Teal’s trip abroad! (part d’eux)

I just ran across this old blog of mine. Looks like my last entry was from sometime back in 2009 or so. My how things have changed in the last 7 years. I took that trip to SE Asia back in September of ’09. It ended up taking me back to Thailand and on to a few new places. I spent about a month in Cambodia, mostly Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. One major highlight was going to see the ruins of Angkor, which was the seat of the Khmer kingdom from the 9th to the 15th centuries. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to say the least and something I will never forget. My travels also took me to Vietnam, a place I’ve always had an itch for and a place that really left me longing to go back. I stayed in Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) and toured the Mekong Delta region for roughly two weeks. I was traveling with an English bloke I met back in Thailand and we had a hell of a time exploring HCM city. One of our excursions was to go see the Cu Chi tunnels, which during the war were a major network of underground tunnels all over northwestern Saigon that aided in securing victory for the Viet Cong in the war with the United States. We rode two-up on a motorbike thinking it was only going to take a short time to get there and later found out it was much much farther away. We had some really sore asses after that trip and it makes me think twice whenever I look at a map to check distances from now on.

After returning from Vietnam and Cambodia I decided to check out a city in Northern Thailand named Chiang Mai. It turned out to be just the kind of place I was looking for so I decided to spend a few months there soaking up the culture and studying a bit of Thai language and Muay Thai (Thai boxing). I really enjoyed my stay up there as the weather is more like I’m use to back here in the west, cool in the evenings and not too hot during the days, and it’s nestled up in the mountains so you get some great scenery and some fun twisty roads to traverse on the motorbike. As luck would have it I ended up meeting some good friends as well. Two of them, a Dane and a German, I still keep in touch with to this day!

Now here is where the story starts to get interesting. This whole time since 2007 I’ve had a girlfriend. I met her here in Los Angeles after returning from my first trip abroad back in 2006. She is from Thailand and with me having spent a lot of time over there, naturally we hit it off pretty good. So good in fact that we now have two lovely children together, a six year old daughter named Miranda and a 9 month old son named Aspen. I’ve often thought that some day I would like to have children but always much later in life. Perhaps things happen for a reason, perhaps not, but they are the light of my life. Before kids I think I was like most people, very self-centered and probably a little lost in life. I didn’t really have a sense of direction or know what I wanted out of life. Not to say that they gave me the answers I was looking for, but having children kind of takes the focus off of yourself and gives you a really good reason to want to be here. I still long to travel but now hope that they are involved in my future adventures. Some of my best days are spent just being with them and going for a family walk in the park or hanging out together at home. Kids really do change your life in more ways than one.

That pretty much sums up my life in the past seven years. Things have happened – for the better – that I really wasn’t prepared for at the time and I’ve just made the best of it. That’s about all you can do in life, just make the best of it!

I arrived in Thailand a little over two weeks ago. Now, I’m finally on the Island of Koh Tao and staying with Uwe. I’m starting to get into a groove here. Today we are blessed with unlimited sunshine all day after many many days of bad weather, rain and constant storms.

Uwe’s got a really good setup here using all the elements to their fullest. He has 13 solar panels for power, a wind generator I brought from the states, and a diesel generator for backup. He also has 10,000 liters of water storage tanks and the rain water goes directly into them for use on demand.

I think my plan for now is just to stay here a bit and relax. I’m realizing how I’ve been pent up so much from living in Los Angeles the past 2 1/2 years and it’s been nice as I’ve been reading everyday and catching up with Uwe and soaking up Thailand.

I’ll do my best at keeping updates coming, I don’t always have a good internet connection.

It’s been sometime since I’ve written on my blog. I’m going on almost 3 years now since I’ve been back from my first big trip. It’s such a cliche’, but time really does go by so fast and it waits for no one.

I’m really looking forward to getting my feet firmly planted back on Thai soil. This past year and all the turmoil that ensued really makes you realize ones priorities. It’s made me realize things come and go, money, friendship, and career. All are marvelous to have, but sometimes you have to leave behind those things to forge a different path in life. Do things that are downright uncomfortable at times to realize what else the world may have in store for you. Travel, like I’ve done in the past, is something that fills the void that’s deep inside at times. It’s never easy walking away from a comfortable life out into the unknown world with many uncertainties. That my friends, is the real beauty of it in itself. The unknown factor. We all pretty much know day in day out what’s in store for us. Get up for work, walk the dog, commute to the office. These things can become so mundane and such a drudgery after awhile. While nothing is guaranteed, bouncing around the world from place to place, you really don’t know who or what you’ll encounter next. This is why I do it. To walk through the world with the wonderment of a child once again.

If all goes well, in less than two weeks I will once again be somewhere that for the past few years was only in my dreams. Traveling, learning, laughing and loving the Amazing Thailand!

