Khao San Road, Bangkok

My last day in this part of town was pretty interesting...First: I finally found someone selling umbrellas, so now the rain aint' got nuthin' on me, literally! Under my new protective cover, I set out to tour some of the old town's Wats (temples). The tuk tuks can smell someone trying to do a self guided walking tour from kilometers away, and they were after me the entire time. I did trick one onto giving me a map of the area by pretending to be interested in a suit though! Eventually I did escape them and managed to get around to some of the lesser traveled parts of town, see several wats, and try some pretty amazing eats (have no idea what any of it was, except for the noodles). The wats are exceptional...everything is encrusted with gold and multi-colored glass. Every square inch of some of these places is decorated by hand with the tiniest and most intricate patterns imaginable. The Wat Pho, for example, was under renovation and there was a monk repainting, very slowly, an area about one inch squared. Zooming out, you see that this pattern covers a section of the wall and windows about 30 feet by at least a hundred feet long. As incredible as they were, I headed back a little early because they all do look a bit similar. I hope to find some in interesting locales in the northern part of the country. I really didn't want to be the guy snapping a hundred photos inside the temples, so I'll just put a couple up of the places I saw.

Arriving back at home base, I needed something to help me unwind from all the excitement. How does some spicy thai noodles, a big cold beer, and two hours of Thai massage sound? Sounded pretty good to me. That woman must have cracked every vertibret in my back...honestly I didn't know I had that many. I will sleep well tonight. Entire day > $20 (including umbrella)

Water water everywhere, thankfully also plenty to drink

My timing getting back to my room last night was spot on...just after finishing the anonymous meat dinner the skies opened up and released a ridiculous amount rain. This morning the stomach and related systems were all in check, which I was pretty excited about (time to get more adventurous!). By the time I hit the street it was already about 90F and 90% humidity. Hot and moist and moist and hot. I'm getting used to it...just takes a little while. The people here don't even seem to notice.

Turns out that it's Saturday today (haven't been paying attention), so the Embassies are closed. As such, I set off for the notorious Khao San Road to secure some ultra-budget accommodation till Monday rolls around. To get there I did something that I have been told to avoid...The cheapest taxis here will haggle with you for a flat, and very attractive, rate...but this includes a stop off at a business of some sort. The driver tells you that he gets a gasoline credit from the shop owner if you'll just go in a look around for a bit. It sounded like a pain, but strangely I was a bit curious and went with it. We stopped at a tailor, and I went in, looked around, turned down a suit and an alligator skin belt, and left within 5 minutes. It was a bit weird, but I did get a really cheap air conditioned ride across town.

 The buzz of activity and sales offers on Khao San Road is ten times what I described from the area I was in last night...but I'm already getting a bit used to it. The first obvious positive to all this is that the food vendors on the streets could probably all be head chefs in Thai and Indian restaurants back home. Seriously good food! Cheap! ($1 - $2)  Walking takes some skill...both in not getting run over by things and finding quasi-nice ways to ignore the hundreds of people trying to get your attention.... It's raining again, so I have scheduled some time in my "fan room" for staring up at the ceiling and pretending it's snowing. This may transition into a nap with dreaming about snow...

Bangkok

Apparently my cell phone doesn't auto update it's clock for new time zones, because I was about 1 grain of rice shy of missing my flight to Bangkok due to thinking I had an extra hour to work with. I won't go into all the details, but it was reallllly close and pretty stressful. Bangkok is a crazy place...definitely not somewhere you want to be arriving already stressed out, so luckily for me it all worked out and I had the 11 hour plane ride to calm down.

