beats per minute

5.whatever

2008-10-05T20:15:00.002+09:00

This past weekend was another three day weekend in Korea. There seem to be a bunch of holidays mashed into late summer and autumn. I'm not complaining. Four members of KCC (Kwangmyeong Climbing Club) and me went down to Seonunsan late Thursday night to avoid traffic. The next morning we headed out to the crag and there were already more people there that morning than when I was last there in the summer. I was able to warm up on a 5.11a and Senaegi (5.11b) my "project" from the summer.

I dn't remember I first run on Zoo, but it wasn't pretty. I had forgotten most of the moves and, at best, was still shaky on the moves after the crux. One thing that I do remember is that I had no problem pulling through the crux. Last time it felt like a stopper move for me, now it was just a hard move. After I came down I put my shoes in line where I was eight people back.

On a side note I met a Canadian woman named Heidi (who is much cooler than the last Canadian woman I met). Heidi has been in Korea for six years and speaks Korean pretty well. She's also a strong climber. She was working her project called 무지개 (5.12c) which means rainbow in Korean. She was having problems with the crux and got a bit emotional about it. She had been working on it for a long time and just couldn't put it together. When you want something that bad and you're really going for it but it just doesn't happen some people break down. I turn into a brat. :-P

We talked for a bit about her problems with the moves. I'd like to think I helped get Heidi snap out of the funk because later on in the day she sent "Rainbow". And with style. I was reading my book and looked up and to see her at the crux. Once she got past it, Heidi was literally slapping each hold after that. She was beaming as she was being lowered and told me later on she was so determined to finish that she was ready to pull off rocks rather than fall. That's my kind of girl...er woman!

I only had one more chance on Zoo that day but had a good burn on it. I felt groggy when I woke up the next morning and generally not in a real chipper mood. One of the guys in my tent drank too much of the local mountain berry wine, soju, and whatever else the previous night. He was puking all night, luckily not in the tent. We ended up getting a late start and leaving him at camp cause he was in no condition to climb. Adding to my morning funk, I don't need people telling me that this is going to be my day to send. It just puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on me.

I fell on the crux move of Senaegi and immediately Gwang-woo asks me if my condition is bad. I know he means well, but damn, I didn't sleep well cause someone was puking right outside my tent all night and my "warmup" is a bit harder than I want it to be because we got up there late. And I had to wait behind ten people before I could get on Zoo. It wasn't shaping up to be a good day.

After waiting for nearly two hours I got on Zoo and failed miserably. I didn't even finish it. I was totally frustrated, pissed off and acting bratty. After lunch, my stomach felt funny and I was tired. It would be at least two hours before my next attempt on Zoo. And I was told we would be leaving that night to avoid traffic coming back to the Seoul area. So, I more try and that was it. I napped for a before my turn and woke up to find one person just hang dogging it the whole time. My negativity was nearly boiling over.

I found something on my iPod to calm me down. Something timeless. Something that brought back some good old memories. Adam and Brian would know exactly what I'm talking about. Let me go off on a tangent for a moment.

Speedy J has an album called Public Energy No. 1. I'll be the first to say I hate the title. I saw him perfrom it live in Toronto back when I used to drive up there for techno parties. That party was hands down the best party ever, since both he and Richie Hawtin killed it. I will also admit that when I first listened to it in 1997 I wasn't ready for it. I shelved it until I moved to San Francisco and broke it out one night when me, Adam and Brian were partying. I popped it in and ...well listen to it for yourselves. It's techno unlike any out there and because of that, timeless. If I remember correctly that night was also the inspiration for the lyrics of The Betty Expedition song The Conversation.

OK. Back to the main point of this long and dragged out entry. I was listening to Speedy J and zoning out. My turn finally came up. I worked the bottom moves up to the rest point before the crux. I sat there and shook out my arms for a while then went into the crux. My hand sequence was off so instead of panicking and trying to pull through I down climbed back to the rest and shook out my arms again. After that I pulled through the crux without and problem and then my body went into auto pilot after that. All the problems I had before weren't problems anymore. I flowed through the post crux moves. Even on the little snag that I hit, I stayed relatively calm. I missed the last big hold, but because my feet were in a good postion and I wasn't feeling pumped I came back down for a second and then found it on the next move. After I clipped the anchor I wsn't sure what I felt. It wasn't just joy or relief but also a sense of calm. It was the first 5.12a I've ever sent.

I think lately I've been getting too into the ratings. That night I talked with Eric, a guy from Colorado. I asked him what the highest grade was. He told me Chris Sharma did something he rated as 5.15b. Now here's the thing the 5.15b was a 250 foot climb. Most climbing ropes are about 180 feet long, so most routes can't be longer than 90 feet without turning into a multipitch climb. I'm guessing Zoo is a 70 to 80 feet long. The point is this. 5.15b doesn't mean Sharma is climbing on miniscule holds. It means he did an endurance route or a route with consistant 5.14 moves.

Zoo is basically 5.11a and 5.11b moves until the crux where it gets really hard to the finish. The point that Eric made and the thing I love most about climbing is no matter what level you're climbing at you should just keep pushing yourself and having fun. It doesn't matter whether you're working a 5.11a or 5.14a. The emotional involvment is the same. The ratings are there as a guide and shouldn't be taken so seriously.

Seonusan: Take 2

2008-09-03T12:10:00.004+09:00

I've got a little over two weeks to train before heading back down to Seonusan and see if I can pull through the crux of Zoo and to the finish. Mind you, I've never climbed a 5.12 anywhere, even in the gym. Gym climbing being of course much easier since the holds are marked and you don't waste your time searching for good and and feet placement.

A few things are on my mind right now. I'm pretty sure my endurance is much better than it was last time I was there, but I'm not sure I've gotten any stronger. The crux is a burly move and/or I haven't figured out a way to do it much better. By late September the temperature should be more comfortable so I'm hoping for a less greasy feel. This hasn't been an issue until just recently: Can I maintain a training schedule, get enough sleep, stop going out until the wee hours of the morning? This sucks to admit, but I'm shaky on all three right now. I only climbed once last week and yesterday's bouldering session wasn't much to talk about. I've been tired since coming back from vacation (and there are other factors in this) and just based on last weekend and plans coming together for this weekend, can I stay away from Hongdae? What happened to my near OCD with cllimbing?

Five days in Seonunsan

2008-08-04T12:25:00.002+09:00

Just got back from Seonunsan last night and my fingers are rocked, literally and figuratively. Pulling on sharp limestone for five days has calloused over some parts of my fingers while leaving the tips (particularly of both ring fingers) raw. The trip was a reminder of how much fun it is to be a climbing bum. The only snag in trip was the difficulty in communicating with my partner who is Korean. Nice guy but looking at each other and smiling gets old after a while. He made the trip happen so I was really appreciate of that. It's just tough when you're stuck with someone who you can't really talk to.

I sent another 11b called Saenaegi (I'm not sure what that means in Korean) and started to work on a 12a called Zoo. Getting up to the crux isn't a problem, it's the crux itself and the finish that I can't put together. My rope got worked over an edge and I may have to cut a few meters off of one end. It's only the third time I've taken it out this year. As long as the rest of it holds until the end of this season I'll be satisfied. I'm giving my fingers a full day of rest finally and will start training harder tomorrow. I'm going to start bouldering again to try to get a bit stronger and work my fingers more regularly.

Opera House

2008-07-21T15:12:00.005+09:00

There were sheets of rain falling on the ROK this weekend. I woke up at 6:20 Saturday morning to huge rain drops pitter pattering on my air conditioning unit. I packed up the rest of my gear and set out in the rain, to catch the bus and meet up with the other members of the climbing club. I saw the 6638 roll by and cursed out loud. Once I got to the bus stop I made the choice to walk down to the main intersection where I had more options to catch a bus to the climbing wall and meeting point. I was already running a little late when I saw the 22,the bus that takes me directly there and another bus I could tranfer from roll by. My pants were completely wet by the time I got to the corner but luckily the 12 rolled in about a minute after I got there. Maybe I would make it just on time.

I got off the bus and walked to where I thought we were meeting but I didn't see anyone there. On the last trip we had chartered a bus and met in the parking lot by the gym. I walked through the parking lot towards the climbing wall but still didn't see anyone. Then I got smart and checked my phone - two missed calls. I called the older woman known to me as older bread sister because she always brings some sort of pastry to the wall as a snack. The only thing I understood in her say was climbing center because she said it in English. When I got there there were five people standing under the overhung artificial wall to keep out of the rain. That's why there was no bus, it was only the six of us.

We (I mean they) quickly decided to go to Opera House to climb. I read about Opera House on the Korea On The Rocks website and heard it stayed dry in the rain but wasn't so sure about staying dry in a thunderstorm. It took us about five hours to drive down there cause we overshot and had to backtrack. The weather alternated between rain, heavy rain, what looked like a brewing tornado and clear blue skies. It seemed like the highway was the border between ominous gray clouds and this beautiful blue sky. I think we were in the eye of the storm at that point.

We rolled into Maisan park just in time to hear a huge clap of thunder and get caught in a downpour. We strapped on our backpacks and headed up the hill. Thankfully the hike was short but at the top of the hill we had to deal with class three scramble. Yay, wet mossy rocks and semi-muddy shoes. Adventure time! Fortunately the scramble was uneventful and all reached the top in one piece. Soon afterwards we reached the crag. It was strange walking past the roof of the crag and into the overhang where everything was dry. There was already another group there climbing away.

We unpacked our gear and I had the pleasure of warming up on a pumpy 10c. Needless to say I didn't onsight. I took once before finishing the climb. After a bit of rest I onsighted a 10b and the guys were getting me pumped up for my project, Maisan Tango. It's an overhung 11b with huge moves, especially for me. My first run on it went well until I hit the crux and bailed. I couldn't get back on the wall because it was so overhung and had to come down. My second run was a bit of an improvement because I hit the crux move, but still wasn't feeling confident because I hung from the rope before the crux, after the crux and felt like I did the move horribly. I finished the route and came down.

I saw someone send Maisan Tango before my third try and got pumped up for it. Everything was feeling good and I was dialed in. I knew where the holds were, where to rest and was pretty focused. I hit the crux move with relative ease and clipped into the quickdraw. After that things got a bit hairy. I lost my concentration, got confused whether or not I wanted three or four fingers in the pocket, went too deep into it and forgot where my feet needed to be. I lost my grip on the final hold and peeled off. It was getting close to the end of the day and I wasn't sure how much more I had in me.

After a shorter rest than I wanted I went for it, this time more determined, and feeling the moves more than knowing them. I hit the crux move and skipped clipping into the last quickdraw. It would've been a clean fall but falling the last thing on my mind. I gastoned the final pocket, made sure my fingers didn't drift too far in, hit the last move then hung the rope. Woo!!! The next day I did it again, better and cleaner than the previous day. I even clipped the last quickdraw. On the drive home I was trying to think of the last time I sent an 11b. Man, the last time. It was most likely when I was in Thailand. Feels like a lifetime ago.

Mud Festival '08

2008-07-14T12:19:00.003+09:00

Just came back from the 10th annual Mud Festival in Boryeong. Tom, Katy and I took the KTX train from Yongsan station in Seoul. It took about three hours to get down there. We met up with a large group of people we shared a room with. The group was supposed to be about 35 people in a minbak, a Korean room without beds. It was basic cheap and did it's job. The place was right around the corner from the beach and in the middle of the muddiness.

Once we arrived I changed into my shorts and the three of us walked up and down the main strip checking things out. There was a huge air slide, mud prison, mud wrestling, mud people and, well mud in general. There was no nakedness that I saw, but lots of skin showing and lots of eye candy. We had lunch at a galbi (ribs) restaurant where Katy and I ahd our first beer of the day. After lunch Tom ran off to do some stuff with Adventure Korea - a tour group Tom's been on a lot of tours with. Katy and I walked along the strip then decided it was better to go jump in the water for a while. We got covered in mud after that and watched a band comprised of about ten military guys rocking out on the stage. Just before their last song we jumped back into the water to rinse off.

After that it was a series of more beer, each of us running into people we knew, finding the group we were sharing the room with, then meeting up with Tom. We got muddy again, this time with Tom, then went back and chilled with the group on the beach. When the sun started to set we went back to the room to change then set out for dinner. Katy, Tom and I were joined by Tom's brother, Anthony and his girlfriend, Amy. We found the foreigner restaurant but heard nothing but bad things about it. We walked for a while and found nothing but seafood restaurants. We were a bit weary about eating there because of the apparent low quality of the fish and the food prep being sketchy at best. We decided to head back to the galbi place but it took us a while cause Tom's a well known guy (We stopped a lot so Tom could talk to people. Since he is leaving Korea in a month we gave him a pass.)

continued

By the time we rolled into the restaurant they were completely packed and it would have taken us a while to get a table. We walked along the main strip but had no luck finding a good restaurant that wasn't packed. We even tried the pizza place but the wait on a pizza was horrendous. We found the other restaurant that had pizza and samgyapsal (basically really fatty pork. The direct translation is three layers of fat). Turns out they were out of samgyapsal. We were desperate and hungry so we ordered two pajeon (Korean pizza but not really pizza) and Katy had ramen. And we got a bottle of soju to calm everyone down. Soju and food went quickly and we got out of there and met up on the beach for fireworks.

The collective group had no idea about what time the firesworks started. Usually firworks start when it gets dark. It had been dark for a while and no signs of fireworks. Then we thought 10pm. Beers and beers later still no fireworks. There was talking and talking with people I didn't know from the group and a girl from the room telling people I was her future husband (jokingly, I think) then said girl and I innocently laying down in the sand for a while. That's as far as that got. In hindsight. COOL! I'm glad it didn't go any further. My bladded was ready to burst so I went to the toilet and what do you know. The fireworks start going off.

It was a good show. The fireworks made the sea light up in reds, blues, purples and greens. The finally was spectacular and everyone felt it wa a great way to end a mud filled day.

GEAR! GEAR! GEAR!

2008-06-27T15:19:00.005+09:00

In my three years on and two years off of climbing I've owned the bare minimum (shoes, harness, belay device, chalk bag and crash pad). It was probably because I started climbing in a gym and stuck to bouldering for a long time. It wasn't my trip to New Zealand that I really got into sport climbing and Thailand made me realize how sweet it is to be a climbing bum.

In the last month I bought a new backpack - big enough to carry a rope and small enough to not look like I'm backpacking through Europe. I also bought a helmet, although now I wish I bought a sturdier one, six quickdraws and a daisy chain. Since yesterday, I am the proud new owner of, not one but, two ropes. The first is now my dedicated outdoor rope. I think it's pretty bad ass rope. It's soft to the touch, feels thinner than 10.2 mm but is extremely gentle when taking a fall. This is opposed to the Sterling rope I bought yesterday. It's strictly the climbing wall rope. There's nothing really fancy about it. It does the job - stopping me from splattering on the ground. Even when being lowered on the Sterling rope I could feel how much more unforgiving it can be (compared to the Beal rope) when taking a fall on it. If you want to read more about fall ratings and impact force of a rope check out Beal's website. It's pretty interesting, to me at least. There's a cool video to explain the physics of it too.

The main reason I got the two ropes was because I didn't want to abuse the Beal rope. The Beal rope is also 60 meters long, much longer than necessary when climbing at an artificial wall. The Sterling rope is 50 meters. I wanted to get a 40 meter rope but what the hell. I actually wasn't even planning on getting another rope. I've been dirt poor the past two weeks because of all the purchases. Oh! I forgot. I bought some light hikers for hikes to the crag too. So, yeah, two weeks of being poor but climbing!

I mentioned to one of the guys at the climbing wall near my school I wanted to buy another shorter rope for the climbing wall. He said he'd keep an ear out for anyone wanting to but a 100 meter rope and splitting it with me. That was Tuesday night. When I got to the wall yesterday, one of the guys who works there (Seung-woo) said he had my rope in a locker. I told him that was impossible cause my rope was in my backpack. He pulled the rope out of a locker, gave it to me and told me it was my rope.

What happened was this. Last week one of the women I climb with had to replace her rope. It was core shot (frayed to the point of seeing the core of the rope). That's not as bad as it sounds. The core is still pretty strong, but once you see it, it's time to retire the rope. I assume she went ahead and bought the 100 meter rope and split it with the intention of selling the other half to someone else. Turns out the guy I spoke to mentioned it to her and now I have two ropes.

I'm quite happy with all my spending recently because I've used everything twice while climbing around Korea and will be using it to climb at Seonunsan this weekend. Plus it looks like, for better or worse, I'll be staying in Korea for my summer break. This is mostly due to the fact that summer break starts in three week. I'll have to do an English camp for a week or two during the break and I still don't have any information as to when and how long I'll actually be off from school. Instead of feeling frustrated (which is how I've been feeling all week anyways) I've put the word out to folks at the climbing wall I'll be here for the summer break. I hope to hit up the major crags without worrying about crowds. A couple of weeks of being a climbing bum around Korea will do me good. Now all I have to do is start looking at starting up my trad rack.

The old man is snoring

2008-06-19T09:28:00.002+09:00

This week the rainy season started in Korea. It's been cloudy and raining on and off since Monday. The good thing is the rain has brought some cooler temperatures in. I was having some trouble sleeping because of the heat. Yes, I have AC in my room but my throat has been sensitive lately (due to pollution?) and I didn't want to deal with a dry throat and what felt like a cold coming on. I didn't get to sleep until after 3am on Monday and face Monday morning on less than four hours of sleep. My students didn't irritate me nearly as much as I expected. I tried going to sleep in the male teacher's lounge but it just wasn't going to happen.

At the end of the day a bunch of students decided to skip my class. They're one of the worst classes (mostly because any class with this certain co-teacher is a bad class) and not that smart. Here's an example of the sheer stupidity of the students skipping class. Now one would think that if one if to skip class then one would not draw attention to oneself. Two dumb ass girls waved to me as they were standing outside of class and didn't show up. Supposedly, Korea has the highest average IQ in the world. This is another case where I don't care how well people test if they don't have any common sense. Repeat. Common sense is something most Koreans sorely lacking. I too could do well on a test if I memorized a bunch of stuff without understanding it. In fact I once did this on an exam and got an A without understanding a damn thing.

Recently,when I make comments like this bashing Koreans I wonder if I'm being an "ugly American." hmmmm

Where was I? Oh right. After work on Monday I went home and napped in my 80 plus degree room with 100% humidity in the air. I hate napping in those situations cause I usually wake up feeling more tired and confused. On top of all that I couldn't fall asleep until after 1am. That was two nights in a row where I drank warm milk to help me fall asleep.

Tuesday night I climbed at the artificial outdoor wall near my school. There is one route that I haven't been able to finish. I thought I had enough in me but I didn't. And I did a really bad thing. I let the rope stay behind my leg when I took a lead fall. It whipped me upside down and gave me a little rope burn. I forgot to bring long pants that day too, which would've probably cut down on the burn. Lesson relearned.

Random thoughts:

Patrick's niece N'shai (pronounced Nuh-shay) is visiting for the summer. It's kind of nice having an American teen around (she's 12). In her first two weeks here she's made some great observations. When asked about the differences between here and the U.S. she mentioned the spitting. People don't spit right where you're walking in the U.S. Cue the guy making the ever so pleasant throat clearing sound and spitting three times on the sidewalk at a busy intersection. Shai also mentioned how uncomfortable women here looked in their heels. "They have this miserable look on their face." But for some reason they feel they have to wear them. It's because trends dictate what you think, feel and wear here. Herd mentality. I'll stop before I feel "ugly."

Two posts in one morning?!? WTF?!?!

They're having a national test today. Because of the test, I don't have classes today. I assume it's some kind of aptitude test. I'm sure they'll all do very well cause they've been studying to pass the test. 'Nuff said.

A month of sports

2008-06-19T09:05:00.003+09:00

It's been over a month since the last post. I can't for the life of me remember what's been happening. It's been blur of me following the Stanley Cup playoffs and NBA playoffs. Unfortunately, because of the time difference I only got to watch a few basketball games here and there. The best moment was watching game six of the Stanley Cup finals live because I didn't have to go to work that day. The worst thing about that - I was having an argument on the phone while trying to watch the third period. In hindsight I should have hung up and left it at that. It only diminished my joy for getting to watch the championship game a little bit. For the record, I'm glad I was wrong about doubting Osgood.

I'm ecstatic the Wings finally came through after being a dominant team every year in the regular season only to fail come playoff time. Babcock is like the Bill Cowher of hockey. He's one of those coaches you'd like on your bench cause he looks like he'd jump on the ice and take down an opposing player. There was one Steelers game when Pittsburgh threw an interception in overtime and the defensive player was streaking down the side lines where Cowher was standing. He was absolutely pissed off watching the guy run toward him. Cowher had his fist clenched so tight he was white knuckling. There was a split second there where it looked like Cowher was going to clothesline the guy. Those two guys are guy you play for cause you know they've got your back.

One last thing regarding sports: Go Boston! HA! HA! (Nelson voice) Kobe and the Lakers blew it. I love it when Kobe fails. MJ you are not. I hated Jordan til near the end of his career and I missed him when he retired. Basketball wasn't the same for years afterward. MJ dominated in a way that Kobe never will. And he won championships with way more gumpy white guys (Bill Wellington and Luc Longley) than Kobe has had to play with. I'll never root for Kobe and I won't miss him when he's gone.

Now baseball has the stage all on its own. The Giants aren't that bad and the Tigers are a huge disappointment. Ok. The sports tangent is over.

(Waaaaaay too) Young love

2008-05-16T16:10:00.002+09:00

Well back from the week off and I am still in vacation mode. I've been tired all week and am glad I didn't come up with a real lesson for this week cause the students aren't back yet either. I would have pictures posted somewhere but my camera crapped out on me upon landing in China. So time for me to get a new camera. I'm a bit on the fence about getting a nice digital SLR. Main thing holding me back is the amount of cash I'll have to shell out. I'll most likely go with the small point and shoot with manual options.

