Back to Bangkok

We are getting ready to head out on our overnight sleeper bus to Chiang Mai. We were actually looking forward to riding 1st class on the overnight train however due to all the rain the tracks are flooded and the trains aren't working for the next week. We had a tough choice, pay an extra $60 for 1 hour flight or take the 9 hour bus for $60 less. As easy as it would have been to take the more expensive and quicker option we had to be cost conscious so bus ride and ambien here we come!

We have had the last 3 nights in Bangkok to recharge and just relax which has been nice. I know some people think we are on an everlasting vacation but traveling is not easy! We have visited some night markets, had a good Mexican meal with a decent margarita (none can compare to the margas made by Bill Reeves), hung with some lady boys, and had a drink 61 stories in the air at the Banyan Tree Hotel. All in all it has been great but we are ready to get this venture going and see some other countries and cultures. We will be in Chiang Mai for the next 4 days and then head to Laos by boat for a week, fly into Hanoi and travel through Vietnam for 2 weeks and then take a bus to Siem Riep in Cambodia for a couple days. We will be heading back to Bangkok before leaving for the last leg of our trip in Indonesia.



Sawadeeka!!!

Koh Phangan and our first dare

Koh Phangan: a small, beautiful, grungy island where the parties are countless and the mushroom shakes and neon body paint is a plenty. Steer clear of the endless parties and mushroom shakes however, and you'll find an amazing place to relax and explore.

The resort we chose ended up being the best we've stayed in yet. Idyllic wooden bungalows tucked away in a bamboo forrest along the shoreline, amazing. The staff was sweet, the restaurant radical, a perfect pool, and just like a great Vegas casino, you felt not the slightest need to leave. Needless to say, we spent the majority of our time here, with a good number of laps to the local corner store, and ended up staying two extra nights.

As relaxed as we were, we made sure to make it to at least one of Koh Phangan's famous parties, and because we weren't able to make the full moon party, the half moon party is what we found. Picture an awesome open-air night club tucked away deep in the jungle, bass bumping, fire dancers rocking, and a

night market with all the drunk munchie food you could imagine. As soon as we got there, we had no choice but to crush a bucket of Red Bull vodka, and between the seven of us and seven straws, we basically played circle of death until the bucket was devoid of all contents. With a solid caffeinated buzz, we marched straight up to the gates, paid our 500 baht / person, and strode directly into the belly of the beast.

Surrounded by black lights, and looking down at our plain white skin, we knew something had to be done and we stopped at the first body paint stand we found. We entered Brett, Matt and Brooke, and emerged Superman, Batman and Chick with Sweet Arm Decor. We were ready to dance our little booties off, and we did. We all ended up having a great time, making it home unscathed, and arrived at our place only to find a certain Benjamin Shapero yelling his ass off in the pool with a wine glass full of Malibu rum (which the Thai bar tender apparently thought was white wine, score one for Shappy). We had a sweet end of the night pool party and called it a night.

The next day, we decided to once again try our hand at navigating the island on the left side of the road, this time handing over the reigns to Mr. Matt BT. Matt, B Shap and myself took off in Uku 2.0 (a new model Suzuki Side Kick) in search of waterfalls, view points and awesome beaches. We found ourselves hiking up sheer rock cliffs (where a waterfall used to be), finding nothing but a trickle, but did manage to hike up to an amazing view of Koh Phangan and ended up finding some great deserted beaches. There is no better way to explore an island than by car or motorcycle. On a small island like KP, you find yourself in places you wouldn't normally go, see things that most tourists miss, and on top of it all, you end up driving around the entire island in a matter of hours. Because Uku 2.0 lacked a good back seat but had a small truck bed, we ended up riding around in the bed to save space. Being able to ride in the humid open air, looking out on tropical jungles scattered with little dingy third world huts, really made me realize where I was and how lucky I am to be doing what I'm doing. Riding in the back of a truck around a remote tropical island off the coast of Thailand….. insanity.

