Look who’s back…back again

And y’all thought I was done with this thing…

While it was less than 3 months ago- the last time I posted on this thing feels like an eternity.  I have since completed my South East Asia backpacking extravaganza, chilled with the Emerson kids on the other coast in the shadows of the Hollywood sign, road-tripped cross country in a bright orange PT Cruiser named Pasta George, and graduated from Emerson.

In my latest “life excursions” or “personal growth experiences” or whatever the hell you want to call what I’ve been doing for the past 6 months, I have decided to fulfill my “Birthright” (how many quotations can I fit in one “sentence”?) and make the pilgrimage to the holy Jewland of Israel. For those of you that don’t know…Birthright is a program run by Israel and a bunch of Jewish philanthropists (rich bastards) who believe that all Jews have a right to go to Israel in the hopes that we will reconnect with our Judaism our homeland.

Now some may say, “But Master Kessler, you went Asia, now you go Israel- why keep writing in THIS blog?”

Well who wudda thunk it, but Israel is on the continent of Asia which may explain the whole Chinese food on Christmas thing.

So I am here again. At some point I may go back and attempt to refill all I that I have missed, but I will try to push ahead for now. I was accepted onto Birthright merely hours before my triumphant return to New York City after a months-long absence.  After accepting my current life as a nomadic Jew, I accepted the trip- making sure to enjoy what little time I had in NYC beforehand.

I had heard before heading off the Israel that Birthright is tiring, but nothing could have prepared me for the sleep deprivation and bodily harm that would result.  They packed a month long trip into 10 days, which I will now try and pack into a few paragraphs.

Jill and I got dropped off at JFK and met our group, deciding not to take my parents advice of introducing ourselves to the group as Adolf and Heinrich. After being asked all sorts of weird questions by airport security, snagging some unauthorized beverages, and waiting around impatiently, we were finally let on the plane.

First off, Israel is beautiful. I now fully understand why people fight over it the way that they do. It is just as hot as South East Asia except maybe a little less sticky. We had our welcome at the Caesaria Aqueduct near Haifa, a gorgeous beach filled with Roman ruins and then made our way to a kibbutz where we would stay the first few nights.

The next day we went to Tzfat, the “birthplace of Jewish mysticism,”- our introduction to the religious aspect of our trip. Tzfat was sick (in a good way)…narrow stone alleys, orthodox Jews in funny top hats, and Avraham. I almost don’t want to write about this guy because I feel that I will not do him justice but I will try anyway. Avraham owns an art gallery in Tzfat. All of his pieces are styled in the teachings of the Kaballah. While he looked as if he popped out of the Tzfat of 2000 years ago, he turned out to have an American accent and hailed all the way from that mystical city of America- Detroit. He spoke like a stoner, and took us with him on some sort of a deep acid trip steeped in Judaism. Avraham told us that our names go back thousands of years and can tell us a lot about who we are.  He also told us that we may be the first people in our family to step foot on the land of Israel in 2000 years. He also told us that the kaballah’s main principle is to “bliss out so haaaaard.” I won’t get too into it, but he blew all of our minds.

After this we went on a hike of Mt Meron- the tallest point in Israel, where some tomfoolery on my part and others lead to broken body parts oops 😦

Skipping ahead quite a bit for the sake of time, we were taken onto a cruise filled with other Jews on Birthright which was awesome, except for the fact that I missed the first 80 minutes of the USA-England match. Did get to watch it, however, in some sick open-air bar on the waterfront of a town called Tiberias.

Went to the border of Syria, did some more hiking, and then went rafting on the Jordan river…triple funsies.

About halfway through the trip we got to meet up with our Israeli soldiers who turned out to be the coolest people ever. There were 8 of them- 5 guys and 3 girls and we all became really close in the short amount of time that we had.  Learned quite a bit about what it’s like to be a soldier in Israel and how natural it is here. When you walk around…everyone has a gun. All the Jews are packin’ heat and I guess for now, that is the way it has to be.

Lazed on the beaches of Tel Aviv.

Climbed Mt Masada

Hiked to waterfalls in the deserts.

Swam in the Dead Sea…which turned out to be way more intense than I ever thought it would be. The sting of the salt is intense, the floating is practically uncontrollable, and the heat is pretty much unbearable, but the experience truly is unforgettable.

Went camel trekking in the Negev.

Performed an intense fake military operation for the soldiers to “take a hill” outside the Bedouin camp we were staying at. Got all the way out into the middle of a rocky desert where we were shown the stars and shared our “best of” stories.

Messed around with some camels and then slept in a Bedouin tent

Hit up a lot of important graves and tombs as well as Independence Hall, where the state of Israel was declared back in 1948.

Went to the Holocaust museum which was depressing to say the least, but I won’t go into it here…

Got to Jerusalem which is one of the coolest cities I have ever been to. Littered with enough history and controversies to fill the world.

That was Birthright in the shortest way to write it possible, simply because I do not have the time. There of course are more stories of drunken debauchery and walking around hotel lobbies in togas, but I tried to stay away from it for the time being.

I am now with Jill and we are officially on our own.  We did get to hang out with the other Birthright kids in Tel Aviv who also extended for a while, which was a nice transition into the rest of our trip.  We have since befriended a rabbi, who has taken us under his wing- let us stay in a hostel for free, given us some ridiculous “behind the scenes” tours of Jerusalem, and got us invited to a wedding ceremony on a balcony in the city.

I have learned quite a bit about my ancestry- (In Judaism, I am a member of the Kohanim, meaning 2000 years ago people in my family were high priests right here in Jerusalem).

