Happy Thanksgiving From Boston!

It's been too long since I posted. But I felt like writing agian, so....

England was great and a bit of a blurr. Long story short- I ran out of money and now I'm living here in Boston. Sleeping on my friend's couch... but just landed a software job so the money is good and I've never been happier. In reflection, I am so glad I left for my trip. I mean, before I left I was so depressed with my life and where it seemed to be going. But now, what did I do? I went out and lived, mang! Since returning, I can't even remember the last time I was unhappy. Although I'm back to working in the same industry, life feels somehow different. We always use this day to say what we are thankful for, well, I am thankful for all the people I've met in my travels and the experiences I've had. I love life and hope it goes only up from here (if that is even possible).

Although I miss my family dreadfully, I hope to see them sometime soon! Admittedly, I am just a pawn in this lame-ass chess game called life, but I hope to rise in stature someday soon what with these delusions of grandeur I now hold!

Back 2 London

Hello all, been a while but hey I’m still here. I’ve been here in London with the kid (Freddy from Mirandola). We went paintballing last weekend, had a blast. We also went to a water park, which was pretty boring. But, after the firsthour I spent most of my time reading a book (on Che) whilst Freddy and his friend had fun. At the end they apparently hit it off with some girl, so I gave him some advice which actually worked out- I told him to tell the girl he liked that he had something very important to tell her and pull her aside, when she asked ‘what?’ ‘Just kiss her’ I said. It friggin’ worked and well, wasn’t I just the proud teacher! Heh.

Paintball was great too. We were with some hardcore London blokes about my age, all calling each other ‘blood’ with gnarly London accents and all from some part of London where I definitely wouldn’t belong. But we had fun and have the wounds to prove it!

It all started well, but since then things kinda went down hill. To be honest, I don’t think I was prepared to go back to being on me’ own. I don’t know if it’s just that I miss Jo, or maybe I just wasn’t prepared for it; but, I fell into a bit of depression since arrival. I don’t know. Trying to figure out what to do next can be quite stressful, figuring out the whole money/income thing can be quite a burden…

Sleep suddenly became such a great thing; the great escape. I started sleeping a lot, only waking up when I need to to wake Freddy up for school, to fix dinner or do some side-trip to the natural history museum (which wasn’t as cool as I’d been hoping, although I was led by Freddy who’s been there too many times). Man, I dunno I am figuring this shit out, but I feel that I should’ve made more of this time here. I just wasn’t prepared for the emotional reaction that took place. Eh?

I posted some vids from Koh Phangan that I couldn’t do before due to shitty internet restraints. I’m gonna post a few more on asian-soup.blogspot.com, which Jo and I are trying to keep alive. Which, btw he just posted a Bali post with some pics from Uluwatu, the coral reef spot (after my camera died). So check it out, and I’m gonna keep making posts there as well.

Don’t know what’s next. Oh well, fuck off for now, time will have to tell aye?

Bali

It was a great last chapter in our journey through Asia. For the first time, we stayed in an air conditioned room complete with warm water! Somehow the mosquitos still found their way in to bite us, but overall it was a level of comfort to which we were no longer accustomed. Pirated movies are all over the place in Bali and the prices are incredibly cheap, so on some nights we just stayed in with Mcdonald’s or KFC takeaway and enjoyed our air con while watching movies on the laptop. It was nice being able to catch up on all the flics I’ve missed in the past few months. Bali itself is very commercial by the way, Quicksilver stores all over the place, fast food, Hard Rock Café and more! The streets are flowing with bikes and scooters, often on the sidewalk going the wrong way! The people are pretty aggressive too, trying to get you to buy something (not quite as bad as India tho). So, often our hotel room was a bit of a haven.

We did a little bit of partying on the weekends. Angel met up with us AGAIN- she’s totally stalking us. And, yes we did a bit of drinking- the first since Thailand. My drink of choice was Arak, this strange Balinese sort of whiskey. We dressed up in strange costumes and went out to the clubs, me in my underwear with an umbrella and a tie on my head, Jo with his scuba gear…

So what did we do other than watch movies and build a big pile of trash in the corner? Well, surf of course! First thing we did was rent some boards for 20k/day (rupiah), which wasn’t a bad price- about $2. We started out on Kuta beach and Jo had his first go at surfing. I confess I’ve never been much of a teacher. I sort of just teach ‘em the basics and throw ‘em to the sharks. He did alright tho, particularly on the 2^nd day trying to get up on the face.

As for me, well I had a good time for the first 2 weeks on Kuta, riding 3 foot waves trying to relearn what was surely lost. But I came back and on the last day we went to Uluwatu, a coral reef break that’s fairly shallow. Just the walk out hurts your feet so bad that my feet were all scabbed up! But this place was paradise man, with perfect lefts and the longest rides! It was head-high with the occasional 8 foot set and the sweetest barrels. I’d forgotten how scary it can be to drop into a head-high wave…

After that last surf session, we walked up and had a beer with our meal at sunset, overlooking the cliffs with wistful thoughts about our last days in heaven.