The Dare: Our first dare came from none other than our good friend and fellow world traveler, McLure Foote. The dare was to convince a Thai lady boy to get on my shoulders, take a picture of it, and post it as my profile picture for a week. To say I wasn't nervous about this would be an absolute lie, I had no idea how I was going to get a lady boy on my shoulders, let alone be able to single out one out of the thousands. Luckily I had some help from our friend Olivia who we've been staying with in Bangkok. She took me strait to lady boy central, which basically looked like a three story outdoor shopping mall, but every store front was a lady boy brothel, talk about heaven. We sat down at one of the bars where I proceeded to calm my nerves with a beer and a shot of Thailand's finest well whiskey. We got to talking with the bar tender, explained our intentions, and was soon introduced to one of the local "Mamasan's". The Mamasan took us over to one of her lady boys, and obviously was not very clear on exactly what was going on because as soon as I squatted down, both of them had a look of "WTF is this kid doing?" I spoke not one word to my partner in crime, and motioned for her to put a leg over my shoulder. As soon as one leg was over, I quickly snatched up the other and busted out the best 150 lb squat of my life. Letting out a surprised high pitched "woooohh", she was up on my shoulders and the deed was done. I let her down, slipped her 100 Baht and walked away giggling like a lady boy who just got put up on a young American boy's shoulders.

Gettin ready to git'r done

Let's find some lady boys......

Mission accomplished

Meal Worms, Grasshoppers, and Connect Four--Samui Continued

As detailed as Brett's post was about Koh Samui, there were a couple details left out. The first night we were in Samui we were eating a beautiful beach side restaurant, called Relax (apparently every Island has at least 4 resorts/restaurants/bars named Relax). Enjoying our dinner, a Thai girl, no older than 12 comes over to our table, batting her cute eyes and asks us if we would play her in Connect Four. For those who do not remember such a popular child hood game, you use checker like playing pieces to drop down into different shafts in order to get 4 in a row. She told us if we won she would pay us 100 baht and if we lost we pay her a 100 baht. Brett convincing me to say no, I figured what do I have to loose, $3, how hard can this be? Well within 5 minutes she had taken 100 baht from my self and Meghan. We both took pictures with her and she first held up the peace sign, only to look at the picture later and see she gave us the big "L" sign for Loser! Damn those Thai girls. Throughout the night we saw wallet after wallet opening, ultimate Connect 4 domination! At least this is what they are getting there money from (at least for now). We left the bar to go stroll around the town. The dogs are endless around here and some are actually really cut and sadly skinny, one proceeded to follow up all around and sit with us at a bar, for those who know me you know I can not resist giving attention to a cute dog, although I only pet the dog (I made sure I used hand sanitizer afterwards). After the heart breaking dog, we proceed to walk further when a little Thai girl, no older than 5, comes running up to me, throws her arms around me and just hangs on. This wasn't a move to pick pocket as I had no pockets or a purse, I never get attention like that from little kids and if I would have had the $ she definitely would have gotten some from me, Brett had to tear her away from me, another heart breaking encounter.

On our last night we went to this golf course to play "soccer golf" which is exactly like golf, you play 18 holes but instead of a club and ball you use a soccer ball. This definitely was the highlight for me and so much fun. BT and Brett ended up getting holes in one and BT beat the terrible American record of 75 (game total was out of 66) with an amazing score of 58! I got second place with 1 under. We need to figure out how to bring this back to the states!

After golf, we walked over to a night market with street food, this is where Brett got to finally take on the role of Andy Zimmerman and tried a grasshopper and meal worm, they were fried to a crisp but his face reaction was of disgust, might be his last meal worm. You will see the pics.

As much as I liked Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi has definitely been my favorite beach town. Mainly for how small and quaint it is. You can walk around the whole town without having to use public transportation which is almost always a rip off. And every restaurant and bar looks cooler than the next. Definitely wish we could have stayed here longer (but in a nicer hotel).

