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| I was sitting at bar in Bangkok... |
| 03.29.04 (1:34 am) [edit] |
I as sitting at bar in Bangkok last night when i overheard a conversation. It was about American's so I listened intently. I think the girl was Spanish, but it's really insignificant where she was from. I had to bite my tongue when I heard what she had to say. I wasn't in the mood to argue.
I need to rant a bit.
She said when she meet's American's she doesn't want to talk to them. they are idiots and have nothing intersting to say. she's just wasting her time. It's and Insular society (which I agree with) and she hate's American's and America. "have you ever been?" says the boy she's talking with. "no and I don't want to". "she replies. "What do you think about Canadians?" no answer. THen she goes on to babble about Europe and how great it is because of it's history and archeitecture (which yes is true to a degree) but she sure was on one high fucking horse, she deserved a whopping by American me. I ain't so proud of my country right now, but when I hear ignorant people making vague remarks about American people having never even been there, it fucking pisses me off! The guy she was talking to was listening to here but stood up for us, and he wasn't even American. he was from South Africa and has and American girlfrend. I went over to him and thanked him for seeing both sides of the story and sticking up for us.
It's just too easy to blame America for shit happening in the world today, it's too easy to hate us. It's few and far between that I meet any of us out heretraveling in SE Asia. where are all you people? I meet so many brits and Germans, and Sweds and Canadians, but no American's. We think if we take a year off of work we won't be able to find any when we get back, our employer's will ask ous, "what were you doing for a year?" they won't understand that people just want to travel. they'll think your flighty and might take off again... maybe we will, but hey you only live once! and then people say, "ohhhhh you're so lucky, you get to travel"... hey you could do it too!! come on AMerican's travel!! change people's perceptions about us! I have and it feel's great, people think I'm Canadian, it's quite funny, i'm not offended. i lived with some cool Canadian's in Korea. But I tell them I'm from NY (most people don't know where LI is)
So stop blaming America for everything that's easy to bitch about. WHen I'm at home sure I bitch about my country., my government, my president, the war etc. but when I'm oversea's because I'm American I find myself defending it more then i do at home, it IS my home, we have done shitty things, but I've quite had enough! whewwwww! I can breath now. I love NY! miss it alittle would love to meet someone from there on my travels... just talk the lingo. woke up with a headache. yuck!
One more thing, I saw a women in a bikini on Phi Phi Island. Her top was stars and her bottom was strips, how bad it that?! I was sooooo embarrased. if your gonna' travel, leave the stars'and striped at home.
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| Karoke... fishing village style |
| 03.29.04 (12:59 am) [edit] |
I left Koh Sak after taking a solo walk through the Jungle. IT's getting hot here in Thailand, I can feel the hot season arriving... humid... yuck!!
I headed to Pnang Nam and deceided to take a boat tour and stay overnight on a muslim fishing village. I was the only person on the tour... the guide told me there were two other's but they were nowhere to be found.
THe village is built on stilts that jut out from the cliff of an Island which you can't walk on by foot. THey have a cemented foot path throught the central part of town. Every buiding is on stilts. There's a Moque in town which you here you hear from time to time the call for prayer.
Men walk around with their caps and sarong style skirts and goatee's/ while the women cover thier heads, but not everyone here is so traditional.
I wander around for an hour or two and feel like I'm beginning to impose on the locals by observing and photographing thier unique lifestyle. One of the family has two pet gibbons hanging by chains in the front of their house. i hate this sight of bored animals on chains.
THen I hear the cry of a kitten and look down into the mudflats of low tide to find a tiny black kitten covered in Sand and mud in a wooden boat. no one does anything. so I; in my superwoman mode, climb down the ladder and into the boat to save the crying kitten. It's positioned itself on a wooden board so I pick up the board- kitten and all and lift the cat to safety. it runs' into it's home and i feel I can sleep tonight knowing I've done something, but what the hell am I going to do tonight anyways? I'm on Island with stilts watching the people like theyre in a zoo or something... I feel a bit strange.
I walk around a bit more and listen to families practicing Karoke, very seriously. I laugh inside.
Everyone has thier doors and windows open. lots of trust and extended families. amazing to see a lifesyle like this coming from the locked doors and gun crazy America. Here it's so interactive with neighbors and friends and family. In thailand a common sight is people relaxing on their front porches smiling and talking with other people. when did people stop doing that back home? I admire them for their sense of community and trust. And I hate the parnoia of America and our media. it's an evil thing!
