WHOA I guess I forgot that I had a blog to keep up with...

Lots and lots to update everyone on back at home. Since I am so late and behind on this I will just jump right into it.
I took a trip! A big one.
I finished up my semester at school and was on an overnight train down south to the islands the next day. It was a long trip and pretty exhausting but such a great way to kick off summer vacation. The over night train I was on had a party car in it also so I got to celebrate the end of the semester with another teacher friend.

My original plan was to visit Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, and Koh Samui over two weeks. This never happened. I got to Koh Tao and just fell in love with the place. I experienced Scuba diving for the first time, the beaches were great and not too packed with other people, the night life was fun. It was just the perfect place to hang out after the end of a tough semester. SO I ended up staying for ten days straight! I loved it and I loved sitting around doing nothing on the beach all day.

Koh Toa View Point

Banana Rock Bar

Greatest place ever

Me, Kacey, and Andrew after our vertical hike to the top of the mountain

10 days later it was time to ship out to Koh Phangan for the dreaded Full Moon Party. For those of you who don't know this is a world famous beach party that happens once a month during the full moon on Had Rin beach. This is a party that draws in anywhere from 40,000 to 70,000 people depending on the time of the year. I had heard tons of horror stories about this party. People cutting their feet on broken been bottles, drinking to many buckets and passing out right on the beach, loosing wallets and passports and being stranded, etc. The list could go on. BUT it's a world famous party and I am not one to pass up on such things so I geared up and set out with 4 other teacher friends. We were majorly prepared. We only brought cash and a photocopy of our passports. All of which we stored in our shoes. Nothing else. In the end it was a pretty alright experience for us. No one got lost or had any issues. No one passed out on the beach and needed to be carried home. We all had a pretty good time though I don't think I will be attending another Full Moon soiree.

After the islands I had to make a quick run home to Kanchanaburi to get my visa renewed and then it was off to Bangkok to meet Kathleen, a friend from high school. I was excited to see her. It had been six months since I had seen anyone from home and she decided to visit and travel South East Asia with me on her way home from New Zealand, where she had been living for the past 7 months. We had a pretty loose plan of what we wanted to see over the next 3.5 weeks. all we knew was that we were going to start in Cambodia, work our way east to Saigon in Vietnam, and then work our way north until we got to Catba Island and Halong Bay. As it turns out this was all we had time for and it worked out perfectly.

Cambodia
So we hopped a bus out of Bangkok bound for Siem Reap. Our backpacking adventure started out a little rough. We had been staying in a favorite hostel in Bangkok that I frequented with friends and the morning of departure we discover that we had each had 100 US dollars stollen from out bags. We needed the dollars because Cambodia uses the US dollar more then their own currency. Rough start. Crossing the Cambodia border didn't go exactly as planned either. We knew that we only wanted to buy our visas from the border and no where else. When you cross the border the buses take you to alternative sites where the sell you an equally valid visa at a higher rate. We had done our research and knew to avoid this and it still happened. Our bus stopped and everyone got off. Everyone was telling us that we had to buy our visa here, including people on our bus. It was a bit stressful and just bought it. Yeah in the end we did get ripped off but only by about 8 bucks. I can live with that. The border crossing was something else. It was HOT even by SE Asia standards and packed with people. It took about an and hour and a half and then we were on our way. Our to do list consisted of basically only one thing. See Angkor Wat at sunrise and explore the temple grounds. These are ancient temples and a wonder of the world. Needless to say it was amazing! See for yourself

Kathleen and I at sunrise. Obviously super awake. 

Our next stop was Phnom Penh. This was another part of the trip we had gotten some warning on. Not because of scams or because of some intense partying but because it was simply not very safe. I had been told enough stories about my friends getting robbed in the city just a few days before we arrived so needless to say we had our guard up. Nothing bad happened to us but the unsafe reputation seemed fairly fitting. We had one full day to see a few things in the city so we chose to visit The Killing Fields and S-21. The Killing Fields were the site of a mass genocide and S-21 was a former high school turned prison. It was a hard but very important thing to see while in Cambodia. The next morning we were more then ready to move on and we hopped on a bus bound for Saigon, Vietnam.


