Luang Prabang for longer than we had originally planned is because we've made some wonderful new friends here. They are all French, and we all get along quite well - Mathieu, Alan, Delphine, and Julie. We've been doing a lot of fun things together, biking to waterfalls, exploring the night market, sharing beers. Last night we went to see a Lao dance performance at the theater, it was great. Every night we try and find a good place to watch the sunset, there are tons of great spots along the river. I really like it here...

FRENCH COLONIAL TOWN

The French colonial architecture in the old part of town adds an interesting twist to Luang Prabang. Many of the old mansions that line the river have been restored and converted into guesthouses and hotels, it's quite charming...

LUANG PRABANG

Nick and I put in a long day after we left Phou Khoun, riding nearly 130 kilometers all the way to Luang Prabang. Holy shit was it tiring. We conquered some pretty big mountains though - had some grueling climbs and some crazy descents, and didn't roll into town till after the sun had already gone down.

Luang Prabang is an amazing old French colonial river town. The Khan River runs parallel to the Mekong for a little ways before it hooks around and joins in, and the old part of town sits on the thin strip of land in between the two rivers. It's a wonderful town. Nick and I came here thinking we'd leave after a couple of days, that was about a week ago...

KASI TO PHOU KHOUN

The first leg of our bike trip took us from Vang Vieng to Kasi. It was a great first day, and was rather flat compared to the next few legs of our adventure. The following day we took off for Phou Khoun, a little village up in the mountains. And let me tell you, those climbs were not easy on a bike with one speed...

OUR NEW BIKES

Nick and I had originally planned on exploring Laos on motorbikes, but unfortunately it ended up being a little too expensive. But that didn't stop us! We left Vang Vieng after a few days and headed north towards Luang Prabang, still riding on two wheels, but this time with no motors...

BIKING VANG VIENG

Nick and Jesse and I rented some mountain bikes for a day and went out to explore the countryside around Vang Vieng. It was awesome...

AN OLD FRIEND

As soon as we got off the bus in Vang Vieng we bumped into our old friend Jesse who we met in northern Thailand. It was great to see him, we hung out together for a few days before he took off for China...

VANG VIENG

Nick and I stayed in Vang Vieng for a good four or five days in a little bungalow on the bank of the Song River. Vang Vieng is a hugely popular destination on the backpackers road through southeast Asia - it's biggest draw being the debauchery that goes on along the Song River during the day. Just north of town is a stretch of the river lined with bars, some sit up on the river bank while others are built out on decks over the water. Rope swings, zip lines, and water slides are a part of every stop, along with mud pits, mud volleyball, and a lot of loud music. People rent tubes and float from bar to bar, partying, dancing, and swimming along until they wind up back in town at the end of the day all drunk and muddy. It's the ultimate backpackers water park. It's pretty crazy... and actually really obnoxious compared to the charming and quiet countryside that surrounds it. Nick and I checked it out, you kind of have to if you visit Vang Vieng, but one day was enough for us. The rest of the time we spent exploring the surrounding countryside, it was beautiful. The picture in the upper left is looking across the river towards our bungalow, you can barely see it hiding in the cluster of trees along the river. The picture on the right was taken in a village outside of Vang Vieng, sometimes the surrounding mountains didn't even look real...

DINNER ON THE MEKONG

Nick and I had a tasty dinner at a little place along the river in Vientiane, here's a little video I made about it.

VIENTIANE

Last week Nick and I took an overnight bus from Bangkok up north to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We crossed the border just after sunrise and had the whole day to explore the city. Vientiane is pretty small, and it's very walkable. Nick and I hiked the city all day and finished things off with a stroll along the Mekong River as the sun was going down. The next day we took a bus farther up north up to Vang Vieng...

THE JUNGLE TEMPLE

This temple was conquered by trees. There's no other ruin around Angkor Wat quite like this, it's awesome.

We left Cambodia after a few days, it was a fun journey. Pete left us and took off to head back to the States. Nick and I are now on our way to Laos...

THE TERRACE OF THE ELEPHANTS

This is just one of the many beautiful places that surrounds Angkor Wat. We hung out here for a while and enjoyed the afternoon. Cambodia is beautiful...

ANGKOR THOM

Our next stop was Angkor Thom. This place was rad, it had a bunch of huge faces built into the sides of the ruins. I think Angelina Jolie fought off a bunch of bad guys here in the movie Tomb Raider, or something... Well, I don't really care about that, but still, this place was awesome.

