Hey Petchaburi!

With a 5-day weekend ahead of us, I was at a loss of what to do. Ella and I were originally going to do nothing, as we were both pretty swamped with work. But determining to not let the holiday go to waste, we decided to take at least 2 or 3 days off. Looking online, I found some stuff for Petchaburi. A small town about 2 hours from Bangkok, it seemed to have a few things to do. So off we went with Dmytro to check out what's up with this place.

Color me pleasantly surprised. I guess because our expectations were nil, but I enjoyed Petchaburi a lot more than I thought I would. Considering you can get there faster than across the city at rush hour, it really should be included in more Bangkok travel guides and whatnot. I mean, you're not going to spend a week there without going crazy. But it makes for an awesome weekend getaway. 

After we arrived, we checked into the one of... two guesthouses in the entire city. It was already late afternoon, so we decided to just take a stroll around downtown and see what we could find. We found Wat Mahathat Worrawihan, though it's kind of hard to not. A tall, bleached, marble white temple in Khmer (Cambodian) style, it sticks out like sore thumb compared to the 1 or 2 story places nearby. It's a wat. Pretty, but you've seen one Thai wat, you've seen 95% of them.

Walking around, we didn't see too much else of note. Mostly just taking in the city, before stopping to get dinner. Because of the holiday, a lot of places were closed. We did find a duck noodle place, which turned out to be surprisingly good. It's not often you find duck, even in Thailand. It's more of a Chinatown thing. So this was a rare treat, and as always, was about $1 for a meal. Dmytro went a bit crazy and got a double helping with rice. Let it be known, he hates ducks.

So for the first proper day, we decided to rent motorbikes and check out the beach. The beach is only about 15km from the city, but I dreaded having to pay another 300b to corrupt cops along the way. Fortunately, and this is a big feather in Petchaburi's cap, there were cops along the way, but none decided to stop and extort money from the poor foreigners. So, that was nice. The beach, Chao Samran, was unique in many respects. First it was near empty, unusual for a holiday. Also, it was covered with tiny crabs. About the size of your pinky, they burrowed out holes by rolling the sand into little balls. So, the beach was covered with these little balls of sand, and tiny crabs that rushed into their holes when you approached. I managed to trap a bigger one by putting my finger over his hole, and he ran around in a state of panic trying to escape this giant, wondering where his hole went. So, let it be known that I terrorized the local wildlife. The ocean itself was surprisingly muddy. I was imagining bottling this mud and selling it for a killing in Seoul or something.

Back in town, we kept going on the bikes to look at Khao Luang Cave. Now, this place was impressive. I've always liked caves, but especially unique caves. This one was filled with monkeys (my nemesis!), and of course, buddha. But it had a lot of incense, combined with the holes in the roof, made for some really neat looking sunbeams to come down into the cave and illuminate different parts. I especially like this pic Ella took of me, but in general all the pics down there looked really neat.

Back on the road, we wanted to go see a coffee shop in the shape of a giant Cadillac, but it was closed. Instead we saw a sign for a cable car, which I was skeptical of. Turns out it is a real cable car, something I've never seen in Thailand. We took it to the top of the Mount Phranakhornkiri (Seriously... is this actually the name of it?). On top were more... monkeys. Ugh. Except at least they were a little cute, trying to open water bottles while tiny monkey babies clung onto them. This is the tallest mountain around, and has a well-maintained park along with, you guessed it, temples and palaces. Still, it had great views of the surrounding area, and we got some great pics.

It had been quite a day, so we went back to the hotel for some R&R. Not before picking up some Khao Soi, AKA the best Thai food in the world. Unfortunately, our guesthouse was right above a bar which decided to make some noise for the holiday. Probably the only bar in town, it kept us up the previous night. This time, we adopted the "If you can't beat them, join them" attitude and stopped in for a few drinks. That made sleeping much easier.

