Turning it around in Thailand

Temples like this are everywhere here

Khao Sok National Park hotel

During the time which I had no money I checked out the protests happening in Bangkok which appeared, and were in fact, mostly peaceful. After getting pushed into the crowd and offered a free dinner and a bottle of water, a crucial moment I'd say in my recent turnaround, it was very difficult to leave. The crowd was truly massive. It's very difficult to understand any Thai but it seemed like people were pretty happy to have a White guy on their "side." I guess I now joined a side, but I won't go into the politics (or pretend to know anything about them) here.

I also had a night out with 8 Chinese girls that me and another travelor met in Chinatown Bangkok where we ironically shared a Thai dinner. Super friendly and constantly giggling as you would picture a group like this to be, we had a fun time. We tried Bird's Nest for desert -is that actually a bird's nest?

After doing quite a bit of what I like to call "urban hiking" I met some cool people to travel with from a hostel and got to know Bangkok a little. The way locals use the water taxi system is unique. The city is huge and there's a lot happening. There are so many Buddhist temples (and it just seems to be part of their culture) that your shoes constantly come on and off. They also have toilet paper at all of their restaurants here instead of napkins in the holder, this is a bit strange but apparently not embaressing.

Coming from Africa I have a bit of a unique perspective on relative poverty and 3rd World cities. The bad traffic here seemed normal, the dirtiness seemed relatively clean, the air pollution chokingly similar, the roads good, and the prices only kind of cheap. Relactively speaking with the infrastructure and style of life here it feels less poor than where I'm coming from.

A Hedon's Paradise

It seems you can find anything you want in Thailand. The place is really set up for tourism and endulging in vices is no problem if that's what you are looking for. Your morality is questioned here and because you are in such an "exotic" location there's a bit of an anything goes attitude it seems.

There's also this phenomenon of of always looking for something better. That white sand beach that's just a little bit whiter (or the "whitest"), the best Thai food, the best massage, the best "full moon party." Speaking of which, why are full moon parties such a big thing here? Who cares if the moon is full? Obviously it's an excuse to party but has it become such a big thing here? I doubt it has anything to do with traditional Thai culture, probably one country just doing a really good job of marketing and extracting people from very far away places like the U.S.

The massages here are ridiculously cheap (usually between $5-$10 for an hour) and good; afterall this is where Thai massage comes from. It's cool that local people are all about it too - it's part of their living for "pleasure" philosophy I think. A 50 something woman told me she'd been practicing for about 30 years and her small hands did some serious damage to my poor back. I wondered actually if the pain is supposed to be good for you or if I should say something? It's kind of embaressing to say something and it's potential insulting to the masseuse so I just sat there and took it like a man. This stands in real contrast to the Rwandan massages where it felt like I was a dog being pet. Even the oil massage (Swedish massage done Thai style) involves a fair amount of pressure here.

Besides the crazy amount of tourists (there's more than your fair share of super obnoxious young white people only here to party - don't go to Phuket), "ping pong" shows and happy endings being offered to you constantly, there is the food that stands out.

Thai Food

It's everything you heard and better. I knew it would be good but not this good and perhaps not this cheap ($1.5-$4/dish). I usually have no idea what I'm eating and I just have to point at what someone else has since the English is not very good here. It doesn't matter. It's all amazing, even if there are occassionally baby octopus or things you don't recognize in the soup.

Unlike the food in Africa which constantly makes you wonder how long it's been sitting, most of the food in Thailand is cooked fresh. They use fresh ingredients (I think), a whole lot more vegetables, and combinations of spices that give you the "there's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited" type vibe. Sweet and sour, salty and savoury, the right bitter and spicy, it's so much more interesting and delicious than African food. Unlike in Africa where people laugh at the white guy who eats the local food, everybody eats the local food in Thailand. There's crazy seafood, real nicec soups and curries, and the varieties of what they eat are surpringsly wide. Unlike in Africa where most items on the menu are not actually available, here there are items not on the menu available that you didn't even know existed. There's also a unique quality to the food - a lot of places I go I see something new and the food is just so different from the food in the West. It's all quite refreshing, exciting, and fulfillling one of the reasons why I came here. It may be my favorite part of Thailand so far.

You know your food is good when even the free food being handed out at the protest or the food on the normal trains is still decent.

I'd like to say I played some part in my own turnaround and return to glory but the reality is that I think it's hard to go wrong in Thailand. The North, which I will miss this trip, is supposed to be beautiful with a lot of cool outdoor activities. The South has some legendary beaches party's, diving, or whatever you're in to. My true accomplishment here is that I was born into a good family, a life of white (and male) privilege where even someone unemployed with no future job plan or real savings from past jobs, is able to travel to sweet places like this.

