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One Night in Bangkok Squared

AC and I spent one night in Bangkok -- twice -- with a week in Koh Samui slid nicely in between.

Our first night in Bangkok consisted of eating dinner and crashing from travel fatigue. Dinner, however, was at a quaint little place known as Condoms and Cabbages. While it sounded completely unappetizing at first read, we soon learned it was a restaurant dedicated to the promotion of birth control and safe sex in Thailand. The decor was, well, condoms and birth-control pills (the prophylactic-laden Christmas tree was my personal fave) and the food was surprisingly good.

The next day we took a short plane ride over to a small island called Koh Samui. We did ... nothing. Our days consisted of sleeping in, catching the breakfast buffet 10 minutes before it closed, hanging out by the pool/beach, afternoon nap, catching dinner and drinks, the bed. Repeat. One of the interesting things was the general alcohol consumption -- low. In some ways we were expecting it to be like Cabo San Lucas -- party party party!! In Koh Samui, the waiter would bring you a drink and then you wouldn't see him again for several hours. After flagging him down, he'd look at you over his sunglasses and say, 'you want another drink?' like it was the first time he'd ever heard of someone having more than one beer in a 24 hour period. To add insult to injury, they were holding elections for the first several days of our trip. Thai law forbids the sale of alcohol during this period, so between the legal challenges and peer pressure, we stayed surprisingly sober.

Our trip was completed with yet another night in Bangkok. We made the most of it by taking a quick trip over to The Grand Palace which was probably the most mind-blowing place I'd ever seen. Every square inch of space was covered by something that shined or glittered in the very hot sunshine. I can't even describe it with words, so you'll just have to check out the pictures to see it for yourself.

At the Palace, I'm embarrassed to say that we got taken for a scam. A very nice lady hooked us up with a tuk-tuk ride that would take us to some additional sites for next-to-no money. After the first ride, we just happened to "bump" into a nice man who mentioned some jewelry stores and tailors we should check out if we get the chance. Little did we know, we would soon get the chance as our nice tuk-tuk driver then held us hostage and took us to the exact those places that nice man had casually mentioned. I must admit it was a slick set up. When we finally balked and refused to see any more stores, he punished us by leaving us in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly all the cabs that were desperately trying to pick us up just hours before somehow disappeared (I think we were marked somehow). Thankfully we had a map from the hotel and managed to find our way back (and get to ride a water taxi in the meantime -- fun!).

Our final dinner was this totally cute crepe place that was next door to Condoms and Cabbages. Overall the people were friendly, the food was outstanding (to be fair, we did each get a small case of food poisoning but nothing too serious) and everything was cheap!

Thailand goes down as probably my favorite place and a location I fully plan on returning to! As always, here are the pictures!

Rewind - Xi'an China

One of our favorite stops from our travels has to be Xi'an China. Centrally located, this one-time capital of the country had one of AC's favorite attributes - cold weather! Although after spending a week there, it proved to offer much more than just that.

Compared to what we'd experienced in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, Xi'an is a place that embraces its history -- and there is a lot to embrace! Our first stop was the Big Wildgoose Pagoda. Around 1400 years ago, a man named Xuanzang traveled outside China to further study spiritual teachings. After spending about 17 years on the road (much of which was spent in India), he returned with over 600 Sanskrit texts containing expansive Buddhist doctrine. Upon his return, this pagoda was built to house the thousands of manuscripts that he painstakingly translated from Sanskrit to Chinese, an act which heavily influenced Buddhism's role in China. When we asked if the documents were still housed in the pagoda, our guide simply stated, "No, the government took them and won't tell us where they are." Now that's a response you can only appreciate in now-Communist China. Later in the trip, we made a stop by Small Wildgoose Pagoda -- the redheaded step-child pagoda -- which was heavily damaged by earthquakes, but a little more of the tourist track.

Our next stop was the Banpo archaeological dig site, which houses remains of a Neolithic village (read: end of the stone age around 5000 - 4000 BC). The museum houses an assortment of pottery and tools, but probably the most interesting item is the remains of the village itself. In it, you can find the remains of a moat that surrounded the village, hut outlines and ancient kilns used for firing their pottery. It can even border on creepy as you examine the many skeletal remains, most buried face-up with their heads pointing in the same direction. However, a smaller group are buried-face down. Perhaps this was some form of punishment or they suffered from a then-mysterious disease. They also suspect that this was a female-run society, although how they get that from looking at 7000-year-old scraps of pottery is anybody's guess.

Probably the trippiest part of this trip were the Terracotta Warriors. Not discovered until the 1970s (by a local farmer who was trying to dig a well and pulled up a head!), these life-size terracotta statues were buried with Emporor Qin in 210 BC. Although the ones you see are all put together, they were actually thrashed by peasants during an uprising that took place shortly after Qin's death. The statues were holding real weapons (you can't go chintzy when you plan to wage war after death you know) that were instead used to oust their cruel new leader. Then, apparently, everyone just forgot about them. Only a small portion of the 8000+ statues are actually unearthed, because their brilliant paint jobs oxidize in a mere matter of hours, turning them the greenish-gray hue you see today.

