Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Blipfoto
I've started a daily photo journal. You are welcome to bookmark it and check out my daily eye.
http://www.blipfoto.com/teegone
http://www.blipfoto.com/teegone
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Home Sweet Home
Our boat is delayed. 4 words.
So the China trip that was supposed to last until Nov/Dec has now been extended until sometime in the new year. The shipyard is pretty irresponsible and unprofessional, and because of these complications the delivery of the boat is delayed for quite some time.
I suppose it will just give me more time to practice my Mandarin! And with the weather changing for the cooler, it makes it a more pleasant experience being here.
Since the trip to Thailand we have cooled it with the travel plans. Although I'll admit that I tried to push for a short trip to Hainan (the Hawaii of the east supposedly) but being the anniversary of the PRC, our neighbor said that it wasn't a good idea to travel around this time of year.
Hey, I tried ;) It's so cheap to travel but he's right. I don't want to travel with half of the country. Nobody really knows how many people actually live here until you travel alongside them all. It's a lot. Trust me.
I knew I'd spend my 28th birthday here in China but I didn't anticipate Christmas. I have a lot of curiosity about my future. I am hoping to make a trip home sometime around Dec/Jan but it's super expensive and since I don't have a job.. well.. you get it.
We watched the parade in Beijing on tv celebrating 60 yrs of the PRC.
So the China trip that was supposed to last until Nov/Dec has now been extended until sometime in the new year. The shipyard is pretty irresponsible and unprofessional, and because of these complications the delivery of the boat is delayed for quite some time.
I suppose it will just give me more time to practice my Mandarin! And with the weather changing for the cooler, it makes it a more pleasant experience being here.
Since the trip to Thailand we have cooled it with the travel plans. Although I'll admit that I tried to push for a short trip to Hainan (the Hawaii of the east supposedly) but being the anniversary of the PRC, our neighbor said that it wasn't a good idea to travel around this time of year.
Hey, I tried ;) It's so cheap to travel but he's right. I don't want to travel with half of the country. Nobody really knows how many people actually live here until you travel alongside them all. It's a lot. Trust me.
I knew I'd spend my 28th birthday here in China but I didn't anticipate Christmas. I have a lot of curiosity about my future. I am hoping to make a trip home sometime around Dec/Jan but it's super expensive and since I don't have a job.. well.. you get it.
We watched the parade in Beijing on tv celebrating 60 yrs of the PRC.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Bangkok wandering
Again, our hotel ideas didn't pan out so we found ourselves walking around Sukumvit area with our mini-trolleys in tow searching for a place to stay for the night.
Luckily this place is saturated with hotels, guestrooms, hostels etc. We found something in our price range around the corner called Sunrise Hotel.
We took the skytrain to Silom area where it was supposed to be a chic shopping area. All we found was shopping malls ... and even in 100 degree heat (it was hot that day) we didn't care to do that. Actually, we were quite tired so we just kicked it back to the hotel and took a rest.. Got up around 7ish and headed for Patpong, the red light district.
The prostitution is unbelieveable here. We sat in a bar for a beer while 15 girls danced on a small stage in their bathing suits or bra/panties and felt bad. One girl was dancing a lot faster than the music, one was skipping around acting suspiciously, one was dancing erotically and watching herself in the mirror, most of them were just moving a little as possible and a few were enjoying themselves.
It was a sad scene. Across the bar we could see girls sitting with old dudes, fat dudes, ugly dudes with backwards hats on and being fondled. One guy was singing to the music "if you want my body, and you think i'm sexy,.."
This mother and daughter were coloring in their stall across from a girly bar. Exposure!
Ping pong show? We were asked a hundred times.
Vendor stall. Tshirt?
Patpong also consists of a huge market for counterfieted items and restaurants. We walked the market and sat down to eat at a place down a street that was thumping. It turned out to be a gay area and it's just amusing to watch Nicola deal with all sorts of things he's never seen before.
I could talk a while about all that I saw in this area but it would just go on and on about all the women for sale and how we saw menus of women on laminated papers so you could choose the girl you want to have.
7-11 for all your snacks, drinks and girls.
You can see in one girls hand the laminated paper with the faces of girls on it. Men can choose who they wish to take home with them.
Luckily this place is saturated with hotels, guestrooms, hostels etc. We found something in our price range around the corner called Sunrise Hotel.
We took the skytrain to Silom area where it was supposed to be a chic shopping area. All we found was shopping malls ... and even in 100 degree heat (it was hot that day) we didn't care to do that. Actually, we were quite tired so we just kicked it back to the hotel and took a rest.. Got up around 7ish and headed for Patpong, the red light district.
