Hokuoukan business inn + sauna

just a quick one using the free internet at the apple store in osaka, holy rape! last night I experienced a japanese "business inn and sauna" and it was a great learning experience.
after a few hours of bar hopping with caroline at about 2:30 am I checked into the infamous business inn + sauna which is very very near our hotel which is very central in Osaka. the facility is 24/7 and is actually very fancy. admission is based on age so I only payed ¥1700 which includes an overnight stay since it was after midnight. aparently men go there when they miss the last train out of Osaka and need a place to stay. They can bathe and play with each other or just take a nap or sleep. Obviously others just go there to play. I went to sightsee! and I am glad I did, besides seeing I did some participating which was very interesting and almost fulfilled my japanese desires.

I think its obvious that I am just using the free internet here and not really buying a laptop so this story will have to be continued later.

from one bed to Ko Chang to another in Kyoto

crazy transition and trip. Ko Chang is incredible, my favorite place in Thailand, my favorite beach in the world, I miss it. I met a very nice guy, Alex, and we even shared a bungalow my last two days. BUT, thats another story to tell. Now, I have a couple of minute to write about the trip from a remote beach on a remote island to downtown Japaneses style hotel all in one travel sequence! which took 30 hours!!!

last two nights in Ko Chang I had almost no sleep and on the morning of the 21st I got out of bed ( I wasn't sleeping) at 6 am to walk in pitch black darkness on the beach to the opposite end of the beach to wake Caroline up in her bungalow. I walked back, packed, said good bye to a very special new friend and walked back to meet Caroline, take a taxi (which is a pick up truck where you sit in the back on either side) to the pier where we sat on the roof of a boat to take us to main land, then wait for a bus to take us to Bangkok, we get off on the high way 7 hours later, take a taxi to the airport, wait for a few hours for our flight, fly at midnight to Tokyo, take the Narita express from airport to tokyo station, only have 10 minutes to find our platform for the Shenkensen bullet train to Kyoto, take a bus from the station to our Ryoken (traditional Japanese Hotel) and finally we have a bed.
You can't make this shit up!
the super fast train from Tokyo to Kyoto is only 2.5 hours, otherwise an 8 hour bus ride! our plane landed at 7:30 am and we were in Kyoto by noon! what a transition, from being hot, naked on the beach, where nothing is on time one day to being cold, dressed in multiple layers in a super clean super fashionable place the next day. words do no justice to this transition, it must be experienced. my mind is fucked. I love this place and that place.

Paradise

Transport

Smokes

In Ko Tao, an island with very little village and alot of woods, and remote bungalows, I went to Amsterdam Coffee Shop, a place I was told about by this Italian guy I met in Chiang Mai. I found it at the end of the strip of shops near the piers, its on the roof of a dodgy empty building and like its name suggests you go there for grass.
I climbed the steps to find the bar with two guys sitting their and the bartender, I asked discreetly if I can buy grass and I was told "yea but you have to stay for a drink" so I do. I sit down on a stool and look over next to me to find a big gun (loaded with more amu sitting next to it) WOW! what am I doing? I get a beer, chug it so I can leave as soon as possible then get two joints one to smoke there and another to go. by this time the sun went down and it was totally dark. luckily I had my flashlight so I had to make my way back to our bungalow one kilometer away but walking through dense jungle and a loosely defined path, I am high and freakig out from the gun that was next to my elbow. What an experience that was, Somehow I found my way, although I got lost for a moment..
the following night I went for some more, I bought a couple of joints and we smoked at the Banana Rock Bar right next to our bungalow built over the water in a little bay, it was great, Caroline, Rob, this french woman, two sweeds we sad on and relaxed and smoked.
That was the begining, in Cambodia things were much easier since one gets bombarded with offers to buy smokes as one walks down the street especially in Phnom Penn, also Happy Pizza is available at almost any pizza shop and there are alot of them. I do not recommend happy pizza, although it sounded cool, it can be lethal, if you have too much It fucks with your stomach and you stays in your system forever, plus we don't know whats really in it.