ANGKOR WAT

Pete and Nick and I left the islands last week, and after a brief layover in Bangkok we took off for Cambodia. Crossing the border was like stepping back in time, it made me realize how modern Thailand is compared to its southeast Asian neighbors. We stayed in Siem Reap, a town that has grown rapidly in the last fifteen years due its proximity to Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat has been on the map for a long time, but because of Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge Regime, the ruins were basically closed down to the rest of the world until the mid 1990s. Siem Reap is growing rapidly along with its influx in tourism, but the juxtaposition between the old Cambodia and the new wave of foreign visitors is still very apparent.

Angkor Wat was immaculate, and it looked as though there had been a lot of time and energy put into its preservation. I really liked all of the sandstone carvings, there were tons of them, huge murals that spanned entire corridors, all with extreme attention to detail. It was amazing. There's not really that much I can say about a place like this, it's a lot to take in, and you really just have to experience it for yourself...

LAEM THIAN

Nick and Pete and I stayed on the east side of Ko Tao for a few days, at a place that was pretty far removed from the rest of the island. They ran a generator at night so that we could use lights after dark, but during the day there was no power. The snorkeling was amazing, and we basically had no choice but to do a lot of relaxing...

KO TAO

Traveling around Thailand is great, and sometimes getting from one place to another is half the fun. After a few days on Ko Pha Ngan, Pete and Nick and I took off for the next island...

MANGY DOGS AND 7 ELEVENS

If there are two things that come in abundance in Thailand it's mangy dogs and 7 Elevens. That is the premise of this video... that, and a little bit of whisky. Feel free to skip over this one.

BACK TO KO PHA NGAN

Last week Nick and Charlie and I left the mountains of northern Thailand. Charlie took off for Myanmar, and Nick and I headed south to meet up with my friend Pete on the island of Ko Pha Ngan. It was my second time on the island, and we had some good adventures...

THE CURRY SHACK

This place was delicious. So delicious that Nick decided that he couldn't leave Pai without learning some of its secrets...

TRAVEL COMPANIONS

Our self-guided motorbike tour of northwestern Thailand took us on a loop that started and ended in Pai. By the time we got back to our starting point our gang of traveling buddies had more than doubled. The other night we all rode up into the hills overlooking Pai to enjoy the evening, here's a little video that I shot while we were up there. Today we will return our motorbikes and head south, Charlie will catch a flight to Myanmar, and Nick and I will head down to the islands to meet up with my friend Pete.

DOI INTHANON NATIONAL PARK

Doi Inthanon National Park has the highest peak in all of Thailand. The ride up was chilly and when we got to the top we found ourselves surrouded by clouds. So much for the view. But close to the top is a temple with beautiful gardens, it was a great place to stop and rest before heading back down the mountain.

We're in Chaing Mai now, and tomorrow my friend Pete gets in. He'll be joining us on our adventures for the next couple of weeks...

ACCOMODATIONS

This video is really dark, but I thought I would post it anyways. We put in a long day after we left Mae Hong Son and didn't stop for the night until after dark. We stayed in a small town, and after a tasty meal and a vicious downpour, we set out to find a place to rest our heads...

MAE HONG SON

The ride to Mae Hong Son from Pai is a little over 100 kilometers, and they say the road has over 1,800 turns. It was a fun and beautiful ride. Wat Phai Doi is a temple that sits on a hilltop overlooking the town, we took our motorbikes up there to watch the sunset.

In Pai we met a guy named Jesse, and we bumped into him again in Mae Hong Son. He was rolling solo on his motorbike so we invited him to join our gang. He's been with us for the last few days now. He's heading off to Laos pretty soon, but he's been a great travel companion.

NORTHERN COUNTRYSIDE

Nick and Charlie and I left Pai a few days ago to explore northern Thailand on our motorbikes. The countryside is beautiful. The roads twist and turn through the mountains and the views are amazing. The traffic is light in the countryside, sometimes we go for miles without seeing anyone...

RICE PADDY

There's no other color in the world like rice paddy green. I discovered this in college when I spent a semester in Vietnam. Rice paddies are beautiful. Not only are they extremely vibrant, but they also sound wonderful - it's like a trickling stream in surround sound, water flows from terrace to terrace through little dirt canals and the entire field sits in a pool of running water.

THAILAND ON A MOTORBIKE

Driving a motorbike in and around Bangkok is like flirting with death, but once you get out to the countryside it's the best way to explore Thailand. Here's a little video I cut together after a day of touring the countryside around Pai, it's way better in real life. The song in this video is by my friend Joe.