I haven't mentioned the new woman in my life. No. She's not the new woman in my life. She's my climbing partner. Following in the footsteps of other cool climber chicks like (in no particular order) Elizabeth H., Heather, Neha, and Elizabeth O., Paula has gotten me back on track and back on the wall (soon to be real rock). She hails from Montreal and her parents are Korean. Therefore she can hang out in this country without a job if she feels like it. She is also part of the reason why I'm spending money on gear like this than on the digital SLR.

Oh yeah. It was teacher's day yesterday here in Korea. The students showed their appreciation by playing music, singing songs, and making speeches praising us. It was nice and sweet. I've also received a love letter from one of my 7th grade girls who later wrote on the whiteboard "I love Viet teacher." I didn't notice until one of the 9th grade girls pointed it out. The letter was cute and I'm happy she tried wrting in English.

Then today another 7th grade girl awkwardly stood outside the teachers' lunch room. I thought they ran out of food in her class room but she came there to talk to me. I'm glad one of my co-teachers was there. Woo Friday! I'm out.

Hundred Dollar Bills

2008-05-02T08:51:00.003+09:00

I was looking on nba.com and stumbled across their nickname generator. If I was a little bit taller and a baller you'd know me as Viet "Hundred Dollar Bills" Tran. I could use that nickname for all kinds of things, like if I decided to become a professional wrestler, boxer, or MMA fighter. My second try came up with "Ratchetman." I don't think it's quite so cool or gives me any street cred. The third try came up with "Lashes." ??? I don't know. Seems kind of gay to me. Give the nickname generator a shot to kill some time.

I guess I had a bad day

2008-05-01T09:44:00.002+09:00

Elyse Sewell is currently living in Seoul. There's really no reason you should know who she is. I wouldn't know her either if it wasn't for America's Next Top Model being one of the few shows we have here in English. I don't know why but it's comforting to read about another person's observations about Korea and realize it's not just me. Patrick and Lily have similar problems at school and with the social aspects of Korean culture but they're my friends and I tend to gravitate towards people with a certain mind set. I've never met Elyse and her rants are similar to the ones the three of us have while watching ANTM. What's the point of this?

I'll start with events upon arriving home yesterday. Shortly after I got back I heard tires screeching and two objects colliding. Let me just note I'm surprised I don't see more accidents on my street because the driving I've witnessed for the past year plus I've been here is atrocious. Taxis, cars, and buses constantly run red lights and generally have little regard for pedestrians.

After the sound of impact I heard half hearted screams like this woman was auditioning for a slasher film. Here's my take on what was going on in this woman's mind:

Oh no! That person was just hit by a car. I can't believe it. 어떡해?!? (What do I do?) Well, in the movies and on T.V. the girls usually scream. "Ahhhhh." Hmmm. That wasn't so good. I'll try again. "AHHHH!" That was a little better. I can act!

I might be wrong about the exact mental process there but I'm pretty sure I got the gist of it.

The po-po showed up surprisingly quickly and was marking the tires of the taxi? I'm no CSI but WTF! Instead of keeping a crowd away there were about five or six people standing over the person. The person was moving an arm so it hopefully wasn't too bad but I'm pretty sure none of those people were licensed professionals, just gawkers coming in for a closer look.

After marking the tires the cop was directing traffic around the stopped taxi (no hazard lights flashing in fact cop car didn't have its lights on either). True to Korean driving fashion some asshole...wait let me get into his mind:

Ayeshiiii! Why is this traffic backed up? That whole lane is open. Why is everyone driving around this taxi? Screw this traffic I'm entitled to get where I need to go no matter what. Why is this cop yelling at me? Hey, there's been an accident. Oh look yellow light. I bet I can make it through before it turns red. (Speeds off) So long suckers.

Again I can't guarantee 100% accuracy here.

I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that I kind of had a bad day yesterday. Sure the Red Wings went up 3-0 on the Avalanche but based on the box scores and me continually checking Yahoo! during the course of the game I don't fully trust the goal tending. Hasek has been pulled in favor of Osgood and Osgood hasn't shut anyone down. At least in the past two games they've nearly blown the lead. This series could easily be 2-1 Avalanche. If Ozzie lets anyone score from the blue line Wings are done. Has that happened yet this post season?

How do I transition from that? I can't.

This is a pretty regular annoyance in Korea. People just like to walk into you. I generally don't take too much offense to it but again I'm ready to take the first step and admit: I kind of had a bad day yesterday. I left the gym and was feeling fairly good. It was still warm out and I felt comfortable being outside in the t-shirt soaking in the smog and yellow dust. I'm walking towards the door to my building and the sidewalk is empty except for the two other people. This dude probably in his forties walks perpendicular to the way I'm walking and instead of crossing behind me decides to walk right into me. I can't even begin to rationalize this so I won't try. Instead of stopping and saying something he continues to try to walk through me. Because of the workout testosterone levels were high and I wasn't yielding to my 형 (elder brother) with some majorly fucked up teeth so I pushed back at him and we had a stare down. He walked away but I continued to hold my stare for second or two longer, while attracting the attention of the other guy on the sidewalk, before going inside. I'm sure Lily has blogged about people randomly running into you as well. (And man she sometimes freaks out about it!) I'm just too lazy to find it.

One last thing. Tried to play a game with the students and give them chocolate for "winnning" but the last class was a bunch of "...half dead motherfucker[s]." This may have been the beginning of my ill humor.

Fucked up vacation planning

2008-04-24T09:02:00.006+09:00

I'm heading out Hainan island in China with Patrick and Lily. We're going to the quieter beach area of Yalong Bay and staying at a place called the Mangrove Tree Resort. It's been a huge pain in the ass so far. We bought our tickets last minute thanks to trusting someone else to do it and are now flying in and out at some fairly fucked up times. We fly out at 9:30pm and land at 12:30am. The flight back departs at 1:30am and we land back in Korea at 6:30am. Some wires got crossed between myself and the travel agent and the final ticket price was about $100 more than what we expected. The ticket now cost more than twice what our friend said he could get it for. This was all done in the past three days because said friend was acting like a bitch because he wanted to go on the trip but hasn't been able to get the time off from his job. So instead of telling us the situation, he decided to wait until the last minute and fuck nearly everything up. That rant could go on longer but I'll cut it there.

The whole visa process has been more difficult due to the Chinese government changing visa regulations. I'm not sure if it's because we're in Korea on not but when I checked the Chinese embassy sites in the U.S. Americans could get multiple entry visas for up to two years. As it stands now we are paying $140 for a one month visa. It's $50 for most other countries. On top of that no one in Korea can apply in person. Everyone has to go through a travel agent. Also, in order to get the visa we needed to have our accommodations booked. We did that and got a really good price, until the next morning. I'm not sure what happened but the price of our room jumped up by an extra $40.

The three day trip already costs over $1000. It fucking better be the Hawaii of China or whatever the fuck they call it. And Korean friend mentioned in paragraph one is on the shit list until further notice.

Yay! Already an update.

The card we used to pay for the tickets is over the limit meaning we don't have tickets yet and our visa can't be processed. There is a good chance we're not going anywhere. That said Korean friend should see if he can fly because he's likely to get thrown from the roof party barbecue next Saturday.

H5N1

2008-04-22T09:46:00.005+09:00

Lily forwarded me an email from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul regarding yet another outbreak of bird flu in Korea. We are now under alert level orange. Here's what's going on. In the past three weeks there have been 17 cases of bird flu according to Reuters. The article isn't clear on this but I'm sure it means 17 cases on poultry farms. 5.3 million birds are going to be slaughtered due to recent outbreaks.

Since I haven't been as well informed on good ol' H5N1 as I should be I decided to do some research on my off time this morning. After all H5N1 is quite close to where I live. I've checked out Wikipedia articles, the CDC, and WHO websites and got a lot of history about bird flu and statistical data. So far this is what I've been able to digest.

The earliest cases reported on the current strain date from sometime in 2003. Here is the number that makes me question the seriousness of bird flu. In the past five years there have been 369 confirmed cases in humans. Of those 369 cases, 234 have died. Since 2003 only 234 people have died due to bird flu. Based on this number I don't see a problem so on to the percentages. (Check out this chart.)

From the reported cases we're looking at a 63% mortality rate. Now I'm starting to see a bit of a problem. This is what is concerning the peeps around the world and what is making bird flu newsworthy. It's difficult for people to contract bird flu unless they are in direct contact with infected birds and human to human transmission is rare. I can't find a number right now but I've read of at least two - one in Indonesia and one in China. If H5N1 does mutate and become something that easily passes from person to person scientists are predicting a pandemic that could kill anywhere between 2 million to 160 million worldwide. One virus expert estimated in 2003 that half the population could be wiped out.

Honestly this is when I start zoning out. Estimates range from 2 million to 350 billion? It's like a meteorologist was asked to give a forecast. Since the numbers are so unbelievable, I have a hard time believing it. I realize this doesn't mean it won't happen. There are health organizations monitoring the situation and that's really the best anyone can hope for. Vaccines for bird flu are out there and have been given to medical workers in Japan and I'm sure in other countries as well. They won't worry about mass vaccination until such a time when it's necessary, like when H5N1 begins to spread from person to person across the globe. No one is sure if this will ever happen. Right now the bird flu is just the odds on favorite of being the next big thing. So I'll just have to deal with hearing about it and getting warnings from my mom about staying away from chickens.

Half court

2008-04-14T12:28:00.004+09:00

I'm either jazzed cause of the caffeine or I can see spring time peaking just around the corner. I just put together a basketball game between the male teachers this Friday. It should be a good time. The school has also arranged a game of kickball for the faculty this Wednesday afternoon. I'll try to get some pictures posted. Ohhh yeah! I also went to the Costco here and bought a new basketball. It's supposedly the NCAA regulation ball. I can palm it along the seams (with my finger tips so I guess it's not palming) so I'm not quite sure how truly regulation it is. Gotta go buy some shoes before the game Friday.

On a side note about pictures, I couldn't take any pictures of the cherry blossoms in bloom because they were only around for a few days before the wind and rain blew the petals off the trees.

Pleasant surprises

2008-04-14T09:12:00.003+09:00

Although Hongdae is the cool place to hang out in Seoul I've mostly avoided it because...well I don't know why. It was partially because the peeps I worked with last year were friends of convenience rather than people I would regularly hang out with and because of the distance to get to and from Seoul last year meant I would have to stay out all night before catching the train back home the next morning.

It wasn't Club Day (which actually happens at night) in Hongdae but Tom and I were out wandering during the daylight hours yesterday and stumbled upon a few things that left pleasantly surprised and excited about the upcoming weekends. Before that we showed each other a thing or two about the areas surrounding Hongdae. I took Tom through this side street between Yonsei University and Ehwa Woman's college where the clothes are actually cool and have that vintage feel to them kind of like in Japan. He'd also never had a Krispy Kreme doughnut so I told him to get in line and act like he was going to buy something so he could get a free doughnut. I went to the bathroom and came out to find Tom blissed out on the glaze. After that he showed me Mike's Cabin - a bar where they have ping-pong, foose ball, and Nintendo Wii. They also have various other boardgames.

We then walked over to Hongdae and found a bunch of nice restaurants, tea, and coffee shops along the way. Just off of a busy strip we found two really cool bars where I could see starting or ending the night. They were both right next door to each other. One looked like something you'd find in Berkeley. It was kind of hippieish and homey, just a comfortable place to be. The other place was just cool and looked like one of the hipster SF bars. Both had on some good chill music and their food menu looked good too. We'll be going back to those places sometime soon.

After some more browsing of CDs and clothes we heard some live sounding music. The first guys we walked by were just noisy but I noticed a poster for the next big event in Seoul. They call it the 2nd World DJ Festival. Last year was a lot of fun. This year it goes from May 3-5. On top of that I have that whole week off so things are getting interesting as spring time hits Seoul.

At the top of this hill we heard some jazzy tunes and found a quartet jamming out - guitar, string bass, snare drum with brushes, and the singer also playing melodian. It was completely unexpected and really cool to see these guys performing out in this park. We watched them for a while as the sunset and night took over. Tom asked the singer about some jazz clubs around the area and he told us a few places to go. We ended a fun, wandering, lazy day with dinner at a Thai restaurant.

In Gong Wall or my new home

2008-04-11T08:46:00.000+09:00

I was looking on the Korea on the Rocks website and saw a post for one of the artificial walls. In Gong is in Gwangmyeong City, where I live and work. I looked at the directions from the subway station and noticed it was the one near my school. There was also info about bus routes but it was vague. The thing that bothered me was I somewhat knew the direction most of the buses went and it even listed the bus I take to go to work. I decided to play it safe and go with the more detailed directions.

When I got off the subway and out to the street I knew I had been on that particular corner before. It was a few weeks ago when Ms. Lee, Julie, and I left school early for various reasons - I had to take an HIV test and a drug test in order to get registered as a legal working alien. Following the directions, I walked up to an intersection that looked like any other in Korea but I knew this one. I go through this intersection everyday on my way to work. That's when it hit me. This place has been sitting in my back yard and I hadn't known about it. Even worse, no of my students bothered to tell me about it and I told them in my opening lesson one of my favorite hobbies is rock climbing.

The wall is behind a park where there's a nice basketball court (something else I've been looking for), track, and outdoor exercise equipment commonly found in Korea. There's a small bouldering section inside the wall. Here's a link to the wall.

I want to say the wall is at least 30 feet high and most of it is overhung. Koreans love overhanging stuff. It seems like that is how they add difficulty to the route. I'm going to need to buy a rope since they're all lead routes. If I get into a routine I hope to be back in climbing condition in a couple of months.

I told the Korean-Canadian girl Paula, "Once I start climbing again everything else will right itself." Whether or not this is true doesn't matter. What matters most is I'll be climbing regularly again. I'm really excited about this. It's like being in Ton Sai again. Except without the beach. And the international community. And the cheap bungalow. And Ton Sai tower. And...ok it's not like Ton Sai at all, but I'll be climbing again. :-)

Spring time in Gyeong-gi

2008-04-09T05:47:00.000+09:00

All of the 7th graders in Korea just took a listening test broadcast via radio. I asked what happened if they didn't hear it the first time. The answer was, "Tough luck. They should have listened more carefully." I think maybe they should listen to me better during class, but I'm not going to go into that right now because I'm done with classes until Thursday! My last class got canceled today and tomorrow is election day. Koreans have the day off to vote. I don't know if that's incentive enough for them to go do it. Maybe if they offered a free shot of Soju (stop you're being bad). OK. Before I get any more schizo lets move on.

The Cherry Blossoms and Magnolias are blooming leaving a sweet scent in the air as I'm walking to school. I'll try to get some pictures on my day off tomorrow. There was a Cherry Blossom festival this weekend but it was a bit premature. I went with my friend Lily but most of the trees were bare. Damn. I just checked the weather and it might rain tomorrow.

Public school teachers have a week off the first week of May. Patrik, Lily, Eric, and I are planning on going to Hainan. They call it the Hawaii of China. Frankly I'm sick of everything in Asia needing an American counterpart. Anyway here's where we might be going.

Feeling cracktackular

2008-03-11T15:07:00.000+09:00

It's not so much the cold that's wearing me down, it's the medicine. I've been on Tylenol Cold and some other cough medicine since last Thursday. My stomach feels gassy and bloated and I'm in that awake state that is summed up best by these two words: cracked out. My eyes feel dried out, kinda like I've kept them open for way too long. No matter how much water I drink my mouth and throat still feel dry.

Classes are done for the day. I am too.

Life as the Native Teacher

2008-03-10T15:33:00.001+09:00

Anytime someone refers to me as the native teacher I think (how very un-P.C. of me) of shouting Indians feathered up ready for war. Incidentally this is how the Korean kids I taught last year imagined the indigenous peoples of America to be. Even in my second year here, I find more than a few things make little to no sense to me. I wonder if it is because it's foreign to me or because some things are truly backward to the western world. That's about as much as I'm willing to complain about in my current home country. I did make the choice to come back here so I'll try to keep the complaints to a minimum, in this first post at least.

This is officially my second week at the school. My first week was spent getting to know my desk. I sat in this spot surfing the net for the entire day breaking for lunch and occasionally trying to prepare for the unknown of teaching the 1st and 3rd year students (7th and 8th grades in the U.S.). As luck would have it, I caught a cold near the end of last week which had me in my apartment for most of the weekend. I'm still not fully recovered yet. I did do enough lesson planning to get through my first day.

It wasn't too bad. The level of the English coming out of the students who participate is lower than expected. I'm working with four Korean teachers at the moment, two for each grade. Out of the three I taught with today, the only one I feel helps at all in the class is the head of the English department. The class I had with her seemed to be the brightest and most engaged. I can only hope the others get it together. I'm not holding my breath.

So far I'm way more comfortable here than I was at the hagwon (private language academy) last year on my first day. That probably has a lot to do with the nearly two weeks I've had to readjust to the time difference here. Last year I taught my first class about 16 hours after I landed in Korea. I'm also not shocked from the fact that these kids aren't listening to me or the Korean teacher. That's where the stick comes into play. I should send pictures of some of the sticks the teachers carry around with them. My stick is a drum stick used to play one of the Korean traditional drums. It looks like this: http://www.ktpaa.org/images/Instrument.Drum.jpg

I kind of looks like the Japanese taiko drum stick. Don't tell any Koreans I said that. Some teachers have regular drum sticks and others old pool cues. I'm thinking about upgrading to a pimp cane sometime this year. In case anyone is wondering they just recently (two or three years ago) made corporal punishment in schools illegal here. Although I haven't personally seen it, I hear it still happens from time to time.

I'm now sitting through my second weekly faculty meeting. If I could understand Korean better or had someone translating for me, I'd probably be paying more attention. Considering everyone else around me isn't paying attention either and one of my co-teachers is taking a nap maybe not.

There is conflict

2006-03-20T17:06:00.000+09:00

I didn't go on my trip seeking answers to my life. I think it's a bit naive to think this way. I'm not saying I haven't learned and grown from my experiences. To not have come away with anything would've been a waste.

So what did I learn while I was away? To live in the now. To live simply. Living in the now was completely foreign to me before I left, and now that I'm back knowing how to do so is slowly slipping away. It's difficult to live in the now when living in a city like San Francisco and a country like the U.S.A. I'm already making plans for next week or next month. It's strange to me to be making these kinds of plans.

I'm not sure if I can stay in SF. I don't think San Francisco is a place where I can live simply. I can already feel the urge as a consumer and I don't like it. I don't want to be part of a materialistic society. I miss the toys and gadgets, but at the end of the day I know I don't need them. I've never been a whore for clothes. I travelled for the better part of the year with two outfits, but the day before I came back to the states I bought four pairs of jeans in Bangkok because I figured I'd need new clothes when I came back.

I'm fighting against the part of me that wants to integrate back into this type of lifestyle because I know it will ultimately make me unhappy.

2006-02-18T14:17:00.000+09:00

This is what I've been up to for the past month.

Wake up! Wake up!: shower, brush my teeth, get dressed (shorts, no shirt it's too hot here)

Eat breakfast

I used to eat at the coffee shop by my bungalow. I moved down to a different coffee shop (Pyramid run by a guy named Chai) where they have yummy pancakes. I now go between Chai's and Rachael's place down at Sawadee where the museli is excellent.

Climb

This is self explanatory.

Lunch

Sometimes at the crag, but more recently since climbing closer to home we've been eating at one of the restaurants.

Climb

Again no explanation needed.

Beer and sunset

Usually at Sawadee I have a beer and catch up with the people I didn't climb with.

Shower then dinner

Get the funk off and put on some relatively clean clothes and meet up with the peeps for dinner.

Hang out

You know have some beers, talk, laugh.

Repeat

This is what it's like in Ton Sai if you're a climber. If I'm at a party and there are no climbers around I know it's time to go to sleep. Most people in Ton Sai have a similar pattern. Everyday is pretty much the same unless I'm on a rest day. I guess that's why I haven't been updating too much. Also deep down I think I haven't wanted to because it's a link to home and I'm not feeling home right now. Hopefully that will change.

P.S. Flight back to SF is on March 9.

Blog off

2006-02-04T14:35:00.000+09:00

I've hit a bit of a time warp. I arrived in Ton Sai on January 3. My plan was to leave on the tenth to catch my flight to Bali. A few plans have changed since then. I wrote off going to Indonesia the first week I was here. I don't think I'm going to Hong Kong either. I have been in Ton Sai for a month, climbing most days and regrowing skin on the days off.

There's been a bit of Ton Sai drama involving me. I met a Thai girl, then kicked her to the curb when Sara showed up (it wasn't realy like that). Sara and I have a platonic relationship, not necessarily what I wanted, but she's still one of my favorite people in the world. She and her boyfriend left Ton Sai three weeks ago. They're going back to Holland tonight. I felt some karmic repercussions when Nadia proceeded to do something same same but different to me. I would've been more upset if I wasn't climbing well.

Now the thing is for me to figure out when I'm coming home (the women have nothing to do with it). When I first got to Ton Sai I was ready to leave. Even yesterday I was contemplating going home on the most recent itinerary. This will not happen. Tomorrow, the day I should leave, I'm going out on a boat with ten people to deep water solo. DWS = climbing with just my shoes, no rope or harness, over dep water. If I fall I go for a swim. If I make it to the end of the route, I take a thirty foot leap into the water.

My life for the past month has revolved around climbing. I don't think it's all too interesting to report on my onsites or redpoints. All I can say is once I touched the limestone here things became more simplified in my mind (making me a simpleton?). Most of the time I'm thinking about which crag I'm going to on the next day out, or how I'm going to get through the crux of the route I couldn't finish. Life is good right now.

I'm sorry for the lack of communication.