Cafe'terior

during our one night in Bankok before leaving for Cambodia we stayed away from Khao San (the tourist, backpacker street) and headed out to get lost in the city. We were pleased to find a couple of really nice, well designed, great atmosphere places. one was a cafe/bar near the river on a quiet street across from the old royal palace in a converted early twentieth century mediteranean inspired building. the building itself was repeated many times over this area copied here and there. the interior of the cafe was well balanced and simple, good selection of color, second hand furniture and simple touches of paint made it what it was. we continued walking and found another sweet little spot. it looked closed but we found out that they were about to open, its a bar/interior design office! what a great idea, its my fantacy. The guy who rents the building (all three stories, living on top, office on second and bar/cafe on the first) invited us in and welcomed us with cold Chang beers and a joint. we hung out there all night, it was the best meeting of local Thais we have had. the guy was going on and on about how he sees something in me that is special, etc etc, I liked the talk (why should I not when someone is spending so much time flatering me) but I wasn't sure where it was going.

Mohamed Au Cambodge

O Cambodia, I guess It was a place I wanted to come to but never thought it would happen this quickly, soon and this easy? I shouldn't say easy, because it aint. traveling in this part of the world still feels like an adventure for the most part, there is constantly the illusion of discovery, like you are the first one to take this road to see this place, but in reality thousands of people do it. also, the type of people that come here and travel here are totally diffirent.. thats for another blog, BUT back to Cambodia, it felt like a total adventure getting there.

We opted for the land route from Bangkok to Siem Reap a 12-14 hour trip with half of it over an internationally renouned road, known for being in the worst condition possible, making for a super bumpy ride. The notourious road is supposadly left unrepaired because Bangkok Airways pays the a powerful Cambodian politician to stop the road from being fixed, forcing most tourists aiming for Siem Reap to fly with their airline since they monopolise the route. for the exception of morning traffic, our ride from our hotel to the Thai/Cambodia border was fine. then we were taken to a strange little resturant/rest stop near the border where our passports were collected and we each payed 1300 Baht (almost double the $20 visa cost) this ofcourse is seen as a service to avoid us any hassle as the border itself. after a lunch (rice) and getting to know some of the other riders (Merv: a professional Rugby player English, Nick: a professional poker player New Zealander, Britton: a student/social servant/teacher who has been living in Nepal for a month and is now traveling / lied about being married to avoid being hasseled by men (althought I don't see why anyone would turn Merv away from their bed) Canadian) we then proceeded to the actual border.

chaos broke infront of my eyes as we cross the border from the Thai side to the Cambodian side. Caroline never filled her departure card for Thailand which delayed us for a few moments but soon the begging children of cambodia attacked. as we enter through a gate decorated in faux khemer style a large billboard to the side has a picture of two cambodian children with a mark above their image that reads "NOT FOR SALE" it was all a bit strange. and the adventure really began. we were at the mercy of the fuckers who are supposed to get us to Siem Reap, so whatever they say we have to do we do it, its the only way to make it. we were told to switch from one bus to another about three times in the course of 25 minutes. then we were taken to a "Money Exchange" where we were told is our only opportunity to change money while in Cambodia. The "Exchange" was a portable vetrine glass box with money stacked inside, complete with umbrella to protect the worker from sun, it was set up on a dodgy corner, it was all so shady and suspicious, but as horde culture works, as soon as one person went to change their money, another followed and then another.. It didn't feel right to me so I only changed a little bit, less than half of what most people changed. Later it was evident that we lost about 10 dollars per 1000 Baht, which is alot of money.

All this and the actually bumpy road hasn't really started, now we were on our way for a really wild ride, leaving your brain turn into a jelly substance by the end of the trip. we saw poverty at its worst on this road, it was a complete apocolyptic scene, burned fields, shacks overcrowded with families, people bathing and fishing in seemingly toxic water, it was very sad. we stop again midway at yet another rest stop then proceed in the dark for the last leg of the trip. its all part of the plan. as lonely planet explains, the bus belongs to a particular guesthouse and thus they try to delay your arrival so that you are completely beat up by the road and are so tiered that you would simply choose to sleep in their mediocre guesthouse. surely enough, as we approach Siem Reap and particularly as we pass the airport, the bumpy road is suddenly velvet, well lit with nothing but oversized five star hotels catering to the high end travelers coming to Siem Reap to see the world's largest religious building. After passing the strip of out-of-context hotels our bus took us to their guesthouse, but we (Merv, Nick, Brit, Caroline and I) chose to leave with a tuk tuk to Popular Guesthouse.

