Beach Boys

Who is this guy?

Surf Ninjas

In Rainbow Beach right now. Nothing new to report really. Except our ability to now out drink the Irish. AA awaits.

When I think of Scissors, I think of you.

We just got in to Byron Bay after flying into the Gold Coast and traversing over to Surfer's Paradise.

I almost drowned yesterday when I attempted to battle waves whilst exhausted. It wasn't a real drown scene... just scared me a bit as I began to realize I was getting extremely tired, and the waves were pulling me further and further back and further and further under. Luckily, I had a burst of energy in me which allowed me to make a mad swim for the shore.

There was a kid who actually did drown on that beach yesterday, though.

The east coast of Australia is just fucking gorgeous. Though the tone of the beach seems to be different from, say, Koh Phi Phi. I love Koh Phi Phi. It's loads of fun here, though. Hopefully we will be learning to surf in the next few days. There is so much we are looking to do here. we've been on this trip 6 weeks now. 5 more to go. Our Europe trip would be about over by now. I'm just amazed that the time has flown by this fast. I dread the re-assimilation into the world.

We packed 4 people into a double room in the courtyard Marriott these past few nights. It was actually really cheap, and also much better than a lot of Hostel places.

We have plans to move on up to Rainbow Beach and go on a sailing / road trip around Fraser Islands for about a week. The boat we'll be taking out looks phenomenal (a mix between hands on, and luxury--fucker has a spa on the back). I'll probably be away from all lines of communication.

I really don't know what else at this point. March approaches, and it's maddening.

I heard "The Departed" won best picture. Well deserved.

Sydney

Lots of drinking. Drinking with Sweeds. Getting hammered and swearing with a french couple (they taught me some silky smooth dirty words). It's been a bit out there. Or, "down there" I suppose. Tonight we have a flight leaving for Byron Bay. Aside from the beach here in Bondi, we haven't really done much but trek our way down to the Opera house, have a meat pie, and drink until our livers scream.

We are hoping to book a fairly expensive, but sure to be fun 5 day sailing trip moving north from the Gold Coast. Sleeping on a giant sailboat, drinking, meeting people. If it's anything like the trek in Chaing Mai, Thailand, it ought to be fucking awesome.

Aside from that, we have nothing really set in stone. A plane ticket from Cairnes to Sydney on the day before we leave for Auckland is it. So, somehow we have to make it to Cairnes by the 12th of March.

Anyway, no wuckin fories, bonza, g'day, steve irwin.

Alandownunder

Sawadee. Asia is now officially over. I am standing here at a free internet station in Singapura with a flight to Sydney that is boarding right now. The Tsunami damage was extensive on Koh Phi Phi and Phuket. The just never cleaned the shit up. I bet NO probably is in worse condition when you consider the Thai islands were never really major metropolitan areas.

Where you got dem shoes? You got dem shoes at Maya bay, Phi Phi, Thailand.

Charlie is no longer with us (moment of silence). He had to return to Nepal to go "help" people for the "U.N.". On the bright side, we've had some pretty tame nights in Singapura. The city is clean, modern, and fucking expensive. On that note, I did buy quite a bit of shit here. I plan on sending some back home to keep the weight of my bag down.

Well, fuck. It's pretty much all beaches from here on out. Going surfing... bunjee jumping... skydiving. It should be neat.

Gotta go... I think I hear my plane leaving. Catch you cats down under.

Paradise City

We just checked out of our brown water bungalows here in Koh Phi Phi. A culture that encourages the concept of literally loading up a bucket with alcohol for consumption is a bad thing for the type of people that we are.

I have not had a remotely sober night in the past 10 days. I really wish we weren't leaving.

I type that out and fully mean it but I think the emphasis on how much I truly don't want to leave this place is lost. This is paradise. I think the tone of our trip is wrong for these types of locations. Places like Koh Phi Phi don't need to examined for 3 nights and then left. They need to be soaked in for weeks on end. Truly taken for the languid tone that they exude. My nails are dug into the sand.

Maia bay... a less frequented small bay on one of the off shot islands is one of the coolest places I think I've seen. Watching gorgeous parrot fish feast around it and then sitting in the sand for hours as the sun sets is pretty much how I would envision heaven.

My head is thumping... and I'm leaving this place for Singapore today. Australia is only days away. I guess this is my news. Joe is still loaded and it's noon.

The Beach, Redux

We are here in Koh Pei Pei.

Quite possibly the most gorgeous beach on the face of the planet. Certainly the most amazing I've seen. The nights in Phuket were a bit more than memorable in certain circumstances. Drinking till the sun comes up with Thai hookers on Valentine's day is one for the record books, I think.

I went to sleep last night at roughly 5am and still managed to catch a ferry here at 7. The water is the most crystal clear sea water I've ever seen. It radiates blues and greens that are simply stunning. We took a 4 hour boat trip around the cliffs of Pei Pei to snorkel and cliff jump. The snorkeling was awesome. Coral, sea urchins, parot fish, flying fish, jelly fish, angel fish, fishy fish. It was truly mind blowing. I'm sure when we hit the barrier reef my tune will be different... but for the moment, it's very fucking cool. Charlie claims to have seen a sea snake. I watched a large purple / blue parot fish kick ass on everything around a certain coral bed for 5 minutes.

