A lot of Baht, Riel, Dong and Kip Part 1

Dear Reader, (if any still exist)
Grab a mug of tea, a cup of coffee or stein of beer and sit back for a little while. Put on some music, might I suggest something that it doesn't root itself in lyrical content so as to not distract you from what I am about to write.
Four weeks ago I returned from what I would call the most incredible experience of my YOUNG adult life. I journey through the backpacker trail of south east asia. It occurred to me on the trip that everyone has a different expereince along this route from Thailand to Cambodia to Vietnam to Laos and then back into Thailand for a delayed flight back to Singapore. I really shall begin at the beginning then and therefore, make sure your tea or coffee is really hot because it shall not be once I have ceased to type this tale.
The trip begins on an early morning on some day of the week. It was great to be unaware of the day of the week as time progressed..amazing to not know the time, the day or the date really. I arose cascading out of my dorm room bed and its foam matress to the sound of chirp chirp from my cell phone alarm clock. It is so gosh darn cute really.I arrived at Changi Budget terminal for my 650am flight to Siem Reap where I was to be for literally one hour before boarding a bus to Bangkok to meet up with Caitlin. Why fly to Siem Reap??? Free flight given to me from my lovey parental unit. This free flight tunred out to be a blessing and also a curse.
So, so, so bumpy. I was ill prepared for how rough that ride would truly be also, not planning ahead, I had no food or water for the journey until we stopped at some road side shack of a bar to have a beer and something I can't recall.......and water. This was my first pay toilet experience actually, there were many more. The bus ride took a total of 14 hours; the warnings in the guide books and online testimonials do not lie. So poor. Next time I take the trip I think a sleeping pill, which is available over the counter readily, will come in very handy....Vallium maybe?? The road was lined with shacks selling gasoline in dusty coke bottles, bulls, cows, defunkt tuk tuks, and herds of children playing in the muddy water or bathing or working. I also tried to make conversation with an Austrian girl and a Norweigien couple...both attmepts failed. Maybe it was the dirt that I had to scrape off of my face that made me an unwelcome guest at their tables. I feel like the dirty face was a combination of gross and character building. Caitlin and I were to be in Bangkok for around 7 days and the city is alive and has an energy unlike any others that we visited. It has an energy, a vibrance, a speed and a kindliness mixed in with an odour of swindle and cheat. Thai people really do have huge hearts though. What I notice most, in all of asia that I have seen acutally, is that people are less stressed then we are in North America. They are more easily made happy. HUGE generalization, and I wouldn't necessarily say the same about Singapore but all in all, happy and hard working people.
When I first laid eyes on Caitlin I said "you need to go the hospital...today"
In south Thailand, where she was before we met up, she had gotten some infected bug bites that were looking, well, dangerous. I am so glad we went. In fact, when we pulled up in the tuk tuk, they brought out a wheelchair and sat her down and off we went.....the wheelchair was unnecessary but really damn funny. Wat after wat, temple after temple we settled in for our stint and saw the extremely golden palace and took a river cruise in the evening admiring the skyline of the city we now called our temporary residence; afterall, we needed our vietnam visas. Visas obtained, floating market viewed, vallium purchased, we headed to Siem Reap Via....oh NO..the same route I had taken a week prior. I was not thrilled, in fact, I was the opposite..maybe even annoyed and unenthused. This is where we met Nick-a man who runs two orphanages in Siem Reap. We decided, or rather, I enforced, that I would not be taking a bus back through that awful journey..how could I? The mess would be just too much to bear. A Toyota Camry would be our choice vehicle and at 20 bucks a pop...it needed to be done. It cut an insane 4 hours off of the travel time and left me feeling a million times better. Anyways, Nick invited us to volunteer at his orphanage and teach english the following day which we embraced wholeheartedly.
Working with children has always been a passion of mine really. These children were beyond eager to learn. We arrived and we stayed there for a total of 4 hours. Playing with them, teaching the months of the year, the days of the week, the seasons, some emotions and some other random english. The most joy came from watching them interact and watching them be children. Children who had nothing but love. I wish that I could be content with a cold well for a shower, a ball with which to play and a dorm room. Also, the outdoor classroom had been donated and built by an organisation in Singapore...I felt proud of Singapore (my temp. home)
When we left, the kids sang a cambodian song for us and I wanted to let the tears start then. Then i witnessed the message they had written on the board for us "We will miss you because we need you" it said. I still held on. It wasn't until Caitlin and I boarded the tuk tuk and drove away that I lost it more than I have in a long time. I mean, great...I helped out for four hours, who do these kids have now? God, it left me feeling amazing and useless all at once.
Later that night we arrived at the other orphanage in Siem Reap and were treated to a traditional Khmer Rouge dance by the children. They study dance and music for 4 hours each day and they appear to love it and do amazing job of capturing your heart within seconds. The monkey dance inparticular had my attention. The kids were rolling around on the ground and scratching their armpits and being all goofy like a little monkey might...so amazingly cute. Then, we handed out Christmas gifts that had been donated by a school in Australia and my heart melted..they thought the boxes were the gifts; they failed to look inside until we showed them. Tears again and a departure on the same tuk tuk. Who said vacation was all giggles? It was thus far every emotion from sad to happy from glad to crappy.
Food Poisoning Day 1 for Caitlin.
This was attempt number one for Caitlin and myself and Sara, a dutch girl we had met, to go to Angkor Wat and Thom and others. Needless to say, Caitlin was not well in the morning but forced herself to come along. Well, I don't know if she was the most recent person to vomit on Angkor Wat but I can only assume. Back to the tuk tuk and back to "Hello Paradise" guest house to get well...in two days. I went to the war museum and witnessed some weapons of the Khmer Rouge who brutally killed 3 million civilians in the late 70's instead. Again- uplifting. OH GOD!!