It’s that time of the year once more and I’ve been looking back reflecting on all my blogs and pictures and travel journals and thinking, WOW, it’s been how long since I’ve been back from my trip! In a few days we’ll all be marching in the New Year and shortly thereafter life as we know it will be the same as it was last year, but not for me.

This trip has changed me in ways I had never imagined. Sitting at home I find myself longing to hit the road again, I want to feel that feeling of freedom again, that feeling of excitement, the smells of the distant lands. I want to travel again!!

So, where to from here. At this point it doesn’t really matter where, it just matters that I go. Maybe this is my future, maybe this is what fulfills me. This wanderlust I so greatly enjoy. Only time will tell. All I know at this point is that I need to get the f#@k outta here.

I’m finally home safe and sound from all my far flung travels. It’s been quite a whirlwind experience and now that I’ve been home for 3 months, I’m slowly putting together all the little bits and pieces of things I’ve seen, learned, and experienced from along the way. I’m back in Los Angeles now living at my friends house until I can find my own place. I went through a really tough time adapting back into our way of life. There is a good quote from T. S. Eliot’s “Little Gidding”

And at the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

as inspiring as this all sounds , however, “knowing” your home for the first time means that you feel like a stranger in a place that should feel familar. It’s unsettling and just plane old wierd. I had my good days and a bunch of “what the hell am I doing now” kinda days, but it’s all been for the greater good of learning alot more about myself.

On the flip side I have been enjoying getting reacquainted with everything back here. I spent at least a month taking the bus and walking to all my destinations. Old habits die hard ya know. And for the haters of the L.A. public transit, I say phooey. It’s not that bad. I more recently purchased a new used car. I got myself a sweet little Nissan 300ZX. It’s been over a year and a half since I had a car and it’s a pretty cool luxury to have again! Another major change I took on was getting braces! Christ, I feel like I’m in my teens all over again. LOL. It’s the second time around for that and this time I promise to wear my retainer 🙂 Life is good and I am realizing there is alot of truth in the adage “enjoy the journey”

I’m keeping in touch with friends I’ve met along the way and it’s nice to feel connected to a part of the world that use to seem so far away. This world of ours is not as big as it once seemed and I realize that decisions we make impact so many people all over the planet. It’s incredible to grasp the stronghold of the United States of America. It’s also a little sad in the sense that all these places I’ve visited are slowly losing there culture to a more globalized oneness. Through our movies, which are everywhere, and our media. This is one of those things that is twofold because, had it not been for the world being so global, people like myself never would be able to travel like I did, and because we travel we make it more like our homes. In the way that we bring in our Mcdonalds, Starbucks, Megastores, and all the rush rush rush bullshit.

Can you feel the love?!?! I’m very proud of where I’m from, but have come to the thinking that life as we know it here in my opinion needs to change. We have it so comfortable here with all our nice houses and credit out the yazoo. We finance anything we want on a whim and make a payment for the rest of our life to have something we don’t need. We are so dependent on cars and gas and have nothing to show for it but a bunch of unhealthy stressed out lifestyles. What is happening to my home? I’m sure it’s always been this way, but now, I feel like I’m finally waking up to smell the coffee.

Well, that’s enough of my opinions. No place is perfect and like I said before, I’m very proud of where I’m from and the opportunity it provides me.

On a final note. I’m now employed once again. I’m working back at the motorcycle shop. Part time this time around. Giving myself ample time off to enjoy the simpler things in life, like going on weekly hikes and having time to wake up slow! I also will be pursuing my acting dream once again. I start classes here in two weeks and I’m excited to move in that direction. Also I recently started doing Yoga! That is something I never thought I would end up getting involved with, but it’s turning out to be a huge turning point in really getting inside my body and finding out what I need. I highly recommend it for those of you who might not otherwise give it a chance. Like I said before, life is good and I’m enjoying my journey, my path, wherever it may lead me.

To all my friends and family, I look foward to the day when once again we are together, sharing in each others lives and seeing all your smiling faces!

Today marks the third country for me to be traveling in. I arrived in Vientienne Laos yesterday after a two day journey by motorcycle, bus, and finally train to get here from the western part of Thailand. I’m feeling a bit sick, I think I have some sort of cold and I’ve been running myself ragged the past few weeks with travel, sightseeing, and a little partying.

It’s been a few months since I’ve updated my blog, I guess I’ve just been lazy. I’ve been traveling this time around for about 4 1/2 months. I arrived back in Bangkok on July 20 to meet up with Uwe. After that we toured around and hit up the hot spots of the south. Places like Phuket, Krabi, Hat Railey, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Chang, and finally ending up in Koh Tao where Uwe is building a house as of the time I’m writing this. We had a good journey together. We each purchased Thai made motorbikes in Ranong, Thailand. They are Tiger 125cc four stroke motorbikes. Similar to a scooter back home but a little bigger and they have a four speed manual transmission. All and all a good bike, but not the most comfortable to travel distance on. I have about 6,000 kilometers on mine now.

