Los Angeles

On the way back home I planned for a five day layover in Los Angeles. I’ve been a few times, but never stayed long enough to get to know the place.

My cousins showed me around, driving down Hollywood Blvd and Santa Monica, pointing out celebrity hangouts and famous restaurants all the while. We had some great brunch and then spent the afternoon at the Getty museum, a free art museum overlooking LA.

Welcome to LA!

Jasmin & Hiromi prepare to snap some elegant shots of yours truly.

Dennis & I destroyed that brunch.

Yeah I'm still a tourist even in America.

The train ride to the Getty.

Overlooking the city.

Cousin Jasmin and I enjoying some horchata and tacos.

We went for drinks in Korea Town, and I was surprised at how familiar it all seemed. I can see how people get by in LA not learning English.

Some serious bingsu.

I helped Lindsay move into her new apartment and then we checked out Leo Carillo beach for the tide pools. I got a taste of the Pacific Coast Highway, a potentially awesome place to bring a motorcycle.

There are some windsurfers in the background.

I found a starfish!

True to the LA scene I had a celebrity sighting. Jay Leno was doing interviews on Melrose St. while the cousins and I were shopping. He looked busy so I didn’t bother him for a picture, but I feel like I got a well-rounded sampling of the city.

Now that I’m back in the real world I’ll have to focus on things beside what new foods to experience next. Since returning I’ve found that my tastes have changed. I prefer eating smaller amounts more frequently, and I don’t really crave meat anymore. Having been removed from the States for so long I definitely notice new things about home, culture and behavior related mostly. It’s been an awesome summer, and I think it’s something that has shaped me into a more mature and observant person. I can’t wait to go eat some more tacos.

Final days in Seoul

I wanted to stay in Seoul for a bit longer, and I had some pretty good excuses to do so. So, five more days before returning Stateside!

At The Frypan in Gangnam.

Thanks Jisue & Joong-hyun!

Michael Herring and his wife Sora were also in Korea for a few days so the newlyweds could visit family. Michael and I hit up 7 Luck, a foreigners-only casino. I lost quite a bit playing roulette, but I guess that’s why they give out free drinks. I was up for awhile, which makes me want to go again, but maybe with a more definite plan in mind.

Getting ddak galbi (chicken & stuff) in Gangnam with Sora & Michael.

Joong-hyun and Jisue were kind enough to let me stay with them again. Between them and the Herrings I had an unusual amount of fried chicken my last days. Interesting.

More fried chicken after the casino.

Some tasty street snacks outside Yongsan.

Biggest banana milk ever. I wish it were real.

I was able to see Minsuk one last time now that he's working as a banker. I don't envy that part of Korean culture, but I think in the long run he'll benefit from the ridiculous things he has to do now.

For Chuseok, the Korean version of Thanksgiving, I stayed with Jincheon again and played with Skye. We drove to his wife’s father’s solar farm, then came back and watched Resident Evil 4 in 3D. All in all a good way to end my trip in Asia.

A storm had damaged a corner of the solar panel farm.

Photovoltaic cells!

Skye in a funny hat.

Elephants & A Palace

I stayed in Bangkok for a few days after the tour to sightsee and relax. But I had signed up for an elephant ride in Khao Yai, another national park but north of the city. We spent the day looking at sights on the way there like a local market, waterfall, and a really unnecessary ox cart ride.

Haew Narok waterfall.

Our elephant, Pampom, was the smallest of the bunch. We got to ride on her head and “steer” her by pushing one’s feet behind her ears. The elephant in front of us kept stopping to get snacks of leaves during the trek, but ours was pretty well behaved. It was a pretty awesome experience.

Tromping through the water.

This guy was so hungry the whole trip.

My turn on the elephant.

Another highlight was the Grand Palace, where the King used to hang out. A temple is still there that does (I think) daily services. Upon arriving, we almost got duped by a local trying to convince tourists the palace was closed for a special ceremony and that we should take a tour of the Lucky Buddha elsewhere. Finally I confirmed it was a sham when he suggested I take this cheap tuktuk ride to get there. Having a tour guide for most of China and Thailand spoiled me, but I also think scams like that don’t happen in Korea or Japan.