Alone again

2006-01-02T20:53:00.000+09:00

I was on the open water in a thunderstorm waiting for a ferry. No one has heard from me since I called my family on Christmas Day from Ko Phi Phi. I've been on a quiet undeveloped island called Ko Jum located between Ko Lanta and Krabi. I spent the last week with Sara and now I'm missing her. She went to Ko Lanta and I'm back in Krabi. What did we do the past week. Nothing. It was funny to see the surprise on the face of the locals when we bought our ferry tickets in opposite directions. I want to go home, to feel safe again, especially after spending the past two week with good friends.

I'm so tired

2005-12-12T22:46:00.000+09:00

I had to get up early to catch my plane and, as I always do, got there earlier than necessary. Once in Bangkok, I didn't immediately check into the guest house cause I wanted a single room. Since none were available and I've been a regular at Merry V Guesthouse, they gave me a room with a big bed for the price of a single room with a small bed. The only draw back is the room is four flights up, on the top floor. Being on the highest floor also means it's much warmer up there. It's a good thing Bangkok is cooler right now than it was even last week.

I wanted to buy three things today: a hammock, new shorts, and lip balm. I actually couldn't remember what the third thing was so I substituted. I haven't bought anything yet. Mondays are relatively quiet in Bangkok. If Porn had not told me most of the street vendors take Mondays off I would've been a little freaked out by the emptiness of Kao San Road.

I started to read a book called And Then They Killed My Father. It's written by a Cambodian woman who was a little girl when the Khymer Rouge, under Pol Pot, killed at estimated two million Cambodians, about a quarter of the population at the time. After two chapters I've determined she's no Shakespear, but it's a story that has to be told.

I don't know if it was my mind playing tricks on me but when I drove up to the killing fields outside of Phnom Penh I felt a chill in the air. Strange considering it was well over eighty degrees that day. As I stood there over looking the mass graves all I could think about was how America once said it would never allow someting like this to happen again. I don't know if my facts are straight but I think FDR said that after WWII. Well guess who supported the Khymer Rouge. The good old U.S.A.

Back to Koh Pha Ngan

2005-12-11T14:26:00.000+09:00

So I may have been a little harsh on my comments about Cambodia. It's a little rough around the edges and right now I need some place easy. I was also quite lonely at the time of the last entry, missing the company of the people I met in Laos. I'm a moody bastard when I get lonely.

Besides Angkor Wat and the other surrounding temples and the horrible history of the Khymer Rouge, I haven't found much to keep my interests here. This is why I'm yet again shelling out more money than I should to return to Thailand to meet up with Gareth, Steve, Hans and Sara for the upcoming full moon party on Koh Pha Ngan. These four people along with Nicole, Nir and Pete were the group I was with for most of the time in Laos.

I think if I had seen Cambodia earlier on in the trip (before India) I might appreciate it a bit more. People do seem to like it here. It is a bit unrefined and I guess would seem like an adventure, but it lacks the excitement of being in a crazy place (like India). I know I shouldn't compare countries. When I come back to south east asia, I'll check out the southern part of Cambodia. It might be nicer down there.

Here's a little info on my mates.

Gareth and Steve are English, Hans and Sara (father and daughter) are Dutch, Nicole is Swiss, Nir is the coolest Israeli you'll ever meet, and Pete is the friendly Kiwi.

And the award goes to...

2005-12-09T17:03:00.001+09:00

After further thought I'll try not to rag on Cambodia so much, although I still do think it's the asshole of South East Asia. I think I'm mostly missing the company of the people I was with in Laos. It wouldn't have been half as fun there without them. I also am itching to get to the islands in Thailand to meet up with a few of them.

I'm currently in Battambang. I won't go into it too much but this town is a dump. True I haven't seen too much of it yet, but from what I've seen it's a dump. Fuck it who am I kidding. Release the hounds.

For being as poor of a country as Cambodia is one would figure it'd be budget travelling paradise. As far as accomodation goes there is no such thing as value for money. It's down right (relatively) expensive here. The food is a hodge podge of Vietnamese and Thai with half the flavor. There is a direct correllation on food of the country and whether or not I like the place so maybe that explains my negative feelings.

If Angkor Wat wasn't so close to Siem Reap that town would be a shithole too. There's something inherently wrong when I'm ok with going to sleep before ten, which is what happened every night in Siem Reap. The temples were amazing, Siem Reap not so.

I'm a heartbeat away from booking a bus out of Battambang even though I just arrived. The shit towns in India were more exciting than this. There I go again with India.

Ok as I was saying before I'm itching to get back to Thailand. I'm considering going to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh to get a two month visa just so I can leave Cambodia sooner than planned and not have to worry about doing a visa run in Thailand. I think I'm finally getting a little tired of all the travelling. I just want to be in one place for a while chilling with familiar people. Koh Pha Ngan sounds lovely for this.

It's only nine more days until I planned on going back to Thailand. Can I find something to occupy my time until then?

Happy Birthday To Me

2005-11-22T19:15:00.000+09:00

My birthday came and went like any other day. I'm twenty nine now. Wooo! I spent my birthday in a van (by the river) from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong. Chiang Khong is the Thai border town opposite the Laotian border town of Huay Xia. The Mekong is the natural border that separates the two towns.

I was hanging out with Harold and Amelie from Paris and having beers. Other than that it wasn't much of a birthday celebration. The twenty eight other ones made up for it.

I have to go. I think the sip of water I took wasn't such a good idea. The toilet is soooo far away.

Bonehead

2005-11-17T18:47:00.000+09:00

I thought I would be in Cambodia right now. I flew from Ha Noi to Bangkok and landed on time. Then I went to change my ticket from Bali to Hong Kong then to San Francisco. The date of my return is now February 18. Once that was settled I went to the desk check in.

The guy there told me there were no Air Asia flights flying out anytime soon and directed me to the ticketing both. The ladt boy there told me my flight was at seven that morning. Grrrr. What a waste of money. It wasn't that much because Air Asia is a no frills budget airline, but still, I should not be throwing money away like that.

After a bit of sulking I went to catch the airport bus into town. There are worse places to be stuck than Bangkok. I met a English guy named mick on the bus and we ended up getting drunk in my local bar on Koh San Rd. I still don't know the name of it. I saw Porn briefly, but she left before I came stumbling out at midnight.

I was hung over the next day. Two out of the three times I've been in Bangkok, I've been hung over the second day there.

Later that night I decided to book a plane ticket to Chiang Mai. I would've taken the train, but all the sleepers are sold out through the weekend. The woman at the travel agency suggested a bus, but it shows up at some godawful time in the morning (4am).

Now I'm in Chiang Mai with no guide book. I've lost my edge. I just got talked into taking a room for the equivalent of ten U.S. dollars. If I had walked one hundred meters down the road I would've found a room for someting closer to $4.

I will write a postcard to my friends and family in free verse

2005-11-14T19:02:00.000+09:00

Having just reread Lonely Planet's review of Sapa, I'mbeginning to lose a bit of faith in it. I know guidebooks are not always the most accurate and I shouldtake the information inside with a grain of salt, butwhoever wrote the Sapa section is an idiot.In one sentence he/she says, "the Montagnards(mountain people)...are reaping the financial rewardsof the tourism influx." A few paragraphs later,"mostly they're very poor." So which is it?

I've had the good fortune of meeting and talking topeople from the two majority ethnic groups in theregion, the H'Mong and Dzao. All are very intelligent, and most of the ones my age have gone to school. Although the Montagnards learn their native language they also learn Vietnamese in school and use it as the common language. Most know english andfrench as well. I met a twenty seven year old woman who finished high school, rare for a mountain woman.

I fear for the heritage of these people becausetourism brings a lot of ugliness with it. Pollution aside, I hope the younger ones don't forget abouttheir traditions and customs to be a part of themodern world.

One Dzao girl I met is no longer wearing traditionalclothes, dressing in western fashion. Her friend whoI was talking to told me she wants to live outside ofthe village. I heard another jokingly say she didn'tcare if a westerner was nice or not as long as heagreed to marry her.

Today I spoke with Qui, the high school graduate. She was telling me she had a lot of "friends" who are willing to help her come to the US. They areVietnamese-Americans who may or may not have good intentions. Even if they do I warned her about how difficult life can be in the states, especially for someone who seems very innocent to me. What do I know about her innocence? She could beputting one over on me and using the same sob story onanyone willing to listen. Still, I feel like I wantto help her.

Travelling alone for eight months now I've learned tobe very wary of people, but something about being inViet Nam is dulling this abilty. I know it's because these are my people and I want to believe they are all kind and good, but they aren't.

Pale skin makes you happier, healthier, and more attractive

2005-11-10T19:24:00.000+09:00

The Vietnamese tend to like pale skin more than dark skin. I've spent the last three days out in the sun. I'm getting Hawaii dark again. I could strive to have pale skin, but what's the fun in that.

I was in Ha Long bay the past three days. The water seems to be extremely salty. I had no problems swimming/floating on my back.

I'm back in Hanoi for another four hours, then I'm heading to the mountains for the next three days. A girl in Hue told me I looked like a person from one of the hill tribes here (probably cause of my skin tone).

One of these things is not like the other

2005-11-03T22:24:00.000+09:00

I'm slowly getting used to being alone again and really feeling like a foreigner in a foreign country. My family in Sai Gon made it easier for me while I was there. I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but there are distinct Vietnamese accents I didn't know existed. The accent where my mom grew up sounds like Vietnamese with a southern drawl. The Vietnamese in Hue is a bitch. They accent words completly differently than what I'm used to. For instance if the sound of the word starts low pitched then goes high they startlow and go lower. This probably makes no sense so I'll move on.

I don't like the traveler hotspots in Viet Nam. The food sucks since it's catered to western tastes. I had the worst bowl of pho from a place Lonely Planet highly recommended. I should've known better than to go into a place where no Vietnamese were eating. On top of that the cyclo drivers are assholes. It seems like they're all pimping for "massage" parlors. On the flip side I'm not comfortable in completely Vietnamese areas because my Vietnamese is still not that great.

This is how things end

2005-11-02T20:28:00.000+09:00

A few days ago I thought I had made up my mind about when or if I was returning. I was sure I would stay away and teach english or find some other way to support myself overseas. When it came time for an answer I wasn't sure and decided to give myself a few hours to think about it. After my deadline I still wasn't sure and decided this should not be a rash decision. My answer on whether or not to take the TEFL training course is 'no' for now.

My parents left the other day to return top the states. I left Sai Gon (Ho Chi Minh City) two nights ago. The train ride was supposed to take about ninteen hours. We stopped well inland because of a typhoon and waited. I didn't arrive in Hue until today at two, about forty six hours after I left Sai Gon.

My farewell to my family was bitter sweet because just before I left they pulled some wierd family shit on me. In Vietnamese culture the oldest male has a duty to stay close to (or live with) the parents and care for them. SInce I am not doing this I'm breaking my parents heart (according to my family here). They pretty much were laying all kinds of guilt trips on me just hours before I left. It left a bad taste in my mouth and was not the farewell I wanted.

In those few hours I began to understand my parents even more, because I see their attitudes and ways of dealing with things are more deep rooted in Vietnamese culture than I ever imagined. I felt like a teenager again who is a disappointment to the family for not following the path that they chose for me. As I stepped on the train I breathed a sigh of relief because I was finally away from them.

I don't know if I can face them and their disappointment again. I thought I would teach english in Vietnam, more specifically in Sai Gon, but I don't think I can live there and deal with their constant pressure to do my duty. My uncle tried to make me promise after my visa expired I would return home to my parents. The answer every time he asked was "no." Even when I called him today to let him know where I was and that I was all right he asked me again. I like him a lot, but can't give him or the family the answer they want.

Anyways, I'm away from all that now and will continue journeying.

When did Joes become Cobra?

2005-10-27T00:08:00.000+09:00

I'm reading a Noam Chomsky book called Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance. It details basically how the US has fucked other nations for the past fifty years. Virtually every president since WWII has green lighted terrorist activities in other nations under the guise of national security. There was even one point during the Cuban missle crisis where the US government was thinking about sinking a ship or shooting down a drone airplane (said to have carried college students on holiday) in order to sway the US public opinion in favor of invading Cuba.

I'm only a hundred pages into the book right now, but every page is full of insights. Chomsky says the US goes to war with countries that: 1. Can't defend themselves 2. Has a much needed resource and 3. Can be demonized as a threat to US national security. For Iraq one and two were not a problem. The third point took a bit of work, but the US propaganda machine took care of that in no time.

The US government can do anything to any country anytime it feels like it. No one can stop them. They disregard the UN and world court orders because they can. The US is the playground bully pushing aside any opposition and taking whatever they want in the world.

Having been outside of "normal" life for a while now, I've had the luxury to think about the bigger picture. I've reflected on my life as an American and how brainwashed and complacent we've become (I'm seeing this in other nations as well). At an early age we're already in the grip of the machine. I still love cartoon and watch Cartoon Network when I can. The advertising on that channel is fierce and nearly gives me seizures. Kids are already taught to want even need things in order to be happy. This carries on through to adulthood and is one way of pacifying people.

In school you are taught to do well in order to get good grades to get into a good university. Why? Is it to become educated? A thinker? An artist? I think that most of the time it is to find a job and make a shitload of money in order can buy all the crap people think they need. This is what helps alienate the US from what is really going on in the rest of the world. I know. I used to be there.

I didn't really know or care about the rest of the world, I was dealing with my own crisis. I had a routine. I went to work in order to pay my various bills, buy food, and hopefully have a little left over so I could go out and forget about life. And of course buy whatever crap I thought would make me feel better, for a little while.

I feel like countries all over the world are becoming more like the US in this sense, where things are more important than anything else. I think things are coming to a head for me because here in Vietnam communism rules by being capitalistic. "Communism refers to a theoretical system of social organization and a political movement based on common ownership of the means of production. As a political movement, communism seeks to overthrow capitalism through a workers' revolution and establish a classless society."

The family

2005-10-23T18:27:00.000+09:00

Vietnam hasn't been as stressful as I've feared. My parents haven't been trying to find me a wife. Although my cousins and aunts have talked about trying to hook me up no one has actually done anyting. Yesterday while getting new glasses the girl helping me pick out a frame asked me to father her child, which made me blush. If I had the moral standards of a prostitute I would've taken her up on the offer because she is quite attractive. Today while visiting the Cu Chi tunnels I got separated from the family. One girl told me if I didn't find the family I could come home with her. I should probably just open a sperm bank.

Now that I've been on Vietnam for over a week and had time to digest the onslaught of family, I think I've basically figured out who to trust and who not to trust. It's as simple as this. The ones who ask me for money or expect me to pay are not to be trusted. One of my cousins acted very kind and seemed like a generally good guy until he got me alone and asked for money to buy a computer for his son. This was after my parents gave him money, asked them for more, then got shut down. His brother is as much of a prick as he is, but that's far too long and compicated of a story to tell right now. I can only hope their younger siblings, don't turn out like them. There is plenty of gold digging between my parents siblings, but also a lot of kindness.

My father's half brother and kids are some of the poorest people in the family. Six people live in a two room place with a polished cement floor which is also where they sleep. My uncle stepped on a mine, blew off his right leg and most of the fingers on his right hand. His son, Phuc, contracted son kind of illness (polio?) when he was ten months old so his legs are in braces. Phuc has never run and played like other kids in his life. His younger brother died of a heart condition a few years ago. Still, they are the sweetest people I've ever met. Of the family I've met, I know for certain they are genuinely happy for us to be here. I'm sure there are others, and perhaps it's because I met them first, but I felt connected to them the moment I met them. Phuc's older sister Cua is the kindest and sweetest woman you'll ever meet.

This part of the family are not speaking to my father's younger half sister and her family. Phuc won't tell me why, and my dad doesn't know why. Because of this we spend one day with Chu Thang (Uncle Thang) his family and Co Hai (Auntie two) and the other with Co Nam (Auntie five).

Co Nam and her kids are strong willed. Of the four surviving kids, who are all older than me, there are three females and a male. I would take any of these women (Ngoc, Yum, and Thuy) into a barfight with me. I heard Yum used to beat the shit out of Ngoc's husband when he got out of line and Thuy, well I'm glad I'm on her good side. She's intimidating. Vu the male is a nice guy and raising two sons on his own. By on his own I mean he's not married, but his mother, father, and sisters, and neice help care for the kids.

My mother had eight siblings. I've met four. The others, I think, are dead or my mom has a beef with them. Yi Ba (auntie three) is the aunt that every kid should have. I love her. She's the best. I wasn't so sure about her son, but he turned out to be an all right guy. Her daughters are nice, one of them is sick with some kind of intestinal worm. Apparently she's lost a lot of weight.

Cau Sao (Uncle six) is the blacksheep. He has eleven kids from four or five different women. He and Yi Ba don't speak. I've mentioned his sons already. Yi Bay (Auntie seven) is looking for a handout. I didn't feel comfortable with her kids at all. The boy (Thong, thirteen) a few times wanted me to promise to buy him things. The girl (Phuong, twenty one) seemed ok, but caused me a bit of a headache and a bit of cash last night. It's something I'll try to piy behind me, but it causeed my mom to lose a lot of sleep last night.

Cau Ut (youngest uncle) seems to be the most sucessful financially. He, his wife and sons are well educated and nice enough. The raise livestock, have a rice paddy, and all kinds of fruit trees. They basically grow and make their own food and cook over a fire pit and make rice wine, which I think is pretty cool.

That's a quick rundown of my aunts uncles and first cousins. I'm sure I've missed someone.

Dude WTF?!?

2005-10-15T03:33:00.000+09:00

I've just experience a problem JP has had on his website. Fucking spam in my comments!

Just words

2005-10-15T02:55:00.000+09:00

Since arriving in Thailand I've been a bit lazy about documenting this part of my trip with pictures, so I have only words.

Germans could possibly be my second favorite people behind the Spanish. I'm not saying this because my brother in law Norbert is German, but because since being in Thailand I've spent many nights (at the bar) in the company of frauliens. The first being Andrea and last night Sylvia and I had a great time listening to a Thai singer, which leads me to my next point.

Thailand has many talented musicains playing in local bars. I think the name of my favorite place at the end of Khao San, on the far side from the police station, is a place called Sabhai Sabhai (again I could be wrong about the name). THe first night we had the sing along and last night the girl, Rose, was doing her singer/songwriter thing. She covered Thai tunes as well as Cranberries and a song that reminds me of someone from my university days, Sarah MacLachlan's Angel. It makes me feel like setting up a little studio to record Thai bands. They have just as much musical skill as anyone in the world.

I've befriended quite a few Thais in my short time here. It's funny how her name is on the sexual side in english terms, but Porn (Pahn) and I have spent some good times together. She is a mid thirties Thai woman who I proposed to last night after seing Rose perform and putting on a good beer buzz. I got her email and digits tonight. Usually after a few drinks I'm helping her sell t-shirts. Since my features are very similar to Thai, people are quite amazed when I speak with an American accent. I think I pulled in about one thousand baht in sales tonight. In return I got a t-shirt which I think Josh Lee will like. Khe and the others around that area now know me as the American with Vietnamese origins. We shared some beers tonight just cause.

I quite like Thailand and have considered staying here a bit longer to possibly teach english. Life here is laid back, people are friendly and even after midnight I can have my fill of barbecue skewers, spring rolls, and fresh mango shakes.

Tomorrow I fly to Vietnam to rendezvous with my parents and meet the family I've never met. My oldest sister asked me to keep my parents calm, but who will keep me calm? I have been quite anxious and even afraid of this part of my journey. My parents have never told me much about the family there and I've never asked. My dad told me to contact Chu Thang. I asked him who that was and he said his younger brother. This is how ignorant I am about my family there.

My parents are staying only two weeks, but I'll try to convince my dad to stay longer. My mom works for a shitty company that will not let her have a month off, even though unpaid. I wonder if she is using that as an excuse to leave sooner. I feel quite a bit of pity for my mom, but the feelings are too personal to reveal right now.

I've had quite a lot of advice from friends during my travels to mend the gap I have between father and son while I see where my parents grew up. There are a lot of emotional issues I have with both my parents, so I hope it will be worked out there. All this time I've told myslef not to place such importance on being in Vietnam with my parents, but in order to quiet the demons inside me I feel I must break through to them as a grown man not as their baby boy. This seems like the time to do it.

On a side note in Vietnamese my given name is Nam and my middle is Viet. In Vietnam I would be known as Tran Viet Nam, but of course in the states because my parents put my name down in that order I became known as Viet. My parents would address me as Nam (or my nickname which now moves on to another generation because my nephews call me that) and even my childhood neighbors would call me Nam. Well it's too late for me to ask everyone to address me as name and I like Viet as a name.

Here comes the rain again

2005-10-12T21:23:00.000+09:00

I watched Koh San flood a little bit. The street running parallel to it was bad. Some of the shopkeepers were sweeping water out of their stores. During the heaviest part of the storm I was loitering outside of a bar showing T2. I had to wade through ankle deep water to get to my guest house. This is again one of those times when I thank India for preparing me.

I ran into Tina and her friend who were on KoPha Ngan. I had a Thai massage for an hour, then ran into the Belgian girl Ann. I hope the street vendors open up again. Can't let a little rain shut down their business.

Paradise

2005-10-12T12:00:00.000+09:00

I was on Ko Pha Ngan for eleven days and spent most of my time on the northern beach of Hat Thong Nai Pan Noi. For most of those eleven days I did absolutely nothing. Before getting to Ko Pha Ngan I planned to stay in a few places around the island, see some waterfalls, and maybe do a trek. Some days I didn't get much farther than 10 meters from my bungalow. This all sounds very lazy, but I didn't need to go much farther than this.

My bungalow was situated at the far end of the beach from the road. It's only a five minute (I'm not sure cause I rarely wore my watch after the first few days) walk from one end to the other. Walking towards the bungalow on the soft sandy beach, I had views of coconut palms on my left leading up to the hills behind the bungalows and the greenish colored sea on my right, usually calm because it's protected by a bay.