I’ve met alot of interesting people along the way and have been in some places that before I’ve only dreamt about. My plan now is to travel through Laos then on into Vietnam and lastly Cambodia. We’ll see how it goes, one thing I’ve learned about travel is that things rarely go as planned.

Well, thats it for now. I’ll do better at keeping this updated for those of you who are interested. Tonight I’m off to go check out a Laos discoteque with some Swedish friends I met last night. 🙂 Should be a blast!!

Well here it is June 4, time flies when your having fun! I’m back in Bangkok. Three months on the road and I’m officially worn out. I’ve been struggling with my options of continuing my travels or packing up and heading home. I’ve decided for the later and think it will be a welcome change and long overdue I might add, to head back to Pennsylvania and see my family! It’s been over a year since I’ve seen my parents and my sister and over two years since I’ve actually stepped foot in York and seen my other relatives! This is a much needed stop at this point in my life and I look foward to spending alot of time just reconnecting!

As for my trip, it will always be here whenever I decide to recontinue. I’ve been blessed with having met great people and having seen some amazing things, traveling is something I hope to continue throughout this life of mine and I think it’s something we should all do at some point. I’m a bit sad to say goodbye, for I know some of the people I’ve met I may never see again. But, I guess that’s all part of life, and hopefully I can keep in touch with the people who meant the most to me! I’m thankful that I have people back at home waiting my safe return, for it has been lonely at times traveling solo as I’ve done. All in all I’m happy to have taken the chance to live a dream of mine and see it through to completion! This is something I will never forget!!!!

I arrived in Manila Philippines last wednesday safe and sound! I’m now in Toril, which is about a 20 minute car ride outside of Davao City on the island of Mindinao. The weather here is very similar to Thailand, Hot and then Hotter!!

Thursday I finally met up with my friend Nelle! She is a very good tour guide and I’ve managed to rent a house and a motorbike for the month, thanks to her. The prices are unreal. The house is $150 for the month and the motorbike is $60 for the month.

This thursday we will be going to Mt. Apo to start the hike! So far we’ve been playing tennis ( Nelle is really good ), hanging at the beach and yesterday we went to the creek swimming.

The people here are very nice and Nelle comes from a very large family. It seems like most familys have at least 3-4 kids, so we spent at least two days touring all her relatives houses to drop in and say hello. They are all very welcoming and we have had some really fun times drinking beer and telling stories and laughing! One funny thing is that wherever I go throughout town, people are always yelling ” Hey Joe”, it takes some getting used to and it’s pretty funny, I guess they think everyones named Joe in the states. We tried to count the other day but lost track at 20!

I’ll keep ya posted on Mt. Apo and should have some really good pics. to come. Take care and I miss you all!!

Just got back from Phuket! It was a week of constant drinking and partying. I think I took at least a year off of my life from all the shameless debauchery…LOL It’s a very booming tourist kinda town filled with Farangs (Thai word for us Caucasians) from all walks of life. This mayvery well be the entertainment capital of Thailand. It’s extremely colorful and vibrant, lots of older men looking for love and young women looking for money.

I spent most of my time in Patong beach, a very popular entertainment and nightlife area and also a spot hit hard by the Tsunami. They’re still rebuilding near the beach and I’m told that practically all the buildings on the beach-side are newly rebuilt. Such a terrible tragedy.
I’m back in Chumphon for a few days of recuperation and then off for Bangkok and on to the Philippines. Looking forward to checking it out to see the differences in culture!

Well, it’s been nearly a week and a half since I arrived here in Chumphon, which seems like along time in a quite little town like this. I never planned on staying here, but the people that I’ve had the good fortune to run across have kept me wanting to stay longer. They are some of the most genuinely nicest people I’ve ever met, thier english is minimal and my thai is BAD..lol, but somehow we manage to communicate and have a great time together.

I’ll post some photos on my Yahoo photos and send them out to everyone. You’ll notice some pictures of me with my new Thai friends. We got together two separate nights and had a Thai style BBQ, very nice and great food!! I’m trying a lot of foods that I never thought I would before! All in all, having a great time. It will be tough leaving this place, just so many nice people!

My diving experience was kind of a let down. I spent two days in the pool and classroom learning theory. I felt comfortable and all was going well. On Thursday we took the dive boat out to the nearest island, about an hour off shore. On the first open water dive, we dove to about 10 meters, I was cool, but having a problem equalizing my ears. Finally got equalized and when I got to the bottom, I don’t know why, but I just started hyper ventilating and my heart was racing! We surfaced and took a break then went back down. The same thing happened! So, I gave up for the day and just snorkeled the remainder of the day. That’s it for now, maybe I will try with a different instructor later. I was talking with some other instructors and they mentioned that my dive instructor was wrong in not having any kind of line to descend with, I guess that’s the proper way for the first dive.

Heading to Phuket tomorrow for some more beach scene and nightlife. It should be good! Then I head to the Philippines April 5!! Take care.