The prostitution is unbelieveable here. We sat in a bar for a beer while 15 girls danced on a small stage in their bathing suits or bra/panties and felt bad. One girl was dancing a lot faster than the music, one was skipping around acting suspiciously, one was dancing erotically and watching herself in the mirror, most of them were just moving a little as possible and a few were enjoying themselves.
It was a sad scene. Across the bar we could see girls sitting with old dudes, fat dudes, ugly dudes with backwards hats on and being fondled. One guy was singing to the music "if you want my body, and you think i'm sexy,.."
This mother and daughter were coloring in their stall across from a girly bar. Exposure!
Vendor stall. Tshirt?
Patpong also consists of a huge market for counterfieted items and restaurants. We walked the market and sat down to eat at a place down a street that was thumping. It turned out to be a gay area and it's just amusing to watch Nicola deal with all sorts of things he's never seen before.
I could talk a while about all that I saw in this area but it would just go on and on about all the women for sale and how we saw menus of women on laminated papers so you could choose the girl you want to have.
7-11 for all your snacks, drinks and girls.
You can see in one girls hand the laminated paper with the faces of girls on it. Men can choose who they wish to take home with them.
Tomorrow, weekend market and.. home.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Night Train
Our last day in Ko Phangan was a quiet one. Snapped this shot before we left. 10 euros a flower!!! The hotel where we stayed had a lot of rules. No durian fruit in the room or be fined, no body paint or be fined, don't pick the flowers, no television, no free internet, no nothing etc etc etc. They even soldered the key to the room electricity pass thingy so you couldn't detach it and leave your air con on all day as we like to do.
View from the train window in the morning.
They came around selling coffee and doughnuts in the morning. Thank God! I like a good support pillow but that one was so hard it was like lying on a rock. And the train was quite noisy. I woke up to Nicola standing and in my face.. Turns out I was dreaming and he thought I had been awake. He startled me, I had the 'where am i???' feeling. no doubt.
2 days in Bangkok and then back home to China. woo.
Since this place is party central they don't allow anything. So many people pass through partying, drunk, on drugs, the works.. at all hours of the night. I assumed that people were picking the flowers for their hair. Then when the tree remain bare they put a charge on it. Now you see flowers.
The journey was long. We left at 4pm for an hour's ride to the pier, then waited at the pier for 40 mins. The ferry ride was 3 hours to the mainland and then boarded a bus for a 2 hour journey to the train station. We arrived 2 hours early for the 11 30 pm train that ended up being delayed until 12 15 am.
Sketch city!! When we first arrived there random people just lying around on the benches, sleeping, eating, selling things.. but just a few. I used the bathroom and had to pay 30 baht for service in a filty bathroom with no paper or spray thingy. I was wondering how the people used the toilet and you know, cleaned up afterwards... i always bring my own toilet paper.
The journey was long. We left at 4pm for an hour's ride to the pier, then waited at the pier for 40 mins. The ferry ride was 3 hours to the mainland and then boarded a bus for a 2 hour journey to the train station. We arrived 2 hours early for the 11 30 pm train that ended up being delayed until 12 15 am.
Sketch city!! When we first arrived there random people just lying around on the benches, sleeping, eating, selling things.. but just a few. I used the bathroom and had to pay 30 baht for service in a filty bathroom with no paper or spray thingy. I was wondering how the people used the toilet and you know, cleaned up afterwards... i always bring my own toilet paper.
On this trip I remembered to bring the playing cards so we passed the time like that.
The discussions were all about what to expect when the train came. We paid extra for first class.. a private room with a locking door so we could sleep in peace. The train would travel overnight and arrive in the morning around 11am. We were hoping to buy some dinner along the way but we didn't like the looks of the station after seeing a huge rat run into a hole on the platform!!
We bought chips and chowed on sunflower seeds to fill the gap.
It wasn't spotless, and it wasn't filthy. Good enough. I slept up top.
The discussions were all about what to expect when the train came. We paid extra for first class.. a private room with a locking door so we could sleep in peace. The train would travel overnight and arrive in the morning around 11am. We were hoping to buy some dinner along the way but we didn't like the looks of the station after seeing a huge rat run into a hole on the platform!!
We bought chips and chowed on sunflower seeds to fill the gap.
It wasn't spotless, and it wasn't filthy. Good enough. I slept up top.
View from the train window in the morning.
They came around selling coffee and doughnuts in the morning. Thank God! I like a good support pillow but that one was so hard it was like lying on a rock. And the train was quite noisy. I woke up to Nicola standing and in my face.. Turns out I was dreaming and he thought I had been awake. He startled me, I had the 'where am i???' feeling. no doubt.
2 days in Bangkok and then back home to China. woo.
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