My new Moroccan friend Nabil and me heading to the beach 

I'm gonna take that $2.50 and....

Alternative blog post names considered:
1. Fundamentally positive , always landing on my feet
2. Trainwreck 2 or Trainwreck continued

Go straight to the stop! That's how much money I recently had on me after trading the two pound coin I had with me for Thai Baht from a British travelor in Bangkok. The plan was to start with almost nothing and turn it in to millions! Actually not really, after a confluence of events I ended up temporarily broke. And yes I am in Bangkok, but perhaps I should rewind and reflect a bit on how I got here. There were more disasters on the way since my last post...

In my last post I reflected on a series of misfortune (or mistakes depending on how you look at it). I made it to the airport with just enough time on my second attempt at leaving Africa. British Airways charged me $95 (58 pounds or so) for my second bag, it was ridiculous considering the price and that I was flying across continents but I didn't say anything. But they wanted another $95 for my travel back pack which they said was too big for the overhead space. I got in a big fight with the ticket counter guy, which brought out the manager, who faced a showdown he hadn't reckoned for - I pushed and pulled to get my bag to fit in the stupid box that is supposed to be the "test" for whether a bag is too big. I don't remember the last time someone made me actually do this. One of my rules in life is to follow the spirit of a law, not the letter. Oh wait, or is it actually to just break it? No, as my blog is named, I turn right on red, that's not usually breaking the rule...this manager just wasn't having it.

My bag was missing the box by inches and after taking the manager's name down, he reacted badly and claimed I had "threatened" him. He started taking pictures with his camera and the whole thing erupted into a scene and me probably delaying the whole plane as dozens of passengers watched me throw clothing, sunscreen, and whatever else out of my bag asking the guy "is this enough for you? Is this good?" And after a few articles of clothing it really did fit in the box. My simple rational for what I did is that the clothing was obviously not worth $100, so I actually just threw it in the overfilled tiny trash recepticle at the airport. Keep in mind all of this was after a lengthy shifting of items upon arrival when I was told I was "overweight" (not the first time someone has insulted me so rudely). Thankfully the second bag had room and weight to spare so I avoided that fee. So on to London!

I arrived to the ol' friend Higgsy's in Southwest London and dropped all of my luggage from Africa at about 11:00 the next morning. Higgs asked if I wanted to grab some breakfast. I commented that I should probably check to see what time the Chinese Embassy was open since I still didn't have a Visa for China where I was flying the next day. Turns out the Embassy closes early on a Friday, in fact at noon, one hour later - Great! So we skipped breakfast, dove head first into the chilly although surprising pleasantly crisp London weather, and biked as fast as we could the 30 or so minutes across the river to Central London.

I think the Chinese at the embassy may have actually laughed at me when I broke in sweating and delirious shouting about needing a tourist visa same day. This was one rule and one nationality that don't bend. But when I learned about the 72 hour transit free time you can now do if you don't leave the city of Beijing and are from one of a few dozen countries (USA included!) I decided to not waste my non-refundable non-changeable $900 round-trip ticket to China. I basically pointed at a map and found Thailand. Well not really, but it seems like it's on the list "Stuff White People Like," I knew it was cheap, you didn't need a visa, and it was a nice return to warm weather. So when Swiss Air's first flight from London to Zurich was late and caused me to miss the connection to Beijing, I was pretty pumped to be directly re-routed to Bangkok. Plus I got a bonus day in Zurich, Switzerland, a 5 Euro calling card and meal couchers. Very pretty and clean city, classic Europe, and super expensive ($32 hamburger at the airport for example exceeded my 20 Swiss Franc meal voucher).

Zurich by chilly winter night 

With all of the craziness happening including the theft, missing my Uganda flight and paying several hundred dollars, adding Thailand to an already jam packed itenerary and trying to learn the first thing about the place/decide what to do there, spending about $100 also just to get a taxi to London (London is so $$!), and everything else, I didn't notice that my checking account had actually gone negative. When my luggage was of course lost from Zurich, I also didn't have access to my emergency $100 bill from my bag (to my dismay Swiss Air told me the London-Zurich plane was too small to take my travel bag pack on Board despite the fact that like the Uganda -London plane, there was plenty of space). This is how I ended up with $2.50, which surprisingly can get you three small local type meals in one day in Thailand. But the funny thing about all of this, and others have noticed this too, is that everything ended up fine for me despite all of these challenges. I know my money is coming soon.

So like I said in the beginning, from here it's straight to the top baby!

