Saturday, March 24, 2007
Working
I just want to let everyone know that getting motivated to work from home on the weekend is hard. One tends to spend time doing frivolous tasks to avoid doing the work and feeling even worse about it in the end. Today I'm trying something new. Red Bull. So far we're experiencing mixed results.
There's a couple of things i'd like to say
First and foremost. Blogs that don't get posted to very often are lame. Lame like ... well, any description of this type of lame would leave you feeling like I'd just offended someone so I won't go there. But, your still reading so I say Kudos, with a capital K because you rock and I wish I could give back to you in some way.
Second. This one is kinda good. I've grown a moustache in the last couple of weeks (say 3 just for kicks). On St. Patricks day I went out with some really good friends. I was told by several men/young men that my moustache rocked (7 to be more precise), only one young lady (by the name of Robin) would admit that she liked the 'stache.
So tonight I went out with some friends to the kings head pub. It was a good time, we had a blast; one of the big things I noticed tonight was that the ladies couldn't help giving me the "eyes". "Why?" I asked myself. I mean, I've been told by so many of my lady type friends that the 'stache is detrimental to my plan of one day meeting the right women and ... i dunno, blah blah blah.
So anyway. The whole story comes down to the movie Cocktail. Does anyone, other than Dustin, remember the part where the dude says "Coughlans law, a girl will admire you for the amount of alcohol you can drink whether she likes it or not." Wellllllll, I do. I'd like to make another phrase somewhat similar to that one. "A girl will admire you for your fantastic moustache whether she likes it or not." Seriously, I can't remember the last time I went into a bar and almost every girl looked at me. I mean, I'm no hotty but I'm not like looking at a dirty toilet seat but it was crazy tonight. I think it's somewhat like being a bad-boy, one of those guys that girls love to hate and then take home at the end of the night (except nobody took me home). So that is my story. I also need a new spacebar as this one is totally f'd.
word.
Second. This one is kinda good. I've grown a moustache in the last couple of weeks (say 3 just for kicks). On St. Patricks day I went out with some really good friends. I was told by several men/young men that my moustache rocked (7 to be more precise), only one young lady (by the name of Robin) would admit that she liked the 'stache.
So tonight I went out with some friends to the kings head pub. It was a good time, we had a blast; one of the big things I noticed tonight was that the ladies couldn't help giving me the "eyes". "Why?" I asked myself. I mean, I've been told by so many of my lady type friends that the 'stache is detrimental to my plan of one day meeting the right women and ... i dunno, blah blah blah.
So anyway. The whole story comes down to the movie Cocktail. Does anyone, other than Dustin, remember the part where the dude says "Coughlans law, a girl will admire you for the amount of alcohol you can drink whether she likes it or not." Wellllllll, I do. I'd like to make another phrase somewhat similar to that one. "A girl will admire you for your fantastic moustache whether she likes it or not." Seriously, I can't remember the last time I went into a bar and almost every girl looked at me. I mean, I'm no hotty but I'm not like looking at a dirty toilet seat but it was crazy tonight. I think it's somewhat like being a bad-boy, one of those guys that girls love to hate and then take home at the end of the night (except nobody took me home). So that is my story. I also need a new spacebar as this one is totally f'd.
word.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
And another thing!
First of all, comments where the simpsons are quoted or their actions are quoted are more than welcome.
Second. I meant to mention that I've been listening to the new Modest Mouse album "We were dead before the ship even sank" and it's fantastic. So if anyone would like to have a discussion about the fanasticness of this album just let me know, I'm game.
Third. I've been meaning to post about toilet seats in Japan for ... I dunno ... at least since that fateful night of February 25th. Did I post about this already? Who cares, it excites me so much I'll double post.
Toilets and their operations were fairly uniform in my mind before I left for east asia. This is no longer the case. Squatters, no toilet paper, little spray nozzles, no little spray nozzles and no toilet paper and just a shower? It was always a crap shoot going into a bathroom and it was like hitting the jackpot when you found a sit down toilet with a spray hose and tp. This "pinnacle" of bathroom amenity was overtaken in Japan. The heated toilet seat. And not awkwardly warm like someone just sat on it, it was more like getting in a hot tub hot. At first a little too hot and you want to get out but you know that in a minute or two it will feel just right. Thats the kind of hot it was. But thats not even the beginning of it. On this toilet seat, just off to the side there are some buttons. One that has a black square on it, and then several that have a little spraying water icon along with another icon that looks like a bum. Hrm, what could this be? Of course I had to try it. I have no idea what the other two bumspray buttons did, but the one right beside the black square shot a warm spray of water directly at my "anuse" (think borat because it's funnier that way). How the heck did it know exactly where but butt whole was? I have no idea but it was delightful. So you wiggle your tousch around a little to, you know, clean up, and then you expect the spray to end? Right? It's going to stop? Dear Lord, it's starting to tickle. Ahhhh, I can't stop laughing. Ahhhhhh. Ok, this is getting out of control, I'm going to have to do something, maybe push another button. Oh, I'm stupid, the black square icon looks suspiciously like a "stop" button on any type of media player. And then the pleasure ended. I did not stop laughing though, and the water was so warm, pre-heated I found out later.
So as soon as I get enough money I will be on a quest to find this perfect toilet attachment. Fun for all ages!
thats it for now, I'm really gonig to go read the paper now.
mark.