Most days it was sunny when I woke up, so the morning choice was swim now or after breakfast. The decisions I had to make! Sometimes I decided to order breakfast, go for a swim, and while floating around in the clean perfectly temperatured water, Yi would whistle for me to come in and have my breakfast of rice soup. I'd usually sit at I -Sea bar and have a bit of a conversation with Strewyn or Karl, the expats working there.

One of the other regulars or travelers would be there and we'd make some small talk that usually come around to "what are you doing today?"

I'd think about it for a second and say, "I'm going to go into the water, sit back here, and repeat." I did that until the sun went down, not because it was too cold to swim, but because I wanted to rinse the salt water off of me. Also at nightfall I'd put on trousers because of the mosquitoes and finally put on a shirt for the same reason.

The days were not all that different, but there were events to help seperate them from one amalgamated clump of memory. We went to the "big" beach, Hat Thong Nai Pan Yai, across the bay for the islands beach football (soccer) tournament. On the day the championship game was played they had free food and beer. Sometimes I would walk to the main road and have a fresh mango shake and lunch from the little restaurant there. At night we would usually start at I-Sea and work our way down the beach to Flip Flop for a drink and some pool then into "town" which meant the one road leading in and out of Thong Nai Pan. If we didn't already have dinner at the guesthouse or Flip Flop, then we'd go to Bamboo. Depending on what night it was we'd go to Hideaway or Jungle Bar for the weekly party. If it was an off night the Premier League football would be on somewhere. As the night winds down Mr. Handsomes burgers would be the thing to cap it all off before starting over again the next day.

...

Two nights ago I left paradise. I was still on Ko Pha Ngan, but I stayed in the main town of Thong Sala where roughly half the population of 15,000 live. I was surprised by how busy it felt there, and how noisy it seemed. In Thong Nai Pan I had to deal with water gently crashing on the beach, frogs croaking, and insects in the trees. I'd rather deal with these noises than motor bikes and screaming babies. I wanted to make a tactical retreat back to TNP. Earlier the day I left I joked with Brian about finally communicating with someone from the outside world. It would be a phone call to my parents telling them to enjoy their time in Vietnam, I wouldn't be seing them there.

That's what that place did to me. It pulled me in and it was hard to find a way back out. It was like the sirens drawing my in. I was surprised by how quickly I got used to the slow life on Thong Nai Pan. Nothing outside of that beach mattered. I could've and should've made phone calls or emails, but I just couldn't be bothered. If I didn't have the rendezvous with my parents I don't think I would've left except to make a visa run.

Red Bull and cigarettes. Beer too.

2005-09-29T19:13:00.000+09:00

My tolerance for alcohol has gone up again. This doesn't mean I can drink more; I just don't get red in the face and pass out, as easily. The alcohol tolerance started out because I was with Manu and Carlos who, like all Spanish, know how to party. After they left Kathmandu I took a bit of a break. Then I landed in Bangkok.

From the airport I shared a taxi with three others - an Israeli guy, German girl, and a Belgian girl. I'm horrible with Israeli names so I don't remember the guy's name and he ended up staying at some other guest house. Andrea (German) and I hung out together quite a bit. She reminds me of one one of my most favorite peeps, Kirsten J. Fisher. Since Oktoberfest is starting up we decided to have a few drinks on Kho San. I used to do little but a little wouldn't do it so a little got more and more.

We started out slow sharing a large beer (650ml) over some spring rolls and papaya salad. The order of events after that are blurry because of the events of last night. Before I get to that, I remember walking up and down Kho San quite a few times and exploring some of the side streets. We stopped off in at least two more places and ended the night at a bar on the east end of Kho San with live acoustic music. The three guys playing and singing were quite talented and had the whole place singing along. We got back to the guest house after one and I fell asleep with the iPod on shuffle. I now know it has at least nine straight hours of battery life when fully charged.

The morning after wasn't too bad. Since we stuck to beer I didn't have a hang over. Andrea and I spent most of the day figuring out our travel arrangments. Andrea doesn't have a lot of time in Thailand so she had to take a train leaving last night.

I don't usually drink alone but I was bored and went back to the same bar. The music last night wasn't as good as the previuos night. I think the transgender waitress was hitting on me, especially since I told her Andrea already left and wasn't my girlfriend. It was buy two beers get the third for free but I don't think I got that deal. Grrr.

I walked back to the guesthouse and ran into Ann (Belgian) who was lost and stumbling about. She had had quite a bit to drink and couldn't find the guesthouse. We were standing two buildings away from it.

I guided back, bought her a water, then walked her up to her room. We had a bit of a discussion about which floor she was on. The drunk girl was wrong. I told her to drink water before she passed out. She didn't listen. An hour or so later I went to make sure her door was locked. It wasn't and the water was unopened. I locked and shut before going back out.

When I first put Ann in bed I walked out to the all night internet shop to email pictures to a woman I sat next to on the flight from Delhi. On my way there I was asked if I wanted to buy a rain coat. Interesting question, but I had to answer no. The two who solicited me were a brother and sister from Israel Ohad and Noa. They are a friendly pair so I felt obligated to help them sell the rain coat. This was to be the beginning of a long night.

Shortly after I sat down we were joined by two guys from Switzerland, Julien and Xavier. Ohad went to get his guitar and we made up the raincoat song:

Cheap cheap don't you want a rain coat
Green green beautiful rain coat

I pulled myself away from the group for fifteen minutes to email the pictures and when I got back Han, a Korean guy, joined the group followed by a Canadian girl and her Finnish boyfriend. Julien ran off and brought back beers for everyone and Noa suggested we had enough of a global representation to start a new U.N. We got kicked out of our spot some time around one or two in the morning. That's when I checked up on Ann and decided I smelled really bad and needed a shower.

The party moved around the corner and more people came and went. Somebody bought a bottle of whisky and we were all sipping from it. Songs were sung in various languages including Hebrew, Arabic, and Korean. All the while we were smoking like chimneys. At three thirty I opened my eyes and found everyone straing at me. Noa told me I fell asleep. That and Juliens downward turn towards sloppy drunk made everyone decide it was time for bed.

Bangkok isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Good grief

2005-09-25T22:25:00.000+09:00

Charlie Brown inspired moment.

Kathmandu is boring the pants off of me. I'm glad I'm off tomorrow to India. I got in touch with Saurabh from Delhi who I met in Leh. Should make my day in Delhi more bearable. Then I fly to Thailand and the islands!

For a bit of down home flavor I'm reading Cannery Row after having finished Midnight's Children. It's wierd reading the old American dialog. The slang is entertaining.

Chitwan

2005-09-24T20:18:00.000+09:00

I came back to Kathmandu only to leave three days later for Chitwan National Park. The two major cities in Nepal, Kathmandu and Pokhara, don't offer much. They are a haven for travellers and cater to travellers meaning the food sucks and there are tons of shops selling the same things. Chitwan was not too exciting, but it got me out of Kathmandu.

Manu and I left Carlos behind cause he was getting all spiritual and stuff by doing yoga and reiki. We'll not speak of this anymore.

Upon arriving at the lodge in CHitwan, we were greeted by a guy bearing an uncanny resemblance to Jeff Goldblum and he will be known as such for the rest of this entry. Jeff booked us our bus tickets out and sold us on doing a canoe ride with a four hour jungle walk and an elephant ride. The first day was for exploration and we quickly discovered the only two roads in Chitwan help nothing remarkable so we drank, smoked, and napped. Then the rain started.

The monsoon doesn't seem to be over in this part of Nepal. The rain came down hard for probably twenty minutes then not so hard for another forty minutes. The storm passed us but as night fell the lightning surrounded us. There were flashes all night, some so bright I had to close my eyes. Nature put on a show for us that night. It was clody so no stars were visible, but as Manu and I walked back to our, tiny specks of light could be seen flying around. Fireflies! Their presence made the absence of stars a moot point.

The next morning we woke up and found out we were doing the jungle walk with three older Spainiards staying at the lodge. We checked in with the cops/military in the area and I was again mistaken for Nepali when they asked where the fifth tourist was. As we walked to the canoe something that may have been a crocodile was spotted. Manu insists it was a log.

The canoe trip was ok. We saw a few species of birds, but nothing else. The jungle walk on the other hand was shitty. After instructions about what to do if animals charge us we entered the jungle. We didn't see anything. The only thing we encountered were leeches. The jungle leeches were bigger than the leeches on the trek. I managed to get two crawl in my shirt and find a nice suckling place in my right armpit and one on my lower back. The reaction the leeches got from the older Spainiards made any chance of sneaking up on a rhino impossible. One of the two women screamed at the top of her lungs and the other two ran in place like the flash dance chick.

Neither Manu or I were too thrilled with our company. Besides their reaction to the leeches they were slow. I don't know how much area the walk was supposed to cover, but we probably only walked two kilometers. My mind is now in the metric. Sorry American friends.

The walk ended and we rented bikes to try to find a traditional village three kilometers away from Chitwan. It was noon so I suggested we wait until later in the day to go because of the heat and humidity. It was (ready?) around forty degrees with probably one hundred percent humidity. We decided to take a siesta.

While I slept another storm rolled in. When I woke up, two hours later, the rain which had stopped for an hour, started up again. We returned the bikes without having ridden around much. That night no lightning, stars, or fireflies.

The next morning we rode on square plaform on top of an elephant. My ribs and arms are still bruised. The first hour of the ride was uneventful. THings got a bit uncomfortable when the driver started to beat the elephant on her head when she decided to stray from the path. His tool was a metal bar with cloth taped around it to make the beating gentler. I wanted to grab it from him a few times and beat him with it.

I don't know if the elephant was pissed from the beatings or if she's just a bitch but she didn't get along with any of the other elephants. While in the jungle she charged and one of them and we were taken for a ride, but nothing happened except them making a lot of noise. Another almost elephant fight ensued when we were crossing the river. Again nothing happened.

Upon crossing the river she started running again which made the driver yank on her ear with the hook end of his beating tool. She stopped, but there was blood on her ear, then we saw what she was running at, a rhino.

The rhino sat there watching us taking numerous snap shots and kept an eye on the elephant in case she decided to get fiesty again. She didn't and we left the rhino to its meal. Not five minutes later we ran into two more rhinos. We snuck up, as only an elephant can sneak up, on the rhinos in some trees. She was a little startled and picked up some of the brush with her trunk and swung it in front of her. Manu and I talked the previous night about who would win in a fight between an elephant and rhino. We didn't really want to find out while riding on top of the elephant. Fortunately the rhinos wanted nothing to do with the elephant and walked away.
Nothing much happened after.

The last night in Chitwan was clear so the stars were out in numbers. We could see the Milky Way faintly and the fireflies came back. We got back to Kathmandu and found Carlos who met a psychic and ran into this English woman named Deborah. We met her while on the trek, and aside from talking too much she's a really cool person. She insists on me coming to Sydney and stay with her as long as I want. Tempting offer.

Last night was the last night in Nepal for Manu and Carlos. We celebrated by drinking beer before dinner, two bottles of wine with dinner, and six gin and tonics at three different bars. Carlos slept in my room because Manu and Deborah were using the room he shared with Manu. I slept for maybe four hours and am a bit hung over.

I said goodbye to Manu and Carlso today. I have two more laces to stay in Madrid when I go back there. I hung out with them for over three weeks making them the longest travelling mates in my six months of travels.

Here comes a new challenger

2005-09-17T20:36:00.000+09:00

During one of the last days of my trek I was thinking about Street Fighter for some reason. My backpack wasn't meant to do things like the 40km walk in Spain and a twelve day trek in the Himalayas. I think most backpack frames are made of some kind of sturdy light weight material not lead. Any how, when my mind went to the safe and warm fuzzy place I thought how I've visited some of the countries that the characters in Street Fighter hail from and it helped me forget about the pain in my feet, legs, and back.

I don't remember if I mentioned this in a previous entry, but I feel like Nepal is too easy compared to India. I miss India and the way it kept me on my toes and alert. Devan and Bim have been completely taking care of me since I got here and I've gone all soft. I almost feel like leaving Nepal sooner and spending another week in India. That probably won't happen, but who knows.

Briefly about the trek. It was difficult, especially with aforementioned backpack. Our pace was fast on most days and it felt like we were going straight up and down the foothills of the mountain, which is not necessarily untrue. At least three times we faced a steep descent followed by a hellish ascent of at least thirty minutes. I also had at least twenty leeches on my feet and ankles. I'll try to relay the leech story some other time.

The thing that kept us going (I was trekking with two Spanish guys and our guides) was almost every morning and a few other hours of the day the clouds went away and we had a clear view of the Annapurna mountain range. I can't imagine doing that trek without any views. I would've felt like I suffered for no reason.

It feels strange to be back in a city after a week and a half in the mountains.

Same same but different

2005-09-05T21:38:00.000+09:00

I'm reading Midnight's Children right now and Rushdie mentions something about how time is a made up concept because India decides to be thrity mintues ahead on G.M.T. He mentions this is to separate it from Pakistan. Nepal is an extra fifteen minutes ahead of G.M.T. to separtate themselves from India. In that case it's 4:20 all the time.

I'm heading to Pokhara tomorrow to start my twelve day trek to the Annapurna base camp. Deven and his cousin Bim (sp?) thought I should go for a lower altitude trek instead going right for the Everest base camp. I'll save that for next time. I'm a little concerned about my shoes because they aren't waterproof and it's still raining on and off here. Also my pack isn't really made for trekking, but I'm going to take very bare essentials so it shouldn't be too heavy. Physically I feel good but I had some problems with my IT band in my right knee again recently. If that bothers me on the trek walking on a downward slope is going to be a problem. I was planning on going alone but now I'm glad Bim is guiding me because if something happens he'll bail me out.

Last night Deven invited me to his house for dinner. It was also a birthday of a young relative of his. I didn't get their exact relationship, but the boy turned ten. Instead of ten cnadles on his cake he had nine, because he's saying goodbye to his ninth year. Interesting. After blowing out his candles the boy (I don't remember his name) cut a small piece of cake off and gave a bite first to his mother, then father, and finished the piece himself.

Next the ceremony of the presents. Each person in turn stuck a bit of red stuff (crushed flowers or something) to his forehead near the hairline and threw whatever didn't stick on top of his head, then ripped a petal off a flower and handed him his gift. I asked Deven if I could do the same and felt a little nervous when I was pushing the red stuff on the already huge glob of his forehead. The glob didn't fall off and I handed him some money. Later on I felt bad for only giving 10 rupees because it's not much. I'm still thinking in terms of Indian rupees.

I'm blending in here more than I did in india. Everyone thinks I'm Nepalese. This is usually fine by me because no one bothers me on the street. When I walk into a shop the people start speaking to me in Nepali and I have to tell them I'm from the states. Everyone at Deven's last night thought I was from Nepal. I'm sure I'll get the same in south east asia.

I'll probably be out of touch until the 18th.

Kathmandoodle doooooo

2005-09-03T23:15:00.000+09:00

I left India with about twelve hours of validity left on my visa. I spent my last days in India in the most horrible place called Ladakh. I'll never go back there in two years. Since I haven't relayed that adventure I'll do so now before I express the complete state of anand (bliss in Hindi?) I'm in because I'm in Kathmandu.

After leaving Jaisalmer I did a whirlwind tour of Bikaner (which was unimpressive), Amritsar (it was hot, but the Golden Temple was very interesting), McCleod Ganj (where his holiness the 14th Dalai Lama resides along with the exiled Tibetan government), then onto Manali, and finally Leh. In that time period I met an Italian guy named Andrea, a Slovakian named Andrej.

Real quick tangent. When he asked me what I thought of Bratislava I said I was presently surprised by how much I liked it. I didn't tell him e the whole reason why I liked it. During our train ride he asked what I thought of the women. The damn burst and out came the truth. As previously stated, the Slovakian women are the most beautiful on earth. Andrej and I laughed and he said, "Yes. We are very proud of this."

Andrej was suffering from stomach problems when I left. His journey took him through Iran and Pakistan before getting to India. I have to admit I was jealous of this because as an American I don't think I could go through the middle east safely.

Anywho I left for Manali and encountered a group of some of my most favorite people - the Spanish - on the bus. One guy is American and Irish - Ian - but grew up in Spain. The next morning we went our separate ways as I headed to old Manali (should've gone to Vaishisht) and planned my journey up to Leh.

The bus ride up takes two days on rough road that are constantly being worked on by guys stained in tar. Over the course around twenty eight hours we covered 295 miles. We camped one night at an elevation of 5000 meters, drove on the second highest pass in the world, and everyone on the bus suffered altitude sickness. Some felt nauseous, and everyone felt lethargic. Once we reached Leh i wish I never arrived. I'm sure this is the same way I'll feel when I do it again two years from now. Really everyone, stay away!

I hung out with an Irish guy - Tomas - doing his PhD in genetics and his friend from Delhi - Sarev- who is getting his masters in neuroscience. Sarev gave me hope that less than ninty percent of Indian males are assholes. Funny thing during my bus ride my view of Israelis stayed the same. I sat next to a cool Israeli guy, but the others on the bus were a bit unfriendly. I sat with them for a meal and on another occassion Tomas and Sarev did, and they spoke Hebrew the whole time. Rude don't you think? Anyhow I did meet a few other decent Israelis so the jury is still out on that one.

I watched the sunset on thje Himalayas from two different spots and ran into Ian and a few other Americans (Emmy and Naomi) at both sights. I was supposed to take a jeep down one night, but it got canceled on me the first night. I was a bit stressed out by this because of my visa situation and almost walked something like 6km close to midnight. After about 1km I turned back. I was pissed to have to spend another day in Leh, but oh well. I did get to see Ian and the girls again and hang out with Sarev's friend.

At 2am I got picked up by a jeep to head down to Manali. Four Israelis were in the jeep (and a Swiss woman and the two drivers). This could've been a problem, except they were some of the nicest people I've met. Steroetypes are bad. I should keep this in mind. The journey back down took nineteen hours, and was once again full of me being snap happy. Hey, the light was different this time. Nineteen hours could've been hellish as the iPod was acting up again (I think it suffered from altitude sickness), but the bhang cookies I saved from Jaisalmer helped mellow me out. I had two on the way up as well :-). We arrived in Manali after dark and I took a room near the bus station to prepare for the trip to Dehli.

I wandered around central Manali until about 15:00 then went to catch my bus. The further down the mountain we went the hotter it got. I noticed ceiling fans blazing and less woolen clothing, and knew the heat and humidity were coming to get me. After our dinner break I popped a special pill Emmy gave me. It was just something to help me sleep on the hot and uncomfortable ride. i probably drooled on the guy sitting next to be. I think I remember getting off the bus at a rest stop at two in the morning, but I might have been dreaming. The pill worked great and I still have three left :-).

We arrived in Delhi the next morning and, being well rested, I was ready to duke it out with some rickshaw drivers. Unfortunately I think I still got screwed, but I split the fair with a Japanese guy. I didn't see much of Delhi, but it was in the upper thirties (celsius) so I didn't really care. I sorted things out with my flights and wandered around Paraganj. Later that night I would have my last and the second worst Indian meal since coming here (the worst was in Bikaner). I ordered a tandoori chicken that didn't have that pinkish red glaze to it. When I asked about this the guy told me they don't add color of spices to the chicken because they cater to European tastes. Bland and boring? Bah!

Today I took a private car to the airport. I remembered Sarev and a Belgium woman saying the south burbs of Delhi are nice. I could kind of see that. I got to the airport really early and caught the flight out without a hitch.

I can't explain how happy I am to be in Nepal. There are moments where I feel like I'll burst out of my skin. I feel reenergized. I finally met Deven, a Nepalese guy I've been emailing for a few weeks. I was introduced to him by Karla and Maria from Canada. He met me at the airport and arranged a place for me to stay, although it's a bit more than I want to pay. I'll move out tomorrow. And I got an email from a guy I met in Slovenia. He's stayiong just down the street from me. Deven and his cousin are helping me set up a trek. I'm going to be surrounded by mountains for almost two weeks while on the trek.

I'm kind of happy right now. :-)

Ladakh Sucks

2005-08-28T16:57:00.000+09:00

This is a lie, but it's what I'll tell people if they ask me. It's just my luck that I would find the coolest place in India then have to rush out of here because my visa expires on the third. Actually this place doesn't feel like India at all. Maybe that's why it's so appealing. I'm already thinking about coming back here either next year or the year after and spending the whole season here - which lasts from July until about mid September.

Leh sits at 3500 meters in elevation and the ride here took us up as high as 5600 meters. The road we took was the second highest motorable road in the world. I'm sure everyone on the bus was feeling the effects of altitude sickness. We camped for the night in what some believed to be below freezing temperatures. It was cold, but I don't think it was that cold. Two guys on the bus are convinced someone died of hypothermia and were replaced so none of us noticed the missing body. Hmmm. There were a few new faces on the bus...

It's a shame I'm only able to spend three days here because it took two days to get up here and will take about 19 hours to get back down to Manali, then another 16 hours to Dehli to catch my flight to Kathmandu. I've decided to fly because of the japanese encephalitis outbreak in Gorakhpur where I would have to go to get a bus to Nepal. I've been vaccinated for j.e., but I've been told that the vaccine isn't 100%, and I went off schedule on the three shot series whcih makes it a bit more risky.

This is sobering

2005-08-21T23:02:00.000+09:00

I just read this article off Google news.

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Health&slug=Encephalitis+death+toll+rises+to+100&id=77660&callid=1&category=National

I have to go to Gorakhpur to get to Nepal. Let me put this another way. I'm taking a train from Dehli to Gorakhpur, then walking 500m to the bus stand and possibly waiting an hour for the bus to the border! It just so happens Japanese encephalitis was the one vaccination I went off the schedule on, which the nurse told me did not guarantee the success of the vaccination. This is making me think I might fly into Nepal instead.

