Update

Getting paid for photography has the adverse affect of making you less likely to take pictures when you aren't being paid for them. Of course, it's also because I'm tired of taking pics in the Danville area...

Last week I took a picture of a tree by Lake Vermillion for a musician named Wes who I am working with for a CD project. Going to have two seperate pics of the tree: one with the leaves changing (the one I took) and one with the tree being bare (might wait til we get some snow on the ground). First one turned out good (http://www.flickr.com/photos/myotomy/5146488906/) and I'm sure the second one will be cool too.

Took some pics with Tim Cowan last night so he could have some stuff to hang in his guitar room. Haven't really had much experience taking shots of instruments before so it took a bit to get in the zone and come up with some good ideas, but we got some pretty cool shots once we were rolling.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myotomy/5162811291/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myotomy/5162810967/

Going to come up with some personal work soon.. staying at my parent's house for now while I am in the middle of trying to relocate to Chicago. At least staying at their house provides me with some different local settings to try and take some shots in. Not sure what I'm going to do but I'm thinking something sophisticated... I need to rent a Tux or something.

Hopefully I'll have something cool to go here sometime soon!

Later.

Next Visit: Ukraine

So I have decided to visit Ukraine as my next trip. I will probably go in January or February because I need the trees to be bare.

The highlight of the trip, and the potential source for some amazing pictures, is the Chernobyl Power Plant / Pripyat.

For more information on what went down there, check out the following 6-part video series produced by the BB.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQJO0VKxmuU
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHDf3zCncu0&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkND3LHtkZE&feature=related
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOTAR3ab9VI&feature=related
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P25W8xISwA4&feature=fvw
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpcXUA4EOts&feature=related

Lately

I have been keeping myself pretty busy lately.

In early June I covered Mathien at the House of Blues in Chicago shortly after an awesome photoshoot with Carly Delzell. You can check out the handy work at www.tomolsonphotography.com .. it's the front page image.

Speaking of the website, I recently switched designs to beef up my commercial image as I am about to start a marketing campaign targeting various contacts in the Midwest. Here's hoping to getting a big job within a few months. I trimmed my portfolio down to my more stylized images and tried to create a nice balance between my portraits and my landscapes.

Last Friday I worked with a consultant based in NYC on making myself more presentable as well as figuring out which clients I need to be targeting. It's not always fun to pay money for these types of things but in the long run they help your performance immensely... I think. That's what people say anyway!

This Thursday I am headed to Hawaii for 9 days to visit Nick DeBoer who is a fellow photographer on the side. We are planning on doing lots of hiking and camping as well as a wedding on the third of July. It should be a fun trip and I'm excited to see what kind of landscapes I can get. I absolutely love "the big island" and how diverse its landscape is. My fingers are crossed that there will be some lava flowing while I visit.

That's about all the exciting news I have to report for now. Check back in later for some Hawaii updates!

My Photography

I think my photography can be confined to three main categories - Portraits, Landscapes, and Abstracts.

When I started taking pictures I was mostly interested in landscape photography- finding certain surroundings and portraying them in a way that interests the viewer and myself. When choosing locations for landscape photography I try to visualize what type of scene I want to present. What type of scene is on my mind is usually determined by things I have seen or heard about lately, from something cool I saw in a music video on Youtube to a webpage on urban exploration in Detroit... inspiration comes from all over.

I have had people joke with me that since a lot of my pictures are darker or gloomier that it represents my mindset (i.e. that I am sad or depressed) but I don't think that is the case. I have just always been more interested in darker, gloomier things. One of my early influences was the polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński whose work is some of the darkest/scariest I have seen. (You can check out some of his work here: http://www.beksinski.pl/ ) One thing I always liked about his work was the often subdued color palette- which is probably why I tend to stay away from oversaturated colors and go for more subdued ones.

After I had been focusing on landscapes for about 6 months I started to dabble in portraits. I do most of my research by reading articles and discussions on the internet so I knew that if I wanted to be serious about my work, I needed to get some off camera lighting, i.e. flashes. I've been using flashes in my portraits for almost a year and a half now, and while I am still far from "awesome" at it, I am happy with my progression so far. Keep in mind that in the year and a half I have done around 25 photoshoots with flashes, so it's not a once-a-week type of deal. I'm sure I'd be a lot better if I dedicated more of my time to it.. which I am trying to do now.

So anyway, I'd say within about two months of playing around with the flashes I had a pretty decent idea of the basics of how to light scenes, both through experimentation and looking at other photographer's work and deciphering how they lit their scenes. For something that I do on the side, I don't think that is a terrible long period to understand the basics. That is part of the reason why I am slightly irked when I see portrait/wedding photographers selling their services and only using the pop-up flash on their cameras. Two months of casual experimentation (this sounds kinky, doesn't it?) and about a $450 investment (for the flash + remote radio triggers) and the difference in your portraits can be night and day (literally, haha. Get it? It's a joke about light.) It's ignorant that these photographers can get away with it, but the average person just doesn't know any better... people don't realize that it's not that hard to get a photograph taken of them that looks really good.. it's just hard to find a photographer that is willing to put some effort into their work! One of the hardest things for photographers to find is good criticism. You HAVE to put your work out there to be critiqued- you need to hear what you are doing wrong. If I only heard people tell me my work was good, I would push myself to get better. It can be hard to hear someone tell you your photo sucks, but once you have heard it enough times, you stop making bad photos and the criticisms change to much smaller details regarding fine-tuning the images.

Now this opinion of mine is mostly based on America's small-town situation where there are maybe only 1-2 professional photographers in an area. When an entire population has such a small selection of photographers to go to, they get used to the caliber of those artists' work and accept it as the norm. That's how Olan Mills stay(s(ed?)) in business. They had horrrrrrrrible photos! Of course you have to cut them some slack as they operated primarily during the 80s and early 90s, a time when fashion wasn't its classiest. If I took pictures of some of the people that walked into Olan Mills I'm pretty sure I'd still roll my eyes at them (the photos not the people, bless their hearts).

I think another problem with generic studio portrait photographers is that studio shots are boring... I like lively scenes that work to make a photo interesting. When you are taking something like a family portrait, the subject and the main focus of the photo is of course the family. You don't want a setting that is going to overpower the family and cause the viewer 's eye to stray away from the subject for very long. On the other hand, I don't think people like having generic portraits that look like every single other portrait taken in that studio.

"No no no, my portrait is different because our family all wore baseball t-shirts and had a background of the main colors of our favorite baseball team!" I guess you can call that different if you want, but all that photo really says about your family is that you guys like a baseball team. If that's all you want to say then that's fine with me, but it's not really something I'm interested in offering in my photography. If you want a baseball themed family portrait, I'm going to drag you to a baseball field somewhere, give you some gloves/balls/bats and take some lively photos that are fun and non-conventional. Maybe I'd have you sit in a dugout... I don't care, I will just do anything to get you out of a studio and into a real setting that is much more full of life.

My favorite portraits are ones that portray a scene, tell a story, give the viewer a reason to stop and think- even if only for a second- to decipher everything that is going on. I don't need deep meaning behind my portraits, that just doesn't suite my taste in photography. I have always favored stunning photography to meaningful photography. I like to look at a photo and say "Wow!" I appreciate ordinary-looking photos that you have to look at and slowly draw your own opinions from, but it's not my preferred method. This might actually slightly reflect my personality, but that isn't really a topic I want to get into, haha.

Finally this leads me to the abstract segment of my photography. Once again my work is not really thought driven, it is more focused on patterns and groupings, of bold lines and interesting colors. I am more of a "see the big picture" kind of person so abstract photos are definitely rare from me. Once in a while I will get in the mood for something abstract, but more often than not it is something I resort to when a landscape location has proven disappointing and I don't want to go home empty handed.

I might expand upon a few of these points later, but after reading this you should have at least a basic understand of how I think when it comes to my photography work.

Thanks for reading!

Getting Work Done

So I decided I need to put more work into my photography. Now it's starting.

