Disappeared off the face of the Earth

Okay okay, so I've been slacking big time in updating my blog, I know. It has been a crazy 2+ months since I posted last. I've had over a dozen business trips, met over 100 people, had visits from 4 family members and 5 friends, and drank god knows how many bottles of Johnnie Walker. All in all though, I am healthy, happy, and having a great time! I'm still learning Thai but much slower, and I've been out of town during the week probably 9 out of the last 10 weeks.

I'll just go through what's been up from my last post in somewhat chronological order...

There was a really posh Smirnoff Party put on in Bangkok by my company in late May/early June. The Smirnoff Ice girls they hired were HOT. Channel V, the Thai version of MTV, was there and I saw quite a few celeb VJs. Their tv crew tried to interview me but to both our dissappointment, I can't speak Thai well enough to carry on a conversation, ugh!

I went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia one week to start a new project. It was my first time to the city and I must say it's a really interesting place. Diverse like Singapore (Malays, Chinese, and Indians) but MUCH cheaper and a bit less developed.




Here's a picture from my hotel room window

My hotel was really badass by the way. The room was absolutely huge, with a walk-in closet, a private jacuzzi, and a king size bed plus 2 couches. At night I ended up going to a crazy hotspot called The Loft. I only found out about it because while doing some sales analysis during the day I came across this outlet that sold a ridiculous amount of Johnnie Walker a month. So I hit up the place, met some really cute girls (mostly Malay), and even ran into one of Malaysia's Sultan's daughters. She had 6 bodyguards positioned throughout the club so I decided not to talk to her too much.

Also in late May I went to Phuket for a weekend with my friends Brigitte and Ally. We stayed at Brigitte's house (those two actually went to HIGH SCHOOL IN PHUKET. WTF) and had a blast going to girly bars at night, getting massages, island hopping, and sleeping on the beach.



After late night clubbing, we got some chicken rice at a food stall on the street for like a dollar (35 baht). Ally and Brigitte obviously love it




Ally in front of the beach on Phi Phi Island, film site of the Leonardo Dicaprio movie, "The Beach"


My Mom visited me briefly in early June. It was nice to see her again, and she had missed me a lot. She also came with my good friend Chris' Mom too. She made me some Chicken Adobo one night, which I still remember now because there is nothing like good old home-cooking. I took them out to dinner a few times, and we got drinks at Sirocco, on the 64th floor (rooftop) of the State Tower building. The view is freakin' amazing. A crazy girl hit on me there and my Mom didn't like it much. She left a few days later and then my sister arrived...




My Mom and Nancy at an awesome Tex-Mex restaurant in Silom (Coyote)





The view from Sirocco (the big monstrosity with the green light lining is my office)



Sarah visited me next with her friend Ben from England. I showed them a few hotspots and took em around town. Did a bit of shopping, which no one can avoid when with my sister. We normally argue a lot but when I don't see her for so long, I'd rather not. All in all I was happy to see my lil' sis and hope she comes back again. Even if we do fight, we have a similar sense of humor and there are things I can joke about with her that no one else will understand but she will laugh about uncontrollably...



Sarah and I at Song Salueng in Thong Lor (another Thai live band/hip hop place)




Sarah on a motorbike taxi. You have to try these things!

About Thai live bands, I've been getting into a lot of Thai rock music in the past few months and I really think other people would enjoy it, even though they can't understand the lyrics. If you are a fan of alternative or punk rock at all, let me know and I'll send you a song or two.

Of course I go to these Thai live band places a lot since I miss concerts so much. Here are some pics:



Lea at Santika: "I love them!!!"




The Santika basist, who is probably a psycho


After I go clubbing at places like this on weekends, I'll go to the predominantly Arab Sukumvit Soi 3 and smoke shisha (hooka to you Americans) until 4 or 5 in the morning while scarfing down kebabs and hummus/pita.



Mark, the king of Soi 3/Shisha




Bonnie, incredibly enthusiastic. Notice Hitler in the top right corner...


