The end is near....

 After an uneventful bus ride I made it to Bangkok for my final days here in Thailand. I can't believe I have been here for so long already! I really will miss Noong and my room and I miss driving my motorbike and my hammock and the beach life and my kids at school and my little beach town, life was good there. You know my last memory of my little beach town as getting stopped by the police! I was stopped at a road side sobriety check. I was on my motorbike and it was late at night. I could see evidence that they had a Breathalyzer but it was fine by me because I hadn't had a drop of alcohol to drink anyway. They asked me "Where you from" I replied Texas in America. Then they asked me how long I have been in Thailand. Finally they asked me if I had anything to drink. I said no and they let me go. That was that... I didn't have to pay them or anything. They were nice guys. Luckily, so far I have had nothing but good experiences with the Police here.  I have been to Bangkok many many times now and spent quite a lot of time here cumulatively but I always seem to find new things to do (and eat) amazingly.  For the first time in my life I have tried Durian Fruit. Some of you may have heard of it before (if you watch bizarre foods lol) anyway, its a big fruit with spikes on the outside, bigger than a pineapple or coconut. Once it is cracked open it looks very similar to pineapple or mango actually. It tastes very sweet and juicy.

The hard part about eating it is how it smells though. Right when you crack it open the smell hits you like a punch in the face! To be it smells like dirty sweaty nasty socks that you have not changed in a long time haha. It doesn't taste so terrible really but it smells horrible! It was hard for me to eat purely for that reason. They actually ban you from bringing it indoors in many places and eating it inside. I had some Thai locals laughing at me because at the time I saw the Durian Fruit I also had a beer (no open container law in Thailand!) and I impulsively bought the Durian while I was drinking my beer. Apparently that is a big no no. Well I guess when you think about beer and pretty much any fruit don't mix well haha.  I won't be eating it again but I am happy to say I can take it off my bucket list!

Last night in addition to eating that Durian I got my usual "Fish Spa" as they call it here. Basically you stick your feet in a fish tank and they have little sucker fish that have no teeth but they suck off the dead skin cells on the bottom of your feet. The first time I ever did this it was extremely weird but now I really like it a lot. Many people are too afraid to even try, but it makes your feet feel great!  I also had a great night culinary wise. I had both of my favourite Thai dishes in one day :) I had caw ni aw moo yang (sticky rice with grilled bbq pork and spicy chili sauce) and Radd Naa (This is a soup that has fried flat egg noodles and veggies and meat all put together in a sauce/broth that looks like snot and has the consistency of snot, it is an acquired taste LOL but SO good! ) I also had a good chat with the restaurant owner. He had a proper restaurant actually, not just a stall outside ( I did sit outside though) he was a really nice guy from China and he assured me that he made his Radd Naa Chinese Style, he told me the dish comes from China which I did not know. He said he made the best in the whole of Bangkok. Or his chef did anyway lol. The guy was nice but I didn't put much stake in his "best of Bangkok" claim. Well once I ate I realised he was most likely right. It was really good! He was also excited because I ordered it in Thai instead of English lol.

I also went to my favourite bar (the Happy Bar!) I really hope to get you pictures of this place it is pretty amazing :) and I saw a REALLY good street musician dressed in all white with an all white mask (think V for Vendetta). He was extremely good on the guitar but totally silent other than his playing. He earned my respect and my money so I gave him some. Last night (the 25th) was all in all a really good night for me!

Today, was altogether a different story :( very frustrating day for me! My mission today was to find the Colombian Embassy to ask them so visa questions. Well the phone number I found online didn't work so I decided to go there in person. I took a taxi to the said address and when I got there the current tenants told me the Embassy had moved. They directed me to yet another address so I took another taxi there. Well I got there and there was no embassy there at all! :( At this point I was extremely frustrated so I decided to go ask the US Embassy (pretty cool building in Bangkok by the way) where the Colombian Embassy was. (I was close to where that crazy guy blew his legs off with those grenades a month or two ago) Well they directed me to a third building! I started to sprinkle a little bit but I don't mind light rain much. Well I could not find a taxi to take me there because it was rush hour. (the taxis here refuse to go "on meter" during rush hour because unlike most taxis in the world in Thailand the meter doesn't click up price wise if you are sitting still) its extremely frustrating to get anywhere during rush hour because no driver wants to waste their time sitting in traffic even if you have somewhere to go!

Well I finally found a motorbike taxi who would take me. Rush hour traffic was not a problem for us because he drove IN BETWEEN the lanes of traffic lol. Riding a motor bike taxi in Bangkok is a wild experience! Well about that time it started to rain. Hard. :( I thought my day could not get any worse until I was soaking wet. Also, my driver did not know the address :( To his credit he didn't give up! He asked about 10 different people where the Colombian Embassy was (including the Japanese Embassy lol) no one seemed to know where it was! I was literally on his motorbike with him for about an hour in the rain! Well we FINALLY found the building where it was supposed to be and they told me that the Colombian Embassy moved to Malaysia! I wanted to scream! And cry! :(

I was so frustrated I just went back to my guest house (After spending about 30 USD in all my taxi fares!) Which for Thailand is insanely expensive and I didn't get anything out of it either. On the way home on my 4th taxi ride of the day the driver found out I was a teacher and did ask me to help him practise English so that was nice. He taught me a bit more of Thai too. Of course he wouldn't turn his meter on either (still rush hour) so I had to overpay him too (no discount for my amazing mini English lesson lol!  What a frustrating day for me! The only saving grace for me today has been that once the rain stopped and it heated up again I went out to eat and I was alone but I ended up chatting to a guy from the UK for more than an hour about our lives,jobs etc. I can't remember his name of course but he said he really admired me for what I was doing and said he is thinking about a life change as well (he has been at the same job for 17 years!) I gave him my life story in a nutshell and told him that he has the power to change his life he just has to take that first step! You know, I didn't really realise this until very recently but I guess I really DO inspire people. I don't think I am doing anything all that special but I am honoured none the less :) While waiting at the US Embassy I met a really cool guy who is in the military (didn't get his name) but we had a good chat while waiting. I love randomly meeting people! You never know who you will meet!

Tomorrow I will most likely get a haircut/shave and go see a movie with some friends. I am also going to eat my FAVOURITE meal of steamed duck and baby clams at that food stall that is SO amazing! mmmm I can't wait! I have all my things packed and ready to go! I will do laundry one last time before I leave though. Somehow ( I have no idea how lol) I managed to fit ALL my crap into my two bags! One of my bags is SO full that I couldn't even close it properly haha. I had to use a bungee cord to get it to close! But,amazingly when I weighed everything it all comes in underweight for the plane ride thank God! I come home on Thursday so just a few days left here. I love Thailand and will most certainly be back again though. I have had a great experience living and working here. You know when I came here there was huge flooding in Bangkok and much of it was underwater and really bad and people displaced etc. Governments around the world were saying don't even go. Well now you can't even tell there was ever a flood! They clean up fast around here! I will enjoy my last days here for a while I am sure. I can't believe I will be home soon! Texas here I come.... I am excited to see my family and friends again back home and eat Texas food and my mom's cooking and Dr Pepper and Whataburger and the list goes on.... lol

I know I wrote a lot but I may not blog again before I leave so I wanted to fit it all in. Thanks for sticking with me :) -Ty

Like sands through the hourglass....

Well I leave Thailand exactly a week from today. I will be headed back to Bangkok tomorrow night. I am leaving sooner than I originally planned but plans are made to be broken right? I have had a great time here in Thailand and still love this country,culture and people very much! It has not been all roses though. I have had some difficulties with the working visa and the major language barrier. So, making this move to Colombia (with a month long stop over at home) I feel is the right decision. I am excited for new opportunities and know that I can learn Spanish much easier than I have been able to pick up Thai.

Teaching in Thailand has been a great practical on the job experience for me though. I walked into this teaching thing with zero classroom experience and the only training I had was a 150 hour online course I took. Well my school here did not offer me any training at all. They just said "Teach" so everyday at first was a new experience for me! I am glad it worked out this way though. I had a good school with (mostly) good kids haha. Good co-workers and I had the freedom to teach as I pleased,whatever I felt like they needed to learn. You would NEVER find this style of teaching back in North America but it really works here. I learned what works for me and what does not. I am able to function on my own as a teacher now with little to no supervision. I am by no means saying I am the most experienced,qualified,best teacher in the world. I still have very much to learn but, I have a leg up on the process now I think and I look forward to my next teaching assignment in Bogota Colombia!

I really need to single out my house mate Noong. She has been so good to me over the past months that I have lived here. She has cooked for me and picked me up at the train station at all hours of the day and night. She has gotten me gifts just out of the kindness of her heart. She has put up with all my crap :P and been a friend to me. She has helped me get settled into life here and I will always be grateful. She likes to joke that she is the only mother I have got in Thailand and I guess in a way its true. She is not that much older than me really but she has very much played the motherly role and I guess I am like the son she never had lol. I won't forget her!She is an amazing cook (who had her own restaurant) and I have ALWAYS been well fed.

