fancy meeting you here 'post-travel depression'

Love it on the move,
travel is my addiction,
just can't get enough.

Bangkok - Monday night fights

I think I've changed my mind about Bangkok, maybe it's not quite as bad as I thought. what could've possibly changed my my mind you ask? monday night fights at the local muay thai stadium, ringside seats.

Bangkok - Respect my authoritaay

officer 1: You go to my supervisor....

me: wtf.....?!

officer 2: where you from??

me: Barbados sir.

officer 2:OOOhhhhh you a tourism??...... where you staying?

me: down the street at the A-1 inn...

officer 2: Do you know that the laws of Thailand and Singapore are the same?

me: No I wasnt aware of that, what's the problem sir?

officer 2: You just dropped your cigarette on the floor..

me: well if it's a problem i can go and pick it up but I didn't see any signs, sir.....

officer 2: You know i can take you to station and they fill out form, charge you fine up to 2000 bht, then they ban you from thailand.... for 1 year

me: well actually we're on our wy to the airport now, sir, and if it's a problem i can go pick it up, it's right there

officer 2: well i can take you to station where they file complaint and fine you then ban you from thailand for up to one year, (pauses) or you can pay it to me......

me: but I dont really have any money except to get me to the airport.......

officer 2: how much that?

me: well about 500baht...

officer 2: no that not good, if I take you to station they make you pay 2000baht....

me: well I really dont have any money left....

officer 2: (scrutinising me) ok you lucky you come from far far or i take you go station, I let you off with warning this time ....ok?

me: yes sir....(exit hurriedly stage right)

me: wtf..!!

The moral of the story kids: ignorance of the law is no excuse, ESPECIALLY if corrupt cops love to prey on unsuspecting tourists........

Nyeeeeeeeehh Thailand....?

On to Thailand............

A new respect for the vietcong

Prior to this trip, I tried to educate myself on the goings-on of the war in vietnam. Shamefully, at first I didn't get much further than the wikiworldorder article but as time passed, i managed to pick up a few other snippets here and there from various USMC veteran blogs and other websites

Funny thing, war, the stories always seem to be told by the winners. This case was a bit different because the americans have labeled it a stalemate, but I'm pretty sure I only saw red flags on the poles when I was there.

Anyhow, the military history bit started when we took a generic guided tour to the cu chi tunnels, where we were at first fed the run-of-the-mill nva tapes with many references to 'those american devils' (lol), then things started to get a bit more serious

Misc. shenanigans with the Vietnamese

As it turns out, I have a new found love for the red countries. Granted it's from my point of view as an outsider looking in and I'm sure it'd be a different story if the roles were reversed, but, I digress. Vietnam is the raddest f*cking country ever!. No nanny-state smoking restrictions, good food, shitloads of history, a population that "don't take crap from no team america world police" the icing on the cake for me though, is the ability to step into a field and fire off 20 rounds with an AK-47 for the price of a small lunch at Chefette *tear*.

Furthermore, club life has seen some of the best partying since fantastic Fukuoka. (see below)

FYI - that's not me in the photo, that's my travel buddy after one helluva party at club america where we had a run-in with a man in black named Johnnie Walker.




Definitely on my return list.

Made it!

14 hours later we've finally arrived at the LCC terminal in KL. The flight wasn't too bad considering it cost us peanuts.

Initial perceptions of the city are ok, seems fairly clean, albeit this is s.e. asia so expectations weren't astronomical to begin with. Next time I'm down here I'll stay for at least 3 weeks so I can make a better assessment.

This time it's just a short stopover though, as we're heading straight out to eat-->party--> return to the airport to head on to 'nam.

Who is it??

check this out.

But given some of the things i've seen those bastard monkeys doing in my backyard at the house of T, I'd be more surprised if he asked for a cup of sugar.

What in the hell....?!?

Looks like the next round of financial musical chairs is getting ready to start again. I only hope that when the music stops playing this time that people like me won't end up getting the wet, brown end of the stick.

Goldman Sachs has posted quarterly figures amassing a net (!) profit of over £2Bn. I too,even as a layman, find it strange that an institution that found itself relatively high up shit creek last year seems to have made a miraculous turnaround, paid taxpayers their money back and managed to post a £2.1Bn. profit within a 6 month period.
To add more fuel to that fire it seems that JPMorgan is also reporting increased quarterly profits in defiance of market predictions.

Something here just isn't adding up for me. More on this after I do some reading.

This week's Bajanism: Rangate

ran·gate [ rán gāt ]

adjective or adverb Caribbean

Definition:

–adjective

1.	Caribbean Slang. (used as an intensifier): Rangate idiot.

–adverb

2.	Caribbean Slang. (used as an intensifier): a rangate stupid idea.

as sourced by SCT

Almost time!

yes, yes the date's finally approaching, where after a protracted stint in the good old UKAAAAII it's almost time for me to head back to collect a rather expensive sheet of paper.

All it took was a few sleepless nights, some blood, plenty sweat, a few tears and a single-handed attempt to prop-up the sales of RedBull in London

Who knew..??

So it turns out that after all these years my parents have been wrong, and video games ARE going to get me ahead in life. Especially if I choose to pursue a career in the most advanced army in the world.