Rebuilding Thailand

It’s rained off and on since I arrived in Southern Thailand. A little storm here, a little 20 minute shower there. But this was something else!!! It started just as the rest had, a light fall in the afternoon

The view from my porch at 5 in the morning during the first storm of the rainy season

But as the others had not done, it did not stop… For a week actually. I had never been in a storm that had rained 24 hours a day for a full week.

The first night was a fantasy come true. I had never been in a storm as violent as the storm that night. Lightning and thunder crashed down like I’ve never seen it before. It was a show aside from the show I was reading. Now I had seen “The Beach” but had never read it. I must say I am not a huge reader but I was captivated so much by Alex Garlands book and by the vibey electric tempest going on I was dead set on finishing this book given to me by a girl I call Baby Spice.

I sat on my front porch until 5 or 6 in the morning and read and read and looked up occasionally as a bolt struck down close by. The storm decreased in intensity but continued for another 6 days as Khao Lak was saturated by rain drops.

On Monday when work resumed we worked on in the rain, sluggish at times, but we worked on.

‘Life is great’ I think to myself as I tool on down the paved jungle road to the beach on my motorbike. I’ve got Nikki, this blond busty knockout from Holland on the back and the beer in the basket on the front. We are heading down to one of the beaches to meet up with people after a long day of work for a swim in the Andamman Sea.
The jungle is alive and incredibly beautiful as we look and talk about the beautiful flowers blooming next to and above the curvy road on the trees. I speed up to give our ride a little excitement hoping she’ll press up closer to me.
At 70 K/h, I see the sharp turn ahead and I know I’m going too fast so I try to slow down and head for the outside lane.
At 60 K/h, I see the car coming at us in the outside lane and decide hitting the brakes is a better idea.
At 50 K/h, I see the loose sand and junk all over the road which will make me slide out if I brake hard, so… Option 3.
At 40 K/h We take the ditch.
I manage to keep the bike upright even as we hit the rock. I feel Nikki slamming into me from behind. I remember thinking how I wanted her breasts pressed up against me and thought that this was not how I imagined it happening.
By this time the bike is stopped and on it’s right side and I turn around to see if she is hurt. She doesn’t think she is. We get up assisted by some people that had stopped. I have a numb feeling in my left ankle but seem unharmed. Nikki notices that she has a cut in her toe and decides she should get it taken care of and hitches a ride back to the Volunteer Center to patch it up.
I figure I should go down and soak my foot, which is starting to ache, in the sea and have a beer to kill the adrenaline which is boiling in my veins.
I get the bike out of the ditch with the help of a young Thai woman and hop on and go to kick the bike into first gear and notice that I can’t. The gear shifter had been sheared clean off the bike by my foot at impact. At this point I’m glad I wasn’t wearing flip-flops

I seem to be stuck in third gear, until I can get the bike fixed.

When I get down to the beach, I notice that the adrenaline waning and the pain is waxing. I think to myself this point that I may have sprained my ankle.
I drop off the beer for everyone and let them know what happened and tell them I’m going back to put ice on my ankle.
I drive back up the hill, in third gear, and stop at the center to check in with Nikki who is now being patched up and icing her ankle. I make sure she’s OK emotionally and all that and head back down to town, get some ice, beer and chill out for the rest of the evening.
The following morning I wake up and this is what I see:

So I think that I might have a broken toe and I’m certain I have a sprained ankle, I most certainly have the worlds most swollen foot ever. Both toe and ankle are confirmed with a trip to the luxurious Phuket hospital a couple days later. I’m still waiting to hear back from Guiness regarding the record for swollen foot.
Important things of note during my time at the hospital;

• This is my first trip to a hospital in over 10 years.
• My first trip to a hospital in over 10 years is in another country.
• Time from hobbling up to the counter to seeing a specialist: 4 minutes.
• Time from seeing specialist to xray: 10 minutes.
• The only slow thing in the hospital was me limping through the hallways because I refused to occupy a wheelchair for a sprained ankle.
• Cost of being seen, X-rayed, and prescriptions and dressing; 2,400 Baht equivalent to roughly 60 U.S. Dollars.

While I was in the hospital so was my motor bike. It had to have the gear shifter replaced and the front wheel repaired and a few minor things here and there. It didn’t cost me but 10 dollars for all the repairs as the labor and parts are very inexpensive here.
Now it’s out of the shop, and I’m out of the shop. Time to get back up on that little scooter and ride again.

It just hurts my toe a little when I shift!!!