Second. I meant to mention that I've been listening to the new Modest Mouse album "We were dead before the ship even sank" and it's fantastic. So if anyone would like to have a discussion about the fanasticness of this album just let me know, I'm game.
Third. I've been meaning to post about toilet seats in Japan for ... I dunno ... at least since that fateful night of February 25th. Did I post about this already? Who cares, it excites me so much I'll double post.
Toilets and their operations were fairly uniform in my mind before I left for east asia. This is no longer the case. Squatters, no toilet paper, little spray nozzles, no little spray nozzles and no toilet paper and just a shower? It was always a crap shoot going into a bathroom and it was like hitting the jackpot when you found a sit down toilet with a spray hose and tp. This "pinnacle" of bathroom amenity was overtaken in Japan. The heated toilet seat. And not awkwardly warm like someone just sat on it, it was more like getting in a hot tub hot. At first a little too hot and you want to get out but you know that in a minute or two it will feel just right. Thats the kind of hot it was. But thats not even the beginning of it. On this toilet seat, just off to the side there are some buttons. One that has a black square on it, and then several that have a little spraying water icon along with another icon that looks like a bum. Hrm, what could this be? Of course I had to try it. I have no idea what the other two bumspray buttons did, but the one right beside the black square shot a warm spray of water directly at my "anuse" (think borat because it's funnier that way). How the heck did it know exactly where but butt whole was? I have no idea but it was delightful. So you wiggle your tousch around a little to, you know, clean up, and then you expect the spray to end? Right? It's going to stop? Dear Lord, it's starting to tickle. Ahhhh, I can't stop laughing. Ahhhhhh. Ok, this is getting out of control, I'm going to have to do something, maybe push another button. Oh, I'm stupid, the black square icon looks suspiciously like a "stop" button on any type of media player. And then the pleasure ended. I did not stop laughing though, and the water was so warm, pre-heated I found out later.
So as soon as I get enough money I will be on a quest to find this perfect toilet attachment. Fun for all ages!
thats it for now, I'm really gonig to go read the paper now.
mark.
Post "the best part of your life so far" depression
I'd been in the weirdest funk for just over a week. I finally broke free somewhere around Tuesday. Now I'm actually feeling happy and the only thing holding me back is the fact that I can't manage to finish my first task at work, and money.
What was this "weirdest funk"? Well, it was mostly going to work, getting home at 6, going to bed at 6:30 and sleeping till 6 or 7 the next morning. I pretty much did that for a whole week, except for Saturday where I just slept all day and then went out at night. Karaoke has begun to get a lot more fun to me and I think I appreciate good DJ's more now. Mike b has helped me out on that end.
So now that I'm once again a well adjusted individual I wake up between 6 and 7, get a wired monk coffee, read the paper (which for some reason we've just begun receiving for no apparent reason) and generally just be happy before work. The actual work part has been fine also, other than I'm now 4 days overdue on my first task. I'm the only one who seems concerned about this so I'm guessing they had planned for this. After work I'm now going to bed at 10 or 1030, I've never been so proud of myself!
Well, I better read the paper right now because I don't want it to stop coming.
mark.
What was this "weirdest funk"? Well, it was mostly going to work, getting home at 6, going to bed at 6:30 and sleeping till 6 or 7 the next morning. I pretty much did that for a whole week, except for Saturday where I just slept all day and then went out at night. Karaoke has begun to get a lot more fun to me and I think I appreciate good DJ's more now. Mike b has helped me out on that end.
So now that I'm once again a well adjusted individual I wake up between 6 and 7, get a wired monk coffee, read the paper (which for some reason we've just begun receiving for no apparent reason) and generally just be happy before work. The actual work part has been fine also, other than I'm now 4 days overdue on my first task. I'm the only one who seems concerned about this so I'm guessing they had planned for this. After work I'm now going to bed at 10 or 1030, I've never been so proud of myself!
Well, I better read the paper right now because I don't want it to stop coming.
mark.
Friday, March 02, 2007
The Mail
This is just a note for anyone who intends to mail something from Malaysia to Canada. The 1.50 Ringget price to mail something gets your mail to its destination in approximately, well lets see, I sent it on Jan 30th or so, it arrived March 2. So a little over a month. Maybe think about asking the person at the post office if there is a faster way to get it there. Just a thought.
Hrm. Not much else to say. I guess I could get ready for work. My sleep schedule is so messed up right now I have no way of predicting when I'm suddenly going to get so tired I have to sleep. It's like a little game my body and I are having and generally, it's winning. Marks body 1 - Mark 0.
True.
mark.
Hrm. Not much else to say. I guess I could get ready for work. My sleep schedule is so messed up right now I have no way of predicting when I'm suddenly going to get so tired I have to sleep. It's like a little game my body and I are having and generally, it's winning. Marks body 1 - Mark 0.
True.
mark.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Home again Home again hippity hop
Yeah, I've been putting off posting because I still don't want to believe that the trip is over. I had so much fun and I didn't want it to end. AHHHHHH.
I do need to mention something wonderful about Japan other than the beautiful women, not that they are in the same category but....the toilet seats. Did you see that one coming? I'm betting not. Some of the places have heated toilet seats. This is pretty crazy awesome, and to make it even better some of them have these little spray things built in that clean your bum when your done. I probably would have never ventured to try the spray thing if Japan was first our first destination but after using all the other bathrooms I had no choice to use the spray thing seemed like a good idea. It was too, there is a thing that warms the water before it hits ya and it is delightful. I'm hoping to maybe find a place that sells them out here. Hahahah.