I sit down on the pier for awhile and some of the local's go there as well. one of them is a young lady boy with loads of make up on and tight jeans, and a swanky walk to match. he/she lifts up his shirt and exposed his white padded bra and touches his fake boobies and laughs. I laugh too. even in the more conservative muslim places you still find lady boy's, ahhhhh Thailand, wild place.
I watch the local kids paddle on rafts and cheer each other on and another band of youngins' paddling under the village stilts. it doesn't matter the age all the kids happily play together. I try to imagine what it must be like to grow up in such a place. There are teenager's lounging in each other's arms and one tenderly pecks his girlfriends' arm. And i see Teenage girls practicing a choreographed dance at an empty tourist seafood restaraunt.
As I leave the pier the local boys' yell in English, 'Where you from? I love youuuuuuuu!!!!' hahahahahahahaha!"
I sit down for my seafood dinner as the sun sets, and a couple appears that I had met on my trip to Kho Sak! I'm so happy to see them! another pair of brits! the were good fun on the lake tour and we are equally happy to see one another.
they informed me their was an event happening at the school tonight, so we deciede to head down there and check it out. THe school had a big open courtyard and a stage at the back with Painted Island pictures as the backdrop. kids run around wild and free, dancing and yelling "hello!!!" It seemed like only children here, with no adults. THey were having a blast running every which way.
we sat and watched, very entertained. THey started the music and one of the boys jumped up on a desk and shook his booty. another toddler peed in the middle of the courtyard and stood there as his sister stepped in it. the mother just took off his pants poured some water on the ground and his pants and let him run around bare bummed. no fuss at all.
The adults began to arrive and it seemed like everyone in town is here. I wonder a bit about incest in such a small tight community. Everyone know's everyone, and they all look ok. beautiful in fact... stunning some of them.
THe Karoke starts in THai, followed by a dance routine. with the young teenage girls I had seen before. There about 7 of them and the lead lip[sincs to a THai pop song. She's very convincing and confident with her salsa like move's. SHe's a bit of an Aunt Jemema/ mamasan. funny...
As we go back to our sagging wooden rooms, we pass a group of teenager in a softly lit house sitting on bamboo mats/ strumming away on the guitar. an endearing sights, all around. simple things + community = happy people.
Our rooms have one light between the two of our's... a bit rustic, but part of the charm. whenever someone walk by on the wooden planks. I can feel my bed shake a bit, and the local fishermen are still stirring at midnight.
I'm awoken at 3 in the morning to the sound of a man hacking up a lung. then I here a low growl of a cat. It turns into a visious brawl with another cat and I can feel my bed shake again. I here the British couple next to me laughing and I laugh too. then at about 5:30 am the mosque calls to prayer. not much sleep, but i catch the sunrise just coming over the sea, haven't witness that in awhile... then off to the Islands around Pnang Nam, James' bond being one of them.
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| Goonie's adventure |
| 03.25.04 (11:51 pm) [edit] |
my Brit friend James recommended a trip in Koh Sak National park just North of Phuket and Krabi. The Lake tour.
You start at 9 in the morning, there were 10 of us in total. 2 german girls, a swed, a Dutch girl, 3 Brits, and AMerican girl (me) and 2 Aussie's.
We took a mini bus to the Rajoajd,js( ? ) Damm that was built 20 years ago for hydro electric power and began our adventure on the famous longtail boats of Thailand. Humpback ridges against fresh blue water. trees hugged the cliffs and jutted out in a spectacular way. everywhere i looked was can I say in the correct term for the word "awesome" it was nice to be in some fresh water after all the salt from the beaches.
We stopped at a small floating dock for some fried rice and fruit and dove into that divine water!the trek consisted of walking through a small river, dipping in and out. around banana tree's hanging vines. burd, insects, sparking sunlight on fresh water. it was nice to wet the feet now and then in the river. something about it reminded me of the Jungle in the movie "The thin red Line" ... I know movies keep coming up in my head.
and then I entered into the world of "the Goonies' my favorite movie of all time. I watched it 5 times in one day when I was young and had the Chicken pox! But first I found a leech crawling on my leg. I felt a sharp little bite on my leg, thinking it was an insect, but instead it was a leech!! the german girls shrieked in horror.
Our next mission was to get through the cave. Apparently the cave was used to hide Thai communists in the early 80's. into the dark abyss by following the river through. I could feel the water getting cooler already. and everyone was a bit squemish of leeches, and snakes.