Just tonight in fact we had some very interesting meat that I have never had before. It looked exactly like raw backstrap from a deer and it tasted quite salty (Noong's friend brought it over) so I can only assume it was raw meat that was flash cooked or just salt cured. It was really good though and reminded me a lot of venison. I have been so lucky to live with a super nice lady who has a nice house right on the beach and has kept me well fed all these months with all this great food! Lucky for me she can cook both Thai food and Western food. I will miss her cooking almost as much as I miss my own mom's cooking.

You know when I last left Colombia 10 months ago (and ended my streak of 19 months of nonstop working/traveling) by going back to Texas, I had no desire to go home at all. None. I was not ready and was terrified of going home. Of how things would be like, how I would feel, how things and people will have changed.  Too an extent my fears were justified. Some things had changed a whole lot and I just was not ready. Other things hadn't changed at all. The only reason I even came home is because I was dead broke and out of a job lol. Well after four months at home and a failed relationship with a girl who I thought would be something serious I knew it was time for a new change again. So off I went here to Thailand to teach!

Well the difference now is, I am going home on my own terms for a little break. I am not dead broke and I am excited to go home for a month. I know what to expect and not expect. I won't be hating life there because I will be happy to be with my family and friends again. A change in perspective makes a huge difference! Come April 26th I will be starting my new adventure in Colombia but I still have plenty of time to do everything I want with family and friends at home. I am looking forward to it!

Well I have a big to do list of things to get done in Bangkok before I leave so I may not write again until I am home but until next time let the journey roll on,Tyler

My last day of work!

Today was the last official day of work for me. I have an end of the year meeting to go too on Monday but as far as teaching I am done and done! I graded all my kids finals today and that was a lot of work. You see I had assumed that the Thai teachers would be doing all the end of the year testing since I have never had to give an official test at any point throughout the year. None of the school teachers or administration told me anything so I was just doing my thing ya know?

Wrong! 24 hours before they wanted the tests done they came to me and told me I had to make a 35 question final for my 6,7 year olds, my 8,9 year olds and my 10-12 year olds! So I was in a mad scramble to get all these tests ready for the kids. Then they took them all and I had to sit down and grade each test. They also had an "official English test" from the school so I had to grade that as well. Considering this was my first ever test that I had ever given I think I did fairly good job writing it up and the kids for the most part did well on it.

Then came the grading. I had to grade "my" exam that I made up plus the one the school gave out so it was a lot of grading! But I finally got it all knocked out. I found some surprising results actually, some kids who I thought would do amazing did not. Others who I was sure wouldn't do so well actually did pretty good. But overall I was proud of my kids and happy for them. My coworkers (the few I got to know) were really great and the school administration was great with everything except training,school supplies and communication haha. Nice people though.

As much as they drove me nuts sometimes (especially the little ones!) I really will miss my kids. For being a first year teacher with zero classroom experience, when I started (and zero training assistance) I think I did pretty good. I could tell that my kids were learning and that made me feel proud. I remember how nervous I was my first days teaching in a foreign country with a huge language barrier and zero training or experience but I have come a long way since then! I still have so much to learn but I am getting there....

I am excited for my next teaching adventure in Colombia starting in June. So until then I am going to enjoy my summer! :) yall take care,Tyler

Ten things I am thankful for in 2012

There is so much negativity in the world and I think last year at some point I wrote a list of things I was thankful for so I wanted to do it again this year (in no particular order they are:

1. I am thankful I live on a planet where you can see things like this. I haven't yet seen the Northern Lights in person but it is on my bucket list. There is so much beauty in this world if you only stop to look for it. I am thankful for the little things. I am thankful when I can put toilet paper in the toilet,when I have hot water and consistent power and air conditioning. Have you ever noticed how when a baby laughs you start to smile? It doesn't matter the sex,age or race of the baby it just makes even the most cold hearted people smile. I don't take these things for granted because I have lived without them quite a lot.


2. I am thankful for having such support family and friends for all of my globe trotting adventures. Even though I may be gone from home a lot in body I am always there in spirit and will be forever proud to be Texan (and American) even if I am not there much. Even if my family and friends don't understand my passion for travel and miss me when I am gone they still support me and it means a lot to me!

3. I am thankful to be employed at a job I enjoy. Many people sadly cannot say the same thing. I  am also thankful for new oppertunities. As yall know by now I have the chance to go teach English in Colombia and I am jumping at that new experience to have some new adventures.

4. I am thankful that while I have many interests in life, I have found my one true PASSION even before I am 30! Traveling and seeing the world is the one thing that fulfills me more than anything else in the world. It is the thing that motivates me to go on to bigger and better things. In all likelihood I will never be a millionaire, I will never have a lot of material things, I may never even have a proper "career" or seem like a "normal,typical adult" but I know that as long as I continue to follow my heart and defy conventional thinking I will be really truly happy!

5. I am thankful to even be here. When I was born three months premature the doctors did not give me much hope for a life back in 1984 let alone a "normal" life. While I still do have a few issues medically I am walking,talking,breathing,functional human being! I don't take life for granted and am thankful for every minute because  I am lucky to even be alive!

6. I am thankful for crushed dreams and hopes. When I was younger all I ever wanted to do/be was in the military. I could think of nothing better than being able to serve my country and rise up in the ranks of the military. When I found out I was medically disqualified I was crushed. I was lost, I had no idea what to do with myself. Well now here I am all these years later and I have a new path and a new passion. Had I been in the military this may not have happened!

7. I am thankful for having the ability to take risks. When I first started traveling alone I was filled with doubt and uncertainty. I was scared because I was stepping into the unknown and out of the "normal,typical American box". But, the more I did it the more I realised how much happier I was with my life! I could have stayed home and not traveled or done anything because I was scared. Many people do that and it is most certainly an understandable reaction. But, those are the people that get to the end of their life and have to think "What if " if only I had done ___________ . I never have to say that.

8. I am thankful for randomness. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have met people on trains,buses,planes,on the street, anywhere and everywhere! Just by saying "hi" you have to have a certain kind of personality to do this but luckily it is one of my strong suits I have had so many great new friendships this way and some I know like Ben for example will be life long friends.

9. I am thankful for old friends,new friends and new experiences. I love trying new things in life. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don't. I just love the fact that I have the ability to try. I have seen and done so many great things over the years and met so many great people simply by saying "yes" to something new and exciting.

10. I am thankful for the freedom of speech. I can bitch and moan in this blog if I want. I can criticize whatever I want within reason. I have the freedom to express my opinions even if you don't agree with them. I  love being from a country like America that yes certainly does have its fair share of problems but on the basic level still gives me rights and respects my human freedoms that some countries do not.

I wanted this to be a top ten list so I am making this a post script haha. I am thankful that I have learned how to LIVE and not only just how to simply exist.

Well that's it folks. Happy 2012 and I hope you like my list, think about your own list! take care,Tyler

My Big Announcement (No I am not pregnant) :P

THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012 TIME Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX 6:00 AM Fort Lauderdale, FL / Miami AREA 9:35 AM THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012 Fort Lauderdale, FL / Miami AREA 10:35 AM Bogota, Colombia 1:11 PM

So now yall can see my big announcement! I have decided after a lot of thought I have decided to leave Thailand after six months here and return for a short visit back home to Texas for a month. I fly out of Thailand March 29th and will be in Texas until April 26th! I have had a great time in Thailand and it has been such a good learning experience to teach here. I have made a lot of great friends and I am really grateful to my housemate Noong and all my friends who have come to visit me. I will always love Asia in general and most certainly will return. Now it is just time for a change! Which is why I am moving to Bogota Colombia to teach English/learn Spanish and enjoy life in another new culture closer to home and with less of a complicated language barrier.

Thats's it really. -Tyler

Brad Pitt and Bob Marley

My friend Daniel from Sweden (or DS as I call him) has been staying here with me for almost a week now here in my sleepy little beach town. His father is from Africa and his mother from Sweden, he has dread locks and he looks very much like Bob Marley. The Thais love it haha. They have never seen anyone like him around these parts. Since I look like "Brad Pitt Superstar" we are quite the duo when we are cruising around on my motorbike haha. We met in New Zealand over a year ago and this is the first time I have gotten to see him since then so it has been really good! There is not a ton to do around here but I know for him especially, it is nice to relax and get off the "tourist trail". I am really glad I can show him "real" Thailand before he leaves.

Thus far I have taken him to school with me to meet the kids ( I was teaching the little ones so they loved having a visitor!) we have gone to the weekly market and I have been able to show him all the good (and some not so good lol) Thai food delicacies. We had planned to go to two different waterfalls but both times we failed! Once because we got totally lost and the second time due to weather so that was really a shame. They are quite neat actually! You can swim there too but the water is freezing! At least there is no jellyfish in the water there because DS and I were swimming in the ocean and I got my first ever jelly fish sting! It really hurt quite a bit. No fun at all :( I didn't have to pee so I couldn't pee on it and had no vinegar. Luckily Noong was with us and she knew some crazy home remedy where she got some green weed/leaf thing and crushed it up on my leg. It looked really gross but it really worked! Took the sting right out. Amazing huh?

