i don't know why...

...i don't write in this this more often, ive been having such a wonderful time lately that i wish i had been writing down about so that i remember certain details. now i just feel silly describing my last month in the details i remember (but ill somewhat try anyways). i was in railey again which is still my favorite place on the world i think (specifically pranang beach at sunset). the first night i was there i went for the sunset even though it was raining and it turned out to be one of the greatest ones ive seen since it cleared on the horizon for it but still had lots of clouds that turned various colors. and the thing that gave it that extra awsomeness is that there was a lighting storm happening the entire time, here i was looking at this amazing sunset with bolt of lighting crashing down in the horizon every few seconds...truly amazing. i went rock climbing a bunch of times that was also just amazing, the rock there i find is just perfect for such adventures. i had a scary moment where i almost fell on a hike down to a lagoon one of those days but i miraclously got my feet wedged in some holds that kept me from falling backward down a cliff. i also learned that too much of a good thing is definitely a bad thing...especially when it is a massive plate full of the perfect french fry (every one a bit crispy and greasey) and i hadn't been eating anything greasey in a long long time...aka i spent the day and night feeling like crap and actually throwing up a bit. while in railey i got a feeling of like my trip was ending soon since everyone i was travelling with was soon to be going home so most conversations where on what they liked best about thailand and what they were going to do when they got home. so when we went back to bangkok for a couple days before they left, i was actually contemplating going home early with them...but im glad i didn't. the next few days after they left where absolutely amazing since it was the thai new years. how they celebrate that is having a nation wide water fight for 3-4 days...im talking everyone running around with super soakers and buckets of water, within 2 or 3 steps out of my guest house everyday i would be completely soaked. they also wipe this paste type stuff on your face that is a tradition for some reason that i can't remember. by the end of this time though it had taken quite the toll on my body, on the bus back down to phuket i was suffering with 2 infected ears (1 just minor though), an incredibly soar infected throat, eyes that were really sore and where really red (i feared pink eye), and between all my toes the skin had rubbed raw since my feet had been wet non stop for 4 days. of course i had also recentely gotten my legs waxed a couple days before and it wasn't done that well so my legs were on fire too. now im back at the muay thai camp again trying to work off the pigging out ive been doing over the last how many weeks and i can definetly tell ive been sitting on a beach for a long time and not being physical. i have to start deciding when i want to come home since i have been here for quite awhile and the money is starting to get low. i just have so much i still want to do while im here, i want to train for awhile here to get back in shape and learn a few more things but i also want to go to some places and revisit some friends ive made along the way...hopefully ill be home in the next year or so though! :)

still in wonderfulland...