The next, final day was to Ban Pun Palace. Built by a German architect about 100 years ago, it was only briefly used by royalty. It was converted to various things, before sitting unused for a long time. Eventually some people decided "Eh, maybe we should let tourists in." So they fixed it up, and despite it being on a military base, let people check it out. It looks quite different compared to other things in Thailand, as to be expected for something designed by a European fellow around WWI. Overall, it was a typical big and drafty palace minus the unique spiral staircase. It had green marble columns, and looked sort of out of a fairy tale. But your imagination will need to be enough, as they did not allow photos inside. The outside is honestly 90% of the appeal anyway.

And that was mostly it for Petchaburi. We went to the train station to go back, and I was surprised that Dmytro had never been on a Thai train before. When it arrived, we got on, and oh wow. It was full of migrants carrying crates of goods, livestock, you name it. There was standing room only, and I was immediately regretting the four hour commute nestled between two chickens. Someone suggested we hop off and catch a bus, and we did moments before the doors closed. Back in the air conditioned van while snacking on honey roasted peanuts, eating the cost of a $0.90 train ticket sounded like a pretty good decision.

Yes, I'm sure you can.

Yo yo! I figure it's time to update this blog as to what's going on in my life lately, and the crazy adventures I've been having in and around Bangkok. One of these adventures involved a holiday to Petchaburi, a surprisingly awesome place that should really be considered in tour guides as a Bangkok getaway. But that definitely deserves its own entry for next time.

For the boring life stuff - the 1st semester is halfway over, which means I should have a lot of holiday in October to look forward to. Also, I just finished the summer semester of school. By far the most hectic one I've done so far, it was a lot of work crammed into a little time. Starting in August, only 1 semester to go until I'm a master of something something.

Ella wanted to go see this old customs house near the river, and it sounded like as good an excuse as any other. Blueberry and Maggie came along, and we had a nice little day trip. First we stopped at Old Siam Plaza, the first big shopping mall in the city. It's managed to stay alive despite its small size by looking quirky and unique. Overall I like it there. It's definitely cooler than the sterile Central World stores that look exactly like every other mall in the world. Also, we found lots of gun shops. I didn't know you could buy guns in Thailand. But maybe for the Chinese folks especially, it was quite a sight.

Old Siam Plaza is not actually the oldest store in the city though, that's Nightingale Department Store across the street. This department store is... well, let's just say everything has been there since 1950. The products, the building, and the sales clerks. It was totally empty, and I am unsure how this place survives. They sell those belt massage things from old-timey catalogs, for christ sakes. The one thing I can say about Nightingale, if you need "vintage" or "retro", they're a good place to start.

So, we hopped on the riverboat to go see the customs house. It's old an abandoned, with no way inside. And lots of warnings about falling pieces of the building. We tried to get to the other side, and were greeted with a very dismissive guard who would not even respond when Blueberry spoke to him in Thai. He wouldn't even explain, he would just turn his head and ignore us. Quite rude. I'm sure his job is like, SUPER busy, so he can't be interrupted. Anyway, Ella and I did go a week or so later. We just walked right past and ignored him. He yelled at us, but we also decided to "ignore" him. We got a few pics, but overall it's the same old building on the back that it is on the front. There are some cool bridges connecting the different parts - one of which you can barely make out in the pic. But it seems like a lot of squatters are hanging out here. This seems like a really bad idea, because literally pieces of the building are falling off, enough to see exposed rooms. But hey, you do get your own fussy guard with that cheap rent, so, little of column A, little of column B?

On the way back, we saw a mosque. Religious buildings are kind of Ella's thing, so we stopped. Quite small, but I asked the man if we could look inside. He said sure, just take off your shoes. Then he asked me a series of odd questions.

"Sir, are your ladies clean?"

"Excuse me?"

"The ladies with you. They are clean, yes?"

Well, Ella took a shower that morning. I did not ask about the hygiene habits of my friends, which is my fault, really.

"...Yes?"

"You know, ladies, every month they are unclean."

"Oh? ... ... OH!"

So is that a thing for mosques? Women can't enter during their period!? I learned something new I guess. Also, how would anyone know? They have to pray in a separate chamber anyway. Plus, your god made women like that. I'm sure he understands. Regardless, the others looked around while our exchange was going on, and were fairly unimpressed. So we decided to set off.