I have also taken DS on some road trips to some nearby towns called Ban Krut (great beaches there) and another little town that doesn't have much except a temple and a few other things but we just wanted to go for the hell of it. Noong invited us to go to the temple in town here because they were having a celebration for Big Buddha Day ( I also didn't have to work, this country has so many public holidays haha) anyway they had a Buddhist ceremony that we got to take part in that was pretty cool. We just walked around the temple with lit candles but it was still cool. Then there was a carnival/festival thing just like you would have back at home. We played a shooting game with toy guns and I won six prizes! Being from Texas you have to know how to shoot lol.

We have had a good time so far and taken a lot of pictures that I will be putting on Facebook. He has a few days left so that is good. We still have time to watch a more movies (we just finished the whole Matrix Trilogy!) I hope all of you are healthy and happy ( I myself have a little head cold) those kids at school are germ factories! But I will live.... Still having fun :) The school semester is almost over now. We are in the home stretch now! The older kids are in testing now. All is well here though. Stay tuned in the next few days I have a big announcement coming...... yall take care,Tyler

Thai Weddings and Border Hippies

I was invited to attend my first Thai wedding ever. It was a lot different than our weddings at home and a lot of fun! This wedding was big even by American standards but by Thai standards it was almost unheard of. I went with Noong and I had no idea who the bride and groom were but they seemed like a good couple. They gave us monogrammed glasses with their names on it. The groom was in a sparkling white tux ( I haven't seen anyone wear a white tux in a while!),the bride was in a white dress of course.

There was 300-400 people there or more there! They had rented out the school grounds (the largest area available here) and had tables everywhere and a live band. They gave each table a free bottle of whiskey (and coke to go with it) We had a six course meal!Appetizers (squid and crab with shrimp) Two soups,a whole roasted chicken,whole fish,and dessert. I was not to keen on the dessert nor the shrimp but everything else was amazing! My only problem was trying to eat most of my meal with only the chop sticks they provided lol.

Here is where it gets a little wild. The entertainment that was provided on the big concert stage was six belly dancers. At first they started out classy enough, it was entertaining and nice to see. But then it started to get a little wild! While they always kept all their clothes on, the six girls kept changing clothing into smaller and smaller outfits and dancing more and more erotically lol. It was really quite amusing to see 400 people watching this. Men,Women and Children. Obviously with the guys (me in included haha) being throughly entertained.

It was one of the craziest weddings I have ever been too and I made a joke to Noong that I wanted those dancing girls at my wedding haha. I can almost guarantee though that if I get married whoever I marry she will not let me have those girls at our wedding lol. I didn't get to see the actual wedding vows/ceremony, this was only the after party but I wouldn't have understood any of it anyway so I guess it was ok haha. This was a really flash/fancy wedding and I am glad I dressed nice (didn't want a repeat of my Temple mistake) and the couple who were getting married must have wealthy families! The next day (Saturday) I had to head off to the Burmese Border for my stamp.

 I left my house at 6:30am to catch the 7am mini bus to the Thai/Burmese border. Well as usual here in Thailand the mini bus didn't leave until 8:30am but, even though it was an hour and a half late to leave and I was on a strict time deadline I didn't stress out. Do you know why? Because it wouldn't have made a single bit of difference! My stress level would not have made that driver wash his van any faster nor made him get going any sooner. So while I was later than I planned I still made it to the border on time.  Mostly because our driver seemed to think we were in some kind of death race and he sped like he was going to be killed if he didn't get us there super quickly! He went to pass a slow truck and veered into oncoming traffic and we almost got hit!

That scared everyone pretty bad including him I think because after that he slowed down a little. I don't know why all these drivers feel like they have to drive so fast! You are trusting them with your safety and when a 10 seater van is loaded up with 17 people as mine was there is nothing you can do but pray lol. I mean I had to get down to the border and I had no other choice! But don't worry I am fine and alive. Third world transportation is always an adventure though.

I argued with the boat drivers on a price to take me across to Burma and back and of course they overcharged me because im White but I really had no choice. Well Burma needs 10 USD as a fee for doing this border crossing and last time I did this I didn't know I needed 10 USD so the Thais charged me 16 USD (and kept their 6 dollar commission just to give me 10 bucks!) well this time I thought I would outsmart them and I dug way into my bag and found 10 USD I have left over from home. All good right? Wrong! Apparently my money was too old to be used (BS!) and they charged me 16 dollars again :(

So after all of this haggling and me getting angry but realising there is nothing I can do I get a boat ride over to Burma (the water crossing is disgusting) They throw trash/litter/chemicals in the water all the time and I keep my mouth firmly shut! I wouldn't get in that water if you paid me! In all seriousness I wouldn't drink a glass of that water for anything less than 10,000 dollars that is how bad it is :( So I get over to the other side and get my stamp in literally two minutes or less. It has taken me 7 hours at this point to get here and a lot of money just for two minutes to get this stamp!

Well my boat driver who took me over (and I paid to take me back) disappeared! Of course just my luck! I had to wait one hour for him to come back but he finally did come back. I get back over to the Thai border get checked back into Thailand. Before I leave though, I see this sign: I was at the Thai border yesterday waiting to cross over into Burma for my stamp and I noticed they put up a new sign it said "Reasons for no permission to hippies to enter the Kingdom of Thailand" : If you have long hair.  if you have shorts with no undergarments. if you are dirty or have offensive smell. "The Immigration officier in charge will allow or deny you to see if you are hippie or not". That is exactly what it said LOL, I wish I had a camera on my crappy phone because I wanted to take a picture of that sign so bad haha. All of the mistranslations make it even better :P

 So I get on a mini bus from the border headed back home and that was uneventful but, I had to take the train part of the way back. I book my train ticket (I bought second class instead of third class) and I was told it came at 8:30pm. So the designated time rolls around and I see a train pull up. I had been talking with a German guy I met on the platform and we board the train. Well about twenty minutes or so down the line the conductor comes by to punch our tickets (we are having a beer in the dining car) and he tells me in broken English that I am on the wrong train! Well that is JUST what I needed to cap off my day lol. Great! So we come to find out that the 7:30pm train was an hour late and it pulled up at 8:30pm which I thought was my train (they don't do announcements in English) so I ended up getting on the wrong train!

Well luckily this train was still going to my town and they let me stay in the dining car. So, while I paid for a seat that I didn't get to use it was only a 2.50 USD ticket and I got to share some beers and have a good chat with that German dude. Helped pass the time. So I finally made it home after a grueling 15 hour round trip journey for one stamp in my passport! Thank God I won't have to do that again for a while!

You know that game, Patong I told you about? Well today there is tournament at our local bar here and Noong is really super good so I hope she wins! Wish her luck :) I am new to the game and still pretty terrible haha. One last bit I forgot to mention, well you know how I told you they throw all kinds of trash and rubbish and chemicals into that river well they also throw lots and lots of cigarette butts. I even saw a child smoking right in front of his mother and she didn't say a thing :(  See in the Western world and in developed countries smoking has been on the decline for years. I wouldn't say smokers are really completely ostracized but, everyone knows how bad it is for you and in many countries it is just too expensive to smoke! Not so in the third world :( People here can get cigarettes for less than a dollar a pack and many many people smoke. If they do know how bd it is for you they don't seem to care. Tobacco companies make money here and elsewhere in Asia and South America hand over fist and can freely advertise everywhere, not giving a crap about people's health only their profits :(   Well that is all I have for now. Yall take care,Ty

Monks and Planking

So I got to participate in a Monk induction ceremony. I have a strong feeling this is something that not many white people have gotten to do so I was really honoured. How many people in their lives can say they have seen newly inducted monks and been in the ceremony? But let me back up a little bit first. Noong invited me to go to Temple with her so I of course accepted because I did not want to be rude. Over here since Buddhism is the dominate religion over here going to Temple is more of a personal laid back kind of thing. There is no preacher or sermon or congregation really. You just show up at Temple, light some incense and pray to Buddha or speak to a monk if you wish. Buddha is not really worshiped as a true God per se but more of a figure head.

Anyway, I threw on the clothes that I had closest to me since it was early in the morning (they happened to be board shorts/bathing suit,a shirt and some sandals) pretty casual but Noong didn't say anything otherwise and I have worn this stuff before obviously. Well we get there and there is people everywhere! I of course was the only falang (foreigner) and everyone there was dressed in their Sunday best barring me. I felt really awkward and of place haha. There was tons of food everywhere! People were eating and drinking and laughing and they even had a band. Well it turns out Noong had taken me to a monk induction ceremony!

Now it was bad enough that I was feeling so out of place but everyone there was super nice and they stuffed me full of food until I was about to explode! Some of it was so spicy!! Well then it got interesting lol. They wanted me to actually participate in the ceremony! See there was two guys there and they were going to be monks so they had to give up all their earthly possessions and shave their heads and take vows. I had my picture taken with the monks and then I got to join all the people in dancing,chanting and moving around in a circle (around the Temple three times) after we did that the monks went up and said what I assume was their monkly (is that a word? lol) vows and then came the fun part. They threw their money at us! See they had to give away all their stuff including money so they threw it into the crowd! It was quite a mad house but I managed to come away with some baht. I am going to give it to the kids at school.
 So while I did feel out of place and awkward at first, it was really a good experience I won't forget and something I am quite sure not many foreigners get to experience. 