...well it has been really long since ive done this lately, though it seems i start my blogs frequently with a line like that since i don't update that often, so for that im sorry. last time i wrote i was in koh phangnan and the tour still felt like it was at the beginning, now it is starting to have a wrapping up feeling to is since we are a week away from bangkok already. of course my trip will carry on after but it is still going to be sad to end it. i have been making some good friends now that will be missed. i am considering going up to chang mai for the songkron water festival with some of the people that are staying later but havn't made up my mind yet. i also have to decide when i want to make my return flight ticket home for so some decisions will have to be made soon. but yes, i have been having a wonderful time since i talked last. our stay in koh phangnan was a long one and it was mainly filled with relaxing and eating but i think that can be assumed. i managaed to pace myself on the crepes this time around here which was really hard after i took the first bite of them and remember all the goodness. in the days leading up to the fullmoon party they had a soccer tourney on the beach that me and some of the people in the group played in. i learned it is a lot harder to play on sand that a field and that i make a half decent goalie too. we didn't raise any trophies at the end but i still had a lot of fun. though the soccer cut into my muay thai i was supposed to be doing while i was here which sucked cause i prepayed for it at the beginning to get a better deal so ended up throwing away some money that way. we had a jungle party one night that will probably be one of my favorite memories of thailand cause it was such a fun night. the fullmoon party was just as crazy as i remember it but i only stayed until 2 pm this time. i really love dancing away though as the sun rises even though im sure i looked weird doing so cause most people dance either to dance with other people or to impress other people or just to have fun but i find at a time as beautiful as the sunrise i just dance and jump around overwhelmed in beauty that it probably looks like a crazy guy (probably looking like he's on drugs) flailing away all by himself wearing jean cutoffs and having a mohawk and fumanchu (yes its back again) dyed neon blue (washable) with a nose ring...but i love it. we left there and went to khao sak which i didn't really do any interneting so i began worrying people (probably those reading this) so im sorry for that. we got there and it was different than last time since it was a different time of year and the waters wern't as high. it was still good even though we couldn't do the river tubing that i enjoyed last time. some of us did go to the river farther down though and played on a rope swing jumping into water that was probably too shallow but was too fun to pass up. while we were there it began pissing rain which just added to the fun especially when we began trekking back home. i just waded in the water going up stream with just the top half of my head out of the water. i had my aviators on since it was sunny before so im sure i looked weird (once again) but it was cool seeing the pouring rain fall into the water making huge splashes. we also went on a nice hike while we were there to another river that was nice to swim in. i borrowed someones snorkel and mask and chased fish around a rock and up the current. we went on the lake tour the same as last time but this time we only stopped for lunch at the place we stayed last time and then went on to another set of floating bungelows. the first place (were i stayed last time) was cool cause the contructed a really sketchy diving platform on of the docks made out of bamboo and branches. back home im sure none of us would have trusted it to stand on (it was about 6 feet hight too) but here people were going off two at a time and doing flips off it. another one of those good times im sure you can only have in a third world country. we did the cave hike again but this time we did it the other way through which was weird to me, plus the water wasn't nearly as high or fast moving and there were hardly any big spiders and no leeches so it was a much calmer version of it this time...but it was still fun and probably better that way cause im sure some of the people would have been scared out of there mind if it was the same as last time. i really love the family that runs the bugelows we stay at in khao sok so it is always hard to leave. they make you feel like you are at home and you get to know them pretty good over only being there a few nights. then we went to koh phi phi (which is were im at now but am leaving in a few hours to railey) but was another great experience. we stayed at a place called view point bungelows this time which was way better since it had such a nice view and an eternity pool. i did the viewpoint hike a few times (billions of stairs) which was good to be active again...actually koh phi phi was really active for me. i did those hikes we had a day of snorkelling which is always tiring if you actually snorkel a lot. there was one point on the snorkel trip were i was surrounded by this huge school of parrot fish and others like them that are actually decent sized fish and there were so many of them i couldn't even see through them which was a neat feeling/visual. the next day some of hiked along the island all the way back to the first point of the snorkel trip and then swam out there cause we heard if you go at a certain time there is a chance you can see sharks! there just reef sharks so there is no worries about them but the look exactly like (to an untrained eye) the sharks that you need to worry about so it quite a cool experience. we got lucky and did see a bunch of them swimming around underneath us, the first time is quite an experience cause its so unreal. none of them did the whole swim at the surface thing where you see the fin swimming around all spooky like though (which im not sure is a good thing or bad since it would be cool to see but im sure one of those things that would still be quite freaky). since i loved that so much i had to sign up for scuba the next day with the others (which i was trying to avoid since it cost so much and id hate to fall in love with it and spend all my money away) and absolutely loved it (told you). we saw all the tropical fish you always see in photos and HUGE coral sea walls that just gone on forever, we got to see a reef octopus too which was exciting cause they arn't that common. and since we were being really good and not freaking out at all or instructor let us go a deeper than what our level is allowed to (12m is the limit and we went to 18m) but don't tell anyone. it was truely a magical experience that i will have to try again someday. oh and just as a warning im currently tagging myself in photos on facebook that other people have taken and there was another pink party night, so i apologize to though that might be embarrassed by the photo of me (cough mom cough cough). well this is costly me quite the penny so i think im going to end it there though im sure there is plenty im leaving out. until next time...

tours away...