First Impressions: Free Sauna! Everywhere! Wow this place is hot and sticky...you would have thought they built it in the middle of the jungle or something. Walking around with the pack is going to be kept to an absolute minimum, and some things will be left behind. There are a million things going on around you...market stalls, food vendors, tailors, travel agents, massage parlors all offering their services. And as far as blending in to avoid that sort of thing, I might as well be wearing a Richard Simmons hot pink leopard print liatard (actually that would probably blend in better). I walked down and got dinner from one of a long line of food vendors on the street. I wasn't yet brave enough to attempt to order from some of the more complicated (and tastier) looking stalls, so I went with some anonymous seasoned meat sticks (fingers crossed) and fried rice pattys. My friend Dylan told me to make sure it was physically being cooked right there, so that's what I decided with. I guess that advice comes from a couple of his personal "mourning after dinner" episodes...but I didn't really want to know so I didn't ask. The vegetable noodle places look the best, and when I'm feeling a bit less overwhelmed tomorrow I think I'll being going for those (using the point and nod method).  I need to find an umbrella...it rains a lot here apparently. Oddly enough, for all of the stuff being sold to me whilst walking around, no one tried to sell me an umbrella, which I would have bought. Well, I'm going to get some much needed shut eye. Goodnight from the other side of the world! Embassy hunting tomorrow...

Leaving of Ireland

Well, it's about time to be hittin' the ole' dusty trail again. Came to Ireland for three weeks and stayed for three months...met some great people, and had some great crack (good times), and way too much Guinness. I leave for Dublin in the morning, and then I'll fly out the next day. I have finally sorted through the hundreds and hundreds of photos that have been collecting dust in the memory stick, and got them online. I think they tell the story best, so have a look through if you can. I hope to be able to get online and give some first impressions of Bangkok after I arrive...I have heard that it is pretty overwhelming at first. Long couple of days ahead...I'm excited and uncertain and everything in between. Can't wait to get there!

Achill Island

After a 9 or so hour bus ride, we arrived in Achill Island, a very isolated and beautiful "island" on the west coast of Ireland. I suppose it is called an island for tourist reasons as you could probably walk to the mainland at low tide. The job here is the general running of a backpacker hostel as well as working in the pub. Despite the remote location, there is a steady stream of people from all over coming through the hostel as well as a regular group of locals at the pub...so it has stayed interesting. We are also working with 5 other volunteers from all over.

Climbing mountains: From the hostel here you can see the peak of Schleife More when the top is not obstructed from view by a very ominous looking cloud. It wasn't long before I decided I needed to be up there looking down, so I set off one afternoon with another American and a French guy (who is apparently in much better shape than me) for the top. We decided to go up the steep side along a craggy ridge that ran all the way to the top. Luckily, the entire mountain is covered with peat that naturally forms steps, so the footing was easier than it looked from the bottom. About two hours and several rest breaks later, (except for our french mountain goat friend) we were at the top. To greet us there was what must have been a 50 mph wind pulling bits of cloud down out of the sky along the cliffs to the ocean below. It felt as though we were in a wind tunnel. We sat down behind an unnatural pile of stones at the very top to get out of the wind, but not before adding one more stone to the peak out of respect, as is the tradition.

Homeward bound: After more than 6 months of traveling together, the day has sadly come for Krista and I to part ways. On Tuesday we went together to Dublin for her to catch her flight to Chicago. As I headed back to Achill alone, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to go it alone for a while. Admittedly,  we weren't sure before hand what it would be like to spend almost 24 hours a day together for 6 months, but it couldn't have turned out better. Having someone to share in the experiences, the excitement, and the difficulties has been really rewarding. I will miss her very much and hope it isn't long before we can meet up down under!

The Big Leap: The travel plan was pretty well mapped out up until now...and as of yesterday I didn't really know what I was going to do next. Airfare prices are on the rise and my Irish visa is expiring in two weeks, so the time has come to put the pen to the map once again, and I think this next move is going to be a bit more of a shock than before. The plan so far is to fly into Bangkok, Thailand and travel overland through Laos and into Vietnam. After several cups of coffee and some rare quite in the early morning hours here,  I have laid out the bare bones of a three or four week trek: From Bangkok to the islands of southern Thailand...then north to Chang Mai, crossing the border into Laos to follow the Mekong river south, east into Vietnam, and south along the coast to Saigon where my friend Dylan is living. I am both exited and nervous and have no idea what to expect...but that's the best part!