I then read this article which says basically children are more succeptible, it's more informative and better written.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/3839.html

I need to get out of India

2005-08-21T19:05:00.000+09:00

I have 13 days left on my visa and haven't seen the Himalayas yet. 13 days sounds like a long time, but it's not. After I post this I'll look up the penalty for overstaying my visa then weigh the consequeces. I was planning on taking a slow and rough journey through Kashmir to get to Leh. That road hugs the line of control between Pakistan and India so mortar shells could be flying. Unfortunately, I won't get to find out. I'll be heading to Dharamsala to high five the Dalai Lama, then head to Mandi for a second before going to a village (Malana) in the Parvati Valley where I'm not allowed to touch anything or anyone. If I do I pay a fine and they have to sacrafice a goat, which I would have to pay for as well. I'm not kidding.

After I posted statistics about Indian men I ran into a real life example during my not so fun journey from Bikaner to Amritsar. I was at the train station in Jalandhar on very little sleep over the two previous nights. One night I was at the very back of the bus (heading to Bikaner) where the seats don't push back and some asshole decided we would sit six in a space for five. The second night the train arrived late (2am) and I slept until around seven when it got too warm to keep sleeping. This was sort of my fault because I bought the train ticket after arriving in Bikaner (on no sleep) and thought Rs 1600 (about $40) was too much to pay, so I paid Rs 250 (about $5) for a non- AC train car. I should've gone with a little less cash and a lot more comfort (and sleep).

I was going to mention the two examples. The guy at the train station started to talk to me. After a while he tells me he's very happy to be talking to me because he has to take an english proficiency test in order to study over seas, his choice being Australia. He's a good guy, intelligent and just curious about my thoughts of India, the U.S., and George Bush. He hit the right button because I'll tell anyone who wants to listen how much I hate Bush and why he's the ultimate asshole. We talked until our respective trains arrived and I wished him luck on his test and getting into university in Australia.

The second guy I met was on the train to Amritsar. I don't know how the conversation led to him asking me this, but the question was why do you dress this way? I didn't understand what he meant so he goes on about how I don't dress nice enough (for who? him?!?) and I could easily afford to dress better.

Let me describe this asshole for you. He's about a five foot six inch pudgy fuck with too much product in his hair which he keeps slicked back. He's got regular slacks and a button down shirt that's not impressing me, and sunglasses on top of his head. As I'm about to answer him his phone rings and he holds up a finger. I thought about snapping the finger backwards.

After he's done with his call he doesn't let me answer and moves on to a different subject. Women. He asks if I'm married or have a girlfriend. I tell him no and he asks me if I'm saying that because I don't want to tell him her name. I'm about to throw f-bombs all over him. Then he asks if I've ever been in love and I say yes. He asks why didn't I marry her. I didn't want to get married. He says so you just used her and dropped her? I can't fucking believe the never of this guy. Voices are getting raised and I'm drawing stares from people on the train. He goes on about how it's my duty to keep the woman I'm in love with and marry her.

Somewhere in that mess of a conversation we agree to disagree. He tells me he's training to be a flight attendant and wants to work on his english. I told him he needs some more work (and wanted to say most male flight attendants are homosexual).

There. Half of the Indian males I had a conversation with were assholes.

There. I said it.

2005-08-20T00:19:00.000+09:00

When I was in Hampi I discovered that a lot of people there hate Israelis. Note they hate Israelis, not Jews. This is because Israelis come here because it's close and cheap and they can drink and do drugs all they like, which I guess is not allowed in Israel. It shouldn't be a big deal for them to have a good time, but then they get out of hand. I've heard stories of Israelis not paying for meals or rooms and just leaving. They also treat the locals like they are beneath them. These are the same people once persecuted by the Nazis, curious. I don't think the Israeli people visiting India are much acting like the chosen people.

After I left Hampi and went to north India where all the tourists are, I finally saw first hand how Israelis act towards locals. The stories I heard are true. I've witnessed both men and women act like complete assholes and treat every local they encountered like a sub-human. The fucked up thing is the people of India know Israelis count for a lot of their tourism so they try to make the Israelis feel more comfortable by doing things like having Israeli food on the menu.

A guy I ran into was a total dick to me because he mistook me for being Indian. I have met Israelis who are good people. One of them felt like she had to apologize when she told people she's from Israel. I know how she feels. The other was kind of a drugged out rasta dude. He was way out there, but he was nice and cool to everyone.

That was my main observation. the other ones I want to make are:

I believe half of the men in India are assholes and I'm not the only one. A question a French guy asked me was if I was able to meet and have a good talk with any locals. I can count on my hands how many friendly people I've met here who haven't tried to screw me. At least I'm not a woman. Someone in Mamallapuram pointed out to me that women (travellers) are seena s money bags or whores and have to dispell this quickly. Men as just seen as money bags, maybe whores by some.

99% of rickshaw drivers are definately assholes, but everyone knows by now I'm a bit biased.

I've got a fever of a hundred and three

2005-08-16T20:08:00.000+09:00

I ate something bad and have been bed ridden for the past two days. I think it may have been the samosas I bought from a street vendor listed in Lonely Planet. I don't quite trust the doctors diagnosis because he didn't bother to do the routine things like check my blood pressure and listen to my breathing. It less than two minutes he told me it was travellers diarrhoea and prescribed me some drugs that are making me loopy, but no longer feverish. My fever was almost 104 degrees. After his diagnosis I had to give him some baksheesh ( bribe or offering). At that point I didn't care, I needed to stop feeling horrible. In the haze of my fever I nearly wrote my last will and testament. Because of my illness I will probably skip out on the camel safari I had planned.

The past two days have been pretty hellish as Jaisalmer is fucking hot. Fortunately it's dry desert heat, but I have been dehydrated as well. I was extremely weak and stopped sweating until just a few hours ago when I took an electrolyte drink to help me retain water. I'm supposed to stay here for a few more days to make sure it's nothing too serious. My self diagnosis told me it was either typhoid, heat stroke, or again possibly malaria. I ruled out typhoid because I remembered the vaccination I took in pill form. Malaraia as I stated previously has all kinds of symptoms. Heat stroke seemed likely because I was walking for five hours during the hottest part of the day a couple days ago and according to LPs health section I had a lot of the symptoms, one being aggressiveness. I nearly picked a fight with a local because he snapped his fingers at me to move my bag, sat too close to me, and started to sing (every male here is a contestant for Indian Idol).

So my plans are still to go up to Ladakh to see the Himalayas before the roads close due to snow. The later I go the less touristy it will be. Afterwards I still plan on going to Nepal to meet up with a friend of two Canadian girls I met in Goa. I will probably only have a short time in Thailand before I meet up with the folks in Vietnam, but that's fine since I have a lot of time in southeast asia. I do have to be in Thailand on 8 October to celebrate the birthday of a woman I met in Mamallapuram.

Ouch! Stomach cramps.

Rajasthan

2005-08-13T23:42:00.000+09:00

I've got a wicked headache right now. I've been in Rajasthan for over a week now. My first stop was in Pushkar. I didn't like the laid back lifestyle at first, but then it grew on me. My next stop was Udaipur, the most romantic city in India. I thought it was crap and people all around me were getting sick (stomach) from something so I decided to get out of there. I'm in Jaisalmer now and may be setting out for a camel safari the day after tomorrow.

I need to go lay down.

Goodbyes and monkeys

2005-08-03T20:48:00.000+09:00

I said a very quick goodbye to Mark and Lucy. I felt like I got kicked in the gut when they drove away in the rickshaw. It's the same feeling I had when Iain, Adrian, and I parted ways as well as with Gerald and Hermance.

It doesn't take long for me to get used to having people around me, especially when travelling with them. If they are like minded people, it's a quick and strong connection because we spend most of the day together. Because of the amount of time spent together, we get to know each other fairly quickly and they become my surrogate family for the time we are together.

. . .

I'm in Agra now and saw the Taj Mahal this morning as I arrived on the train. The hotel I'm staying at has a perfect view of the Taj from it's roof top. While I was sitting up there listening to Weezer (Holiday) and doing a little bit of writing, a good sized monkey appeared just three feet away from me. I was a bit startled cause it knocked over a chair. We stared at each other for a moment and I looked away feigning boredom. What I really thought was if it lost the stare down it would get pissed and chew off my face. It just ate the mango peels someone left out and went down the side of the building.

Speaking of monkeys there is only one black faced monkey with a long prehenstile tail living in Varanasi. This monkey rules the neighborhood and strikes fear in the hearts of all the other monkeys. When it leaps from building to building it's one of the most graceful things I've ever seen. The neighborhood people scream and shout out of love and hate for it when it appears in the morning and evening.

The black faced monkey is a smart one as well. One of the guys in the neighborhood attacked it with a stick. The monkey followed the guy back to his room and waited for him to come out. A small monkey is intimidating enough, but the black faced one looks like it's the size of a small child.

I can't think of a title

2005-08-01T18:07:00.000+09:00

The bus ride from Chennai was trying, but nowhere near the hell of the bus leaving Goa. I arrived in bangalore early in the morning, and woke up to a street lined with healthy green trees. I wasn't sure I was in India, until we turned the corner and there were cows and other sorts of livestock roaming the streets. Bangalore is one of the IT capitals in India being ultra modern and classic India without the feeling of hopelessness I had in Mumbai. Bangalore could pass for any "western" city with all the positives and negatives.

After not being able to find a place within my budget, I booked a train to Hospet later that night. I bummed around Bangalore and saw the Fantastic Four movie. It was crap. Don't go to see it. I bargained with three rickshaw drivers before I found a resonable offer and got back to the train station. The train was my first air conditioned train. I wanted a regular sleeper, but would have been wait listed so I decided to just pay the extra money. I expected something grand. My bedding was damp and little cockroaches were running around in the coach. Bollocks.

The next morning I talked to the big white guy who was in the berth behind mine. Both Mark and his wife Lucy are of British descent, and both live in Hong Kong. Lucy was born there and Mark has lived there for eleven years. You can see the gears grind to a halt when people ask us where we are from.

Mark suggested I should take an autorickshaw with them to Hampi and split the cost. We've now been hanging out for over a week. I ran into them at a perfect time because I was sick of making decisions and being hassled. Mark is good at making things happen and because he's 6'3" and according to him, funny looking, people don't even look at me. They can't even see me sometimes.

Hampi was amazing, but raining most of the time we were there. I can see myself going back and spending a month wandering around. We got a place across the river from the bazaar. There were at most five other travelers on that side of the river, so it was nice and peaceful. The countless boulders and green rice paddies were what we woke up to everyday. Although the mosquitoes were killers at night because of all the stagnant water from the paddies. I had to trade my Tevas in for shoes at night and the only exposed part of my body was my head. The mosquitoes were biting Mark through his pants! We were eaten alive.

Mark, Lucy and I enjoyed the slow pace of life in Hampi for five days before making the long haul trip to Varanasi. We spent three nights on two different trains to get here. I'm slowly reaclimating to the heat and the pollution. Tomorrow I'm heading to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and they are going to Kolkatta. I'm trying to sort out when I'm heading to Nepal, Bangkok, and Vietnam. The dates on all the flights are open. The only thing I have to do is meet the folks in Vietnam on October 15.

Bait and switch

2005-07-20T16:24:00.000+09:00

Places all around India love the old bait and switch. The sign says internet is Rs 10 for an hour, but upon going to pay "That price is for members only." I'm not going to argue too much about it, but it's the principle of it that gets me. Fine. I'll pay the Rs 20 instead and bitch about it while I'm doing it, what I won't do is pay Rs 30 cause homeboy says I've been on the computer for longer. I got shafted once and ever since then I use the stopwatch function on my watch and point out to them the time ticking away.

Now that I'm in the mood I want to talk about my favorite people in India, rickshaw drivers, taxi drivers, and touts. They can all go to hell. In the case of the drivers it's like saying, "I don't like people from the south." Not all people from the south are bad, but a lot are. Not all drivers are assholes, but most are. Therefore drivers are assholes. It's inherent to their job, kind of like SF cops are assholes. It's a prerequisite for their profession. If the drivers were to die and are hindu, then they would should probably be reincarnated as a leech or some kinfd of parasite.

Drivers lie. This is also part of their job. Upon arriving in Chennai a rickshaw driver offers to take me to the town center for Rs 120. Fuck that! It should be Rs 50 at most. I tell him Rs 40 to start the bargaining, but he's being a dick so I walk away. Another approaches me for the same price and doesn't want to talk about lowering the price. He also tells me we're 15km away. I ask when they put another 7km between the station and the city. Of course he doesn't understand, or pretends not to.

I decided to take a bus and ask the info desk which one takes me there. For Rs 5 the bus takes me within ten minutes walk of the place I'm staying. Driver #2 walks me to the bus telling me the whole time about how it's the wrong bus, even though he doesn't know where I'm going. He's at the window of my bus seat still trying to get me to come with him, then he tells me the bus is a two hour wait. Then another bus pulls up that's leaving right away. Bye bye asshole.

Touts are people who try to lure you into any place of business for a comission to be added on to the price of whatever you are buying. In my case last night, a bus ticket out of this pit of despair. I had already talked to three different private operators and two of them were willing to give me a lower price than we had started. I told them I would come back after I ate because I was too hungry to deal with the matter. As I walked back some dude with a chip in his two front teeth kept walking with me and pointing me to other private operators. He didn't speak english and I don't speak tami so telling him to fuck off didn't work so well.

I went back to the guys I made a verbal agreement with and with the tout in tow. I put my hand in his face and waved good bye, but he didn't understand what I was getting at. Things escalated a bit when the tour operators told him I talked them earlier so he wasn't getting a comission. He got pissed off and I was asked to come back today. In hindsight I should have gone with someone else.

Fending off all the drivers and touts gets exausting, especially in a city full of them. I have felt like resorting to a more hands on approach many times, but I'm not sure how the law here works and an Indian prison is the last place I want to be.

. . .

I hate the cities here. When people squat down I think the worst, usually it's worse. I took a wrong turn yesterday and went through one of the filthiest areas I've ever seen. The air wasn't as bad as Mumbai, but it was close. It was thick with exhaust and the smell of grease. There aren't any emissions laws here so almost every vehicle is adding to the problem. Maybe that's another reason I stay away from rickshaws.

I can't believe the government allows this to happen. I know this happens in the U.S., but it never bothered me before because I never saw the problems concentrated like they are here. I see the beauty of this country in it's people, not in the cities. I don't know how these places function. Where are the social programs to help the people? Where is the infrastructure to help clean up the cities?

I bought a ticket for Nepal. Less than a month to go in India.

Mamallapuram

2005-07-20T02:50:00.000+09:00

I left a small fishing village called Mamallapuram yesterday where some of the most talented rock carvers in the world live. As I was yelling at a tout trying to lead me to a room, I noticed two girls speaking American english out in front of a shop. They told me they both volunteer in a smaller fishing village 20km away. Then the shop owner showed up, a 24 year old guy named Mani who is a genius when it comes to stone carvings and sculptures. He's been doing it for twelve years!

Every time I went to visit him he wanted me to sit down, talk, and have tea. I was cautious at first, but he's a totally genuine guy and even teaches people to make pennants and other simple things. I hung out there for hours, and watching him turn a piece of stone into a statue is amazing. I also met a couple (David and Stephanie) from Hawaii. When I asked them where people from India think they are from, they both answered Japan without missing a beat. We went to hang out with the locals one night after the bar closed to have a bonfire on the beach. It was more like just a fire. The party broke up when a couple of guys started to fight over one of the (white) girls. Up until that point things were cool.

The whole Japanese thing has been bothering me a bit. I've been thinking about why, and here is the answer I came up with. First it's usually somebody I don't want to talk to, but more importantly it's cause I'm not Japanese nor do I look anything like any other Japanese person I've ever met. It's the same way I felt when I was younger and some ignorant ass thought I was Chinese. Every time someone yells "hey konichi-ba" I feel like telling them to fuck off. Most of the time I just shake my head and say I'm not Japanese, then usually they start following me and sputing off as many Asian countries they can name (usually repeating a few) without ever saying Vietnam, but then I'm American so they're way off.

This way supposed to turn into another bitch session about how I think the Indian government and the British are responsible for all that's wrong with India, but I don't feel like doing that right now. Maybe next time.

Happy Bastille Day

2005-07-14T22:37:00.000+09:00

The French consulate in Pondicherry are celebrating by putting on fireworks display tonight. I think all the French travelling in India (except for Gerald and Hermos) are here.

Mmmmm...dosai

2005-07-14T00:17:00.000+09:00

I'm feeling a lot better today than I did yesterday. I'm in a town called Pondicherry, a former French colony relinquished about 50 years ago. I mostly rested yesterday, and worried about the possibilities of having contracted malaria. I was sweating profusly and remembered, through my internet research, sweating was one of the second stage symptoms of malaria. The research also said self diagnosis was not a good idea. Why? Because malaria has all kinds of symptoms that are similar to the common cold, flu, and maybe food poisoning.

I later deduced the reason I was sweating was because Pondy is notoriously humid. It's that type of humidity where no matter what you do you sweat. I turned off the fan in my room for just a few minutes and little beads were dripping from my forhead.

The good thing about Pondicherry is it's right on the Bay of Bengal and there are two nice beaches about five kilometers from the town center. This would be great for me if I wasn't fight my malaria cold. The other thing keeping me away from the beach is the minor sunburn I got on my shoulders from walking to the eastern tip of Rameswaram. Yes I used sunscreen, but I don't think I reapplied often enough in the five hours (from 11 until 4). Yes it was stupid of me to go shirtless the whole time, but I wanted to get rid of the minor farmer tan I had going. Instead I got a nice backpack tan (the type of tan one gets while walking in the sun for five hours shirtless, yet wearing a backpack). I had my trucker hat on so my nose and face are ok.

In the last entry I meant to state some positive things about India because most of the time I ragging on it. Here is one of the best things about India. The food.

I've eaten nothing but Indian food while being here. There was one day a few weeks ago I would've killed for something different. Well that's the thing. You can't typify "Indian food." It's different depending on where you are in India. I think the main division is between the north and the south, but withing each region the dishes are prepared with different spices so alu gobi in one place is different from alu gobi in another.

My breakfast usually consists of idly - a spongy, round, fermented rice cake - and a masala dosai (thin lentil flour pancake, kind of like a crepe stuffed with onions and potatoes) follwed by tea (chai). For luch I usually have what they call "meals." I think the true name for it is thali. You get between three to ten different little bowls of stuff usually served on a banana leaf. It's all you can eat. They give you pappadum and rice (I got chapatti at one place) and you just start mixing everything together and chow down.

India is a country that will be reckoned with one day. There is so much potential here. The people are bright and intelligent. I'm sorry, I can't go much farther with this right now. I'm thinking about food.

I will come back to India again, because there is no way I'll be able to see the whole country in the time I have.

Kanyakumari, Rameswaram, and Malaria?

2005-07-11T00:34:00.000+09:00

I didn't think I would sleep on the train but I had to. Even though the train was hot, the lights were on, and my "seat" was the wooden bench of unreserved second class, my body made me sleep. An old man tried to claim some space on the bench between me and another guy. In a past life I would've given him the space and left myself uncomfortable. Not now.

The old man kept sliding back so I had to put up my elbow. It was pressing into his kidney area. It was already warm on the train and physical contact with him made it warmer, but I wsn't about to give up a space I had claimed fairly. After half an hour or so, he got the picture. Good, cause I was starting to nod off.

Around two or three in the morning the train emptied significantly. I moved to an empty bench and laid down and slept until I was woken up at the next stop, by someone shaking me by my ankle. It was quite reminiscent of the train to Poland, where I snapped awake, bewildered, only to have to prove I paid for the train. The conductor was cool and told me we had a few more hours and should get some sleep.

The next time I opened my eyes the sun was just beginning to come out over the mountains. I'm really surprised by how many mountain ranges I've seen. They would be nice to hike if it wasn't in the 90s.

At Kanyakumari I left the train station and had to deal with the drivers who wanted to take me wherever I was going. I knew I wasn't far and I told them all I would walk. It's amazing how taking a few steps can lower the cost of a ride down to five rupees.

I settled into a place with a sixth floor terrace where I could watch the sunrise at the southern most point in India. Three bodies of water - Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and the Arabian sea - meet here. I checked out some temples, another Gandhi memorial where his ashes were stored before they were tossed into the sea, and learned about a monk named Vivekanada, who wandered around India on a pilgrimage. This is when I realized I've been following a similar path to his and have been on a personal pilgrimage. I took a ferry out to the islands where it is said Vivekanada swam to and had a moment of enlightenment. The there's a temple and memorial on one island and a huge statue of Vivekanada on the other.

While queueing for the ticket to the memorial I felt someone behind me trying to edge his way in front of me. It's a bit more difficult to do so in this queue because there are are parallel metal bars directing people to the ticket window, and I had my elbows sticking out behind me which he ket running into. The guy in front of me got done paying and asshole behind me reaches over me to hand money to the ticket window. What would Viet do? I had to push him arm back to where it came from and claim my spot.

People here will walk all over you here if you let them. I was talking to my sister the other night and told her one thing India has done for me is it's made me a bit more scrappy. I'm actually quite glad for this. Thank you people of India.

I met a nice Indian family who are living in Orange County. I ran into them a few days later on the beach in Rameswaram. After leaving the very south of India I headed to the island of Rameswaram. The nine hour trip took closer to twelve on the most horrible pot holed roads imaginable. I'm surprised we didn't break an axel.

As we crossed the bridge onto the island the bus finally died. No! We were only 20 minutes away. After about fifteen minutes of work they were able to get the bus started again, and I checked into my room at around nine. There wasn't much to do on the island until I found the beach.

When I first saw the blue water crashing on the beach, I started shed some tears I was so happy. I felt the way DiCaprio felt in The Beach (movie) when they finally found what they were looking for (the book is still much better). The city bus dropped us off at a little village and I walked for an hour along the beach before turning back for fear of walking in the dark. I just wanted to get a little feel of how far it was to the eastern tip of the island.