Vietnam
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon later in the afternoon. This is a large bustling city of at least 6.5 million people. It had a similar feel to Bangkok. It was a nice city and had plenty to do. The main thing that we did here was visit the War museum. Again pretty depressing but obviously important and not something to miss.

After Saigon we one night in Nha Trang. Beach town that did not feel remotely Asian at all, but hey it's the beach so can't complain too much. We were only staying here for a night so as to break up the long trip up north to Hoi An. It was here that my travel buddy Kathleen fell in the bathroom and nearly busted her skull open. In most of south east Asia the showers are not separated from the rest of the bathroom, so the tile floor is always treacherously slippery. So she went in to brush her teeth and slipped and fell face first into the back of the toilet (I remember my first shower/ toilet) and began to bleed semi profusely from the head. Luckily for us a doctor happened to live in our hotel as his family owned the place. He patched her up for a mere 4 dollars and sent her on her way. THANK GOD it wasn't too serious of an injury. Plus now she has a bad ass scar and when people ask her about it, she can launch into  a story that starts "Oh this? I got this one back in nam..."

We left Nha Trang in an overnight bus. First one so far. It was a sleeper with seats that apparently could recline all the way. So of course I thought "Awesome! Save some cash on a hostel and get to a new place at the same time!" But of course I didn't fit into these "beds"because apparently Asia isn't designed for a 6 foot 4 dude like myself. In the end it was still more comfortable then a regular bus and I managed to sleep a little bit.
We arrived early in the morning to Hoi An, a beautiful ancient town on a river and right near the ocean. This place was a much needed break from the large city sightseeing we had been doing. Hoi An is a small town that you can see in pretty much a single day and we were staying for 3 so we had some nice relaxation time in this town. It was a beautiful old town with a heavy French influence. All right on the ocean.

Round boat ride. 

Ancient covered bridge 

After Hoi An it was a short stop in Hue to see some old tombs...

Then Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. We stayed in the old quarter, hung out at the lake and then pretty much immediately made out way to Halong Bay and Catba Island. I was really excited about this part of the trip. Halong bay is one of the 8 Natural Wonder of the World and it was AWESOME! Huge Rock formations rising out of the middle of the ocean every where you look. We kayaked and cruised through the place as well as spent a night in a bungalow in Catba National Park. After 5 days on Catba Island it was time to yet again say goodbye to more friends and head back to Thailand. School was starting again soon I had to report back to start teaching again.

Catba National Park. Ignore the facial hair. 

Hanoi

Ho Chi Minh mausoleum 

Palace in Hanoi

It was an amazing trip. I spent nearly all of the money I had saved from my time teaching and it was totally worth it. Cambodia and Vietnam were amazing and so much more different from Thailand, something I hadn't really expected. I had a great time traveling with friends and of course, a hard time saying goodbye to teacher friends that I won't see again until who knows when. I became close with people so fast and I am really going to miss the Farang Gang. ALOT.

So what's next. I have told some people about this plan but here it is now that things are pretty much set in stone. I am moving to Australia! Yes that's right heading out of the land of smiles early July to join a few friends in Melbourne. Australia was not really on my radar for places to live in when I first got to Thailand but all of a sudden I am a mere 275 dollar plane ticket away from a continent I never thought I would see in my life. Gotta jump on that opportunity. Also some friends came over to Thailand straight from Sydney and that kind of helped me make my decision. So thanks to Laura, Kacey, and Alyssa my trip has been extended for just a bit. My goal is to stay for at least 6 months. I will have to start out by working in a coffee shop of something and I don't think I want to do that for an entire year, but I think I need at least 6 months to travel and truly experience the culture. Gonna just take it as it comes again, feel things out. If I like it i'll probably stay past the 6 month minimum I am setting for myself.