I went to Bangkok over the weekend to visit friends and had a good time there. Nothing super special to report but I had a good time with my friends and saw a new action movie with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds called Safe House. It was about a CIA safe house and some bad guys trying to kill a good guy. It was good not great. I also met a girl who owns her own Italian Gelato Ice cream factory and I got to have FRESH ice cream right off the line! Yall know how much I love ice cream haha. As usual I have had some great food with Noong both Thai and Western food and I got to eat at my favourite restaurant in Bangkok so all in all a pretty good weekend. I met a diaper salesman from Michigan on the train back from Bangkok. He was  real nice guy and I had no idea that people actually still did that anymore. I guess Walmart and the big guys don't sell ALL the diapers.

I am closing out the last days of the school semester here (March 15th) it has been a great learning experience for me to get this practical teaching experience. I have been teaching three different groups of kids ranging from age six to age twelve. I have come to the conclusion that the older kids are my favourite while the younger ones are much harder for me to handle (a sneak peek at parent hood I guess!) But overall it has been really good and while they didn't give me any training or materials at my school I have had a crash course in on the job training and teaching skills better than any course or training could have ever taught me. It was really good that I took that online TEFL class but it didn't prepare me practically speaking, at all. I love the freedom I have over here to teach however I like with no set rules of what I must and must not do. The other day I walked into class and some of my twelve year olds were laying on the ground all flat. I said "What are you guys doing?" they said, "Teacher Tyler we are planking!" I had to laugh at that.

 For those of you who don't know, planking is an idiotic craze that started in Australia if memory serves and you basically lay out flat anywhere you like and take a picture of it. You have to lay completely flat and still. People have actually died from doing it on building ledges etc. Personally I find it moronic but I had to laugh at my Thai kids doing it. It seems the craze has even made it to Asia. You know I have done some things that the kids have really loved this year, some games and lessons that have really gone over great. But, I have also done some stuff that really bombed. It sure has been good learning what works and what doesn't though. I will miss my kids and I am hoping that I have helped them at least a little bit. Over the course of this semester I have seen big improvement though. I want to leave you with a video of a song I found and really like a lot. The video link is at the bottom of this post. -Tyler

P.S. One last little tidbit about movies. Over here there is one English language movie channel on tv that plays movies every night at 8pm. Tonight's feature was The Graduate I am sure most of you have heard of it. Dustin Hoffman's first big movie, Ms. Robinson anyone? anyway... It is a great movie but I find the whole premise laughable. The guy sleeps with Ms. Robinson and then some how convinces her own daughter to forget all that and run away with him? Come on! lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNt1A4q2_f4&feature=bf_next&list=FLqdJXPRQDVsr6XeXcx6K7qw&lf=plpp_video

Some cool videos of mine

Inspiration

I thought I would break from the usual and tell you about what and who inspires me. Firstly, anyone with a willingness to follow their heart, to break convention and get outside the box that society tries to make for each of us. There are certain famous people I look up too, people who actually try and lead decent lives in spite of their fame. Tom Hanks is a really good example. Generally speaking though it is the little people, the regular non famous people trying to make a difference that really inspire me. There is a website, www.ted.com and it is chock full of motivational speeches and things from regular people and famous people trying to make a difference in this world with amazing ideas.

There are certain movies that really inspire me to live my life differently, American Beauty is one of my favourite examples of this. Another great movie about free will and living your life your way is The Adjustment Bureau. They are great movies and I really recommend them to everyone. It really takes a lot of courage to change your life and do something totally different. Many people talk about doing it but never do. I have personal experience with this. Three years ago now I got laid off and decided to change my life. I remember I Googled "Work in Australia" and found out I could do a one year working holiday to Australia. I had no job in Texas and nothing holding me back so I said why not? Those two words really changed my life.

I was not really nervous until the night before I left (November 4th 2009). I can understand why most people talk about making changes but never do. Because it is not easy and it is scary! You are going into the totally new and unknown and for me I was alone. My first month was really hard in Australia everything was different and I had alot of growing up to do. I was forced to learn to rely only on myself and I wanted to give up and go home. I am so glad I didn't though because that started a journey that I am still on three years later and now I have lived and worked in Australia,New Zealand and Thailand. I have traveled Europe,Asia,South America and a splattering of other countries for a total of over twenty countries! It was a big step to make but it has changed my life for the better and I totally don't regret it! I have met so many amazing people and made some great life long friends (they know who they are). I have been lucky enough to do and see more in 27 years than most people even see in a lifetime. My passport is filled with stamps and my brain with great memories.

I have great friends and family back home and I do miss them alot. They have fully supported me in this and I really thank them for that. The best thing for me is knowing no matter how long I stay away they will always be there for me when I do return home. People say to me all the time, "It is so amazing what you are doing,I wish I could do it too" My answer is always the same. You can! Sure I may inspire some people  because im doing things differently but, I am not doing anything earth shaking. I chose this lifestyle that certainly is not for everyone. You have to learn to love a minimalist lifestyle. I don't own anything to speak of, I have no wife,house,career,car,debt etc. You have to be flexible and just go with the flow. It has its ups and downs but overall I do love it and if you can live with that you can do what I do!

There is someone in my life personally though who inspires me more than anyone on this planet I think. It is my cousin Tim Horton. He was serving our great country in Iraq and his humvee got hit by a roadside bomb (IED) and after it was all said and done they ended up having to amputate one of his legs. He went through many surgeries and a long period of recovery. To this day he still has shrapnel left in his body. Obviously an event like this is pretty life changing, I can't even imagine what it is like to lose a part of your body. Really I guess you have two choices in a situation like that. You can have the totally understandable reaction and get sad and depressed about the shitty deal you were given. Or, you can let it empower you even more to do anything you want!

My cousin Tim has taken door number two. He has run marathons,road a bike cross state, done a Tough Mudder Marathon (Google it, it is one of the hardest marathons there is because it is not just running!),he has testified in front of the US Congress,played on the national softball team for Wounded Warriors and worked with other soldiers who have lost limbs. He has let absolutely nothing get him down or get in his way. He graduated college after they told him he never would due to all his various injuries. I have two legs and have not done even half the things he has. He is the most inspirational and determined person I have ever met in my life. All these reasons and many more are why I look up to my own cousin more than anyone else. I can only hope to become half the man he is.

So to wrap this all up, I hope you are enjoying your life and what you do. If you are not then it is totally within your power to make some positive changes! P.S. This is my 250th blog post! Big milestone! Take care,Tyler

Brad Pitt Superstar!

Today Noong and I and a group of friends went from our little town to the Thai/Burmese Border. Surprisingly it was only just over 10 kilometers away. For you American readers, that isn't that far lol. So there was a total of six of us and we hopped on our motorbikes and left at 10:30am. Off we went for our adventure! I was the youngest one of the group but I don't mind, most of my friends here are older but all very good people with a lot of experiences to share.

So we drive and drive on the highway then the road ends and we hit a dirt road. We start to drive more and get into the hills and mountains. Much different than our little beach town. I start to realise that the people up in this area don't see many farang (white people) because I was certainly getting a lot of attention. We get to a sign and the border between Thailand and Burma. Now I am in two place at once! I can finally take that off my bucket list. At this point it is only my friend Ron and I because we have left Noong and the others behind. The road to get to the actual border was a TERRIBLE rough,seldom used dirt road and my butt was sore after that ride! It wasn't on a sheer mountain face where if I fell off I would die but, the road itself was seldom used and really really terrible, one of the worst I have been on and we were on that road for about 6 K's!

We get to the guard station and the guards are so excited to see us, I seriously doubt they get many visitors haha. They yell out, "HELLLLOOOOO" and chatter away to Ron and I in their semi good English (well it was better than our Thai haha). They invite us in for coffee because it was starting to rain. They had really good coffee! Now to be honest with you, I have never had a particularly good experience at the many borders in the many countries I have been too. But, nor have I had a particularly terrible experience either. I have had to pay "administration fees" aka bribes, I have been searched and questioned but never REALLY harassed before. So, I would say thus far I have gotten off pretty easily. Had more issues getting into/out of America than I have anywhere else! So it was really nice to see some really pleasant border guards who were just happy to see us and have a chat.

I heard them chattering on in Thai then one of them pointed at me and said "Brad Pitt Superstar!" haha I had to laugh. This is so funny because I knew he thought I looked like Brad Pitt! This might come as a surprise to some of my readers, even I don't think I look all that much like him but, people from around the world, men and women in tons of different countries have said I do! So we all got a good laugh out of that haha. I just cannot seem to escape that comparison (not that its a bad thing lol). Even when I am unshaven and looking rough like today I still get it.