I just want to comment briefly on Thai hiso's. A hiso is the Thai word for "high society" people. There are a lot of privileged people in Bangkok compared to the rest of Thailand. The ultra-rich are in general, a very different people from regular Thais. Their kids have a huge propensity to be spoiled, promiscuous, unscrupulous individuals that lie to their girlfriends/boyfriends, spend Daddy/Mommy's money like there is no tomorrow, and act as if they are god's gift to the world. It is really annoying. Some of them aren't bad at all, and most do get a foreign education. But in general, theres a lot of asses that need to be kicked in this town. The only thing is, if you do try they will just pull a gun on you or send their 10 friends after you, then pay off the cops and get away with it. Incredible what can be done in this country. Some rich kid got road rage the other day when a bus cut him off so he chased him for a few blocks, parked in front of the bus, hit the bus driver with a brick he had picked up on the floor, then got back in his car and mowed down a dozen people on the sidewalk in his frenzy. He is pleading temporary insanity or some bullshit due to his ADD and I bet he has a good chance of walking. Sunuva bitch.

My good friend Katie and I were at Bed Supperclub in July, one of the most upscale clubs in Bangkok. We saw the biggest Thai hip hop group, Thaitanium, there drinking some Grey Goose. I asked her why no one was coming up to them to say hey and she replied: "In this type of crowd, everybody in Bangkok is just as stuck up as everybody else." I thought that was an excellent quote about hiso's.

Did I mention that the average Thai girl is kind of crazy? I got an unsolicited bunch of text messages one day from a girl trying to aggressively puruse a date or something with me. I rejected her, then asked where the hell she came from. Eventually she spilled the beans and said that her friend liked me but her brother liked her friend, so her brother bribed HER with a Louis Vuitton bag to try and take me away from her friend. WTF kind of friendship is that?!

Two of my cousins (JR and Nina) visited me from the Philippines in July. It was Nina's first time outside of the country. I hope they had a good time. I hadn't seen them in 6-10 years! I can guarantee that if anyone comes to visit me, I will make sure they have the opportunities to have fun...



Nina, me, and JR at Route 66 in RCA, a huge clubbing street



Troy and I after an Asian Football Championship soccer game (Australia vs Oman). Troy is Australian but after a few beers, I was obviously the bigger fan! haha...

Katie had her 22nd birthday in mid-July and she put on a boat cruise on the Chao Praya for friends and family. It was really fun until I challenged her 62 year old Hugh Hefner style uncle to a drinking war. We finished 3 bottles of wine, and both ended up sick as hell. It was a suicide mission, but I succeeded!



Katie and the boys at the boat party

Katie and I actually got to do a bit of modelling for La Perla, Bebe, and Burberry in Hua Hin for 2 days. Don't ask how we got it. The brand managers did have to approve us. The pics should appear in Expat Weekend and Hua Hin Weekend magazines in September. It was really fun being a model for 2 days but let me tell ya, it is kind of boring as a thing to do all the time. Lots of waiting around...

I was also uncomfortable with the gay make up artists lubing my 90% naked body up with oils for a couple shoots. Yeaaaaa....

Here are some pics: they aren't the actual modelling pictures (which haven't been released yet), but more like behind the scenes stuff










It's all in the hips...




And here is a view of my office as I come up to it in the morning...



This is the dirty Chao Praya. Quite choppy...



Random: I've been playing Badminton and Squash again with a guy I met named Jay. I'm still pretty decent at badminton, but he dominates at Squash. At least I'm getting a good workout and it's a lot more interesting than running on a bloody treadmill. Did I mention I have lost 15 pounds since I got to Asia 7+ months ago? I didn't notice it myself, but friends have commented that I look thinner. Oh well, gone were the days I could incline dumbell press the 105 pounders. I just can't eat/work out as much as I used to, but I try my best!

I went to Mongolia for business in July as well, it was so fascinating. Such a different place and culture. They are bigger than most Asians, and sound Russian. Hot girls. The people are actually very friendly, but the dudes like a bit of fisticuffs when they are drunk. At least they don't usually pull out weapons. I did buy an old huge Mongolian knife and somehow got it past customs in Thailand...wish I could say I killed a thousand warriors with it though.



I had a stopover in Beijing - this is the ugly view from the airport of the Chinese flag amidst the terrible pollution (way worse than Bangkok). The airport sucked too. The ATMs were in Chinese only. Half the elevators didn't work. There were like 2 restaurants and they both were crap. And when you entered customs you had to fill out 3 bloody forms! They didn't even take Thai baht at the money exchangers. Come ON people.