...well i don't have a lot of time but i havn't writte in so long i best write something. i started the another tour with free and easy at the beginning of the month and have been travelling with the since. its different this time since ive done all of it before and there is now a different crowd im doing it with but it is still good. i missed out on travelling over with everybody so for the first while i seemed kinda like an outsider since by the time they got here they had already started to make friendships. but not that is almost 10 days in im getting to know people better and starting to make friends not just aquintances. we are also doing the trip the opposite direction i did it last time plus a different time of year so there are many differences. we went to koh samui first and stayed at a different place than last time...which i think i liked since we were farther away from all the busyness of koh samui and in more of a relaxing part. after there we moved to koh angthong which was really nice. this place is a real secluded place that at night we had the beach and island to ourselves except the thais that ran the restaurant and kept up with the maintance of the island. it had a real camp feel about it...camp paradise. many a relaxing days spent burning on the beach, doing hikes and jaming on guitars (my group leaders not me). thats one thing i really like about this trip that the last didn't really have since both my leaders love playing guitar so are always strumming away. adam was my leader last time but he was just starting to learn then so now two years later he has gotten quite good and bertes from south africa is really good to and actually has recorded an album that i indend to buy at the end of the journey. i think there was too much sun and late nights though in koh angthong cause last night when we arrived here in koh phangnon i started to feel a bit feverish (got the chills and a bit of a stomach ache) but a early night and a lot of sleep has done me better since i don't feel bad today (except for a slight cough). today was also my return to the junglegym which was nice since i got to do some excersize again, i hope to go there often while im there to keep in shape and make my return back to phuket not so hard this time. now on a bit of a down note i have to mention that someone on the beach (not from our group or while i was around) drown today. not really sure what happened except that today the waters were really rough and he was swimming by myself and wasnt' found until it was too late. it kinda put a downer on our group this morning since something like this is a real eye opener and im sure people wont be swimming here for awhile unless the waters start to calm. im for sure not going to go in the water unless im with other people and then it will probably be just shallow until the waves get less. it hard to think of the guys family though, i heard he was travelling alone...i think he was 28 so he wasn't that old either. i heard there were many freaked out people at first all running out there and trying to push through the crowd to see if it was there loved one. there are a couple nurses in our group and they were rushed there and tried cpr but they both knew it was too late before they started so im sure they are a bit shaken up too (even though they see people dieing all the time). just a lot of prayers that should be going out right now for people so if you get a second that would be appreciated. i think we are going to do something for him tonight on the beach so we'll see how that goes.
well not to leave you on a downer like that but i must be off to meet people for dinner at one of my favorite restaurant that is on the rocks overlooking the ocean (really beautiful) called bamboo restaurant. until next time...

when the going gets...

...good, its time to leave again. training has been getting better lately, i finally can finish a day and just be tired and my muscles sore unlike the last couple weeks where it hurts to move and all my joints are in rough shape. and of course now that ive reached this point it is prime time to start learning more since i don't have to worry about being to hurt to do it right...though now i only have a few more days of training here until i leave to go back to bangkok to join up with the tour. oh well, i guess there is always next time, plus im really hoping ill be able to keep up doing some sort of training while im on the road just so it doesn't hurt so much when i come back here. of course im still eating plenty since i have no dicipline when it comes that area so i also didn't accomplish my goal of going down in wieght instead of going up...we'll leave that to the last month or so im here...or something. i out did myself again on sunday when we went to the all you can eat korean bbq again, i have no idea how many plates of food i ate and the sad part is i could have eaten more too if i didn't stop myself. it seems im getting a good talent for eating...which brings me to my breakfast this morning. well kind of, this one was actually healthy so i get points for that i think. i made the greatest muesli, fruit and yoghurt ever! i normally just have a banana and then a yoghurt and a bit of muesli but i thought id step things up a bit this morning since i went to the market last night and bought more fruit. i cut up TWO bananas this time, plus an equal amount of pineapple and probably twice the amount of watermelon. then i added TWO containers of yoghurt instead of the usual ONE since there was more fruit so i need more yoghurt to cover it all. the same rule applied to the muesli aswell so i had to up that amount and then i saw a small box of frosted flakes that my old roomate (who just left) had left behind...so on went that for a little bit of extra crunch (and sweetness). never have a been so full on fruit before, luckily i had a coffee that i could drink slow and recover from such a feast. this is also one of the reasons why i didn't go to training this morning since i was too full to move quickly, which is a good enough excuse as any to make this a spa day and go sit by the pool down the road for awhile and try and get some color (since i seem to be fading quite quickly (and i can't be pale when i meet the rest of the pale canadians next week)). im just waiting now for the "bun guy" before i go do that, since he makes the greatest bbq pork buns and dumpling type stuff...i know, more eating. well, until next time...

almost out of sweat...