After our jaunt at the border Ron and I drove back to meet everyone who stayed behind and then we went for a huge lunch feast! It was really good and fun to do something new and exciting and see friends and get a good meal. Tonight I will have another good meal because we are having a farewell dinner for Matt a teacher friend of mine who is leaving tomorrow. So it has been a big day for me. I am also learning how to play Boules or as they call it here, Patong. Lawn balls whatever you want to call it. Noong was the champion last year so I have a good person to teach me how :)

Well that's all I got for now. Hope yall have a good weekend,Tyler

New Cultures

This will just be a short entry but today was the second anniversary of Noong's husband's death from cancer. She asked me if I wanted to go to the temple with her early this morning and have a remembrance celebration for him. We got there and burned some incense and she said a prayer to Buddha for his spirit. Then a monk came over and chanted some stuff I couldn't understand. They gave a food and water offering for Pete's spirit in the afterlife and prayed once more.

See the Buddhist believe in a life after death, but more than just a "Heaven". They believe in the spirit afterlife and that the spirit is actively around and doing things (hence the food and water offerings). In the Christian faith we believe that your soul goes to Heaven and stays there if you are a Believer but once you are in Heaven that is just about it. The soul cannot transcend between Heaven and Earth on a regular basis but, the Buddhist don't believe that. I was really interested to see how another culture remembers their dead.

In a way I felt out of place and like an intruder on such an intimate thing, a wife grieving for her husband but she invited me to go and I am glad I went. I respect all religions and all cultures and I think almost every religion in the world has something good to offer. It was a neat experience for me. Today we will be having a party to remember the good times from when he was alive. I never got to meet Pete but everyone who knew him has said he was a great guy and I can tell that Noong loved him very much so he must have been.

The party was a total meat feast and Noong cooked all day and made some great food.  I offered to help but she shooed me out of the kitchen as usual (to be honest I was thankful haha) we had many of Pete's friends over to celebrate his life and had a great time. I did not know him but judging by the amount of people he must have been really loved. So now I am full of food and drink and happy :) It was a good day.

One last thing, remember when I mentioned earlier in my blog that living life here with little to no restrictions has made me more aware of everything? Well it has! The other day I had to navigate alone on my motorbike back home from somewhere I had only been once (as a passenger) but I made it! In Texas I would have been lost for hours without my GPS or calling my dad (he was my GPS before I got one haha) but here I am so much more aware of everything because you have to be. There is not all the health and safety guidelines we have back home so you have to watch everything. I think this has been a good skill to learn though. 

That is really all I have for now. I knew this would be short but I wanted to write it out so I remember this day. Sometimes I do blog more for my memories than for my readers per se. Thanks for putting up with it. I do need to apologise to yall though, every time I say I am just going to write a short little blog it turns into a big long one haha so thanks for sticking with me.-Tyler

Koh Tao

 I believe I told yall earlier that I was going over the weekend to and island down south called Koh Tao to visit a friend of mine from England. Well lucky for me I didn't have school Friday so I got to leave early. I made it down to Chumpon, the town where I was to get the ferry to Koh Tao from, without any issues surprisingly haha. Well on the way over I met three guys from England and we decided to get a guest house together to save money. It was the birthday of two of the guys so I knew it was going to be a big weekend.

Well we got there and got settled into our place and went out for some drinks and to meet my friend Ash who I hadn't seen in two years! She is the cousin of my good mate Scott and all of us met as "the wolf pack" on my first time in Thailand. We all had some drinks and had a good time. We met some other people and it was great fun just relaxing and getting away from my little town for a while and being able to speak English!We did some snorkeling and just hanging out. Saw the fire dancers on the beach and all the usual island stuff.  I did meet a girl who saw my Texas Longhorns hat and she was from Dallas so it was nice to meet another Texan just because of my hat haha.

Saturday night was the big birthday bash. It consisted of much drinking and festivities the usual birthday stuff haha. Well my new friends made an alcohol fueled decision to go get tattoos. I declined this offer because I have a strict policy of being sober when I get tattoos haha. All things considered though, their tattoos actually look pretty good considering the state they were in haha. I woke up in the morning after our big night out and I had the ferry to catch home Sunday afternoon because I had work on monday :( it sucked for me because while they went on traveling and having fun but such is life. One of my big memories is there was a guy on the island, he had a street stall for food and he was like an Iron Chef! He was throwing stuff all over the place, catching it,slicing and dicing, I wish I had a video! It was pretty amazing!

I had a really good time meeting those guys and seeing my friend Ash she is a really cool girl. I have some good memories of that weekend I got to work on my tan a little. On the way back home to my little town I met a German guy named Toby. We had time to kill before we left on our respective trains. We decided to get a bite to eat while we waited. I found out he was 39 and had lived in America before. He was a really cool guy and was self employed so he could travel freely. I think that was a great lifestyle if you can make it work.

Well Toby and I started to share our life stories and we found out we had alot in common actually. He used to be a lawyer at a big law firm in Germany and he was doing pretty well for himself apparently. He told me he had a beautiful girlfriend and all the things that a successful should seem to have. But he admitted to me he was totally unhappy with his life. He said he was very materialistic and superficial. To have someone freely admit that to another person is really a big step I really  admired that about him. He also said one day that he just got sick of it all. Over a period of two years he broke up with his girlfriend,quit his job,sold most of his stuff and started his new life.

You many people talk about wanting to make changes and wanting something else. Few have the courage to do it. In the top five regrets of the dying number two is "I only lived for what others wanted and not for myself" I could see that Toby is now a person who is true to himself and I like to think that I am also. I don't have a house or a car or a career or a big family or anything that most average Americans have. What I do have is the freedom to be who I want to be and do what I want. My path is not for everyone but I am staying true to myself.

Toby and I spent just over an hour together but we probably shared more in depth stuff about life and living than I have discussed with anyone in a long time. A person is no longer a stranger after a conversation like that. We found out that American Beauty is a favourite movie for us both. You know all it takes is a "hello" to a stranger and you never know who you are going to meet or what you will have in common. I might see him again or maybe never again but we sure did have a good chat. When you are traveling, you are so much more open and accepting than you would be at home. If you are reading this ask yourself when was the last time you had a conversation with a stranger? Much less a "serious" conversation. I challenge you to try it! You just might surprise yourself. 

Just a few other bits and pieces before I leave you for now. Smoking is not so big back home anymore, people know the dangers of it and it is getting more and more expensive. In Asia it is the opposite. It costs less than two dollars for a pack of cigarettes and many many people smoke. You can buy them everywhere. I am not a smoker and I don't discriminate against people who do smoke, it is your choice but there is nothing worse for me than seeing a beautiful girl stick a cigarette in her mouth and light up. On the train journey home from Koh Tao the only option they had was third class but I at least got a bench seat next to some local Thais. One of them spoke half way decent English and it only cost me 1.75 USD for a 2 hour journey! Believe it or not that is not my record for my cheapest journey. I once took a four hour train ride for 33 baht. That is just a hair over 1 USD! I don't know how they can make it so cheap, but they don't provide you any luxuries in third class either lol.

In Australia and New Zealand (the main places where I rode trains on a consistent basis) they were air conditioned little tubes that were totally sealed, you couldn't open the windows really much at all. There was all these rules, A 200 dollar fine for eating or putting your feet on the seats! There was rules and restrictions for everything. In Thailand there no no air conditioning unless you pay extra, no rules or restrictions. They constantly sell food and cigarettes on the train. The windows are thrown open and smoke and dust are blown everywhere! People are eating,smoking and chattering away. You can put your feet all over the seats if you wish. Every time I have rode a local train I have always been offered a couple of snorts out of a bottle of ever present Thai whiskey from some local guy. They love their whiskey and it sure does make the journey go faster haha.

You know what? Living here in Thailand there is not many laws or restrictions. Many of the laws they do have are very poorly enforced or you can buy your way out of trouble. It may seem to you like I am here living in a lawless wild west type country but it is not like that at all. Sure I can drive as fast or as slow as I want on the road (no posted speed limits in my town), I can drive as crazy as I want, I can smoke or not smoke anywhere I want,basically the point I am trying to make is that within reason you can do whatever you want here. Back home and in most Westernized countries there is so many rules and law and restrictions of what you can and can't do. People are constantly being told how to behave and how to live. People here seem to have just more general common sense and life experience. If you live in a place where for example a "boat dock" its just a few wooden slats strung out into the ocean with a sharp drop off on either side and NO railing you tend to be a little more savvy. Living here has made me more alert to my surroundings. More alive if you will and I like it! Even though it may not be everyone's cup of tea seeing as for example you cannot put toilet paper in the toilet due to their subpar sewer system. Ok my rant is over :)

Yall have a good week,Tyler

Hua Hin

This past weekend I went to Hua Hin for yet another visa stamp. By immigration standards it was a breeze (I still had to wait two hours lol) waiting two hours is considering getting in and out quickly though haha. Well I had never been to Hua Hin before, it is the largest major city close to me and it is a very popular vacation destination. It is also where most of The King's family is located when they are not at the royal palace or the hospital in Bangkok where he stays. They are known for their good sea food ( I had some good mussels). Well in addition to this I took a ride in a pedi cab and saw two twin Japanese brothers play the drums,flute and guitar. They were very similar to "Stomp" the African Fusion Band I saw back in Buenos Aires,Argentina. Stomp was VERY high energy, there was well over 1000 people there and much alcohol and illegal narcotics (Don't worry I didn't do any of the illegal stuff). Stomp had a huge band and they were all about noise and energy and power.