A nice club in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Do they look like Sims to you?



There is a massive portrait of Gengis (they call him Chinggis) Khaan on the side of a mountain in Ulaanbataar. He is still their national hero.



I actually tried horse and yak. Not bad...sorry vegetarians.

I've been going to Vietnam a bit more often now. I'm starting to really like it despite the small town feel. Such a fast-passed, dynamic country with huge potential...



A famous statue near my regular hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.




Johnnie and I have a special bond...LOL

I finally got food poisoning towards the end of June. I was sick as a dog for 2 days. Funny thing was, I got it from plane food on Singapore Airlines! Go figure. I've never felt bad from eating ANY of the delicious street food I crave late at night from time to time.

My friends from college, Geri and Rufio, visited me very recently. Rufio is still here. I think they loved/are loving Thailand fo sho! Rozen is also here (finally arrived at my place at 3 am last night smelling like a goat).



Me, Rufio, and Geri at my friend Brigitte's birthday party at Jet in Thong Lor.




Nat and her model/singer friend at Jet


It's only one week until Vadim, Ratto, and Davos come to Bangkok. As if my liver wasn't already in major trouble... I promise I'll post about MOST of our shenanigans and debauchery before the end of the month. Keep in touch people!

Secret Society

Since my last post I've been spending my time between Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, and Bangkok on the weekends. Work has been really tough lately and I've just got so much to do. Having 3 different bosses can be difficult when each of them gives me work and does not know exactly how much work the others have also handed to me. In 2 weeks I hope things will settle down after I get through a few deadlines. I've also been kept from rugby for a while now because I'm usually out of the country on Thursdays. Ahh I do miss college for a lot of things, the biggest being freedom and access to sports anytime you feel like it.

I'll rewind to the beginning of the month...

A friend from California, Adriane, had been doing some non-profit work in the Philippines for the last few months before doing some traveling and going to get her MBA at Stanford (ugh) GSB in the Fall (one of the top 3 schools in the country). She crashed here in Bangkok for a few days as I showed her around a bit. We started with one of the biggest annual events Diageo puts on in this city - the Johnnie Walker Black Label Secret Society party. Celebs, big businessmen, models, etc were all there for the free drinks and to be seen. It was pretty posh and we met up with some of my other friends and ended up having a great time.


Nop, Adriane, Ally, and I just outside the party.


Ally and Katie at the Secret Society party. I met Katie coming off the BTS of all places. Ally is a friend of hers.


100K+ sports cars and a temple in the background overlooking the Chao Praya river. This is Bangkok.


Put your hand in the mouth, get a black label and soda water.




Moving on, the next day I took Adriane for a foot massage for like 5 bucks that lasted almost an hour and felt sooo good. No flash photography in there though. At night I took her to one of my favorite clubs in Bangkok; Santika. We met up with some friends and got hyphy. By midnight we were all wasted off of Black Label and singing to the live band (which played US hip hop, US rock, and Thai rock/pop). I don't think I got home until 6 AM.


Troy (Australian working in BK for over a year now), Adriane, and I at Santika.


Yeah they sell popcorn in the middle of the club. Genius.


Totally sober.

I think Adriane had an excellent short stay in Bangkok. It certainly was a fun weekend.

The following work week I was in Singapore where I got to meet up with my older brother Dar. He had just moved to Hong Kong a week earlier for a new job but he was in Singapore for a few days of work for his old job. This is his first permanent move to Asia and I was glad to welcome him. My poor Mother though - both her sons moved continents this year!

Dar and I partied until dawn at various places in Singapore. Can't wait for him to visit again in a month or two.


Bros.


One venue at St. James Powerstation (megaclub) in Singapore.

The next weekend I met up with Ally and some of her cool friends at Santika and a few other places. The shenanigans that ensued I can't even talk about, but I had a lot of fun. Oh I almost met up with my godfather Gilbert who was in town for a night. I hadn't seen him in years and it was good to catch up. Hopefully not the last time.


Samir, Ally, Nat, and I in ???


Nat, Fab, and Ally gettin' down.


We went to an Egyptian Hookah place after the partying (known as Shishah here) and I ended up seeing my buddy Mark there by chance! He introduced me to this joint and he's pretty much a regular.

Random thought - I think one day when I have the money to blow in my 30s I'd like to buy an Aston Martin or a Jaguar. First I'll have to buy a house though...

