Impressions
Walking through the market, learning about which ingredients we will use and how to buy them straight from the markets. Then we’re off to learn to cook. If you don’t really know how to cook, this is quite an experience, as you try to mix various ingredients and cook a dish for yourself. Better hope that it comes out ok because you will be forced to eat your own dishes later.

Weekend Market. Another market to visit, right? Nope. This is THE market to visit. Tons of trinkets to buy and some stuff you won’t find elsewhere, well at least not easily.

What We Did
Sky Train to Blue Elephant- Cooking class
Sky Train to Asia Hotel
Sky Train to Chatuchack Weekend Market
Subway to Lad Phrao Central Mall – suits and glasses
Dinner w/ Byron’s Relatives
Subway / Sky Train back to Asia Hotel

Edit: 2008.03.09- Added a link to the photo album for this day.

Impressions
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get to Ko Samet island, where you will experience one of the most relaxing times of your life lying in the beach and swimming in the warm ocean. But in order to get there, you must walk the plank!!! Yes you read that right, a plank, a thin piece of wood. We walked across that in order to get onto the ferry that will take us to the island of rest and relaxation.

After getting to the island, we got into the back of a pickup truck that sped it’s way to the beach. Imagine cramming 10 people into the back of a truck and driving along, where anyone can fall off if your not careful. safety, surely you jest, because here in Thailand, safety matters not.

You saw title correct earlier. We went to Pattaya to see the Tiffany show. It’s an entertaining musical, but the interesting part about the show is all of the actresses/actors are trannies. And believe it or not, you cannot tell that some of these girls are actually guys. It’s amazing. As my friend said, it doesn’t matter that they are trannies; some of them look HOT!!!

After watching the show, I begin to question whether I can tell if some of the girls I know are really dudes. ARRRGGG.. too much thinking. Hurting my brain.

What We Did
Van to Rayong
Boat to Ko Samet
Relax on beach
Boat to Rayong
Van to Pattaya
Shop at Marriot Hotel Mall
See TIffany Show
Eat Authentic Thai Food
Van Back to Hotel

Edit: 2008.03.09- Added a link to the photo album for this day.

Impressions
What can I say. This city is great, and because of the economy of Thailand, most things are cheap, at least for a tourist like me. After we flew in, we grabbed some late night dinner at a local restaurant near Asia Hotel. It cost us less than $4 a person, including a couple of large bottles of beers.

We took ferry rides to various places. An amazing experience. Ferry comes to the pier. Looking for the nice safe connection between the ferry and the pier? you won’t find any here. You just have to close your eyes (not recommended) and jump in. Now that you made it in, your safe. The nice wall by the entrance / exit will make sure you don’t fall in the river while it speeds across the river. Wait, you don’t see it? it’s not there? oh well, better hope you don’t fall into the river.

Another experience needed in Thailand – tuk tuks. Imagine a large motorized tricycle with seats in the back. Now imagine getting into that, and having the driver speed his way through traffic and people to get you to your destination. All along the way, you hear the load engine cranking away. Makes you feel like your in a James Bond film, trying to avoid some baddies chasing you.

We also went to Chinatown, and wow. I guess this is the closest it’s like to China without being in China. Imagine the streets being so crowded that you cannot even move. That’s not so bad? well, what happened to the streets/ err sidewalks, err.. it’s all the same!!!. A motorcycle. That’s nice. going zip zip weaving through the people. Wait, its coming straight for me. What’s that sound? Another one is coming from behind. i gotta move out of the way, but I can’t! Well it’s only a motorcycle. At least it’s not a huge truck trying to go through me. wait there is a truck trying to go through me as well. Aghh. someone help me. Quite an experience.

On a different note, the Temples, or Wats, in Bangkok are amazing. Just being there is enough for you be pulled into the culture of Thailand. Many of the sculptures are admiring the details put into the sculptures are amazing.

What we Did
Day 0
Check into Asia Hotel
Eat at Local Resturaunt
Back to Asia Hotel
Day 1
Skytrain and Ferry to Wat Po and the leaning Buddha
Walk to Grand Palace
Walk to Wat Phra Kaew and the Emerald Buddha
Ferry to Wat Rakhang Khistaram
Tuk Tuk to Wat Arun
Ferry to Chinatown
Sky Train / Subway to Lad Phrao Central Mall
Order tailored suits and glasses
Dinner w/ Byron’s relatives
Subway / Sky Train to Asia Hotel

Edit: 2008.03.09- Added a link to the photo album for this day.