There was maybe 100 people at this free concert (if that) and these guys were all about precision. They had apparently played at Carnegie Hall four times! These guys were so good that instead of beating their drums simultaneously (which is hard enough to do) they could literally beat the drums IN BETWEEN each other's strokes. When one brother was on the down stroke the other brother would be on the upstroke. They could do it without even looking at each other, just by listening.  Another amazing thing I saw them do that I have never ever seen before is both brothers played one guitar! Allow me to explain, They had Japanese style guitars (more like banjo's than guitars) and some of their music almost sounded like old bluegrass country music. Well they would sit really close to each other and intertwine their arms. One brother would play the neck of the guitar and the other brother would play the strings at the bottom. It was pretty amazing. Sad thing is, I never even got their names. I just know they were here for a cultural exchange in Thailand and I saw them for free :) I wish I would have had a video!

I told you Hua Hin was one of the "King's cities" so obviously there is pictures of the King and Queen all over the city well that is true for all of Thailand not just Hua Hin. Every city has pictures of them,billboards,posters,everything. They really love the Royal Family here and I can't even begin to imagine how many millions of dollars all these posters and billboards have cost. I was really craving some "falang" (Western) food after my Thai seafood lunch so I decided to treat myself to a steak dinner. Unfortunately for me it was really not good at all :( my steak was cooked improperly and the baked potato was bad) it was a let down. But, food service in Thailand is hit or miss with Western food because that obviously is not what they normally cook and you cannot complain and tell them to take it back to the kitchen. It is a no refunds kinda deal. Eh I lost ten bucks so such is life. In Thailand when you are eating in a group as I have mentioned before, food almost NEVER comes out at the same time. So, you just have to eat immediately when you get your food which back home would be quite rude but, not here! Also, the waiters/waitresses almost never come check on you! So you better get what you need the first time around because you wont see them again until it is time to pay your bill lol.

I also had a massage by a blind lady. I cannot recommend these massages enough! When someone is blind their sense of touch is SO much more enhanced. Sure, the first time you get a massage by a blind person it can be a little unnerving but, they are people too and they have to make a living. She was very nice but she was about 70 years old! She didn't speak a lick of English either. When I had my massage in Cambodia by Nika, she could speak English really well. This lady did a pretty good job and it wasn't that expensive but she did mention for me to take my shorts off, which I had no problem with because every time I get a massage I just stay in my boxers. Well before I knew what was happening, fast as a cheetah she whipped off my boxers too! So there I was totally naked! It was a little unnerving at first but, I figured I had already paid for this and she was blind so what was the harm? She was totally professional and it was a good massage but it was first totally nude massage. So other than the unexpected nudity everything was fine.


Well that is all I have for now. Yall take care,Ty

Random serious musings

 Every now and again I like to write "serious" blogs. I always try my best not to seem preachy or holier than though or just plain annoying. I just want to express my thoughts the best way I know how and I want to give you insight into my life, the good the bad, and the ugly. So I thank you for bearing with me and allowing me to spill out whatever it is I choose to write.

I just read the other day that Kang Kek Lew known as "Duch" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kang_Kek_Iew was sentenced to life in prison for being the head of the prison in Cambodia known as S-21. Most of my reader may not know anything about The Khmer Rouge, I know I didn't until I got to Cambodia. You can read more about it on Wikipedia but basically there was a man named Pol Pot and he was a dictator in Cambodia in the between 1975 and 1979 he and his followers murdered over 2 million people. They abolished money, closed schools,killed anyone with an education and brought Cambodia back to "year zero". I have personally been to S-21 (the former school turned into a prison/torture house is now a museum). I had never even heard of the Khmer Rouge before I went to Cambodia but right when you walk into S-21 and the "killing fields" there is a huge tower. This tower is made out of human skulls from the people that died. It is so shocking and "in your face". I was really glad to see that Cambodians are not denying their history and their past and are not trying to sweep it under the rug so to speak.

It was so depressing to know how much hatred and negativity there can be in this world. Especially when confronted with it like that. When I visited the concentration camps in Germany I felt that while they certainly did not deny what happened there they tried to soften the image a little for people and make it a little more bearable to people visiting there. In Cambodia there was no such efforts, you can still see blood on the walls where people were tortured and killed. There is many many pictures of people taken when they were processed into S-21 only to be tortured and killed. I somehow managed to get myself lost in S-21 and separated briefly from my friends (there was no signs in English) and I accidentally wandered into some sort of basement area and I saw a very large pile of clothing that I can only assume was from people who were tortured and killed there. I left quickly out of that room but that image will haunt me for the rest of my life. 

Duch is already 70 years old and now he is going to spend the rest of his life in prison for helping to torture and murder so many people but Pol Pot and many many of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge died or moved away before they could be punished for their crimes and nothing will bring back the millions of people who were murdered for no reason, even babies were killed! I also heard a story in the news (and saw the video) of where a tennis star clearly threw his shirt to a 14 year old girl and she was so excited to get it but a stupid lady snatched it right out of the air and wouldn't give it back to her!! :(  She then auctioned the shirt off for charity (or so she says) because of all the negative reaction she was getting and the 14 year old girl, her mother had to buy back the jersey for almost 7000 dollars! :(

You might wonder why I am writing a blog about war and hate and misery. I am writing you all this because I want to make it clear that this world can be a terrible place where horrible things happen. But, it doesn't always have to be that way. There can be so much good and so much to look forward to in this world. I have countless examples right in my own life of people doing good things for me for no other reason than just to selflessly help me out. Time after time I have been able to have my faith in humanity restored and realise that this life is worth living with a positive outlook. I just finished re-watching one of my favourite movies, American Beauty. If you haven't seen it you should check it out! But basically it is about a guy who has a boring mundane life and he hates it. Then he starts to make positive changes in his life and he really starts LIVING! It is a movie that really makes you examine your own life. There is no reason you cannot have the life you really want, you just have to WANT to make the changes necessary to have that life.

If you turn on the news 99% of the things you will hear or read will be negative. But I challenge you to look for the good in this world and in your own life and not to focus on the bad. Your life is your own and you can make it as amazing as you want.Traveling has really put me in touch with my own mortality. I have come to not fear death at all but to welcome it. Not that I WANT to die anytime soon, I certainly don't! I hope I have many many more years left on this earth but I know that death is just the next chapter, the new beginning of something else. In one of my favourite movies, American Beauty right at the end Kevin Spacey's character says that before you die life really does flash before your eyes in a moment. Only it is a moment that goes on forever. I hope that when my time comes I will get to see all the places I have been too, all the people I have met and all the great experiences I have had. I hope that in my final moments I will fondly remember the amazing family and friends I have had throughout my life and how truly lucky and blessed I was. That's really all I got for now. -Ty

Thai Markets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJ4hbkLiY0

I am not trying to be Tony Robbins or be all preachy and seem like my life is 100% amazing all the time and so much better than your own. It really is not but, I do try and stay positive and realise how lucky I am to be able to have the freedom to do what I do and enjoy life. I found a fairly inspirational video on Youtube from The Terminator himself so I thought I would share it.

Ok now to the real stuff. I do not believe that I have told you anything about Thai Markets yet. In my little town everyday they have an outdoor market (it is Thailand's version of Walmart just a little more "fresh" and outdoors lol) Once a week on Thursday they have the BIG market where they sell everything you can imagine. I went with Noong today even though it was raining. It has been raining for three days straight already! It is making me crazy and I feel like a prisoner trapped indoors all the time! Here when it rains it REALLY rains! I mean it pours down hard! Normally it doesn't last all that long but, you had better hope to be indoors when it starts because you will be soaked haha. It is not even the rainy season yet!

Anyway, back to the markets. In Thailand there are very few "traditional" grocery stores like what we would have back at home. At home you can go to Walmart 24 hours a day and shop in sanitized air conditioned comfort for things at regulated prices. You have no idea how or where these things came from you just know you can go to the cash register after waiting in a long line and pay for your goods with cash,credit,debit,check or other. Walmart is an enormous corporation that employees more people that the US Army and from what I have heard generally does not treat their employees all that awesome. But 98% of Americans don't give a shit about any of that they just want their stuff available to them now!

In Thailand you go to the market and its outdoors, rain or shine. It is basically a bunch of tables and tarps set up in the middle of a random big field somewhere. People will have live animals,dead animals,fish (live and dead) toys,clothes,food and fruit and veggies of all kinds, guns,knives,power tools,candy,shoes,Viagra and anything else you can imagine for sell. Immediately when you walk in you are assaulted visually by the sights and smells of the market. Most of the time the smells are pleasant from the food being cooked fresh in front of you. Sometimes though on a hot day you get a real bad "fishy" smell from the fish just sitting there in the hot sun (Thais are not big on refrigeration and their bodies are used to it). You also here the squeals of the various animals being killed and butchered for their meat. Kids are laughing, adults are bargaining,people are begging for money. All of this is going on and you are just walking around shopping!