The next weekend I basically just partied and shopped. I also saw 28 Weeks Later which was quite disturbing. There was one part of the movie that was so gross I just had to look away, and that has only to me perhaps a handful of times in my life.

Here's a bunch of snapshots to paint you a picture:


Back to Santika again with Chen-Yu, Justine, Marcel, and Jenny. Justine's older friend from Germany, Stephan, couldn't get in unfortunately because he didn't have his ID (strange for Thailand to be so strict). The guy is at least 40! He made the classic tourist mistake of getting angry and raising his voice though, which gets you nowhere with locals. The bouncer was NEVER going to let him in after that. So he went back to his hotel.


The guitarist at Santika is a bad ass. You know I recently got into some Thai bands like Silly Fools, Bodyslam, and Big Ass. When in Rome...!


Chen-Yu (a Taiwanese friend working in the family business here in BK) and a local gal (Janey?)


We got a small table in the front row of the dance floor! Justine and one of the singers, Chang. There's also an Eminem wannabe that does most of the US songs.

Basically I'm still having the time of my life. I'm not partying every other night like these pictures suggest though. Work really stresses me out during the week sometimes but I like being challenged. I'm off to HCMC on the 9 AM flight tomorrow, and then going to Singapore/Kuala Lumpur the following week. My sister and Mom are going to stop by in the next couple weeks as they travel to a couple other stops in Asia. I need some supplies, like protein bars and Burt's Bees...


I'm not drinking in this picture! @ a huge mall in front of some floral display dedicated to the King.

Here are a couple pictures from Songkran (the Thai New Year festival) from last month that I didn't put up a few posts ago:


All out waterfight on Khao San Road. No one is safe!


The white stuff is a powder-water mix that the Thais put on everyones face as you walk by during Songkran.

And on that note I'll leave you for a couple more weeks. Take care... Keep in touch you lazy sods. My cell number is +66 81 848 4309. Still just a phone call away...

At least I found out that 3 of my best friends will be visiting me for at least a week in August. At least one of them won't be going back to California!

In memory of John Kerr

Let me first start out this post on a tragic note...

Late in my Hong Kong vacation I went out on a Friday night with an old buddy Paul, his friend Billy, and an old friend and colleague of my Dad's named John Kerr. Big friendly Scottish guy that had been a barrister like my Dad in Hong Kong for many years. I think he first met me when I was 12ish. We went out drinking until really late just shooting the shit. They kept saying, in a good way, that I look nothing like my Dad! Okay when we stand next to eachother you can see some resemblance. When he stands next to my Mom and I'm there (which is very rare now), you can totally see it I think. Anyway two days later my Dad found out that he had died the night before from a heart problem. He was only 46. It was a real shock to us both and I really can't believe I was hanging out with him so recently and he seemed fine. He had two teenage daughters and will be missed by a lot of people. Here's to you John...



John is in the middle.

I'll talk a bit about the rest of my holiday in HK now...

It was nice to get away from work and pretend I was just taking a little vacation from school again. I slept in a lot, played with my little brothers, watched tv, went shopping, and just quit stressing out about all the things on my shoulders in the real world. And of course, I partied, big time. In Hong Kong you can stay out til 6 AM most nights, so I did just that. I met up with a couple friends from Canada that I had met in Bangkok a few weeks earlier, and a few of their friends. We went out to Lan Kwai Fong (the huge party district in downtown HK) a couple times and even went to a karaoke until about 6:30 one night. I'm have a pretty terrible voice but when I'm wasted you can find me even singing along to "I want it that way" by the bloody Backstreet Boys!. Hey c'mon, it's a classic now.



Little Sam learning how to swim



Boys and I fell asleep in the car



This guy just turned 11 and he's playing computer games for 16 year olds, and playing them well.



Karaoke!

You know I did manage to go on a Victoria Harbour dinner cruise (hadn't in years) as well, so it wasn't just all a big piss-up. I missed out on hiking and sailing though. Next time.