PAI CANYON

On the morning of our second day in Pai we took off on our motorbikes to explore Pai Canyon. The trails in Pai Canyon are like natural tightropes, some parts are only shoulder width with cliffs on both sides that drop down hundreds of feet to the valley below. We hiked around on the trails for a while and then wandered down into the valley and followed a dried up stream bed through the forest. It was such a different landscape from the jungle that we had hiked through the day before.

MAE YEN WATERFALL

We rented motorbikes when we got to Pai. On our first day we took off to find a waterfall...

PAI NIGHT MARKET

Pai is a tourist town, but it attracts both foreign and Thai tourists. In the evenings they shut down the two main streets to cars and open up the night market. The food carts roll out and the restaurants and bars let their seating spill out onto the streets, gift shops stay open late and live music can be heard coming from bars all up and down the strip. My favorite vendors are the ones that have converted their vehicles into little shops. I got a delicious iced cappuccino from the Volkswagen van-turned-cafe in the bottom right picture. The power goes out every now and then in Pai. The other night it cut out for about an hour and the night market ran on candle light, it was a beautiful.

PAI

Nick and Charlie and I left my neighborhood last week and took off to explore northern Thailand, and here we are in Pai. This place is amazing, I'm not really sure what to say about it. It's the kind of place that people come to visit and never leave. The town is nestled in the mountains and is surrounded by rice paddies, quite a nice change from the hustle and bustle that I left behind in my little suburb of Bangkok...

MY NEIGHBORHOOD

I will miss the neighborhood that I lived in. I made some good memories there. Here's a little video that I cut together before I left. The little girl in the video is Punc (pronounced Pon), she is my friend Oot's daughter, I will miss them both very much, they have been wonderful friends.

MY STUDENTS

I took my camera to school during my last week so I could take pictures of all my classes, I took a little bit of video too, here's a little something I cut together. My job was really fun, I will miss it.

MY LAST DAY

Today was my last day of teaching. I had never taught before I came to Thailand, and I think I did a pretty good job. A couple of kids cried today when I told them I was leaving and not coming back, that made me feel good about things, you know, not because I made them cry, but because I think that they might miss me. It's nice to feel liked and appreciated. I've learned a lot of things over the last four months, it's been a wonderful experience.

But now I will travel, and I've got a whole slew of traveling companions coming out to join me over the next few months. My friend Charlie is already here, and my friend Nick will be arriving in a few days. There are many more adventures to come, but for now here is a video that I made when I got back from school today...

MY SOCCER TEAM

I've been playing soccer after school three or four days a week, it's one of my favorite things to do here.  Most of the guys I play with teach at my school, and some just live in the neighborhood.
On Sunday we all met up at the school, hopped into a small van, and drove to a nearby field to challenge another team.  The pitch was great, it was full sized and well maintained, a nice change from the small concrete courtyard we play on.  The game started at 3 o'clock and it was piping hot out.  We played two 30 minute halves and ended in a draw, 3 to 3.  I scored the second goal for my team off of a nice cross from my friend Oh, a side volley that bounced off the near post and into the back of the net!  What a fun game it was!  I was exhausted afterwards, and a little red too from forgetting to wear sunblock, oops.  A few of us went out for beers afterwards and I went to bed Sunday night feeling tired and happy.

Both teams posed for a picture before the game.  My favorite guys on the team are Oh and Lec.  Oh is standing to my left, and Lec is number 22, sitting in the front.  They are both excellent soccer players and also really nice guys.  Soccer is probably the best way to make friends in a foreign land...

PROMMITR FILM STUDIO

We thought we'd head out and find some waterfalls after lunch, apparently there are a lot in Kanchanaburi Province, but on the way we stopped to ask for directions and were told about the Prommitr Film Studio, so we decided to go there instead.  The studio is located on a massive military base and was built for the filming of an historical trilogy called The Legend of King Naresuan, an epic story about the rise of one of Thailand's most revered kings who ruled Siam around the turn of the 15th century and defended and protected the old capital of Ayutthaya from the Burmese.  I think they've actually only made two out of the three films so far.  The set was opened up to the public a few years ago and has turned into quite a big attraction for the people of Thailand, I was definitely the only white person there.  The set is gigantic and at the center of it is a massive fortress with a huge palace inside.  Every day they put on a show, a sort of historical reenactment and procession that starts outside the fortress and makes it's way up to the palace.  After exploring for a while we found a spot along the main walkway to watch the show.  Large speakers played a narration and soundtrack to the story as men acted out battle scenes and canons were fired off from the walls of the fortress.  The actors wore elaborate costumes and some rode in on horses and elephants.  At the end of the show the entire cast assembled in front of the palace as the spectators gathered around to snap photos and pose with the actors.  It was a patriotic show, my friends told me that it made them proud to be Thai.  We all went home after that, what a great weekend.

THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI

After the floating market we jumped in the car and took off for Kanchanaburi Province.  We stopped for our second lunch of the day at a restaurant overlooking the famous Bridge over the River Kwai.  I can't say I remembered much of the history behind the bridge before we got there, the only thing that really came to mind was the whistled theme song from the old movie.

The Japanese forced the construction of the Burma Railway during WWII using Allied POWs and Asian laborers.  Thousands of people suffered and died as a result.  The part that spans the Kwai River is one of the most famous sections of the railway because of the many attempts by the Allies to bomb and destroy the bridge, and also obviously because there was a book written about it, and then a hugely successful movie based off of the book.  It was a nice little history lesson.

DUMNOEN SADUAK FLOATING MARKET

On Sunday morning Kate, Eee, Cartoon and I took a off for Ratchaburi Province to visit the Dumnoen Saduak Floating Market.  Back in June I visited a floating market on the outskirts of Bangkok with my friend Dana (you can see my blog post about it), it was a fun exploration of life on the canals, but the floating market itself was rather dead.  Dumnoen Saduak Floating Market, on the other hand, was active and bustling, and very much alive.  The four of us hopped into a small long-tail boat once we arrived and set out to explore the waterways.  The market was packed!  We had to be careful to keep our hands off the sides of the boat so our fingers wouldn't get pinched as we squeezed by other boats.  People strolled along the sides of the canals and waved over the paddling vendors to make an exchange.  And some sections of the canal were lined with small shops that were only accessible by boat.  My favorite boats were the ones selling fruit, I think it's because they were so vibrant.  We grabbed lunch on the canal and ate as we floated along.  I had a tasty bowl of noodles and an extremely delicious plate of mango and sticky rice drizzled in coconut milk.  And to cool things off we had some homemade coconut ice cream which we ate out of the coconut shell.  I think it may have been one of my favorite lunches in Thailand so far.  Good times.

WAT PHRA MAHATHAT

Do they know where all the Buddha heads were taken? And how? That must have been some heavy loot to carry around. This temple is full of headless Buddha statues. One of the few Buddha heads left is wrapped up in the trunk of a banyan tree, it's quite a famed image in Thailand.

This was our last stop of the day in Ayutthaya, what an awesome city. And we only saw a few of the hundreds of temples and ruins in the area, this is the kind of place I could go back to over and over again.

THE ANCIENT ROYAL PALACE

This place was great, I can barely image what it must have been like in its heyday. I guess it got wrecked pretty bad during the Burmese invasions. The Burmese never really conquered Ayutthaya, they just rolled in, broke a bunch of stuff, and looted the hell out of it. They melted down anything with gold on it and decapitated every stone Buddha statue they could get their hands on. How unfortunate.

BIG GOLDEN BUDDHA

I don't remember the name of this temple, but it was a great stop on our tour of Ayutthaya. And like the last temple we visited, I was invited again to pray.

At this temple people offered clothes to the Buddha, a golden-orange robe which they presented on a little tray. The room was packed, and everyone was kneeling on the floor in front of the giant statue. The prayer was led by a charismatic monk who chanted into a microphone. He and his young assistant walked around the crowd and gathered the robes, and then blindly tossed them one by one over their shoulders to a handful of men who were standing up high above on the Buddha's lap. After the prayer was finished, and the robes where all collected and offered up to the Buddha, the guys up on the Buddha's lap threw the long robes back down over the crowd, covering everyone in the golden-orange cloth, and then pulled them back up onto the Buddha's lap. I thought the whole process was actually kind of entertaining.

A RECLINING BUDDHA

There's a big reclining Buddha at Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol. For good luck people stick coins to the bottom of his feet. I'm not quite sure how they stay, I stuck one up there myself, I think it's magic. But then this old man came along and brushed them all off, I think it tickled the big Buddha, and when he chuckled it rumbled the earth.

WAT YAI CHAYA MONGKOL

I really enjoyed visiting Ayutthaya with my Thai friends, for me it was sight seeing, but for them it was time to pray to Buddha. When we got to this temple they handed me a lotus flower, a candle, and some incense, and invited me pray with them. It was nice. Unlike some of the other temples that we visited later in the day, this one appeared to have done pretty well against the Burmese invasions - it's name means "The Great Temple of Auspicious Victory".