Everything we have seen within the Cambodian border suddenly was met by a complete opposite, this city has money thanks to its tourism and Bar Street had some very nicely designed cafes, resturants and bars that would fit just fine in New Orleans or Miami. The begging children are ubiquitous non-the-less speaking perfect english, french and japanese as young as 6 trained to sell you whatever they have at any cost, so they will not leave you alone until you buy something, then they leave you for two minutes and return again. The children are definetly a staple theme of this country, they are gorgous with the cutests smiles, smart and acting like adults at such a young age, I can't blame Angelina for taking one home. The Tomb Raider is a cocktail drink at most bars, she really has a legacy here.

We went to The Red Piano then Angkor What! and drank and danced in celebration of not being sold into white slavery and surviving the 13 hour road from Bangkok to Siem Reap. the next morning we go to the floating village (a display of poverty and governemnt corruption) and the LandMine Museum, the best display of a story and the relevant objects I have yet to see anywhere, it was very effective.

Day three begins with an early wakeup call at 5 am to go watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat, our tuk tuk drivers picked us up and on the cold ride to the temple we realised that there are many others like us (no romantic fantacy of being alone infront of the temple with the sun rising behind it) it was clear that there will be a couple of hundred or thousand people there doing the same thing. we spent the day temple viewing and headed back exhasted after being out for nearly 10 hours. skipping alot of detail, but for my own records: I was walking along multiple stands selling shirts and souvunirs when I suddenly stopped and looked to my left and said "Is that Tin Tin" and it was! I found this random tintin t-shirt, there was only one. the night before we were having our first Happy Pizza, a Cambodian specialty pizza that is made with grass, I was talling my travel friends about my love to collect tintin items. very amusing.

By now I am totally infatuated with Captin Rugby, I began to withdraw because I was confronted with the feeling that I have no chance, something I refuse to believe is usually the case, its much easier to say No than to be said No to. So my last two days in Cambodia and the one day in Phnom Penn was overcast with my feelings of insecurity and my lust over this fantacy.

I like to travel. Go places, meet people, do things I could not do, deal with things I could have never imagined, eat things I never new, wear things I've never seen, be closer to strangers after a drink and short conversation than with people I live and work with for months, have experiences that shape me and bring out diffirent sides of me, bring on new phases of my life, I like it. How can I experience all this and still be the same.

3 men, and traveling with a girl friend

still not feeling so good today, it could be so many things that caused my nausea: too much alcohol, too much grass, too spicy something, malaria medication has side effects, I had a cut when I got my beard shaved at an old-school barber in Siem Reap Cambodia a couple of days ago, It could be any of the above that caused me not to feel so good. BUT, now and for the first time in a few weeks I have a couple of hours to kill and good internet access and am listening to a new Smashing Pumpkins studio recording (which fixed me right up, I can't stop smiling) so brace yourself for a long blog about whatever comes to mind from the past couple of weeks.

I met one man who embodies every projection I have had of what masculinity should be and would it looks like. Siry was his name, a French engineer working for shell and living in one of the french islands in the indian ocean off the coast of africa. very special. I first noticed him and his two travel companions in Sukhothai, then when we were in Chiang Mai we did a Thai Cooking Course and he happens to be there! I was pleased to see him, I was just watching closely every move, and my god he couldn't have said or done anything wrong, it was simply too perfect. the most attractive thing about him is that he is shy and humble, that is a hard quality to have when one is that good looking!