View from the ship

A day after I got back from Hong Kong I had to go straight to Singapore on another short business trip. My god the work had piled up and my head was about to explode that whole week. Sooo many missed emails, and soo many meetings. What I remember most though was going out with some friends to a really nice Spanish Tapas style dinner then getting into the Ministry of Sound for free and partying until 4 am. After the club we went to get some late night food and I was so drunk I started an obscene game of "would you rather?" Everyone else was Singaporean and had never heard of this crazy lame little activity. Basically you just go back and forth with crazy hypotheticals between two choices to either stump someone, make them sick, or make them laugh. I can't really say many of them here but they are too rude. How about a nice clean, "Would you rather have your mouth smell horribly like ass or constantly be on the verge of diarhea but can never go?" Most of the time the questions end up along the lines of "Would you rather do a dog or a cat?" or something equally gross and silly. But when you've had a few drinks and are eating some unhealthy food at 3:30 in the morning, that stuff is funny.

Here I just want to randomly rep a couple alcoholic beverages - Ciroc and Coal Ila. Ciroc is an ultra premium, super smooth vodka from France made from grapes and distilled FIVE times (thats a LOT). It is priced higher than Grey Goose and rightfully so. I love that stuff on the rocks or with a tiny bit or soda water or sprite with ice. It also makes an excellent grapetini. Coal Ila is a really hardcore single malt Scotch whiskey and by hardcore I mean it is soo rich in flavour and oakiness that you HAVE to drink it on the rocks. You will instantly feel like Sean Connery when he was James Bond-young. That taste is acquired though, for those of you that never drink Scotch.

I had another dream about Andrew last week. We were off on some crazy adventure in a place that looked like Neverland. NOT the Neverland Ranch! This time it was all fun and games and I never mentioned anything about why he was there. I actually felt good about this dream when I woke up. Whether or not there is some spiritual connection or if it is all just memories and brain waves and totally random, it is good to know that sometimes, I can see him again, in the only closest way to really seeing him I can now...

I got a haircut in Bangkok last week and I made the brave/stupid decision to tell them "do whatever you think is best." Now I have a bit of a Thai-looking urban haircut. Not too different from before, just longer than usual and with gel/mud stuff moving it forward and to the center like a duck's butt. That sounds a lot worse than it looks. I'll post a picture sometime.

I urge all guys to lookup Misa Campo on yahoo. She is a half filipina, half german model and if she wasn't a clueless bimbo I would marry her (and if I wasn't out of my league too, haha).



Isn't she wholesome?

Last weekend my older sister Marjan gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Joey. I saw some pictures, he looks adorable in that icky super fragile and pale newborn sort of way. Can't believe I'm an Uncle now. I called my sis an hour after she gave birth (it was 3 in the morning my time) and she seemed so happy. I was genuinely really happy for her and it made my day to know she was having one of the best days of her life (mine had been real shit up to that point). Can't wait to see him in Xmas when I visit. Eventually when I'm back in California (IF I do go back soon and for long), I'll mold him to my do my evil bidding, bwahaha. That mainly means annoying and harassing my younger sister Sarah. I already taught my younger brothers well.



My Mom, brother Dar, and new nephew Joey

In other familial news, my older brother Dar is moving to Hong Kong this week for a new job. I'm really excited for him because he has wanted a change of scenery for a while and he loves Asia, especially Hong Kong. I also haven't gotten to spend as much time with him the past 5 years as I would have liked. When I was a kid he was my hero and I always looked up to him, even when he broke my favorite toys on accident. He was always really cool and taught me a lot about life, even if he doesn't think he did. Hopefully now he can visit sometimes on the weekend (only 3 hours away) and we'll have some new adventures.

Last weekend in Bangkok a friend from Singapore visited me with a buddy of his from Canada. We went out one night to RCA road, one of the huge nightspots in town. Lucky for us, the police decided to do a drug raid on the club we were in that night and locked everyone inside at midnight. Everyone suppossedly would have to do a urine test and fill out some paperwork before being allowed to leave. I took one look at that line to the bathroom and said "F*ck that!" We went to the door and flashed our foreigner ID cards while speaking in super fast, concerned English. The cop just let us out. Then there was another checkpoint of cops at a gate before we could be free. I was like shit, they checking if people have cleared the paperwork first. But my drunk Canadian party buddy for the night just went up the cop and said "hey hey we got stamp, see!" and he pointed to his clear, stampless wrist. He talked really fast and acted like we were suppossed to be out of there already. The cop looked a bit confused, then turned to me and asked, "And you?". "uhhh yeah yeah I was suppossed to get a damn stamp and they didn't give me one. Hey I'm from California." Then he paused and just let us go! "ok ok ok, go now!". To think that if we had any substances in us and got caught, we could have ended up in some obscure jail, Brokedown Palace style. Hahaha, so funny...right? We ended up going to the sleeziest of sleezy legit clubs in BK later on. ALL foreign guys and slutty looking Thai women, and PACKED tight. God I'm never going there again. You could smell the cheap perform and dirty cigarettes everywhere. My eyes were burning! A place called "Spicy" can never be that good I guess.

