Hey guys, tomorrow (Thursday the 19th) I will moving once again to a new place. I mentioned before that I was thinking of staying at a place called the Tri-Gong Residence, but I ended up going with the Awana House, and I’m definitely glad I made that decision. The receptionists were very friendly and helpful, the cleaners were always prompt and polite, and my room itself was just fantastic.

As for my next destination, I will be staying at a place near or possibly even connected to (I’m not quite sure) Chiang Mai University called the CMU International Center Hostel. I purposely planned to get as close to CMU as possible, so I could use their athletic facilities, WiFi, and hopefully meet some better English speakers.

While I do really like the Thai people, I do feel alienated a lot of the time since I do not speak Thai and they very rarely converse in English (they only do when they need to). I don’t expect to meet Thais who are like Westerners, but at least if they speak fluent or semi-fluent English (or Engrish, haha) I will be able to hold a higher quality conversation with them than just very simple questions and answers. The Thai people are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met, and are always up for a good time, so it’s a big bummer for me to not be able to completely enjoy their company. They are constantly laughing and joking around, but 95% of the time I have no idea what they are talking about. Now, do not think that you absolutely need to know the Thai language in order to live here; that is completely false. Yes, there have been mix-ups and confusions in conversations, but with a little patience and maybe some miming, the ideas can always make it through clearly enough in the end.

If there is one thing I like most about Chiang Mai, it is definitely the food (and how cheap it is). For example, for dinner tonight, I had fried rice with chicken and a water, and it costed me 40 baht, which is like $1.12… and I was completely filled up. The portions are substantial, and as an American, there is nothing I appreciate more than a good cheap meal. During lunch time, I like to walk around and explore different areas to find new places to eat. It kills two birds with one stone, since I get exercise and I find cool new places to go to. The street vendors are always selling cheap stuff as well, although I tend to be wary of some of them, but it really isn’t hard to tell which ones look alright and which ones don’t. Earlier this week, I ate lunch for like 20 baht, just shopping around at the different street vendors, and I was good and satisfied (I had some chicken and some eggroll-type things). All of the food I’ve had has been delicious, and I honestly have never gotten food poisoning or even had diarrhea. As long as you keep your eyes open, you’ll be sure to find a lot of great stuff for really cheap.

As I mentioned in an email to someone previously, another gripe about Thailand I have besides the lack of quality English speakers is, weirdly enough, the other foreigners. If there is a place in the world for dirty old white men, it is definitely Thailand. Some of the foreigners (or farangs as the Thais call us) are honestly some of the most disgusting, vile human-beings I have ever met in my life. I can take a joke just as well as the next guy, but even I have my limits. Some of these men just have no care or consideration for other people’s morals.

I was hanging out at a bar the other day with some Thai friends (females), and these two British men joined in and started talking with us. At first they were pretty cool, but after some more drinks, their true colors started to shine. The girls I was with were both fairly attractive 20-somethings, and the two British men must have been in their 40’s, and the men not only asked both the girls to their faces if they would sleep with them (and I must say, they were not polite or indirect about it), but they were grabbing them, touching them, being loud and obnoxious, and just being straight-up assholes. It is cool and funny to be this way when the girls actually like you, because it isn’t perceived in the same way, but when you are in your 40’s and hitting on 20 year-olds, it is just plain child molester creepy.

There was another instance with another British guy (what’s up with those guys?) where he ended up talking to me about all of the different drugs he had done. I don’t remember how we got into the conversation, but he claimed to have been a previous user of crack, cocaine, LSD, mushrooms, marijuana, opium, some other kind of drug that was in pill form, and I’m sure there were others. I will admit, the conversation was interesting, but Jesus, crack? Cocaine? What the hell is wrong with this guy? I guess that’s why he’s in Thailand.

Anyway, that’s it for now guys. Stay tuned for my report on my new place at Chiang Mai University!

Hey guys, I arrived in Chiang Mai around 8:15 PM last night, and I must say… it’s awesome! I stayed in a more upscale room last night for 500 baht, and man, it was worth way more than that. It was probably nicer than my own room back home! Tonight (Friday) I moved upstairs to the fourth floor to a cheaper room, and I was a little afraid at first about how it would be, but once again, my expectations were totally thrown out the window. I don’t have AC in this room (not that I really need it too badly anyway) nor do I have a mini-fridge, but I actually have more space since the room isn’t so cramped with unnecessary furniture.