I have also learned a lot about Israel as a state and how it came to be. I won’t really get into how I feel about it, quite frankly because I am not sure. Too much to process all at once.

I can’t believe that I am still away.  And while the last several months don’t even feel real- I am loving every minute of it…

Just for shits and giggles…this is part of an unfinished blog I meant to post months ago while I was still in Asia. I don’t feel like finishing it just now, but here it is:

It is strange to think that the last time I wrote on this thing I was in Penang, Malaysia.  Granted this was only a little over three weeks ago, and this trip is just approaching three months as a whole, but it feels like a whole lifetime ago.  In this relatively short amount of time I have (just for a quick recap) crossed through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia (just Bali), Japan, and back to the west coast of America.  Once again I will have to swim to the bottom of the Lake of Memories within my mind and try and pull up noteworthy events before they become cloudied by the passage of time.  So… Penang.

The food there is legendary and with good reason…it annihilates the taste buds and leaves you wishing your stomach could hold limitless amounts of food.  I went around Penang with Jeeves, the English guy I met on the 22 and a half hour train ride from Bangkok and Lio, the crazy Malaysian woman who befriended us on the train over a cardgame called “Shithead.”  Penang was an interesting place to be in, looking like an old English colony rather than somewhere in Southeast Asia.  Totally throwing out my original plans to zip through Malaysia and push onwards towards Bali, Jeeves and I took the ferry to the island of Langkawi, a tax-free backpacker’s beach haven.  Jeeves and I ended up sharing a taxi with two English (what other country would they be from?) girls named Hana and Florri which landed us all at the Gecko Guesthouse.

I only meant to stay for 2 nights, but the place sucked me in and I ended up staying for a week.

Goodbye to Bangkok

I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in Bangkok, Southeast Asia’s hulking metropolis, watching through the window as the hot pink taxis, stuttering tuk tuks, and decrepit megabuses zoom through the maze of traffic.  It was exactly two months ago today that I stepped off my 27 and a half hour flight from New York and into this sticky Asian climate, uncertain about what this trip was going to bring.  In a way I knew that I would be sitting here now, writing how amazing it all was at the end.  And here I am.

I kept up with this blog better than I had originally expected (and more people read it than I originally expected), but I definitely did slack off this past month.  The speed of the tour that I was travelling with through Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos was incredibly fast, usually getting to a place in the afternoon, having one night and then leaving the next day.  Usually I would hate the idea to travel like that, but with these places it was perfect, giving just enough time to get a good idea of the area and allowing us to see so much so quickly.

Where I last left I was in Saigon which is almost a month ago at this point.   From Saigon we took an overnight train to Nha Trang where I taught the English and Australians I was with all of the wonderful American drinking games I have come to learn over the years.  Fuck the Dealer, Kings, Retarded Deer.  Made for an awesome night and was only topped off when I woke up at our destination, stretched out to begin getting my stuff together and smacked into a row of beer cans (oy). 

Nha trang itself was a gorgeous beach town and arriving there at sunrise when all the Vietnamese were stretching and moving around to get there early moring blood flowing made it only better.  The whole group decided to do a boat tour and I ended up running into two girls (Bobbie and Katie) who I had met at Spicy Thai in Chiang Mai.  The boat tour was incredible–led by a pompous Vietnamese man who went by the name of Mr. Binh.   We were lead to an area where we all jumped (off the top deck of the boat weeee) and did some snorkeling which was admiteddly much lamer than what had been at Koh Tao.  I started meeting tons of people on the boat and it felt just  like Thailand all over again.  Mr. Binh put on a crazy show with his band of Vietnamese musicians (literally).  At the conclusion of the boat concert a flaoting bar was thrown into the ocean and we were all told to jump in after it.  An elderly Vietnamese man wearing a coconut bra was our bartender (naturally) and we all proceeded to drink in our tubes in the middle of the ocean…what a blast it was.

Next place after that was Hoi An which was so much different than everywhere else we had been.  It had a Chinese feel to it and is notorious for making clothes.  You can literally go into any tailor and show them a picture of any type of clothing (dress, suit, blazer, shirts) and they were able to custom make it for you.  SWEET.  That night we were told by a man speeding by on his motorcylce to come to his bar where he would then give us free buckets.  So of course we went to it, a little place called Nam Bar and we actually did get our free buckets no strings attached.  The odd part about it was the bartender tried to trade me for my American Eagle hoodie (no deal) and then his friend tried trading me for my Pac Man shirt…I was flattered but did just want to keep my clothes.

The  next place we went to was Hue, which offered one of the best parts of my trip.  Our group went on a motorcyle tour of Hue and the surrounding countryside.   My guys name was Heel and was like an older, Vietnamese version of the Fonz. We went past all these magnificent temples through the countryside into the never-ending rice paddy fields and finally back into Hue through tiny winding claustrophic streets which the handlebars of the bikes barely fit through.