The 40 foot cliff jumping was pretty mind blowing. The jagged rocks to climb to the top only made it worth a single jump, though.

We came back... drank Chang Beer as the sun set... and had a fantastic meal. I'm now here in an internet shop, 4 beers deep, whist I realize "The World" is just waking up to go to work. I fucking love Thailand. It's Europe's vacation spot.

Phuket Dude, lets go bowling.

Sorry I've been such a fucktard with the blog. I just haven't really had anything too terribly significant to report. We are leaving Saigon today for the white sandy beaches of southern Thailand. Unfortunately there will be no actual full moon parties to partake in (our schedule simply wouldn't allow it), but I'm sure that there is still plenty of party to engage in.

Mustache Friday is this friday. We all plan on wearing aviators, Lacoste (knockoffs hopefully), and shaving to just a mustache. There is a lot of consensus in the group that I need a mullet with lightning bolt on the side to compliment Mustache Friday. There is a large possibility that this will happen.

"When you're done, you can just shave the party off"

Our days and nights in this city have been interesting. The other day, we went to the Chou Chi tunnels (insert joke here) and sat around eating ice cream and firing automatic weapons. At night we found a little makeshift bar that served 2 liter pitchers of "drought" beer for 8,000 dong. That's roughly 50 cents. It did taste like a mixture of stale day old bud light mixed with metal and water. I was glad to move on to a bit more expensive liquid entertainment.

I can't say I won't miss Saigon. The city itself has a dark blood to it that really isn't very comparable. Flight leaves in 3 hours. This is the end.

Safe to surf this beach.

Saigon is everything I could have hoped for, and more. The city itself is an amazing piece of clockwork chaos. The driving philosophy is that, if you have a horn, you don't need a traffic light.

I've been here in Mui Nei, a gorgeous little town on the southern coast of Vietnam. The four hour car ride through impoverished villages along the highway forced me to keep "The End" on a constant loop on my iPod as I scoped the scenery. Upon arrival we immediately scoped out our bungalow beach community. It was safe to surf.

That night, I probably saw the most amazing shooting star I've ever seen. We were talking to these Norwegian chicks on the beach--of which, I came up with the best pickup line ever ("so, did your country bomb the shit out of this country too?")-- and this thing, as bright as a flare shot down almost reaching the horizon.

On the motorbike ride hope (ridding on the back of a vespa) I successfully bartered a $10 ganja purchase. Is that illegal enough for you? We spent yesterday lazily lounging, quite stoned, along the beautiful Mui Nei beach. Life is hard.

The sunsets on this beach are dreamlike. More than anything I've experienced. It feels like I've walked into some postcard while watching them, and can't believe how truly breathtaking they are.

Oh, also, I think I had the best beer I've ever had in my entire life yesterday. And it was a Fosters. Amazing?

We stopped off at this knockoff mexican place called (I shit you not) Montezuma's. We ate chips and salsa (which was incredibly shitty... but, it's mexican in vietnam), and K-Smooth and myself ordered Fosters draught. It was the coldest, most delicious thing I've ever tasted.

SE Asian internet is incredibly slow, and resizing the pictures is a bitch, so I try to only upload the very best ones.

Smokey, this is Nam, there are not rules.

It's a league game at this point. We have a flight into Ho Chi Minh tonight, or Saigon for those of us who like to live in the reality that we can still win this thing.

I don't know why, but I have such a desire to wallow in a dimly lit hotel room in the middle of the city, with a lone ceiling fan keeping what's left of my sanity pinned to the ground. Oh eight hundred hours. How long had I been away? How long had I been back?

Bottles of whiskey, a 9 millimeter, a broken mirror.

Every minute I spend in here, I get weaker. Every minute Charlie spends squatting in the jungle, he gets stronger.

In brighter news, Angkor Wat was pretty fucking amazing. We watched sunset, and lounged for a day around the temples. Here, I'll just load up some pictures and shoot them into yesterday.

Billboard here in Siem Reap. A bit blurry, Tuk Tuks don't stay very still.
Before you use your floatation device... you see the ring.
Sunrise in Pekbang, Laos

Art shot of the rope on the slow boat. Mekong River.

Whisky Lao.

Inside a temple.
... and one final one since SE asian internet is slow, and we are pressed for time.

Ouside one of the less grand temples.

The Youth in Asia

Just got away from Veing Vien. I haven't posted since Luang Probang, mainly because I've been a bit under the weather. And by under the weather, I do mean everything that can be ejected from my body was forced to do so in liquid form. That was a fun two days... especially considering I was in some of the most beautiful country in the world.

About 2am the other night, I lay on the floor of poorly lit Laotian tile. My guts on fire, I wondered what I had ever really done to Montezuma, and why he had decided to get revenge half way around the world.

This will probably be one of our last nights in Laos. I woke up this morning to purchase some water from the guesthouse manager and it hit me. This 60 year old woman, who surely lived through, or was affected by absolute devastation, had such a kind smile toward me. Kup Jai!

On the bright side... I was able to catch a lot of Premiere League highlights while in bed. I need a knockoff Peter Crouch Liverpool jersey SOOO bad. Hopefully I can find one in Phuket.