Tom Olson Photography



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16 Random Thoughts

Here is some random things that I noticed or thoughts that popped into my head:

1. Almost bought a bottle of delicious looking red drink. Then I read the sign and found out that it's gasoline. - Patong Beach

2. Walking around the holiest temple in Thailand. The song "Lay Low" by Snoop Dogg is stuck in my head. - Bangkok

3. Saw a street stand selling "Thai Tacos." You don't say? - Patong Beach

4. "It's so HOT! Milk... was a bad choice.." - Patong Beach as I drink milk

5. I haven't "seen" a single trannie since I've been here. That scares me since they are supposed to be everywhere. How many cute girls I've seen have/had a penis? - Bangkok

6. The street with all the Trannie bars here is called "Soi Crocodile." Should be called "Soi Snake" imo. - Patong Beach

7. How come topless women at beaches are Never someone you'd actually like to see topless? - Patong beach

8. I have yet to see a Thai woman smoking. Good for them. - Patong Beach (only saw 1 Thai woman smoking the whole trip)

9. I estimate I have to shake my head no / say "no thank you" at least 150-200 times a day - and I am not exaggerating here. It doesn't bother me though. It led me to a movie idea though- "The Yes Man 2: Yes man goes to Thailand." It would be a 2 hour montage of Jim Carrey riding in taxis, tuk tuks, and motorcycles all around Thailand while sobbing in the backseat. At the end of the movie he dies of AIDS that he gets from a prostitute. - Bangkok/Phuket

10. The one time in my life when I might have a chance of being more tan than another person is of course the time of year where we are the most covered up. - Ko Phi Phi Don

11. Some of the trannies were hotter than most other Thai women. - Patong Beach

12. Tried to strike up a conversation with an older French woman. She shook her head "no" and said "What do you want from me??" - Patong Beach

13. There are almost no public trash cans in Thailand. You just throw all your rubbish on the ground or leave it on the steps of a building / subway station. - Everywhere

14. Even all the Europeans/Australians/Canadians dislike the French. In a perfect world, the French despise themselves. - Patong / Ko Phi Phi Don

15. Thai people stand in perfect straight lines when there is a big crowd while waiting in line for the Skytrain. Once the skytrain pulls up though, they all crowd into a big mass to get into the traincar. - Bangkok

16. They use bendy straws over here isntead of straight ones. Makes me feel 5 again. - Thailand / South Korea

Journal Update 12

February 4, ~11:00 AM TT

I had to come back to the place I ate yesterday and get another coconut shake (update: got 2). Getting a few probably haha. Definitely going to start making more smoothies once I get back.

I'm actually kind of excited to get back to real life. I had been having a problem focusing on anything and I think this break from life did the trick. It will be nice to see my friends + family + dog. Not looking forward to seeing any of my coworkers though. I really hate each and every one of them with a passion. :-p

Some opera song is playing in an instrumental version and it's beautiful. I know I've heard it before but I don't know the name or what opera it's from... I know I've seen a guy sing it, it goes high to low, something like "ooh-mee-ah ooh-mee-ah oh-maaaaaa." Something like that haha. Good luck remembering what that is supposed to sound like. (Update: I figured out where I heard it- Will Ferrell sings it at the end of Stepbrothers rofl)

I didn't really have a soundtrack for this trip. I should have made one. Music always makes the memories harder, better, faster, stronger. More meaningful.

Had to change seats, the rising sun killed my shade.

Next time I'm going some place tropical that is on the coast, I'm going to make sure I am a certified diver first. That opens up a lot of options for things to do.

Forgot to mention something I saw last night: while out walking around I saw someone sitting on a curb holding a monkey by the hand. The monkey was wearing a t-shirts and some pants. It seemed pretty young based on the way it was behaving, maybe it's just a really tame monkey. Anyway, a little black Chihauha (however you spell that) runs up to the monkey and first pushes it over a few times, then it started chasing it around. Then it started humping the monkey! The owners were laughing, I think both animals were theirs. I was hoping the monkey would slap or kick the dog but it never did. :-(

Talked to a German couple that reccomended that I go to a place called Bamboo Island next time I'm in Phi Phi. Also said the best time to visit the Bavarian Alps is sometime in June-July. The scenes from Band of Brothers that are supposed to take place there were actually shot in Switzerland though. Go figure.

Immediately after lunch I got sick in their bathroom. While I was in the hot, stinky hellhole of the bathroom for 10 minutes, I had to fight off a swarm of mosquitos while I took care of business.

Ok, I gotta move again, some kid has been playing with a toy that plays "London Bridge is falling down" for the last 30 minutes and I'm about to go crazy.

My hands and feet swelled up really bad last night. They are fine today but I have no idea why they did that.

I don't think I'm going to fill the journal (notebook).. still have 30 pages to go. I don't think there is any possible way I'll do enough interesting things in the next ~60 hours to fill 60 sides of a page.

This town stinks like brackish water depending on the breeze. Last night was especially bad. Stinky smell everywhere you walk. Have yet to smell anything stinky enough to gag me. The fish/squid at the weekend market came close.

There are lots of people with tattoos here. Over 50% of the tourists have them I'd wager. Still haven't seen any Americans. Talked to a few more Brits and that German couple.

Benn hanging out in the hotel lobby for an hour. It's an outdoor lobby that has a roof and a fan, as well as a supply of water. Not much more to ask for while I wait. Just doing some people watching. I already put my time in down at the beach. Actually, I should be heading to the dock any minute. Luckily they are taking my luggage for me in a cart.

February 5, 8:42 AM TT

Well, I'm on my last day here. Got up around 7 feeling a little hungober. Was at a bar in Ao Nang until about 9:45 last night. Probably had about 5 beers, but it killed my memory. I hate that. My phone wasn't working in the area I'm staying so I wasn't able to call my hotel for a pickup and had to take a scooter tuk tuk. Taxis here are little scooters attached to a big metal enclosure the passengers get to sit in. So you have this little scooter pulling up to 300 lbs of people + luggage sometimes. I'm sure it gets to be more than that depending on the people riding in it lol.

I have two things that I want to do today. Tiger Cave Temple and Railay Beach. Got to see the beach yesterday on my boat ride and it was stunning. (the rock formations there are kinda phallic). Wanted to watch the sunset there last night but longboat rides stop at 6 so I wouldn't have been able to get back to my hotel. This bungalow is gorgeous. Nice finished wood floor and walls, bautiful tile bathroom, front balcony and back porch.

There are some beautiful cliffs next to the hotel. Probably 5-600 feet tall. Maybe taller. Let's say they are 1,000 feet tall. That sounds cooler. Hotel is going to let me check out at 4 PM. That works out great. Means I can get all hot and sweaty today and still be clean for my traveling.

Ok I gotta head out. Will write in this later.

February 5, 10:31 Am TT

Writing this from Railay beach. Took a mini bus to town then got some tickets for a longtail boat ride over here. Was about a 10 minute ride, costs about $2.50 for a 1-way ticket. Gorgeous views from the boat.

After I got to the beach I took a panoramic then walked to the East end of the beach (Railay West Beach) and found a quiet cove. Climbed the big 10 foot rock in it and am enjoying my own little personal beach. The only people in sight are kayakers and a longtail boat here and there.

Considering where I've been in the last 8 days, when I say this place impresse me, it's starting to have some meaning haha. I can't believe I was considering not coming here earlier this morning when I wasn't feeling great. I think this trip has really reinforced for me that you shouldn't sit around and wait for things to happen- you need to make them happen. If you have dreams and goals, work on them. Never say "Well I'll do it later after I... etc." That's the road to regret.

Going to walk around some more then find some food.

February 5, 1:40 PM TT

Wow, Railay really was amazing. The island is split into two sides, Railay East and Railay West. Each side has beaches, but Railay East's beach is very muddy. Almost lost my sandals twice. First time was while in the water when I sunk in 4 or 5 inches. Second time was a few minutes later while walking away from the water and I sunk in a whole foot. Yikes. Was not fun balancing while holding my camera in one hand and picking my sandals out of a pit of mide with the other hand.

Got to use my first truly "rural Thai toilet" today. You flush it by ladelling water from a nearby bucket into the toilet bowl. I'd have rather just taken a piss outside. Was right before lunch, so I wanted to wash my hands, but they don't use soap out here, heck no! "Let's just rinse our hands off with water that's undrinkable!" lol

Didn't really get hot today. Go figure I finally start to acclimate on my last day, just in time to go back home along with a 70-80 degree temperature drop. I hear IL is getting snow... at least it will be pretty.

Going to take a shower then pack and relax a bit. Adios.

February 5, 7:10 PM TT

Nothing very exciting happened on the way to the airport or while in it. Paid a few bucks for wireless and watched some Seinfeld clips and listened to that one song a few times. (Time to say goodbye) I need to figure out some way to use that song.. I think I am in love with it haha.

I have a 5 hour layover in Bangkok, then a 6 hour flight to Seoul, then a 10 hour layover, then a 15 hour flight to Chicago, then what will probably be at least a 3 hour drive back to Danville. Total travel time: 39+ hours.

I'm going somewhere a little closer next time. Or not. Who knows.

February 5, 9:20 PM TT

Been at the airport for about an hour and a half now. Check in for my flight is not for another 55 minutes.

I accidently walked into some security center and got on one of their elevators and took it to some secure floor. There weren't any signs telling me not to go there! While some guy was escorting me out he accidently hit the wrong button on the elevator and took me to yet another secure floor. He was Thai, but he still said "shit."

Luckily I got a cart to push my luggage around in. The ticketing room is huge. Listening to some Kanye. "All Falls Down." Now "Slow Jamzzzz." Getting kinda sleep, ugh. I think a bunch of teenage asian girls are standing right behind me in a row to get their picture taken with me in it. I want a copy. :-(

35 more minutes. Can you tell I'm writing very slow?

Note to self: never forget "Sprinkle," the overweight Thai vendor on Sukhumvit Rd that you passed on your way to the skytrain station every day.

20 minutes to go. I'm going to miss being around all the Thai people. When you're always surrounded by people that you have no hope of interacting with, your behavior changes somewhat. All conversation you hear is just background noise that is eventually tuned out.

February 6, 12:30 AM TT

Been at Bangkok's airport for 4.5 hours. Ready to sleep. Had sushi for dinner. Yumm. Only sushi I had on trip, but I didn't go to Japan so it's acceptable! I'm ready to crash. Can't wait to sleep. (update: wow I talked about how I wanted to sleep 3 times in like 4 sentences in a row) Need to take my shoes off, also. Brought a change of sucks this time. That will be a delight whenever I decide to switch them.