...well the phuket life is just like before. sweat, sweat, sweat...eat, eat, eat. im trying to watch that a bit but the first week back they were having a festival in the tempel next door so that meant lots and lots of interesting snacks and food. of course it also meant lots of noise and traffic so after a few days it was kinda annoying trying to sleep with loud singing and fireworks and cars honking outside the door of the house. since my street is the closest one to the temple all the traffic was routed down it and they had cleared a bunch of land for parking so it was all stop and go traffic. on the last day of the festival it was really busy and it was stand still traffic for a couple hours. i had my mountain bike as normal and just happened to be on the wrong end of the street since i went to the internet cafe where i could upload some photos that evening. so for about 3 kms bikes with the random car were all stopped, not going anywhere. i couldn't even fit my bike through all the traffic so for about 5 minutes i just waited with everyone else...though like im going to let anyone get me down for long. i noticed some people were getting off the backs of bikes and out of cars and walking through the narrow opening, so...up goes the bike lifted high above my head and i started my own journey through the maze of traffic. so for about 3 kms (up and down since some parts i could ride) i was getting a round of applause and pats on the back from every thai that i past while doing so...i guess finally my brain started working again a bit. i wish i had a video camera or something to record it though cause im sure it would have been a funny sight to see this white guy holding a bike above his head weaving through a sea of thai people and there vehicles while everyone is cheering them on...it kinda felt like a movie where someone is racing and falls near the end but then gets up and is cheered on all the way to the finish. im sure if their wasn't the same reaction i would have never been able to hold the bike up for so long...my shoulders were quite soar for the rest of the evening.

nothing else really exciting has been happening though, same workout, same pains, same thousands of punches in the head...though ive learnt that a punch on the forhead and top of the head hurts much less than one on the jaw so i keep my chin tucked a lot more these days (which is what you are supposed to do anyways). there seems to be a lot of tall people here these days so most of the time for sparring im just trying desperately to reach my opponent while eating tons of punches...im not dead yet so i must be getting tougher (sink of swim right). i think ill take the rest of the weekend off though (its friday afternoon) since i over extended my arm a few times sparring on wednesday and it isn't getting better without rest. sounds like a good enough excuse to hit the beach to me...plus there is supposed to be a sweet movie in the theatres right now that is kinda like "ong bak" except with a female star instead of tony ja. im sure it will hit theatres in america by the time i get home but it will be sweet seeing the movie before everyone else again (maybe even sit in a lazyboy while doing so...and then going to the market and buying a copy to bring home). ive watched the first two seasons of lost over the last week and half of season 3 but now there arn't any more discs where i was getting them from so i might have to give in and buy the rest of it just so i know what happens. i heard they are in the fourth season right now so hopefully ill be able to buy that one too before i head home. well i need to shower so that is all for now, until next time...

to sore to do anything else...