There was snake skin all around and our guide kept surveying the water before us to check for snakes!! Our young limber guide crept along the walls monkey style holding our camera's and eveything we wanted to keep dry. HIs light was shining high above ours.
There were parts in the cave where you had to grab hold of a rope and pull yourself through deep water and swim a bit. at times there were even small water slides. like the "Goonies!" loved every bit. even the bit about the leeches! I kept expecting to see the pirate ship at the end of the cave...
On the ride back the sunset made the sky look as if it was on fire. and later I noticed forest fires' dotting the landscape in the dusk of the day...
LAter that night I met the group at a HErb Thai restaruant where I dined on Orchid Tempura, yep that's right Orchids, I ate Orchids...
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| who read these blogs? |
| 03.25.04 (2:42 am) [edit] |
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who reads these blogs anyways? just wondering, cause I only know how many hits I got but no names, more comments! ;)
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| Forest spirits and Communist hideouts... |
| 03.25.04 (2:28 am) [edit] |
I'm In Koh Sak National park now, my metrosexual friend had to go to the city as I was craving some wildlife and not the kind you find in bars.
I was the only foreigner on the bus to the park and when I was let off in the misty cloudy park there seemed to be noone around. It was a stunning place with limestone cliffs and dragon back ridges similair to the one's I had seen in China's Guilin. in fact they call it teh Guilin of Thailand. It seemed as if it had just rained. you could smell it on the pavement.
I was taken to my bungalow or tree hut, at the edge of the park. there were a few signs of life, but things seemed dead silent except for the constant sounds of the forest insects. I was led to my hut at the end of the propery farthest away from anything. as I opened the door to my bathroom I noticed someone had left me a nice present in the toliet and all around it. I wasn't sure of it was a human or an animal, but something had been eating on my porch, maybe it was an angry forest spirit.
There were tree's all around my hut and a small stream behind it. the bungalow/hut next to mine was all boarded up. I did notice a couple when I was entering the grounds and I met them later on the road as I was looking for signs of life. THey had told me about the 2 snakes they had seen and a giant squashed scorpian. lovely! they seemed a bit wary of the place as well.
They told me of a deaf man they had met ( who I think just walked into the internet pLace I'm at) who was wearing army fatigue and an American flag bandana with an eagle on it. they gestured to him where are the people? and he made the gesture of gun shotting. and grinned. lovely... maybe that's why they sent me to the shithole.
later as I went to grab some food there was a thai movie playing on TV. The people where in a park much like the one I'm in. a man was cutting down a tree when it nearly hit him. afterwards an angry spirit of a women with wild unruley hair pressed him down to the ground and warned him not to cut down the trees.
the movie cut to another scene of a women paddling down a river and picking a flower. it soon dissappeared and another spirit swing on a vine swing warned her as well.
the next scene was scuba divers' in a lake who discovered dead bodies floating to the surface. lovely, I'm gonna have nightmares in my dark isolated hut with the sounds of the jungle outside my hut
I met the couple I had seen on the road and Aussie couple who like graffiti and hip hop music. and we walked down an unlit dirt road to a bar we had seen before in the daylight. this time it was night and they showed me the squashed scorpian with my dying flashlight. IN fact i was told Koh Sak means forest of the dead, I'm spooked!
There was a dog waiting to greet us and take us to the bar. it seemed to be waiting for us all along., this was a good one. a good spirit taking us to some beer and a few other straglers who had discovered this spirity place of spirits and night crawlers...
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| 6 degree\'s of seperation |
| 03.22.04 (7:56 am) [edit] |
On the Island of Phi Phi, my friend Paul I saw a tiny kitten pooping in the middle of a side walk where many people were walking and riding bikes. then a girl picks up the cat in mid poo and guides it to safety. the kindness of strangers...
next I see a cat passed out on it's back as if where drunk. maybe it was. On it's belly Is a sign with the words written. "do not disturb, sleeping." I'm worried it's dead but it's not.
Then as we are heading back on the longtail boats at night there are a bunch of North American's in the back I can tell from there obvious accents... and I notice the same girl who picked up the kitten in the back of the boat. we have to pay double with now apparent reason, and everyone is pissed angry and pissed drunk. our boat driver is an ass so we all band together and change boats... not much better considering we still have to pay double on the next boat but this one informs us why: low tide. I sit next to some Swedish guys who ask me why people think Swedish women are so beautiful, and I tell them, they just reply, "but they're so cold" maybe cause Sweden is. I hear some Dutch guys exclaim how strong they are as they carry some drunk guy off.