Work on Monday morning might be interesting. Kinda depends how the next day and a half go.

February 5, 9:19 PM CST

Switching back to central time now. Just went back in time! No plans for Sat / Sun which is good. I need to relax and take it easy so that I'm not dragging on Sunday, er Monday, for work.

Haven't checked my work email once since I left my office at the end of the day on Jan 25. That will be a nightmare to go through.

Only about 7 hours left of the layover here. Can't do the 4 hour tour of the city. They don't start it til noon and I wouldn't get back in time for my flight if customs/security was backed up. Stepped outside the airport pretty much just so I could say I've been in South Korea. Got a few more stamps on my passport too, woohoo.

Need to get a new one (passport). My current one got warped from being soaked in sweat and I look like a starving child in my pohoto. Ahhh, good ol' high school metabolism.

Writing in this made me realize that I like keeping a journal. I don't think my everyday life is interesting enough to blog about though. One idea i have is to start a new blog called "Tom's Poop" where I chronical my daily bowel movements. It's sure to be a hit with the hidden scat fetishists inside us all.

Just ate a hotdog that was in a half loaf of bread like I got in Europe when I was 10. Didn't have ketchup to dip it in though and the bread wasn't quite as good lol.

Journal Update 11

Continuing from Feb 3, 5:40 PM TT:

I'm sitting outside my air-conditioned room writing this while completley soaked to the bone... but it doesn't bother me now. Once you've been drenched in sweat for over 2 hours you stop caring and it stops feeling gross. It's like walking in the rain- at first it sucks but after you've been in it a while, you stop noticing all the raindrops hitting you and you're mind is just thinking "yeah, whatever."


I also experienced this back when I was hiking during the sunset my first night in Phuket. Though that day I ran out of water halfway through, so that didn't help much.

About to go for a dip in the pool then heading to the beach to catch the sunset.

I just got done hiking to the various viewpoints around this side of the island. One was a great view and the other two were "okay." I went to the best one first. It was a tiring walk that ended at about 600 feet above sealevel, so it was the hardest part of the trek (max elevation was about 750 I'd guess).

One my way up, I experienced something like you'd see in a movie: There was a Thai man with a "bowl" haircut, wearing just a shirt and underwear while he was chopping coconuts. As I passed him, he stopped chopping and while staring at me and never taking his eyes from mine, he chopped another coconut in half. It was a little creepy.

After I got to the first viewpoint and looked around and took some pictures, I layed down in the shade and dozed on the rocks for a little bit.

Nothing notable at the next viewpoint I went to. However at the third one, there was a very special surprise. As I was approaching it, I heard some rustling in the brush to my left and aw something grey dart by. It looked like a dog though I was curious what a dog was doing way up in the hills. I go to check it out and stop dead in my tracks when I see it. It's not a dog- it's a wild monkey!!! I had never seen a wild monkey beofre and was not expecting to see any on this part of the island. I pursue the monkey further and discover a pack of 15 of them. I took pictures until they all started staring at me while making menacing hissing and... barking sounds. Not wanting my obituary to read Tom was torn apart by a pack of small wild monkeys" I backed off. Though one brave monkey later visited and I got 2 or 3 sweet shots of him/her (I forget).
Going to go swim now then probably head to an internet cafe after the sun sets (but before I get dinner + something to drink).

February 3, 7:02 PM TT

Sunset was pretty as expected though I don't think the colors were quite as brilliant as last night's.

While I was walking back to my bungalow to take a shower (will probably be taking 3 today), all the porch lights lit up in my complex. Will be able to get a pretty cool shot about 20 feet from my front porch. All the bungalows are up on stilts about 3 feet off the ground and there are wood plank walkways that run between them all... pretty.

It's crazy how much the water recedes at low-tide here. In Patong I'd guess it recedes about 50-60 feet. Here it is more like 300 feet - and the water is only just past your ankles at 400 feet out.

I think I figured out what I'll do tomorrow. Once I get to Ao Nang, I'm going to quick get a cab to my hotel, check in, then take a 20 minute longboat ride over to Railay for the sunset. Sunsets there were described as being "Ethereal."

Not so sure what to do the next day. Will get up early and take a cab to tiger cave temple and check it out then back to the hotel to shower and check out. The problem I then face is that I won't have another place to clean up before my 7PM flight back to Bangkok. There are plenty of places to see but I can't travel for 30+ hours smelling like a dirty monkey's butt.

I think there are places to shower in Seoul's airport, but that means I'll have to pack a change of clothes in my laptop bag. Ah well, I'm sure I'll figure something out. I've worked my way through all the other crazy logistics of this trip so far.

Gotta make sure I don't forget to check out the free tour of Seoul during my 10 hour layover there. Will do that after my shower I guess. That will be a nice way to eat up 4 hours of the layover.

Jetlag coming back is going to be a beast. Maybe doing a photoshoot with a girl from the UoI on Sunday lol.

Helped out a Dutch couple tonight who were having auto-focus problems when taking pictures after dark.

Thinking about getting another massage tomorrow. Dunno if that would be such a great idea with the sunburn though. They are pretty rough on your shoulders and neck. Better pass on that.

Hmmm, not really sure what to do tomorrow. DOn't need to take a boat to Monkey beach anymore because I already saw all thse monkeys today. Gotta check out at 11:00 AM though they will hold my bags for me until my boat leaves at 3:30 PM.

Things I wish I wouldn't have brought: 1,000 page hardback novel, usb hard drive connector kit, tripod, one of my pairs of pants. That's not too bad for overpacking. I definitely didn't overpack with my clothes. Going to have just enough to get by.

I've spent about $25 on ATM fees which kinda sucks, though I don't think I'll need to use another one for the rest of my trip so that's alright (update: probably will have to use an ATM one more time).

February 4, 8:35 AM TT

Checkout time is in 2.5 hours. Might just keep my swim trunks on all day (update: did not). Went for a dip in the pool, that felt lovely. Forgot I had free breakfast here and went and got something in town. Oh well. Took some pictures of the East side of the island, just after sunrise. Wasn't as pretty as I'd hoped but I suppose that's relative.

While out walking the beach last night I saw some amazing fire dancers. Only watched them for two songs... which were both by Limp Bizkit. Faith and the Mission Impossible theme. That was kind of puzzling. The fire dancers would either have a stick with two flaming ends or hold two seperate flaming ball and chain things. They would get those things spinning at something like 250 RPM which was amazing to see. Once in a while they would throw them 40 feet into the air and then catch them, but sometimes they messed that part up. One time it landed on a tourist and that person caught on fire and ran into the ocean as a blazing fireball. Just kidding. Though one of the guys with the ball and chain threw his in the air and caught it. Still trying to figure that one out.

Hotels here skip the number 13 just like in the US.

Only have room for 500 more pictures on my memory cards. Should be ok though, I think I've taken around 1,000-1,100 (update: only 900) so far. Going to do some editing on the trip back. Well, not really edit, just choose which pictures to edit once I get back. That should cut a few hours off the processing time.

Got woken up last night by some drunken yelling. Put in some ear plugs and fell back asleep soon thereafter. I will definitely always travel with ear plugs from from now on, they are great and take up no room.

Journal Update 10

February 2, 4:37 PM TT

Just walked around a bit and got lunch. Going to talk to the lady now and figure stuff out. I'll be laying low until 10'til 6 and then I'm heading out for pictures. Face is starting to get a bit sore, will be using sun block the rest of the trip (except at the top of my forehead - my matted hair prevented it from getting any sun so it's white still. Going to have to gel my hair up until that spot gets burnt too, haha).

Could walk around town and take pictures bit it will look better at night- lots of bars and restaurants don't open til after dark. Saw my taxi driver from last night while walking to get lunch. He waved, said "Hi" and asked if I needed a taxi. Told him no with a smile. Always have to smile when telling people no around here (In Thailand I mean). It's the polite thing to do.

February 2, 8:27 PM TT

Got back a bit ago. Left the room at 6 and headed to the beach. Saw my first two trannies! Was really obvious, even from across the street. It it ok to chuckle or is that rude? I don't think I'll be able to help myself at first (update: trannies here love the attention as long as you aren't being mean). As long as it's not mean-spirited it should be alright.

When I got to the beach, local Thais were hauling in speedboats. They were even driving a tractor down to haul them out.

The throngs of people had disappeared and only a handful stood to watch the sunset. The last time I was n the ocean was under much different circumstances. This time was a bit calmer... didn't lose my glasses! After the sun set I just stood in the water a while, watching the rest of the sun's light disappear from the sky.

I absolutely love it here during the sunset and after the sun goes down. The temperature is perfect, especially when standing in the water. The days though, ugh. Not eough shade, the only place to sit in some AC and cool off are shopping centers & the hotel room. If I was here for a longer stay I'd reverse my sleep schedule and sleep during the day and go out after dark. I can genuinely say that it's not scary to walk down dark streets alone here... it's strange

Going to leave my big camera in the room & just take the small one tonight. Here's hoping for no break-ins!