Next place was Halong Bay which while it was absolutely gorgeous was kind of a let down thanks to the ridiculous amount of fog that blocked our views…

After that was Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.  We left Halong Bay at 4 in the morning just to be able to make it to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum…where the actual body of “Uncle Ho” (as they call him) lays.  We went through a detector and even though I went off the guy let me pass.  I saw a sign that said no cameras and even though I still had one in my pocket didn’t think anything of it since I was already past the detectors.  Waiting in line was absolutely ridiculous.  If you smiled they yelled at you.  If you didn’t keep right up to the person in front of you they yelled at you. If you talked they yelled at you.  And if you didn’t keep your arms straight at your sides?  You guessed it, they yelled at you.  We got all the way through the meandering line of abuse and almost to the coffin when a guard came running over to me.  He began pointing furiously at my pocket and I realized that he had spotted the outline of my camera. Shit. I paused for a moment trying to think of how I could get rid of this outline without showing him my camera and realizing that I could not make the damn thing disappear, took it out.  The guard went absolutely nuts and began marching me back down the stairs.  Everyone in the line behind us looked at me as if I had just tried to plant a bomb on poor Mr. Minh.  I was brought into a tiny all white room that looked like a hospital and was filled with Vietnamese soldiers.  One of them grabbed my camera while the other brought me back outside and into the line.  I did get to see dead Uncle Ho which was awesome but then had to go back into the room where I was given my camera back. Awesome.  As I went to leave one of them grabbed my arm and yelled “You sign!” throwing this giant red book into my hands.  I looked at this book, tried to asked the soldier what it meant, but all he would say was “YOU SIGN!” louder and louder.  So I had to fill out my address and sign my name in the book, forever shunned in Vietnam for trying to bring a camera into the final resting place over their revered commie leader.

After that we left Vietnam and headed into Laos which was absolutely gorgeous the second we crossed the border.  Postcard-like scenery of the mountains and fields which looked untouched since the beginning of time lead us all the way to Lachsao, the border town in the mountains where we stayed that night.  On the way back to our hotel from dinner we met a 17 year Laotian boy who wanted to practise his English.  After speaking for some time I asked him if he could go anywhere in the world- where would it be.  His answer. Good old New York City.  He then whipped out his cell phone and began to play Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind.”  Made me think how lucky I am to be from New York.  So many people around the world look at it as the place where they dream to go, while I am able to call it my home.  it was a nice feeling…

Ended up in Vang Vieng which is famous for tubing.  Basically, you buy a ring and get driven to a river that is littered with bars.  At these bars are countless travellers from all over the world  Tons of free alcohol.  And giant wooden planks (about 150 feet) that you actually trapeze off of into the river.  While I was terrified of it when I first got there, after one bucket I decided it was time.  Passing by the sign that said “Please buy a drinks before do rope swing” which I found incredibly funny.  I got to the top and had no time to think, therefore no freak out.  Without looking down I put both hands on the rope, let go, and began to soar through the sky toward the river, then back up again and then on the way down let go and flew into the water.  It felt so amazing and I was actually really proud of myself that I didn’t chicken out once I got to the top.  I also ran into Carly from Koh Tao, and Tim and Kris from Khao Sok which was real nice.  Once you are finished with one bar you go to the next (by tube) and float along the river until you decide on another one at which point a Laotian will throw you a rope and pull you in.  I had one of the best days of my entire life (even if it does get quite a bit fuzzy towards the end).  Somehow I did manage to loose my tube, my shoes, do a different rope swing which I barely remember, and spend all of my money.  I ended up sharing a tube with some girl using flip flops she stole for me as paddles. I got back to the hotel a complete mess and passed out from 7 to midnight.  Woke up incredibly confused and went out to the bars to try and find people.  As I was walking along the street people I did not know kept coming up to me and saying “Adam!” followed by something along the lines of “I can’t believe you did (insert something ridiculous)” It all felt so weird that I had completely blacked out and I was nervous anytime someone poked me on the shoulder that I would turn around and have absolutely no idea who they were.  The next night in Vang Vieng turned out to be just as epic as we met up with all our tubing friends and went out to The Bucket Bar.  Had the required Wonderwall singing section (hehe) and danced the night away-even managed to make Sophie’s nose bleed (SORRY)

After that was Luang Prabang which was an awesome town as well.  Took a trip out to some gorgeous waterfalls where we got to swim and hike up.  Saw a bear sanctuary. Woke up at 5 am to watch the monk processions.  And played in the fantastic night market.

The last few days of the tour consisted of 20 hours of floating in a slow boat down the Mekong and back into Thailand.  Had a couple of hours in Chiang Mai (felt good to be back with Chang) in which we went to the Mesa elephant camp where we got to watch elephants paint, play soccer, and throw darts (literally).  Made me feel kind of bad for them actually, but was definitely interesting to see.  Then took our final group night train back into Bangkok which was filled with Red Shirt protesters.  My final night in Bangkok turned out to be one of my craziest I had on the entire trip, stumbling back into my hotel at about 630 in the morning.  Got about an hours sleep and then ran around getting everything sorted and shipped home. And most sadly said goodbye to Sophie, Nina, and Danny.  I will really miss travelling with the group quite a bit, but that is a part of this whole deal. 

Note: I have since finished this in Penang, Malaysia where I just got off the 22 and a half hour train ride in which I met an English guy named Jeeves and an incredible Malay woman named Lille…

MORE TO COME

Lalalala Miss Saigon Lalalala Miss Saigon

Oh boy.  Just when I started getting all proud of myself for keeping up with the blog so consistently… So it has been quite a while since I last wrote.  I have since left the wonderful country of Thailand, met up with my Gap group, went through Cambodia, and am now in Saigon (or what the commies like to call Ho Chi Minh City).  Allow me to back up if I may.

The month traveling alone in Thailand taught me a great deal.  I learned about myself and what I am capable (and not capable) of.  I learned more about my fellow travelers- where we come from, why we choose the paths that we do, and what it really is that we are all looking for.  And most importantly, I reaffirmed my love for travel.  I had apprehensions about leaving the solo life to join up with a tour, but the idea of not having to worry about what buses/trains/boats to take, where to stay, and who I would be with did seem quite enticing. I finished up Thailand by taking a cooking class in Chiang Mai and learning how to cook Pad Thai, Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Spring Rolls,  Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango, Green Curry with Chicken, and Coconut Soup (all delicious and more than happy to cook once I come home).  I also got to partake in what is known as “adventure cooking” which consists of dripping your noodles and vegetables in water so that when you put it in the wok a 10 ft flame shoots up at you.  Sometimes the line between “adventure” and “asinine” get a little blurry.