So yeah, it's 430 in the morning and I can't sleep. I lay in bed for a while trying but I've now decided it's useless so I might as well get up and do stuff. It's also snowing here right now. This has been the craziest winter I can remember in Vancouver. I was going to bike to work on Monday but it felt so cold and I couldn't find my rain jacket (it was raining) so I didn't. I guess I won't be for a week or two longer now.
I'm going to post some more pics from the trip soon. I now have all of them together I just need to buy a little do-dad to hook my computers together as the roommate who moved out took his back from me. Maybe tomorrow (which is actually today I guess).
So thats that for now.
mark.
ps. I've now changed the settings so comments can be posted annonymously. Enjoy.
I do need to mention something wonderful about Japan other than the beautiful women, not that they are in the same category but....the toilet seats. Did you see that one coming? I'm betting not. Some of the places have heated toilet seats. This is pretty crazy awesome, and to make it even better some of them have these little spray things built in that clean your bum when your done. I probably would have never ventured to try the spray thing if Japan was first our first destination but after using all the other bathrooms I had no choice to use the spray thing seemed like a good idea. It was too, there is a thing that warms the water before it hits ya and it is delightful. I'm hoping to maybe find a place that sells them out here. Hahahah.
So yeah, it's 430 in the morning and I can't sleep. I lay in bed for a while trying but I've now decided it's useless so I might as well get up and do stuff. It's also snowing here right now. This has been the craziest winter I can remember in Vancouver. I was going to bike to work on Monday but it felt so cold and I couldn't find my rain jacket (it was raining) so I didn't. I guess I won't be for a week or two longer now.
I'm going to post some more pics from the trip soon. I now have all of them together I just need to buy a little do-dad to hook my computers together as the roommate who moved out took his back from me. Maybe tomorrow (which is actually today I guess).
So thats that for now.
mark.
ps. I've now changed the settings so comments can be posted annonymously. Enjoy.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The land of all u can eat and drink
Thats right, weve reached Japan. We actually got here a couple of days ago but I have not really felt like spending much time in front of the computer because I will be doing enough of that when I get home.
Our first day here we went for all u can eat food and drink for 30 bucks, and we did. Ohhhh did we ever. We then came back to Aaron and Megumis place (if you have not noticed yet I cannot find the apostrophe key) and had some more drinks and danced up a storm. We talked too, it was Aaron, Megumi, Yoshi and his wife Uko, Mizue (that is probably spelled wrong but you say her name mee-zoo-eh, Dustin, a guy named Joe, and Megumis sister Hiromi.
After being loud at A & Ms for too long Aaron, Dustin and Mizue went out to soul-sonic for a beer because Megumi had to work the next day. We did not last too long there and on the way home we had some night lunch, ramen, which Kurume is supposed to be known for. It was noodles in a pork broth with some pieces of pork added. After a long night it was delicious. So that was monday night.
Wednesday is Megumis day off so last night we were out late. Pretty much the same people came out to A & Ms (minus Joe and Hiromi) and we had hotpot, I guess maybe its Japans version of it? I do not know but it was good, miso soup base with cabbbage and sprouts and green onion (sort of, it is not but it looks like it) and chicken and bacon and little sausages. It was really good. Everyone was tired after eating so much so we lounged around for a while, people got even more tired and soon it was just the 4 of us. So we went out for karaoke, all you can drink karaoke. We actually had a blast, on the way home we were going to stop at Jolly Pasta for some pizza/pasta but it was closed. Oh well, so we came back to the apartment for some soup and giyoza, I think I ate 15/20 of them, they were sooo good.
So now it is today, Wednesday. We slept in, went for a short hike up a mountain/hill to a temple. It was good, we have not done a heck of a lot of sightseeing on this trip, it was good to get out. For lunch we went to Yoshinoya, which is kinda like a fast food joint here, we had beef strips with some sauce on a bed of rice. It was good. Tonight? Who knows, we have a coupon for half off take out sushi but we just realized it expired on the 15th. Hahaha, Aarons going to be annoyed. He is teaching until 630 so he should be home at any minute.
So thats an update. I will post all about what we did in Korea soon (which was mostly visiting people and pretty much no visiting sites, which I am actually totally ok with), until then I am going to try and figure out which one of these buttons means *post*.
Our first day here we went for all u can eat food and drink for 30 bucks, and we did. Ohhhh did we ever. We then came back to Aaron and Megumis place (if you have not noticed yet I cannot find the apostrophe key) and had some more drinks and danced up a storm. We talked too, it was Aaron, Megumi, Yoshi and his wife Uko, Mizue (that is probably spelled wrong but you say her name mee-zoo-eh, Dustin, a guy named Joe, and Megumis sister Hiromi.
After being loud at A & Ms for too long Aaron, Dustin and Mizue went out to soul-sonic for a beer because Megumi had to work the next day. We did not last too long there and on the way home we had some night lunch, ramen, which Kurume is supposed to be known for. It was noodles in a pork broth with some pieces of pork added. After a long night it was delicious. So that was monday night.