My camera actually came back to life! But I’m too lazy to get all picky plus my pics have been so shait of late that I just threw a crapload down there. Enjoy~

This is a memorial for the last bombing inflicted by terrorists. The picture is shait, but I thought it was pretty cool. It contains the name and nation of every person killed that day; a rather long list...

'at's me! Music video style..

Jo is always giving me the finger when I try to photograph him...

I really liked my board. It was the perfect size for me, methink. When I get back home I think I'm gonna get a smaller one like the blue bandit there.

Jo's 2nd board. He munged up the 1st one.

Making 'the do.'

In certain parts of Kuta Beach, there are all kinds of silly little Bali girls (often muslim) who love to come up and ask either Jo and I for pics. I mean, it was worse than India! Oh, so shy and innocent! Although I confess Jo was the more popular. The man was like a celebrity dude!

This is the part of the beach where they all hang out.

Like an angel...

I loved doing flips in the birdcage.

I often think I was meant to be a stripper. Well, here I am humping a pole. Notice the umbrella. So many girls came up to us that night, and 2 guys tried to pick random fights with me.. Sheesh.

There's Angel and Lenny.

Last days. Bali. Asian-soup homey.

This was our room. Notice what we did to it... Rockstars, baby!

Malaysia

Our Swedish girls.

Malaysia was only a stepping stone on our way to Indonesia, but, there is an interesting story to tell regarding our exit from Thailand. This is what happened: we booked a tiny ass boat where you couldn’t even stand, hot as hell and ready to sink which brought us back to the mainland from Koh Phangan. From there we were to catch a bus to Panang, Malaysia. But, when we arrived this fat Thai lady noticed that we were one day over our month-long visa. We were aware of this, and also that it would cost us 500 baht each day over. However, she refused to give us our bus tickets, or to take us to the bus stop. Instead, she told us that they wouldn’t let us pay our fine at the border, rather, they would put us into jail (a new law, apparently). We would have to go to the immigration office 8 hours away by taxi for 12,000 baht (around 300 euros/ 450 dollars) that very morning in order to make it in time and avoid more penalties and/or hotel fees. She was trying to help us, you see… But we had to go now! She was on the phone getting us our appointment when we realized this wasn’t right. We were tired and fucked up from our days of drinking, without sleep due to the shitty boat, and still we balked. 12k? No. Something wasn’t right. Suddenly, the price went down to 7k- our first clue that we were being played. She pressured us until finally I looked at Jo and said “Man, I need time. This isn’t right and I just can’t take it. If we lose another day and have to pay fines okay, but this shit doesn't feel right. Let’s just walk away now. Walk away. We’ll find some other tourists or a hostel, internet and figure this shit out on our own.” So we did. And they didn’t like it, but we said ‘fuck off’ quite literally, and walked away. It cost us our bus ticket, but we did the right thing. We soon found some people and a new travel agency which informed us that ‘yes’ we could pay our fines at the border. In fact, people do it all the time. People do it all the time… So we got played. But, we managed to avoid the major part of the trap. It still cost us to book a new ticket and I hope that the evil Thai lady and all her offspring die of cancer. But in a way, I was proud of us. We avoided the major hit. Now I still ask myself ‘could I have handled that pressure alone?’ Oh, how we wanted to go back and hit that lady with our sticks. But, it was time to go and head for the border in just 10 minutes, so no time. Oh well.

Leaving Thailand was by far just the hardest exit ever. At the border I was taken to a doctor’s room and inspected for Swine Flu, while poor Jo had to come along just for being my friend and traveling with me. They didn’t care that I haven’t been in the US for almost 2 years, haha. Considering our state, thank god we weren’t quarantined (‘cause they sure seemed ready to quarantine somebody). Then, they fined us and searched everyone’s bags. Ugh, what an ordeal. So much wasted time and needless stress.

So finally we made it! We arrived in Malaysia in the beginning stages of our detox, which worked out well ‘cause smokes and drink were much more pricey than Thailand. We didn’t do much but eat, read and watch movies at the local mall (which was quite huge btw). The next day we were walking on the streets and who do we run into? Why, it was none other than our Swedish girls from Ko Phangang, well- 3 of them. Their group had split, but it was good to see ‘em. They saw our sticks and did a double-take. From there on our time in Panang was much more fun. We did pretty much the same stuff but with our Swedish girls. We ate Dim-Sum, Satay (apparently, it’s Malaysian), and Indian (lots of muslim Indians in Panang). I even got my tongue pierced, so after that the eating wasn't so much fun. I don't know if I'll keep it, but it's about healed now and oh so much fun!

Overall our time in Malaysia was pretty short, but it was a good rest stop while we figured things out. We decided on Bali as the next and possibly last ingredient for Asian-soup (our trip). It’s got the most surf with beaches for all skill levels, tourists, etc.

Camera was sort of busted and couldn’t focus so well after the Full Moon Party at Ko Phangang, so we only caught a few shitty pictures. Oh well! Next stop Bali~

Packing for Bali. Stupid camera can't focus anymore...

The Notorious Full Moon Party & Koh Phangang

Full Moon Glory.
Those sticks were so much fun to walk around with. Used for dancing, picking up girls (actually they came to us asking "What's with the bamboo?"), fighting off dogs or mean Thai people.