February 3, 12:11 AM TT

Just got back from Bang La Road and holy wow that place is a zoo. A fun zoo! When I first got there (200 baht for a 5 minute tuk tuk ride, what a scam) I walked up and down the street a few times and went in the various side streets (called Sois).

Soi Seadragon seemed like the most fun place to party- there were girls dancing on the bars and they were playing American hip-hop music.

Walked down Soi Tiger but there weren't any english speakers, just a bunch of hookers. I really can't believe how many there are here... it's craaaaaazy.

Also gawked at the trannies dancing at Soi Crocodile. There was a gigantic crowd out front watching some of them dance, and that street was by far the busiest, it was packed. Really funny to watch though, so I can't blame people.

I settled down and had a few (2) Tiger beers upstairs at a "Aussies." You'll never guess it, but lots of Australians hang out there! After a few beers I chatted up 2 Australians from Sydney for a few minutes before I said goodnight and headed back.

I decided to talk instead of pay to ride and on the way back I decided I was hungry so I stopped at a place and got some shimp+vegetables in a spicy curry with a side of steamed rice. I didn't think it was all that spicy so the waitress brought out some spicy chilli sauce but adding that really wasn't all that bad either. I think she was impressed- she said if I come back they'd make it extra spicy.

After I was done eating I headed back where on the way a Trannie first offered me a massage, and after I declined, based on his/her gesture, I'm pretty sure he/she offered me oral sex which I also declined (with a smile of course).

Get back to the hotel and my Dutch neighbors are complaining to me about all the French at the villas complex we are staying in (I guess it's like 90% French people).

I gotta pack up... need to get up in 5 hours. My van picks me up in 6 hours... pretty sure where I'll be staying tomorrow doesn't have internet so don't expect anything until I get to Krabi on Feb 4 sorry! (update, obviously there are cafes on the island).

February 3, ~7:20 AM TT

Got picked up by the van a little bit ago. He was a minute or two late so of course I started worrying he wouldn't show and I'd waste four hours of my day waiting for the nexy ferry. Was very relieved when he showed up.

Woke up on my own today. First at 4:30 AM then at 5:30. Other than the day where I took a six-hour "nap" I don't think I've slept longer than 3.5 hours in a row. Not too tired today though.

After I check in to my hotel, I need to go buy some mosquito repellant (update: didn't) and go to the atm (update: did). My hotel is paid for already but I might need cash for a boat ride to Maya beach (didn't). Also want to make sure I go to Monkey Beach (doubtful). You'll never guess what's at Monkey beach.

A little bit ago the van driver almost ran over a motorbike with 2 people on it. They pulled out into traffic without looking. My driver was pretty pissed that he had to slame on the brakes & swerve. He yelled at them out the window. First time I've seen a Thai person verbally express anger.

Yesterday, the manager at my villa taught me how to swear in French. I already forgot how to though. I'm going to blame her and say she's a bad teacher.

Will write more on the boat if I can. Hoping it will be a pretty ride (it was).

February 3, 9:01 AM TT

Well, I made it to my boat. Got a ticket to Ao Nang tomorrow but it doesn't leave til 3:30 PM... so I'm looking at getting in around5. Not sure what all I will have time to do. Hmm... really wanna see Railay Beach.

February 3, 12:27 PM TT

Well I made it here. It was no easy task. The "town" here is a maze and my bungalow was on the far side of it.

Of course about 2 minutes into 15 minute walk one of the wheels on my luggage breaks. I got the luggage from woot.com and both pieces of the set have had their rear wheels break on their first vacation. It's like pulling an anchor.

Oh God, I just got a coconut shake and it is amazing.

Anyway I finally found the place I'm staying, went in and cooled down. The beach here is ridiculous. It's a real tropical paradise.

All of the restaurantes here are either Thai or Italian. No clue why there are so many Italian places, but I don't mind. I was craving some pizza ike a pregnant woman so I'm sitting in a shaded outdoor cafe waiting for my food. The beach is less than a minute walk from the frotn desk where I'm staying. Once I eat I'm goig for a short swim. Then I'm goig to figure out how to get to monkey beach, go there, then head to a nice viewpoint on the island that requires a bit of a hike (update: my actual courses of action were nothing like the plan).

Going to make sure I have a full bottle of water for that. The heat is murder. Pizza is here, it's huge, I'm hungry. Time to eat.

That was delicious. Oops, forgot to take a picture of it! Now that I've cooled off while eating I might go take pictures no and get in the water later. The water is very calm, no breaking waves at this time today. Tonight I can either go to one of the bars and "party" or go take pictures. I'm thinking I'll go have a beer after soviet sunset and then if it is how I imagine it will be, I'll go take pics after that. I think I will put the tripod to good use tonight ! :-)

I still don't really understand how you are supposed to pay at restaurants in Thailand. They never bring you the bill. I always just walk up to the counter and pay when I'm ready. I don't know if I'm breaking and social rules... probably. Oh well.

The average age for peopl ehere is about 20 years younger than in Patongl I'd guess it's about 29-30 here.

The pizza I had a very thin crispy pizza, a little bit of tomato sauce, mozz cheese, gorgonzola and very spicy slices of sausage. Was very good.

Don't see many solo travelers here. Most people are in pairs or groups of 3 or 4.

Tons and tons of Thai people. The info I read online that says "they mostly wear cotto pants and think jeans" are stupid becaues they are heavy was dead wrong!

Ok, time to get out of here.

10 minutes later: Feeling refreshed after a shirt and a shower. Put on the sunblock, waiting a few more minutes for it to settle or whatever and then going hiking!

February 3, 5:40 PM TT

While I finally figured out the trick to Thailand, = you don't beat the heat- you join it!" Sure you are going to look like a sweaty hot mess compared to some people but nobody really cares. Yo udon't come here to look cool, you come here to experience it!

**********

Ugh, I'll write more later. Gott aget some food or I'll be falling asleep early again. Night.

Update 6

Ok, plumbing is back in working order, .

Just finished packing to go to Ko Phi Phi Don where I will be the next 24-26 hours without internet because it is on a small island. At least I think there is no internet. If there is a cafe there I might head there late tonight but I am not really sure.

I need to haul my stuff to the front desk here and get ready for the van. Don't want to miss the boat!

Update 5

Oh god I need some immodium hahahaha. Hungry, going to grab some lunch. Bring on the Thai food! Maybe I just need to get something spicier and that will fix things. I didn't get a Hep-A vaccination so I am hoping I don't catch that from any of the food. I read chance of it are low. I know we got vaccinated for some form of Hep back in grade school though I don't remember which. Hep B? I remember it was done at the North Ridge gym in the 2nd or 3rd grade... it's probably expired by now? Does it expire or is that just flu since that virus changes all the time? I probably should have researched these things more.

My face is getting a little color- nose and forehead are a bit pink. No pain from that.

I have a few mosquito bites on my left elbow, and some red bumps on my knees that don't itch. Dunno what those are from.

After I eat I need to talk to the lady that is arranging my transpot tomorrow. She said to speak with her anytime after 3 so I could do that whenever now.

At 6 I need to pick up my laundry from the place next door. Their rates are much more reasonable than my previous hotels. About $2 for a smallish bag of laundry rather than $20. They sun dry all their clothes on some lines in a lot in back of their shop. I walked through that lot while I was trying to find the front desk of my hotel yesterday and almost got attacked by their guard dog ( I assume he is there so people don't steal all the hanging laundry). It's a big rottweiler that has a mean bark.

One of my friends, Landon, who has been to Thailand before suggested I go to a place called Tiger bar in the party area here. It looked like a fun place to get a drink, but I watched a video of it online and it looked like there were a bunch of trannies dancing on poles there. I guess one drink there won't hurt me lol.

Thought about walking down the trannie street here but I read that the "ladyboys" can get pretty mad if you take their picture and seeing as thai males are known for their love to beat the crap out of people, if I do go down that street for fun, my camera will not be out.

Journal Update 9

Spent some time at the beach this morning sipping drinks (fruit smoothies, non alcoholic!) and enjoying the ocean breeze. After I headed back for a shower, I figured I'd throw this up online.

February 2, 10:58 AM TT

Walked along the beach, heading North. Grrr, I just told the waitress at the place I'm sitting (and drinking a mango smoothie - so good) "Hello" instead of "Thank You." I keep accidently doing that and people keep laughing at me lol. Anyway, walked North about 20 minutes, stopping every once in a while to sit in the shade and cool off. This slowe rpace seems fitting for this place.

There are lots and lots of tourists here, but seemingly few Americans. In fact, I have not heard any english spoken out loud since I've been here (on the street at least). Lots of Europeans. I've heard a lot of German and French spoken, those are easy to tell apart due to the accents/dialect/whatever. I am totally guessing and basing it off how people look, but there appears to be a lot of people from Spain and Italy here as well.

Splended, I now have a wonderful view of someone's grandma sunbathing topless on some rocks. Hightlight of my trip! Also, I can tell if a man is European or not by the swimsuit he wears. European men love sporting the banana hammock.

There is a large cruise ship that has dropped anchor about half a mile to a mile from shore- it's hard (for me) to tell distances in the water from the shore (or from anywhere else I suppose). I guess it could be 2-3 miles out for all I know.