...plus im trying not to spend money and am really hungry but trying not to eat...so blogging sounds like a good way to waste a little bit of time. last time i left you i was still in bangkok praising the warmth...and well im not in bangkok anymore but my praises still go out to mr.sunshine and his warmth. i went to railey for a couple days that a nice relaxing time for coming back to phuket to train, well it didn't have the greatest start. it all started with me trying to be lazy and a know-it-all. we got to railey in the afternoon and it was low tide so we had a ways to walk to shore. now there was a nice little path to follow to reach east beach in railey but that was going in the opposite direction i wanted to go...so me being all high and mighty and knowing better than all the suckers that were walking the "wrong" way i decided to take the straight approach. not a good idea, after walking about 50 feet i started walking in a couple inches of mud that looked like it was going to be dry land. this started annoying me since my sandels kept flicking mud up my backside, getting myself and my bags muddy. still manageable though since i was "saving" so much time. when i was about half way though i was trekking through ankle deep mud, but now i found a way to walk in which my feet never left the mud so there was no flicking of mud. a little slower but i was already half way and still walking the direct route so it was still worth it. well at least until i started getting about 20 feet off shore and it dropped to about halfway up my calfs...but i was soo close. walking really slow now since i was loaded up with my big backpack on my back and then my smaller one on my front and my duffelbag full of suits and jackets in one hand and a plastic bag with my rice hats in the other (not really the greatest of trekking set up). i got a little frustrated when i was about 15 feet away cause the "suckers" who walked the "wrong" way were walking along the beach now (there is a row of thick bush trees along the beach in this area but i can still see through in the area in which im striving for) so my attempt in taking a short cut has failed and im actually quite on the losing end of the stick (taking longer and getting muddy). though i can feel it getting shallower and by the time im like 5 feet from shore the mud has already dropped to below my ankles...almost there. with my second last step to go suddenly my left foot sinks to well above my knee (and im wearing longer black shorts that have my cell phone in the bottom pocket...plus wallet, passport and other paper things in my top pockets). out of intinct of sinking so far forward causing me to lean forward i take another step with my right...it sinks probably a couple inches farther than my left...im stuck! and this isn't normal mud, this is oil that is filled with oil since the transport tractors drive this path everyday unloading stuff off the barge. im close enough to shore though that i can toss my bags (though i must mention i also see some more people walking along the 20 feet away (so they don't actually notice me) but my pride is hurt now and i don't want to call out since i can do this on my own), so one after the other i toss all the stuff im carrying onto hard packet ground where it is safe. myself on the otherhand isn't so easily removed, though i start the necessary rocking to try and get my feet free. my lead leg (right) is coming out a lot easier even though it is deeper, so i use this opportunity to take a bigger step forward with it (getting my crotch closer to the mud though) and reach out to harder land. the harder land crumbles a bit and falls into the mudpit but only about 8 or 10 inches so it is still good (plus when it falls into the mudpit it actually makes my stance a little closer which is a better position to pull out my other foot). as i start to to pull my other foot out i notice my sandle wants to stay where it is since it is hooked on something. not wanting to part with my stinking moldy sandle that has travelled everywhere with me so patriotically i have to save it. so down goes my left arm (no i didn't think to take off my watch first) all the way to my shoulder pretty much. a little difficulty but i finally get it free and pull it up to the surface and throw it onto the ground with my bags in a heap of tarlike mud. with a little bit of shaking back and forth and actually grabbing a hold of the handle on my duffle bag (its so heavy it makes a good ankor) i manage to free myself from my muddy grave (it would have swallowed my whole im sure). leaving my bags exactly where they were (though throwing a rock on my plastic bag of hats cause it is starting to blow away) i walked to the nearish place of assistance, which is a contruction site fortunetly enough that has a barrel of clean water i can use to wash myself off with. though in doing so i had to admit my stupidy and put up with thai people pointing and laughing at me while jabbering back and foreth at each (i don't want to know what they are saying). all cleaned up i go back and grab my bags and head to the yaya resort which i inteded on staying. to make matter worse though they didn't even have room there and i had to indeed walk to the other side of the beach (where that lovely path ended from earlier ended) anyways. so ya, that goes up with stupid coats i forgot about in vietnam for dumb things that i had done this trip (all being in the same week actually) and i suppose my book incidence (also same week as this) as well from bangkok...short story so ill tell it too quickly. pretty much i spent a long time looking for a sequal to book i had just read but i couldn't remember the authors name, of course as my friend pointed out later i had the first book with the authors name on it in my pocket cause i wanted to trade it in. ya, i blame not doing anything for 6 weeks for my week of stupidity. well thats all i want to write for now, until next time...

oh how warm it is...

...warm and sweet that is. back in thailand and loving it...it was just getting a little too cold in vietnam there. it got even colder than the last time i wrote due to us going on a overnight boat trip. the boats were absolutely beautiful, called junk boats for some reason, but like i said we stayed over night and it got cold. i had to buy a toque and gloves before getting on the boat and i was still freezing most of the time. there and back in hanoi i kept contemplating buying another sweater even though i needed it for only a few days but my cheapness overcame and i just held out...though stupid me finally realised (in the airport on the way back to thailand), or should i say remembered that i had just bought TWO winter jacket and i was carrying them around everywhere without putting two and two together that i could actually wear them. i still shake my head at myself for that one. but now im in thailand spending most of the day sweating away so im happy again. i met up with rich and izzy(the friends i met for new years) and met another friend of theirs that was in thailand (that actually took a free and easy trip in the past), plus another friend that we met last time we were in bangkok, PLUS another friend that i thought was long gone that i met in phuket. so the last few days have been filled with company. here i thought i was going to have a few days all by my lonesome just getting bored all the time. i booked my bus ticket down south and i leave tommorow...so soon i will have my precious beach again. my time is almost up on the internet and since i don't have any more baht on me i must be off. untill next time...