When I got back to the bus stand the cops from the police check point there came out to say hi. I told them they had a tough job sitting on a beach all day and watching the waves roll in. I wondered why no one swam and they told me the currents there were too dangerous. Damn. The perfect beach was spoiled.

The next day I went back to the beach after breakfast. I was determined to get to the eastern tip of the island. I could've paid some guys at the village to take me there, but their asking price was too steep. I had four liters of water and some biscuits for lunch and set off.

An hour into the walk and I was back at the same place as the previous day. This was the beginnings of ruined buildings from a cyclone that hit Rameswaram in 1964. There was a smell of rotting flesh and I saw a colorless porpoise or dolphin washed up on the beach. It was surprising that the crows or other animals hadn't picked at the carcass yet.

I walked near some small villages where some of the locals kids came out to say hi and ask for a pen. LP says not to encourage this behavior and I tend to agree with them. I spoke to them all for a short time and set off again.

I thought it would only take me an hour and a half to walk to the eastern tip, but the sand was slowing me down and I started to get blisters on the balls of both big toes. I had to press on I knew I was close. Fifteen minutes later I passed a Navy checkpoint and a local family walking the other way. Another fifteen minutes and all I saw was a solitary figure looking for sea shells. I avoided hinm cause I didn't want to talk and could see the eastern tip.

At this point it was a short walk to the north side of the island. I was shocked by how calm and shallow the water was on the north side. It's perfectly safe to swim over here with a nice lagoon. I kept walking and reached the eastern tip a little over two hours after I started walking. I was alone and loved it.

I could see Adam's bridge which is series of reefs, islets, and sandbanks that almost connect Rameswaram to Sri Lanka. I took a dip in the safe side of the island where the water temperature was perfect. I wished I could stay in that spot for a few days, but I had to walk back.

The walk back was uneventful after having experienced a few moments in paradise. I got another blister, this one on the side of my big toe during the walk back, but it was worth it.

Quickly what happened today. I'm feeling sick. I was worried it might be malaria, because of the slight fever, and I've been eaten alive by mossies the last few days. I went to a hospital here and paid less that a dollar for seeing a doctor and less than two dollars for medicine. And the nurse there was the first person here to say I looked Filipino instead of Japanese. Still wrong, but I know where she's coming from.

A Minor Setback

2005-07-05T03:12:00.000+09:00

I was supposed to be on my way to Kanyakumari, the most southern town in India. The bus was supposed to pick me up from my place at 9:30. I know the private buses aren't always on time, but it was an hour late so I asked the guy at my guest house about it. He called the main office and told me there were no seats left. I told him I had a ticket so he ran to the main office and came back with my money. That's not what I wanted. I fucking wanted to be on the fucking bus. So now I have to wait until 1:45am to catch a train. And now that I'm solo again, I feel I have to stay awake in the unreserved second class train so as not to have anything stolen. Therefore I will stay up until at least 7am before I can get any rest,

So here is todays edition of what's fucked up about India:

I couldn't even give the guy who sold me the ticket any shit because he went home for the night. Instead I laid into the guy there and felt bad for it. I don't think he understood half the shit I was saying though.

There is no queue here, no matter what people say. Assholes continually try to cut in front of you for everything. I am however learning to use my 30lbs. backpack as a weapon. Dropping it on someones sandaled foot or into the side of their knee gets their attention quite well. I saw a kiwi girl smack a guy upside the head with hers as she got off the train (he was trying to push his way on as she was getting off). I had to laugh when it happened. I may end up in an India jail soon for assault with a dangerous weapon.

I woke up this morning (at 4:30) and there were a shitload of tiny little ants crawling all over my bed and biting me. I originally thought I had a nice room.

OK. Any one reading this knows I have a beef with India, but it is a great place and I would come back again, once I leave that is. Some people are really nice and some people just plain need to stop breathing, but you get that in a country with a billion people in it. Then again you get that in every country.

All I can do now is hopefully get a seat on the train and stay up for the next seven hours.

What!

2005-06-26T15:28:00.000+09:00

I would like to be more trusting of people, but when I'm solo like this I just can't. Yeasterday, I was approached by five different people who wanted to take me to silk facories, scented oil factories, music festivals, incense rolling competitions, and other various things. I was approached again today and told about an incense rolling competition. I told the guy someone told me it was yesterday. He told me no it was today and just up this way.

The other thing that bothers me a bit is everyone starts to walk with me to engage in conversation. When this happens I tend to shuffle around, just in case someone is behind me trying to fuck with my bag. No one has been there, yet. They usually walk with me for a while and ask questions I'd rather not answer like: where are you staying, how much is it for a room there, how long are you going to be here, and some other shit. I want to tell them to get the fuck away from me. I just want to walk around and be left alone. I'm not taking as many pictures as I'd like to because that seems to send up a flag for people to bother me.

Usually people seem harmless enough, but I just feel constantly on guard. I sometimes think about an old Chris Rock standup routine where he says "...women see me and they dial 9-1- just waiting for something to happen."

I'm waiting.

If I had a loving and hating section like JP does on his website, India would be on both lists every day.

Always in the matrix

2005-06-23T21:54:00.000+09:00

Internet places in India are interesting. Fortunately, since India is becoming a powerhouse in the IT industry internet hubs are everywhere. The only thing is you never know when the power might cut out or how fast the connection may be. Some days in the same place it might be lightning fast and others dial up slow.

The locals who spend time in these places are unique as well. I saw the same girl (who saw me in the same clothes) two consecutive days just chatiing online. Others I've seen surfing for porn (in public). Some places have put up signs saying porn watching is not allowed, but when they give someone a little cubical for privacy? I don't want to think about it.

Off on a little tangent here. Two guys who were "working" at one of these internet places both had no qualms about sticking their finger up their nose digging for treasure, while they were talking to me. Then after they found it just flicked it away. One guy sat down at my computer shortly after he was done in order to enter the password for me. I disinfected my hands with hand sanitiser as soon as I could. Incidentally he was the guy I caught watching porn.

I've spent most of the day today in a nice little internet place in Mangalore uploading photos. The younger guys like to come in here and play shooters or strategy games over the network. Most speak english so it's funny to hear them talk shit to each other while shooting each other. I don't know why, but it's amusing to me to hear them call each other bitch, asshole, and say "shit, shit man" in their accent. By the way most don't speak Hindi here. The major languages here are Kannada, Urdu, and Telugu. I can't tell the difference, but one thing I do notice is the pitch of one of the languages is very high.

So anyways new photos up now, but I'll work on the captions slowly. Sorry.

Monsoon

2005-06-22T17:40:00.000+09:00

I randomly approached someone with a Lonely Planet because it is the badge of a traveller, and so far the people who want to talk have been cool. If they didn't I would leave them alone. The guy is called Ferris (like Beuhler?) and he's half Palestinian and half German. A crazy little thing we found out while hanging out yesterday was he was an exchange student at Grand Haven High, which is about an hour from Grand Rapids, where I grew up. He also knew Grand Valley State University, where I went to college. It's crazy what a small world it can be.

I thought I had witnessed monsoon rain. Yesterday while walking around Panjim, nature decided to show me what real monsoon rain looks like. Ferris hadn't seen the big market yet so we went to check that out. It was raining pretty good, so water was gushing out of the market. We headed in anyways.

It's basically an open air market that's been covered up to protect it from the rain. Water was still getting in, so the paths I walked the previous day were flooded. We were ankle deep in water, some areas were worse.

As Ferris and I made it out to the open street, the rain decided the open act was over and it was time for monsoon to come out. Eight inches of rain fell from the sky in less than an hour while we watched the street we were on flood. Locals with long sticks were trying to clear debris from the drainage pipes. It didn't look like they were clearing it fast enough. Either that or pipes were just too clogged. We had no choice but to do what the locals were doing, wade into the water to get to a non-flooded street. I don't want to think about what was living in the water we walked through.

We had to be careful stepping off the curbs because of the gaps between the high curb and street that is meant to drain the water. Since the water wasn't draining, the gap filled with water and you couldn't tell where the gap ended and street began.

After maybe an hour the rain turned into a light drizzle. We continued to wander a bit more, and headed to a restaurant near the guesthouse where I stayed. As we were walking, it sudenly felt like someone was pouring buckets of water on our umbrellas. The monsoon rain decided to come out and play again.

We found some shelter under an awning, and waited. Again we witnessed the water level of this street rise. It was at least six inches of rain in half an hour. I thought about the other street and what might be happening over there. They might be knee deep in water at that point if they didn't manage to clear the drains.

Once again the rain subsided, and we waded our way back to Ferris' room so he could change his pants. We had dinner at the restaurant attached to the place he was staying, and around seven last night I set off to catch my bus to Mangalore.

Just as I headed back to grab my bags the rain started up again. By the time I set off for the bus it was pretty dark out, and the rainjust kept coming. I wasn't quite sure where the bus left from, but I had a general idea of the area.

I had to wade through anle deep water again, and work my way through traffic to find it. It's a harrowing experience to be walking inbetween cars, motorcycles, buses, and autorickshaws in the rain and darkness. Somehow, I made it across the street. Then I found out I had to cross the street once more.

When I found the bus, I happily got on and out of the rain. What I found on the bus was not better. I had booked a sleeper, not knowing exactly what that meant. THey basically built little bunks into the bus, not bad unless you wnat to sit and read. Also as I was getting on, the guys told me I would be sharing the bed, not the bunk, but the bed.

I took that information in stride, and wondered why the fuck they booked it that way for me. If anyone books with Paulo travels, make sure to get as much info from them as possible.

I changed my pants, and took everything out of my day pack. Everything was wet. My bed mate wasn't at this stop so I laid everything out so it could hopefully dry out a bit. In the meantime, the non AC sleeper was getting on my nerves. The road was insanely bumpy, I could smell fumes from the engine, and it was uncomfortably hot and damp. Some of the other beds were just straight up wet.

As I was close to losing it, I had to concentrate, I won't use meditate because I'm not sure that's what I did. I had to focus on the good things in my life. I thought first about my nephews. My sister told me their cousin from Germany was visiting them and Stefan was telling her a story about me. We were playing Spider-Man once, and I told him when I was around his age, I tried to get a spider to bite me so I could become Spider-Man.

I could just imagine him telling the story in his coy manner, his smile, and just the sound of his voice. I thought about Alex, Jacen, Chris and Steven and the rest of my family and my friends because they are the only thing that could help me get through that hell.

I'm in Mangalore now. I'm ok. It's raining and I'm wondering what the hell I'm doing here. I should just bite the bullet and head back north, but I'm hoping to find something in Hampi.

Go Go Goa

2005-06-21T00:51:00.000+09:00

Well nothing is really happening in Goa right now, except the monsoon. I don't know if I've ever seen rain coming down that hard before, literally sheets of water for five to ten minutes. Still it's nice to be here because of very few tourists.

I went to Old Goa, which was once a city that rivaled Lisbon in beauty. Goa was once a colony of Portugal and is still today primarily Catholic because of that. I met some fellow travellers (James - England, Maria - Nova Scotia, Karla - Nova Scotia) in Old Goa and went to mass with them at one of the churches. By this time we were back in Panjim, the capital of Goa. Mass was in one of the 18 official languages of India, so I couldn't follow it. Instead I thought about basketball. I felt bad about it, and I think God decided to punish the Pistons because yet again Robert Horry hit a three near the end of overtime to beat Detroit and give the Spurs a 3-2 lead in the finals.

After mass we went to a Bollywood movie. It was typical Bollywood - singing, dancing, attractive guy and girl, and some over the top story. The movie was nearly three hours long and a kid, maybe three years old, sitting behind us took turns kicking my chair and Maria's chair. It was stil a lot of fun, even though most of it was in Hindi.

The movies experience here is interesting. First of all like in Euope you buy an assigned seat, which I think is pretty cool, that way if you're there first you get a good seat no matter what. Second just before the beginning of every feature you rise for the national anthem. Last, there is an intermission during every movie. I think it's about five minutes. I've gone to the movies three times now, and paid about under $7 US dollars for first run movies.

I don't want to get into it at the moment, but my last day in Mumbai was a tough one. The city was getting to me, and I nearly brokedown in tears. I'm glad to be away from there. I'm going to try to meet Maria and Karla somewhere in Goa, and maybe try to convince them to come to Hampi.

They were just in Nepal, and said things were relatively safe there. I've heard this from a lot of people, so 'm going to head to Nepal and hopefully do the Everest basecamp trek.

More about Mumbai

2005-06-17T22:51:00.000+09:00

First of all, I just saw Batman Begins at the Eros theater in Mumbai. This is the best batman movie ever made! Go see this movie after you're done reading this post.

So to explain more about the time in India, it's 5 1/2 hours ahead of GMT, 10 1/2 hours ahead of the east coast, and 13 1/2 hours ahead of the west coast. Why? I haven't asked yet.

Now on to first impressions of mumbai. Fuck I just typed it and will have to retype.

The air not only has a smell, but a taste as well. It is somewhat metallic.

The other thing you notice is the poverty. People are everywhere. A bed is any flat surface. Little kids barely dressed, sometimes naked, was amongst heaps of rubbish. The disparity between the modern world and the slums sends my head spinning. I've seen the homeless in San Francisco, but this isn't like that. This is poverty. There are so many images burned into my mind. I saw a leper last night. Fortunately it was too dark for me to see him. Two kids, maybe in their teens were drinking water from the gutter. There was a little girl no more than 4 begging for money. She ws hopping in front of Niki holding out her hand while he was tryiong to side step her.

The sound of engines and horns fill the air. Sometime to the point where thats all you can hear. People are always all around you and the humidity makes eveything a little less bearable. It's opressive and pushes down on you.

Today was better. It didn't feel so hot, and there was a breeze that circulated the air. Niki and I have walked most of the two sections of Mumbai (Colabda and Fort) covered in the Lonely Planet. We've gotten to know the city a bit better and even have a local restaurant where we've had lunch twice now. An order of two samosas and a coke costs 23 rupees (just over 50 cents). So far the stomach is ok. Last night I wrote in my journal, "I'm still not sure if I can handle this place." Today, I think I'll be ok.

First Impressions

2005-06-16T22:46:00.000+09:00

The updates on the endof my european tour will have to wait. I landed in India this morning, the city of Mumbai otherwise known as Bombay. I thought I was prepared. My instinct to flee was building up during the cab ride into the city from the airport. Luckily, I met a Finnish (Niki) as I was prepaying for a cab. The Lonely PLanet book is a dead giveaway that you're a traveller, and we both had ours out.

Getting the cab was a little sketchy even though we had already paid for it. These guys kept running around with our certificate and we had to grab it back from them. They finally pulled up a cab for us, but it just didn't feel right. Niki didn't want to put his bag in the trunk and I agreed with that. When we got in the cab one of the guys out of the five running us around wanted a tip. We gave him a little bit and he wanted more. The driver took off and we left him with what he got.

Still not feeling quite right, I asked the driver if he knew where he was taking us. I'm not sure he quite did, which unsettled me further. Based on where the sun was in the sky I knew we were heading south, at least it was the right direction. It was the scariest cab ride I've ever taken and I'm glad we made it to the hotel. The things we experienced on the way are something I'll not soon forget.

Mumbai is a full assault on the senses. People talk about the smells. When it didn't immediately hit me when I got off the plane I let my guard down a bit. The cab ride slapped me back into my reality.

The air is hot and thick with humidity. Riding on top of that is the polution from the various motorized vehicles. Layer that with hot tar which I'm assume is being used to fix roads. At one point we pulled off the highway and were hit with the stench of rotting garbage. I tend to think I have a strong stomach, but I was greatful my stomach was empty. Attempting to breathe through my mouth was no comfort since, in my mind, I thought I copuld taste garbage in the moist air I was breathing. When we drove out of that I was only too happy to breath the regular air. The only places I seem to take deep normal breaths are in my room and places with AC.

I have to stop this entry for now, because time is running out at this internet place. I'll continue later or tomorrow.

Did you know India is 1/2 an extra hour ahead or behind everyone else.

Krakow

2005-05-31T01:14:00.000+09:00

It's raining in Gdansk so I have a lot of time to catch up. I also missed a train this morning so I'm hanging out with French Canadiens, a couple of Aussies, two Americans, and a kiwi.

Krakow. It's the new Prague. The original Prague is amazing, but the new Prague has less tourists, and the shit weather finally broke. Every day except for one was warm and sunny. The main square in Krakow is the largest in all of europe, measuring in at 200 meters square.

After getting off the train from Budapest, we were shut down when it came to finding a place to stay. Iain, Adrian, and I hooked up with Pete from New Zealand and Elton from Canada and followed them to two hostels - Dizzy Daisy and Bling Bling. Both were full, but the girl at Bling Bling sent us to The Stranger. The first thing I thought about was Dave Chapelle.

Once we got our packs off we took a nap cause sleeping on the train sucks and carrying a thirty pound backpack around for an hour at six in the morning takes a little bit out of you. We woke up from disco naps around noon and went to check out the city.

Krakow survived the bombings of WWII intact so everything has a certain authenticity to it. It's also well maintained and the blue skies and sun added to the amazing scenery. We spent the day just wandering and ended up sitting by Wisla river as the sun went down. We went out for beers and I started to fall asleep the way I do when I have too much beer and went back to the hostel for the night.

The next day we were supposed to go to Auschwitz, but since the FA cup final was to be played between Arsenal and Manchester U we stayed to watch it. Adrian donned his Arsenal jersey and we were on our way to find a pub to watch it. Arsenal won in a shootout and Adrian was ready to celebrate. I was a bit trashed when we left the pub, picked up a kebab on the way back to the new hostel, and checked in to Bling Bling drunk as a skunk, skunk, skunk, skunk.

My stomach was fucked so I went to sleep until about six in the morning until Iain and Adrain came stumbling in with the Swedish girls from our room. The Swedish girls were birds of a different feather and I never got along with them the way the other two did, but if I can't say anything nice about them I won't say anything at all.

Considering Iain and Adiran went to sleep around seven in the morning we missed out on Auschwitz that day as well. Iain and I went to the salt mines instead and Adrain went on his own to figure out his travel plans. We met another Australian couple (Adain and Michelle) and hung out with them for the day.

Sorry I'm losing concentration so more later.

The Train Story

2005-05-30T20:17:00.000+09:00

First, a quick update. I'm in northern Poland in a town called Gdansk. Poland is a great country. Forget all the Polish jokes you know.

Iain, Adrian and I caught the night train to Krakow. So on the ride they both mention stories of people getting gassed on night trains in Poland and getting their bags ransacked. I thought they were full of shit, but a lot of the Poles we talked to were surprised nothing happened to us. Lonely Planet has a warning in theiur book about this as well. I guess we were lucky.

At the start of our journey there were five people in our compartment. By the second or third hour it was just the three of us. Adrian already had his towel and swim trunks out and drying since we didn't have time to air them out after the bath house. I followed suit and Iain did as well. That was when we figured out the smell in our room in Budapest was not sewage, but Iain's towel. He hadn't washed it in more than two weeks and it was beginning to sour a bit. I guess that helped keep others out of our cabin.

I got out a pack of cards and we started to play shithead to find out who the ultimate shithead between the three of us would be. We were lounging and playing cards when we reached the border of Hungary and Poland.

The Hungarian border guard grabbed my passport and said to me, "Your name is Tran, Viet Nam?" I told him yes and smiled cause I thought he was getting a kick out of my name. He was not amused.

"And you were born in Michigan, USA?"
"Yes."

He rubbed the passport to see if there were any faults, and flipped through the pages a few times and eyeballing me the whole time. He finally stamped my passport, in the middle of the page. Thanks, asshole.

Now on to the Polish guards. They took my passport and opened up this huge book that looked like some ragged spell book Gandalf might read through. I wasn't sure what the hell they were cross referencing in the book, but I was cleared and stamped and we were on our way again.

The grand tournament to find the ultimate shithead continued and as the night wore on Rick Astley possessed us and Never Gonna Give You Up became the theme for the night. It's a story to be told some other time and it's really not that interesting. Just one of those songs that happened to come on at an opportune moment. Around midnight Iain was crowned The Ultimate Shithead.

I went to use the disgusting toilet just before bed and thanked a higher power I wasn't born a girl as I left the toilet. On the way back I noticed the compartment next to ours was empty. I asked Iain if he wanted to sleep there cause he's 6'4" and there's a lot of space for him to stretch out. Both he and Adrian said no caused they were kind of scared of getting gassed and raped or something.

I said fuck it and went into the empty train car. The train was already hot, but whoever was in there before had the heat turned up, so I had to shut it off and open the window. I locked the door and laid down. Just as I was falling asleep the conductor banged on the door and checked my ticket. Afterwards I fell back asleep. THe next thing I remember was someone grabbing my ankle and pulling it. I snapped awake, but it was another conductor asking to check my ticket. It must have been four in the morning at this point.

I woke up around five in the morning because POland gets light out beginning at 4:30 and the sun is fully up by 5:00. We rolled into Krakow around 5:30 and started over again. New country, new money, new language.

It's been a long time, which agrees with this watch of mine

2005-05-30T04:51:00.000+09:00

Budapest. Hostel good, Pest not so good, Buda good. Budapest was once two cities, Buda and Pest, but now known as Budapest. We got in late at night because the scenery in Brataslava was jaw dropping. Getting into a foreign city at night is one of the worst things one can do.

First of all we were disoriented once we got off the bus. Second we didn't have any Hungarian Forints. Last but not least we had to urinate. We found an ATM and got out some cash. One US dollar equals about two hundred forints. The toilet cost .70 forints. So naturally asking the toilet guard to break a two thousand forint note didn't go over well. There's not much you can do when the cash machines hand out such large denominations.

