Stuffed Animals

Seosan can be a strange and interesting place. Sometimes walking around can lead to finding something like giant piles of garbage made out of chairs. Or about any other item you can think of. On Saturday I was walking and just looking for a nice place to sit for a while, and when I found it I also found these two adorable little dogs. These things looked just like little stuffed animals.

Hey there

Smiling for the camera

Just a few buddies hanging out

So I continued walking when it was obvious that these dogs were afraid of me. I cut down a side street in the residential area I was in, and the strangest object caught my eye. I had to break my string of Thailand posts and put this up because this was the oddest thing for me at the time.

Whats that? (oops...you can see my shadow)

"Won't anybody love me?"

This poor stuffed animal was left for dead next to a dumpster with it's back to one of the best views in the city. I'm not sure why it was thrown out, because it seemed to be in good condition and clean. My only conclusion was that some child urinated on it and it had to be thrown out.

Oh Pattaya

OK, how about some more photos? Eve and I decided to go to the beach on Saturday, and this town called Pattaya was the closest to Bangkok. It also serves as a huge tourist trap with a 'Ripley's Believe it or Not,' plenty of beach space, and a dirty nightlife area. We ended up visiting all of these things. Pattaya seems like generally a nice place, but as I mentioned, a big part of it is dirty go-go bars and sex workers. Let's just say there are tons of gross old men wandering the streets, and the primary street is called 'walking street.' Actually there is a popular t-shirt there that says "Good boys go to Heaven, bad boys go to Pattaya," so that pretty much sums it up.

Eve on a beach in Pattaya. Really beautiful beach except for all of the junk on it (jet skis, tents, garbage).

This guy is payed to sit in a box at Ripley's haunted house and look scary. I tried to get him to smile but he's very good at his job.

The world's biggest tire or something like that.

We took in a show called Tiffany's which featured songs and dance from many countries around the word. Afterwards all of the girls were outside where you can get your photo taken with them.

Someone posing for a photo with two dancers. The required tip to a dancer was 40 baht.

Eve with one of the dancers. I swear this girl had so much plastic surgery that she now looks like a gecko.

Later we went to check out walking street. They at least had very good ice cream there.

We stopped and got this caricature done and the guy did a really good job for 150 baht. In this scene, Eve is rescuing me as I am lost and confused in Bangkok. A small dog witnesses.

A Day at the Palace

One of the Bangkok tourist attractions I knew I wanted to see was The Grand Palace. It is basically this giant complex of these elaborately decorated buildings, monuments, and statues that used to house the king of Thailand. I decided to see this on my first full day in Bangkok. Lucky for me, I had a personal tour guide I had met the night before, Eve. She was very nice to show me around the place and could give good answers to my stupid questions because she is a Buddhist and had been there a bunch of times.

This post is mostly pictures, so enjoy.

A walkway leading to the Palace

Some statue that I thought was cool, but can't remember who it is. The background shows some of the amazing decor of the Palace.

This is a statue believed to have healing power.

Just showing the real solid gold tiles

This is a replica of Ayuthaya. Looks like a nice place.

I just love this photo of the columns

Here was a giant painted wall mural

I posed for a pic with a royal guard. I think I make him look like a little girl.

This statue was carved out of stone with a ball inside the mouth that rolls around. really amazing work.

The Vimanmek Palace

A little accident I had with my iced coffee at the Vimanmek Palace coffee shop when I was trying to put the lid on it.

My ticket to the Grand Palace also got me into this place called the Vimanmek Palace, which I was somewhat more impressed with than the Grand Palace. The Vimanmek houses all of these gifts what were given to the king and the queen, so it was basically filled with golden boats, thrones, etc. which were also covered in diamonds and small pieces of beetle wing. I know that sounds weird, but the beetle wings had this very vibrant green color. I was hoping they would sell some beetle wings at the gift shop, but they didn't. Unfortunately, this place did not allow photography.