Impressions
We saw pretty much everything there is to see in Singapore in less than 2 days. This includes walking through the different areas of the city as well as visiting Sentosa and the Merlion statue (made up half lion/fish mascot of Singapore).

The whole city reminds me of Hong Kong. As Byron kept saying, it’s a cleaner version of Hong Kong. My other friend, Mike, living in Singapore told us before we got there that there is nothing to do in Singapore except to eat and shop. One thing I don’t like about Singapore is that there is no distinct culture there. It’s mainly a man made society.

There is not much to do in the city so I’m glad we had only decided to spend less than 2 days here. As always, meeting up with friends like Mike was great, but I wish there was more to do here.

What we Did
Day 0
Land in Singapore
Cab and Check into YMCA
Day 1
Subway to Little India
Walk to Sri Veerama Kaliamman
Walk to Kampong Gelam and Arab St
Walk to Sulton Mosque
Walk to Historic Distric
Walk to Marina Square
Walk to Clarke Quay
Walk to Chinatown
Subway to YMCA
Day2
Subway and Cable Car to Sentosa and Merlion
Subway to Orchard St
Walk to YMCA through Orcahrd St
Cab to airport and fly out to Bangkok

Edit: 2008.03.09- Added a link to the photo album for Singapore.

So PJ is going to get married in Thailand. I’m very happy for them.

A nice thing about their wedding is it’s going to be in Thailand. That means smucks like me who have never been to Thailand will be able to visit finally.

Along the way, we are going to check out Singapore. I heard that it’s small and there is not much to do there. Since I will probably never ever go back there, this will be the only time to visit there. Anyhow, it should be loads of fun.

I’ll be leaving tomorrow. until then, so long and thanks for all the fish.

I sometimes wish life was a little more simple.  It seems as you grow older, life gets tougher and tougher. Life is never predictable.  I guess that’s part of the appeal of life, but it would be nice to have some things that you can rely on.

I’ve been going through some difficult things in my life lately and this made me wonder why life is the way it is. How come life has a tendency to come in batches? All the good stuff come in batches, but then again, all the bad stuff comes in batches as well. Is there no justice in the world? Is life someone’s idea of a practical joke?

Enough of these thoughtless ramblings.  I sound like a village idiot babbling to an empty square.

I’ll be leaving soon to go to Hong Kong to visit my girlfriend and see her perform in her first Chinese opera performance.  This is the first time in a while that I took a “real” vacation so it should be fun.  I probably will not update the blog much while I’m gone, but who knows.  If I can find a connection, I might blog about my trip.  We’ll see what happens.

Alex, Dave, Mike and I went to the US Open and it was a total blast. The only bad thing about it is that I got sunburned because I forgot to bring sunblock. In anycase, here are some pics that I took while I was there. As always, its available in the albums section.

My friends took Ru, Nan, and me out for some dinner at Dinosaur BBQ. Those that know me know I LOVE BBQ so it was a nice treat. Byron made some reservations for us through OpenTable so we didnt have to wait too long.

The food was always good, as usual. We started off with some Honey Bar-B-Que and HOT Wango Tango Chicken Wings. Both were good but I liked the Wango Tango flavor better. When our main course came, we all enjoyed the feast. I had a 3/4 rack of ribs with Creole Potato Salad and French Fries. The Creole Potato Salad was pretty damn tasty, and this is coming from someone that doesnt like potato salad that much. Some of my friends ordered the combination platter so they can sample a little bit of everything. The chicken wasnt as good, but everyone agreed that the ribs were excellent.

With that said, I did like the chicken wings better than the ribs. Dont get me wrong. The ribs were excellent, and you wont be disappointed with them. I just found the wings much tastier. Is Dinosaur my favorite? No. In my opinion, I think Famous Dave’s BBQ has slightly better ribs and much better chicken. You wont go wrong going to Dinosaur, but I still give my number one slot for BBQ to Famous Dave’s. For pics, look at the albums section or click on the picture to the right. For those of you interested, here is the info on this BBQ place:

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
646 W 131st St
New York, NY 10027
(212) 694-1777
Google Maps

I went to Miami over the weekend with Byron and Dave. It was nice to get away form the cold New York weather and relax a bit there. We had a OK time, but we just didn’t have enough time to do everything. Some of the things we wanted to do was stupid, like the sequarium we went to. Anyhow, I’ll post more about it next time.

I took some pics as well. As soon as I get all the pics from Dave and Byron, I’ll post them up.