Wednesday is Megumis day off so last night we were out late. Pretty much the same people came out to A & Ms (minus Joe and Hiromi) and we had hotpot, I guess maybe its Japans version of it? I do not know but it was good, miso soup base with cabbbage and sprouts and green onion (sort of, it is not but it looks like it) and chicken and bacon and little sausages. It was really good. Everyone was tired after eating so much so we lounged around for a while, people got even more tired and soon it was just the 4 of us. So we went out for karaoke, all you can drink karaoke. We actually had a blast, on the way home we were going to stop at Jolly Pasta for some pizza/pasta but it was closed. Oh well, so we came back to the apartment for some soup and giyoza, I think I ate 15/20 of them, they were sooo good.
So now it is today, Wednesday. We slept in, went for a short hike up a mountain/hill to a temple. It was good, we have not done a heck of a lot of sightseeing on this trip, it was good to get out. For lunch we went to Yoshinoya, which is kinda like a fast food joint here, we had beef strips with some sauce on a bed of rice. It was good. Tonight? Who knows, we have a coupon for half off take out sushi but we just realized it expired on the 15th. Hahaha, Aarons going to be annoyed. He is teaching until 630 so he should be home at any minute.
So thats an update. I will post all about what we did in Korea soon (which was mostly visiting people and pretty much no visiting sites, which I am actually totally ok with), until then I am going to try and figure out which one of these buttons means *post*.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
One Good Book
Hey all. I just finished reading this great book so I figured I'd recommend it to anyone who reads this. Catfish and Mandala. Read it if you want. It was really good. Thats pretty much all I've got to say about that. Actually I've got a lot more to say about it but I'm not going to at this time.
Dustin and I arrived in Pusan, Korea yesterday morning around 9. After several phone calls we got on a taxi to a bus station. We got us a bus ticket, sat in a cold waiting area for 30 minutes and were on our way to DongGwangYang. Somewhere between one and two Matt found us wondering around looking for a place to check our email. So thats about 5:30 am on the 13th to 1:30pm on the 14th that we were in trasit. Long day.
Just so you know, if your in the airport in Bangkok, you have to declare all firearms to the check-in counter before you can take them on the plane.
Word to the wise.
more later, we're off to tour this "town"
mark.
Dustin and I arrived in Pusan, Korea yesterday morning around 9. After several phone calls we got on a taxi to a bus station. We got us a bus ticket, sat in a cold waiting area for 30 minutes and were on our way to DongGwangYang. Somewhere between one and two Matt found us wondering around looking for a place to check our email. So thats about 5:30 am on the 13th to 1:30pm on the 14th that we were in trasit. Long day.
Just so you know, if your in the airport in Bangkok, you have to declare all firearms to the check-in counter before you can take them on the plane.
Word to the wise.
more later, we're off to tour this "town"
mark.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Is it a half moon already?
It seems that the moon is important to the people in Thailand (maybe not necessarily the Thai people) and it is reason to celebrate.
Since we've last been in contact....I don't know whats all happened.
We were on Lanta for a little over a week. In that time Aaron had to head home, we hung out there a couple more days, 3 I think, and then Dustin and I parted ways with Matt (that was yesterday) as we headed for ko phangan. Now we're there, it's nice but we're now seeing the first clouds in probably 2 or 3 weeks. It's kinda nice.
Good times seem to be happening all the time. We've rented bikes almost everyday as the islands are much easier and cheaper to just drive around yourself than to rent tuk-tuks to go everywhere. One tuk-tuk ride is usually around 300 baht, renting a bike is like 150....doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
We finally managed to get all our flights figured out so we've now paid for every part of the trip that will get us home (except the ferry ride from Pusan to Fukuoka) which is nice. I wasn't really worried but it's nice to have it all taken care of.
Our travels to ko phangan yesterday were long and there were a lot of people doing the exact same trip as us. So that meant we met some nice people, this couple from spain/france Rauel sp? and Melody, and two friends from Sydney, Naomi and Lisa. We wound up talking for quite a while as we travelled for > 12 hours (although not with them for the whole time). We picked ko phangan because we hadn't been to the east coast at all and we hadn't been in any sort of "happening" place at all either and figured we'd like to see a little. This means no time in bangkok at all but I think I'd like to see all the north around here and thats a whole other trip on it's own. Thems the breaks I guess.
I wish I had a funny story to tell. Our place in ko phangan is called "munchies" which is pretty funny. Funnier still is that the toilet in our "bungalo" (which it really is, on stilts and all) has a full on squatter with no TP and no ... hose thing either. Makes things pretty darn interesting. We managed to steal some TP from the eating area last night and this morning we found a public style place with a real toilet, TP and a spray hose thing. It was like finding a lost temple or something, dustin and both hit it up, battleshits stlye. hahahaha.
So I guess thats all for now. We stayed at the Sunset Bungaloes on Lanta, the people there were awesome, the room rates were not too bad, the food was great and the beach was the best on the island. If your ever there just go and order the musamin (think thats what it's called) every night and they'll know that we're related somehow. I wish we would've taken a picture of the people who ran the place.
Oh well.
Party on,
mark.
Since we've last been in contact....I don't know whats all happened.
We were on Lanta for a little over a week. In that time Aaron had to head home, we hung out there a couple more days, 3 I think, and then Dustin and I parted ways with Matt (that was yesterday) as we headed for ko phangan. Now we're there, it's nice but we're now seeing the first clouds in probably 2 or 3 weeks. It's kinda nice.