My favorite part of all of the exhibits at the Palace was that they listed the time and number of artisans it took to create each piece. For example, this one giant (approximately) 8' x 10' wood carving with elaborate flowers and animals and people said that it took a year and a half and about 50 artisans to create. Some of the items took up to two year/200 artisans. You could say they really like the King.

Quite a Score!

I'm not exactly sure what it was. The fact that I have a paying job again. The fact that I was in a foreign land where everything was so cheap. Maybe it was that I live in a place where I can't find any shirts that fit me. Regardless, my trip to Thailand felt like a giant shopping spree. I thought I would just get to telling all about the souvenirs I'm bringing home.

These movies I got at the "mall" of Bangkok called MBK. It has about 5 floors of shops, movie theaters, singing rooms, and a giant food court. They really had everything there. At only 100 baht (3 USD) these movies were a good price.

These polos were also from MBK and very cheap. I believe I payed 480 baht for both of them.

A nice painting I bought from a street artist near Khaosan road. I think I paid 800 baht.

T shirts from MBK. 100 baht apiece!

Some elephants from the street and some wine holders from MBK. Don't want to mention the prices b/c some of these may be gifts.

The two colored shirts were bought off a street vendor and the t-shirt at MBK. Again won't mention prices.

Some shades and a watch from street vendor. Sunglasses together went for 300 baht and watch for 200 baht. I really love the watch because it has both an analog and digital timepiece on it.

Last, my favorite shirt. I overpaid a little to get this one from a street vendor (220 baht). He claimed that it's real high quality fabric and will never shrink. We'll see.

Current conversion rate: 34 baht = 1 USD

The Road to Thailand

Well, now I'm back, (almost) readjusted to Korea time again, and ready to blog. I plan to write four or five posts about my trip in the rest of this week, so stay tuned.

My travel was again pleasant, as I had hoped it would be. For me, travel is such a strange thing, it's like purgatory. We can be traveling half-way around the world, but are trapped the entire time in a tiny box. A tiny area to wait for the plane, a small airplane seat (especially when you're 6'4''), and a bathroom that can make one easily feel claustrophobic. But, awaiting for us often times is an unknown distant tropical paradise, heaven.

One good thing about my travel was that we had a small layover, and I took the time to make some new friends. I met two other English teachers, Paco and Travis, who live in Busan, Korea. It ended up that we were staying in hotels about a block away from each other, so we decided to split a taxi, check-in, and hit a club or two afterwards as a group. They only had one night in Bangkok as there were headed to Phuket, so they didn't mind me tagging along for the night.

The travel was going well until we got to the taxi queue at the airport. We went to a sign that said metered taxi, knowing it is important to do this to not get overcharged. We got a station wagon taxi, and jumped in with our backpacks. When we got in, we told him Khaosan road, where we were staying, and were off. Then, Travis noticed there was no meter in the taxi. He said "meter? meter taxi?" and the driver pulls over. He told us "Khaosan road, 450 baht." We finally said OK, just get us there. Even getting ripped off, we paid 150 baht apiece for the 45 minute ride, which is about $5.

After, we managed to find our hotels, and hit a few bars and clubs for some beer. I ended up meeting a girl named Eve who would later serve as my good friend and tour guide of Bangkok. More about her later.

Anyway, now for some photos....

This is Khaosan Road. Littered with foreigners, shops, and pretty much anything you can think of.

A small troupe of break dancing boys on Khaosan. They were really good.

These two children were at their parent's T-shirt shop. Cutest kids ever.

Some street food. On the left is coconut curry, which ended up being one of my favorite meals ever.

One meal I was eating and a woman came up to me. She had a sign that said "Deaf, I sell these to pay for living. 1 - 30 baht, 2 - 50 baht" or something close to this. I thought I could use one of these little keychain trinkets she was selling, so I went ahead and bought one. I pulled out the money in my pocket, and realized I only had 1000 baht bills. I looked at her and shrugged, and with a determined look, she nodded, grabbed the bill, set her stuff down and ran away. I thought, OK, there goes my money. She was very honest, though, she just left, made change, and came right back. I decided to get a picture with her.