Aw fuck it. We decided find our way to the hostel. After finding the tram stop we realized yet again we needed coins to get a ticket. We hopped the tram without a ticket hoping not to get controlled, and luckily we didn't. The thing is I counted the stops wrong and we got off too early and went in the opposite direction of the hostel.

Once on the right track we were all grumbling about how sweaty and hot we were and how we hadn't had dinner yet. As we were approaching the hostel I said it better be a welcoming place. On the archway leading into the hostel the letters spelled out W-E-L-C-O-M-E. Ok maybe this place will be all right.

The super cute girl working the desk checked us in and showed us our room. She then told us to come down to the bar for a few beers once we got settled. No argument there. We knew before we checked into the hostel about the 24 hour bar.

We proceeded to get somewhat buzzed that night play pool on their nonstandard pool table and comment on Adrienne, the girl working the desk. Not to be confused with Adrian the Brit. By this time we also added a fourth member to our crew, Simon also from Australia.

The next day was kind of crap. Although we did see the huge synagogue and the tree monument. The day after we went to the bath house which was quite relaxing but old men in speedos and old women in thong bikinis kind of turned my stomach.

The next few days were a drunken haze as more people showed up at the hostel - Stella and Gabby from England, Todd and Ciaran from London, and other randoms from around Budapest coming to the hostel to party cause it was some holiday.

Inbetween beer we checked out the castle on the Buda side of the river and woke up one morning and found two Australian girls - Lydia and D'oh drawing a blank - in our room. So of course we proceed to party with them at the hostel.

The first morning after the new crew got there was rough on everyone. We decided we needed a hearty greasy breakfast. Eggs and bacon with some veggies mixed in was on the menu. The slabs of bacon we got cut at the store were at least an eighth of an inch thick and took forever to cook. Breakfast was served at three in the afternoon, but the consensus was it was the best breakfast we've ever had.

Honestly we didn't do very much except drink at the hostel. Although our last day together with the group we again went to the bath house and this time discovered the outdoor area. The inside of the bath house contained three pools of varying temperatures - 32, 34, and 36 degrees celcius - as well as a steam room and a sauna. The outdoor area is amazing and has a featured photo in Lonely Planet. All around are huge columns that remind you of the roman times and two huge pools, a 32 degree and a 36 degree pools. There was a lap pool as well, but a swim cap was required to Ciaran's disappointment.

The group went out for lunch and went our separate ways after that. The trio of Iain, Adrian and myself went off to Krakow after that. The train story will be told soon.

I don't know what day it is anymore and I don't care

2005-05-14T20:27:00.000+09:00

A lot has happened in the past week. I left Prague and went to a more chill town called Cesky Krumlov. The beer continued to flow like wine as more people from the hostel in Prague showed up. In hindsight we should have stayed in Krumlov Wednesday night because they bring in a keg of beer and everyone drinks for free, but we decided to head to Bratislava in Slovakia. It turned out to be quite an ordeal because we missed the early bus.

We left Krumlov at 11ish instead of 8. No big deal. We caught a train in Ceske Budejovice and saw the beautiful Czech countryside. When we got to Brno for the final connection to Bratislava, the shit hit the fan. Option one was to take the train to Bratislava. The train was delayed thirty minutes meaning we would miss the connection in the next town. Option two was to find the bus station. We found it but the bus never showed up. We spent nearly three hours in Brno walking back and forth between the bus and train station. The train was further delayed, two and a half hours now, so the bus was the only option. It got there at 7:40. Three hours to Bratislava and no place to stay yet.

We (Ian, Adrian, and I) rolled in to Bratislava and hated it. It was dark out. Nothing was open. We were tired, hungry, and cold. We found the hostel, and lucky for us they had rooms.

The next day we went to Vienna. It's only an hour away and what the hell. Why not? Adrian stayed the night in Vienna and as Ian and I made our way back to the bus station, we talked to a guy in the underground who was sporting a Finland jersey. Although Ian is Australian, he loves hockey and Finland even more.

We end up following the guy (I think his name is Rick) to the arena. They have a beer tent with a big screen TV set up and peolpe are partying. Ian and I score two tickets for the price of one from a scalper and head into the quarterfinals between Finland and Russia. The seats are great. Top level, seven rows back, right at center ice. And to Ian's enjoyment, we're surrounded by Fins, so he gets to practice his Finnish with everyone.

The Finns took an early 2-0 lead, but the Russians came back to tie it 2-2. THen the Finns scored a power play goal to make it 3-2. That was just the first period. Although I was cheering for the Finns, I cheered for the Russians when Datsyuk got free while Russia was short handed and scored for Russia to tie it 3-3. The game ended up in a shootout where Russia won (Datsyuk scored one of the goals during the shootout).

We missed the bus back to Bratislava and ended up staying in Vienna for the night. I spent yesterday and most of today wandering around Bratislava. It's sort of a cross between Krumlov and Prague. Tonight I leave for Budapest.

Love and hockey

2005-05-08T09:09:00.000+09:00

I met my future wife today. Unfortunately she had to go to Krakou before we could make the arrangements. D'oh!

I've missed hockey this year with the NHL being on strike. Fortunately for me the World championships are being played in Austria right now. Two nights ago I watched the US play Canada. A bunch of us from the hostel basically took over a bar and drank them dry - two and a half barrels of beer and all the absynthe. There were two Americans, including myself, two Aussies and about thirty five Canadians. The US lost 3-1 and the Canadians partied. I didn't really care so much since Draper's is wearing an 'A' and Maltby is on his line.

We watched the Czech vs Slovakia game (Czechs won 5-1) followed by Canada vs Sweden. I guess it was an upset since the Swedes came back from a 3-1 deficit to win 5-4. To top that Heinrich Zetterberg scored for the Swedes. I miss the Redwings.

I think I'm staying one more night in Prague before heading further south in the Czech Republic. I'll try to meet up with two Canadians in my room (Marty and Brock) somewhere.

Ciao

Praha

2005-05-07T09:58:00.000+09:00

I got into Prague yesterday morning and the one of the first things I saw was a truck for Saltic shoes - the best climbing shoe in the world. Unfortunately I saw a McDonalds right after that.

Prague is an amazing city with tons of history. I went on a five hour walk with a German history professor today.

SOrry to keep this short, but it's three in the morning and I'm quite drunk on the twenty five Korun beers - which equals out to a little over a dollar. Oh did I mention Czech women make me drool :-p

You and I, we are gentleman. It's ok.

2005-04-24T15:31:00.000+09:00

Last night Paul played a party outside of Paris. The party train started at Rue de la Mare with me, Paul, Roxanne, Magalie, and Amanda. Our group grew as the night went on when Magalie's boyfriend Michael and his Scottish friends (and a Brit) showed up to rock the party.

Paul's set started late and the crowd was peaking when he was playing. Acid tracks, techno, and tech house scrambled the mind of the crowd and united them as one. A good time was had by all and as the night winded down I was one of the Scotts, and a fan of the second place Celtics who play for first play today.

While the crew were saying good byes I was the lone wall flower and was approached by a gentleman and his lady friend. After a few lines of broken french were conversed the gentleman told me I looked sad. I told him it was late and I was tired that was all. I will now attempt to recreate the dialog:

Gentlman and his lady friend walk up to the wall flower.

Gentleman: What's wrong my friend? You look (pulling his face into a frown) sad.

Me: No, I'm ok. Just tired.

Gentleman: Do you like the party? Are you having a good time?

Me: Oui. My friend was Djing earlier.

Gentleman: Why are you not dancing now? Do you not like the women? Here this is my friend.

Me: Bon soir.

Lady friend: En chante.

Gentleman: Come we will dance. ( I'm pretty sure he meant the three of us).

Me: Non merci. I am waiting for my friends. We are leaving soon.

Gentleman: There is nothing to worry about. She is not my girlfriend.

Me: Oh, I understand. Mais non, merci.

Gentleman: Why? Just for two minutes. Come. (The lady friend walks away.) What is wrong do you not like parties and dancing.

At this point I'm smiling because I don't want to look "sad."

Me: Non merci. I am leaving with my friends soon.

Gentlman: There is nothing to worry about. You and I, we are gentleman. It's ok. (The lady friend comes back.) How old are you?

Me: Veinte huit.

Gentleman: Twenty eight?!? (Turns to lady friend.) Twenty eight?!? No! You look twenty two, maybe twenty three.

Me: Merci.

Gentleman: (Takes an firm and uncomfortable hold of my left wrist.) Come lets go. We dance for two minutes.

Me: (Breaking his wrist and walking away.) No really. Thank you. (The lady frind walks away again.)

Gentleman: (Gets a little closer and looks at my face.) The french women, they do not like the mustache. You have a mustache.

(Jesus I'm shaking right now as I type this cause it's still freaking me out!)

Me: Um, yeah. I didn't shave.

So anyways you get the point. In the next five minutes of the conversation Paul walks by and I try desperately to say "help" with my eyes. It doesn't work and the chess game continues to a stalemate. He tells me something about him being Arabic and Morraccan and this is how gentleman do it.

Apparently I'm not a gentleman, and I think I'm ok with it.

Paris in the spring

2005-04-20T19:23:00.000+09:00

It's still not too warm here. I haven't had warm weather since the first two weeks in Spain. The shirt I'm wearing smells like the room I had in Lisbon, but it's clean I think. C'est la vie.

I flew into Paris on Monday from Lisbon. Since I stayed in Spain for so long I didn' t want to spend the time to take the bus or train through the Basque country, even though it would have been nice to see Bilbao and San Sebastien. I also had been telling Paul and Roxanne I'd be here soon. The first time I said that was almost three weeks ago.

Paul and I (and Roxanne for a bit) walked around Paris most of the afternoon. i recognized a lot of the streets we were on and had a good idea where we were because of my last visit here a few years ago. It's a cool feeling being in a foreign city like Paris and kind of knowing it already.

We had lunch at one of the many kebab places here, and one of the guys working there, who also was the guy making our pita, was a total dick. Usually I most people here are polite when I speak my shitty french, and yeah I kept throwing some spanish in there, but fuck I just spent a month there and si and oui are so damn close. So finished making the pita and I asked him, "quatro euro?" He said something like Si quatre, but like I said before was a dick about it. I was apologetic and tried to tell him I was in Spain, but he didn't really care.

We made fun of the situation and I told Paul that I should smack him across the face with my white glove, tell him he insulted me, and challenge him to a duel, like Homer did in that episode of the Simpsons. We had a good laugh and Paul asked if I had a white glove on me. No but bitch slapping him would get the same point across, no? We ran with the dueling idea for a few more minutes and decided the weapons wouldn't be guns but knives. Since I didn't have one and Paul is my second in teh duel he'd have to lend me his.

OK. It's all set then. Outside the kebab place on the rainy street in the latin quarter with knives. Just the way gentleman do it. Well, when it all went down his blue haired wife came running out and told him to go see a doctor, but bhe told her the bone stopped the knife. He would go see the doctor after mince meat pie.

So really happened was we ate the pita and talked shit about the guy then left.

New country, new language

2005-04-19T06:56:00.000+09:00

I'm starting every conversation with the french like this. Je parle petit français, d'accord? And they kind of look at me like "so what retard." Then I give them a fucked up combination of french, spanish, and english but we figure out what I need. As long as you at least try to speak the lnguage people are willing to help.

Speaking of language Portuguese totally screwed me up, especially after Leila and Wili gave me a great crash course in Spanish. Some stuff carries over to portuguese, but not a lot. Now that I'm in France I have to switch to french mode. I'd like to take a moment to thank Mdme. Eaton, my frech teacher in high school. I know enough french to communicate what I need. Je voudrais allez eau v.c. s'il vous plait.

Lisbon and surrounding areas in portugal were cool and people are generally nice there. I went to two Moorish castles and a palace which was pretty cool. I'll put pictures up soon.

Change of plans

2005-04-10T20:41:00.000+09:00

Last night we (Nathan, Edurne, Paul, Leila, Zoe, and I) watched Sin City, and had a few bottles of wine and beer. At close to one, when the last metro runs we went out to meet Edurne's friends. This is a very typical thing in Spain, since some nights dinner isn't until 10 or 11.

The walked in the frigid air sobered me up so I had to get my drink back on. I can't remember the name of the bar we went to, but we had a drink (or two?) and Leila convinced me to stay in Madrid for a few more days. And I was this close to getting out of Madrid. I was going to catch a bus to Lisbon tonight at 11.

Afterwards we went to another club called Kathmandu and had more of everything, well just whiskey and coke. I woke up this morning and either I lost 20 euros or I spent more than I thought last night. Most likely the latter. Even with last splurge on the funds, thanks to the free lodgings, I'm still spending less than I had budgeted.

At present I'm waiting for my hangover to set in. It always seems to wait for me to think I'm ok and then comes in to kick my ass right about now. Owwwwww!

Some negative thoughts

2005-04-04T18:03:00.000+09:00

There are bound to be some creeping up. here goes:

1. The exchange rate. I'm getting about 70 cents to the dollar or paying $1.30 ish for 1 euro.

Also to add salt to the wound I tried to the wound I tried to withdraw money from an atm, forgetting how weak the dollar is, and got charged a finance charge for each attempt (three total).

2. The mullet is back in style in Spain. I was told by a British girl living here that if you don't specifically tell the person cutting your hair not to give you a mullet, they'll cut it that way. There isn't enough space on my memory card to take a picture of all the mullets. The same British girl told me it has already reached the UK. Will the craze cross the Atlantic and wash up on the shores of New York? Countrymen beware!

That's all the bad I can think about. Now for some good thoughts.

I've swam in the Mediterranean four times in four different places. The water isn't very warm, but it's fun to jump into the sea.

I had the best paella in Santa Pola. I thinks that's the third or fourth time I've had it and this by far blew the others out of the water. I still think about that episode of Seinfeld everytime I hear the word paella.

The American expats here have all but stolen my passport to keep me from leaving Spain. They were all surprised yet not surprised when I showed up at a birthday party last night.

I was at a Spanish BBQ where I had a blood sausage, quite tasty actually, I thought they were going to tell me I was eating bull testicle or ox tail or worse.

I met my friend Guillermo's parents and 94 year old grandmother. His mother is like all mothers, almost force feeding us when we stepped through the door. His grandmother even at her age is still very spry. As we were doing the customary fairwell (and greeting) of kisses to both cheeks I mumbled adios and she, standing tall at 4 feet 5 inches and not needing her cane at all, squeezes my face with her hands and says something to me in Spanish. Even though I didn't understand her, I deciphered the meaning as "stop mumbling and say adios to me properly" which, to her delight, I immediately did .

In conclusion exchange rate and mullets - bad, Spanish people and people living in Spain - good.

Back in Madrid

2005-04-04T08:51:00.000+09:00

Since I last posted I attended Las Fallas in Valencia where sleep was a hot commodity. Then after Fallas I walked 40km over two days and this time I knew it equalled 25 miles.

We started as four on the first day. An hour into the walk Nathan had to bow out, much to his disappointment. Kieran, Jane, and I continued on until we were just outside San Jose. We took a dip in the cold Mediterranean, and set up camp on a random beach where we slept through a sandstorm. The next morning we walked to San Jose for breakfast, then onward to Las Negras.

The day was hot and I cursed every step I took. Finally we arrived at a beach and I was still pissed. I took another dip in the Mediterranean and as night fell our plans changed. The next morning at 5 we would wake up then in the dark make our way to Las Negras. Mind you, we were walking at the top of the cliff (in fog no less) in the dark. Somehow we made our way to the bus stop with time to spare.

The next few days were a whirlwind. I was in some town outside of Cadiz then onto Los Canso de Mecca for a much needed break. We (Nathan, Edurne, et al) had a complex there and walked along the coast of southern Spain. Afterwards I was invited to go to Tarifa, Granada, and Santa Pola with Edurne's friend's brother Guillermo.

La Alhambra in Granada is unreal. We got in line at 7 in the morning and the line was already at least 150 people deep. At around nine we got our tickets and walked around the last Moorish stronghold in Spain. Pictures soon.

Santa Pola was completely chill as breakfat was at 11am, lunch at 3 or 4, siesta, and dinner at 10 or 11. Life is difficult sometimes.

I'm back in Madrid at Nathan and Edurne's and have been told I'm to stay until at least next Monday.

Hasta luego

Viet

Madrid is in my top five greatest cities and rising fast

2005-03-18T13:20:00.000+09:00

Like the title reads, this town rocks. First of all thanks to Jon P. for introducing me to Nathan, and thanks to Nathan and Edurne for taking me in for a while. And thanks to everyone for helping me get on my way.

When I go there I was kind of hating life - jet lag has a strange effect. I went to sleep at 9:30 local time, woke up at three in the morning, finally fell back asleep around seven, then slept until noon. I walked around Madrid all this afternoon, then went to see a play (in English), celebrated St. Patrick's day at Paul, Kelly, and Lance's place, went to a bar, went to a club, then finally had dinner after three this morning.

Tomorrow Nathan and I head to Valencia for Las Fallas (Edurne is sick) - a crazy festival where effigies are burned and fireworks set off. We then head for a national park whose name I can't remember, then head to Cadiz and Malaga on the Meditteranean. We should be back a week from Sunday (I think).

Welcome h... um - back!

2005-03-10T12:38:00.000+09:00

It's strange being kind of home. I've been living out of my suitcase, also know as my car, and staying at my old place and T&K's. I'm still tying up loose ends - packing, selling my car, buying this, cancelling that. I freaked out today and felt mildly depressed. I got over it. I will be in Madrid next Wednesday, whether I like it or not. :-)
I miss my family quite a bit right now. The month I spent with them was time well spent. Even though at times I felt like I was going to go crazy, I really miss being with all of them.
My oldest nephew, Steven, plays football, is benching something like 245lbs, and taking steroids. (Just kidding about the steroids). Anyways, the kid is strong! Chris is sporting a new mohawk courtesy of me. Alex just turned six and is already doing division. Stefan (just turned five) read a book to me. And Jacen (three) won me over many times by clinging to me like a monkey.

Done deal

2005-02-11T13:51:00.000+09:00

Glenn at Airtreks received everything today and my tickets are being processed. Now for some bull shit.
I'm supposed to get two more travel vaccinations before I go. The shots cost almost $400, but if I was in San Francisco it would cost me $0 because my insurance would cover it. The shots are supposed to be done within a certain time frame to be most effective. I decided it was best if I stay on that timetable and went to a place near my sister's house today.
The doctor is a nice guy, but I rattled off to him all the shots I've had up to this point. He was kind of amazed by my knowledge of my shot history. It wasn't really impressive since I had the yellow vaccination booklet everyone gets when given travel vaccinations. Then he tells me they don't have the vaccines I need in stock. Dr. Schubert told me I should've told the receptionist I only need those vaccinations. I tell him I did. He apologizes, but still charges me $25 for the office visit, or basically us shooting the shit.
Fuck it. I'm going off schedule and doing the last shots when I get back to San Francisco.
On a side note I had to spank my five year old nephew Stefan because he wouldn't go to bed and was screaming. I almost cried afterwards because it really did hurt me more than it hurt him.

Intinerary confirmed!

2005-02-10T06:40:00.000+09:00

The dates and tickets have been confirmed for my upcoming trip. I sent my money order and paperwork off today. Everything should arrive in San Francsico at noon tomorrow, I hope. Any who, I decided to go with Airtreks over Airbrokers simply because Airbrokers is full of shit. There was an $800 dollar difference between the itinerary the website quoted me versus the one I got from the travel agent. And $350 dollars in tax on top of that. The price I got quoted from Glenn at Airtreks is what I paid, tax included.

Travelling in a not so foreign land

2005-02-08T11:09:00.000+09:00

So far this side trip to the midwest has been a good one. It's kind of priming me for the big trip ahead. Last night (thanks to Jon Petto) I hooked up with Peter, John O., and others in Chicago to watch the Superbowl. I took the brown line all the way from downtown and walked the wrong way for about five blocks before calling Jon and heading back in the right direction. It was very reminecent of my trip to Europe in the sense that I basically dropped in on them out of nowhere and we all had a good time watching the game and catching up. As we all left Peter's place he tipped me off on a better route back downtown - brown line to red line. It may seem insignificant, but to me it feels like a little adventure - not knowing where I am or where I'm going but with help finding the way. The payoff, hanging out with good people and watching the Superbowl. I'll probably end up chillin with them this weekend.
Today I got photos taken for visa. Sixteen photos for eight visas. Afterwards I had another "travel" moment. I went into this Vietnamese cafe for a bowl of pho. I wasn't really feeling the vibe of the place and started to walk out. A guy who I assume is the owner reeled me back in by saying "the (Vietnamese) sandwiches are really good." I told him I was more interested in the pho. We started talking and he asked me if I was Vietnamese. I said yes and he switched over to speaking in Vietnamese.
I'll be the first to admit my Vietnamese is horrible, but I was able to hold a halfway decent conversation with him. Phong (the owner) ended up giving me the larger bowl for free when I requested the small one and gave me thirty percent off. His sister or wife rang me up and we had a short conversation in Vietnamese and later on gave me a free eggroll. It's the little things like this that I experience while travelling that I tend remember that makes the experience so worthwhile.

Possible Itineraries

2005-02-03T08:51:00.000+09:00

I talked to a travel agent at Airtreks in San Francisco about my plans for my trip. Here is what we came up with. San Francisco - Madrid - overland to Frankfurt - Bombay - overland to Dehli - Bangkok - Bali - Los Angeles.
In the time I have from Madrid to Frankfurt I plan to be in Paris for maybe a month and Eastern Europe for a while. I'll kind of do a loop from Bombay to Calcutta, then on to Kathmandu, and back to Dehli. While in Bangkok I plan to do a trip around Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and maybe into China. A trip from Bali to Australia is a possibility.
The itinerary I made with Airbrokers goes something like this: San Francsico - Amsterdam - Munich - Dubai - Nairobi or Dar es Salaam - Bombay - Delhi - Bangkok - Bali - San Francisco. This one is a little more expensive, but I add Dubai and Nairobi or Dar es Salaam. And I fly back to San Francsico. I guess it depends on how much more expensive it will be.