Then there was this guy Rob we met in Ko Tao, he had the bungalow next to ours on the beach. well this guy is like what a perfect boyfriend would be (if i was interested in such a relationship, and precedent proves that I am not too keen on that, since it usually means alot of compromise) BUT with this guy, he was so chilled out, relaxed, comfortable in his own skin that we were talking I just thought to myself, he would be "the boyfriend"..

later I met Merv, a professional Rugby player, English, and I pictured him stretching his muscles on a teak bed under a mosqito net.. It was a bit like a high school crush, also made me wish I was traveling alone, which makes it much easier to meet other single travelers, share a room, do whatever..

this last meeting brought out some old insecurities I haven't had to deal with in a long time. male companionship has been a tricky business for me as far back as I can remember.. it gets complicated and I already ran through it in my head a couple of days ago (If I was at a computer I would have put it to words, but now that I don;t have the same feelings its pointless to try to recount how I was feeling) but in short, when I feel an attraction to a guy it is very difficult for me to be around that person. and so inturns, I end up distancing myself from the person I wish to be close to... its actually sad.

More about traveling with a freind (especially a female friend) its such a cock-block / pain in the ass: everybody assumes we are a couple, and so people treat us as such, so a guy would ask me if Caroline is my girlfriend and I say no we are just friends, its still akward, what do we do now? I am still with someone, and the same works the other way, except caroline seems to have less of a problem having a little too much fun when I am just there watching (Full moon party) but generally she has well behaved. its been tricky for me to really let go and have the experience that I would have had if I was alone, because I do feel some responsibility to watch out for caroline and being a control freak like myself doesn't make that as easy of a task as it can be.

is your pizza fucking good?

at the moment, sitting in an internet point in the capital of cambodia, feeling a little sick from my happy pizza. we had our first in Siam Reap and it was excellent, a well made pizza with whatever toppings with the addition of a healthy layer of Lao grass. Here in our guesthouse the happy pizza didn't make me as happy.

I have been acting strangely for the past few days, a bit unlike myself, because of being in close proximity to someone I find to be very attractive but seemingly out of reach, a familiar situation, but its been a while since the last time I felt this way. His eyes, his smile, body, sense of humor just bring out all the pussy in me way to the surface, he also has a big heart judging by how he plays with little cambodian children.

feeling a defeated I leave Cambodia today on a flight back to Bangkok then a short ride to Pattaya, some sort of sex hedonism capital, we will stay one night to watch then move on to Ko Chang and probably stay there until its time to fly to Tokyo.
So much to tell from the last two weeks, very little time to tell anything, alot is just hazy and forgotten already.

the road to the killing fields?

we spent exactly 24 hours in Bangkok after a long journey back by long tail boat+catamaran speed boat+bus from our little beach in Ko Tao to Bangkok totalling about 12 hours including a stop in dodgy "farang" hangout spot... now we leave for cambodia, the road is ruff and we leave now as our pick up is here.. there is much to be posted about. hopefully the border doesn't involve much hassle, its enough that the road within the cambodian border to Siem Reap is pretty "bumpy"...

trouble in paradise + Cryons are one of Caroline's island necessities

I have to be brief. We are in Ko Tao (I don't have my camera to load pictures but I am sure Google image would be useful in finding what this place looks like), small tropical island in the gulf of thailand, arrived yesturday on a speed boat from Ko Samui where we spent 4 days including a night at the Full moon Party in Ko Pang Gnan. Here we are staying in a rustic bungelow 3 meters away from the water on a rocky hillside. there are 30 bungelows scattered around the area with a small private beach and a resturant/reception in the middle of the site. The only way to get here is by long tail boat. To get to this internet shop I had to hike one kilometer on a loosly marked path through the jungle. Its been raining on and off all day which is nice to experience tropical mansoon rains I guess. anyway, the trouble in paradise is that on the night of Full Moon Party, I lost caroline after we had an mini argument about her party behavior. I spend the rest of the night looking for her amid the 12000 or so party goers with no luck. I wont talk about the actual party for now, but the point is, she was lost, or so I thought and I was looking .. that sounds like trouble to me.
Now here in Ko Tao, Caroline decided to go back to the port area to look for color paint or cryons to color her collection of corals she managed to gather from the beach. Its just funny to me that should even want to go buy cryons on an island where we only get 4 hours of electricity at night, have no real roads, where people mainly come for diving, Or as I like to describe it to be on the end of civilization. I was surprised but she claims to have found some.