I totally dug the idea of bringing an army to the grave with you, ensuring your success in the afterlife. My new plan is to be buried in business casual, armed with a laptop and Blackberry to ensure my continuation of corporate domination in the afterlife as well.

There were many other notable things to see in Xi'an, including their city wall (complete with a Bell Tower and Drum Tower so you knew when to hustle inside as gates were going up!), and am amazing dumpling feast (think pot stickers of every shape and size. My favorite --walnut!). It was a very zen-like trip, nicely placed in the middle of getting our butts kicked in Hanoi and Bangkok.

Here are the pictures!

Hanoi

Earlier this month, AC and I spent a few exciting days in Hanoi Vietnam. Our original plan was to meet a friend who would be there for work, but his trip was cancelled at the last minute. This left AC and I to fend for ourselves -- which ended up being scary and fun all rolled into one!

We arrived late enough on the first day to simply grab some dinner -- some traditional Vietnamese food. Our favorite dish was fried spring rolls served on what can best be described as Spongebob Squarepant's little home under the sea. Cute and delicious! We managed to also grab a quick drink at the Sofitel bar -- total swank. I was falling asleep at the table, but I think that was just a sign of the relaxing environment.

The next morning we got up early and headed into Hanoi's Old Quarter which is where we spent the majority of our time. This is the hustling, bustling section of Hanoi with endless shops, restaurants, and a never-ending stream of people on scooters. One of the first things you learn is there is no adherence to traffic signals. If you're lucky enough to have a traffic light to aid your passage across a given street, the drivers completely ignore it. So you simply take a deep breath, squint your eyes and go! The controlled chaos seems to somehow temporarily part around your fragile body and you make it to the other side unscathed. Aside from some near-misses, it's funny how quickly you become accustomed to throwing yourself into oncoming traffic!

Our first stop was the Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake. Our first of many currency-conversion errors had us pay 10x the entry fee (it's funny how they don't correct you when you get it wrong). The most memorable thing is the giant monster turtles that live in the lake. They are huge, and prehistoric looking -- and real! They display a preserved sample in the temple as proof, which was about 4.5 feet long.

After the temple, we took a walking tour around the Old Quarter. It's a lot of quirky shopping for pretty much anything you'd ever want, and it's conveniently grouped by type (textiles, shoes, paper goods, candy, fake hair extensions, etc). We did a self-guided walking tour through this area, and were mobbed by helpful locals every time we stopped to reference our book for directions. This really got old in time, and AC (the consummate professional) gradually eroded from lenghty and polite responses to a simple "No!" I just ignored them for the most part, convinced the conversation was simply designed to distract me as they searched my pockets for my wallet. To end the day, we caught a showing of the Water Puppets show, which is like marionettes, only it's all done under water.

Our final day in Hanoi was spent checking out many of the historical interests, including the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and museum (his body was our for servicing unfortunately, so we didn't get a gander at Unlce Ho's body), the War Museum and the old prison where American POWs were held. All were very interesting and chock' full of propaganda for sure. It was interesting to see the other side's perspective on the Vietnam war. All propaganda aside, you get a better appreciation of how the US was simply the last group in a very long line of countries (China, France, Japan -- most on multiple occasions) that inserted themselves into Vietnam for a variety of reasons.

While there is a very anti-US sentiment in these establishments, all is washed away as soon as you step out the front door and are greeted by the hordes of locals (some who actually waited for you the whole time you were in there) who simply love Americans. And oddly, nothing makes them happier than paying in US dollars. And at those prices, we were happy to oblige.

Here are the pictures!

soon ...

I've been dying to write about Hanoi, but I caught some kind of mystery bug the last day there. It's been a joyous ride of cold and flu symptoms -- today I'm 80% back and want to update you all on our trip soon!

All Done!

Well, things are finally wrapped up at work so although I'm still an employee I'm not coming into the office anymore -- getting paid for no work, my dream job after all!

At this point we're still trying to figure out the rather complicated logistics around getting back to the US but for now we're just trying to enjoy HK. We're also headed to Vietnam on Saturday which should be fun! It will make for an interesting blog post if nothing else.

Until then, thanks for all your well-wishes and job leads!

RIP Halloween in the Castro

Well, the city of San Francisco finally did it -- they killed Halloween.

Some of my favorite SF memories are from that crazy Halloween party. Getting in a fight with my little brother who had to storm home through the crazy crowd. Dressing up as my friend Bradford at his own Halloween party. Watching AC get mauled by total strangers and interviewed by the evening news in his Chewbacca costume.

What a bummer ...