THe following day I'm sitting on the beach at a cafe where you can lay on mats and face the sea and have a drink or some food. There were playing some Samuri wisdom from the GHostdog soundtrack, how bizarre. I notice a guy to the right of us who keeps staring and smiling at me friend and I. we start chatting with the connect four game and discover that he also had a crazy boat ride expierence the night before. and describes the same situation as us, but dimwits we are didn't put the two and two together that we were in fact on the same boat and Paul had sat next to the girl who picked up the pooping cat, even more coincidence is that the girl who picked up the pooping cat, Shada, her parents had lived on LI in the next town over from mine! her relative was my high school math teacher MRs. Wines.
THey even had a picture of me from the boatride as proof that we were destined to meet.
peeace....
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| Phi Phi's blue water... |
| 03.22.04 (7:46 am) [edit] |
I'm In Hat YAi, again, this time for a Visa run to extend my stay in Thailand. I'm in a internet place with the sound of Gun's and ROses "don't you cry" wafting through the wall. reminds me of my time on the Perhentian Islands singing on the Beach with the Malaysian Islanders...
So I can't believe the color of my arms, perfectly golden, someone even commented on how nice my tan was and how long it did it take for me to get. Mind you I've never been tan in March!!!
I just came back from a few days in Koh Phi Phi. I have never seen water so sparkling blue in my life, pure turquios, amazing... perhaps the most beautiful Island I've seen yet, subtract the speed boats, and you have bliss, (yeah I like that word)
I took a long boat tour around Phi Phi Lay. where the famous"beach was filmed. I actually heard a Swedish guy proclaim, "I am Swedish and I like to fish" from the movie. There are soooooo many Swedish here, I don't understand, you could almost think that your in Sweden!
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| like a monkey loves banana's! |
| 03.17.04 (1:31 am) [edit] |
Just a quick one about the family who owns the place we are staying.
Musa, yo, Nam, are the names I can remember. They are brothers and cousins. They're mothers who are sisters have slept with the same man. The brother's all where a gotee on the chin and big stoned grins with wild laughter. they are a kind and crazy bunch. Muslim with the mosque across the street. they're wives cook up good food in the kitchen and take care of the countless number of children who run happily around.
THey call my Englsih friends gesers, and Musa the manager, excalims," I love you like a monkey love's Banana'S" and then touches you in a friendly way even the guys, but not a lady boy! to the outside reader you might think freak, yes,but in some strange endearing way... i just tickle him back to hear his crazy laugh.
he even showed me his monkey and said it was "big bmw" after I asked about his BMW seatbelt belt. nothing more then that, sorry to get your hopes up!
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| motor-biking around the sun and moon with elephants! |
| 03.17.04 (1:23 am) [edit] |
back again this time I'm on an Island called Koh Lanta south of Koh Phi Phi. right now I'm listening to the call to worship for the muslim's. it's a sound that always seems to strike something in me. a bit frighting and beautiful at the same time... haunting I guess you could say.
So I've been staying at this place called the sun and moon at the southern tip of the Island. Every morning three elephants and their owners bath by the stream that runs through the bungalow resort. they scrub the elephants who seem to love every bit. Today I rose at 7 am to see this sight!
a few days ago i rented a motorbike with my crazy brit friend I've been traveling with. he had motor -biked around Australia, so he had some expierence...as for me, well zip! but I was ready to go! it's something I've wanted to try on this trip. so away we go starting from the sun and moon.
days are unbearably hot down here so it was a nice break to have the wind in your hair as you effortlessly move up and down hills, but we started out in the toughest part. the dirt road which where made of thick sand that liked to slide you tires around in the dirt and kick up rock. when You walk in it, it's like walking on the moon, with tiny sand bombs exploding around you, poof poof!!
I was impresse at how I handled my little blue honda! my friend was too. There were a few time I felt a bit out of control but I took to it like a pro! waHOOOOOOOOO! After the drit roads broke in my fears the paved roads were bliss and I cruised!
we made it into town. had some lunch when It began to rain. pouring in bucket with thunder. we waited it out and also waited for our other Brit friend to arrive.
On the way back we road to the other side of the Island where the Islanders live. There were huts with skinny chickens and tailess cats running around. Happy children with dust on their faces... everything is covered in dust on this Island it seemed, but it is beautiful with jungles and hills and sea gypsies fishing in the sea. blue water all around. boys practing their "football" skills, girls riding on moped with their scarves on thier heads. lookout points with pirate Islands in the sea. I love Island life, so simple and serene. of course there is plenty of the green stuff to go around and I'm getting sick of listening to Bob Marley every night.
