This Blog Is Called Reality Check For a Reason

I have never experienced such a different culture such as this in my entire life. Everything is so different that it is taking me a while to adjust. Thailand I think is a fine place. Safe, cheap, with friendly people. But man-o-man am I having a time adjusting to this place.

I've been here, what, 5 days? And Thailand is very accomadating and all, but it sure as hell ain't no Western society.

I went to eat at a breakfast buffet this morning and it had everything that you could want for breakfast, and if they didn't have what you wanted just ask and they will make it or get it for you. It cost me 110B. I went to a cigar shop called Cuban Corner and I was flirting with the girl working there if she could afford to eat there and she said "No, no. Too much money. Me save for week then eat." To me that's just under $3. I lose $3 in my sleep and she would have to save for a week. Wow. Reality Check!

Thai words and phrases that I know so far:

You say "kahp" at the end of a sentence if you are male or "ka" if you are female.

Sawadee kahp/ka (saw-wah-dee) - Hi. Hello.

Kahp cum kahp/ka - Thank you or You are welcome.

Kahp ma kahp/ka - thank you very much.

Baht = money

Soi - street

Where you go? - Take my bike taxi or tuk tuk instead of walking.

Farang (Fah-rong) - White dude. Which means "Walking ATM"

Hellooo sexy maaaan - You are a sexy man.

Th Kaosan Road in the daylight. That is it's name. I didn't miss an 'e' after th

Th Kaosan Road at night

This dude will whip up a mean dish of Pahd Thai for 20B. With rice 25B.

Coho. This is the lobby of The Buddy Hotel. They also had a dune buggy that was painted like a Ferrari. I knew I had found a good place right away.


At the Cuban Corner across the street from my guest house in Pattayan. Eat your hearts out you sucker lovers in the U.S.A. Cuban cigars everywhere. Heh heh heh. I spent 1745B on 5 cigars that is about one-third of the clerks monthly wage.

Ever wondered how much people get paid in Thailand? Click HERE to find out more.

On Th Koasan Road

I'm staying in arguably the best hotel in the area and it costs me 1800 Baht or $47 a night. 2 beds, TV with english speaking channels, a marble bathroom, minibar and fridge, plus room service and free breakfast. Deal, deal, deal. And this place is full of deals.

Internet is currently costing me 1 Baht (B) a minute. So for 60 B or about $1.50 an hour. BW The dollar is trading at around $1=40B. Or 38.95 today. A 1 litre beer costs 80B. 1 litre Pepsi at the 7-11 is 17B. A nice thin cotton long sleeve shirt 200b. T-shirt with printing on the front 80B. Dinner from a street vender 25B. Obviously ripped CDs of just about every poplular song artist 6 CD for 500B or 100B each. Taxi from the airport 700B.

Everything is different here. To the way you take a shit to eating. I'm still in a bit of a shock. But so far, at least where I'm staying, most everyone knows rudimentary English. Mostly I think in order to get your tourist dollar. But it is proving easier to talk to people than I had originally thought.

This was taken in China Town in Brisbane. I had to post this for Mom. Hi Dolly. Notice the black sign. You could make some good money here Mom.

Caught the reflection of the sunset outside my window in Brisbane. By comparison that single room with TV and en-suite cost me $85 a night.

At the "Thia Bar Thai Bar" on Th Koasan. Drinking a Phuket beer. A lager that was pretty tasty. A little sweeter and not as harsh an aftertaste as other Thai beer, like Singha.

This is the very flirtatious Singmai. The bartender at the Thai Bar Thai Bar.

I told you everything was different.

I tried to post more pictures but after 2 tries and getting "Server could not be found" I'll stop here for today. I will be leaving Bangkok soon for the city of Pattaya. My friend James told me to call Bob and Bob is a motorcyclist who told me that I can rent a bike for 10B a day. Or I could by a new 150cc scooter type bike for around 60,000B. That's what he rides and he said he goes everywhere in it. Yet another new adventure awaits.

Made it to Bangkok!