Nearby there was one more sight to see, which I had passed before but never went inside. Wat Yannawa, AKA "The Boat Temple", is pretty much that. A wat that looks like a big boat. We bought coconut ice cream inside, and you know... saw buddha statues on a boat looking thing. I don't really have much else to say about it, but it's right next to the metro station if you need more boat-shaped places of worship in your life.

As far as out-of-town adventures, Ella and I decided to take a day trip to the Maeklong Market. You've probably never heard the name of this place, but you likely know what it is. It's the thing where a train passes through the middle of a market, and everyone pulls back their awnings while the train passes inches away from everything. Then they push back the awnings, and boom, regular market again. Well, that's in Thailand, and I can confirm that is exactly what happens.

It's not the easiest place to get to, though - if you actually want to ride on the train, which I did. For all the complaints you can give to the State Railway Department, all of the tracks are connected. Except one. The Maeklong Line is completely disconnected from the rest of the Thai system, and even has different trains on a more narrow gauge. Even the line itself isn't connected. They never built a bridge across a river, so you have to stop, take a ferry, and get back on. (something-something-government-efficiency-joke)

So to make it there, we got up bright and early and set out to the terminus for this boondoggle, a small station called Wongwian Yai. Located in the southwest part of the city, it's completely unassuming and you could walk right past it without knowing it's a train station. A tiny platform filled with vendors, we paid about 45 cents for the first half of the trip. This shit is local. There are zero foreigners, anywhere. Everyone is looking at us. And the food - wow! Probably the cheapest I've seen in Bangkok. I got a big fried... thing? With ham and white sauce on the inside. It was delicious, and only 10 baht for a piece big enough to be my breakfast. Everything else there was super cheap too. Man, I want to live near Wongwian Yai. When the train came we plunked down in the aircon cabin, and the seats were surprisingly comfortable. When they came to check our tickets, it turns out we purchased 2nd class. If we wanted to stay here, we needed to upgrade. Now, normally I am against luxury. But when 2nd class is a wooden bench, no aircon, and crammed between two chickens, I am willing to spend an extra 30 cents.

Fear me. I have become the 1%.

When we arrived, the procedure was pretty much as expected. Disembark, ferry, walk to the next station in the line. We purchased another ticket, and had an hour before the train left. With no food options at this somehow even smaller station, we passed this nice coffee shop that also had soup, salad, and bread. The salads were HUGE, and everything was grown by the shop owner. Along with homemade croissants and mushroom soup. Really nice place, considering the location. I guess she caters to the "poor but still adventurous traveler" market.

So for round two, I jumped towards the front window when we arrived. And yeah... people were folding up their awnings. It was hard to get a great view, as there was only a tiny window behind a tiny window to see out of. We got out and went around the now restored market. And aside from the train thing... that's about all this market and town has for it. It's a fresh market near the ocean. There are fruits, vegetables, and seafood. Nothing I felt really compelled to buy and lug for two hours back to Bangkok, it just seems like a place where locals do their shopping. The train left again in an hour, and I wanted a video of it. So we walked around for a bit, then got some coffee and just chilled out. The train left, we got our video... and yeah, van back to Bangkok I suppose. I guess I'm glad I did it. Whenever someone talks about that market in the future, I can say I've been there. Plus it's not like I was doing anything else that Saturday. But for tourists coming here only for a few days, I'd find it really hard to recommend. It's basically a full day thing, with not much payoff aside from a few pictures and video. Such as these.

***PLUS THREE VIDEO RETROSPECTIVE***

WE DID IT NATION. 200+1 POSTS! Like I said last time, I've been gathering all the videos I've taken since I started this blog, which was not easy. Some were on Facebook, some Youtube, some on an old Youtube account I had, and didn't remember the password to, so I had to do a million steps to recover... oi. Too much. So I'm going to post my favorite videos, and throw out some comments. There are actually 92 (holy shit) videos on my channel now, if for some reason you want to really dive in to my life. Like some sort of weird video stalker.

Valker.