In the shade the temperature is in the low 80s I reckon. With a light occassional breeze it's pretty comfortable, not even sweating at the moment. Today I'm wearing shorts + a white long sleeve (but very thin) hoodie + socks and chucks.

My villa doesn't include any shampoo so I had to wash my hair with soap. My hair has NO volume now, UGH. I'm so embarassed. :-P It's like that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry's building has no water pressure and everyone has terrible hair. (I'm kidding btw, I don't really care about my hair's volume)

Topless grandma from before has been joined by her topless grandma friend! Double (or quadruple, depending on how you count) the fun!

Can't wait to get in the water tomorrow - my bungalow is supposed to be 75-100m from the water. I guess there is a difference between villas and bungalows that I didn't know about. Villas are like fancy hotel rooms with full kitchens that you have a patio or deck attached to.. where as bungalows are little huts. Maybe that is common knowledge for most people but I am a common idiot. The next two places I'm staying at are actual bungalows- or at least they claim to be!

While the beachfront here is fairly developed (there is even a condominium building with around 30 floors, by far the tallest building here) most of the rest of the town is giving off a "developing country" vibe. There are empty lots filled with trash, small hillside huts people live in, lots of stray animals. I've seen a few hundred stray dogs since I arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday. I've seen 4 or 5 dogs on a leash tops lol.

The cup my smoothie is in says "happy sheep" on it and has smiling cartoon sheep.

I started writing down random 1-line thoughts or observations. Going to share those at the end of the trip. Most are fairly funny (to me) and are about something I see/notice or something stupid I did.

One story of my stupidity/unsmoothness:

So on Sunday when I got to the building the skybar was in, I go over to the elevator area that takes you up there. They have decently high standards on appearance so you have to look kinda nice else they don't let you up. I pass that test though they make me check my backpack (though I was allowed to remove the camera and carry that around).

At the time, I don't remember which floor the bar is on (the top one, it's a rooftop bar, DUH!) so I get off at the 52nd because that floor has some special writing next to it (I needed the 64th). There is a bar on this floor and remembering that the skybar has 2 bars, I saunter up and order a beer. As I'm paying I ask how I get to the skybar and they tell me it's on the 64th floor. I'm sure I turned a little red in the face as I pay $10 and go sit down. "At least there is a nice pool here that I can take a picture of" I think as I pick up my camera and... the battery was dead! I forgot to check that! So I chug my $10 beer (bartender and waiters were probably wondering wtf) and have to go back to the first floor, uncheck my bag, get a new battery, re-check my bag, and head up to the 64th floor.

I felt so stupid I thought it'd be a shame not to share. :-)

Update 4

I threw it up on facebook so I am some of the people reading this already saw it there, but here is a picture from last night:

Journal Update 8

February 2, 7:45 AM

Took it easy last night. Went to bed around 8:30 PM but I really needed to rest. I have another night here in Patong so I will stay out later tonight. Not too late though- getting picked up by a van tomorrow to take me to the dock to take a boat to Ko Phi Phi Don at 7 AM so I'll probably get up around 5:30 or 6:00 and try catching the sunrise. Sorta on the wrong side of the island for that though.

Yesterday after I checked in and cooled off I went and talked to the woman running this place - a French woman who speaks good english - who told me the good spots to go here, or rather how to get to them.

Rented a taxi for 3.5 hours and headed South, stopping at a few sites on the way. Went to Kata beach lookout point, which is at an elevation of around 7-800 feet I'm guessing. This island is very hill, not much flat land here at all.

After that I went to a beach whose name I'll look up later, I forget.

Then after those two stops I went to the Southern tip of the island which is supposed to be the prettiest sunset on the island. Even Thai people come to watch it there.

Once I got there I hiked for half an hour down the peninsula to get to the coast. Ran out of water halfway down, oops. Very veautiful place, probably hiked down 300 or so feet through fairly focky terrain and made it about 30 feet from the water (update: Note to self- Chuck Taylors are not good hiking shoes). The tide was out and the rocks I were walking on were covered in little shells that were attached very strongly and I didn't want to kill a bunch of animals with every step so I stopped. The only other people down that far were two Buddhist monks and a Thai guy that was talking to them.

Monks here aren't quite what I figured they would be - they use cellphones, they smoke, etc. Not like some of the monks in Europe where you hear they are very restrictive and have vows of silence, etc.

Well I got some great shots then headed back to the cab, drove back to Patong, paid ($35) and walked back to the hotel. The cab driver asked for 1,400 baht and my form of bargaining was not having that much money with me hahaha.. only had 1,260. He was more than happy with that though. Walked a block or two back to my villa, showered, and crashed.

Stayed in bed for about 11 hours.. lol yuck that's a long time. About to go out walking and find some breakfast. Haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon. Ooooh, that reminds me I still have one of mom's cookies left! Ok, now I have 0 cookies left, just two bags of crumbs. :-(

I think I am going to get some pineapple and then find some meat. I am feeling like a bit of a carnivore. I haven't swam in the ocean yet, but that's mostly because I don't have a place to leave me camera. Let's just say the security at this place is a bit lacking. It's just a sliding glass door, and after you lock them, you can really easily just slide the 2 locked doors to the side and walk right in. Ugh.

Ok, outta here!

Journal Update 7

February 1, 10:22 AM TT

Oh man, I'm still hurting a bit from last night. Went to Sirroco / Skybar around 5:00 PM. There are two sections to the bar- the lame one and the amazing one. They start you out at the lame one. You get a drink, lounge on a couch (it has an alright view and is outside), finish your drink, pay ($10 beers) then you say "I want to go to other bar" (yes that is how I'm starting to talk now haha). Then you go to the other bar on the opposite side of the restaurant.

Make sure when your jaw drops to the floor you don't let it fall off the edge. It's a 64-story drop. It's so ridiculous in fact that it really is impossible not to gawk for a few seconds before you walk down the steps to the bar area.

The view is incredible. You can see the river snaking its way through all the glimmering lights. Skyscrapers lit up in brilliant yellow, blues, purples and oranges dot the landscape. I don't mean to get all gushy but it was soooooo awesome. The only other view that comes close to rivalling it is the view from the backdoor at Fatman's Pub in Danville. :-P

I spent $30 on beer to experience it, but it was definitely worth it! Afterwards I took the skytrain to the Asok Station and got off there to look for the Soi Cowboy red light district. I knew it was somewhere in the area but it took me 40 minutes of walking to find it. I was exhausted at that point so I snapped a few pictures and left. One of them turned out pretty good. Took a cab back to my hotel, took a shower, and went to sleep.

Got up at 5 AM and had to pack a few things still. Got in a cab at 6:20 after a light breakfast and headed to the airport. Got checked in, went to gate and napped a bit because I was tired (update: I am still tired, thinking about planning just a half day tomorrow) When they called on various rows to board, they had us walk down the gate and get on a bus instead of a plane. Took a 3 minutes bus ride to the plane and took off 20 minutes later Breakfast on the plane was yogurt and some pastry with hardened dark chocolate in the middle. Yummy.

Landed at 9:20 AM, got my bag, bought a bottle of water and got a taxi. That's where I'm writing this from. It's about an hour drive to my hotel from the airport.

The taxi driver stopped at some touristy boat tour place and they gave me a bunch of brochures. Not going to do any of that stuff.. I don't like having tourists and sight see-ers in my photos. Kills it for me.

About 10 minutes ago the driver's phone rings and he answers it... tells me "It's for you" and offers me the phone. I know I DEFINITELY had a "wtf?" look on my face when I took the phone and said hello. It was the lady from the tourplace letting me know I could save 15% if I booked now.

I was hoping it was something more exciting like a Thai secret agent calling me to say "You're being followed." Then I'd look out the window just as the agent passes my taxi on a motorcycle and he throws me a gun and we have a high speed shootout with my assailants while my taxi driver provides all the necessary comic relief with heavily accented phrases such as "You crazy, mistah!" and "He go boom!"

Sounds like a Michael Bay movie. I should call him.

Favorite massage parlour name: "Happy Time Thai Massage." Made me laugh.

Journal Update 6

January 31, 11:02 AM TT

Just got done with my Thai massage... Wow! They are really awesome. They consist of lots of pressing with the hands and elbows on various pressure points. They also mix in some extreme stretches. I got the shit cracked out of my back. I'm hoping it helped my shoulders because they are starting to get tired from hauling my camera around. Oh the prices we pay...

Forgot to check out my flight information for tomorrow when I was on the computer earlier. Need to double check things though I'm 99% sure I know everything. I do need to check addresses + phone numbers for my hotels down South though. I don't even remember their names haha.

The place I'm staying in Patong, Phuket is going to be really nice. Heard the service & facilities are top notch. I think I paid $65 a night so that is splurging by Thai standards but it's only 2 nights so who cares. (also it's a villa)

My villa on Ko Phi Phi (pronounced "koh pee pee") is probably a shithole- literally. I read it stinks like sewage there, haha... but $25 a night with AC and my own bathroom... can't complain too much.

After that I'll be in Ao Nang, Krabi. There's nothing to do in that town but it's a good hub for everything else in the area. I think my place there is around $70 a night for the villa. Staying in villas the whole time down South because I wanted to do something different.