I took the night bus from Chiang Mai back to Bangkok and met up with my group.  We are a small group…only 6 of us which is actually quite nice as it makes border crossings, finding places to eat and drink, and pretty much everything really really simple. I spent my last night in Thailand and got to experience my first (and DEFINITELY last) ping-pong show which for your sake and mine I shall not discuss any further.  The following morning we headed off to Siem Reap, Cambodia- the gateway town to get to Angkor Wat.

Siem Reap itself was surprisingly really nice and I could not believe how cheap it was…even cheaper than Thailand! I got a full plate of ribs, rice, and a beer for $2.50!!! We had a semi-early night since we had to wake up at 430 in the morning to catch the sun rising over the temples of Angkor Wat.  Walking through ancient Cambodian temples in the pitch black was eery to say the least, but the sunrise was definitely worth it (even if it was shared with hundreds of other package tourists). Angkor Wat is truly incredible and we ended up spending about 12 hours there.  The temples are all very well preserved and tourists get free reign to climb up and onto anything.  One of the temples is where they shot Tomb Raider and our guide, Sambeth, told us that he was the one who got to show around Angelina Jolie.  When I told him that Brangelina had broken up he said it was because she had fallen in love with him….silly Sambeth.  He also told us that Angelina had adopted “one baby Cambodian, one baby Vietnam, and one baby….black skin.”  That is pretty much how the Cambodians always speak and it is wonderful.

Next stop on our tour was Phnomn Penh…the capital city of Cambodia.  The biggest draws for a tourist in the city is to go to S-21…the old torture prison of the Pol Pot regime.  For those that were not paying attention during the 15 minutes of coverage that our history teachers granted the genocide I shall fill you in.  Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge, a group of absolutely INSANE “communists” that managed to overthrow the government at the time, and procede to “restructure” their society by killing of 1.7 million of their own people.  The story is so hard to wrap your head around simply because it makes no sense…there is no reasoning.  The Khmer Rouge viewed anyone that was educated as a threat and killed them all off.  Even if you wore glasses- that was perceived as intelligence and also warranted an execution.

I could go on about it for a while but it gets even worse and more depressing.  Seeing S-21 and then the Killing Fields which was basically just like a Cambodian Auschwitz makes you realize just how awful the human can become when given power.  On the other hand though, when you look around at the Cambodians who have been through so much even to this day living in utter poverty and still getting blown up by mines, and you see how happy and friendly they all are, it makes you realize just how beautiful the human spirit can be.  A good example of this would be our waiter on the very first night in Phnomn Penh, Sarrah.  He came over to us and kept trying to teach us Khmer, which is SO unbelievably hard.  We talked to him for quite a but while we ate and drank until his shift ended and he invited us out with him.  Of course we accepted and within seconds all of his friends showed up on their motorbikes totally psyched for the idea of taking a bunch of random white strangers on their vehicles to the local club.   They treated us like kings and queens throughout the whole night…giving up their seats when one of us was standing, pouring our drinks for us, and making sure we got the right change from the bartender.  Once again just because we were white everyone treated us in the highest regard.  We danced the night away and showed an entire club how to do the Macarena.

After Phnom Penh we headed to Sihanoukville, a Cambodian beach town located in the Gulf of Thailand.  While the beach was not as nice as any of the beaches in Southern Thailand, it was still a blast (minus all the pesky, relentless Cambodian children trying to sell us bracelets).  It was nice to have a little bit of a break from the buses and be able to party it up till the wee hours of the morning.

From Sihanoukville we made our way into Vietnam!  Now as an American in Vietnam there is obviously that weirdness of being in a place where you know thousands and thousands of your fellow countrymen have died.  But this was all a long time ago and if they are willing to let bygones be bygones then so am I (also America sucked during the Vietnam War anyway so there isn’t much to be said on our part).  Vietnam itself is just insane…the most chaotic of all the places I have been to.  Traffic never stops and it is always packed.  The way we were told to cross a street is to just “step out, keep walking, and never hesitate.”  Easier said then done when you have 6 lanes full of a thousand motorbikes, buses, and cars all bearing down on you.  The Vietnamese people are also hysterical and unbearably honest.  If you are in a store and are trying on something too small they WILL tell you “That shirt no good! You too fat!”  So as a result I, of course, love the Vietnamese.

After another silly night out on the town we woke up today to go to the Cu Chi Tunnels, just outside of Saigon.  The tunnels were used by the Vietcong (the northern Vietnamese who the Americans fought) as a means of survival and also as a way to take on the US forces.  They knew that they could not face the most powerful army in the world face to face so instead they drew the Americans down into the tunnels one by one and set up traps all around.   We got to watch an AWESOME 1967 anti-American propaganda film about the building of the tunnels.  I love seeing it from the other perspective, even if it is outrageously biased…

We actually got to go down into the tunnels, which I was not quite prepared for.  Of course the guide pointed to me first (there were like 30 of us) to go down and I dubiously obliged.  With only a small light coming off of my guides cell phone, I dropped down into the tunnels only to hear from above, “Watch out for bat, now go!” Jesus Christ.  Even with the cell phone light you could hardly see anything at all.  The tunnel was so small and narrow that the ceiling was pushing against my spine and the walls squeezed into my hips.  This would explain the Vietnamese guides at the top telling some of the people on the tour, “You no go! Won fit!”  After about 4 bats and a wrong turn I finally saw the light and got to the top.