By the way I'm in Vietnam again right now on business. It was a real short 2 and a half day trip that ends tomorrow morning (Friday!!!). The CEO of Diageo was here (for the first time ever) and everyone in my team has been stressing hard trying to make sure his trip is smooth and productive. Thankfully I am here on unrelated business so I got to hide from his wrath. I hear he is a very professional, but sometimes ruthless, hardcore businessman. I can just imagine him shaking my hand and asking, "How old are you? What?!? You're fired!" Okay maybe he is a nice guy, but I will never know.

Tomorrow night in Bangkok is one of the biggest posh parties of the year. It's an invite only event called the Johnnie Walker Black Label Black Planet. 3000-4000 guests and free JW BL galore. It's going to be awesome. Also a friend of mine from California is visiting me for the weekend since she was working temporarily in the Philippines for a few months before heading off to Stanford Graduate School of Management. I'm going to show her the ropes and Bangkok and it's sure to be an amazing time.

I just finished playing some Ping Pong with the Vietnamese gym attendant in my hotel. He beat me 22-20, wtf!??!? I'm still reeling.

I swear I'll post pictures soon! Take care of yourselves and live it up. In the span of two weeks an old friend died and a new nephew was born. Carpe Diem.



Sunset in Ho Chi Minh City from my hotel.

Hong Kong Holiday

Hey Folks, I'm writing from my Dad's house in Hong Kong this time. I'm here for a nice chill week of holiday thanks to Songkran, the Thai New Year.

Now let me tell you about Songkran - a wild 3 day party (April 13-15) where people take to the streets and have huge waterfights with you whether or not you want to get wet! I decided to get in on the best of the action at Khao San road, the infamous backpacker haven that is also home to the most packed chaotic waterfight in Thailand. The crowd was huge and it took 20 minutes just to finally walk our way to the entrance of the road (imagine the human traffic of a rock concert but slightly less crowded than cheek to cheek). One out of every 5 people had a watergun of some kind and many others had small buckets with white powder+water which they would use to wipe on your face with their hands (a perversion of a Thai tradition to sort of bless people on Songkran). Techno and hip hop music rang throughout the half mile long street as thousands slowly walked through or stopped on the sides to do some shooting. Anyway I was tired of getting soaked by so many people all around me while walking down the road so I got to the sidewalk, forked over 500 baht (about 14 USD) for the biggest bloody super soaker I could get, and it was ON. I let this bazooka fly and was blasting people in the face in no time. This was FUN, let me tell you. Someone would shoot me, I would wiggle my finger at them, then pull my monster weapon out and send them stumbling away. I felt like yelling 'THIS IS SPARTA!!!' I wasn't even drunk (and most people had SOMEthing to drink, despite it being 3 in the afternoon) but had so much fun just soaking people and getting soaked for 3 hours. You just pay 5 baht for a quick refill and it was definitely worth it. The farangs (foreigners) got targeted a lot, which was pretty damn funny. I hit this fat bearded dude in the face so many times and once a gang of us on the sidewalk pointed about 8 guns on him and I swear he almost fell over from the sheer force of this onslaught. At one point there were a bunch of ladyboys wearing white tanktops and no bras on their fake boobs running through the 'gauntlet' area where I was hanging out. They got hit so many times and frantically jumped up and down and screeched in the most flamboyant way possible. It was absolutely hilarious. Each of them even had a tiny 2 inch squirtgun which they helplessly tried to shoot blindly as their eyes were doused with constrant streams of water. All in good fun. I came back again two days later for a few more hours of mayhem. I feel bad for the folks that have to clean up though...there must have been an incredible mess...