Before I left, Chris and I have been doing Muay Thai for about a year. And I was excited by the fact that I’d be here and could perhaps learn Muay Thai when I wasn’t building houses. Well I found out that the only place to learn Muay Thai was entirely wiped out by the tsunami. So I decided to take it on to workout on my own continuing the basics I was taught by Brandon at City Boxing. Well, things lead to other things and I’ve found myself teaching the sport to other volunteers as an after work activity. It’s been great. I’ve had about 6 people really interested in the class and coming just about everyday I hold it. I even went down to Phuket and got some (Bao Thai) Thai kick pads for working out.

What could be better than working out looking out into a jungle right near the beach!!!

Who knows… maybe I’ll open a new Muay Thai Gym Here.

I’ve been put to work right away at a Sea Gypsy village that lost all their homes, most of the livestock, and many lives. We are building 42 homes to replace the ones lost. There have been a lot of interesting characters in the village; Seewai one of the elders of the village is this great old man that asks us to call him Loo (Uncle). Pe, Moo, and one of my favorites O, is a nut, he’s brash arrogant and funny, (sounds like someone I know) rounds out a few of the villagers.

All the volunteers are great people. Some of the standouts are Jan Erik and Kalle are both from Sweden, Ben from England. A few from the U.S.: Adam, Brad, and a Vikings fan (go Packers) from Minneapolis named Anna. A cute Canadian named Leean.Then there is Thilo, from Southwest Colorado, who is leading the project. Pretty fun guy, a bit of a Spicolli and everyone thinks he’s from California because of it. You know, I take offense as a native Californian and as a surfer!!! When will people learn that surfers don’t sound like Spicolli?
“Hey Mr. Hand dude.”

Our days are spent in 90-100 degree heat digging ditches, mixing concrete, pouring footings, building cement block walls. It’s tiring, hard work, but the villagers feed us everyday with great fish curries, varied pork dishes, vegetables and fresh fruit like Rambutans, Mangos and my new favorite Mangosteens.

If we’re lucky we get to work in the shade for a bit but most of the time we are working in the open. At first I would burn from working shirtless, but now I just darken up each day. In fact I was reading the other day in my room with just a small amount of light coming through the window and I looked at my arm… I thought for a minute I was black I have become so dark. My ass still glows in the night but man the rest of me, damn I’m getting sexy tan!!!

Tokyo, Japan

The first leg of my trip had me land in Tokyo, Japan. It was a real thrill for me to visit Japan because I was born here 28 years ago. I left when I was 1 ½ (well, with a little help from my parents). I don’t remember anything because I was just a baby. I want to say it was symbolic being there, so close to where I was born but I felt just like anywhere else. The culture is quite strange and I had no clue how to do things like go from A to B… Luckily I had Rivas.

I know Rivas through Chris. I stayed with him, his Wife Masako, their daughters Megan and Momo and Masako’s Mother and Father. It was truly a gift for me to stay with them, they live in an ordinary Japanese home in residential district where very few foreigners go or live.

The Culture & City Life
In the city centers like Shinjiku and Shibuya there are people in every direction. The place is packed!!! Even more so than New York. I just heard Tokyo is the most densely populated city in the world! The trains are jammed, the subways are jammed, the streets are jammed – all with thousands of people.

And they have themselves an eccentric culture!!! They are something else. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to piss on their way of life… It’s just so strange to me. A lot is based on the traditional life meeting technology and modern living. People go fucking nuts here because of the social pressures and the introverted nature of the society. I hear Japan has the highest rate of suicide in the world. It has to do with the fact that it’s discouraged to show your emotion. Coming back after hanging out Rivas and I would see old drunken guys singing and in tears for whatever their minds were dwelling on. For the most part that was the extent of inner expression making itself outwards. The majority of the Japanese people keep to there own. On the trains you see everyone text messaging or reading or just staring into blank space in their own little world. The younger generation I noticed, more so near the hot spots in Tokyo for westerners, seemed a little more outward, but could still sense reservation. Rivas and I being a boisterous pair of lads and very extroverted were always getting stares at and giggles from the girls because we stood out so much.

Sentos
We went to traditional sentos, or public baths where people bathe as in the old days before many people had showers or baths in their home. The sentos were one of my favorite things to do in Japan and not just because of the old, naked Japanese men… It was one my favorite pastimes because it’s relatively inexpensive, (everything in Tokyo is expensive by the way), and in such a modern city it’s nice to take part in an old world tradition.