In any case the palace was magnificent and gaudy at the same time. They had some cool statues and paintings. We walked to the nearby Reclining Buddha, a gigantic indoor statue with a Mother-of-Pearl inlay on his huge feet. At the end of the day we took a water ferry back to the hotel which was cheaper and faster than a taxi ride.

At the entrance.

Some friendly demons.

Shiny gold thing were everywhere.

Birdmen?

The Reclining Buddha.

Check out those feet!

Thailand was the most tourist-centric country I visited, but the countryside was beautiful, the food was amazing, and the gifts were cheap (even if you did have to haggle them down to a reasonable price).

Island Hopping

A series of islands off the southern peninsula of Thailand had beautiful beaches and lots of Australian and English tourists. We spent a couple of days just lounging on the beach and enjoying the food. We spent the first night on Koh Samui and our second on Koh Tao. I did go snorkeling around the second island and saw schools of fish and lots of coral-dwelling critters. No sharks, though.

On approach to Koh Samui.

Sipping on my first mai tai.

The disturbingly rickety pier we crossed to get to our snorkeling boat.

On our way to Shark Bay.

Kind of reminded me of the island from Lost.

About to do some snorkeling.

Beach cats.

Rain off in the distance.

The pier of an island that counted plastic bottles entering and leaving it to reduce litter.

Sunset approaching. Bye Thai islands!

Cheow Larn Lake

Another feature of the national park was Cheow Larn Lake, an artificial lake created for a hydroelectric plant. People that used to live in the now-flooded valley simply built floating cottages on bamboo piles as tourist resorts.

Our ride.

You can see the maximum water level.

Just some fancy rock formations.

We visited one for lunch and lounged in the water and admired the limestone cliffs. The food was very tasty. Unfortunately I got sunburned while napping on a kayak, so now I have razor sharp tan lines on my thighs.

Our afternoon hangout.

On the way back to our jungle bungalows we stopped at a strip of street food and Tommy pointed out his favorite treats. I particularly liked the donut-like bread with a bright green dipping sauce, a Thai custard. The fruits there were cheap too, and the new ones I tried, mangosteen and langsat, were sooooo tasty. Pineapple and coconut were also everywhere, a nice change from the ridiculous prices for fruit in Japan and Korea.

Riding in the back of our taxi.

Yum, fruit. Langsat on the left, mangosteen on the right.

Khao Sok National Park

The Thailand idea of a taxi ride is a pickup truck with benches and a roof in the bed. It made for a great view of the countryside, but you definitely had to hold on to a handrail the entire time.

Wassup dog?

We arrived at our resort in Khao Sok National Park in time for a tube ride down the river. The place was beautiful. I didn’t know that being in a rain forest actually makes you feel like everything around you is alive. We seemed really out of place with our painted rubber tubes and artificially colored swimsuits on, but I didn’t let that stop me from using a rope tied to a cliff to swing into the river.

I kept expecting to see velociraptors in the rain forest.

The river we tubed down.

A nearby waterfall let us wash off the sand. I did my best model pose while unknowingly being recorded. Then it was time to feed the local monkeys.

Waterfall shower.

We barely saw any at first, but once the other monkeys heard we had peanuts they came out in droves. Exceptionally cute, they would hug our legs while running from their older siblings and chase each other across trees.

This monkey was someone's pet.

But these guys were wild & hungry.

Like tiny people, but with tails.

The food at the place was great. The guys showing us around were very friendly too, if their English was just okay. But hey, I can only say thank you in Thai, and even then I get confused if I should be using the male or female version (after a week and a half of listening and experimenting, I figured out to use the male version because I’m a male—not because I’m speaking to another male).

One of the staff showed off this gigantic grasshopper bug. He was really loud!

On a side note, we saw the premiere of an awesome show called Sticky Rice Warrior, a high budget modern military action television series. It stars a handsome young Thai protagonist who basically becomes Superman after, you guessed it, he eats sticky rice. The special effects were great, but oh man the acting… I think they just spent a disproportionate amount of money on the deflect-a-bazooka-rocket-to-save-the-in-over-her-head-reporter scene.