We have been in Koh Pha-Ngan for almost a week now and we are staying at a great resort where the staff is incredibly nice and hospitable located right on the beach. We have decided to skip Koh Tao and head back to Bangkok tomorrow to rest for a couple days at Olivia's and then start our route up to Chiang Mai and all around.

Koh Samui and beyond

After another fantastic 5 hour bus/boat ride combo, we made it safe to Koh Samui, checked into our hotel and headed to our beach bar to meet up with Bill and Meghan. A beautiful beach lined with thatched roof bars, neon lights everywhere, fireworks exploding all around you and Thai lucky lanterns filling the sky, left me in awe. Your own perception of a place compared to the real thing is always interesting to me, and Koh Samui lived up to what I thought it would be; amazing beaches surrounded by swanky hotels and restaurants, dirty streets, and tourist traps waiting to snatch you at any minute. Because Samui is so built up these days, you never fail to find a McDonlad's or Starbucks waiting for you around any corner. However, get a little off the beaten path, and you'll find some pretty cool bars and clubs that will satisfy your need to feel like you're somewhere you've never been. The four of us ended up walking around town for a while, finding some cool spots (one of which being an old VW van with the top chopped off and converted to a bar), had some beverages and had a great time.
The next morning I went to our next hotel to meet up with our buddy Matt who had just arrived in Samui that morning. After months of talking about meeting up in Thailand and it finally coming to fruition, it was unreal to see a good friend in such a far corner of the world. Grinning from ear to ear, we came together for a bro hug worthy of any worldly meeting, both with a look of utter happiness and shear disbelief. It was great to see him.
That night we all decided to drop a couple extra bucks to go see a Muay Thai fight, and see what Thai kick boxing was all about. It was a small, indoor stadium, but with the live Thai music in the background and the immense cheering, it had an energy about it that was through the roof. The first fight we saw, the two kids couldn't have been more than 14, but holy crap did beat the sh*t out of each other. Maybe 5'1", not an ounce of fat and ripped beyond belief, these kids packed a punch and a kick that would absolutely crush you. We ended up watching 5 fights that night, most of which ended in some pretty killer KO's consisting of a barrage of elbows and knees to the dome. It turned out to be an awesome experience.
Wanting to see some more of the island, the next day we decided to rent a car and go do some island cruising. We ended up finding a guy who let us rent his black 5 speed Suzuki Sidekick for 700 Baht for the whole day....a helluva deal. We packed 5 people in to this little machine with Matt and the ladies in the back, Bill riding shotgun and me behind the wheel. The most interesting part of this adventure however, was that I was gonna get my first lesson in driving on the left side of the road. And don't forget that the driver is on the right which makes you feel instantly awkward, it was interesting to say the least.
So we set out in Uku (what we named our car, meaning "flea" in Hawaiian), to find some waterfalls and amazing beaches. Uku was a beat up 4 cylinder road warrior, got us to where we wanted to go, but had a little trouble getting us there sometimes. Picture 5 Americans stuffed into a tiny SUV, trying to make it up hills in second gear, motorcycles, scooters and cars are buzzing past you, and your only hope is that you can make it to the top without having to downshift to first. Stressful. Driving in Thailand is seriously like driving through an obstacle course. Scooters coming out of nowhere, cars passing you and making a third lane out of a two way highway (it doesn't matter that a car is coming, they'll pass your ass anyways) and street signs that only leave you confused. On top of it all, you're shifting with your left, the blinkers are on your right, and you breathe a sigh of relief every time you successfully make a right hand turn without crushing somebody. In the end though, we made it accident free, did a great jungle hike and found a glorious beach. Driving on the left..... you just got owned.
That night, we met up with our friends Ben and Sarah who had just arrived that day. We continued to have great dinners, get a little wild at times, and enjoyed Samui for all it was worth. We are now on Koh Phanang with Matt, Ben, and Sarah, at the most amazing beach resort we've stayed at thus far. All for $30 a night...... love you Thailand. Tonight we attend a Half Moon party, one of the many famous parties on the island. It's about to get real, real...colorful.