I don't really have any plans for the next ~4 hours (update: I drank beer). I need to get my hotel / flight information and grab some lunch but that's about it.

Tonight, well, this afternoon at 3:30 I'm going to head to Wat Pho, which has a large reclining Buddha statue. After that I'm going to kill some time before I head over to the Sirroco Sky Bar. It's a bar on the 60th floor roof of some building. I'd prefer to get there around sunset... not sure what I'm gonna do for an hour between the temple and the bar.

If you've seen the Bombay Sapphire ads (in magazines) of a blue rooftop bar, then you've seen the skybar. Hopefully they let me bring my camera in.. otherwise I'm not going to bother. Drinks are $15-20 and if I can't take pictures there than I'm not going to waste my money.

After the skybar I'm hopping on the skytrain (everything in this city is in the sky apparently) and taking it to Soi Cowboy where I'm hoping to get some interesting pics of the infamous red light district.

So those are the plans for today.. lets hope it goes well!

P.S. Thai food is starting to do a number on me. Uh ohhhh! :-0

January 31, 12:43 PM TT

Sitting at an outdoor (shaded) bar on a corner on a street just off Sukhumvit Road, sorta near my internet cafe. Beers are $2 but to be honest I'd be afraid to drink beer here that costs much less.

If I was an intelligent insightful person, now is when I'd ramble on about some crazy philosophical thought of mine about the meaning of life or what I should be doing.. but that's not really the type of person that I am. Just the fact that I've reached a state where if I WERE such a person I'd do just that makes me happy enough.

Sitting on a rickety old stool at a wood plank bar. Talking to a couple of blokes from England. If they weren't from England then I wouldn't call them blokes lol. They are some pretty cookie cutter exmaples of sex tourists but it's hard not to laugh at the stories they are telling. Maybe it's the accent? English men are charming right? Or just Hugh Grant? Going to cut myself off after the 3rd beer, don't want to be too sloppy later... yeah I'm a lightweight. That's common knowledge (update: I successfully cut myself off, Bravo.)

Also, weekend market note that I forgot about- there were stalls selling fish + flattened and dried squid that were some of the worst smelling things I've ever smelled. After passing by a few I had to avoid them for fear that I might retch. They were rotting!

Oh poo, my notebook is starting to fall apart. My mom said my language is horrendous in this blog. She didn't say horrendous but she meant it.

One of the blokes is wearing a penis necklace and we just laughed at him about it. He says it's not a penis, it's a penis creature, because it has legs.

Lunch today was a fried chicken leg- Thai style- and an ice cream cone with 3 Heinekens for dessert. Finishing the third right now then hopping on the net (Hi Carly and Liz and Nick) then back to the hotel to get cleaned up and head out. I have to look nice for the skybar so that means shirt + tie + jeans + shoes. Luckily I won't be walking around too much in that outfit. It's not optimal for these conditions.

LoL (yes it's necessary) the English guys' names were Marten and Marten.

Journal Update 5

January 30, 11:30 PM TT

Woohoo! Today was my first full day. Got up at 6:30 AM and will be going to be around midnight. No naps!

After I got cleaned up I took the Skytrain and riverboat to the Tha Thien (N8) dock and camped there waiting for Wat Arun to light up. While waiting I took a group photo for a guy at least 60 who was touting no less than three Thai women on his arm. I half expected a film crew to be following them for Thailand's version of "The Girls Next Door" before I reminded myself there was no way the guy is 80+ years old like Hef is.

Anyway, my patience paid off as I got a got a great shot. Afterwards I walked past Wat Pho (going inside there tomorrow) and the walls of the Grand Palace and as I kept seeing cool things to photograph in the distance I kept walking and walking.

Met a Thai guy named Mr. Chai (?) who says he teaches history at a university in Thailand. He told me there would be fireworks at the monument at 11:00 PM but I didn't stick around for them. He wants me to meet him tomorrow but I'm not going to... he is probably trying to rip me off somehow. I asked him if I could just give him my email and he said no, that he doesn't use it... but wouldn't a university professor need to use it? I dunno, things could just be different over here.

Dinner was hilarious- will talk about it tomorrow, I'm starting to fall asleep. Night.

January 31, 5:22 AM TT

Can't sleep, woke up at 5 am and even though I'm tired I don't think I can fall back asleep.. too much on my mind.

Ok, so dinner last night was at this Thai Fusion place down the street from my hotel. From the street it looked like a tiny little place that could seat maybe 20 people. I go inside and seating is for 200 people- huge place. Opened up to a nice moody courtyard. I ask to sit outside since it is a pretty nice night. Turns out that wasn't the best choice.

They sit me down next to this pretty tree and shrine (Buddhist shrines crack me up- they usually have toys and food and drink as offerings. I respect their beliefs, I just haven't ever seen this before so it is still a novelty for me. In Ayutthaya, I saw a plate with a sandwich and fries on it, and an open bottle of coke with the straw sticking out of the top. It's just very new to me! haha) and the shrine has these plastic swords and other knick nack toys that you'd buy at a drugstore. So I'm sitting in this nice fancy place next to a table of really cheap toys.

Ok I thought that was funny, maybe you had to have been there, haha. Anyway, the reason it was a bad idea to sit outside was the mosquitos. I haven't been bitten by any yet (and no sunburn either!) and I didn't even notice any bugs until a waitress brings out a little bottle of lemongrass oil to spray on. She says something to me something that sounded like "unknown unknown moh keet oh." I was trying to piece together the unknown parts of her sentence when a mosquito landed on my arm and I figured it out.

So I try using the bottle she brought out and it doesn't work... a little tiny spray comes out every 20 times I press the squirter. So I ask her if I can have another one and try telling her the one she gave me doesn't work. Imagine how mortified I was when she picks it up and gets like 5 perfect sprays out of it in a row and says with an "I pity your stupidity" tone in her voice "you...you have to press down on it." So she hands it back toand it's broken again. So I try showing her that, hand it back to her, and know it won't work for her either.

Then she brings out this thing that looks like a badmitten (spelling?) racquet and waves it under the table and I hear like 20 electrical pops- turns out it's an electrified bug killer thing. I had seen lots of people carrying these things around Bangkok and just assumed Thai people always want to be prepared in case they're involved in an impromptu game of street-badmitten.

Well the spray and the wand weren't good enough apparently because they they bring out this pretty big circular fan and aim it at me to keep the bugs away. There's no way I'd ever be unhappy about a fan being pointed at me here though, feels great no matter what time of day it is (had dinner at 10PM).

Wow I've written two pages without even saying anything about the food. I'm sorry!

Anyway, so like I said it's a Thai fusion restaurant. I like fusion restaurants because when you say "Yeah I ate at X, it's a Y fusion restaurant" you can't help but feel cool. Same thing with bistros.

I got a rack of lamb in spicy mango sauce with fried noodles mixed with spicy vegetables. I was originally planning to go cheap for dinner and spend 120 baht on "green beans + shrimp" but the lamb sounded really good so I got that instead. It was a little over 4 times as much haha. Whoops. Had some beer called "Sing-ha" which is pretty good- a lot better than Chang.

After I ordered they brought a little plate and said "Chef's compliments." Boy did I feel special! I don't know what they were, but they were delicious. Two little things of vegetables and sauce wrapped and friend in some lightly crispy shell + tied off w/crispy noodles. Ok now my stomach is grumbling. (update: I just ate breakfast and after typing that, my stomach started growling again -_-) I gotta get out of bed soon lol.

Forgot to mention last night about the canal picture I took. So there are the canals that run through the city and some are used as transportation and others I'm not so sure what they're for. I know a long time ago canals were builty around the city as a defense mechanism so perhaps they are remnants of that?

Well the Thai people treat some of these canals as trash cans. You see a lot of garbage floating in some of them. A lot of people have their back porches right on the edge of these canals. When I was walking last night I saw this really cool scene and snapped probably the "moodiest" picture I've ever taken. The lighting on the scene is just crazy. It looks great straight out of camera and with no editing.

While walking to dinner last night a bunch of ladies asked me if I wanted a Thai massage. I actually had been planning on getting one this morning so when I told them "tmoorrow" I meant it. One of the ladies made me pinky swear haha.

I don't think I've stopped smiling since I got here. Thai people like it when you smile haha. I probably looked ridiculous lat night walking through some random Thai neighborhood with a huge shit-eating grin on my face taking pictures.

I definitely don't fit in a Thai 'small' t-shirt. Well I was able to put it on, but it seriously took me 2 minutes to take it off. I was about to go all Hulk Hogan on it and "RAARRRHGHGH" rip it in two but it's brand new. :-( Going to give it to David and if he doesn't fit in it, going to give it to an 8 year old.

Had the hotel do some laundry for me. Thought it would be around $5, was over $20! Going to take a few things I need washed to a place across the street today. (update: no I'm not, too lazy) Ok, breakfast time, bye!