Needless to say that is completely different from Walmart haha. But, that being said I like it. I like knowing where my food comes from and I like knowing it is fresh. I like paying with cash (the only way you can pay here) I like being able to haggle. I also enjoy supporting the local economy and I enjoy trying new crazy foods I can't get at home. This experience won't be to everyone's liking but I sure do like it. I prefer this to shopping at Walmart. Totally unrelated but, I wanted to share that Noong (my housemate) and I have recently found all the seasons of Macgyver on the Internet and we have been watching quite a few. This brings back good memories for me because this was one of the first shows I remember watching with my dad when it would come on. It is like going back in time haha. Such a classic show but man his mullet looks terrible lol.

On Saturday I am taking a weekend trip to the largest major city close to me called Hua Hin. It is my first time to go there and I am excited to get away for a weekend. I am so sick of this rain and I hope it lets up soon! I have made a few new friends here so that is good (haven't seen them much due to this weather!) I also have a good friend of mine who just arrived in Thailand today and I am really excited to see her again soon for the first time in two years! It should be fun! I have just a few more weeks of school left and then it is summer time :) I guess that is all I have for you now. Sorry my life has been so boring lately haha.

Yall take care as always,Tyler

Snorkeling weekend trip

I  just came back from an awesome weekend snorkeling trip and I wanted to wait to write this until I got the underwater photo's from a German lady on our tour. She promised to send me her underwater pictures but she hasn't yet and I am tired of waiting haha. So here goes! This past weekend I went with my friend Maurice and another expat guy to a small island about 30 or 45 minutes from where we live to go snorkeling. We had the perfect day for it, the water was crystal clear and the weather perfect!

You know I did want to mention one other thing about driving that I noticed. There is one stop light in my town at our one major intersection. It is a "T" junction. Well NO ONE follows the light. People go when they want, stop when they want lol. So, you always have to watch out when you are making a turn of any kind at this light. The concept of a turn lane does not exist here where I live so rather than being able to make a semi safe protected turn you have to make sure there is no oncoming traffic before you turn AND you have to make sure there is no traffic behind you when you turn so you don't get hit. It isn't super dangerous since I live in a small town and I have never had any accidents but it is frustrating sometimes. You always just yield to the larger vehicle haha. I would imagine even if they did have a turn lane allowing vehicles to continue going straight while others waited to turn no one would obey it anyway considering they use the shoulder as a functional driving lane! :P

Before he left though we watched an American movie, "The Mechanic" With Jason Statham. It was a remake of a 1972 movie of the same name. It was pretty good, action packed as his movies usually are haha. At the end of the movie he is driving away and he is driving on the right side of the road (the American/Canadian side) and I immediately thought in my brain wait, he is on the wrong side! It is so funny that since I have been driving here in Thailand my brain has so adjusted to left hand driving that even on a TV screen the American style of driving looks weird to me! I had to laugh at this fact but it is true. Even when I lived in Australia and New Zealand for well over a year I got used to left hand driving but not to this extent because there I didn't have to do it everyday like I do here.

We paid 11 USD for a half day tour with lunch and snorkel gear included so it was not a bad deal at all! We had a great time and I saw some amazing stuff. If I can get her pictures I will post them for sure. We got to feed the fish and they swarmed up EVERYWHERE once you threw the food in the water. You could hardly see! There was no much coral to speak of, most of it was dead. But, the fish was amazing colours and really beautiful. There was also giant clams you could pick up from the sea bed. We got to catch some live fresh squid and I got to see "cuddlefish" these were big brown fish that just floated on the bottom and you could literally get inches from their faces and they wouldn't move! That was the coolest part of the whole trip for me. 

The day before our snorkeling trip Noong cooked a seafood feast for us with fresh (right out of the ocean) live (for a while anyway haha) crabs and squid. It was so good! That night we had a party for a German friend of ours and Noong prepared yet another amazing meal with lots and lots of meat plus a chocolate cake with rum mixed in. It was SO good! I am so lucky to be so well fed all the time haha.

Maurice had to leave here to go further down south to Koh Phangan to visit his friends so this is the last I will see of him for a bit. We had a good time together though hanging out and going snorkeling and to some other beach towns around here they were much different from where I live but still neat, a little more touristy though. We even got to see Thailand's largest sand dune (it isn't that large lol) It was nice to hang out with my friend for a while. Living in a small town can get isolating sometimes! 

It was just Chinese New Year here. Yes, this is Thailand but they have the Buddhist calender (543 years difference) and they celebrate Chinese New Year. There was many many celebrations because it is now the Year of the Dragon and considered very lucky by many people! Many many women want to get pregnant and have babies this year! I also had the closest thing to a "pig in a blanket" that they have here. It was a doughy pastry with meat in the middle and it was so good! Well that is all I have for you now. I am back to work and back to the usual. As soon as I get those underwater pictures (if I get them) I will post them. Yall take care,Tyler

The Long Weekend!

Monday was a public holiday for us here in Thailand it was Teacher's Day so I had the day off and the previous Friday was Children's Day so I also had the day off. They love their public holidays in Thailand! I went with my friend Maurice and my house mate Noong along with our other house mate Nel to a beach called Bang Berd. This was my longest journey by motorbike thus far. It was 75 kilometers round trip or 46 miles! After that long on a motorbike your butt starts to get really sore haha.
On the way home Maurice (my Australian friend I met here) had lunch at an outside market and we had a chicken that had the feet and head still attached! It was such a good chicken though :) I also had one of the craziest dishes I have had thus far. I wish I would have remembered to get a picture of this! It was sweet whole corn (not corn on the cob) and it looked great! But, then the lady started to add sugar to it and butter and chocolate sauce with sprinkles! I thought oh my Lord that is going to be horrible haha. But it was so good :) man that was one of the best desserts I have had here.

On my days off I also took Maurice to the caves here in town (the caves from my Facebook pictures) and we really enjoyed that. He liked feeding the sacred catfish as much as I did the first time I did it. After seeing these caves for the third time now though I am all caved out! Maurice and I also went to a beach town down the road a few clicks. We went to Ban Krut and it was really nice and different from my little town. We spent a good day in the ocean and on the beach. In contrast to my previous two hour almost fifty mile round trip journey this time we were only on the motorbike for about a half hour. So now I have explored most of this local area. There is one notable exception though. I have been wanting to go to a local island called Koh Talu but haven't been able to do so because the weather hasn't been right for the trip out.

Well we finally had a great day to go do it and we rung up a local guy who claimed to have a boat to take us out there. He was charging a pretty fair price so we said ok. He said he would pick us up at 9am. We waited and thirty minutes pasted. Then he said he would pick us up at 10am. We were frustrated but this is Thailand this happens all the time so it was not a huge deal to wait an extra hour. Then at 10:30am he calls me and says he is canceling the whole trip and gave us no reason why! We were really angry and frustrated but here this happens all too often and there is nothing you can do about it. At least we didn't lose any money and only time. So, instead of doing that I went into town and bought a replacement phone charger (I got sold a fake non functioning one in Bangkok,damn the luck!) and fixed my motorbike (even though it is a rental I am responsible for anything that needs fixing it seems) luckily I only needed to add brake fluid and fix my license plate that was falling off. Both of those things cost me the equivalent of 1 USD.

Noong has been stuffing Maurice and I to the gills with great food and we plan to take her out for a proper dinner soon to say thanks for her. I do enjoy living here and I am very lucky to have found her. The last place I want to visit that I haven't been able to so far, is Hua Hin. So that is on the list for soon-ish. I have heard they have a great night market there. I love all the fresh food and neat stuff you can find there. Well that is about all I have for you now. I am just back at work back to the norm. I am taking Maurice with me to school tomorrow to meet the kids and that should be good. Yall take care,Tyler

The going's on in my life...

Well, lately since my holiday from Hell I have been pretty boring but I wanted to give you a little update anyway. Things are still going well at school, I am teaching the older kids about contractions and the funny rules of English having to do with "too,two and to" and "their,there,they're". I can imagine trying to newly learn English that must be hard, three different words that sound exactly the same but are spelled different and mean different things! I know the kids thought my lesson was boring (mostly because I made them write it all down haha) but I think it is really important to know!

Recently, after school I left (after saying "see you tomorrow" to about 100 kids as usual haha) to go get something to eat. So I stopped into the little street stall that looked pretty good, now I freely admit my Thai is pretty bad so when they say something to me I don't understand I generally reply with a "yes'' in Thai. nine times out of ten I have still gotten pretty good food that way. Well It happened there and the woman I assumed recommended me some food. I could understand that whatever she was giving me came with rice so I was pretty happy. Well soon she brought out a whole cooked fish! the head, the eyes,everything! It also had all the bones inside! It was good but certainly not what I am used too lol.

After I was done I went to pay her for my meal (50 baht, thats less than two USD for rice and a whole fish and water!) but I had forgotten my wallet! I can't remember a time in my life where I have forgotten my wallet! It was really embarrassing and I had no idea what to do since I couldn't communicate with this woman! So I had to call my house mate and tell her what happened and she laughed and came into town to save me thank God! Then all was well until that night at dinner and I had chili pepper on my hand and accidentally rubbed my eye. It hurt REALLY bad! After flushing it with water I was fine though. That will be the last time I ever touch my eye at dinner!