1) I dance with Matt Harding. Decide to leave America.

Who the heck is this guy? He's Matt Harding, from the "Where the Hell is Matt?" series on Youtube. You've probably seen one of his dealies before. He goes around the world dancing. I'm in his "Dancing 2012" video at the part in Cleveland. You can see that video here if you want. But no joke, but he's pretty much the entire reason I left the States. I remember watching his videos like, hundreds of times on loop and think "I've got to get out of here." I even bought his book. Do you know how many books I've bought in my life? Three. The Real Ultimate Power Ninja Book, Barney Stinson's The Bro Code, and his. The sad part is, I think that's completely accurate. Thanks Matt!

2) This is what schools are like in Thailand

Thai culture is bizarre, even after living here for coming on 3 years now. Among the many complaints I do have (can you guys plan anything in advance? Even like... important stuff?) one compliment I do have is that Thais are the least uptight people ever. I think if you dropped a prim and proper old lady into Thailand, her head would explode. Aside from a few Buddhist rules such as gambling, whatever you want to do that doesn't hurt anyone... who cares? So here we have a school retreat, where one of the lady boy students decided to do a sexy dance on stage for everyone. He's maybe, 12? 13? Everyone went nuts, the admins egged him on, and if this was in the states there'd be lawsuits pending. Lighten up, USA. Let the pre-op transvestite pre-teen flash his classmates, god.

3) I discover a band in Laos

So, I was travelling in Laos. Amazing country full of incredibly kind people, perhaps the nicest in the world (also Ipoh, Malaysia) This is all except for Vang Vieng, the town founded by douchey frat boys. Every foreigner was unpleasant, almost every Laotian unpleasant, and I decided the sooner I could get the heck out of there the better. But here I was, drinking in a terrible bar that plays "Friends" re-runs all day, every day waiting for morning to come so I could get the first bus to anywhere not here. I hear music, and walk for a bit to find this band playing on the outskirts. The Loatians loved it, and I didn't see a single foreigner there. They were all watching Friends. So I hung out with them for a while, was given a lot of weird food, and was the star of this weird concert. After the band gave me a copy of their music, and told me in broken English to show everyone in America. I don't know how to do that, so Youtube is my best guess? Turns out it was an MV, and no I have no idea what their name is or anything about them. But here you go world. My gift to you. There are 15 other MVs on my channel if you need their sweet tunes in your life.

4) What began as a joke became a tradition

Ella and I were in Kunming, China when I decided just to take a video of us while we were walking around. And I decided not to stop. So now when we travel, we'll take a long video at some random point. That's all. I actually enjoy watching them a lot, although I'd imagine they'd be quite boring for anyone else. But if you'd like to see us walk around Kunming (bonus points if you know where that is!), have at.

5) We eat food served by a robot

Move over, Japan. Thailand is more high-tech than you in one way. I had heard this restaurant existed in Thailand even before I came here, but it was shut down. Then randomly on the internet, I saw that it was open again. So we went out to see it, and what a surprise. A robot delivers food to you, and even dances to Lady Gaga. That video is also on the channel. It's weird. But no joke, probably the best hot pot I've had in my life. If you ever visit Bangkok, you definitely need to check it out.

6) I get into a Thai Commercial

So, we live next to some very kind Australian folks. I mentioned it was my school holiday, and I was very bored. They said that some Thai friends of theirs need extras for a commercial they're shooting. Turns out extras equals "1 or 2 people". So my friend Dmytro and I got to be in a Thai commercial for some sort of English app with an Iranian actor. Certainly not what I expected to be doing... when... well, ever. It was actually a super exhausting day of walking around Bangkok, and would have been an amazing opportunity if we just arrived here. But, here's the commercial anyway.

7) Asia never cares, until they SUDDENLY DO

In general, people in Asia are pretty reserved. Don't give their opinion publicly much, live-and-let-live kind of attitude. But when rich people die and have nothing to spend money on, might as well spend it on a funeral! In Taiwan they can become incredibly lavish, taking up kilometers of space with all sorts of performances and strippers. Yes, strippers. I guess what better way to make people appreciate you, right? The government has been cracking down on it, but people still skirt the line as much as possible. I happened to live above a popular road, so I got to see a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff. If I recall, this funeral parade lasted about 2 hours. Just imagine hearing that beautiful music at an ear-deafening volume for that long.