I'm really jetlagged and tired and in total culture shock, but doing well overall. It's 11 AM at this posting and it's around 9 P.M. on the U.S. West Coast. I just wanted to let you all know I'm alive and made it okay after a 9.5 hour flight and it was a pretty good flight overall on Thai Airlines; good meals, lots of free drinks including alocohol (water and juice for me, I don't like to drink too much on airplanes). Gotta run and check out of my room. More to come. Hopefully with some pictures.

The "C" Word

***WARNING***
If you do not want to expand your knowledge about what North Americans consider bad words while other parts of the World do not. Then stop reading any further.

Cunts:

Cunts is used all the time downunda and does not always mean a bad thing. But even when it is, it's not considered nearly as bad as North Americans do.

The first time I heard it used in it's most common way I was standing in line at the grocery store and I overheard the guy in front of me say on his cell phone. "I'm going to have a few of the cunts over to down some Four X and watch some footy."

I then went back to the hostel and asked the guy at reception if what I heard, is what I thought I heard. But he explained that cunts is used to mean friends or buddies. So the guy was saying that he was having his friends over to drink some beer and watch Aussie Rules Football.

Cunt is used mostly about men. I've never heard it used about women, but it does also mean she is not being nice. "Shut up Shirley. You're being a cunt."

But it also means you are an okay person. "I like you I think you're a good cunt." Or "This is Thom. He's a cunt."

Also to mean an idiot. "Look at that cunt crossing the motorway." Or "What a stupid cunt."

Piss:

This is used to mean getting drunk. "I went out on the piss last night." Or "We're all getting pissed." Or "I am really pissed."

It also means that you are just joking around. "Stop it Thom. You are just pissing around." Or "He's always on the piss."

To urinate. "I'm going to go piss."

You are really upset. "Thom really pissed me off." Or "I'm pissed about that."

These words are also used all the time on the Radio and T.V. as well as shit, fuck, asshole, and all the other words that Americans are not allowed to say. It is very liberating to know that by frequent use of these words the bad meaning of them has gone away so that these words are just other words to use and not know as "bad" words. But don't say bloody. Bloody is a bad word and some people get upset by that one. Go figure.

I can't wait to learn new ways of using language in Asian cultures. Off to Thailand tomorrow.

Pictures Day *Oh boy! Pictures!*

Me in the presence of The World's Largest Glass of Beer. At Sullivan's Irish Pub in downtown Christchurch. I'll never be the same again. Mmmmm beeeer.

The incredible Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki (Poo-nuh-ki-key)

Sun set at the Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki

Ha ha, I love this sign. A clear warning sign for bicycles just before a one lane bridge (lots of one lane bridges in N.Z.) used by cars and trains.

Sunrise in Queenstown N.Z. looking out my hotel window.

Same morning sunrise in Queenstown N.Z.

This was somewhere along the West Coast Highway of New Zealand. I had picked up a hitchhiker a few Kilometers back and as we turned the corner he, Deiter of Germany, said "Whaaaaat??!!" He was completely amazed. New Zealand is full of views like this.

Stopped at this crazy place in Wanaka N.Z. called "Puzzling World" some really crazy stuff here. I am actually standing level (check out the yellow levels on the wall)

Last Post From New Zealand

It's currently 6:48 P.M. (that would be 12:48 A.M. for you on the U.S.A. West Coast) and I'm in Christchurch and staying at Stonehurst. A great place that has most every type of accommodation you could want, from backpackers to 3 bedroom apartments. I am sad to let go of this fantastic country. The people are great, the sights are fantastic, and the beer aint so bad either.



If any of you ever get the chance to come down to NZ I highly suggest that you do. Make it a plan to come here. I want to get a motorcycle next time and zip my way across this wonderful land.



BTW I put all of my new pictures on to a CD today. In just a few days I had already taken 237 pictures. So, just think of how many that I may have lost from the fucking virus. Those dirty rat bastard virus writers are the scourge of the Earth. Not even allowed to eat out of Dazey dog's bowl. She could bite them if she wanted to. I miss Dazey... :(



Tomorrow I leave for Brisbane and stay there for a few days before I fly off to Thailand. It will be like landing on the moon with a bunch of tiny aliens and me, The White Giant. I'll see if I can find a place to upload some photos before I leave Brisbane.



