Youth In Asia

Not Loved You For Long Time

2008-10-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

Alright, been more than a month since my last entry. Sorry if you've been following it. But hey! more photos and stuff! So since last time, Andrea got here (so stoked) and we spent the first 2 weeks of her trip with her Mom, which was actually really fun. Then sandy took off and Andrea and I moved into a new apt. where we now have a good amount of friends and stuff to do all of the time. We also have a pool. A clean one. If you knew how hot it is here, you'd know how stoked I am. Anyways, its sort of late, here are photos.
Nick and what we always referred to as "Monkey-Baby."

Andrea and the reclining Buddha.
Just wondering about that hat.
Sandy in a sea of yellow.
We found a Slow Loren and Andrea has not stopped talking about how bad she wants one. Literally, 2 weeks later, I hear it every day.

Updates will be more frequent now that I have an internet connection again. So... LATE

BIFF & BIL

2008-08-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken literally 20 minutes after I threw up back stage. Not the "Rot your teeth, keep your job," kind either. The awful food poison kind. I was sick for like 2 days and in such bad shape. No clue how I still did that show. Guess it may have made my face a little more pale. They're into that here.

Photos!

2008-08-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

This guys won Nick and I 5000 baht.
Waiting for pirated DVDs.
The Muay Thai Champion. Weighing in at 126.
Massive reclining Buddha.
Shoot for Singha Life in Hua Hin.
Jason playing his guitar that said "dollar store" on the side. Doesn't matter if they cannot read english.
Working. :)

I kept reminding myself that we get paid the same.Singha Life group shot.
Kahner at the floating market.

Dana and a monkey...They totally did that on their own.
Kahner is loosing it cause he loves elephants so much.

SO many fish.
Duh.

Working.

2008-08-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

Late last night I got back from Hua Hin, where I was for 2 days. I was working for a new clothing line that Singha is opening up next month. It was really fun, I had a great time. It was a lifestyle shoot, so the 4 other guys, 2 girls and I got to just goof off a lot and they filmed and photographed the whole thing. When I got back into town I found out I was booked for the 26th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 1st and 2nd, on 4 different jobs. I have gotten every job I have been to a casting for, I am so stoked. They like skinny and pale here. I had to ditch the runway job on the 1st and 2nd cause I am taking a plane up to Lao to renew my visa. Kahner, Dana and Nick got back from a little tour of the islands this morning and we have been relaxing and hanging out around the mall all day. I am just relieved that I am making more than enough money to live comfortably. Thai Baht isnt really worth that much so saving money to bring home will be rough, but here I can live without really worrying too much. I can finally buy nice things. I haven't been able to do that since I lived at home, and even then it was super rare. It's a nice feeling, not having to worry so much. I pick up my first envelope full of cash tomorrow. *sigh*

Bangkok!

2008-08-12T05:59:00.000-07:00

AH! So Nick and I are in Bangkok, finally. I am so glad to be here and have him with me. We have just been going out every day, leaving early in the morning and not coming home until late at night. A really great time so far. My 3rd night here, his 2nd, we went to a world championship kickboxing match and sat right up in front with the owner of the place, the promoter, and the guy that owns twin gloves. It was so glarly, the guys look so huge from down beneath the ring, then we went in back and took a picture with the champion of the headlining fight and he didnt even come up to my shoulders, then I looked and saw he weighs 126. That guys could break me at 165 se damn easily its not even funny. After that, Kahner Trigg and Dana Reynolds came and stayed with us for 2 nights which was really cool, then they went to a tiger temple and will be back with us again tomorrow night. We are going to the floating market the morning after they get in. I had my first shoot for some magazine I have never heard of today, but the clothes were good and I had a really good time. And the stylist said he wants to use me for his show in October, which is cool cause pay is usually more for shows than print. We have been so busy since Nikki and his mom, Tina, got here a few days ago. Going to malls, markets, temples, a mass peace rally, meeting up with Nick's Dad's boy Zuzu, who is like the thai Santana, which is awesome. haha anyways, I have to jet, our hour here is almost up and I dont want to get stuck paying another 20 baht. not really, thats only like $0.75, it feels like monopoly money.

2008-08-04T02:38:00.000-07:00

A few days ago teacher came by the house and was ringing the doorbell a million times and yelling my name into the open window. When I got downstairs he was all amped to see me because i hadn't seen him in a few days. Then we sat outside and smoked cigarettes waiting for his friend Noy to come and get us. Then he had to convince Thong to let me go with him to some small village called Ban Duean(?), We walked around and met some of the people teacher worked with when he lived there for 11 years, then went back to his brothers house and sat on the floor drinking brandy and eating chicken, beef and mushrooms. They let me know that you had to go through the forest for about a day and a half to collect just a plate full of those mushrooms. They were really good. After that we went back and met up with Thong at the office and he had a bunch of work to do so we just went and got some more food at this restaurant that i went to during my first week here. I found out that Noy, the guy that was driving us the whole time, was the owner of the place and he was super sweet. He was telling teacher to tell me that if I was in Thabo and I had the opportunity I should come by the restaurant and he would take care of me. He actually said he would take care of everything he could except....(then he pointed to a group of gals outside the karaoke place next door and started cracking up, sweet).
Last night I went to a show with Thong and some of his friends. It was actually pretty fun, there were a lot of young people from Thabo dancing and going nuts and I was at a table in the back with 9 sweet old guys drinking whiskey and eating some snacks they kept bringing out. We stayed out until 3:30 in the morning and by the end of the night I was pretty ready to crash.