AYUTTHAYA

Just down the street from my apartment, next to my friend Oot's laundry shop, is a comic book store that is owned and operated by my friend Eee. Eee's daughter Cartoon is one of my students, and everyday after school she goes to her mother's shop and hangs out until they close down and go home for the night. Eee's niece Kate lives close by. Kate is around my age and speaks very good English. She stops by the shop a lot, sometimes to give Eee and Cartoon a ride home, sometimes just to hang out. Last weekend Kate, Eee and Cartoon took me on a little tour around central Thailand.

On Saturday we went to Ayutthaya, Thailand's ancient capital. It's a charming little city, full of old temples and ruins, and rich in Thai culture and history. Ayutthaya was the capital for over 400 hundred years until it was invaded by the Burmese in the mid 1700's, the city's treasures were looted, and the temples were left to crumble. Today, Ayutthaya's population is only a tenth of what it used to be during it's ancient pinnacle.

Our first stop was the Bang Pa-In Palace, which is actually a little ways outside of Ayutthaya. This massive compound has been maintained by the royal family for centuries and is now occasionally used for royal banquets and receptions. Most of the compound is open to the public and is full of ponds, fountains and gardens. We took a little stroll around here before heading into the heart of Ayutthaya. In the picture on the left is Kate, Cartoon, and Eee.

KO KRET

A little ways outside of Bangkok there is an island on the Chao Phraya River called Ko Kret. There's no question that it's an island, but the river isn't that big, so it's more like the river splits into two for a while and then rejoins, leaving a big chunk of land in the middle... if that makes any sense. But considering the island is only a three minute boat ride away, it is noticeably isolated from it's metropolitan surroundings.

Ko Kret holds one of Thailand's oldest communities of Mon people. One of the things Mon people are historically known for is their pottery, a tradition that is still upheld on the island. They use local clay to make their hand-thrown ceramics, and a number of old and dilapidated brick kilns can still be found. There are no cars on Ko Kret, only bicycles and motorbikes, and all of the little paths and walkways branch off of one main road that circles the island.

Mac and I rented bicycles for a little more then a buck and took a spin around the island. At a leisurely pace the ride took a little more then an hour. There are a couple of small towns on the island at which the road narrows and becomes lined with little shops and restaurants, many of which sell the local pottery. Even though there are no cars on the island, Mac and I still encountered a traffic jam when school let out and the narrow path became full of kids in uniforms all doubled up on their bicycles. After a nice lunch on the river, Mac and I took off to meet our friends to go fishing. It was a good day trip.

TINY DANCERS

It's almost like the Thai version of the child beauty pageants in America, but not really... I mean, it's just like a lot of makeup for such little people. I think it's pretty cute though...

THAI DANCE

I have all of these little ones in class. I got a kick out of this performance, it was real cute. I didn't even recognize any of them at first with all of that makeup! This was on Thursday at school, they were even more done up for the big celebration on Saturday! I always think it's funny to see little people dressed up like big people.

FESTIVITIES AT SCHOOL

The 3,000 students at my school are split up between four buildings. The building where I teach all of my classes is brand new and was completed just before I started my job. It's six stories tall and holds all of the kindergarten through fourth grade classrooms, along with a bunch of other stuff, like a computer lab, a library, and an awesome indoor playground that puts any McDonald's PlayPlace to shame. Last week we had a couple of events to celebrate the official opening of the new building.

On Thursday we had a festival for all of the students, there were a bunch of fun activities for the kids, tasty snack foods, and a number of entertaining student performances. School was cancelled on Friday in order to prepare for the real celebration which was held on Saturday. Thousands of people attended the event which started at 8AM and ended around 3 o'clock. There were things going on all over the place, student performances, live music, and a traditional Thai opera... all at once! There was a lot to see. However, Mac and I spent most of the day at the front gate, sort of just standing around greeting kids and parents as they arrived. I think they kind of just wanted us to be visible, having foreign English teachers at our school is kind of big deal I guess. So I missed a lot of the action on Saturday, but luckily I was able to see some cool things on Thursday.

One of my favorite performances was put on by the Taekwondo Club, they ran around performing martial arts to cheesy techno music and broke boards and bricks and stuff. This one kid even busted out some nunchucks, it was pretty sweet. The picture on the top right is of this kid running up the backs of a few kids on his way to karate kick a board in half that is being held by a kid sitting on top of another kids shoulders, quite impressive. But what really got me was the traditional Thai dancing that some of my little second and first grade girls performed...

