First thing's first... apparently Roger Moore is not dead. Although judging by this picture they simply figured out a way to animate his skeletal remains (thanks to Kendall for the image).
On the way to Koh Samui for my buddy Vince's wedding I decided to stop for a couple of days in Phuket to visit my friend Mui and to take a side trip to Khao Lak and Koh Kho Khao. I'm not going to go into detail about that part of my trip other than to say it was immensely gratifying to see people living in the houses we worked on.
I will, however, go into detail about what Mui is doing on Phuket and why you should care. A few years ago Mui bought some land on Phuket in an out of the way area in the center of the island. Ever since, he's been working on a project to develop the land on his own using his own funds. The plan is to use the land for two reasons: a small school for poor children to learn English and computer skills, and a dormitory for terminally ill children from the Thai countryside that would like to see the ocean before they die. He has already begun construction and has architect's drawings for the buildings. Mui's hoping to have this thing finished up by next summer, at which time you can expect to be blasted by me with a bunch of emails. Mui is not looking for money or donations (he may have a sponsorship lined up though he wants to finance this on his own) but what he's going to need are volunteers. It shouldn't be a tough sell, trying to help poor and sick kids on a tropical island, but you never know with people. Anyhow, you've been warned.
From Phuket it was on to Koh Samui for Vince's wedding. What more can I say about Thailand, especially the islands? I consider this country my third home after Italy and the U.S. I love the street Som Tam (and Larb Moo for you JW), the fresh fish, the gorgeous beaches, and even the general chaos and randomness. Most of all I love the smiling, friendly Thai people who laugh at you when you're mangling their language. Well, except in places like Samui where they're so beaten down by asshole tourists that they stop trying. But even there all it takes is trying to order something that's not on the menu (or maybe doesn't exist) and the smiles break out again.
Of course, there are plenty of things to hate in Thailand, mostly tourist-related. There are the douchy backpackers who come to the islands, buy some fisherman pants and linen shirts, then blast Bob Marley to show you how alternative and counter-cultural they are... just like all the other backpackers. There's the people riding around on motorbikes with no helmets, or shirts, or shoes, like there's some kind of Thai forcefield around them that magically protects against cranial injury. And there's the constant parade of fat old (and young) white guys with young Thai chicks.
Sometimes I can't figure this place out. There is no porn, and even the Thai Maxim magazine is kid stuff compared to the U.S. version, but you walk down the street for five minutes and are propositioned 12 times for a massage with a happy ending. The day of the bachelor party we chartered a speedboat to Koh Tao for some snorkeling and diving and the dive instructor was telling us about how they organize a yearly "shagaboard" where they charter a yacht for a week for some exclusive clients, load it up with 10 Thai girls, and then proceed to take the clients out diving and shagging. He even let us know which massage parlor on Samui gives free hand jobs, all with an amusement that I found kind of sad. And Samui is tame compared to other parts of Thailand like Bangkok and Patong in Phuket (no ping pong shows allowed on Samui).
I can't say we didn't take advantage of some of what the island had to offer the night of the bachelor party. I know that may seem somewhat hypocritical after the previous paragraph, but I can assure you that we didn't partake in anything that wouldn't be kosher in any western city. I will let you select the events of the evening from following choices:
a) Attended a ladyboy cabaret
b) Frequented a girly bar
c) I was challenged to a dance battle at a nightclub at 3 AM by a crazy, angry Thai girl
d) We lit an auspicious lantern on the beach for Vince
e) A quiet evening discussing the book "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne
Which one doesn't belong?
Luckily, I didn't have my camera with me. Actually, that's more lucky for Vince, even though they didn't allow pictures anyway in the girly bar. Would've been embarrassing for Vince to be photographed when those girls were diving in after the ping pong balls in his pants. Good thing no one recorded this on any sort of mass medium that is publicly available.
I also got a chance to train at WMC muay thai on Lamai Beach, which was great except for the part where they paired me up with a 6'6" guy from New Zealand who repeatedly punched me in the face. Although the puffiness in the pictures is probably due more to the bachelor party. I've found that drinking several M150s counters the effects of the Changover... no swollen hands and feet the next day! But I digress. A couple of the Contender tv show guys train at that gym so it must be decent... Dzhabar from season one and Eli from season two whom I saw fight when we went to the stadium on Saturday night. He absolutely kicked the shit out of some poor Thai guy that he outweighed by at least 20 pounds. Here's some video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InDqZcQy6eM
Anyhow, the whole reason we all came to Samui was for Vince's wedding, which was fantastic. They kept it small, maybe about 20 people or so, and they had it on the beach right in front of the resort where most of the wedding party was staying. I felt a bit sorry for Vince since he made the stylistic decision to sport a tux for his wedding on a tropical island. When I patted him on the back his jacket felt completely soaked through. He did make quite an entrance, however:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yC3yLFQb1U
The two highlights of the evening for me were a) Michaela's dad dressing exactly like Jackie Treehorn... I wanted to ask him if he had a personalized notepad, and b) the introduction to palinka, which is apparently a Romanian grappa made from plums. Brutal stuff. Good times were had by all.
