Thailand: A photo retrospective

OK, so I think I finally have all of my Thailand pictures uploaded. I'll save you the boring narratives about the incredible people I met or the amazing places I saw and do my best to explain the trip with pictures and captions. Also, I'm burned out at work and words are just not coming to me like they usually do.

Keep in mind I was on my own for much of this trip, so I'm not in many of the shots.

The skytrain in Bangkok, incredibly efficient and cheap

"Snakes on a Plane" in Thai

I took the skytrain to a ferry that took me down the river where you see several paragons like this one. I have to say, getting around Bangkok is extremely easy.


Outside the Temple of the Reclining Buddha


The reclining Buddha


Putting coins in the prayer jars

I loved these guys. They stand about 9 feet tall and there are two of them outside of almost every doorway in these temples.

Muay Thai boxing!

This is some crazy dance routine they do right before they fight. I splurged for ringside seats and it might have been the best decision of the trip.

I watched this stuff for about 3.5 hours and could have stayed all night

You probably can't tell, but these kids are about 15

Outside the Royal Palace

Inside the Royal Palace

These are incredibly detailed paintings that go all the way around the palace

This guy's job was to touch them up. There are a team of artists who work on these paintings year-round.

Main processional grounds inside the palace

Outside the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Probably the coolest of the temples I saw but nobody is allowed to take pictures inside.

You know how awkward it is to take a picture of yourself when your by yourself and people are watching?

Street market in Chinatown. Basically a huge pile of antiquated electronics

This guy had a great selection. And for your info, the tape cassette is Peter Frampton's "I'm In You"

This guy was trying to tell me that not only was this phone new, it worked

If you want a store with a good selection of cell phone covers and nothing else, this place is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. MILLIONS OF CELL PHONE COVERS

There was a ton of great jazz in Bangkok! This was one night at Brown Sugar, a jazz club I went to three nights in a row. I became pretty good friends with these guys and even played a little on that Thai guy's horn. That cat actually didn't speak English, yet we both knew how to play the sax so without talking we handed the horn back and forth and showed eachother what we knew. Pretty cool experience.

One night, after bouncing to about 5 bars, I was on my way to the hostel when I heard singing and guitars coming from the Mexican restaurant next door. For some strange reason, at 3:00 AM, I decided to check it out and stumbled into a family birthday party. These guys were hilarious! Nobody really spoke much English, but we drank till 4:00 AM while singing Thai songs. One of the better memories of the trip.

Me with the fam.

This guy was pretty funny. I was pretty drunk.

The next morning I was clearly hungover. I sat in the park to read and this guy insisted on teaching me Thai. He also knew all 50 US states and capitals.

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Then I went to meet Winnie at Ko Panang, an island off the southern coast, for the Full Moon party and to do some chillaxin after being on my feet for the first 4 days with very little sleep.

After taking a 15 hour bus ride, we were piled aboard a ferry that took us 3.5 hours to Ko Panang. This was the back end of the boat.

Ever seen "The Beach"? You could totally live in seclusion on one of these hundreds of tiny little islands for years before someone found you.

The only way to get to the beach where I was staying was to take a water taxi. That's right, this beach was so secluded no roads to it exist. This is also the beach where 8,000 drunk Europeans gathered on August 9th for the Full Moon party. Unfortunately there are no pictures from this because I did not even want to risk bringing my camera.

Leaving Haad Rin beach to go to Haad Tien where I was staying

Haad Tien beach

My resort at Haad Tien


Shot of Haad Tien from the cliff


About a 5 minute walk from our resort was this awesome restaurant on the rocks that looked over the next beach over. We sat here quite a bit.

So that's the trip. Thailand, much like Sri Lanka, is definitely a place I'll go back to. Bangkok is one of the cooler cities in Asia.

Alright, back to work. Later guys.

Another one bites the dust

When I first arrived in India there were 7 of us (Matt, Scott, Pete, Laura, Winnie, Nevena, Juan). The nature of our assignment here is temporary, so nobody is expected to take the plunge for longer than a few years. Inevitably, there will be people who leave for various reasons. Some may quit, some may transfer elsewhere with IndiaIT. Since I've been here, I've seen a few leave and it's never a good thing, especially as the group of Americans grows smaller. Not to say I don't have Indian friends, but it's nice having someone to talk to about US sports, going to college in the US and basically reminiscing about home. Actually, it's not nice. It's essential to maintain sanity. I like to maintain a balance, and that balance is slipping away. Also, coming to India in such a small group we’ve all grown pretty close and when we lose one of the family it most definitely changes the dynamic of the situation.

Early readers may remember Matt, my good buddy who helped me acclimate to India from the point of view of a frat guy for whom reality in India hit hard. He left back in December due to extenuating circumstances and the fact that he had fundamental differences with India’s culture, and this place hasn’t been the same since.

Me, Classic Matt

Then Nevena left. While I didn’t hang with Nevena much, she was always a fun person to be around and I knew her boyfriend, Prakash, very well. She left in June, and even Nevena leaving was a change.

Winnie, Nevena, Laura at Tony's wedding

Now, all of a sudden, we’re dropping like flies! Winnie, one of my best friends and travel buddies, left for the US last night. India, especially working in India, can be a trying experience at times and some of us deal with it differently than others. For Winnie, she had had enough and wanted to go back. God knows I’ve had times where I felt the same, but really I don’t have the rocks to move back to the US yet. It’s a pretty scary change of lifestyle that may or may not go well. While I have absolutely no doubt that Winnie will be fine, she will also be sorely missed.

Hahaha

Pete, another great friend as well as flatmate, will be leaving me in the beginning of September to work for IndiaIT in the US. Pete has been very successful in his job here and his boss wants him back ASAP. The funny thing is that Pete doesn’t want to go, he’d rather live here. Not to say that wanting to stay here is crazy, plenty of people have stayed when given the option, but to be offered a job where you’d make actual salary in United States Dollars is an exciting thought.

Festive Pete, Myself

So this is a tribute to those that are no longer here. There are many expats who have come through town that I’ve become good friends with, but that’s the nature of the international revolving door that is Bangalore. It makes me wonder, when will I hit the point where I need a change of scenery? I used to think that I’d wake up one morning and say, “OK, that’s it! I’m outa here. Peace!” But it’s definitely not that way. The frustration ebbs and flows, but will stay on an upward or downward trend for periods of a few months. Sometimes I think I could stay here for another year or more, other times I think I need to get out by January. While I’m leaning towards being home in January (March at the latest), only time will tell.

Thailand was incredible!

See subject.

Just got back to the office so not much time to muse, but I'll post tons of pics in the next day or so.

Good to be back.