Another first on the trip…I got to shoot an AK-47!  The whole set up of an American paying in US Dollars to shoot a gun in Saigon was just too funny I had to laugh.  Shooting a gun is some hard (and LOUD) work.  After every pull of the trigger your body gets jolted back by the force of the bullet.  Admittedly, it was awesome to shoot, even though I missed the target all 10 times (I started aiming out of my left eye instead of my right which is just plain stupid…haha) so I guess I will not be joining the army anytime soon.

After the tunnels we went to the War Remnants museum so I could learn more about how awful the Americans were and how many atrocities were committed on the Vietnamese.  Now I understand that we have done some awful things, especially during that time…the one thing that bothered me though was how little they paid attention to the actual American public, and how many of them protested the war.  One thing I did appreciate about learning at a public American institution was I felt we did get both sides of the story.  Sure, at the end of the day we do always come out as heroes and the ends always justified the means, but it was slightly reassuring to know that we were taught about the My Lai Massacre, when Americans randomly went into a village and killed over 500 people for no reason, that we were informed of even the darkest parts of what we did.

So now I board a night train to Nha Trang…continuing on my journey throughout SE Asia.  I shall try and fight the Vietnamese censorship of Facebook and get some pictures up there and on here ASAP…

Thanks for reading!!

We are the people who rule the world

“We lived an adventure

Love in the Summer

Followed the sun till night

Reminiscing other times of life

For each every other

The feeling was stronger

We are the people that rule the world.”

-Empire of the Sun

Greetings and salutations! Started off this post with some lyrics to the song We Are The People by an Australian band called Empire of the Sun that I absolutely cannot get out of my head.  Nearly every traveler I have met from England to New Zealand loves this band.  Apparently America (or maybe just me) are way behind, but they are real awesome.

I am writing this from Chiang Mai and once again quite a bit has happened since I last wrote. New firsts: elephant riding, sleeping in a bamboo hut, and white water rafting.

Backing up just a bit…Will and I caught the bus from Khao Sok to Surat Thani which is nothing more than a pass-through town. Apparently no other tourists bother to leave the train station as we were the only whities in the place. To make matters funnier Thais have no problem staring, pointing, and laughing at the passing through “farang.” I find it hysterical and good-natured…just another fascinating nuance into the Thai psyche. From Surat Thani we caught the night train (11 hours) to Kanchanaburi, where the famous Death Railway is located (there’s a movie about it called The Bridge on the River Kwai if anyone is interested in it’s place in history).

We rented bikes ($1 for the day :)) and set out through the countryside to a Buddhist temple located in a cave. We lucked out and got to watch monks meditating. I had missed biking quite a bit as well so it was nice to get back on the pedals. After a night in Kanchanaburi we ended up in Bangkok for a few hours where I had to buy a new camera (mine broke) and also got to meet up with Mischa, the New Yorker who has lived in Bangkok the past 9 years and was my first friend in Thailand. I caught the 11pm night bus to Chiang Mai. Two overnight journeys totaling more than 20 hours in three days took its toll and I got off my bus in Chiang Mai in a pissy attitude. I soon cheered up when I arrived at my hostel, Spicythai Backpacker.

It is one of the coolest hostels I have ever stayed at and met people instantly. I decided to sign up with two English guys, Tom and Alex, for a 3 day jungle trek for the following day and set off for the Chiang Mai Zoo. Surprisingly, the zoo was quite impressive, filled with elephants (of course), hippos, pandas, meerkats, etc. I got to touch my first elephant at the zoo which was just plain weird- they are rougher than I had even imagined. Watching them use their trunks is actually quite trippy and almost seems fake. After a night of drinking games and Chatrouletting (have we really come to this?), I went to bed excited for the trek.

I had ridiculously high expectations for this trek. Everyone along the way had told me just how amazing it was. Simply put, I was blown away. There were 14 of us representing the countries of England, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Sweden, and of course-USA. When I said earlier that relationships get put into hyperdrive when traveling, you can imagine what it would be like when a group of 14 spend 3 days with each other in the jungle with none of the comforts of the western world. Our group was spectacular.

Trekking through the jungle was incredible as well- hopping on rocks over forging rivers, skimming the perimeter of cabbage fields that seemingly never ended, wading into refreshing yet powerful waterfalls, crossing swinging, rickety bridges that reminded me of Shrek, rafting through raging white waters, relaxing on a bamboo raft, riding on an elephant, and sleeping in the middle of the mountains on bamboo beds surrounded by frustrating chickens and adorable puppies.  My unreasonably high expectations were met and exceeded.

So I am now back in Chiang Mai…

Tom, Alex, and I got back around 5 and reunited with several people we hung out with before we left. Even though I was so tired I wanted to pass out, I ended up going to the Sunday night market which was absolutely incredible and had the most amazing selection of food I have ever seen.  Everything is so cheap, it is hard not to overindulge.

We ended up coming back to the hostel and playing more drinking games in a real large group…about 12 of us.  One particular game called Paranoia was interesting if not an odd game to play with people you have just met. The game goes in a circle and one person whispers a question to the next along the lines of “Who do you think has had the most one night stands?” or “Who do you think has the most unkempt private parts?” The person had to answer and if you are the lucky one who is guessed you can drink to find out what the question was. Good times. We ended up going to a Thai bar which was amazing as well. A Thai band was playing local songs as well as Western songs by the likes of Franz Ferdinand and of course, the perennial Thai favorite- Kings of Leon. It all got quite out of hand (Sangsom will do that) as we all jumped on stage at one point and played games of licky-backy (which I shall not discuss on this blog).