On my last full day I decided to get a Thai massage. The picture above generally describes what you get. It's a lot of punching, beating, and getting walked on, but I felt a lot better afterwards. And, its only 200 baht ($6 per hour).

I got a photo with my masseuse, Walissa. She is standing on a stool.

I wanted to put in these cute little kitties who sleep outside one of the doors of my hotel.

Well, don't worry, tons more to come. Tomorrow I'll show the Grand Palace and Vimanmek Mansion.

A Vacation Already?

Well, one month in Korea is over. I could put in more reflective words here, but I'm just going to say I'll do that later and talk about my upcoming vacation.

Do I need a vacation after one month of work? Not really. Am I going to take one? Yes, most definitely. It seems like a good time to go anyway because they started demolishing this place across the street from me so I hear just a little bit too much broken glass and destruction at 7:00 in the morning. Side comment: these people never wear hard hats.

For anybody who doesn't know, I'm going to Thailand. I actually leave today and have to catch a bus in three hours. From there, I have a small layover in Taiwan, and then it's off to Bangkok. I have packed very very lightly. Just six days of clothes, toiletries, a few books, hat, sunglasses, sandals, camera, and MP3 player. Luckily it all nestles snugly into my backpack.

I don't have the itinerary set yet, but my possibly to do list includes:

The Grand Palace (located very close to my hotel)

Suan Lum Night Bazaar

Chatuchak Market

Chinatown

Ayuthaya ancient ruins

Vimanek Mansion

Thai River Cruise

Marble Temple

A Day at a beach somewhere

Whatever random things I find

I am traveling alone, mostly due to the fact that no other teacher's vacation aligned with mine. There are three teachers headed to Phuket, Thailand and will be in Bangkok one of the nights I'm there so I'm planning to meet with them. I can deal with traveling alone, though, because I like the aspects of sticking to my own schedule, seeing the attractions I want to see, and being forced to meet new people.

I have also heard that pickpockets might be a problem. I recently read, though, that the Thai government has really cracked down on it because they value tourism. I'm not sure what to think, because this could be an elaborate scheme by a federation of pickpockets who want people to lower their guard. Anyway, I made a necklace passport/credit card holder out of three index cards, a shoelace, and some duct tape, so I'm pretty sure I'll be safe.

This is going to be my last blog post for a week, so I'm going to leave you with a few current chart toppers from Korea to pass the time. Enjoy:

A Painting

So I figured I would just go ahead and post this here, even though its mostly a travel experience blog and I finished it about two weeks ago. Anyway, I made this painting of a bird flying into the sky on a piece of real heavyweight paper that manages to resist warping pretty well.

As seen from the pencil drawing, it's just a combination of squares for the clouds, triangles for the bird, and rectangles for the sky. I've been going through a phase where I like to do a mosaic style of tiny triangles. Not really sure why.

I think the coloring really pulls this piece together from the bare pencil sketch. This painting is somewhat inspired by the fact that I live (at least in the same time zone) as the land of the rising sun.

It's my first painting in Korea. Like it? Hate it? Want to buy it?

Mascots Ep. III: Revenge of the Mascots

Well we all know the story by now. Brad comes to Korea, loves the advertising genius of using the suicidal mascots, takes pictures, makes up captions, yada yada yada. Here we are, back by popular demand, Mascots Episode III: Revenge of the Mascots.

"Come and watch me drink beer out of a mug with a beak! A damn beak!"

"Most people can't even understand how offensive I am!"

"Once you go black beer......"

"You don't even want to know how this happened!"

"Oh God! I'm a shoe, aren't I?"

"I keep telling the wife, open your eyes when you're pounding the dough, but nooooooo. Last week she nailed some clown in the nose."

"That's right, there is no where in the world you can get away from me."