Good times seem to be happening all the time. We've rented bikes almost everyday as the islands are much easier and cheaper to just drive around yourself than to rent tuk-tuks to go everywhere. One tuk-tuk ride is usually around 300 baht, renting a bike is like 150....doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
We finally managed to get all our flights figured out so we've now paid for every part of the trip that will get us home (except the ferry ride from Pusan to Fukuoka) which is nice. I wasn't really worried but it's nice to have it all taken care of.
Our travels to ko phangan yesterday were long and there were a lot of people doing the exact same trip as us. So that meant we met some nice people, this couple from spain/france Rauel sp? and Melody, and two friends from Sydney, Naomi and Lisa. We wound up talking for quite a while as we travelled for > 12 hours (although not with them for the whole time). We picked ko phangan because we hadn't been to the east coast at all and we hadn't been in any sort of "happening" place at all either and figured we'd like to see a little. This means no time in bangkok at all but I think I'd like to see all the north around here and thats a whole other trip on it's own. Thems the breaks I guess.
I wish I had a funny story to tell. Our place in ko phangan is called "munchies" which is pretty funny. Funnier still is that the toilet in our "bungalo" (which it really is, on stilts and all) has a full on squatter with no TP and no ... hose thing either. Makes things pretty darn interesting. We managed to steal some TP from the eating area last night and this morning we found a public style place with a real toilet, TP and a spray hose thing. It was like finding a lost temple or something, dustin and both hit it up, battleshits stlye. hahahaha.
So I guess thats all for now. We stayed at the Sunset Bungaloes on Lanta, the people there were awesome, the room rates were not too bad, the food was great and the beach was the best on the island. If your ever there just go and order the musamin (think thats what it's called) every night and they'll know that we're related somehow. I wish we would've taken a picture of the people who ran the place.
Oh well.
Party on,
mark.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Thai'm Lovin it.
Thats a really bad title but everything else I'm doing right now is spectacular so somethings gotta give right?
So I said I was going to think of things to write about and as soon as I stood up and walked away from the internet place I thougth of a bunch. I've now forgotten most of those but here's a couple things.
http://rose-colouredglasses.blogspot.com/
Dustin has posted more pictures than I and explained a bit about where we've been / are. I want to first and foremost mention the food. We are so in love with the food out here we almost regularily eat 4 times a day. not only that we often order 2 dishes each when we do. I normal meal with 4 dishes, 4 things of rice and 4 beers comes out to about 500-600 baht. So...thats like...what 15-17 dollars? It's just crazy. Not only that everything we eat is amazing. I just finished devouring a pinapple I bought for like 25 cents before I came out here. The most famous of things to eat is of course the coconut curry, pad thai, cashew everything and the stuff with chili sauce. That is in fact exactly how they are listed in the menu. Take my word for it. And Chaing, which is often mis-spoken as "Chang", we do it several times a meal usually. Fact.
Hrm. It seems that food is the most important part of my day these days. I got a little redder that I thought I would today but nothing harmful so hopefully we turn the A/C on tonight and I should be fine, other than the snoring.
Oh yeah. Thailand has these drinks called "Buckets". These are in fact the equivalent to the craziest hangover you've ever had. That is preceeded by staying up most of the night learning swedish with you new swedish friends who you wished were girls but are not in fact (I'm trying to say we can't manage to meet any single women on this island and it seems to me get hit on by men all day, I could be wrong). So, back to buckets. They are, in this order, a mickey of thai whiskey, a bottle of the craziest strongest red bull you've ever had, and coke that fills the rest of the bucket (usually a can and a half). When you taste it you taste coke and redbull, when you feel it you don't feel coke and redbull. Well, you do feel the redbull, all the way until the next afternoon when it's finally managed to wear off and you can sleep reasonably again. There really is no crazier feeling that falling asleep with the jitters. It reminds me of the nights when Brian and I went to Dennys following a night of hanging out/partying, eating a whole lumberjack slam and having 2 cups of coffee. The next morning you wake up full and feeling like you just had 2 cups of coffee when all you want to do is fall asleep and have something that resembles relaxation.
Oh well. Enough about that. I guess it's been an hour, I'm outta here.
mark.
So I said I was going to think of things to write about and as soon as I stood up and walked away from the internet place I thougth of a bunch. I've now forgotten most of those but here's a couple things.
http://rose-colouredglasses.blogspot.com/
Dustin has posted more pictures than I and explained a bit about where we've been / are. I want to first and foremost mention the food. We are so in love with the food out here we almost regularily eat 4 times a day. not only that we often order 2 dishes each when we do. I normal meal with 4 dishes, 4 things of rice and 4 beers comes out to about 500-600 baht. So...thats like...what 15-17 dollars? It's just crazy. Not only that everything we eat is amazing. I just finished devouring a pinapple I bought for like 25 cents before I came out here. The most famous of things to eat is of course the coconut curry, pad thai, cashew everything and the stuff with chili sauce. That is in fact exactly how they are listed in the menu. Take my word for it. And Chaing, which is often mis-spoken as "Chang", we do it several times a meal usually. Fact.
Hrm. It seems that food is the most important part of my day these days. I got a little redder that I thought I would today but nothing harmful so hopefully we turn the A/C on tonight and I should be fine, other than the snoring.