LIVERPOOL VS THAILAND

Last week I went to see Liverpool FC play the Thai National Team, it was awesome. My friend Colin, who lives in San Francisco and has been biking around Thailand for the last month or so, scored some tickets for 300 baht a piece, that's like less then ten bucks. So last Wednesday after work, I met up with Colin and his friend Gwen, and after dinner the three of us took off for Rajamangala Stadium, Thailand's largest sports arena. Our tickets were in the open seating section, but we managed to score a spot with a pretty good view. We sat next to a friendly Thai man and his son, he passed us a few beers and urged his son to practice his English with us, but he was too shy.

Liverpool scored less than six minutes into the game on a beautiful goal by Ryan Babel. After that I thought for sure that it was giong to be long game for Thailand, but they held on for the rest of the first half, and actually played Liverpool very evenly. I was impressed by Thailand's level of play. And in the second half, in the 72nd minute, Thailand's number 17, Sutee, scored the equalizer on an amazing give-and-go that sliced the Liverpool defence. The stadium erupted! The crowd's excitement was met soon after by a sudden downpour and some hefty winds, umbrella's started to pop open and spectators began to leave by the handful. Thai people really don't like rain. But those that stuck it out were treated by the much anticipated substitution of the Spaniard Fernando Torres in the 80th minute. Not only is my sister in love with Fernando Torres, but he's also one of the best strikers in the world. The game ended in a draw, and even though Torres didn't score, he had a bunch of chances, and it was amazing to see how the game changed with him playing up front. That's him in the picture on the right, hurdling the goalkeeper. Good times.

SOCCER

I brought three pairs of shoes with me when I moved to Thailand. Well, actually two pairs of shoes and a pair of flip flops. I knew that I wanted to play soccer when I got here so one of the pairs I brought was my turf shoes, which are ideal for playing on hard, dry surfaces. For some reason I pictured myself playing on dirt soccer fields, with clumps of grass here and there and gravel and rocks scattered about. Little did I know I would be playing on concrete. So instead I wear the only other pair of shoes that I brought, a pair of Vans, which are now practically destroyed. My turf shoes sit in my apartment collecting dust.

During our first week of school Mac and I were invited to play soccer by a couple of teachers we work with, Oh and Lec. Oh is a computer teacher and Lec teaches math. Everyday a bunch of guys gather at the schools courtyard around 5:30 or 6:00 to play ball. We use small goals and play with a futsal ball, which is smaller and heavier than a regular soccer ball, and has a lower bounce so it's ideal for playing on hard surfaces. Sometimes it gets pretty crowded out there with eleven or more on a side. The game is very fast-paced and competitive, but always a lot of fun, people joke and laugh and smile a lot, just what I like. We don't call it quits until it's too dark to see, and by that time I'm drenched in sweat and ready for dinner. The only time we don't play is when it rains, which it's been doing a lot of lately. The picture is actually of a little 5 on 5 tournament that was organized for a few days last week, usually it's shirts versus skins and there's like twice as many guys. We quit for the evening soon after I snapped these photos, the dark clouds on the horizon brought on a downpour. I'm really glad I found some soccer out here.

NEW FRIENDS

Oot, Eat, and Tui are some of my new friends, they live on my block. Oot runs a little laundry shop a few doors down from me, I met him when I first moved into the neighborhood. He lives in the shop with his little three year old daughter. I'm not sure where her mother is, and I don't know the whole story, but Oot said once that she was sick, so I guess he's kind of a single parent. A couple doors down from Oot is a little TV repair shop, this is where Eat lives and works. And Tui lives in an apartment upstairs from Oot and Eat. I think Tui works in insurance or something. These three guys hang out together all the time, almost every night you can find them sitting out in front of Oot's shop, eating dinner and sharing drinks. And every time I walk by they wave me over to join in, I've spent a lot of evenings with them. Tui speaks English pretty well, and Oot really wants to learn. Eat is rather quiet and just sits there and smiles a lot. Tui usually acts as the translator, and Oot's eagerness to speak English increases with the number of drinks he's had. Sometimes Oot and Eat will get out guitars and they will sing together. Oot's daughter stays inside and watches cartoons. Sometimes she'll come to the door and share a drawing with us or something. She's really shy, but is starting to warm up to me, she waves at me now when I walk by. Dana took these pictures when she was here the other weekend, Oot is the one in the yellow shirt and that's Tui in the middle. In the top picture I think I was complimenting Oot on the mustache that it appeared he was attempting to grow. Oot is all smiles.