I am going to leave off there for now actually..no sense in having cold tea..unless it is in chinatown in Toronto for those who know what that means.

I now, am into my fifth week of classes maybe and am rehearsing for the chinese opera in which i am playing the lead- scholar Zhang. This is going to be crazy but so fun and difficult. I thought shooting myself in the mouth and "going there" emotionally on stage were hard...how about learning a completely different style of performance alltogether and singing and dancing with it in an experimental chinese opera in Singapore? WOW
okay, lines to learn and songs to sing
bye bye

Who Has Been a Bad Blogger??

Hello Hello

I write this post quickly with the remaining time I have left here in Bangkok. I have seen a lot of this city this time and have a new found appreciation for the kindness of Thai people and their hospitality. I stayed in a wonderful little place called lamphu house and fell in love with its charm. Next..tomorrow actually, I head on to Siem Reap to see the world famous temples of Angkor Wat. I really cannot wait for that. Following that a trip to Saigon and Mui Ne Vietnam for christmas. Furthermore, north to Han Oi, West to Vientienne Laos and back to Thailand for some trekking and some time in Bangkok before I head off to school again. EEEkkk

Well, my minutes are running out really fast.

I will do my best to try harder.

Michael

One Full Moon I Shant Forget

With this blank blog box in front of me, I am trying to think of where to begin this post. I clearly have been a bit absent this blog. Sorry :( I do intend to be more diligent but sometimes diligence and I are not the best of friends. That being said, here goes.

This week marks the end of my first semester here in sticky, hot Singapore. I have made a film, I have auditioned for a play that I'll be in next semester here at the school and I have learned some more Chinese language...again, so freakin' hard. I have also, as I write this, obtained food poisoning twice. To be honest, I think it is from the two times I have had western style fish and chips in both Malaysia and also in Thailand. NEVER AGAIN!!!! It is the worst feeling in the world to have food poisoning. I am sure you can all imagine the symptoms and I care not to explain. Let's just say, OUCH!!!!