Oh yeah. Thailand has these drinks called "Buckets". These are in fact the equivalent to the craziest hangover you've ever had. That is preceeded by staying up most of the night learning swedish with you new swedish friends who you wished were girls but are not in fact (I'm trying to say we can't manage to meet any single women on this island and it seems to me get hit on by men all day, I could be wrong). So, back to buckets. They are, in this order, a mickey of thai whiskey, a bottle of the craziest strongest red bull you've ever had, and coke that fills the rest of the bucket (usually a can and a half). When you taste it you taste coke and redbull, when you feel it you don't feel coke and redbull. Well, you do feel the redbull, all the way until the next afternoon when it's finally managed to wear off and you can sleep reasonably again. There really is no crazier feeling that falling asleep with the jitters. It reminds me of the nights when Brian and I went to Dennys following a night of hanging out/partying, eating a whole lumberjack slam and having 2 cups of coffee. The next morning you wake up full and feeling like you just had 2 cups of coffee when all you want to do is fall asleep and have something that resembles relaxation.
Oh well. Enough about that. I guess it's been an hour, I'm outta here.
mark.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Shithead.
What up my peeps? I'm just posting a quick update. We're now in Krabi, Thailand. We left the island of Langkawi yesterday on a ferry and spent most of hte day travelling. We had a good time in Langkawi, lots of relaxation, a couple of cheap beers (2 ringgit), met some fun people and learned a new card game (shithead) which I actually managed to win more than any other game I've ever played. This is supposed to be a picture of everyone who lost to me playing shithead. If it doesn't work I'll try posting a link to the place too.
So thats about it. http://picasaweb.google.com/markdueck that might work.
So thats about it. http://picasaweb.google.com/markdueck that might work.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Helllooooo Pennnaannnggggg!
Or something like that.
It's been a while. Sorry to be such a lazy poster. It's been tough to get myself to sit in front of a computer when the sunny beach is sooooo close.
We took the night train to KL from Singapore a couple of days ago. We then promptly left an hour later. We saw the Petronus towers, we were actually pretty close but too late to tour for the day and we were definitely not staying hte night in KL so we left at 10. Off to the cameron highlands we went. The first half of the bus ride was a breeze but after a couple of minutes heading up a mountain the turns became tight, the road became narrow and the driver started to smoke (and not slow down). It was an .... experience to say the least. We made it though. Beautiful mountainside, tasty food and good company were had in the town of Tana Rata. We arrived in the afternoon and stayed for two nights. After our first night in the town we had enjoyed some crazy tandori chicken, a bonfire with some travellers and some locals and a couple of good bob marley toons played by the brother of the guy who runs the hostel we stayed at (daniels). The next day we set out for a mountain adventure and definitely got one. A standard hike on a standard trail was where we started. Saw a nice waterfall with a bunch of garbage at the base of it. After reaching the end of the trail we were met by a local who saw us hiking and offered us a ride to the top of the next hill to see the tea farm. After offering a lot more we accepted a ride. We stopped a couple of times to talk to tea harvesters and too see some views but arrived at the tea plant far sooner that we had expected. After turning down an offer for a ride back to the town which was said to be 20 km away we walked to the peak of the mountain, took some pictures and went for tea at the tea house near the top of the hill. Boh tea was had by all and after we set out back to the town.
After reaching the bottom of the hill/mountain we were offered another ride, this time by some locals with a pickup truck. A free ride was no problem for us so we hopped in expecting to arrive in Tana Ratta in a couple of minutes. We then hopped off at some random intersection hardly closer to our destination and thanked the driver for the ride. Off we set for a trail we had seen on a passer bys map that was not on our own. Probably an hour later we had finally found the trail and about 2 hours after that (including a lot of dense narrow trail, muddy bums, sweaty everythings and some really good pics) we arrived back at the town and sat down for some chinese food.
The next morning found us on a bus to Ipoh/Palau Penang (Penang Island). We arrived in the afternoon, caught a taxi to a place to stay and basically walked straight into the water. This was the first time the ocean was ever warm enough to swim in without freezing and I liked it. No surf unfortunately but we have made do. Today we rented scooters and spent the day driving around the island. Saw some monkeys ate some deep fried things (who knows really, potatoes, bananas, sandwiches, whatever else). The 4 of us each had a plate full and the total for all of us came to 2 ringget (3.5 ringget = 1. us dollar). It's pretty hot. Nice hot though.
Tomorrow we head for Langkawi which is supposed to be a very beautiful place. We are hoping to find a beach bungalo style place right on the beach and sleep in hammocks. hopefully we get it. After that Ko Lanta, then possibly off to the east coast to see some islands there. Everything is going great. I am hoping to get the camera hooked up to one of these computers soon so we can show you some pics.
word.
It's been a while. Sorry to be such a lazy poster. It's been tough to get myself to sit in front of a computer when the sunny beach is sooooo close.