I have never been so clean in my life!!! You come into the bath area and you sit on a stool in front of a shower head and clean yourself, then you get into the ofuro, it’s a very hot bathtub, 45° C. I’m not sure what it is in Farenheit, but it’s HOT!!! You sit in that communal style and relax for 5-10 minutes then get out and clean yourself again.

My seduction to the porn industry
Rivas and I met this guy named Romeo, (of course it was… what else would it be?) We hooked up with him and some friends at a sushi restaurant and we hit it off with him. I had my camera with me and when it was revealed that Romeo was in the escort business Rivas concocted a little white lie that I worked for Larry Flint Productions and was one of Hustler’s leading photographers until I had a drug meltdown and had to get out of the industry. So Romeo pays for our sushi which was probably 90,000 Yen, and we follow him to a S&M club where he had a girl coming to meet us. While we waited we had the pleasure of watching Japanese boys dress up as girls and be spanked by their mistresses. Pretty fun actually, (remember what I said about that locked up stuff? Well this is what happens when it comes out…)

So Romeo’s girl shows up and then the camera came out and some beer starts flowing and I start flowing and shooting and having fun and everyones having fun and we shoot as much as I can then we start having fun with the chains and the whips and I’m tying the Mamasan of the place up with chains and spanking her and then Rivas and I decide to go as the sunrises.

Good bye Tokyo
My Dad told me a myth the Japanese believe in before I left for Japan. The myth says that if you see Mt. Fuji as you leave Japan, you will for sure come back to Japan again.

Apparently I saw it from the plane when I was 1 and a half years old, (I have to take Dad’s word on that cause I don’t remember).

I did not see Fuji this time, so what my future holds for getting back is uncertain. I have, however, always wanted to go to the North island of Japan – Hokkaido to photograph the wonderful landscapes and culture there. And I have good friend who lives there, and enjoyed myself tremendously.

Chances are… I’ll be back.

Bangkok, Thailand

I was not even prepared for Bangkok. I had no idea how crazy it was. This is how I can describe it so you get somewhat of a handle on what it’s like; It’s like Tijuana mulitiplied by 8, divided by a large filthy curving river. Instead of churches like in T.J. you have Wats or Temples every few blocks, and Monks dressed in beautiful orange robes walk the streets in the morning, (The monks can only eat what is offered to them and they have to fast from noon until the following morning.) Throw in lots of people, smog, and millions of the world’s craziest motorcycle, car, taxi and Tuk-tuk drivers and you have the worlds most congested city and a small sense of the place.

Khao San Road
This is where all the backpackers and travelers go for guesthouses and knockoff designer watches and a fine selection of women and ladyboys, all of which are available for the right price. The right price is a very flexible concept as well.

It is a good place to base yourself out of if you want to see the older parts of Bangkok. The food is good, there are restaurant/bars that show the latest pirated movies and the big soccer matches (which by the way you slowly start to call Football because the rest of the world calls it that).

In fact at one place you can be eating Kao Pad Moo or Pad Thai, drinking a Singha beer, checking your email and chatting, while watching that night’s movie.

I found that I got out of that area as much as I could to explore different areas which is easy because of the superfluity of Tuk-tuks.

Tuk-tuks
Who was the man that decided strapping a lawn mower engine onto a Red Flyer Wagon and charging people to ride in it at very high speeds into oncoming traffic? I think Disney should replace “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” (my favorite), with “Mr. Ping’s Tuk Tuk Adventure Happy Show Ride” (a typical Asian name for something like that by the way) and just bring in some tuk tuks and their drivers.

The Market
So, I was walking around just basically getting lost one day and I wandered into this market. Inside all kinds of fruit, vegetables, herbs, live chickens, live fish, live eels, live turtles, and live… well, other stuff.

I had just taken some photos of a guy fishing with a net in the really dirty water of the Chao Phraya river and concluded that the catfish that were trying to jump out of the bin and attack me were the very ones he was catching. It was a disturbing thought… I don’t think I will eat any fish here.

Muay Thai
I was so excited to see my first Muay Thai match. Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand (Thai Boxing). Chris got me into it over a year ago he and I have been practicing it at City Boxing downtown ever since. So… with tremendous interest I found myself front row watching 9 bouts one night at Ratchadomnoen Stadium. It was so exciting to see my first fight in Thailand. The first 2 fights were boys about 10 to 12 years old. It was jaw dropping to see their ripped little bodies. These kids had abs that would make Arnold look flabby.