Update 3

Just got back in my hotel's area after an amazing night out. Took the Skytrain and riverboat to the dock that has a good view of Wat Arun. Got an amazing picture just after sunset. Will edit and throw it up later. After that, I walked around for a few hours near the Grand Palace and then to some very Thai neighborhoods. No tourists around at all. Some Thai guy asked me to meet him at one of the monuments tomorrow because he is visiting America soon and wants advice. I told him ok, then about 2 minutes later decided I didn't think it was such a good idea. Whoops, sorry guy who will be waiting for me tomorrow. I hope you were planning on kidnapping/robbing me so I don't have a guilty consciounsce (ok how do you spell that word?).

When walking around taking pictures at night, I pretty much keep pushing myself to keep going and taking pictures until I feel way too uncomfortable with where I am and then I hail a cab and get the hell out of there. (oh hey, some white dude just walked by holding a hooker's hand outside the internet cafe, how cute haha) Anyway, I got a shot of the backs of some houses next to a canal that is one of my favorites from the trip. Really awesome "dark" shot.

I am pretty hungry so I might go to a restaurant and grab some food and a beer before I head back to the hotel to sleep. I edited a few pictures to throw up on here. Full sizes will be available when I get back to the states and can edit them on a nicer monitor!

Journal Update 4

January 30, 2:47 PM TT

Well last night I slept until 1:30 AM. Whoops! Went and hopped on facebook. Couldn't get a beer because all the bars around here stop serving around 1 AM. Then I went back to my room to try to sleep. Got up @ 6:30 AM today.

After I had breakfast I strapped on my backpack, got some cash from an ATM and headed to the Mo Chit station which is near the weekend market. Got a beer and laughed at the fact that I was out drinking in public at 8:30 AM. I'm on vacation damnit! :-p

After I was done with that I met up with Stephanie and Josh and we walked around for a while.

Bargaining with the vendors was fun, though I'm sure I was an easy bargain. Usually I was able to bargain 10-25% off which isn't too bad I guess.

Checked out the part of the market selling pets. I guess that area had been part of some news documentary about animala buse or something. The dogs and cats and squirrels (yes, you could buy a pet squirrel!) were packed in cages pretty tight, but it really wasn't much/any worse than the US's puppy mills/puppy stores in shopping malls.

There was definitely an overabundance of cuteness though! Sooooo many puppies and kitties. There were purebreeds of many different kinds. Even saw some German Shepherd pups that reminded me of Chuck... oh how I miss him... lol :-(

I do feel bad for the dogs/cats with shaggy coats/long hair because it was quite hot. I am starting to notice I state that it's hot everytime I write, but Good Golly, Miss Molly i'm burning up! (all comments to man up and to stop bitching can be sent to tom.olson85@gmail.com lol)

I'm writing in this now because I'm waiting on housekeeping to drop off my laundry. They'd probably scream if they saw me in a towel (because I really need a shower). They are very conservative over here.

Gave directions to some clueless white people today on the skytrain. Boy, didn't that make me feel like a hardened Thailand veteran...

Lunch today was a couple "chicken on a stick in some sauce" and a really sweet fruit drink. At least I think it was a fruit drink.. and.. at least I think it was chicken. I never have any clue what it is that I'm putting in my mouth. As long as it tastes good and doesn't make me sick then it's a success as far as I'm concerned.

Stopped at Siam Square on the way home today. It's definitely more for Thai people than for foreigners. No english anywhere and I was the only white person. Walked around for 30 minutes and headed back. Also, it should be called "Siam couple of square blocks," the name is very misleading!

Not going to take a nap today, oh no no. I've wisened up to that ploy of my body's. Going to take a shower, throw on some of the new clothes I bought, and head to the river. I am getting that shot of Wat Arun tonight! (update: totally nailed it) If I fail then I give up.

I was going to go to Kanchanaburi tomorrow.. still undecided about that. Guess I should figure it out soon eh? (update: not going, 3 hour bus ride? no) There are some pretty neat sights there... I really want to check out Erawan falls. I guess I feel bad for leaving poor Bangkok already. You could easily spend a few weeks in this city and not run out of things to do.

I'll be flying down to Phuket in less than two days. That should be amazing. I need to figure out hwhat all I'm going to do there though. I definitely won't be renting a motorbike though. As fan and liberating as that sounds, there are far too many fatal accidents involving scooters there. (At least 1 per day)

Thinking about doing night photography in one of Bangkok's red light districts tomorrow night. Or tonight I guess if I have time (update: I didn't, I'm sleepy after doing night photography somewhere else) If I get yelled at to stop though, I'm packing up and leaving the area immediately.. don't want any trouble. Bangkok is such a legend for that side of it though...(I mean seriously, what is the name of the city?) It'd almost be a sham to not at least see the area.

Don't worry though, this trip is rated R, not XXX hahaha.

Best deal I got today was 3 long sleeve collared shirts that would probably be $30+ a piece at AE, A&F, or Express. Got them for about $18 total. Also got four graphic Ts, a fe plain Ts, a pair of shorts, a belt, a few gifts... all in all I probably only spent around $100 max. Also got some lamps for my bedroom. Shipped most of the loot via Thai surface mail. It's the cheapest way and will travel by boat, haha. Cost $35 and will take 8 weeks. Sucks. I figure by then I will have forgotten what all I bought and it will be a nice surprise. Couldn't find any whiskey though... that is one request that as of now remains unfulfilled. Maybe I will find some down South?

Going to edit a few "preview pictures" to throw up on my blog w hile I wait for laundry. Adios!

Journal Update 3

Jan 28, 3:30 PM TT

Just updated the blog and had the people at the front desk help me figure out my phone. Feeling kinda tired... might make a few phone calls then take a short nap.

Still can't decide whether to take my D700 with me to Khao San tonight, probably will.. I want to get some night shots of the city (update: did take it and did get some good night shots). Need to read up a bit on the details on getting to Ayutthaya tomorrow. I know the basics at least (update: until the guy at the front desk told me a better way which led to me almost getting lost, but I found the way eventually!)

It was soooo hote today ~OMG~ Could be because my body is mostly used to cold weather, but gut still. I was sweating buckets like it was my job (update: and Thai people seemingly never sweat, I envy them)

Used some public transportation today.took the BTS (skytrain) which is nice and simple. It has A/C too, which makes it better haha.

Got approached by 3 guys today (at different times each, not all at once) who were trying to get me to ride one of the Tuk Tuks to the "Big Buddha" because today is "Lucky Buddha Day!" But that is just a common scam that I had read about plenty of times.

Ate some street vendor food. BOught some fried fish on a stick and some other friend shit (not literally) on a stick and they were good. Couldn't eat all of the second shit though, I was getting full and it was a bit too greasy. Lunch total cost: 20 Baht (like 60 cents). Also got some sweet snack on little fried wafers. Cost 6 baht for 4 of them. Christ this country is cheap. My 10 minute cab ride today cost $2.

Nap Time.

Jan 29, 12:59 AM TT

Well that nap was 3 hours longer than I wanted. Woke up 20 minutes AFTER I was supposed to meet the people from CA. Sorry Josh & Steph! (update: meeting them tomorrow at a market hopefully).

I was pretty bummed that I couldn't get ahold of them or Jenn, sorta felt like just going back to sleep and calling it an early night. But hell no to that!

Took the BTS to the boat station which I knew would be closed, planning to walk to a spot where I could get some night pictures of Wat Arun, which has spectacular lighting at night. Well after walking 1-2km, I was hot as hell (even though it was only 80) and starting to get creeped out since I wasn't in a very touristy area and it was not well lit. So I hailed a cab and took it to Khao San road which I walked down to check out. Kept walking around to the right when I got to the end of the road, eventually turning down a road parallel to Khao San.

Sat down at an outdoor restaurant and got some Shrimp Pad Thai and a beer. Ssonyo reccomended the pad thai and it was quite good. Dinner was 150 baht, but I am pretty sure it should have been 220 with the beer. Oh well.

After dinner I got my camera out and started taking some pictures. I got a few that I really like. Night photography is a lot more fun than mid-day photography. The light, or rather the lack of it makes taking pictures a lot easier, as backwards as that sounds.

Saw a handful of creepy old guys with young Thai girls. I need to quick start balding and grow a big gut to pick up the locals I guess. Bed now, Ayutthaya tomorrow. Good night!

January 29, 9:00 AM TT

Was going to take a bus to Ayutthaya (pronounced Ah-you-thee-uh) but the hotel guy said to take a van from Victory monument. Since I knew how to get to the Northern Bus Terminal I was against changing my plans. However while riding the BTS I noticed there was a stop for Victory Monument so I said what the hell I'll give it a shot.

About 30 minutes later I'm drenched and about to give up. I had almost done a full circle of the square (does that even make sense) and decided to check one last spot. Success! I see what sorta looks like ticket counters and I ask. They can't understand my wrong pronounciation of the word but I write it for them and they laughed and pronounced it for me. Van #1! 50 baht for a 90 minute ride. Good Christ.

January 29, 1:41 PM TT

Holy shit! Just had an amazing whirlwind tour of Ayutthaya! Got in around 9:30-10:00 AM, got a Tuk Tuk (they are less sketchy here) about 15 seconds after I got out of the van and for an agreed price of 900 baht I went to 6-7 different places.

First we went to the elephant village where I got to ride an elephant for half an hour and get pictures taken with two other elephants.