We took the night train to KL from Singapore a couple of days ago. We then promptly left an hour later. We saw the Petronus towers, we were actually pretty close but too late to tour for the day and we were definitely not staying hte night in KL so we left at 10. Off to the cameron highlands we went. The first half of the bus ride was a breeze but after a couple of minutes heading up a mountain the turns became tight, the road became narrow and the driver started to smoke (and not slow down). It was an .... experience to say the least. We made it though. Beautiful mountainside, tasty food and good company were had in the town of Tana Rata. We arrived in the afternoon and stayed for two nights. After our first night in the town we had enjoyed some crazy tandori chicken, a bonfire with some travellers and some locals and a couple of good bob marley toons played by the brother of the guy who runs the hostel we stayed at (daniels). The next day we set out for a mountain adventure and definitely got one. A standard hike on a standard trail was where we started. Saw a nice waterfall with a bunch of garbage at the base of it. After reaching the end of the trail we were met by a local who saw us hiking and offered us a ride to the top of the next hill to see the tea farm. After offering a lot more we accepted a ride. We stopped a couple of times to talk to tea harvesters and too see some views but arrived at the tea plant far sooner that we had expected. After turning down an offer for a ride back to the town which was said to be 20 km away we walked to the peak of the mountain, took some pictures and went for tea at the tea house near the top of the hill. Boh tea was had by all and after we set out back to the town.
After reaching the bottom of the hill/mountain we were offered another ride, this time by some locals with a pickup truck. A free ride was no problem for us so we hopped in expecting to arrive in Tana Ratta in a couple of minutes. We then hopped off at some random intersection hardly closer to our destination and thanked the driver for the ride. Off we set for a trail we had seen on a passer bys map that was not on our own. Probably an hour later we had finally found the trail and about 2 hours after that (including a lot of dense narrow trail, muddy bums, sweaty everythings and some really good pics) we arrived back at the town and sat down for some chinese food.
The next morning found us on a bus to Ipoh/Palau Penang (Penang Island). We arrived in the afternoon, caught a taxi to a place to stay and basically walked straight into the water. This was the first time the ocean was ever warm enough to swim in without freezing and I liked it. No surf unfortunately but we have made do. Today we rented scooters and spent the day driving around the island. Saw some monkeys ate some deep fried things (who knows really, potatoes, bananas, sandwiches, whatever else). The 4 of us each had a plate full and the total for all of us came to 2 ringget (3.5 ringget = 1. us dollar). It's pretty hot. Nice hot though.
Tomorrow we head for Langkawi which is supposed to be a very beautiful place. We are hoping to find a beach bungalo style place right on the beach and sleep in hammocks. hopefully we get it. After that Ko Lanta, then possibly off to the east coast to see some islands there. Everything is going great. I am hoping to get the camera hooked up to one of these computers soon so we can show you some pics.
word.
Helllooooo Pennnaannnggggg!
Or something like that.
It's been a while. Sorry to be such a lazy poster. It's been tough to get myself to sit in front of a computer when the sunny beach is sooooo close.
We took the night train to KL from Singapore a couple of days ago. We then promptly left an hour later. We saw the Petronus towers, we were actually pretty close but too late to tour for the day and we were definitely not staying hte night in KL so we left at 10. Off to the cameron highlands we went. The first half of the bus ride was a breeze but after a couple of minutes heading up a mountain the turns became tight, the road became narrow and the driver started to smoke (and not slow down). It was an .... experience to say the least. We made it though. Beautiful mountainside, tasty food and good company were had in the town of Tana Rata. We arrived in the afternoon and stayed for two nights. After our first night in the town we had enjoyed some crazy tandori chicken, a bonfire with some travellers and some locals and a couple of good bob marley toons played by the brother of the guy who runs the hostel we stayed at (daniels). The next day we set out for a mountain adventure and definitely got one. A standard hike on a standard trail was where we started. Saw a nice waterfall with a bunch of garbage at the base of it. After reaching the end of the trail we were met by a local who saw us hiking and offered us a ride to the top of the next hill to see the tea farm. After offering a lot more we accepted a ride. We stopped a couple of times to talk to tea harvesters and too see some views but arrived at the tea plant far sooner that we had expected. After turning down an offer for a ride back to the town which was said to be 20 km away we walked to the peak of the mountain, took some pictures and went for tea at the tea house near the top of the hill. Boh tea was had by all and after we set out back to the town.
After reaching the bottom of the hill/mountain we were offered another ride, this time by some locals with a pickup truck. A free ride was no problem for us so we hopped in expecting to arrive in Tana Ratta in a couple of minutes. We then hopped off at some random intersection hardly closer to our destination and thanked the driver for the ride. Off we set for a trail we had seen on a passer bys map that was not on our own. Probably an hour later we had finally found the trail and about 2 hours after that (including a lot of dense narrow trail, muddy bums, sweaty everythings and some really good pics) we arrived back at the town and sat down for some chinese food.
The next morning found us on a bus to Ipoh/Palau Penang (Penang Island). We arrived in the afternoon, caught a taxi to a place to stay and basically walked straight into the water. This was the first time the ocean was ever warm enough to swim in without freezing and I liked it. No surf unfortunately but we have made do. Today we rented scooters and spent the day driving around the island. Saw some monkeys ate some deep fried things (who knows really, potatoes, bananas, sandwiches, whatever else). The 4 of us each had a plate full and the total for all of us came to 2 ringget (3.5 ringget = 1. us dollar). It's pretty hot. Nice hot though.
Tomorrow we head for Langkawi which is supposed to be a very beautiful place. We are hoping to find a beach bungalo style place right on the beach and sleep in hammocks. hopefully we get it. After that Ko Lanta, then possibly off to the east coast to see some islands there. Everything is going great. I am hoping to get the camera hooked up to one of these computers soon so we can show you some pics.
word.
It's been a while. Sorry to be such a lazy poster. It's been tough to get myself to sit in front of a computer when the sunny beach is sooooo close.