Bangkok to Koh Phi Phi

Koh Phi Phi--our first beach vacation. In order to save money we were determined to go the "cheap" route. We started by getting a taxi from Olivia's to the train station leaving an hour and a half in advance to go probably 10 miles only to sit in bumper to bumper traffic, thankfully our driver knew we had to get there and took side streets. I don't think I mentioned before but a stop light lasts for 150 seconds! It even has the count down, so no wonder the traffic is backed up, we sat for 5 minutes at one light. Anyway, we got on our overnight train, had dinner, popped an ambien and woke up 9 hours later in Surat Thani. We then got on a bus to be driven to another bus to then take a 3 hour bus ride to Krabi. Once in Krabi we got on a 1 and 1/2 hour ferry to Tonsai Bay in Phi Phi. These cheap transportation options are exhausting!

 We were told to not stay in the downtown bc it gets really loud at night so we booked a place called the Relax Resort which was another 15 minute boat ride. The resort was nice, it had individual bungalows with balconies that looked onto the private beach. There was a restaraunt that was really good. However, it was a little too quiet for us so the next day we chartered a private boat to take us to Phi Phi Lay where we went to Malay Beach (this is where the beach was filmed), then went snorkeling and swimming and lastly got to see a bunch of monkeys. The speed boats would pull right underneath the tree they hang in and feed them banannas. After our boating trek we were dropped off back at Tonsai Bay and found a cheap hotel which all I will say is you get what you pay for. For one night it was fine and suprisingly quiet. Downtown Phi Phi is amazing, there are tons of shops, awesome restaraunts and lots of street food. The beach was nice, although you couldn't find waist deep water unless you were in the middle of the ocean. Basically you would just go out and sit on the bottom to have your body in the water or else you would be ankle deep! That night we had street food to save on costs that were spent in Bangkok and went to the beach where all the bars/clubs are located. We sat down at this one bar called Moken and saw an incredible fire show, one of the guys was second runner up for Thailand's got talent. They juggled, used sticks and one woman had a hula hoop with fire around it (Laura, you would be impressed with her hula skills). It was a very cool, interesting night experience.

Now about the rough parts, the killer mosquitos. Having spent 4 days in Bangkok I felt good, there weren't many mosquitos. Olivia warned that I would be sure to see some in the islands. Well, 20 bites later, 6 on my face, about 10 on my feet, back, arms and legs, I have been officially attacked. I am wearing 100 percent deet protection but they seem to not care and proceed on eating me alive! In the meantime, I am not even sure Brett has more than 1!!!! Needless to say the nights are brutal and I put on layers of spray smelling like a walking bug repellant! Hopefully I will start to get immune and they won't smell "fresh blood" bc I can imagine it only gets worse!

We are now in Koh Samui with Meghan, Bill, Matt, Sarah and Ben. It is very nice to see familiar faces as it can get lonely just Brett and I. Tonight we are going to see a Thai Boxing match which should be interesting. We will be here for the next 4 days and then head to Ko Phan-Nang.

Bangkok- In my eyes (to be read after "the beginning"

