Behind the Screen
The opinions, views, and insights stated within this Monologue are my own. The facts, fallacies, and errors, however, belong to someone else (see disclaimer).
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Thailand, the tour of thrones
There's been much to see here in Thailand. But for me, it's been a tour of thrones.
We've visited the Royal Palace in Bangkok -- and I sat on his throne. We visited the King's Summer Palace -- where I sat on his throne. We even visited some ancient royal ruins -- where I also, sat on a throne.
But mostly, the throne in my hotel is where I sat the most.
Since arriving in Chiang Mai on December 24, I have been sick with a stomach bug/flu/virus/whatever. Upon checking into our hotel that afternoon, I didn't leave my room until our departure two days later.
I also couldn't hold anything down, causing me to miss seven straight meals. Sadly, experiencing the local cuisine is one of the best parts of traveling.
And if you read my earlier post about scuba diving in Phi Phi Don, you'll gather that I've spent most of my time in Thailand vomiting over the side of a boat or fighting a case of diarrhea. Sadly, that's not the formula for a very fun trip.
One fun story that I would like to tell occurred on December 23 in Phuket. After dinner with the folks, my brother and I headed out for a drink when I almost got pick pocketed by an elephant.
That's right -- an elephant. Here's the story...
After dinner, Cameron and I found a bar that had a Flinstone's theme that was implemented much like a Rain Forest Cafe. The bar spilled right out onto the sidewalk of a fairly busy street, so there were a lot of things for us to watch as we sipped our beer. But mostly, we were entertained by the baby elephant that was "working the streets" right behind us.
Naturally, the elephant was the center of attention. Everyone that passed buy would want to pet it, watch it, or even have their kids ride it. It even knew a few tricks.
The first trick was that it knew how to pose for a photo. It would raise one leg, curl it's trunk, and hold that pose until it saw a flash. Once it saw a flash, it would go back to it's normal elephant-on-the-sidewalk stance. Neat trick.
The second trick, however, impressed us more. If someone wanted to feed the elephant, they would first pull some money out of their wallet. Seeing the money, the elephant would use its trunk to grab the bills from the customer, hand them to its owner, who in turn would hand some bananas to the customer, who in turn would feed them to the eagerly awaiting elephant. This was an impressive trick.
After several drinks, Cameron and I decided to return to the hotel. Having paid our tab at the bar, I was in the process of putting my change back in my wallet when a trunk appeared over my shoulder attempting to snatch a few bills from me for food. Can't say that I've ever had that happen before.
Sadly, my trip home begins tomorrow at 4 a.m. Cameron has already flown to Phuket to begin the wedding part of his Thailand vacation, and my folks depart in four hours. If I think of some more stories, I'll add them to my site later.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a great New Years. I depart for North Carolina for a New Year's wedding the day after I return.
Monday, December 22, 2003
Phi Phi Don island has been great. We arrived by ferry two days ago. Upon arriving, we checked into the hotel and then Cameron and I hustled down to the dive shop for a night dive.
The night dive went well. We swam along the rocky coast, entered a cave, and found all kinds of small creatures that come out at night.
On Monday, Cameron and I did three more dives. All of them were located about an hour away from the island, out in the open sea.
The first was a ship wreck, sitting about 80 feet deep. We entered the wreck from the start, swam around inside, and then finished the dive swimming along it's hull and top deck.
Upon surfacing, I got a little sea sick. But I manged to pull myself together in time for the second dive. Basically, I just didn't want to be on the boat any longer than I had to.
The second dive was at shark point. Didn't see any sharks, but we did see several eals, fish, and such. Upon surfacing one hour later, I promptly hurled, once again.
The last dive was a reef dive. Here we found one of the largest lobsters I've even seen. Its antena had to be at least six feet long. We also found a sea turtle, some eals, and lots of neat fish. Upon surfacing, I hurled once again.
By 4 p.m. we returned to shore, where I was glad to be back on land. The dives were great, though the sea was rough. I bought everyone one the boat a round of drinks when we got back, thanking them for "holding my hair" as I puked over the side deck most of the trip.
Today, we catch the ferry back to Phuket and the adventure continues.
Saturday, December 20, 2003
I made it. Door-to-door, it only took me one day, five hours, and thirty-three minutes to get from Norwalk, CT, to my hotel in Bangkok.
The trip started with three hours of ground transportation via train and bus to get from my home to JFK airport in NYC. From there, I had a direct 14-hour flight to Tokyo. This was the longest flight I've ever been on. My iPod didn't last, I finished a JavaScript book, and the movies were for kids.