We took the night train to KL from Singapore a couple of days ago. We then promptly left an hour later. We saw the Petronus towers, we were actually pretty close but too late to tour for the day and we were definitely not staying hte night in KL so we left at 10. Off to the cameron highlands we went. The first half of the bus ride was a breeze but after a couple of minutes heading up a mountain the turns became tight, the road became narrow and the driver started to smoke (and not slow down). It was an .... experience to say the least. We made it though. Beautiful mountainside, tasty food and good company were had in the town of Tana Rata. We arrived in the afternoon and stayed for two nights. After our first night in the town we had enjoyed some crazy tandori chicken, a bonfire with some travellers and some locals and a couple of good bob marley toons played by the brother of the guy who runs the hostel we stayed at (daniels). The next day we set out for a mountain adventure and definitely got one. A standard hike on a standard trail was where we started. Saw a nice waterfall with a bunch of garbage at the base of it. After reaching the end of the trail we were met by a local who saw us hiking and offered us a ride to the top of the next hill to see the tea farm. After offering a lot more we accepted a ride. We stopped a couple of times to talk to tea harvesters and too see some views but arrived at the tea plant far sooner that we had expected. After turning down an offer for a ride back to the town which was said to be 20 km away we walked to the peak of the mountain, took some pictures and went for tea at the tea house near the top of the hill. Boh tea was had by all and after we set out back to the town.
After reaching the bottom of the hill/mountain we were offered another ride, this time by some locals with a pickup truck. A free ride was no problem for us so we hopped in expecting to arrive in Tana Ratta in a couple of minutes. We then hopped off at some random intersection hardly closer to our destination and thanked the driver for the ride. Off we set for a trail we had seen on a passer bys map that was not on our own. Probably an hour later we had finally found the trail and about 2 hours after that (including a lot of dense narrow trail, muddy bums, sweaty everythings and some really good pics) we arrived back at the town and sat down for some chinese food.
The next morning found us on a bus to Ipoh/Palau Penang (Penang Island). We arrived in the afternoon, caught a taxi to a place to stay and basically walked straight into the water. This was the first time the ocean was ever warm enough to swim in without freezing and I liked it. No surf unfortunately but we have made do. Today we rented scooters and spent the day driving around the island. Saw some monkeys ate some deep fried things (who knows really, potatoes, bananas, sandwiches, whatever else). The 4 of us each had a plate full and the total for all of us came to 2 ringget (3.5 ringget = 1. us dollar). It's pretty hot. Nice hot though.
Tomorrow we head for Langkawi which is supposed to be a very beautiful place. We are hoping to find a beach bungalo style place right on the beach and sleep in hammocks. hopefully we get it. After that Ko Lanta, then possibly off to the east coast to see some islands there. Everything is going great. I am hoping to get the camera hooked up to one of these computers soon so we can show you some pics.
word.
Monday, January 22, 2007
singapore day...2?
Something like day 2 or day 2.2. We picked up aaron from the airport last night, we tried to pick up matt too but he must have walked right by us because when we called the hostel he was there already waiting for us, having a beer.
After that we went for supper on the river at this thai place. I think it was thai, the food seemed rather thai like. It was good, not cheap but good and we had a good time.
Now we are in discussions about where to go and when to go there. We will depart from singapore either tonight or tomorrow. There may not be posts for a while after that. I dont' know. We should be hitting a beach in the next couple of days though. w00t.
laser,
mark.
After that we went for supper on the river at this thai place. I think it was thai, the food seemed rather thai like. It was good, not cheap but good and we had a good time.
Now we are in discussions about where to go and when to go there. We will depart from singapore either tonight or tomorrow. There may not be posts for a while after that. I dont' know. We should be hitting a beach in the next couple of days though. w00t.
laser,
mark.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
a word from chinatown
WORD. Dustin and I spent, what seems like, a full day exploring chinatown and little india in singapore today. It was good. We both woke up at 7 so the fact that it's 3 now and I'm saying we spend the "day" feels ok. It was good, lots a walking. For breakfast we had some amazing coffee (a lot like the coffee ravi, josh and I had in amsterdam for breakfast). Why is it that coffee is so good everywhere except north america (minus wired monk of course)? Oh well. All the walking has been good but my feet are sore now. Hopefully they get into the groove because I've got another 5 weeks of walking to do.
Singapore is hot. Hot like it was in Budapest when I was there this summer. Maybe not quite that hot but very close. Sweaty is all I gots to say. Swack? yes. S****, almost certainly.
the myspace blog thing is being really lame so I may just post here for the rest of the trip as it's pretty darned easy.
thats it for now. pictures should be coming. tomorrow morning maybe. internet access at this hostel is free. things in singapore aren't that expensive, the prices are a lot like you would pay in canada. So not cheap but not crazy expensive.
thats all for now. catch you on the flip side,
mark.
Singapore is hot. Hot like it was in Budapest when I was there this summer. Maybe not quite that hot but very close. Sweaty is all I gots to say. Swack? yes. S****, almost certainly.
the myspace blog thing is being really lame so I may just post here for the rest of the trip as it's pretty darned easy.
thats it for now. pictures should be coming. tomorrow morning maybe. internet access at this hostel is free. things in singapore aren't that expensive, the prices are a lot like you would pay in canada. So not cheap but not crazy expensive.
thats all for now. catch you on the flip side,
mark.
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