Return to Trainwreck

For those of you that may not know, my nickname in college was Trainwreck. Literally everyone called me that, even people I didn't know. Sometimes people didn't even know my real name. It was a loveable and fun nickname and not mean, but I was kind of a trainwreck so it made sense. I remember my father Herb not being so happy about it and trying to correct people when they called out my name when he came to visit for graduation. I thought I had really worked on myself and shed this reputation since College but now I am starting to wonder -once a trainwreck always a trainwreck?

I recently posted on Facebook that on my last day in Africa I was robbed. The true story, although I didn't know it at the time, is that three days before I left Africa I was robbed. Perhaps I shouldn't count my eggs before they hatch but I am now flying Friday after missing my flight today. Americans assume 1:30 is during the day but most of the rest of the world knows that's the morning (night). Because of this I don't have the required time even for a rush Visa to China as I prepare to visit my brother Saturday. And that is not a country I think you can just show up cracking Jewish jokes to break the ice. So now I find myself in a Shakespearian comedy of error of sorts, or is it Lemony Snicket's series of Unfortunate Events? I can't remember which one it is but I do feel like I am hitting a new low, or regaining my former glory of my college "Trainwreck" days depending on how you look at it.

That moment where you feel like you really need to get it together, and nothing can go right is actually right now. It's actually getting comical. Today at the internet cafe my tablet charger was stolen from right in front of me. This, just a few weeks ago I got water on my tablet and nearly broke it. Besides all of this, I've previously had a Universal adaptor, sweet hoodie, sunglasses, and two external hard drives stolen as well as lost a nice portable speaker, cool water bottle, and about a dozen other items that at this point I've lost track of. I also spilled water and broke an expensive wireless keyboard and got caught in a tropical downpour which ruined my passport and cost me $150 to get a new emergency passport. Yes, I am once again "Trainwreck." Is any of this interesting to anyone? Probably not, but it makes me feel better listing it all out for some reason and continuing to put myself down.

But I've had some crazy African adventures once again and much to be thankful for really. If you can call it Africa,  Capetown was one of my favorite cities I've ever been to - really beautiful with mountains, oceans, and lots of great outdoor activities. Besides trying paragliding for my first time (something I'll never forget), I saw penguins, and went to a great superhero party. After a quick stop over in Kigali, Rwanda, I came back to Uganda to complete what's coming up to a year in Africa.

But back to the series of errors and return to Trainwreck. The story of how I was robbed earlier this week is kind of interesting. I was sitting on a matatu (taxi-bus) sharing the front seat with a "passenger," the driver, and the conductor behind me. These three were all working in cahoots. I first thought it took them three attempts to pickpocket me and I had put up some defense. I later realized each time they asked me to get out, help close the stubborn broken door, lift up the seat cushion (?), and move for the other passenger (they guy sitting between me and the driver) to get out (and then mysteriously get right back on), were all distractions to open and steal the contents from my backpack and pockets. Despite the fact that I figured out something was wrong as I felt my empty pockets and they dropped me off and told me not to worry about paying, I couldn't catch them as they kicked me off and drove away. As I yelled at them they did for some reason they conceded my wallet and lied that my phone was just on the ground below where I dropped it - that split second of looking down is actually what let them get away in the end. The crazy thing with all of this is that it was a full matatu, probably 10 or so people, and none of them said anything or thought it was strange that the vehicle pulled over for no apparent reason three times and then threw the White guy out in a totally random spot.

Kampala is one of these places you can love, hate, or love to hate and at times it's been all three for me. I simultaneously feel very angry about the robbers and admire their cleverness and deceit. Most of us think we are too clever or alert to be robbed, it's just not true. The worst part is that these Ugandans were so friendly, nice, and humorous throughout the robbery. This should not surprise me, Ugandans are a funny bunch.

Looking particularly Jewish and "Jesus" like in this selfie before my beard/hair trimming this week. By the way, did you know "selfie" was the Oxford dictionary's word of the year? Beating out Twerking by just a few votes. Who decides these things anyways?

Going way party

"Hey Jesus! Send my greetings to God," someone said to me in Luganda (later translated to English) for actually the second time this week. Ugandans will make you laugh - they are not shy about yelling absurd things at people, especially White people, or especially White people running. I complained to a Boda Boda moto taxi last week who argued he should be paid more because we got lost that it was his fault since I had informed him about the sign where we needed to turn that we missed. He retorted: "don't you know most Boda Boda don't know how to read?" Touche Mr. Boda Boda man, I conceeded to the higher price. Oh Uganda I will miss you and your clever deceit. I won't miss being a Trainwreck.