The night gets a tad blurry and somehow we end up at another larger Thai club where we are all getting treated like celebrities. Free drinks getting thrown at us, dancing on tables, the works.  There were maybe 1000 people and a band playing once again. The lead singer stepped up and for some drunken unknown reason I decided to throw up the Jay-Z Hova symbol. The singer noticed me and started throwing it up himself which was hysterical.

These are the DJ’s at the first place- sporting the hipster scene shades.

And this is the band that now supports HOVA

The night appropriately concluded with spicy chilis, funny Thais, and incredibly dangerous tuk tuk rides.

I need to stop writing now…thanks for reading if you got this far!

Leave comments, questions, or requests!

First time for everything…

I realized that on this trip I have experienced my first for quite a few things. My first Full Moon party, first time scuba diving, first time drinking a bucket of alcohol (maybe not that one), and probably most important, my first time travelling alone. I fulfilled my Advanced diving course and can now dive anywhere in the world! One of the dives was called a navigation dive and we actually had to figure out where the hell we were via our compasses. Throw in a bunch of aggressive trigger fish and it was damn easy to get lost. The last dive we did was the night dive which was probably the one I was most nervous about. All we had was our little torch and if we let it go its negative buoyancy would force it to the top of the ocean, leaving poor little Adam (or insert other victim) without a means of seeing or communicating 100 feet underwater. The best part about the night dive (besides the fact that I managed not to drop my torch) was about halfway through our group stopped and we all sank to the ocean bottom, turned off our flashlights, and danced. Of course we could not see ourselves dancing, but what we could see were all the particles around us that started to glow because of our motion. Just a sea of phosphorescent particles lighting up the bottom of the ocean…made me feel like I was on drugs.

So I received my Advanced certification wooo! I was also lucky enough to meet a great group of people that I ended up travelling with for the next week. There were 7 of us in total: Will, Nick, Tom, and Steve (from England), Lisa (from Germany), and Carly (from Canada) and we all developed quite a connection. When you travel, relationships are put into hyperdrive and even though you may only know people for a couple of days or weeks you feel as if you have known them forever. 

One of the more memorable (if not absolutely terrible) moments of the trip was the night boat to go from Koh Tao to Surat Thani. Now I have heard quite a bit about night boats in Thailand and how awful they are, but literally nothing could have prepared me for what the next 8 hours were going to be like once I stepped on that boat. It looked like I was boarding a refugee boat fleeing a war-torn country. Like I was a pilgrim travelling to the New World on a scurvy infested vessel. A prisoner being transported to Guantonomo. It was insane. Beds lined the floor as far as the eye could see. Now I say beds, but that is quite a generous word, they were more like padded sheets. They looked like they had been dropped down an oil well and they smelled like urine. The bathrooms were mere holes in the ground and people had to pretty much step on you to get to them. The worst part about this all was that our group was sitting on the engine…I repeat, ON THE ENGINE. I never realized how loud a boat engine was until I was ON ONE. The volume was so deafening that I actually could not hear my iPod no matter how loud I turned it up. Throw in my sleeping problems that require complete darkness and silence and I managed to toss and turn and moan for 8 hours to the rocking, blasting boat. Also keep in mind that I had only gotten 2 hours of sleep the night before because I woke up at 630 in the morning to watch the Super Bowl (with 2 Englishmen in tow).

It was all worth it once we got to Railay Beach. The funny part about our arrival was that after about 11 and a half hours of travelling, no sleep, no food, and so on we got dropped off my a longtail boat on a pile of rocks. After finding bungalows in the middle of the jungle, we decided to go kayaking. Eveywhere in Railay reminds me of that song from the movie The Beach, “Porcelain” by Moby. I know it may sound weird but it’s so true. Giant limestone rocks cutting through the surface of the ocean. Turquoise water. Sandy, beautiful beaches. Slightly creepy, but still awesome caves (which we kayaked through).

After a night “relaxing” in the Rasta bar in Railay, we woke up to do some rock climbing: another first. After learning how to tie my rope, Nan, our Thai rock climbing teacher, called me over the cliffs. Expecting to receive some sort of explanation on how to begin climbing the rock, I was met with a highly accented “You climb.” Shit. So I did. It feels so weird at first. As if you are going to die if you lose your grip. After a while I began getting the hang of it. Find a little hole or ledge to grab onto, even if it is just a few fingers, and most importantly find higher ground to place your feet and just keep pushing up. I got so into it that when I finally did look down it freaked me out quite a bit how high I was. Of course I lost my concentration and could not find anywhere to continue going up. I yelled down to Nan, “I want to go down.” Nan’s simple reply, “No!” So I held on for dear life for what felt like an hour (it was really only about 3 minutes) until I gained the courage to keep going and made it to the top! WOO! I managed to do one more climb and than my arms and upper body gave out and I had to stop. I told Nan about how my weak upper body strength kept me from climbing more and his retort, “Not weak strength…weak heart.” Alright, Nan. Take it easy.

The next island we went to was Koh Phi Phi which is where they filmed The Beach. All 7 of us hung out on the beach and experienced the intense nightlife which took me by surprise. There was this one bar that gave you a free bucket and t-shirt if you got into the boxing ring and fought someone. One of the guys I am travelling with, Tom, did it, won, and got a free bucket and t-shirt! I also managed to teach a whole group of people Fuck the Dealer which was pretty awesome. The last night in Phi Phi, Nick, Will, and I climbed up to the viewpoint and were able to see the whole island under the sunset. It looked absolutely unreal. You could look out onto the ocean for miles at all the rising rocks skimming the smooth orange surface.  They also had pictures of what Phi Phi looked like after the tsunami of 2004 which was pretty sad.