Also, I went to the FULL MOON PARTY at Haad Rin on Ko Pha Ngan (a tropical Thai island in the Gulf of Thailand). This was literally the biggest pary I have ever seen in all my life. There were apparently a good 8 - 10,000 people there soaking in the night and soaking in a lot of other things as well. One thing that got soaked in my trip there was my camera. Not only soaked but dented at the zoom as well. I have bought a new one already but let's just say that I said some words my grandma wouldn't want me to post on here so I will refrain. This party was help along the entire stretch of the beach and getting there was a cheap 600 Baht return on a speed ferry. Getting away...not so easy. I was there with my beautiful friend Caitlin in all her glory and we arrived there at approximately 9:00pm. The place was nearly empty. By 11:00 pm or so, it was a very different story. By 3:00am, a much more different story yet. Now, one does not typically go for a one hour thai massage in the throngs of a party, but Caitlin and I did and it was the best idea ever. Kind of surreal to have crazy load music and people screaming and being ridiculous directly outside the window where you are twisted in some weird position feeling amazingly relaxed. Oh yeah!!!! Best idea ever!

The exit from the party

Let's just say that at 3:00am people get a little crazy and especially when they want to get home from this crazy party. I climbed down a ladder at 330am and joined the masses of other party goers. You have a certain colour ticket around your neck and the hundreds of people who are waiting crowd the boat whenever one arrives to find out if it is for pink, or blue or yellow or green tickets. Thank god the pink one was one of the first. Everyone looked like goldfish at a stream in an amusement park that people are feeding those little fish food pellets to. ONE BIG MESS!!!!! However we arrived back on Koh Samui and began the journey to find the lovely place my parents had rented and were sound asleep inside I mean, a really nice place. If I had had to return to some awful hostel I would have cried for sure.

I am safe, it was fun and I am happy I went. I would never go again though. Maybe I am getting old, maybe I don't like to party anymore, who knows. I just know that I do not need to see that beach and that party ever again.

Take Care

Michael

Finnish Disco Dancing

This is the video I watched to get some moves before the job began. SO HOT!!!

Saturday Night Fever Singapore Style...Grrrroooovy!

Now, as an actor I have done many strange gigs but the one I did yesterday definitely rivals the performing Shakespeare on a moving train. So, last month this girl, Kate, from my Praxis and Performance Theory class told me that her boss needed a white guy for a gig. Me, being always desperate for a dollar said yes. Now, as I said, I have done many a strange gig. Have I ever dressed up as John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever and walked around three different offices of Merrill Lynch calling all the local girls "Hot Stuff" while shaking my "groove thing" and "doin' the hustle?" Certainly not...until yesterday.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this tale is a tale like no other really. I mean, it's the type of thing that you may see in an ad campaign. My intention and requirements here were to walk around handing out flyers to all the staff in the office's many floors. Singapore is after all the 4th largest financial sector in the world so imagine how many floors of Merrill Lynch there really were.
The flyer was for registration into a dance contest that will be held at the office party on 1st December. Let's just say that Singaporeans could be described as shy and giggly if I am speaking in generalizations...the women specifically. Although a couple of them were wondering if I could be there partner. (tisk tisk) If I could enter I would. I think I would have a shot at the $1,500 top prize. Moooooove over HR and Training room B...here comes the Canadian. I was, after all, born in the 70's. Maybe there is still some left over grooviness in me.
Let's see what my tag lines were shall we?
"You got moves hot stuff?"
"Let it all hang out!"
"Shagadelic" (means groovy)
"Get down tonight"
To name only a few.

Needless to say, for the day I was referred to as Tony; the protagonist from Saturday Night Fever. Along with Kate, (AKA Stephanie) we wandered around with a cd player blaring ABBA and other disco sensations grooving for a cool 4 hours. Now, ordinarily I wouldn't shake a stick at some cash but...$50.00SGD?? It was a very meagre payout for an insane amount of energy spent. I did have a bit of fun though. The big black fro that I sported for some of the day really made me look handsome and the specs..so bogus!!!
Now, I will add this to the list of strange things I have done and hope that you can all imagine what I may have looked like. I have no pic as of yet..but soon!!