I'm being safe Mom!

Virus Ate My Photos

One of the problems with doing your internet on the road is that you must rely on internet cafe's and kiosks and not all of them allow you to upload information. I found a place that allowed me to upload some of my photos to this blog and while doing that a nasty virus got into the digital card for the camera and all of my photos have been deleted by this virus. Plus, get this, it's called "James'_Shin". At least that is what the .exe file says on it. But I think there is still a remote chance that some pictures may be saved, but it will have to wait until I get back home. So that was a major bummer to me. It also cost me another $300 for a new card for the camera and for the work they did at the camera place to try to salvage any pictures possible, but really only a few of the pictures that I had put onto my keychain drive servived. At least I still have the photos that I have uploaded to this site. Right blogger.com?!

Gotta go, I have to take some photos of Frans Josef glacier.

Heavy Snow Strands Tourists

From my last report there were threats of closing the only road to Milford Sound. Well, they did and me and about 35 other travelers were stranded in Milford Sound for 5 days. I knew going into the situation that we might get stuck there, but I never thought it would be for that long. There is only one place to stay there, The Milford Sound Lodge, and we did the best we could with the situation. The employees and management were very nice to us. After the first 2 nights they gave us free dinner. The next day there was free espresso, tea, or hot chocolate. The real problem was trying to avoid cabin fever because it was raining, sometimes so hard it looked like hail, every day except the last day which was wonderfully and thankfully cloudless blue skies.

Each day they would post a sign about the road conditions and it was usually updates at 7:30 AM and then again at 2:30 PM. Each time for 5 days we got the same thing, "Sorry the road is still closed." Some people were getting obviously nervous, but honestly I was rather enjoying the solitude. I made some great, what I feel will be, long term friends and drank a lot of beer. Because, well, there wasn't much else to do after I did my Pilates, meditated, read, wrote in my journal, and played clue for the one-millionth time. We all got really good at that game.

On the last day we again got the news in the morning that the road might be open later, but we won't know more until 3:30. So they took us to the start of the Milford Track, which is only accessable to start by boat and is supposedly one of the top 3 walks in the world, for free. There is normaly a twenty dollar fee per person just for the boat ride. It truly was a wonderful walk.

When we got back to the boat we found out that the road would be open at 4 PM for those who have tire chains, I have chains, who want to leave or go in, and then it would be closed again. I left. I helped out my fellow travelers Tom and Claire, who became very good friends over the duration and they were VERY thankful to be leaving Milford Sould too.

At the gate they made us put on chains even though the road ahead was obviously clear, but wet. I was a bit mystified by this, but I'm just a guy in a rental car, and we really didn't need the chains until about 1 mile before this long tunnel and about a mile after. They had plowed just enough of the avalanche on either side of the tunnel just enough for the width of a camper to get through. But you could obviously see the remnants of avalanches all around the area. The local paper even did a story about us all being stranded at Milford Sound http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/southlandtimes/0,2106,3732301a6011,00.html

A story to tell for the rest of my life and over all a good experience.

Taken from the Bluff Lookout.

At Bluff, a place really, really, really far south.

Points Inbetween

Well, I've decided that I will go forth with the plans as they are for Thailand and Japan. The flights are scheduled to fly on July 24th to Thailand from Brisbane and then to Japan on August 20 and then to Portland on September 19 and then to Seattle. I may end up staying in Portland for a while to visit Douglas B. ( Hi Doug!) . I've said it before, this whole trip has been scary and exciting all at the same time.

From Dunedin I've been to Invercargall, Buff (the furthest Southern Point in the South Island and probably about as far South as I will ever be), Te Anu, and now I'm in Milford Sound.

Milford Sound is an absolutely stunning place. High mountain peaks and gorgeous waterways and it has been raining almost non-stop since I got here so there are waterfalls flowing everywhere you look *but again I'm not able to upload pictures, alas*. If you check out a map of New Zealand you will see that there is only one road in and out of Milford Sound and so far they have threatened to close the road for avalanche control twice in only about 24 hours. There is only one place to stay here and only one place to eat and get groceries and all of them are owned by the same company. They even own a tour/cruise company that will take you out for a 3 hour tour a 3 hour touuurrr (crash crash) the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed... you know the rest.

tomorrow I plan to get to Manatoa as long as the mountain pass remains open.