Before that crazy few days last weekend I had made my second buisiness trip to Vietnam. I didn't go out much like normal because I caught a cold and didn't want to be knackered for Songkran. I got a lot done and my new projects there (having to do with the Promotional Girls and anti-counterfeit) are definitely interesting and challenging. On my flight back I saw my boss in the bus to the terminal once we arrived in Bangkok. I didn't even know he was in Vietnam or that he was on the same plane. That is just the nature of our business I guess. He kindly gave me a ride home in his mercedes.

And BEFORE THAT, I had gone to Phuket for 3 days on the weekend with some friends from Singapore. We stayed at a really nice boutique hotel in Patong Beach (a bit too touristy of a spot for me) and basically chilled out. I got to go sailing with Bernice on a gorgeous day with a 18 foot hobiecat, eat delicious food, and even tried my first proper foot massage. It felt so damn good I fell asleep in the middle for 15 minutes and woke up drooling. I had to go back again the next day! The Thais in Patong beach were quite aggressive salespeople due to all the tourists from Europe and America. I really didn't like their attitudes - a lot less friendly and genuine than Bangkokians. Then again I don't talk to a lot of Bangkokians that sell shit on the street. Oh well, they have to make money in the best way they know how. But sorry, I'm not paying 200 baht for a bloody 3 minute taxi ride or 600 baht for a red bull tanktop. By the way, Red Bull originated in Thailand. One of my friends told me it started in Hungary or something and I can now confirm they are full of crap.

I saw Borat finally. What a movie...I'm sure you know what I'm talking about if you've seen it. It was soo damn funny but I felt disturbed at times by what I was hearing from actual Americans and by what Sasha Cohen actually dared to do on camera.

Three days ago I had a dream about my friend Andrew whom I mentioned in my previous post. Him, a few other friends, and I went on some crazy adventure in a jungle somewhere (the details I can't remember now) and he was acting just as I had remembered him - spontaneous, silly, fun... anyway at the end of my dream I realized that Andrew was not suppossed to be around and I asked him 'Andrew...what are you doing here? Didn't you die?' He turned to me gravely all of a sudden and said something like 'Yeah...okay.' He then walked forward very quickly with his back toward me. I quickly caught up to him, tapped him on the shoulder and said 'hey wait!' When he turned around it wasn't Andrew, it was some guy with a different face and he didn't know why I had tapped him. I then woke up. Pretty crazy...I'm not really sure what to think of that dream. It did make me smile a bit in the end though.

Now that I'm in Hong Kong for 5 more days I plan to play with my little brothers a lot and just have some good conversations with my Dad. My little bro James (10 years old) had a birthday 2 weeks ago and I emailed him asked what he wanted from me. He responded with 'Whatever you want to get me is fine. I know it will be great because you are.' That email made my day! I bought him some cool stuff I know he would like and of course I had to buy some weapons and plastic crap for the little 5 year old Sam otherwise he would feel left out. Going to Toys R Us for the first time in 5 years was a trip...

I hope to go out a few times in downtown (Lan Kwai Fong and Wan Chai) with some old friends. Theres a short list of people that I need to get hammered with. Ahh good times. I'll talk about my coming adventures here in the next post, and I swear I'll put up some pictures to attach to this post soon. Check out my page on www.facebook.com too for a lot of photos.

Cya

"Jack talk Thai very well..."

Sawatdii krup! Sa baai dii mai? Yin dii thii dai ruu-jak.

Okay I've had two Thai 1 on 1 lessons in the past couple weeks and now I am obviously a master of the language. Actually I still don't know shit, but I have got the numbers down and some basic greetings/vocab. I can talk to taxi drivers sometimes without saying any English, but I am tempted to everytime. I just want to get to a very basic level, but it will take a lot of time and effort from me. The last thing I want to do after a long day of work is sit down and study Thai for an hour (or write more emails/update my blog) but I just have to do it every so often! Oh and sorry for the corny Meet the Parents quote title of this post.

I started playing rugby 1x a week two weeks ago with the Southerners rugby club. Good bunch of lads, mostly older, working in business or education here in Bangkok. I think the quality of competition was a notch or two higher back in school since it was so serious, but these guys have all played for a long time and I hope to continue for a while. They are just in worse shape and don't practice a lot every week than my team in Davis was/did. We also only play 10s, a variation of the game (normally 15 a side) that is half the time and moves much quicker. It is fun but holy crap in this humidity just 40 minutes can take a lot out of you.

