[8-12-03] - Back from Paradise
It scares me that there are more perfect islands in Thailand than the one I just came back from. We're back in Krabi before heading to Ko Sok. The Island of Ko Lanta is simply too much for words, short of women feeding me grapes, it is the closest to paradise I have ever seen. The thai women have the most amazing smiles ever.

Anthony
Posted by travel at 2:41 am PDT

[8-8-03] - They filmed "The Man with the Golden Gun "here
KEVIN
Sorry but this will have to be brief. In twenty minutes we hop in the back of a pickup and jet off to Waterfall beach. we are on Ko Lanta, an island of the south western coast of Thailand. We spent last night in Krabi (pronounced gra-BEE). It was a quaint little city that thrives as a hub for various day trips to the surrounding beaches.
We have been traveling pretty hard for the past week and we plan on staying for 3 days on the beach doing nothing. I can finnaly sink my teeth in to the fountainhead. After the island we head up to Ko sok national park, before the long haul to bangkok. It is up in the mountains and we can do some treking. The guest houses are all tree houses. I will try to write at length whenever I get the chance, but it might not be for a week. The guy just arrived, he's early. The Thais always seem to be early. well I guess I'd rather be on Thai time than on irish time
Posted by travel at 10:56 pm PDT

[8-6-03] - 30,000 miles away and this is still bizzare
This and this. It reminds me of when Hulk Hogan announced when he was going to make a bid for presidnecy. I'm not writing anything today because I feel like people need some time to reflect on the current politcal situation before voting for either the terminator or gary coleman.
Posted by at 9:29 pm PDT

- I've never felt so tall
I want to try to get everything out here becasue my journal and I are not on good terms right now. My handwriting is so bad that writing only frasterates me.
The flight over was fine. I sat next to a big cop from guam. He talked my ear off and told me all about his island. He told me about his job (CSI investigator), his pention (80% of his wage) and his plans for retirement (Seattle to escape the heat). He told me about the cuisine (Bat bbqs and turtle roasts) Guamese are extremely patriotic, because more than half the jobs on the island are US government.
I was sleeping on the flight and I had a sudden urge to open my shade and look out the window. I knew we were over alsaka, but I didn't expect mt. mckinley to be right outside. The sight moved me to tears -- This enormous snowcapped moutain right next to me. I was cruising at 30,000 ft and it felt as if I could touch it with my hand. Glacial rivers ran off the sides into enourmous lakes of ice.
Singapore is a facinating city and I get the feeling that I will grow to appreciate it more and more the further north I go. It is so clean, so western and so diverse all at the same time. We spent a good chunk of our time shopping for supplies for our journey. I found it much easier to buy contacts than I expected. We spent the hot of the afternoon lougeing around the botanical gardens, home to fish and turtle infested lakes, and working rainforest and bodi trees. The national orchid garden was an experience that would have been lost on me if I hadn't have seen adaptation before I left. The rest of our stay was spent exploring the cities various quarters, pockets of ethnicity scattered around the island.
we stayed in the little india district. Little Indias are far more relaxed than China town's and Anthony have agreed that little india's are the place to be. On our last night in the lion city, we wandered into an indian bar not far from our hostel. It was blasting hindu music and the drunken man by the door gave us bright smile and a wave. We sat under the TV and the whole barful of middle aged indian men were absorbed in a movie so it appeared as if everyone was watching us. The movie was 'air bud' with the sound off and they were eating it up. They were laghing their asses off. Ocasionally something in the movie would get such a response that I would crane my next to see what the hubub was. It was just air bud, with snekers and a basket ball jersey making the other team look bad.
After the movie was over, a man name raja came over and bought us a drink. (Tiger Beer is the beverage of choice in this part of the world) after a while a few of his friends joined us and we spent talked into the late hours of the night about every thing from race relations in america to Singaporian history to which british cigarettes are the best. (Anthony staunchly defending triple nickels while roger remaining loyal to his Rothmans)
We woke up early to catch the bus to Kuala Lumpur (or KL as almost everyone calls it). The city was hot. The fumes of the traffic were suffocating as we hiked with our packs from the petronas towers (The towers from the connery movie 'Entrapment') to our hostel west of china town. The city was founded at the intersection of two rivers as a remote tin mining settlement and Kuala lumur means 'muddy confluence'. It is a swelting marsh that grew into one of the biggest and most prosperous cities in asia.
Malasia is muslim so seeing all the women wearing things on their heads takes some getting used to. I am torn between respecting the culture and criticising what seems like a deep ocean of repression just beneath the surface. To wit: we were walking in an area of town that sold slightly upscale clothing. I saw a beautiful woman. she was slender and tall (at least comparitively). She wore a chocolate brown floor lentgth skirt with a taupe top. She stood out, at least to me, becasue her shirt was cut slightly tighter than many of the other muslim women. She seemed more glamorous. She wore on her head a beatiful matching scarf. I could see her only in profile and she was running the fabric of a nice dress trough her fingers. When she turned I noticed that she had a black eye. It was partially concealed by her make-up but the terror in her eyes gave me a glimpse into what the soceity might be like behind the friendly smiles on the streets.
The folks at our hostel were very friendly. The roof top garden allowed to sit outside at night with a great view of the city. All in all we were pretty happy that we only stayed one night in KL.
As I write, I sit in a internet cafe in Penang, listening to malay pop music which surprisingly catchy. Penang is an island off the western coast, not far from the thai border.It is rich in colonial heritage, because it was the principle british port here before singapore became singapore. The british bilked the Melayan dynasty out of this island, which was densely forrested. Once purchased, they fired silver dollars into the hills with their cannons to encourage its growth. I geuss it worked and the city is now a triving port rich in culture. The bus ride here was amazing. we drove through the cameron highlands. We were in the mountains and on all sides were these jutting rock formations that were long and narrow. Picture driving up the spine of a stegasaurus.
we have a few days here to rest up before Thailand.
All for now.
Kev
Posted by at 1:34 am PDT