Then we went to the different temples in the area and I got a few "National Geographic"-grade shots. Throughout the "tour" they bought me a lot of water and a bag of pineapple. They were very very friendly. The only awkward moment was when he asked "In baht, how much did your camera cost?" I said 'a lot' and he said '$200?' which I agreed to.

After we were done, they had me write in their book about my day with them. THey really wanted to make sure I put that I am from America in the write-up, haha.

That leads me to now. Right now I am riding back to Bangkok in a van with broken AC and the windows are rolled up. I am guessing it is between 110 and 115 in here. THey opened the door to let someone else in and the regular 90 degree outside air felt like AC. Good God I am gonna die!

January 29, 6:06 PM TT

Well I didn't die but I'm pretty sure this headache I'm having that feels similar to a hangover is from dehydration. Lets give an awesome example: I took a piss when I got up this morning. From 7:45 am - 3:30 pm I estimate that I drank about 6 liters of water. When I finally took that 3:30 pm piss, it was about 5 seconds.

5 seconds?!?! I piss more than that after 1 beer! I think I'm about to take another "nap" (it was a 7 hour nap hahaha). Just had dinner (fried rice + chicken with a lot of chillis on top) and a beer (Chang). Can't say I like Chang. Tastes like malt liquor to me. Though its alcohol % is between 8-12% (yes it varies by batch, that's how ghetto it is). So maybe that is why...

It poured down rain when I got dropped off from the van. I got soaked. Was funny seeing Thai people's reaction to it. Most acted scared of getting wet, haha. Sleepy time...

Update 2

Soooooooo.. yeah my hotel doesn't have internet which is sort of a pain in the ass for updating this. I'd post some more journal stuff but I left my notebook @ my hotel. Using an internet cafe which is only 1 baht a minute, as opposted to 120 baht for 30 minutes. Ok it's only 1/4 the price, but this country is ruining me as far as being a cheap-ass.

Took a bus over to Ayutthaya this morning and was there for around 4 or 5 hours. That place is AMAZING. I kinda of want to hold off posting pictures until I get back to the states and can edit them right. SORRY!

I'll give you a sneak preview, here is from the elephant camp where I rode and got my picture taken with some elephants:

It might look like those poor elephants are under the constant threat of being blown away, but that dude is just there in case Dumbo decides to rage on my ass. (It's a tranquilizer gun) But seriously, I rode an elephant. I was sorta afraid I was going to fall off and break all my camera shit but luckily I didn't. The elephant I rode was 45 years old. The one in the picture is not the one I rode, but it looked pretty similar. Of course I am not an elephant master or anything.

Ssonyo the Korean Queen suggested I try some Shrimp Pad Thai, so last night I did:

She was right, it was good. I'll post some more random journal entries before I go to bed tonight. Probably in 5-6 hours or something. Adios!

Journal Entry 2

Jan 27 9:05 PM Thailand Time (Gonna call it TT from now on)

It's 8 AM in Danville right now. That slays me. I haven't slept since I woke up on the plane this morning. Not really sure what time it was... probably 7 or 8 am CST. I'm dragging major ass.. getting to the point where I am not sure I will be able to stay awake the whole time. (update: I did not, I slept on the final flight for 2 hours)

Dinner was beef + rice and a roll and some chocolate cake. Apparently alcohol is free on international flights with this carrier. Never knew that! Drinking a whiskey + coke but I think I am done with it.. My stomach is hurting. :-(

Jan 28, 6:45 AM TT

Good morning from Bangkok: was too busy/too tired last night to write in this. Got in around 10:45 pm. Me and some Canadian girl named Jenn got in a cab on the top level of the airport, dropped her off on Khao San Road, then I got dropped off. Went to sleep around 1:45 AM.

The room is very nice as you will see in some pictures.. I haven't noticed a bad smell in the city, but I smelled quite bad last night so maybe that is why. (Update: I have showered twice since last night and I still don't think it smells that bad)

On the cab ride, I was terrified we would get in an accident maybe 5 times. Also the trunk wouldn't stay latched so the driver kept having to stop and get out and close it.

I'm sitting next to the pool as I write this. It is very nice looking though the building next door is being worked on and has a tan canvas wrap all around it. The building outside my window appears to be empty.

I'm going to go inside, get some free breakfast then go up to my room to get my stuff then get directions and head out. My internet doesn't work so I just placed an international call to my parents to let them know I am alive. Going to talk to them again once I get a cell phone. Will work on getting my internet working tonight. (update: Guess my room doesn't include it, so paying $3 for 30 minutes of usage. -_-)

Wat Arun (update: was every bit as awesome as I hoped it would be. Got some great pics) > The Grand Palace (update: was expensive and way too crowded. Did not really like the pics I got here except 2 or 3. Cool place to experience though) > Wat Saket (update: very cool, well not temperature wise, there was no shade and I had to walk up 300 steps to get to the top of it, but great views) > MBK (update: it is an awesome giant mall, has something like 5,000 vendors inside. Maybe not that many, but at least 2,000. I looked like shit and was embarssed because it was my last stop and I was a sweaty mess, but I needed a cellphone) > ??? (update: that is now, and I still don't have anything to do for another 3-4 hours until I meet up with some people. Hmmmm)

Journal Post 1

1/26/10 5:51 PM CST

I need to figure out what the time zone that Thailand is in is called. Once I get there I am going to stop recording the time and date in CST..

From what I've seen so far, I'd say the number of white people in this airport is 1-3%. Ok that is a percentage and not a number, sorry.

Talked to a German guy from Frankfurt. Says he has a wife and a 9-month-old living in the Phillipines. That's got to be a wonderful marriage. He just got done visiting them for 5 weeks.

Got some Starbucks coffee earlier... gonna need another one in five hour probably. Going to beat jet lag by staying awake until it's time to go to bed tonight. It's going to be a very long day (about 28 hours).

Sitting at what I think my gate is.. 41. Not 100% sure on that (update: it was the wrong gate). I have a while to figure it out.

About to start learning some Thai. Really wanting a shower now, but I don't have any fresh socks so there goes half the incentive.

The German guy told me if I go to the immigration department I can get a free tour of the city- 4, 6, or 8 hours long. Going to take the 4 hour tour on my way back.

The airport is very nice, but I'm not really feeling inspired to take many pictures of it. That's ok though, I didn't take this trip to document the airports I visit.

I saw a box of some Animal's (I think Sheep??) placenta for sale. It was over $100. What the hell? Imported from Australia. Can't wait to get a room that I can leave all my shit in. My laptop bag is heavy as hell and my arms/shoulders get tired after a few minutes. After I practice some Thai I am going to try to order some lunch.

-----

Just ordered some food. Noodles in spicy broth w/seafood. When Koreans take your money, they accept it with one hand and place their other hand on their wrist and sorta do a bow thing, haha.

*Minutes later:

Ok, ordering noodles was probably a bad idea... I can't eat this shit with chopstix!! hahaha... about to make a fool of myself. There was a squid tentacle in this.. it was delicious. If I keep this up, there is going to be a huge pile of noodles left and no broth because I am just eating the broth & vegetables and meat with a spoon. I should ask someone near me to show me how to eat. How embarassing can it really be? (Update: I chickened out and there was in fact a huge pile of noodles left in my bowl)

Beer stand reads:

Erdinger WeiBbier

Update 1

Ok, so I am sitting around here:

Waiting on my flight from Seoul, South Korea to Bangkok, Thailand.

I should be touching down in Bangkok in a little under 10 hours. Expect some real content then! Until then, I'll just post some random Journal stuff I have been writing.

Schedule

Ok so far I have my first half of the trip planned out pretty well:

Day 1 - Bangkok:
Grand Palace - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palace
Wat Phra Kaew - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Phra_Kaew
MBK (to buy a cell phone that will work) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBK_Center
Wat Saket - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Saket
Wat Arun - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Arun
Khao San Road - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaosan_Road

Starting at 8:30 going in the above order. Eating breakfast at the hotel, lunch and dinner will be street vendor food. I'll be travelling to the Grand Palace via the skytrain (train that runs on stilted tracks throughout the city) then taking a cab over to MBK, Wat Saket, Wat Arun. Then back to hotel to shower and change clothes since I will probably be a smelly mess at that point. Then heading over to Khao San Road which is a really touristy place to meet up with a few Americans from California where we are going to get some dinner and have a drink. Then back to the hotel to sleep because...

Day 2 - Ayutthaya: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_Kingdom

Will post some more info about the ruins there later. Stay tuned!

THAILAND

Since I already have a blog that I have a hard time keeping current, I figured I am just going to use this for the mentioned subject as a way to keep interested people "in the know" of what I am up to during my trip.

I am going to Thailand in about 10.25 days.

It will be an 11 day trip, with almost 60 hours of travel time, which leaves me at about 9 days in the country.

I'll be hitting up Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Sangkhlaburi, Krabi, Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, who knows what else.

I'm still working on finishing up my schedule for the trip and will post it in a day or two once I get it figured out. While I am over there I will try to update this once a day with what has gone on and maybe throw up some sneak previews of pictures I have taken.

I'd say "This is gonna be OFF THE HOOK" if that was how I talked, but it's not, so I don't really know what to say except that I am super excited and it will be really awesome. Check back soon!