The last 4 days in Bangkok have been a whirlwind as I assume you can tell from Brett's post. We have been moving about seeing all we can see from the Wat Po and Wat Arun temples to boat rides in the pouring rain on the Chao Phraya River, and hot and sticky tuk tuk rides to the various city markets where the shopping is endless. Clothing, pets, home goods, plants, jewelry, food, and basically anything else you can imagine it is there and CHEAP. One of the more famously known markets we visited yesterday was Khao San Road which is a road or rather more a long alley crowded with store after store, bar after bar, massage parlor after massage parlor (I got my first 1/2 hour foot massage for 100 baht which was about $3). One piece of advice we were given is that we should bargain with the street vendors. Unfortunately, I have yet to reach any considerable "bargain" with any Thai vendor. Whether it is because it is the "off season" so they bump up prices to accommodate for lack of tourists or they know we have the money or maybe I don't have what it takes just yet to be a good "bargainer." Needless to say I am bargaining for a couple dollars but it has been very frustrating and I've been weighing the costs of how much do I really need this item. For instance, I am not one for knick knacks but I did want to buy a Chang beer koozy, the 50 year old Thai woman was asking for 80 baht (about $2.75)! Now for something that probably cost 5 Baht to manufacture I definitely thought I could get somewhere, I countered with 20 she went to 75, I said 50, she went to 70, my last offer was 55 Baht (at which this time I was showing her the money) and she stood at her final offer of 70 Baht pointing out that she politely went down 10 baht (about 25 cents). I said no and walked away with no one shouting after me that we could have a deal. Now for someone who has about 100 koozy's sitting there she couldn't, wouldn't dare give it to me for 55 Baht. Even for such a short time here, I felt that was my moment of defeat. Hopefully it will get better in other countries/places.


As for the food, I have been slowly getting food from street vendors. Strangely enough the most sick I felt was from an American meal we had at this restaurant that specialized in burgers and an apple bought from the market (that I washed off with bottled water). Other than that I have been doing pretty well and have always tried whatever Brett eats. Last night I did get my sandwich fix, and no it was not at Subway, it was a street vendor who offered sandwiches in pita bread, it was fried chicken, guess you can't really go wrong with that!


This city is incredible. Like Brett said, it reminds me a lot of New York with different districts that have such unique characteristics, very efficient public transportation and cabs everywhere! Although I am sad to leave the comfort of Olivia's home I am excited to head to the islands and experience this beach vibe that everyone raves about.


We hope everyone is well and look forward to speaking with you next week when we are in Koh Samui!