Finally got my new personal laptop up and running and it is BADASS compared to my work cpu. It's actually better than my college PC! Vista is pretty cool, but nothing all that special. You know you are a geek when you get excited about an operating system.

Now I need to download some new music to get up to date. Some Thai songs are cool, but I have no clue what they are called. The western music they play here is usually a month or two behind the States. Anyone got some suggestions?

I saw the movie 300 a couple weeks ago in Singapore. Wow it was bloody and full of testosterone. A 2 hour battle scene, and well worth the 4 US dollars it cost. And that is expensive according to Singaporeans for a movie. Sure most everything else in Singapore is almost as expensive as in California, but movies are a damn bargain.

At the gym last week I actually got a free trial 1 on 1 pilates course. It was alright - not so challenging but definitely different and I can see the non-traditional exercise benefits that it can bring. I'm not paying $100 USD for 5 more lessons though! I WILL take out the instructor this week, haha. I love Thailand.

I'm going to Vietnam again next week for a few days to do some exploratory meetings regarding new projects I'll be driving there in the next few months. I'm looking forward to going back to that crazy place. Some stories I have heard....wow. For example, a guy waking up with 7, yes SEVEN women in his bed. Or two fellas playing the bored game RISK with a woman representing each country and when you conquer the country then that woman goes on your side. Hahaha, insane. That stuff is a bit overboard but still interesting to hear - only in Vietnam!

One of my coworkers used to work in Hollywood and he had some cool insights on a few actors: Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts are rude/arrogant assholes. Kevin Costner is a sleeze. Mel Gibson is actually one of the only nice and genuine guys he met in the industry that wasn't on drugs or a sex fiend. I guess he just has his rants every once in a while...go figure.

Last week was the 3rd anniversary of my friend Andrew Dang getting killed in Fallujah, Iraq. He was a combat engineer in the marine corps and his life was taken from him much too early. I knew him since I was 12 years old and I used to play football in his front yard with his brothers and we'd have sleepovers. It's been 3 years since he left but I still find myself thinking about him everyday and when I do it really hasn't gotten much easier. I was reading an article in Time last night about letters from America's fallen in Iraq and it got really hard. I remember his letters and words vividly, and I feel for all the families and friends out there that have lost someone to this obscure war. Sometimes Andrew gives me strength to face challenges I fear. Even when I decided to move out to Thailand I thought, well, what would Andrew say? He's probably call me a dipshit and tell me to get out there. So I did. I'll try to live my life in such a way that remembers him and his wild free spirit so that when I consult my friends for advice on what I might do, I don't forget to listen to his voice too. I find some comfort in the fact that whereever he is, I'll see him again soon. I think I'll always miss him though...All this said, don't take your friends for granted and don't be afraid to tell the people you care about how you feel every so often. Life is short even if you live 80 years - the things that matter, don't ignore them or be afraid to admit them. Well now I'm just rambling a bit. Miss you Andrew...

On a bit lighter note I am going to Phuket this weekend with some friends from Singapore for 3 days. I just want to relax on the beach and get away from the big cities I frequent. Maybe I'll go hobiecat sailing - yeah, just like in Fiji and Hong Kong. Love that stuff.

For all those that still take the time to read my posts, thanks, I do appreciate it. Please drop me an email every once in a while so I know you still think about me from time to time. I promise to have a bunch of pictures up next post so it isn't a chore to get through all this text in one sitting.

I am enjoying life, and I'm enjoying work (as much as one really can). Still miss you folks though and my life in the states. It was just different, but good. It's a bit depressing that I have so many good memories about the past 10 years that I won't ever get to relive. I suppose I'm also very lucky in that way.

All the best,

Charles




This kind of stuff goes on in the middle of malls in Singapore sometimes. The next show could be hip hop or pop!




A common street in Da Nang, Vietnam.




A friend exerting some calm Thai road rage!



A picture from my last night drinking in Davis. Vadim, Scott, Rufio, and I in Little Prague. Good times...




A pop club in RCA road, Bangkok. Places like this, plus their electronica and hip hop counterparts, are where the youth and heartbeat of the city congregate until 2 or 3 am and beyond.



From back when I visited with Till in December. Didn't know at the time that I would be living 2 blocks away from here later on.