Nong/ Short-Round

2008-07-30T02:55:00.000-07:00

This is where he sleeps sometimes.
And this is a drawing he made for me at school.

2008-07-26T22:38:00.002-07:00

Yesterday No and I took the chopper out for a couple hours and just rode down the highway into Nong Khai. I was so stoked because it was the first time I had been able to really soak up the landscape and just take everything in on my own. Driving here is obviously very different from driving in the states. You have to dodge Water Buffalo. After that, Thong got back from Bangkok and Pattaya and we went out to dinner in Si Chiang Mai, which was great. I like it a lot more when he is around, he makes it a priority to take me with him when he does things and he is so proud of Thabo and the Nong Khai province that he loves showing it off. I guess he and I are going on another trip soon, but I forgot where to. 3 days, though. I burnt him 2 cds (The Band: The Band, Billy Brag & Wilco: Mermaid Avenue) based off of what he was playing in the car. After about 50 times, you get so damn sick of hearing "Like a Rhinestone Cowboy," I never thought I'd know all the words.

Rambling.

2008-07-23T23:49:00.000-07:00

This whole country is much more sustainable than I was expecting it to be. I guess I was expecting it be a little more like northern Mexico, with the littering, and nobody checking or caring about the emissions of their automobiles. But really, every single person recycles, people walk the streets and pick up trash, everybody carpools (more out of necessity than anything else, but still). Last week there was a huge, 3-day conference in Pattaya that delegates from 16 countries attended about making Southeast Asia a more environmentally friendly environment, that Thong attended. One thing that I thought was particularly cool was that all of the outdoor trash cans are made out of recycles car tires. Like this...Another thing that being here has really made me notice is that in Orange County, as soon as something gets old it is replaced by something new and shiny and smooth. But here things are fixed and tied and painted and glued until they fall apart. The buildings and the streets and all the things around you have so much character because of that. You can look at something and read the repair jobs and almost tell it's history. Orange County has character, sure, but not anywhere close to this.

Bangkok?

2008-07-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

Tonight Thong and some of his boys are going into bangkok and pattaya for 3 days, but they will just be in meetings the whole time and I am not sure if I am going to go with them or stay here and try to keep busy. Teacher said he would take me into his friend's classroom because he wanted me to converse with some of the students in English. That could be fun. Anyways, a few of the photos on the last post got cut off, including one of my favorites of one of the temples under construction, but if you click on them you can see them much larger. It is almost 11 in the morning here, and I have no clue what the day holds. Last night No helped with my Thai pronunciation for about an hour which was pretty sweet. We basically sat in my room and he made me repeat things until i said them right. Then repeat them a million more times until I knew em. I have never learned so much from an 11 year old.

From now on, I will update.

2008-07-21T01:36:00.000-07:00

So I found a coffee shop about 5 minutes walking from my house in Tha Bo that has free wifi and good coffee, i am so stoked. bummed that it took me 2 weeks to find, but stoked none the less. I am going to start updating this regularly, but over the last 2 weeks I have been spending time traveling around Thailand, seeing Bangkok, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, and Pattaya. I have toured about 12 Buddhist temples and been able to see some really great things.

I think it is the funniest thing ever that the XXL store is called Fat Story.

They're really big on phalic symbols here.

Party Guys.

She is SO pissed i took that photo.

3 of those are boys. Can you guess which? (the ones with hats)

Oldest woman in the world, at 96.

No, the sweet little kid who follows me EVERYWHERE.

My host, Thong Sodavongse, hard at work in our hotel in Pattaya.

They handmake those things out of palm branches and flowers, so gnarly. And this lady makes me look super gangly.

Teacher's daughter who he wants me to marry. He told me 3 times.

In The Airport

2008-07-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

I just paid $9.64 for a stale piece of sourdough with a few slices of turkey and one slice of Havarti. I am going on my fifth hour here, waiting for my flight to Tokyo, after which I will be heading into Bangkok. Unfortunately it will take me about 12 hours to get to Tokyo, but my Mom loaded my full of Ambien, so I should make it. People in Airports talk about weird stuff, some girl next to me is talking about how insane some kid is who hitchhikes, and saying if it were her son she would lock him in a room for 4 months. She is young, too, she is wearing a class of '05 shirt. Some people don't like adventure, I don't get it, she is pissing me off now. I don't have any paper to draw on either, so I am spending short periods reading before I am too distracted with people-watching. I am just sending e-mails to my family and waiting. I cant sleep, even though I only slept for 2 hours last night, and if I take an Ambien, I'll miss my flight. I should make it, though. Be in Tokyo in 13 hours.