[8-5-03] - Yeah, it's beautiful here too.
That will go here. When I have another free minute.

check above as kev posted some shit

In Kuala Lumpor right now, going to Penang tomorrow for a few days. Will write more when I have more time.
Posted by travel at 5:46 am PDT

[8-2-03] - I will return someday.
8/1
Shinyuba is amazing. I woke up early to go, everything was closed when I first arrived. I was on my way to the subway station and everything magically opened. I walked around for a good 4 hours, got lost so many times I couldn't count. Eventually found my way to Shinjuku, the electronics district. In the park I saw a band set up and play, the band was called Toy Missle.
Rode the subway back to Ginza, walked around for a bit. Then went back to Andon to find a new roommate had arrived.

8/2
Got booted for the Andon Ryokan on today, I didnt't make a resevation for 3 nights so they helped me book a different place in the Asakas area. Got lost trying to find the place. Stopped in a KFC and asked them. The manager was amazingly helpful, walking some 4 blocks to point me in the general direction. Next time I see a Japanese tourist, I'll go out of my way to be sure he gets where he is going.
Stopped in Ueno while waiting to check into my new place. The same thing happened in Shinyuba, I was just about to leave when I stumbled upon an amazing market full of stuff. Evisu, Levi's (they definently export way cooler levi's to Japan than they have in the states.) If I win the lotto, I'm coming back here just to buy shit. I'm glad I didn't buy a guidebook to Tokyo because that would have definently ruined my experience of just happening upon places.
My bank card was being fickle, but seems to be working now.
Went back to Shinyuba at night, the red light district is bizzare. Went to the infamous Gaspanic, I've got a story, just ask me.

8/3
Missed the courtesy bus to Ueno and had to hike it once again to Irya(?) station. I had a discussion with a friend before I graduated about her not being able to afford sushi because next year we all face poverty. Well, move to Tokyo because while rent is through the fucking roof, you can find the most amazing sushi off the street in Ginza and Minowa.
Posted by travel at 8:33 pm PDT

[7-31-03] - Land of the rising son
I have some free time since I woke up at the crack of 6*30 AM today.
After getting about an hour of sleep the day I left (US 30th) I boarded the plane and headed to Chitown, then to Narita. Getting no sleep on the plane, although Japan Airlines had the inseat watch a movie/play a video game thing so I did both. I arrived at Narita trying to find my brother, he was leaving that day, but to no avail, Narita is confusing, big, and hot.
Took the train to Minowa where my hotel was, but I reserved it for the 30th, Japan is a day ahead and they cancelled my reservation because of the day I didn`t show up. Ended up staying at a pretty nice place down the block in the same district. I:ll be here till tomorrow. My pack is too heavy, I:ll probally going to end up ditching a bunch of stuff here in Tokyo. Anyone want any fucking books? Wet naps?
First impressions of Japan.
Tokyo is crazy. It`s fucking huge. The
women are fucking amazingly beautiful and the men all dress like they`re a futuristic version of the 1980`s with the tapered jeans. I`m sharing a room with a 35 year old French guy who`s doing all of Japan and his wife is Vietnamese. They cancelled their trip there because of the whole SARS thing. Last night I ate a place simply because it had a poster of Sid Vicious smoking a joint. The noodles were good, the music was bad, Japanese hard rock.
I haven`t been to Asia in some 6 years and I`ve forgotten how much of a bike culture it is. Everyone has bikes, so american critical mass can eat a dick. In Shinyuba now, checking stuff out. Dan Barrett sent me some places that might be cool. I`ll check those places out today. over and out. My email is not working at this cafe. I`ll check that later.
Posted by travel at 6:14 pm PDT

[7-29-03] - Leaving today
Leaving today! Woo Hoo! I'll be in Tokyo soon.
Posted by travel at 11:42 pm PDT

[7-28-03] - Stuff
2 pairs socks
1 pair sneakers
1 pair sandals
3 button up shirts (one linen, 2 cotton)
3 t-shirts
2 pair of zip off pants
2 pair of bathing/hiking shorts
7 pair of boxers
2 inhalers
kool aid mix for the nuns
ipod with 4000 songs
lord of the rings book
alex garland book
rough guide and lonely planet books
tooth brush and toothpaste
deodorant
plastic ties
can't think of anything much else.
2 days to go!
my itinerary is here
Posted by travel at 12:38 am PDT

[7-18-03] - 12 days left!
Got my visa today, 12 days to go!
Posted by travel at 6:20 pm PDT

[7-12-03] - 18 days left
18 days and counting
Posted by travel at 1:19 am PDT