We spend our nights sitting on floor pillow and eating fresh thai food and chatting with other travelers. and our days lazing away on the beach just outside our bungalow door. the water has been calm but the first day was wild surf, reminding me of the Atlantic back home. speskingof home I met a girl who used to live on Shelter Island, I never meet American's let alone people who know where Long Island is. People always say "ohhhh isn't that where long Island Iced tea is from?"
duhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I don't know the story behind that anyways...
tomorrow I'moff to Koh Phi Phi, the famous "beach" and then border run to renew my visa
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| bliss |
| 03.11.04 (9:25 pm) [edit] |
IT\\\'s been awhile since the last time I wrote. I made my way across the Malaysian border crossing on a foot by bridge, that was a first time expierence. ANd back into Thailand!
I\\\'ve just left Krabi Thailand where my days where like that movie in grounghog day. lazy days of white sand and coral beaches and unbelievable limestone cliffs. Thai men with the most naturaly beautiful bodies from the world renowned rock climbing. I looked on in Awe.
THere was even an alternative full moon party smaller then the massive one put on in Koh Paghon (sp?) with fire shows and fire blowers and a young lad goh who thought he would grab my tit! I slapped that hand in quick response.
There where nightly rituals to GEcko\\\'s bar where I sat with good company. Two brit\\\'s who couldn\\\'t be more different and an Irish girl who became my roomate. There are few people I meet where we can look each other and know what the other is thinking and she\\\'s one of them... can we say \\\"yellow fever\\\".
then there was \\\"Tarzan boy\\\" who fancied our Irish friend MArtha. I witnessed the sweetest show of affection from our little friend. and yes the thai men are short! i\\\\m a giant in comparison!
I managed to rock climb and treat myself to a thai massage the following day. bliss...
One night I roamed around after drinking the THai Rum with amphedamines and hit some drums, smoked some of the good stuff, ate someones birthday cake... things just kept leading into one another...
today i've got a bit of a travlers bug, if ya know what I mean, blahhhhhhhh
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| Love from Perhenitian... |
| 03.01.04 (1:54 am) [edit] |
ahhhhh Island life, I just spent a little over a week on one of the beautiful Island of the Perhentians. It is perhaps the most beautiful beach I've seen yet. The water is the bluest I've ever seen, aquamarine like the colors I love to paint with. Underneath the water is another world of colorful coral and sealife galore! I swam with Sharks! well... reef sharks which are harmless, tigerfish (which are harmful) sea turltes, needle fish, clown fish (Nemo!) etc... It wa s the first time I went snorkling in a place where you can see things on the bottom that are alive! (the other place was in my pool! doesn't count.
The Island where we stayed was called "small Island" one side is coral beach (great for snorkling) and the other is Long Beach, (good for swimming). I even managed to Kayak to "Big Island".
I met a colorful array of people as colorful as the sea round me. There were the locals and the foreigner's who have come to work here in the dive shops and restaraunts. There was a family from Australia who came with thei 11 and 16 year old daughter's to explore SE Asia. What a wonderful expierence for them! We sang soings under the stars around a bonfire on teh beach. They love Gun's n Roses funny to hear in a place like this.
Everytime you say your going to leave a local will say, stay another day., and you find yourself staying longet then planed. "sigh" such is life.
I was talking to one of the locals and I asked him, "don't you get sad sometimes? you know people are always coming and going, always saying hello and good bye ?"... "yeah" he said. but he's leaving soon on a plane for the first time to NZ where he will see snow for the first time and meet his British girlfriend. I try to imagine what it must be like to have never seen snow. I left alot behind in NYC.
Someone said the other night. A plane ticket here might be expensive, but food and acommadation is super cheap! So with what people pay to go to europe that could pay to come to a place a bit more exotic...
anyways I'm feeling a bit sad today. I have to say goodbye to a friend, and travel on alone. I've recently departed from the other friends I was with. they had to leave abruptly and I wasn't ready to go. Starting out on your own takes some time to get used to. I know Ill get into a groove, but it takes a few weeks. But I know I'll meet other's in Krabi. that's the travelers way; you meet people for a brief moment in time and then they're gone like the tide. and you wait for the tide to come again or you let the current take you to somewhere else.
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