Picture Pictures Pictures

Happy 4th!

Since I haven't been able to upload for a while here is a bunch of photos for you. (BTW I'm currently in Dunedin and just went on the Cadbury Factory tour. Actually it was kind of boring. If it weren't for the free chocolate I wouldn't have gone.)

Downtown Christchurch. I like Christchurch.

The road out of Christchurch on my way to Gerladine and Mt. Hutt.

Mt. Hutt Ski Area

I forgot to mention that I did try to go skiing on the Saturday of my arrival but it was 1:30 P.M. when I got to the top of the hill and when I found out it would cost me about $200 (NZ) for rental equipment and then I found out that the hill closes at 4:00 so I figured that I would only get about an hour and a half worth of skiing in if I hurried and got my equipment on. So I decided that I would come back in the morning. But as things go while traveling, the road called to me and I went on to Mt. Cook.

Mt. Cook and the road leading to it. Ahh inspiring...

Outside the window of my room at the Mt. Cook YHA. I don't know if you will be able to see how blue the ice is, but check out the glacier just up of the first vertical post on the fence/rail.

The Amazing Jumping Corolla and another standard amazing New Zealand view, taken somewhere along the highway to Dunedin.

Taken at a view point on the opposite side of the river of the town/city/place of Cromwell (I didn't stay or go into the town).

Metal sculpture along the highway. I miss my motorcycle!

Lake Otiago and surrounding mountains.

The city of Dunedin as seen from the inside of The Amazing Jumping Corolla.

I don't know how long I will stay in NZ but I am looking into the whole work visa thing right after I finished doing this blog stuff.

New Zealand and Other Thoughts

*Not allowed to upload from this computer, but am able to download (go figure) so the pictures were found on the internet*

New Zealand is a wonderful place. I cannot say how cool the people are and how beautiful the scenery. Today I am writing to you all from the base of Mt. Cook at the Youth Hostel. Such a fantastic spot in the world as you would ever want to see or be.

Mt. Cook and Lake Pukaki

I stayed 2 nights in Christchurch and then went to a spot in the road called Geraldine. They are known for making great chocolate and cheese. The vintage 5 year old cheddar about made me faint, it is so good. But the raspberry chocolate nut bar... oh man... I could eat that stuff until I'm sick.

From there I went to Lake Tekapo and had my lunch on the shore. The water was supposed to be as blue as in the picture below, but it was a cloudy day so it looked grey. But it sure was pretty anyway.

Lake Tekapo

I will say this for New Zealand, they have better roads and better road signage than almost anywhere in Australia. I really like it here.

Here are some of my thoughts:

To try and get a work visa and stay in NZ for a long time (I only thought of this as a passing fancy in Australia) and only keep the rest of my flights scheduled for this trip as a means of getting home to take care of business.

What does New Zealand offer that I can't get back in The States? A job? A wife? A new way of life?

The beer is around here is okay. Not as good as in Australia, so there's a minus. I've tried Tui -reminds me of lucky Lager. SD Draught Beer - A Lager. Lagery lager lagerness. Speights (the big national brand)- almost like a good ale. Moa- a decent champagne style beer. However I do plan to go to the Speights Brewery in Dunedin.

**I miss Iron Horse Beer!!!!!** That was for you Q.

Stay in New Zealand for as long as possible and only briefly visit, for like a week or so, Thailand and Japan.

I am just now realizing what I will be undertaking in Thailand and Japan. Not only do I not speak the language, but I am also finding that Japanese, for the most part, do not speak English very well or not at all and from what I've heard from other travelers who have gone to Japan English is spoken about as much as Japanese is spoken in America eventhough it is taught to them at a young age. A fellow from Taiwan, Chia Hoa, said that he got around better by speaking Chinese than with English. Anyway, I think that I will have a difficult time getting around in these countries and that makes me nervous. I don't really want to not go to these countries, but I hope you get how I feel and maybe you would too in my position.

Thanks again for reading the blog and I enjoy reading your comments. Be well my friends.