I only have 2 months left in Thailand and I know it is going to be hard to leave the school behind. Saying goodbye to your students is never easy but I am at the point where I am ready for the next new thing. I miss everyone back in the states a ton so keep Facebooking and What's App-ing me. I get pretty pumped every time my phone dings with a text from muricuh.
So time to sign off for the moment. My second graders are calling, begging me to successfully (as you can see below) teach them math.

"1 pencil in my nose + 1 pencil in my nose = 2 pencils in my nose!" 

Changing lives over here... 

Ok so it has been a LONG, LONG time since the last time I have posted on here so I suppose it is time for another update on what has been happening in my Thai life.
Travel has slowed down a bit since the New Years vacation in Koh Chang. Most everyone is trying to hold on to their baht for the 6+ weeks of backpacking through South East Asia so aside from the occasional trips into Bangkok there has been minimal travel, BUT there is still enough new stuff worth a new post on the blog. So here is all the little stuff that has happened since we rang in 2013

-Spent a weekend in Bangkok for a Snoop Dog (or I guess he goes by Snoop Lion now??) concert. It was a blast. There was some of the best people watching I have ever seen in my life and I got to see an awesome concert which has been a rarity in my life since I moved to Thailand. When I live in Minneapolis I feel like I am going to a concert or seeing some kind of live music at least once a week. Now it's something I have come to appreciate quite a bit when I get it.

-I had a whole week off from teaching so that I could take groups of students to the infamous River Kwai Bridge so they could practice speaking English in a real life situation. Students had to approach foreigners and ask them various questions in english and record their answers. This was hands down one of my favorite teaching moments of all time. It's not often that you get to see the material you teach your students put into use in a practical sense outside of the school. It was very rewarding seeing all of this happen. The communication with my students is still pretty limited but I could still see that the students were realizing how important English has become for them to learn. (English has been declared the common language for all South Eastern Asian Nations so learning English opens up a world of opportunity)

-The Farang Gang had it's last hurah together. We will still all get to see each other here and there while we are traveling but we are not going to all be in the same place at the same time together again. Had a blast of a weekend out in Bangkok but I was for sure bumming pretty hard once it came time to leave on Sunday. These people have become pretty important to me over the last few months. Working in the Thai school system can be stressful, very difficult, and down right frustrating at times. Having a group of other American English teachers that you can escape with and vent to helped me keep my sanity during some of the tougher times of living in Thailand so far. So a BIG shout out all my teacher friends, The Farang Gang. Gonna miss you all a ton and can't wait for our first reunion.

Family Band? 

-I went on a school trip to Pattaya. A coastal town on the Gulf of Thailand. Fun beach stuff with a famous seedy night life. This was an interesting trip on a few accounts. We toured an awesome school in the city and learned about the Recycling program they had put into place. No more wastefulness. All the uneaten food is put in a compost pile, eating utensils and plates and bowls are biodegradable, etc. It was a cool program. Until now I have not seen a whole lot of concern with trash disposal and recycling. This tour and presentation was all to familiar, but with a Thai twist. After a day of tours and seminars (P.S. these were all in Thai so I didn't understand much... Luckily some very nice teachers were nearby to translate the super important stuff) some teachers took us to a bar where we could have a beer, put our feet up, and enjoy the ocean with our little free time. This was trip number two at the ocean and all I can say is that I was very content with my time there. Also the food, hotel, and transportation was FREE!