Keep on Keepin' On Dudes
Michael

Who's Been Bad??

Well well well,

I realize it has been quite some time since I put finger to keys..but I am doing it now. A lot has happened since my last post..post Kuala Lumpur. I recently received a school break from my exhausting three day school week. I am not about to begin to say that I am not busy though. Chinese language class alone is enough to fill me with anxiety make me want to crawl into a crib and whine for attention. SO HARD!!! Where do I begin?

Bangkok Thailand.

If you ever want to have a crazy, dirty, sleazy, sultry, strange and swindling good time...Bangkok is your destination of choice. I mean ping pong really does not mean two sweet Thai girls playing a lightning fast round of table tennis. I knew this to be true but I had never imagined what it would really be like. PATPONG. This sector of Thailand is a college jock with no morals dream come true. I will spare details for some of the readership but let's just say...WOWZA!!!

So...TOP FIVE BANGKOK EXPERIENCES:

1. Seeing all the craziness of Khao San Road filled with cheap eats, cooler treats and many, many backpackers

2. An amazing one hour Thai massage in which I was walked on and twisted and stretched and cracked all for a bargain price of $5.00CAD

3. Thai Boxing at Lumpini Stadium. This was quite cool really. 15 year old boxers who do a ritual at the top of each bout and proceed to kick and punch each other...crazy

4. The yummy yummy food. One can imagine and relate to how delicious real, Thai food is.

5. A motorcycle taxi. Being situated on the back of a motorcycle travelling 80km/h through bustling Bangkok traffic..weaving, dodging, and inhaling copious amounts of smog all at the same time....Now that's something to write home to mama about!!!

NEXT STOP - PATTAYA & COUCH SURFING!

Me and my friend Kristen from San Diego met up with Francois in Pattaya and stayed at his 19th floor, ocean front condo for...free. Thank you Couch Surfing. This service is a database of people who believe that travelling should not be expensive. Francois and the thousands of other couch surfing members open their doors to people who happen to be travelling in their areas becasue they love to meet new people and want to show people around. We saw Pattaya, were fed free booze, I was "dragged" up on stage in a local watering hole to sing with a band...FUN!!! Pattaya, much like Bangkok, is a bit sad in that the main source of tourism is the sex trade. I did not partake in this but to see it, is a combination of awe and just...well..depressing.

I could have eaten a cockroach in Pattaya but didn't. I mean, it was there, in front of me, on a grill, begging to be chewed by me, masticated by my jaws of fury...I could not bring myself to do it.

ANYWAYS
After Thailand; a trip including a badly made suit, a lot of beer, a bunch of bargaining, and a lot of smog, I headed back to Singapore and to my Best Friend Caitlin waiting for me at Changi Airport with a bag and a smile!!!

SO FUN to have a home and native lander here, in Singapore. We saw many things, had some drinks, saw little India saw the campus and we awaited the arrival of Christine..another home and native lander.

OFF WE WENT TO MALAYSIA!!!

Now, let me just say that we chose a destination that was random, cheap, low season, and so great.

Pulau Pangkor is an island on the west coast of Malaysia. There are apx. 25,000 people living there and the main source of income is fishing. The beaches were great and even greater because we were the only people on them. We saw three beaches; Coral Bay Beach 1, Coral Bay Beach 2, and the random name that I forget beach that we had to trek fifteen minutes through jungle to get to...WORTH IT!

To be the only three people on a beach with white sand and blue water and coral and intense sun.....AMAZING!


The highlight of my trip to Pangkor Island was seeing a Kampong Village. A Kampong is a house that is on stilts essentially. This village was entirely these homes, roosters and many people fishing and awaiting the day. I was enthralled with just looking and was tempted to speak to some locals about the lifestyle there. Next time I'll have to. This is the norm here. Of course to you or I it looks so poor and unkempt but this is life, this is the way it's done..my first real glimpse of an Asian town..was truly wonderful.