Bangkok: The beginning

It was a long flight, but after almost 20 hrs and two flights we made it safely into Bangkok at 10:50 pm. Between the great selection of free movies, decent airplane food and the nicest Korean flight attendants ever, the journey was actually pretty enjoyable. We landed and got a cab to our friend Olivia's apartment, who we'd be staying with for our time in Bangkok. We were met with a warm embrace and two large bottles of Leo beer, by Olivia and her British friend Rob. It was great to finally be "home". We sat and talked and drank for a while, and because i hadn't really slept much on the plane I was struggling to keep it together. Between my buzzed, sleep deprived state and Rob's strong English accent, I think I was more confused by our conversation than anything, and found myself just nodding my head a lot for fear of saying something blatantly off topic. All the while feeling like I was giving him the strangest looks because my eyes felt like they were sagging half way down my face. But I managed to get through with out him thinking I'm a total ra-tard (or at least I think), and after a while they took off to stay at his place, and Brooke and I popped an Ambien to ensure some well needed rest. I awoke at 7am, walked out on the balcony to look out over a land soon to be explored, conquered, surely loathed, and couldn't help but to think to myself……..fuck yah.
The next morning we walked down to the streets to find the thing that was driving about 75% of my desire to go on this trip, a substance that can bring so much joy and happiness to life, food. I never imagined eating to be such a difficult task, but when there are SO many different options that look absolutely amazing, I just about freak out in trying to decide what to actually go for. I finally found a little restaurant front that looked pretty good so I decided to pull the trigger. Often times when figuring out customs of a new country it can render you feeling pretty dumb, and as I stood in front of these little Thai ladies, waiting for something to happen, I was passed up by three different people who got their food in a snap. I finally grabbed one of the cook ladies and pointed to what the lady before me had gotten and said, "that! give me that!". Before I knew it I had a glorious looking plate of rice with crispy fried chicken covered in fresh basil, lemongrass, green onion, egg, cucumber, crushed peanuts and sweet smoked sausage. I sat down, threw some fish sauce with diced thai chilies on it, and was in food bliss. Perfection.
Later that day we met up with our friends Bill and Meghan who happened to end up traveling to Thailand the same time we were. The plan was to go to the Mandarin Oriental hotel to get a drink so we hopped in boat, traveled up the river and got dropped off on some seedy looking dock. Contrary to popular belief, Bangkok actually has standards, and me looking like a bum in a tank top and board shorts, got turned away at the doors of the hotel. "You have wear pant", said the man at the door. "Shit", said the bum in a tank top. Now, I've been turned away from some clubs and restaurants in my day, but I never would have imagined I would be given the cold shoulder any where in Bangkok. So we hopped in a Tuk Tuk to find another means of consumption.
It was hot as hell, and we were thirsty. "Take us to a bar!", we yelled at the tuk tuk driver.
"what kine bar you wan?"
"anything with cold beer"
"You rike music?"
"Heck yes we like music!"
"Ok, I take you good prace"
"Sweet, let's roll"
Again, it was hot as hell and we were thirsty, crammed four deep into a tuk tuk fit for two thai lady boys and stopped in bumper to bumper Bangkok traffic huffing the sweet fumes of diesel fuel. We were like this for a half hour before finally arriving at his "bar". We got dropped off, and were instantly welcomed by the three lovely women in skanky dresses standing outside the bar, went inside to find a place that looked like it was strait out of a 1970's porn scene. We sat down in the red suede booth we were shown to, and were greeted by our waiter who looked and acted like he had just come out of a three hour session in the opium den out back. "Four Singhas please"….."Four Singha, ok". No more than 30 seconds after we had ordered, Meghan looks down at a sign in the middle of the table saying, "All beer 200 Baht each", which comes out to about $6. Yes, that isn't very much, but in Thailand, you don't pay $6 for a fricken beer, especially in a place where you fear that at any second a lady boy may be rubbin up against you trying to solicit their services. I stood up, caught the bar tender right after she had opened the first beer, tried to bargain, failed, we ended up sharing one beer between the four of us, leaving, only to walk a hundred yards down the street to find a solid bar doing a happy hour, buy one get one free beers for 120 Baht. Thanks for the solid recommendation tuk tuk driver, next time I'll find the bar on my own.
We spent the next couple days visiting temples, sampling as much street food as possible, and letting Olivia be our tour guide and take us to some awesome bars and restaurants. Bangkok is really cool, really safe, and parts of it actually remind me of aspects of NYC. The small hidden watering holes with tons of character, the local restaurants with incredibly good food, and the cool thing is, everybody is super nice and quick to smile. Feeling welcome in foreign city of seven million people is a pretty good feeling.
Tonight we hop on a southbound train headed for Koh Phi Phi and will eventually get over to Koh Samui where we meet up with a certain Matt Budd-Thanos, Benjamin Shapero and Sarah Adelars. Let the games begin……

Click on the photos to see photo descriptions

And We're Off!

After eight months of planning our official date is finally around the corner! It's hard to believe our trip is finally coming to fruition on September 7th. People ask if I am nervous or scared? I have had eight months of nervousness and "what the hell are we doing" thoughts but I am happy to say I am very excited for our departure and the adventures that lie ahead of us. We are lucky to have some friends join us on our beginning travels. Two friends we met at a friend's wedding this summer, Bill and Meghan, are taking off the same day and will be joining us in Bangkok for a couple days and then heading down to the Southern gulf Thai islands. Our first stop after Bangkok will be in Koh Samui where we are meeting up with some of Brett's Salesforce friends, Matt Budd-Thanos, Ben Shapero, and his girlfriend Sarah Adelaars. From there will head up to Koh Pha-nang for a half moon party (we won't be able to make the full moon party so half will do) and Koh Tao for some amazing scuba diving. After our beach relaxation, Brett and I will be heading on our own back up to Chiang Mai to start our travels through Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. We have posted a map showing our tentative route. For those who have traveled to Asia we would appreciate any comments/recommendations you have throughout our travels. We thank everyone's love and support and we are excited to share our stories with you! Stay tuned for our next post in Bangkok. For those who may want to Skype our name is: Blatham22.