Without further ado, here are the pictures:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2RmqWUigXMrPjEyz9
Take 'er easy,
Dave
On the way to Koh Samui for my buddy Vince's wedding I decided to stop for a couple of days in Phuket to visit my friend Mui and to take a side trip to Khao Lak and Koh Kho Khao. I'm not going to go into detail about that part of my trip other than to say it was immensely gratifying to see people living in the houses we worked on.
I will, however, go into detail about what Mui is doing on Phuket and why you should care. A few years ago Mui bought some land on Phuket in an out of the way area in the center of the island. Ever since, he's been working on a project to develop the land on his own using his own funds. The plan is to use the land for two reasons: a small school for poor children to learn English and computer skills, and a dormitory for terminally ill children from the Thai countryside that would like to see the ocean before they die. He has already begun construction and has architect's drawings for the buildings. Mui's hoping to have this thing finished up by next summer, at which time you can expect to be blasted by me with a bunch of emails. Mui is not looking for money or donations (he may have a sponsorship lined up though he wants to finance this on his own) but what he's going to need are volunteers. It shouldn't be a tough sell, trying to help poor and sick kids on a tropical island, but you never know with people. Anyhow, you've been warned.
From Phuket it was on to Koh Samui for Vince's wedding. What more can I say about Thailand, especially the islands? I consider this country my third home after Italy and the U.S. I love the street Som Tam (and Larb Moo for you JW), the fresh fish, the gorgeous beaches, and even the general chaos and randomness. Most of all I love the smiling, friendly Thai people who laugh at you when you're mangling their language. Well, except in places like Samui where they're so beaten down by asshole tourists that they stop trying. But even there all it takes is trying to order something that's not on the menu (or maybe doesn't exist) and the smiles break out again.
Of course, there are plenty of things to hate in Thailand, mostly tourist-related. There are the douchy backpackers who come to the islands, buy some fisherman pants and linen shirts, then blast Bob Marley to show you how alternative and counter-cultural they are... just like all the other backpackers. There's the people riding around on motorbikes with no helmets, or shirts, or shoes, like there's some kind of Thai forcefield around them that magically protects against cranial injury. And there's the constant parade of fat old (and young) white guys with young Thai chicks.
Sometimes I can't figure this place out. There is no porn, and even the Thai Maxim magazine is kid stuff compared to the U.S. version, but you walk down the street for five minutes and are propositioned 12 times for a massage with a happy ending. The day of the bachelor party we chartered a speedboat to Koh Tao for some snorkeling and diving and the dive instructor was telling us about how they organize a yearly "shagaboard" where they charter a yacht for a week for some exclusive clients, load it up with 10 Thai girls, and then proceed to take the clients out diving and shagging. He even let us know which massage parlor on Samui gives free hand jobs, all with an amusement that I found kind of sad. And Samui is tame compared to other parts of Thailand like Bangkok and Patong in Phuket (no ping pong shows allowed on Samui).
I can't say we didn't take advantage of some of what the island had to offer the night of the bachelor party. I know that may seem somewhat hypocritical after the previous paragraph, but I can assure you that we didn't partake in anything that wouldn't be kosher in any western city. I will let you select the events of the evening from following choices:
a) Attended a ladyboy cabaret
b) Frequented a girly bar
c) I was challenged to a dance battle at a nightclub at 3 AM by a crazy, angry Thai girl
d) We lit an auspicious lantern on the beach for Vince
e) A quiet evening discussing the book "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne
Which one doesn't belong?
Luckily, I didn't have my camera with me. Actually, that's more lucky for Vince, even though they didn't allow pictures anyway in the girly bar. Would've been embarrassing for Vince to be photographed when those girls were diving in after the ping pong balls in his pants. Good thing no one recorded this on any sort of mass medium that is publicly available.
I also got a chance to train at WMC muay thai on Lamai Beach, which was great except for the part where they paired me up with a 6'6" guy from New Zealand who repeatedly punched me in the face. Although the puffiness in the pictures is probably due more to the bachelor party. I've found that drinking several M150s counters the effects of the Changover... no swollen hands and feet the next day! But I digress. A couple of the Contender tv show guys train at that gym so it must be decent... Dzhabar from season one and Eli from season two whom I saw fight when we went to the stadium on Saturday night. He absolutely kicked the shit out of some poor Thai guy that he outweighed by at least 20 pounds. Here's some video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InDqZcQy6eM
Anyhow, the whole reason we all came to Samui was for Vince's wedding, which was fantastic. They kept it small, maybe about 20 people or so, and they had it on the beach right in front of the resort where most of the wedding party was staying. I felt a bit sorry for Vince since he made the stylistic decision to sport a tux for his wedding on a tropical island. When I patted him on the back his jacket felt completely soaked through. He did make quite an entrance, however:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yC3yLFQb1U
The two highlights of the evening for me were a) Michaela's dad dressing exactly like Jackie Treehorn... I wanted to ask him if he had a personalized notepad, and b) the introduction to palinka, which is apparently a Romanian grappa made from plums. Brutal stuff. Good times were had by all.
Without further ado, here are the pictures:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2RmqWUigXMrPjEyz9
Take 'er easy,
Dave