So that is about it for now. No extravagant trips since New Years but there are certain some to come! I am leaving Kanchanaburi for about 6 weeks come March 15th and some pretty amazing things are on the agenda. Full Moon party with some galavanting through tropical islands. KATHLEEN, one of my closest friends from the twin cities is meeting me in Bangkok and then we are going to backpack through Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. Good times to come is an understatement. So excited. I'll post when I can/ if I can.
Tall Guy out

Sawatdee Pee Mai gang! Happy New Year from Thailand. I had a pretty fun trip recently for the long New Years break and a large group of us (The Farang Gang) decided to head out west to an island called Koh Chang. None of us had been to the beach so far so we were all pretty pumped to say the least.

Bit of a rocky start though... For all of us. I couldn't leave work early so I was arriving early in the afternoon on Saturday. Everyone else was to arrive late Friday night. Everything started out just fine for myself and my buddy Andrew. We just had a long, long jorney to the island. This all started when we decided to hang out at a few late night bars before we had to catch a cab to the airport at 4 am. Why spend all that money on a hostel for a mere 5 hours of use? So Friday night after a few beers on Khao San Road (Backpacker party zone) we caught a cab at about 5 am to the airport. We were taking an express shuttle from the BKK airport to the island. Shuttle left at around 8, though we nearly missed our boarding call. Lack of sleep finally caught up to us. Jumped on the bus and slept our way to the island. From the port we caught a ferry and then a cab to our hostel. We thought we had had a long and tiring trip out to the island but as it turned out we were having the best luck of our friends so far that weekend.

Our friend Laura and Ben met us at a hostel and informed us that our accomodations had been given away....What? Apparently the night before the crew showed up too late and our huts were given to other travelers. Great. So many people simply did not sleep at all that night, or found hammocks in different places around the island in the front of bars or what have you. So like Andrew and I, many of the other teachers didn't sleep at all Friday night. We were all lucky to find something for Saturday night though, we had a place at a pretty cool hostel later on but for Saturday night, Andrew and I had to share a "bedroom" in the back of a deserted bar/ tattoo shop/ someone's garage. There were free weights everywhere, a few motorbikes, and though the sign said bar and tattoo parlor there were absolutely ZERO people drinking or getting tattoos. Creepy. Also instead of a deadbolt lock for our room we had a wooden chopstick we could wedge into the hole. Not kidding. Security at it's finest. Bed was just a wooden platform with one pillow. Surprisingly enough we both slept fine and just got the hell out of there in the A.M. 

Also speaking of rough luck I should probably mention that my friend Nick fell off a motorbike. He had on shorts and a bro tank so he got pretty bad road rash. Here is the damage

This photo has been shared in many places already. Including our organizations facebook group as "cautionary tale" 

Nothing like some weird shit for a good travel story later on to share with your friends. From then on being on the island was exactly what we were all expecting. Relaxing and beautiful. Hanging out on the beach with some adult beverages served in coconuts and spectacular views. 

Also we went snorkeling. Here is Alyssa. Clearly ready to get goin...

Then came New Years Eve. We were informed that there was to be a large beach party in the area. So all 20 of us or so went. Craziness resulted. When we arrived I was deffinitely surprised. There was a lot of stuff being lit on fire with a lot of inexperienced pyro-technicians setting of fire works. 

There was a jump rope they lit on fire...

Because how else can you make jump roping badass and extreme?

Getting in was easy. Once I was in I realized I was jumping over fire and getting out was a bit hard. I saw a few people get burned in the ankle so I dove out face first into the sand. It looked about as smooth as you are all picturing it right now. 

Mouth full of sand and a damaged ego but at least I made it out burn free!

The Farang Gang infront of the pre-lit New Year Sign

After our brief stint as fire daredevils we moved on to the crowd of beach ravers and danced until Midnight. As midnight approached we realized there was no visible countdown device. No ball dropping, no countdown clock, nothing. Just when we thought we were going to have to have to watch a cell phone for an official time. But then right on time, the music went dead and fireworks went off for what seemed like a good 20 minutes. It came on pretty suddenly!

And then it was 2013...