Test run

2005-02-02T13:25:00.000+09:00

My belongings are in storage. I have no keys. I don't really have an address. If people asked me where I'm from, I'd have to say here.
I've been going through all sorts of emotions past two weeks. It's been a completely bipolar January. Ecstacy or depression take your pick. One moment I'm focused on the task at hand - packing, packing packing - or completely slacking- playing X-Men Legends until I finally beat it. With a lot of help from Josh and Justin I packed up my life in San Francisco. When I return in a month, for all intents and purposes, I'll be a visitor. I'm excited, anxious, and scared about what lies ahead. And I miss everyone already.

All Kinds of Time

2005-01-20T16:26:00.000+09:00

Since Monday was a holiday, I'm counting today as my second day of being unemployed. During this time I have sort of organized my room before I leave, filed for unemployement - yes I'm going on the dole, drip feed, whatever you want to call it, had an eye exam where I found out contacts aren't the best thing for my vison defect, and have watched a lot of the NFL network.
I have to say two commercials on the channel stick out. The first being the preseason predictions for the NFL. Among my favorites are the 49ers taking the NFC west, Ricky Williams (healer) having one thing on his mind (football), and Roethlis-something. THe other being one of those commercials thattugs on your heart strings. THe commercial features a Fountains of Wayne song - All Kinds of Time. It a montage of quaterbacks through the years doind what great QBs do. Here are the lyrics. I'm a sucker for football.

"All Kinds Of Time" by Fountains of Wayne

The clock's running down
The team's losing ground
To the opposing defense
The young quarterback
Waits for the snap
When suddenly it all starts to make sense

He's got all kinds of time
He's got all kinds of time
All kinds of time
He's got all kinds of time
All kinds of time

He takes a step back
He's under attack
But he knows that no one can touch him now
He seems so at ease
A strange inner peace
Is all that he's feeling somehow

He's got all kinds of time
He's got all kinds of time
All kinds of time
He's got all kinds of time
All kinds of time

[Bridge]
He thinks of his mother
He thinks of his bride-to-be
He thinks of his father
His two younger brothers
Gathered around the widescreen TV

He looks to the left
He looks to the right
And there in a golden ray of light
Is his open man
Just as he planned
The whole world is his tonight

Something about those little pills (and shots) they kill a million brain cells

2005-01-14T07:28:00.000+09:00

I finally made my appointment to get shots and pills for my upcoming trip. The woman I talked to wasn't very happy about me not knowing where I was going and how long I was going to be there. Sorry about being a free spirit. Anyways I will have vaccinations for the following :
Hep A and B even though I know I got vaccinated for one of them a few years ago. {Shrug} What do I know, I'm no doctor.
Rabies
Japanese encephalitis (can't remember if she said pills of shots)
Malaria pills - now what kind of concerns my about this is she said some people get sensitive to light...Like vampires? hissssss
Typhoid pills

My first series of injections are next Thursday. Wooo

Shake it up

2005-01-13T07:54:00.000+09:00

The end is nigh. After Friday I will no longer be employed. Over the past two weeks I've been emotionally up or down. So down in fact, last Saturday I didn't leave the house. I think the reason for my moodiness is the result of coming back from the beauty and freedom I felt in New Zealand followed by dealing with my dad's medical condition, coming back to a job for the final two weeks, and the torrential rains in the Bay Area. My mood has lightened in the past couple of days. The rain has finally stopped, and I've had a chance to talk to a lot of people over that time about the future.
As it stands right now San Francisco will not be my place of residence after January. I don't know whether I'm coming back to SF or not. This will be a decision I make at a later date. My plan right now is to pack up my place and spend the month of February with my family and be with my dad while he recovers from surgury. After this I will be leaving the country again. This is as much information as I know right now.

What's up you say?

2005-01-05T06:06:00.000+09:00

Happy New Year everyone. The last few days in New Zealand were a blur, mostly because I was driving like a maniac to get back to Auckland to catch my plane. I passed through the Catlins and stood at Slope Point - the southern most point on the south island - and stopped off at some nice waterfalls on the way out. I ended up in Dunedin where I wrote my last post.
I was planning on going to Mt. Cook, but would've possibly been snowed in there so I decided to head north. I stayed at the best backpacker in Akaroa - LeBons Bay. Yes better than the Moana Lodge. Only 18 people a night stay there. Gary, the owner, takes guests out on his boat (weather permitting of course, which it did not for me) to see the dolphins. He and his staff cook dinner (for a small fee) and the guests eat together. It's an hour and a half from Christchurch on winding mountain roads with tanker trucks coming at you, but it's well worth it to be at his place. Oh, and you get dessert too.
I tried to schedule a dolphin swim, but again that didn't work out. After coffee with a Swiss couple I met at LeBons I headed to the Villa in Picton. Barry was there in a Santa hat and told me there was going to be a tree trimming party that night with wine and cookies to boot. Good times, good energy.
I caught my ferry to Wellington the next day and really wanted to stay for a bit, but needed to head as far north as I could. I toyed with the idea of doing the Tongariro Crossing, but again the weather was crap. Back to Extreme Backpackers where I did some indoor leads to get some exercise. Driving the distance of the past few days wasn't fun, climbing was exactly what I needed. Back towards Bryce's the next day where I stopped off to see some intense waterfall action at Huka falls. Not the biggest waterfall, but one of the most powerful. I was going to head to Bryce's from there, but the sun came out and I passed a sign for Waiotapu. I remember seeing the name somewhere before and decided to check it out. Waiotapu is an intense area of geothermal activity. Thick smell of sulphur, bubbling pools of mud, this place is New Zealand's thermal wonderland.
I finally roll into Bryce's some time after six and he left the key in the door for me. I saw him a few hours later and he was planning on going climbing the next day if I was interested (weather did not permit). Miles came down from Auckland to spend Christmas with Bryce and his family. We had a long talk about fathers and travelling, while drinking a bottle of wine. He also told me he and Sally are getting married this year.
As I said earlier the weather did not permit climbing with Bryce, so I did some bouldering in his cave for a while before the twelve hour flight. On my way out i told Bryce I hoped to come back sooner rather than later. As I was drving away Bryce came out of the shop to wave good bye. It nearly brought a tear to my eye the way he was standing there by the side of the road smiling and waving.
I saw some sights that knocked me off my feet and made me just sit there and wonder how many more places like that exist in the world. I met a lot of like minded people and shared stories with them about the importance of getting out and seeing what the world is all about. Even though I won't remember all of them there's something about the people you trave with that will always be with you. During my conversation with Miles, I told him I thought this trip would sooth my desire to travel for a while, but all it's done is make me want to see more. He knows exactly how I feel. He left England four years ago when he thought he would only be gone for one. There's nothing better than being away from everything you're used. I need more.

It's not a tumor...

2004-12-22T18:25:00.000+09:00

Actually yes it is. My dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor recently. My sister tells me the type of tumor he has is often benign. Often benign. I guess that's good. She and her husband used their connections to have him examined at the University of Illinois. The chief of surgery there said they don't need to operate until after the holidays.
I've known about the possiblity of the tumor since before I left for my trip. Since finding out the details about my dad's condition a few days ago, I've had some long drives to think about what I should do. It didn't really take long for the decidion to come. Since doors seem to be closing in the Bay Area, the decision to leave San Francisco seems like the logical choice. My dad and I haven't been close in a very long time. It's time to close the gap between us.
When I came to this decision I called my dad to see how he's feeling. He basically did what he always does when we 'talk,' avoiding the topic and handing the phone over to my mom. I had to ask her to hand the phone back to him. His answer to my question is, "everything's fine." Cool.
In one of his asshole rages a few years back he questioned whether or not I would cry for him when he died. He may not be dying, but in this moment when I think my family needs to be there for him he continually pushes us (me) away. Look old man I'm trying here. At least meet me half way.

This is the end my friend

2004-12-15T06:16:00.000+09:00

It's official. I have just been informed the Saul Zaentz Film Center will close on January 14th. I'm going to enjoy the rest of my in NZ, see my family for the holidays, then try to figure out what I'm going to do.

I'm still alive

2004-12-14T15:32:00.000+09:00

It's been a week since my last post. I'll recap quickly cause I'm hungry for some Indian take away (take out or to go in the U.S.).
Matt and I did not find Edoras. The set had been taken down and driving to the middle of nowhere didn't seem appealing to me at the time. We did take a jet boat ride in this amazingly gorgeous river gorge. Murray, the jet boat owner, sits around all day sunning himself until someone wants to take aride in his boat. Not a bad gig. The water in the gorge was the most spectacular green blue color and we both forgot to ask why.
Next stop Christchurch. We finally saw kiwis, in captivity. There are ony 65,000 left in NZ. They're the funniest looking birds. Couldn't take pictures cause they're nocturnal and a flash would scare the crap out of them.
We saw a Maori cultural thing and Matt did the haka - a ritual Maori warrior dance. The video will never get posted. Ever. hehehe Dolphin swimming got canceled due to bad weather. I'm still bummed.
Off to Castle Hill for bouldering that kicked my ass. Every problem there involves balance and crappy holds. Balance I'm ok with crappy holds, no! I had a few adventures trying to find the camp ground. First I ended up at a ski resort and decided to take the rental off road cause I thought the camp site was just around the corner. I ended up on a ski hill, way up. Luckily I didn't get stuck up there. I then found a cabin and thought, "this must be it." I walked into the kitchen area and someone had just got done cooking. I noticed smoke coming out of the chimney and thought I'd find the three Australian guys I met earlier in the day. Instead I found a woman doing yoga. She directed me to the campsite, but her place looked more comfortable. D'OH!
As I approached the campsite a hail storm set in. I waited for it to stop, set up my tent, then it rained. I hung out with two guys from Singapore and a couple from Finland. THe Fins and I stayed up trying to start a fire. Didn't work. The rain changed to sleet for a short time and was then liquid again. The Finnish girl told me it was snowing early in the morning. This is summer in the south island?
I was going to keep this brief. Anyways I walked on Fox glacier yesterday, hung out with Australian, Dutch, and Americans afterwards cause the hostel stayed in was the worst (only bad one so far). Now I'm in Wanaka on the most perfect day ever. It reminds me of Tahoe here. Tomorrow I'll jump 134 meters into a river gorge with a rubber band tied around my ankles. Oh, and I bouldered around Wanaka today. I think this place is heaven.

Searching for Matt Kahle

2004-12-07T18:55:00.000+09:00

We finally found each other after a few days of me not being where I was supposed to be. I thought I would be in Christchurch, but the opportunity to climb Golden Bay was too much to pass up. I ran into Ron, Ginger, and Daan who I met at Bryce's. I picked up a couple of strays, Michael (Germany) and Colinda (Holland) and climbed for three days straight leading all but one route, which Ron lead. It was somewhere in the 5.11a/b range.
We climbed in the rain on Sunday. The spot was called the sea cliff and had a buch of overhanging rock that protected most of the routes. The rock around here dries incredibly fast so later in the afternoon we were able to do a few routes on the once wet walls.
Saturday and Monday were perfect days. Sunny and somewhat cool unless the route was in the sun. I got nback to Nelson last night and tried to find Matt but was unsuccessful. I got up somewhat early this morning and caught him just minutes before he could get on a bus to Christchurch. Hmmm...kind of similar to when Josh caught me before drunken Viet got on a bus back to NY after a show. :-)
We are now in Hanmer and had a nice dip in the springs. Sulfer, thermal, heated fresh, we hit them all. THe drive out here was one of the prettiest drives I've taken here. WIde vistas of snow capped mountains were the highlight. We drove by areas that looked like Rohan from LOTR. A lot of stuff here has reminded me of the movies. I hope Edoras is still up.
I think we're going to try to swim with dolphins tomorrow. THen more rock climbing in Arthurs Pass or bouldering in Castle Hill. I'm told it's one of the ten best places in the world for bouldering.

An idea is growing...

2004-12-03T10:04:00.000+09:00

I will most likely not have a job when I come back to San Francisco. So why am I going back?

Moana Lodge

2004-12-01T11:06:00.000+09:00

I drove about five hours today from New Plymouth to Wellington. WHen I got into Wellington, I experienced culture shock. I haven't been in a city that size since leaving San Francisco. I freaked out a bit and turned around to go to Upper Hutt (Jabba's place. hahahahaha...)
I found a nice little backpacker place on the bay. For two dollars more a night I got a room overlooking the bay. This place is sick! I'm going to have to stay here on my way back.

10,000 cyclists

2004-11-29T16:28:00.000+09:00

On the 28th, Bryce took us to Whanganui Bay for some climbing. On the way out there we inadvertently participated in a bike race. We got stuck behind packs of bikers on our drive down. Bryce got a little impatient because they were taking up both lanes of the two lane highway. He got on the horn and piled through them. I was following in my rental. We were no more than a foot away from the cyclists. They waved at us as we buzzed through them.
We got to Whanganui Bay and went off road. Marc suggested the best 4 by vehicle is a rental. We got to the car park and started the approach. It was an easy 25 minutes in then up to the tree line to the Plateau.
Marc led the first climb - Bunnies in the Sky - and Kate and I topped it. It was a 17 or around a 5.9. We then topped Gunga Din - a 5.10 crack. I was feeling pretty good and decided to try to lead this route without knowing its rating. (RED FLAG!) Bryce comes running up and tells me that's the hardest 23 (somewhere between 5.11a-d) in the Plateau. I tried it anyways and fell, twice. The first time I fell I was at the second bolt and was trying to find a good foot. I can't remember exactly what I did, but I lost my balance and off I went.
I can count on one hand how many times I've lead climbed. I've fallen exactly zero times on lead climbs, meaning I don't know what to do when I fall. So when I did fall, I must have had my leg on the wrong side of the rope and it flipped me. Marc (the guy belaying me) told me my head was less than an inch from the ground and narrowly missed slamming into a rock.
I was a little shaken, but I didn't see the fall from his perspective, so back I went. I clipped in to the second bolt safely and was on my way to the third. I had a good right hand grip and fairly good feet. I reached for the quickdraw and suddenly the feet weren't so good. Another fall with me ending up upside down. Luckily only my hip crashed into the wall. I didn't finish the route.
Marc is a pilot and pilots have all kinds of sayings. He told me my number wasn't up yet.
The next day I successfully led four climbs at Frogatt Edge. The last being Terror Incognito, a classic 25 meter 18 (5.10?). I probably won't be able to post pictures until I get back Hands down (according to Bryce) one of the top ten sports routes on the North Island.

You're eating maggots Michael

2004-11-29T12:01:00.000+09:00

I'm safe in New Zealand. The plane ride and car pickup was painless, except I stayed in the airport for two hours before the rental company would come get me. It was a little after 6am when I cleared customs, and picking up the car before 8am would've cost an extra $75. Tony picked me up at 8:10 and I was on my way by 8:45.
Fortunately the car is an automatic. It was a little strange driving from the right side but I adjusted quickly. I've only almost caused two accidents and have driven on the wrong (right) side of the road only twice (only for a short period of time). Luckily most of my driving has been in the country side with very few cars. It doesn't seem like many kiwis lay on their horn like Americans do. I may be unwillingly testing this theory again soon.
My first day here, it rained in Auckland and most of my drive down to Wharepapa South. I checked in to the bunk house at Bryce';s and had the place all to myself. Two other American couples were there - Ron, Ginger, Marc, and Kate - and Ron's friend Daan. Since it was kind of raining around the area I decided to go to Waitomo to the glow worm caves. If I had to describe it in one word: cold.
I was tired and felt like I was on the verge of a cold. I made the twewnty minute drive there, squeezed in to an already wet wetsuit, and slapped a helmet with a head land lamp on. There were ten of us in the group. I was the first to jump in to the water. After that I wasn't so sure I could handle it.
We walked to the entrance of the cave, went in , and regrouped. They sent the American in first. I turned on the headlamp and went in. Stalactites were hanging down from the ceiling and the ankle deep water ws rushing ahead of me. Even though I could see my own breath, five minutes in to the trip I forgot about how cold it was. I rushed through the labrynth to the jump in point, turned around, stuck my butt through the inner tube and jumped in. We floated then walked to another stopping point and turned off the headlamps. The glow worms were twinkling like stars. Here we learned some facts about the glow worms: they are actually maggots and the glow is phosphorescent shit that NASA is studying.
We floated some more in the dark, jumped down about a one meter drop into water (FUN!) and looked up to see a skylight over sixty meters above us. We were kinda deep inside this cave. We floated along some more in total darkness, at one point the water level was about nine meters deep. By the end I had forgotten about the cold, or was so numb it didn't matter. We got out of the cave and floated along the river back to the starting point.
I took a hot shower, ate some soup, and talked to some of the people on the trip. I drove back to Bryce's and crashed shortly afterwards. It was a long first day.

Fuck Tha' Police

2004-11-24T21:13:00.000+09:00

Fuck them! I hate fucking pigs. HATE THEM!
Josh and I put our heads together and figured out something was not right in the house. On Monday morning the kitchen window was wide open, and the front door slightly ajar. Tonight I found a few things missing; forty dollars, four credit cards, and some other little things. I know, my fault for leaving these things out.
I was getting into bed when I realized the credit cards were missing so I called the credit card companies to have them cancel the cards. The fucking lowlife assholes who stole them went to a gas station and tried to withdraw money from an ATM. I don't even know my pin for those cards! They didn't tell me and I forgot to ask how much was charged to the one card.
After consulting with the credit card people I decided to call the mother fucking pigs and file a report. The went to Haight instead of Hayes. Two by two the pigs came marching, four total. The last two were total assholes. Officer Tarbox (are you kidding me?) basically was wondering what I was expecting because there's nothing they could do about it.
Drop the gun and the badge bitch and I will put you on the floor before you can say Tarbox. I couldn't fucking believe this guy. Did he think I was fucking bored at four in the morning and wanted some company? These fucking no talent, wanna be important, power tripping, IQ of a Tarbox, tea baggers come in to my house wake up my house mate (after I told them he's sleeping in that room) and repeat to me at least twice, "I don't know what you want us to do, cause there's nothing we can do." To which I reply "Yeah I know [Asshole] you've already said that."
I was expecting a little bit more from San Francisco's finest. Maybe they should take those broom sticks out of their tarbox before they hurt themselves.

Canada, huh? Almost made it.

2004-11-23T08:11:00.000+09:00

We met we talked. Some cried some laughed. I shrugged my shoulders. I can't think about this right now. The sale of the company may become official as soon as tomorrow. We found out what our severance/bonus package willl be from the sale. Like most bonuses from this company, it is generous, and they are providing us with medical insurance for all of 2005. There are a few little snags - I will be leaving for New Zealand Wednesday, the paper work to be signed isn't available until Monday and needs to be signed by the 13th. My job is still in limbo, meaning I may not have one when I come back.
O Canada!
Vancouver or Toronto?

Ch ch ch ch changes...

2004-11-20T09:06:00.000+09:00

We will finally find out some information about the sale of Fantasy Records, which The Saul Zaentz Film Center is a part. People in the company have been spreading rumors throughout the building for months about the sale to Concord Records. I haven't really much cared. Sure it would be horrible to come back from my trip to find myself without a job (F*** you sega sports for not recognizing talent), but I'm going on a much needed trip and don't want to have to worry about these things. Speaking of which my buddy Matt is going to meet me for a week in the south island. It's been at least six(?) months since he said F*** you to the man, and for that (AC/DC please) we salute you!
I usually have some sort of epiphany after going on extended trip, but in a strange sequence of events I have it now. Not having this job when I come back may be the best thing for me. It will force me to take the next step in my life. My brain craves for a challenge and I don't find it at my present job. I have some thoughts about how to remedy this. The obvious answers are there. Now I have to decide which path to follow.

Ten thousand two hundred twenty six days and counting

2004-11-19T04:02:00.000+09:00

Tomorrow my target heart rate is supposed to drop by one beat per minute, and I will decisively be in my late twenties. I'm not bummed out about this at all. Or am I? As far as feeling old, I don't. Not unless I'm hanging out with certain (young) friends and tell them I was a senior in high school when Aladdin was released. They laugh and joke about me being old (thanks Liz) and...Damn. I just realized I was actually a sophomore at that time, which means I was younger than they are now.
My Yoda quote for the day is, "Look I so old to young eyes?" No, no I don't. Hell when I went to vote, the woman at the polling place couldn't believe I was eighteen. I was tired, and a bit unfriendly when I told her I'm twenty-...(If you know chinese astrological signs you can figure this out). I'm still surprised when I don't get carded at bars.
I don't look old and most of the time I don't feel old. I'm sure not feeling old has a lot to do with climbing. Contrary to one person's opinion (AW-J), I feel like I have a lot more in me. I feel better than I have since Aladdin came out.

Chalk Dust

2004-11-16T06:45:00.000+09:00

Hi my name is Viet. I have a problem. I climb a lot. Sometimes three or four times a week, depending on how I'm feeling. If I'm happy I'll climb. If I'm sad, I'll climb. Any time is a good time really. I've gone from doing routes to the more concentrated pure form of bouldering. They're both really good. It's my escape from the real world. I climbed three days in a row this week. I think I should lay off the stuff for a few days.
Any who. I tied for fourth in my age group at the bouldering comp Saturday and got a trucker hat. Gotta let my hair breathe you know. Anyways I'm stoked about that, but I also finished a V5 on my fifth and final attempt. If I would have followed Neil's beta after my second try I would've been all alone in fourth place. Hmmm....
Someone please stop me from drinking beer during a comp. Seriously, just walk up and knock the beer out of my hand. My face once again turned this nice shade of red after only having ONE beer. I was nowhere near drunk, meaning I could've walked in a straight line backward and forward, recited the alphabet backwards, and climbed a V4. But, still I'm walking around the gym looking like I was out in the sun too long. I'm not drinking again...until Friday.