8) Welcome to China. Drink this.

So, forgive the quality. Phone cameras were not as good back then. The first night in China, after Lindsay, Aaron, and Dan arrived for a visit. Jetlagged, probably wanting to eat some noodles and sleep, I decide that they must try this terrible rice wine called baijiu. I don't know how Chinese guys drink it, I maintain it is the most foul of all the liquors. Even after trying the "good stuff" with Ella's dad. Nope, still disgusting.

I'll stick to nail polish remover.

Cue the celebrations! This is my 200th blog post!

It's hard to believe that when I started this blog on a whim, I would maintain it for so long. I half expected it to be like when I tried out Twitter for... a month. (I still don't really get the point of Twitter) But here I am, and I'm quite liking it. I see no reason why I can't do another 200 more.

So, for my 200th post, I scoured all the videos I've taken since I went to Asia. I'd like to post some of my favorites, talk about the background of them, etc etc. Unfortunately, that will need to be saved for the next post. I'm about to talk about something sad, so if you'd like to not hear it, I completely understand and I'd recommend checking back next time.

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I got to experience something this week that I've never experienced before. I had to deal with the death of a friend.

And I say these are things that I had to deal with. Of course it's not a "me" thing, it's a "we" thing. There are people far more affected by this than I am, and people far less. And people are welcome to grieve however they'd like. But for the people who are left behind, it sucks. It really fucking sucks. I've had three relatives that I really knew die so far. And as callous as it sounds, those deaths were not totally unexpected. They were quite old, and the writing was on the wall, so to speak. I'm not saying it wasn't terrible, but, not unexpected. Stefan's death was totally out of right field, which I suppose makes it feel worse. This was a guy I hung out with. We went to see movies, we want to bars together, he was my friend. I have never lost a friend before. I have had those relatives and acquaintances die. (Scotty, Grant) And yeah, it sucks too. It's hard to believe someone you knew, someone you interacted with, is gone now. Just gone. Like dust in the wind. And all you have of them are memories that will never be added to. It's a real punch to the gut, and right now, I don't see how things could get better.

But the weird thing I am learning about this process, is that I'm completely functional on the outside. I go about my day. But when I see something that reminds me of him... I just lose it. Someone liked a thing on Facebook he was tagged in, and when I got the notification, I turned into a blubbering man-child on the metro. And of course, this stranger had no idea the effect they had on me. And perhaps we could learn a lesson about having no idea what kind of day a person is having, and that crying foreigner on the metro isn't (too) insane. But regardless, I know in time, I will learn to cope better and better with it. But what a shitty thing to have to get used to.

I know the few readers of this blog are my friends back in the States. You didn't really know Stefan, and that's cool. But the thing about moving around, and living overseas, is that your circle of friends tends to be small. Part of it is that unless I make giant strides with Thai, you can cut out 95% of the people right away. And even within the remaining group, often times you don't have the time to really establish real friendships before someone, inevitably, moves on to another country.

Stefan was one of those people who was cool with everyone. He didn't care if you were Thai, western, man, woman, black, white, or something else. If you spoke to him, and asked him to come out, he would fucking be there. It was never a "maybe" or "I'll see", it was "I'll be there at 7", and he's there at 6:45. About one year ago, I learned a really painful lesson that you often don't appreciate things until they're gone. And I got a serious reminder of that last night. So, to Future Weg. I hope you have a great circle of friends that you can hang out with. And it's quite easy to say "Don't take them for granted." But what that actually means, is that every one of them teaches you things, and brings you unique experiences that no one in the world will ever have. When you read this blog in 10, 20 years from now, I hope you take a second to remember one of the few friends you had in Bangkok. One of the few people who really appreciated YOU, wanted to spend time with YOU, and left you all the better for having known him.

I'll miss you Stefan.