NATIONAL SCOUT DAY

July 1st is National Scout Day in Thailand. Scouting in Thailand is strongly supported by the government and is a big part of school curriculum. Every Thursday students and teachers wear their scout uniforms to school and greet you with a salute. The older boys wear funny little ranger hats and brown uniforms, the older girls wear green uniforms and green hats. The little kids wear blue uniforms and these cute little short-billed baseball caps. And they all tie little bandanas around their necks. The teachers also wear scout uniforms, the men sport brown knee-high socks and cool belts. I don't have a cool uniform, I just wear my regular dress pants and a dress shirt on Thursdays.

Every morning the students kick off their day with the flag ceremony, it's held in the courtyard and lasts for about a half hour. On July 1st the morning flag ceremony was extended to celebrate National Scout Day. They honored a handful of teachers and marched around the courtyard for a while, it was quite an event! The picture in the upper left corner is of the courtyard full of students, and that's not even all of them! None of the kindergarten kids were there, and all of the first and second graders were hanging out in the cafeteria just off the courtyard. Scout Day was funny.

UDOMVITTAYA SCHOOL

Gosh, does this blog make it seem like all I ever do here is travel around and have fun? Well, that's only partly true, I also work full-time as an English teacher.

The place of my employment is Udomvittaya School, it's a private school for kids ages three to fifteen. There are about 3,000 students in the school, it's massive. I teach the little ones, K.1 through P.4, or kindergarten through fourth grade. I have each class only once a week, and I'm not sure how many students I see, but it must be in the hundreds. And learning names? I've barely even started! They study English with their Thai teachers as well, but I'm their weekly dose of real American English. I'm a mobile teacher, so I move around to a different classroom for every class, and when I walk through the door the kids cheer and shout with joy! I think they like me.

My kindergarten classes are fun, but very challenging, the kids are sooo little. I mean shucks, they're still working on mastering their own language, let alone trying to learn English! But I guess it's the best time to start. When I was in kindergarten I only went to school for half the day - these kids go to school all day long, but spend the entire afternoon napping, for like three hours. After eating lunch at 11:00, they lay little mats down on the floor, pull out pillows and blankets, and curl up and nap until the end of the school day. My youngest class is really funny, they've combined three K.1 classes into one big class, so I have about 45 three year olds all at once! Most of them are a little clueless about what's going on, but I think some of the stuff I'm teaching them might be sticking.

I really like my first and second grade classes, I feel like I spend as much time laughing at them as they do at me. The pictures above are from a few of my first grade classes, aren't the uniforms funny? Everyone dresses like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts on Thursdays, even the teachers, but I'll get to that later. Being a teacher is fun, but man am I tired at the end of the day. I've only been at it for a little over a month now and I really like it, I've learned a lot so far, I just hope the kids are learning from me, too...!

RICKSHAW

Dana and I came across this amazing prop and had no choice but to wrap up our weekend in Bangkok with one last photo shoot. This Rickshaw was on a rooftop garden. I kind of want to buy one, but I'll need more friends to come visit so we can ride around in it together...

THE FLOATING MARKET

On Sunday Dana and I went out to explore a floating market. Floating markets were once commonplace in Thailand before canals were replaced by roads. Even though the traditional floating markets have diminished, a lot of the old lifestyle surrounding the canals still remains. After eating some delicious pork buns, we hired a long tail boat and took off down an offshoot of the Chao Phraya River, spending an hour exploring a maze of old canals. Life on these quiet waterways is quite charming, stilted houses line the canals and people paddle about from place to place in little boats. The market itself was actually kind of small, little boats with people selling food and vegetables were docked along the edge of the canal, some were like little floating kitchens with people preparing plates of food for the shoppers up on shore. The market itself was a little anticlimactic, but getting a glimpse of life on the canals was wonderful.

WAT ARUN

My friend Dana's month long trip to Thailand has come to an end, she spent the last few days in Bangkok, and after work last Friday I took the bus into the city to join her. It was a little overcast on Saturday, but very hot. After breakfast we took a ferry up the Chao Phraya River to Wat Arun. Wat Arun is really neat, the entire exterior of the temple is covered in broken Chinese porcelain. Every sculpture and pattern is made of these intricate three-dimensional mosaics, the detail is amazing! There are a few different levels that you can climb to by scaling up some really steep stairs, and from the top you get a nice view of Bangkok across the river. After Wat Arun we grabbed lunch and then spent the rest of the day exploring street markets.