So. We’ve all heard of it, and yes it is indeed worthy of the reputation- The Full Moon Party was absolute insanity on wheels. Our time in general at Koh Pangang was full of good times that I won’t ever forget. I’m kinda spent after writing the asian-soup blog with Jo. He got the better pictures, and we covered pretty much everything except maybe to add a bit more emphasis about our status: we were in really bad shape. I mean, dude I had the shakes at times (couldn’t even type) and both of us were hallucinating. Pretty stupid, I know. Greece was partying every night but not waking up and 'juicing up' again, drinking all through the day, hardly eating consistently for too many days in a row, etc.. But, that was the bad while the rest was oh so good, and I only speak of it now to ‘cause it was still so great. Whilst crazy, we never pushed it too far in a given episode (like black outs or puking). We watched out for each other but it just went too long, dude. Although, from our observations, we weren’t as bad as half the fucked up people there…

I also wanted to remember how much I pushed myself to the limit this round. Sorry parents, but it was kind of an interesting point in my life that I’d like to mark. Pretty sure it’s out of my system now and obviously we went on detox after leaving the island. No smoking or drinking for over a week now. So I’m proud to say that I am good again, back to normal or I wouldn’t be writing this obviously :P

I threw up some more pictures but the bandwidth here is so shit that I just can't be bothered with the vids anymore- but we got some good one's! I may try to add them over the next few days. The rest of the details are on asian-soup.blogspot.com (also lacking vids). Enjoy~

Jo and a cute French Canadian.

Some of 'our' Swedish girls that we were hanging out with for a few days.

The morning after Full Moon Party, for those who were still conscious. Kinda cool, eh?

I am semi-out but guarding our sticks and waiting for Jo to revisit nature.

We were already worn out from partying before we'd even reached the island from Bangkok!

Lots of hills and winding roads in Koh Pangang. A lot of the island felt like Jurassic Park at times.

Love this picture.

This is where we stayed.

Mean monkeys! They swipe at you if you get too close...

Pool party = good times.

Thailand- Bangkok

Many pics, videos and a post below~

For you, Sis..

For you Sis and Bro, who introduced me- Chicken Satay- SO good!

So~ Bangkok is way too much to adequately get into, but shit I guess I gotta’ try.  You all know how we felt coming from India, so let me begin by saying that our first day of arrival was apparently during some Thai water festival (forget the name) / communist revolution shit (not quite as bad as the media made out).  All that I can say is that we headed straight for Khao San Rd (tourist central).  BKK is HUGE.  And we went straight for the tourist part of the city, walked up and down the streets being assaulted by people with squirt guns, buckets of ice water, clay, etc (see the vids below).  Everyone is smiling and having fun, so you couldn’t really get mad. So much friendly spirit…

Our next few days were much the same. You literally couldn’t walk down the streets without being accosted with water by someone, our hostel people, tourists, Thai locals, etc. etc.

After the water festival, our time in Bangkok has been such a blur.  We met a lot of cool people: Sabastian from UK (our fav., the crazy stick guy from last vid below), reunited with Angel from Goa waaay back in India, a lot of really cool girls, people in general, man.  I love BKK.

Where we were staying in Khao San, which is really only one road- but on this road is like the equivalent of, I don’t know mardi gras?  Everyone and everybody IS there.  All nations represented, literally.  There are no words to describe this place.  We are leaving soon, and I will miss it.  But, just buying a beer at 7-Eleven, sitting on the curb and people watching, well Jo and I loved it.  We began our 1^st night as a duo, and without even trying we ended our night with a crew of 10; everyone just gabbing, sneaking into some pool at a hotel, oh so many stories.... This became a consistent story....

Dear god, I cannot begin to describe the lifestyle I’ve had here.  It has indeed, once again, blown my mind- but in a different way.  So different from SoCal. Everyone is just in that travel-spirit.  So many people.  So many experiences and opportunities.  I want to come back home and shake people- open your mind! Actually, I want to poke them, see how hard much it takes to get them going. I used to be sensitive, and maybe I still am but now I just love testing people I meet to see the limits of their mentality. What does it take to offend without really trying to be offensive? Humility at the forefront....

Sorry if this post was controversial, but I’ve been tested personally here, and I am curious about how it will be when I get back home.  Am I becoming a hippy?  Never! Oh hell no…

Crazy street food, yet so good.  And it doesn't give me stomach cancer!

Jo is mocking my Westsiiiiiide.

Literally the first day of our arrival.  Bags had just been put away after being sprayed on the way to our hostel  After India, duz ya think we wuz ready to partay? ....

Day X of the water festival.  Hehehehe. Sorry, Mom, obviously i'm alright enough to be making this post, eh?

I'm sorry to say, but yes this is me eating a cockroach.  My philosophy is 'I'll try anything once,' and notice I couldn't keep it down.  Even the cute English blonde to my left didn't want to be near me.  But hey, I tried it motherfucker! Can you say you've tried a cockroach?

Okay these are just some crazy English dudes that we met that had SO much energy.  They were so much fun when it came to just walking down the street and meeting new people- the stereotypical partiers just 'off their heads.'