To get to Tokyo, we departed NYC north, flying just north of Alaska's farthest most point. According to the onboard map, our latitude was as far north as 72 degrees. As you might imagine, most of the flight was over frozen ocean and tundra. It is amazing the amount of frozen land and ocean that resides in Canada and Russia.
Upon arriving in Tokyo, I met my brother, who flew in from Los Angeles. We found a couple of outlets to charge up our iPods for the upcoming seven-hour flight to Bangkok. Funny thing is we never really used them. Once we got on that plane, we slept like babies.
Today, we meet the folks at the Bangkok airport to catch a 11 a.m. flight to Phuket. From there, we transfer via bus and boat to get to Phi Phi, where we will spend two days scuba diving. You likely won't hear from me until we return from the islands. Ta ta.
Thursday, December 18, 2003
I leave for Thailand tomorrow around noon. My trip, however, begins in the morning for I have to catch the train to Grand Central and then a bus to the airport. Soon I begin nearly 36 hours of continuious travel. The longest leg will be the 14+ hour flight from New York to Tokyo. Man, that's going to be one, long flight.
I'll try to post an update or two on my trip from Thailand. Have a Merry Christmas.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
For three days this week, I'm commuting from Norwalk, CT, to New York, NY, to take some classes in QuarkXpress. These commuting days are very different than the three-mile drive I'm used to doing.
For starters, my day begins at 6:00 a.m., not my usual 8:00 a.m. By 7:00, I'm out the door. Since parking is scarce at the train station, spend the next 20 minutes walking the half-mile. Mind you, it's 20 degrees out and snow on the ground.
Once I arrive to the station, I join a large group of people who are standing on the cold, open-air platform, waiting for the 7:23 train to Grand Central. When the train does arrive, nearly all the seats are full. I have to ask someone to move their stuff just enough for me to cram myself in-between two sleeping passengers. Five minutes later, I also fall victim to the rhythmic click-ed-ly-clak of the train.
One hour later, I arrive in Grand Central Station. Exiting the train, I slowly walk, push, and bump may way to the Subway, where I wait for another train to carry me six more stops. By 8:45, I return to the surface, walk less than 20 yards, and enter the building where my classes are held.
All it all, it takes me two hours (1:50 on a good day) to go door to door (Norwalk home to NYC classroom). My classmates can't believe that I'm commuting in from a different state. But when I tell them it takes me just 20 minutes longer than their commute from the Bronx, it's doesn't seem so bad.
Monday, December 15, 2003
More snow blew in this weekend. On Sunday, I spent most of the day snowed it as another storm blanketed the town. Can't believe I'll be in Thailand by the end of this week.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
While I'm at it, these links on creating multiple blogs via MovableType will be useful.
Note to self: If you do decide to use MovableType to build an upcoming web project, consider building the entire site using MT. Brad Choate does it, so why can't you?
Brad Choate: Doing your whole site with MT
From what I gather, Brad is the man when it comes to MovableType and what it can do.
Friday, December 05, 2003
One project I might take on this weekend would be to learn more about MoveableType. It's a useful blogging tool that I'm considering using for an upcoming personal project I've had in the back of my mind for some time.
In learning more about MT, I'm sure I'll reference mediatinker's handy guide, found here:
mediatinker.com: "Tackling Movable Type templates and CSS for the first time can be daunting. The MT default templates contain four kinds of code: CSS, HTML, MT tags, and Javascript. If you're new to all this, you're about to learn that it pays to make a careful study of the code. Once you understand the way it works together, it's pretty easy to modify your MT templates to display almost any design you want. "
Looks like we'll be getting some snow this weekend. Tonight, we are expecing three to five inches with another four to seven inches falling on Saturday. Looks like tomorrow will be a good day to do laundry, play video games, and work on a few web projects.
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Norwalk received its first snow today. It took just 15 minutes for the storm to cover the parking lot out my window well enough that you could no longer see the lines. One hour later, however, the sun broke out and melted it all away. Temperatures tonight plan on dipping to 17 F, so winter has arrived.
Small talk aside, Thanksgiving was nice. I flew back to North Carolina Wednesday after work. On Thursday, dad and I drove up to Lake James in the North Carolina mountains, which is where our family traditionally meets for the holiday. For two days, I ate turkey, visited with family, took naps, and played video games with my brother.
On Saturday, we stopped by Greensboro to visit my dad's mom for lunch. That evening, we were back in Raleigh. Hit the bars with my brother's friends and flew out the next day shortly after lunch.
It was a fun trip that seemed to have fattened me up for the winter.