Another sad note is that our group of 7 split up as Will and I went off to Khao Sok to get away from the beaches for a bit, while the rest of them went off to Koh Lanta. We ended up meeting 2 Canadian guys who we hung out with since we have been here. Khao Sok looks like Jurassic Park. I would not be surprised at all if a dinosaur walked by (ok, maybe a little) and any minute now I expect to see that old Colonel Sanders looking guy to walk by with his mosquito cane.  Yesterday we went for a hike which ended up being about 6 miles to some awesome waterfall. Now we are getting ready to take a night train towards Bangkok to go to a town called Kannachaburi. Let’s hope this night train isn’t anything like the night boat…

Until next time!

Finding Nemo under a Full Moon

So I have not kept up with this blog as much as I would have liked, but I will try and fill in whats been going on the past couple of days. I am now one of the millions of travelers across the world who have experienced a Full Moon Party on the island of Koh Phan Ngan. HOLY SHIT is the best way to put it. Imagine the most gorgeous beach in the world. Now imagine a bucket full of Sangsom (Thai alcohol which some say is whiskey and some say is rum so iunno, but its STRONG), Coke, and M-150 (Thai Red Bull). Throw in 15,000 people from all over the world all dolled up in neon body paint (Mine was done by John from New Zealand and consisted of motorbikes and double helixes all over my face…unfortunately, the double helixes looked like sperm 😦 While we are at it, lets throw in slides, a jump rope made of fire, a shit ton of foam to play in, an a bunch of clubs, bars, and other stuff I probably can’t even remember…and THAT is the Full Moon Party.

For four days my only worries in life was what time to stop lounging on the beach and start drinking. I know some might say that this isn’t quite traveling but more of a silly vacation, but I DON’T CARE haha…it was honestly one of the best times of my life. I met a bunch of really amazing people, one of which I am traveling with now. His name is Will Shaw and he is from England. Apparently, we in America all say Shaw wrong, but I guess we do everything wrong, right? Sorry Jaime…

Eventually I had to drag myself off the island to both save my liver and also get the chance to actually see other parts of Thailand. I caught a boat to Koh Tao and signed up for a four day scuba diving course to obtain my Open Water license. There is a lot of class instruction involved which was LAME, but damn was it worth it. Scuba diving really is like a whole other world. The second you put your head underwater and are able to breathe, you know you are in for quite the experience.

Jumping ahead just a bit…We are all on a boat at our dive site which was called Mango Bay. We now know how to put on our equipment, what to do if we run out of air, lose our mask, if something breaks etc. Waddling around with my 60 kilo tank and fins and so on, I step onto the ledge of the boat to dive into the water. Jumping into water with that much weight is quite scary actually, but I let go and just did it. The second I got in I knew something was wrong. My BCD ( the vest that allows you to float) was leaking and it had an effect on me quite like what happens when you let go of a balloon. I started flailing around and had to be taken to the back of the boat and given a new one. WHAT A WAY TO START…

Once everything was back in order, I went under and got to experience the world underwater. No longer do I just have to depend on what Arielle and Nemo depict. The entire time I felt like I was in an episode of Planet Earth. Beautiful colors, coral reefs that resemble the surface of the moon, all sorts of crazy fish that were so pretty it hurt. Some of the fish that I remember and liked the best was the blue spotted stingray, as well as two clownfish. The funniest thing about the clown fish was that they never ever move from this one spot. Divers have made a giant circle around them out of rocks to give them some privacy, but still they never leave. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the beginning of Finding Nemo when Nemo’s dad doesn’t want to let him leave their home.

Scuba diving feels a bit like flying (really slowly) and was one of the coolest things I have ever done. I am now a fully licensed Open Water Scuba Diver!! Last nigh, everyone from the same scuba team (there were like 30 of us) all went out for drinks to celebrate. After 3 days of not really being able to drink I think I maybe had a few too many buckets and am paying for it right now. I decided to keep going on my scuba certification since I loved it so much and will now be taking my Advanced course, to get to a higher level of diving. I am going to be doing a night dive, going down 30 meters as well as a couple other amazing ones which I get to pick tomorrow…

I CAN’T WAIT!

And so it begins…

Whoa.

I don’t even really know how else to start this. I am sitting in an internet cafe in Koh Pha Ngan and I can’t even believe that life can be this good.  Even though it has only been a few days since being here, it feels like weeks (months even) and I couldn’t be happier.

After a 27 hour long flight in Thailand, the bed in my hostel could not come sooner. I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow only to be woken up at 6:30 am by people leaving the room for a tour of the floating markets. Not cool.  After some moping around the hostel and hanging out with some Australians, I woke Brian up to go see the sights in Bangkok.  Boy were they AMAZING. We caught a boat to the first place. It was called Wat Pho, famous for the reclining Buddha. Here he is…

The thing was HUGE. Afterwards, there were buckets lined up on the side- maybe about 50 of them. You are supposed to drop a coin (which they give you) into each one and make a wish at the end. So, I did and we shall see if it comes true or not.

Wat Pho was really amazing… Here’s another pic!

You can’t really tell in the picture, but these guys stretched like 150 ft into the sky…

Much of the day was spent going to all the different temples and palaces, all of which were amazing, but I would be here forever if I talked about them all. There was one called Wat Arun where you got to climb all the way to the top to get a really sweet view of Bangkok.

Brian and I then ended up getting into a tuk tuk that took us all over the city the whole day. We also ended up buying suits (don’t even ask). What’s a tuk tuk you ask?