I got a birthday card from my grandparents which was sweet of them and really nice and now since Hugh (my friend from NY) has left, I have a friend from Australia coming to visit me here and also fairly soon a friend from Sweden and one from England! So I am excited to see some of my friends again. Friday (today) we will have "student day" at school so we have a party and monday is yet another Public Holiday here (they love their holidays in Thailand!) so I don't have to work. Tomorrow I will be going to a cool beach fairly close to here called Bang Berd. It should be nice. I also plan to take Maurice to Ban Krut (another beach fairly close to here) and to the local caves we have here. Busy few days ahead of me!

Today I was driving home from the store on my motorbike and it was quite windy. So windy in fact that one of my bags of groceries flew right out! My ice cream landed right in the middle of the highway! Luckily it didn't hit anyone and no one ran it over! I was able to save my precious cargo and be on my way haha. I did make a few other odd observations I wanted to mention. Here in Thailand if you buy a bag of chips/crisps/whatever you choose to call it. It is almost impossible to pinch the two ends of the bag and pull them apart and open like we would at home. It is so strange because the bags physically look the same as ours and are made of similar material but I think they are thicker and more air filled because the only way to open them is to rip the bag vertically! Weird huh? Also, I wanted to mention that I have been to many different countries each with it's own set of unique laws as you know.

Texas and America in general have some odd liquor laws but Thailand takes the cake! At my local Tesco/Lotus (Thailand mini Walmart equivalent) you are allowed to buy alcohol between the hours of 11am and 2 pm and 7pm to midnight seven days a week. But, NOT between the hours of 11:01am and 6:59pm. So strange! Ok, one last night. I have told you many things about driving here in Thailand and I have been doing just fine now that I have my own motorbike and have learned the quote, unquote "rules" of the road here haha. It is crazy but you get used to it. Well one that really is no fun is that there is zero emission controls for vehicles here that I can tell so if you get stuck behind a big polluting slow bus or truck and you are on a motorbike it really sucks!

Well I guess that is all for now, yall take care til next time,Tyler

Back to Bangkok!

Well lets see, where did I last leave you? Ah after my trip from Hell! Well I came home and met a new friend. One of the regulars who lives here in  my little town has a son who lives in New York so he was over here visiting his dad and we decided to hang out. Hugh was a really cool guy and I had a great time showing him around town and just hanging out. Well being in a small town life gets a little suffocating sometimes so we decided to leave to the Big City. But before we left I decided to take Hugh to my school to meet the kids. They had never met anyone from New York before so they loved it! It was really good to have a visitor for show and tell haha. He told them all about his life and his job (Advertising/graphic designer) and I let them ask him questions. It was a good time

Back to Bangkok! He had never been there before so I volunteered to play tour guide. After our seven hour bus journey we got there to Bangkok and got settled into my favourite guest house.
From there I took him on a canal tour of the river in Bangkok ( I was really saddened to see that it was covered in litter and trash, people just don't respect the environment here!) then we saw the floating shopping market and the Sitting Buddha. I took him around the typical touristy stuff but we only had 1.5 days to do it in! I made sure we hit up my favourite restaurants (for the steamed duck and baby clams!mmmmm) and got the best food and drinks. I took him to my awesome fruit shake lady and saw all my friends in Bangkok and hung out. I also told him he has to do some shopping at the huge shopping mall MBK.

My train ride back home from Bangkok was uneventful but really long. We were delayed and I was not able to get the sleeper train which means I had a nine hour journey in an uncomfortable sitting only seat. Train travel in Thailand in first class is actually pretty good. In second, it is ok and in third class is pretty terrible! The trains are not the most modern or comfortable (in second and third class the windows are always open to let air in) so you get smoke and smog and dust all over you, the toilets are just holes that lead down thru the train onto the tracks! But anyway its a cheap (fairly reliable) way to get around.

I know I didn't cover much in this little update but now I am back home and back to work again! Yall take care and happy 2012-Ty

Holiday Hell

Ok, so I had a pretty awesome birthday (thanks to my amazing roommate Noong and my friends here) but after my Christmas Eve/Christmas and birthday things started to go south quickly! :( It all started with my decision to go on a little four day holiday to the Islands down in southern Thailand. Simple right? Wrong! My destination was 8 hours south of where I am currently living. It was supposed to be a one bus journey down to the last major city before the islands. Then a ferry to Koh Lanta and that would be it.

Reality: I had to take a minibus and two regular buses just to get to the drop off point to Koh Lanta. On my minibus to Koh Lanta it was a nine seater bus and we had 18 people on our minibus including our driver! I was supposed to meet my friends on Koh Lanta but due to my bus arriving late I missed the last ferry to Koh Lanta so I had to spend New Years Eve alone in Krabi. It wasn't all bad though because I met some really cool people.  I spent the vast majority of my night with a beautiful girl from South Africa and we shared a very special great New Years Eve together we got to release lanterns to the Heavens together just like on my birthday. Unfortunately for me I failed to get ANY of her contact information. It is really a shame because I had a great time with her and will always remember this new years eve because of her. I guess if we are meant to meet each other again we will. What is interesting is that I remember every detail of what she looks like,what we talked about,what she smelled like (lilac perfume if you are curious lol) and a few other details but sadly not her name or how I can contact her :(

So Jan 1 I wake up and go to book my travels to Koh Lanta to meet my friends. Again for me more unfortunate news... I made the bad mistake of trusting some random travel agency to take care of my travel needs. I booked my travel to Koh Lanta, from Koh Lanta and my stay on Koh Lanta all with "Happy Travel" in Krabi. Well it turns out I wasn't very "Happy" because it was terrible!! First they were late getting me to Koh Lanta, then once I got there I found out that the "cheap cheap" resort they booked me into didn't even have indoor plumbing!(just a no flush toilet with a bucket)  Not only that but it was a Muslim run resort. Now I want to be clear that I respect all religions of the world but if you observing your religious practices wakes me up at 5 am everyday by LOUD praying then I tend to get a little angry. That on top of the fact that I couldn't get any beer or pork there was more than a little frustrating!

It rained most of the time I was on Koh Lanta and I never got to see my friends because there was no phone service where I was and I never could find them. I did meet some cool Austrian guys while I was there and I got one good sunset so I tried my hardest to stay positive! But it got worse for me when I rented a motorbike to tour around on and they gave it to me with almost ZERO gas in the tank so while I was desperately looking for a place to fill up the tank I ran out of gas. Completely. For the first time in my life. At this point I was trying hard not to rip my hair out. (It was really hard!) Luckily a nice Thai guy got me back on the road and helped me. I still didn't find my friends though :(  Now about my journey back home... Keep in mind this is only an 8 hour journey.

I was dropped off by taxi at the designated pick up point so I could be taken back to the ferry by minibus so I could get back to the mainland. Well I got the the drop off point to wait for the minibus just fine but then the problems started :( I waited. One hour later he still hadn't showed up. So I called the company they assured me this was normal and to wait. So I waited (having them be one hour late in Thailand actually is not all that unusual) Then I waited another hour still no minibus. I had my connecting bus back home to catch at 3:30pm! So it is nice 12:45pm and he is two hours late, my patience is running out. I call them again! They tell me the driver will be there at 1:45pm a full three hours late! I am stuck outside a 7/11 with nowhere to go and nothing to do! :(

Finally at 1:45pm he arrives three full hours late and I am so angry I tell him he better get me to my connecting bus home. He assures me we will make it. Well we don't! I miss my connection and not only that but on the minibus home for two full hours I had to sit next to a local person with foot rot. Talk about gross! So I finally arrive back in Krabi and I am told I have to stay the night there because I have missed every bus back to my town (and I have to work the next day!!!) I am so angry! and they want me to pay them MORE money for me to stay the night there!

I demand a refund for their bus driver being late and making me miss my connection. Which they refuse to give me, tell me it isn't their problem. (Don't even bother getting a refund for anything in Thailand it won't happen) so I lost 15 dollars USD right then and there. Well since there was NO buses going back to my town and I HAD to be back for work the next day I had to take a private taxi to a town three hours away. For 60 USD! :(

I get to this town and  I want to get the train back home (6 hour train ride) I am told the ONLY seating left it 3rd class standing room only with no airconditioning (Could my holiday get ANY worse! lol). So, packed in like cattle for 6 hours I rode that damn train. The only bright spot was I was crammed in right next to some really cool Thais and a few French and Swiss guys. (It was nice drinking whiskey with you Alex,Daniel and Thomas) the whiskey made the journey slightly more bearable. So I arrive home at 6:00am after twenty something hours of continuous travel. Not to mention I spent a whole month's rent for a four day holiday.

Other than meeting that gorgeous South African girl and hanging out with the guys crammed on the train and the Austrians on Koh Lanta, I truly had the holiday from Hell! Next time I will just stay home lol. Yall take care,Tyler