Well..I am now back in Singapore and have a Chinese midterm tomorrow. I anticipate a medium to okay grade. I still wish that all the local kids weren't allowed to take an intro to Chinese class but alas, they are and they will continue to. God, Chinese 2 next semester...EEEEeeeeK!!!



Since I have been here I have now:

- eaten chili crab

- had a Singapore sling at Raffle's Hotel

- gone to the Botanical Gardens

- gone to the man made Sentosa Island beach - (I'll write a post about it)

- travelled a fair bit

- had take away juice in a bag with strings...no take away cups here folks

- realized that recycling is hard to come by

- illegally chewed gum..twice

- met some great locals and other internationals



AND A LOT MORE!!!!



I did miss Thanksgiving though...so sad. I also missed the Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show in my home town. I have gone every year and this was the first year in 27 that I have not...no Laur's Taffy or Tiny Tom's Doughnuts this year.



I leave you now with this thought....

Yeah, that's right...the one in your head right now.



XOX

Michael

Kuala Lumpur

This weekend, I took a road trip to KL from jolly ole Singapore. The trip was fun and cheap and filled with good times. At 10:15pm on Thursday (how I love my school Schedule with a four day weekend every week) me and a fellow exchange student, Joe, headed out to catch a train that would arrive in KL 8 hours later. I have since learned that taking a bus can take as little as 3 or 4 hours....Oops! Anyways, this train was a slow mover..a very slow mover. Every couple of hours the train would cease to move for no apparent reason whatsoever. Thankfully the babies on board chose to be quite tired allowing us to sleep for a good 5 hours or so.

Kuala Lumpur had arrived and we were ready to explore and check into the hostel. It is comforting when there are other Canadians around. After checking in I headed to the kitchen of the hostel to have some toast and a "coffee." I overheard some girls discussing Vancouver and New Brunswick. "Exciting!" I thought to myself. "We truly are everywhere." The one girl, Marina, made a suggestion that we should head to the Lake Gardens and we took this advice.

Beautiful! The orchid garden which is home to over 900 varieties of orchids was truly beautiful. This was a pleasant escape from the dirtiness of the city. It was a big transition from sterile and clean Singapore. After the garden we headed to the planetarium. Now, I had yet to feel like a real outsider in Asia until this experience. Let's just say that the kids on a school trip from a local school had more fun pointing and laughing at us two skinny Caucasians then they had learning about Black Holes in space and Virtual Reality. So much so, that one boy wanted to have his picture taken with us...of course we said yes. STARDOM!

Who knew that booze would be soooo expensive in a place where everything else is so cheap?? I mean, really, a bottle of beer was $9.00CAD. But, being pulled on stage to dance with a bunch of girls in Beyonce wigs to YMCA was something to remember. No amount of booze could help me forget that. I knew the dance from my musical revue days when I myself pulled audience members on stage to join me in my Village People Costume. PAYBACK is a BITCH!

I also had the chance to visit the Batu Caves in KL. This was great because up until this point I had never seen monkeys in the wild just doing their thang. Here they were a couple of feet away from me, eating oranges and peeing. Cute, but I guess in some ways they really are the equivalent of skunks or raccoons in Canada...knocking over trash bins, scurrying away across wires and fence posts. But, baby monkeys are really, really cute.

Malaysia had just celebrated its 50th year of independence the week prior to my visit. Now, the amount of flags there was bewildering really. I have never, ever seen such patriotism in one place...except for Singapore on National Day...WOWZA!!!! I mean, some of these flags are as tall as a house and as wide as a....well...JUST PLAIN MASSIVE!

Anyways, I came back to Singapore happy to be in a clean environment and also, happy to have seen the less clean and more chaotic, more Asian less western Kuala Lumpur. Now, to go live in a remote village in Mongolia or China.

Peace Out Ya'll,

Michael