It was one of my favorited weekends so far here in Thailand and I am glad that I got to celebrate the holidays with some other pretty cool teachers. Had a blast despite all the weird setbacks that happened along the way. Wish I had taken more pictures (most of what I included in this post was borrowed from friends) and wish I had more time to stay. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THAILAND!!!

Merry Christmas from Thailand! I have some major catch up to play here because of course I have been neglecting this thing. I figured now was a great time to send an update out. It's the day after Christmas and I have been thinking about the fam and friends back home, of course missing everyone. I was lucky enough to celebrate Christmas with a few other international teachers here with quite the meal. We had spaghetti, corn on the cob, steak and of course some wine. (Which is hard to find cheap in Thailand) Lucky to not have to celebrate alone!

So now for a travel update. I went with a few friends out to Pak Chong where we had decided to visit Khao Yai National Park. This is a very famous national park and it was something else. We went on an all day jungle trek and saw some amazing (and deadly) things out in the forests.

 Probably closer to a poisonous snake then I should be

 Waterfall from the movie The Beach

 Wild Gibbon 

And a wild elephant to finish the day off

The jungle trek was fantastic. We had a super funny guide who had a little bit too much fun keeping us on edge by dangling scorpions and giant spiders in our faces but otherwise he was pretty hilarious. 

The weekend after that (December 14-16) was The River Kwai Bridge Festival. The bridge has a very dark history but this festival was focused on the peace that followed the war. I went to the sound and light show which is something that is apparently not to be missed. It was true. This was a show not to be missed. There was a dramatic reenactment of an attack on the bridge and an attempt to destroy it. Lots of explosions, people were lit on fire, rockets were shot at the bridge, an old steam engine train came across and rockets were launched at that, the train was set on fire. It was somethin else. I stole some pictures from friends but it was all at night so you may need to use your imagination. 

 The pictures don't really do it justice but there were big explosions and most of that train was on fire

We wanted a picture with some of the actors and we ended up with Hitler. And a Light Saber. I don't really know what happened here. 

Finally I recently returned from a trip up north to Chiang Mai. The school had told us we could tag along on a seminar trip and when it was canceled I think the felt bad and decided to let us go anyways. Pretty cool of them!

It was quite the ordeal to get all the way up north to Chiang Mai. We had to take a bus that took about 13 hours to get there. Well worth the trip though. It was a cool city with a fun night life. I also got to see some friends from orientation that I had not gotten to see since we first left our training week in Bangkok. We spent our first day at Tiger Kingdom. I have already posted some of these pictures but it's like a tiger only zoo where they let you into the cages to pet and take pictures with the tigers. Yeah I know. I willingly got into a cage with 4 full grown tigers. This was daunting at first. The employees said things like "Right this way American meat" as I stepped into the cage, which was... funny? 

It was a bit nerve racking to say the least which is why in some of the photos above I look like I am about to crap myself. We did big cats first and then on to the baby tigers. The baby area was a bit nicer. More relaxing. Large jungle cats tend to keep ya on edge so the small ones were a nice way to end the trip. 

Our next day up north we did a zip line/ jungle trek trip. Pretty cool. I feel like that is all I ever say about a lot of the stuff I do here but it's pretty hard to put these places into words. We saw some pretty fantastic views from the tree tops. 

 Start point

     

Lisa and Brandon- because in Thailand you apparently can't zip line with out a hair net...

 Flying 

 View from the middle of the longest wire

Repelling down to the end. 

All in all Chiang Mai was a blast and I am glad I got a chance to get up north. 12 hours north of Bangkok can be a pretty different and unique Thailand. Now I have a New Years Island escape to look forward to. Spending the New Year holiday with about 12 other teachers in some huts we rented on a beach on a western island called Kho Chang. Can't believe this is what happens on my weekends. The weekdays can be pretty tough sometimes. Large classes with hyped up kids and little help and resources can take it out of ya. The kids crack me up every day. I am lovin my time here so far. Until next time!