Auckland's Wedding

Just got back from Dave & Sarah's wedding in Sun River Oregon. It was very cool to see them get hitched - also great to see some of the good ol' Andersen crew. Thanks Dave J for getting the cabin. Hope to see you all soon. Click here for the album link.

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Updated photo album

Ok - I've whittled down the photos to about 120... I know but click here to see the photos from Japan and Thailand.

Back at Home (posting at 4 am due to jet lag)

Billy and I are at home after about a 17 hour journey.  We woke up at 4:30 am Bangkok time after partying with the Kurtzes at the Smokehouse BBQ in fooseball and shuffleboard.  They have all the pictures so you'll have to wait to see those photos (or go to their blog - that's a hint Nate).

The only picture I took was of Billy who sleeping on a bench waiting for our flight from BKK to Tokyo.  Our connection time was really tight about 55 min to get on ou

r straight-shot flight to Seattle.  We made it - with the help of the friendly United Airlines staff at Tokyo, but one of our checked bags did not - Shelly's souvenir bag.  Editor's Note: The bag finally showed up on my doorstep at 5 am on Sunday - I  checked as I woke up due to jet lag.

Billy and I made the call to try to stay awake after arriving in Seattle at 9:30 am (which is one hour after leaving BKK due to the the international date line).  We kept ourselves busy by going to the Spectator Bar in lower Queen Anne to watch the Cougs DESTROY the Notre Dame Irish in the NCAA 2nd Round.   Go Cougs.  We then went to Northgate to look at digital cameras but were so tired we went home.  We tried to stay awake until 9 pm, we made it to 7:30.  I'm going to try to go to bed again after this post.

 

The Siam Heritage Hotel in Bangkok Sucks

Not really a  post, but wanted to vent my frustration.  Don't stay there.  We asked for a transfer from the airport to the hotel which is maximum 1000 THB or even 500 THB for a cab, and they charged us 2000 THB.  Their staff were even amazed but their management refused to budge.   The room we got had a faulty air conditioner too.  For the "higher end" type of hotel we expected as we paid about $120/night there - not a good deal either.  You've been warned...

Golfing in Chiang Mai

We went and golfed at the Royal Chiang Mai golf course where the Asian PGA is played. For about $110 total (including greens fees, caddy, cart) we had a fantastic time. Our caddies were all short excitable Thai women. I don't think they golfed a day in their lives but they knew how the greens played and the course layout. The course was completely unprepared for us as they ran out of Singha beer. We destroyed their entire supply which was about 18-20 cans. It was hot and humid but really fun. Nate and Billy also had some side wagers on the course with all proceeds going to their caddies and let's just say Nate is undefeated.

I think I ended up like I normally play - about 95-100. I was back to the Tran power fade off the tee though...

here's a pic. My caddy, once paid, was not so helpful or into getting pictures taken.

The picture below is Nate teeing off with an iron. Note the caddy behind him pointing to Nate is actually Billy's caddy. She is calling Nate out as "no man" because Nate decided to lay up instead of using a driver. This gave Billy, Shelly, I and probably Nate much laughter - and caused the side wagers to happen. Editor's note: Nate still won the hole even laying up.

What 1000 Thai Baht gets you on an excursion...

Yesterday was our day long excursion that we booked in Chiang Mai. Billy said he wanted an excursion with an element of danger and a slim possibility of death. Well he got it. Our day started late (Thai time), and we got into a normally 7 person van. We picked up others along the way and at their tour office, we actually loaded up 13 tour-paying foreigners (french, german and us) into the van not including the tour guide and driver in the front.

The van has sets that fold down so you get four rows of 3 each. The van is not made for 6'7" guys like Billy though. Here's a picture of him in the front row. Luckily this was only for 30 min of the 1.5 hour trip up. We stopped by a butterfly and orchid farm first.

We then went onto the hike (about 1 hour long) that was "not steep" according to the sales office. Well if this is not steep - I think they might rate Mt. Everest as steep then. We were fine, but if I was booking this with my parents, there's no way they would have made it. Here's a no name waterfall along the way that we stopped at.

We then split up at the "village" where the germans had lunch and the frenchies and us got to ride the elephants. Well they didn't have enough elephants so two of us "got the opportunity" to ride the elephants not on the seats but on their necks. Nate and I did that. Holy cow. You can't describe the experience of feeling huge shoulder blades where they have no business touching you... The hour long elephant walk was also along the same path we trekked... Lame. Here are some pictures of the elephant ride.

Then we had lunch (which was phad thai and was the only good part). Then we got into the van and went to a "village" which was really a shopping post and not a village. Then we got into the van and went to our final death-defying white water rafting trip which was really a river float. But we waited for about 45 minutes for the second boat to arrive. The river float was a bit painful as we kept getting stuck since the water was so slow.

Anyhow we got to go home (after another van ride of 1.5 hours back to Chiang Mai). We had a great dinner, finished our final fittings for our suits. Billy and I are buying some fantastic suits - it's great to finally buy something that's fitted to you.

On to Chiang Mai

Wow. Ko Samui was a rough one for all of us. But we've moved onto to Chiang mai where our accomodations so far haven been great. It's definitely an upgrade from backpacker-ville of Samui. We've just landed and now I'm waiting for Nate & Shelly to arrive for drinks and then go suit shopping possibly?

Here's a picture of us in the hotel lobby (outdoors).

Wat temple?

Today was a full day of walking around our area of Banglampu (which is backpacker central) in Bangkok. We did the typical temples (aka Wat) of Wat Po, Wat Arun, Wat Bon-something. Billy was convinced by me to have lunch on the street. We then walked up to Khao San Road which is THE avenue for the pot-smoking Rastafarians - so I fit in quite well.

Actually I conducted an experiment. I look like whatever native i whichever Asian country I visit - call me the Asian chameleon. So my theory was that if I walked down the street with Billy, I looked like a local walking with Billy - so he wasn't hit on much by the tuk-tuk drivers or vendors. So my experiment was to walk a bit behind Billy, and indeed, the ratio of him getting hit up for stuff was MUCH higher.

So here are some pictures of the day. We leave early tomorrow to fly to the island south of Bangkok (read HOTTER) of Ko Samui to meet with Nate & Shelly Kurtz who are near the end of their 98 day 12 country trip. More to follow.

Here is Billy at one of the gates at Wat Po.

Below is me at one of the shrines.

Hello from the Apple Store Tokyo

Just playing around on the Macs here at the Ginza shopping district.  And no, I did not buy anything.

Japan hasn't been hit this hard since Godzilla!

Hi all - I've landed in Japan with my friend Billy and we've had a full day. Shrines, shopping subways and lots of walking. It's a bit disconcerting when all the signs and ATMs were in Japanese characters but we've finally found our footing. Of course, it's almost time for us to leave for Thailand (tomorrow) so our newfound skills don't really help all that much. Tokyo is a very cool place and their subway system is great. It's too bad Seattle sucks in that arena.

Billy and I are at the Asakusa Temple above. We ran into these two other foreigners and asked one of them to take this picture. It made my day when one of them said "Go Huskies". More to follow...

Congrats to Lindsey & Matt Baker

So Carson Baker has arrived into this world, more than 2 weeks before his scheduled date. Both the parents are fine and I of course had to stop by before my trip. So here is a picture of him and me.

Now off to Japan and Thailand!
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