NAI YANG BEACH

If you're ever at the Phuket Airport and have some time to kill, Nai Yang Beach is just around the corner. After Dana and I figured out our flights and realized that we had a few hours on our hands, we took off for the closest beach. It's pretty nice, and mostly full of locals. There's a nice grove of trees between the beach and the road, perfect for a picnic, and a number of little food stands where you can order tasty things to eat. I wandered down the beach a ways and came across some guys building a new boat. It was a nice way to spend my last few hours on the islands before heading back to the city...

KAMALA BEACH

On Saturday, after a few hours on the beach, Dana and I left Railay and took the ferry back to Phuket. We stayed on Kamala Beach, which is on the west side of the island just north of Patong. It was pretty cool I guess, except that our hotel smelled funky. It was called Benjamin Hotel... more like Benjamin Ho-smell. I don't recommend staying there if you're ever on Kamala Beach. We did take some cool pictures that night though, I mean, I think they're cool. The next day we would head to the airport and part ways, Dana off to Ko Samui and me back to Bangkok...

NOT SURE WHAT TO CALL THIS ONE

Dana and I had our second impromptu, self timered photo shoot on Phra Nang Beach. I hope we inspired some people. I bought some new swim trunks on Ko Phi Phi because I accidentally left mine at home, I picked the most obnoxious ones I could find. If you think these photos of us are dumb then maybe you can enjoy the turquoise blue water, the white sand, and the beautiful limestone rock formation in background? Life is good in Thailand...

PHRA NANG BEACH VIEWPOINT

Last time I was in Railay I hiked up to a viewpoint overlooking the beach that faces east. I had noticed on some maps that there was another viewpoint in Railay, but I didn't know where it was. Well, I found it last week, but it was kind of off the beaten path. At the end of Phra Nang Beach there's a hidden trail that goes up under some low hanging trees, up towards the bottom of some cliffs. I wandered up the path and followed some voices that I heard through the brush, they were rock climbers, there were tons of spots to climb and a handful of people scaling the walls. I walked along the base of the cliff in my bare feet and made my way up and over to a cave in the side of the rock face. In the picture in the upper left you can see the cave towards the bottom right of the big limestone rock formation. I climbed up and into the cave and looked around, it was pretty big. I wandered in pretty far, and on my way back I noticed a beam of light shining down a tunnel in the rock. I shuffled through the tunnel and came out onto a little ledge, the viewpoint! The sight was quite nice...

PHRA NANG CAVE

Phra Nang cave is on Phra Nang Beach, the most beautiful beach in Railay, it's the kind of beach you see on the cover of travel books. I'd been to Phra Nang Cave before, when you first walk up it's off to your left at the base of a huge cliff that lines the end of the beach, you can't miss it. Inside the cave is a shrine. The first time I walked into into the cave it didn't take me long to notice that there were a few wooden penises propped up on a table in the sand. "That's interesting...", I thought to myself, "I wonder what that's supposed to mean?". Then I looked around and realized that the little wooden wieners on the table weren't alone, and that I was standing in a cave full of wooden cocks. Everywhere. Some even as tall as my shoulders, big wooden cocks in the sand, of all shapes and sizes. There's a little plaque next to the shrine that explains the relevance. Apparently, once upon a time an Indian princess was killed in a ship wreck just off shore, and her ghost ended up occupying the cave. Local fisherman believe that by offering these wooden phallusess it will bring them good luck and keep them safe on their journeys. Am I missing something here? How are these things related? The ghost of an Indian princess, wooden phalluses, and fisherman wishing for good luck? Oh well, it's definitely interesting, and I guess the fact that the shrine is located in a deep cave kind of balances out all the phallic symbolism...

BACK TO RAILAY

I can't get enough of Railay, that place is awesome, this was my third time going there. Dana and I thought we would stay for a night and then check out some other islands, but we ended up staying for the most part of three days. It was already early evening when we got there so after checking into a place to stay we went to the west beach to watch the sun go down. It was alright, I mean don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, but I've seen better... So, Dana and I decided to light up the beach with an impromptu, self-timered photo shoot. It was fun, and we ended up adding it to our daily list of things to do. It's pretty ridiculous, but I thought it might be interesting to mix it up and put a picture up of something else besides beautiful islands and breathtaking views...