Last night when I went out to get a bite to eat, I walked around the corner and heard some live music. I decided to check it out, and ended up getting a table right up front. The band had a cute chick singer along with a drummer, bassist and pianist. The singer had a great voice and they played a lot of great cover songs (all American songs in English too, pretty damn good for an all Thai band). Later on when they took a break I stopped over at their table to say hey, and they were all really cool and pulled up a chair for me right away (they kept filling up my glass too, haha). We talked for a bit and had some laughs then they played a couple more songs, and I eventually bid them all a good night.

I was still pretty awake so I walked around some more until I found this little dive bar with a pool table that I had spotted earlier on my taxi ride from the airport. Right away I got another drink and started talking to the cute Thai girl serving me. Some more people came and went and I eventually played this older British guy named Andy. He beat me by a couple balls, but he played well so I was fine with it. There were two other Thai girls working there as well who I alternated talking to and playing pool with. They were all cool and pretty good pool players as well. By the end of the night I had taken a liking to this one Thai girl named Pet (sp?) and we played a game together, it was a close game but I came out on top. We were all tired and the others were pretty drunk so we all decided to call it a night and hang out again tomorrow.

Andy and I were heading back in the same direction so we walked and talked a bit, and I noticed that he was actually a lot drunker than I thought. He was walking very quickly and was a little clutzy, but we eventually made it back to the street where his place was. Unfortunately, at this point we had passed the street in which my place was located, and I tried to backtrack, but was having no luck. Andy being a bit drunk and trying to act a bit fatherly to me, kind of freaked out a bit and said he didn’t want to leave me alone out here. He wasn’t creepy or anything, but he was overreacting. I was totally fine and just needed to walk back a bit further, but Andy insisted that we ask someone where my place is located. We weren’t too far from some people, so I just figured it’d only take a second. We walked in and asked, and of course the people didn’t exactly know. I was fairly sure at this point where my place was, but Andy didn’t want to take any chances. The Thai guy called someone, and while he was on the phone Andy started joking around a bit with the other Thais. They offered him another drink and he took a seat, but I kindly rejected. I was getting pretty aggravated at this point because I knew where it was, but I just couldn’t get Andy to leave me alone without being worried. Thankfully, I eventually managed to get away a little and I spotted a sign for my guest house. I made it back safely, and despite some of the aggravation, I went to bed with a smile on my face.

The Full Moon Party was definitely an interesting experience. There’s nothing quite like being on a beach filled with thousands of people, all drinking and dancing. Unfortuntely, my recollection of the event is pretty spotty. I didn’t personally take any photos, but I know the others did so hopefully there will be some pictures for me to show soon enough. Emily also has some video of me teaching, so hopefully she puts that on Facebook or something so I can share that with you guys.

Anyway, moving on, our group consisted of me, Emily and her twin sister Sally (UK), Jacques (South Africa), Carla (Canada), Lucy (UK) and Alysia (Cali). Greg had already left for Bangkok so he was no longer with us (refer to the photos page to match names with faces). Before going out for dinner, I met some Thai women who were hanging out outside of my bungalow, painting different things on their arms and faces with the neon paint the Full Moon Party is famous for. They convinced me to let them paint some things on me, so I got some flames, a few sun ray type things, and a shamrock that was actually yellow and orange (they didn’t have green, but whatever).

Two Irish fellas joined me and the girls and we all sat around and talked for a bit. The mosquitoes were at their peak and we were all getting horribly bitten up (even with bugspray on) so I decided to go meet up with the others for dinner. We got some dinner at one of the local places and then headed off to our places to pre-party for a bit. I hung out with Emily and Sally at their place and we all had some drinks and goofed around, then we met up with the others later on the beach.

I was already fairly buzzed by the time we arrived at the beach, but then of course one of the Irish guys shows up and immediately convinces me to split a bucket with him. The bucket is the official party drink of the Full Moon Party. It consists of some kind of hard liquor such as rum, whiskey, vodka, etc. mixed with Coke and Red Bull. It hits you a lot harder than you’d think, and I was definitely too over-confident.

Full Moon Bucket

After a lot more drinking, dancing, yelling to each other because the music is so loud, pointing and laughing at other drunk people, and checking out some girls going topless, we were all pretty hammered. Now, don’t get me wrong here, being 1 of 2 guys with a bunch of girls is awesome, but in the wrong situation, it can be pretty disastrous. There were several instances on other nights where guys would be hootin’ and hollerin’ at all of the girls as I walked by with them while they made snarky remarks to me like “Yeah, keep smiling buddy!” or “All of them can’t possibly be with you!” and I would just keep on walking. But tonight, I was pretty over the edge and the music was pumping, so I wasn’t going to take shit from anyone.