Brian and I went to Chinatown which was also amazing (I gotta get a better word). We ate there and the food was soooooo good. That night we went out to a club in the Patpong area. The club was actually on par with a European or American one- 3 floors, DJ booth, giant projector…except the drinks were cheap!!!

So all hungover and with almost no sleep, I had to wake up and go get fitted for my new suit (really, don’t ask) and then catch my plane to Surat Thani. Plane: 1 hour. Boat to Koh Pha Ngan: 3 hours. People I’ve met along the way: countless. Meeting people couldn’t be easier. Most are travelling alone and being in the hostels automatically creates the communal environment. After the boat I got onto the back of a pickup truck or some taxi thing and went to my hostel. The Dancing Elephant..owned by a French guy named David who is INSANE but real cool. Met people in my room and went with them to a “pool party.”

Now I remember having pool parties as a kid, but HOLY SHIT… this was a pool party. Pick up trucks take you there for free and once there its a giant pool inside a night club which is located on a beach with about a thousand other travelers. NUTS NUTS NUTS…I can’t even begin to describe it.

Then this morning I woke up and went with a group of people to a place called Magic Mountain. There I got what was called The Happy Shake which let’s just say made my day REAL interesting. The beach was absolutely gorgeous and the water clear and warm. Everyone here is so awesome and now I am getting ready to go to the beach where there will be people fire dancing, buckets of alcohol (literally), and people from all over the world. Sometimes the realization of being here kicks in, in such a beautiful postcard-like fun place with no worry, makes me feel like I couldn’t be any luckier and my life couldn’t get any better.

Until next time…

Simply put, Thailand is the most incredible place I have ever been.

Welcome to Bangkok

So, I finally made it! And thus begins my 2 month (at least) journey through Southeast Asia. I’m not going to lie, I was a lot more scared than I let on before I left.  The 27 hour and 20 minute plane ride that I took (via Anchorage and Taipei) also gave me a great deal of time to think about what could go wrong. What if I lost all my stuff? What if I got robbed? Was sold into the sex trade? Of course my flight out of JFK was delayed although it didnt really matter since I was stopping twice anyway. So I decide to sit down for a drink at the bar that’s right by my gate to relax and have my last watered-down Bud Lite in America. I guess the bartender didn’t get the idea that I just wanted to cool it before my flight and started telling me about a person she knew who went to Turkey alone, went to a bar, and woke up naked in a dumpster. Thanks bartender! You really helped me out there! Doesn’t she realize that people drink so that they DON’T have to worry about things such as this.

When I stepped onto the plane that I was to be on for the next 27 hours, I was shocked/saddened/enraged to find out that there was NO PERSONAL TV and I was sitting next to a man that did not speak English. I’m not in Bangkok yet, I still want my luxuries!  So after many awkward tosses and turns, babies crying, shitty movies, and weird rice dishes, I finally arrived in Bangkok! Stepping off the plane into the sticky heat was just surreal. I couldn’t believe that I was actually in Thailand…by myself. I ended up meeting a girl on the immigration line who moved from New York to Bangkok and has been living here for the past 8 years. We took a cab together since she lived right near my hostel.

I am staying at Lub D Hostel on Decho Rd in the Silom area of Bangkok. The place is really incredible. I think it actually tops most places I stayed at in Europe. It’s all really sleek and modern. Everyone is young, good-looking, and anxious to have a good time in the Thai capital. I ended up meeting my first friend of the trip, Brian, as I was frantically running down to the lobby because I thought I lost my passport (turned out the woman at the desk just forgot to give it back to me when she made a copy). In my mess of trying to open a door and finding my passport, Brian and I struck up a friendship and he decided to come with my to go get a cell phone at some big mall nearby.

Getting around in Bangkok is surprisingly easy by train, although crossing the street is an absolute nightmare.

The mall we went to, MBK, was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen.  Row after row of tiny booths clustered together, all selling the most random things. I ended up getting a cell phone for 30 bucks that came with 100 baht on it already. Sweet. From the mall, Brian and I decided to wander the surrounding area to find some lunch and ended up at a place called Chester’s Grill where I got a full meal  with soup and a drink for $3 🙂

Bangkok is really an amazing city. It has such a vibrancy. The clash between Buddhist traditions and new age commercialism is at first really weird.  The golden temples fighting for a piece of the skyline with looming skyscrapers. After some time though, it is a really beautiful blend of the cultures. We actually got to walk around a gorgeous Buddhist temple (fo’ free) and watch them go about their day while outside the cars honked and the gigantic flat screen TV’s blasted music and ads (they do that).

Everything in this city is just so unbelievably different. In a really good way. The Thai’s are ridiculously nice, religious but not imposing, and are surprisingly timid when it comes to hassling you to buy from their stands (although that’s based off of the alpha -aggressive Moroccans). They are all skinny and I soon learned why…

They all dance! Passing through Lumphini Park was a neverending sea of dancing, running, and biking Thais. I, of course, got in on the action….

We decided to walk around the Suan Lum Night Bazaar which turned out to be quite awesome.  Everything was incredibly trendy and of course CHEAP. Brian and I decided to get  foot, back, and arm massage for AN HOUR, which may have been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It wiped the jetlag right out of my body. The back part of the massage was a little rough as the Thai woman dug her elbows into my pressure points. Total cost of the hour long massage: $7. Adam ftw.

Overall the first hours of my trip here have been incredible. I am meeting travelers from all over the world (skewed Australian) and just having a great time. Hopefully I will be able to get rid of the lingering jet lag before the full-moon party in Koh Pha Ngan!

Until next time…