Now, it may have been my own imagination, or I was just insinuating things because I was drunk, but I swear there was a group of guys a couple yards away from me and the girls that were giving me “that look”. The one that wants to start something. So I start staring back at them. Little did I care that there was maybe 4 or 5 of them and one of me, or that they were all a lot bigger than me. I was going to stand my ground this time. Anyway, one of the guys starts walking towards me and I’m still staring right at him. He walks by me and, I swear to my best memory, gave me one of those “move outta the way punk” side-swipes with his right arm. At this point I was pretty furious, and had pretty much accepted my fate. I was going to get into a fight tonight. I looked around to see if I could get some help. Jacques and my Irish buddy from before were close by. I walk up to them: “Guys, I am going to fight those guys over there. I need some help.” They asked me to point out which ones I was talking about. “Yeah, those guys.” They came over and stood next to me on each side. We stared at the other group, waiting to see if they’d make a move. And… they did. They walked towards us. Closer and closer, I was getting ready, but they just walked right by us. I turned my head at them, confused, wondering what had just happened. They had just gone over to the other friend, the guy who pushed me before, and were just standing there drinking. I walked up to them, still kind of confused: “Hey… umm, dude, why’d you push me man?” The music was loud, but somehow he understood me. “Uhh, did I? Sorry, I didn’t mean to, man. Here, want some?” He offered me a drink of his bucket, and was actually being sincere. At this point I just kind of lost it a little. “Hey guys, look, I don’t want any trouble okay? I just want to have fun, ya know? No trouble.” They looked at me and just chuckled. They had no idea what I was talking about. Apparently it was all just in my head, just pent up anger or whatever. “Yeah man, same here. We just want to have a good time.” I shook the guy’s hand and took a swig from his bucket and went back to the girls. Bomb diffused.

We all ended up getting split up a bit after a while, and I headed back alone (I was way too drunk for a girl anyway), so there isn’t much more to tell. We saw plenty of people passed out head first in the sand on the beach, as well as plenty of guys taking leaks in the sea. In the end, we all had a great time and woke up with horrible hangovers. The end!

Hey everyone, the Full Moon Party is tomorrow and we’re all pretty excited. The constant loud music gets pretty nerve-racking as well as the boisterous tourists, but we’re all still having a good time going to the beach and hanging out. Yesterday I did a one hour Muay Thai (Thai boxing) lesson and had a lot of fun. It was pretty intense and I was sweating buckets afterwards. The Thai instructors are as strong as bulls even though I’m like a foot taller than them, haha. I trained with a guy named Jerome who was Dutch, he was a lot of fun and we joked around as we beat the crap out of each other. The beach has been awesome and the water is as clear as a crystal and as warm as bath water.

I will be heading up North to Chiang Mai on either Wednesday or Thursday. I will probably be staying at a place called the Tri Gong Residence (www.trigong.com). I am currently negotiating a decent price with them since  I plan on staying there for a prolonged period of time. Once I get settled in Chiang Mai I will be looking for an apartment. I still have a couple of options regarding work that I am deciding on. I will have free WiFi at the next place I go to so I will be writing and updating a lot more, so keep checking the site, lots more to come. Cya!

Sup guys, as you may or may not know, tomorrow (Friday the 6th) is my last day of training. It’s been an awesome two weeks, but the time has now come for me to move on to the next stage of my excursion. It hasn’t been finalized yet, but I believe I will be living in a house in a region called Ban Tai for the next week or so, along with some of the other expats from my course. I think the Full Moon party is on the 10th (next Tuesday) which I will be attending. I’m sure the other expats will be taking plenty of pictures at the Full Moon, and I intend on sharing as much as I can about the event (hopefully I will be able to remember it).

As for after next week, at this point I am pretty sure I will be heading up north to Chiang Mai, where the weather is cooler and more mountainous, and the prices are a lot cheaper (like half the price of Koh Phangan from what I’ve heard). The other expats and I have remained very close during these two weeks, and we all really want to stay close to each other, but that probably will not end up being the case, as we all have different plans in mind. One of the female expats knows a guy who does web design in Bangkok, and I will probably talk to him in the near future to get some knowledge of the web design scene in Thailand. I am keeping my options fairly open, as I may not be able to find a teaching job in the North.

The Thai school year has just ended, and will start up again in May I think, so there will be a bit of a hiatus for English teachers. I have some other ideas for some online business which I intend on getting started on very soon. Also, there is a possibility I may be able to teach some kind of computer courses, ranging from just using Windows to web design & development. I will be checking out the possibilities, and since Chiang Mai is a University town, I may be able to do some talking and create a job for myself.

Anyway, we’re all about to go out to dinner, so I gotta get outta here. Wish me luck guys, talk to you later!