Uploading photos is painfully slow here. I have a lot more, but it hurts to upload. Here ya go:

It's true, I'm offically tired of hearing "Tuk-Tuk?", "Taxi?", "(Thai) Massage?". No, I don't want a fucking Tuk-Tuk, no more fucking massages, and if I need a taxi, I'll flag one down.

It seems, that every 10 steps I take, I'm asked if I want a taxi, a tuk-tuk, or a massge of some sort. Okay, I get it, I'm a white guy in Asia, that doesn't mean I want every taxi and tuk-tuk driver to ask me if I need a ride, or every asian guy and girl (or those in between) infront of massage parlors to ask me if I want a massage. If I want it I'll seek it. One more thing, sorry, I've given all my change, no I'm not giving you bills. I understand that the countries here do not have and social support, but I can only contribute so much.

This surfeit of tuk-tuks, taxi's, and massage houses, and beggers has made me become jaded. Today, I realized that I have also been approached by genuine people that are just socializing, but more often than not (usually all), they want something. They have a cause, a need, or want you to patron some store, restuarant, or bar. It's still very hard for me to determine what people's intentions are when I'm approached or beckoned as 99% desire a certain course of action on my part.

Now, onto the genuine people. The other day I met a nice group of people. One guy was from Cleveland Ohio, the other two were locals. We chatted for a good three hours about various topics - all very nice guys. They invited me to a select party at the world trade center in Manila on Friday, and I'm looking forward to that. It offically starts at 6pm, but like all night life in Manila, it doesn't really start until 11pm - gives me time to take a nap after dinner.

I'm started getting a cold, so I've not been to active in Manila. I've increased my water intake as well as vitamins - so, it's been okay so far however we'll see what tomorrow is in store for me. The weather is not fun here - alternating sun with rain. It's about 85 degrees, at 100% humidity - feels like i'm in a sauna all day long. I've taken 3 showers by 7pm. :-) Thank goodness the wash and fold people only charge $0.25 a pound for washing, drying and folding my laundry.

I've taken alot of pictures, but I don't lug around the equipment required to upload pictures.

In store for Manila: Intramoras (sp?), Makati, some random island cruise someone was tellin me about, and lots of sleep and chillin out.

Going to keep this short. I managed to upload a few pictures, but due to the earthquake recently in the area, internet is painfully slow (think 56k modem). As such, I only uploaded a couple of photos.

Here's a nice of me next to Thailands largest reclining budda. Seeing this in person is very impressive. This is at Wat Pho, Bangkok.

That same day - two tired dogs taking a nap. Yes, they are real dogs.

My money shot from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I go back for one more night in a couple of nights, I'll hopefully get some better night time angles and maybe even a day time shot.

Someone couldn't hold the camera steady - even after taking 4 shots, this is the least blurry. It's okay Robert, we know you were looking at some candy.

That's all for now. The images are not geocoded, I can only do that once I get home.

As they say, time flies when you're having fun. I had a blast in BKK, depsite the jet lag, and the crazy food (more on that in a bit). First off, the traffic is CRAZY. I know that I already mentioned that before, but it's nutz! I've learned you can cross the street even when all the traffic is going, and it's busy - that's about the only way to cross the street as people don't follow the signals very well. You look for a slight break in the cars from the first lane, and try to time your walking as the cars go by - you only have to get half way across. Crossing infront of and between a group of motorcycles is the easiest (thankfully there are more motorbikes than cars in BKK), as they simply go around you like a school of fish. It's quiet amazing actually.

Let me also say - Thai Massages are amazing!! I had a 2 hour massge by a nice young women, and let me tell you - she knew what she was doing. I've learned to get someone that is a little bit bigger (not too heavy) - they can apply more strength as well as more weight when they are nearly walking on you.

I only managed to go out dancing one night in Bangkok - and let me tell you - it was a blast. The club I went to was 3 stories tall, and rather large. I met some really nice people too. On an interesting note - you can buy a bottle of liquir, and just drink from that the whole night - it's much cheaper. :-) Course, it's best to share with friends. A gang of people took me into their group and we hung out at the club and afterwards. Four of the people were locals, and the other three were all traveling as well. They helped my pick out some food from a street vendor, and it turned out to be pretty decent meal...for $0.85, plus $0.02 for the napkins. :) After our meal, the seven of us went to another club called God, this was around 3am. I stayed there until around 5am and walked home the 3 blocks to my hotel.

On my last day there, I managed to see The Grand Palace, and Wat Pho - both very interesting. I took a LOT of pictures, however, I'm still not able to upload VIA USB yet. Hopefully Malaysia will have better luck. Anyways, The Grand Palace was very interesting with all the temples and such. Over at Wat Pho, another set of buddist temples - one of them housing the Thailands largest laying budda - was also a learning school for kids as well as a famous Thai massage school. It was neat to see the kids in the playgound around the temples, and in their small class setting. It was as if the temple grounds were removed the chaotic confines of Bangkok.

Also on my last day in BKK, I started to get a little sick in my stomach - must have had something bad to eat - I think it was in China town. Anyways, I've been mostly bed ridden here in Phuket - so I haven't done a whole bunch. I did manage to walk the length of the beach and see some hot people (literally and figuratively). There are lots of sunburns walking around - looks painful. I went swimming for a long while in the ocean - it's very warm.

Today, i decided to start my 3 day treatment of travelers sickness pills - and let me tell you - even after one pill, I'm significantly better. I ate my entire lunch today. And I'm already starting to feel hungry for dinner; I haven't been eating much. If it kills me, I'm going to go out tonight in Phuket. There are several bars/clubs/pool halls in the area of my hotel - all within a foot ball stadium sized area - my hotel being right smack dab in the middle (yes i wear ear plugs at night - as my room starts thumping to music around 10pm).

Time for dinner, and then I'm heading out with another group of locals I met earlier in the day. People are soo friendly here, and like to chat. If you avoid the crazy places, it's very relaxed and mellow here. Very slow paced - best to never be in a hurry.

I may not have time to write from Malaysia, but I'll try my best in Siem Reap, Cambodia - at the very latest, from Manila.

On Saturday afternoon, our Boeing 747-400 took off into the pacific ocean, chasing the sun. Despite out valant efforts, inevitably, we couldn't keep up. It took us 14 hours to travel from 4:30pm to 10:30pm. The sunset lasted a couple of hours, instead of mear minutes. The twilight lasted even longer. For that night, the evening sun was never ending.

Finally, our home in the sky landed in Taipei at 10:30. We dashed to the next gate to catch out flight to Bangkok, Thailand - only to find out that that plane would be delayed for 4 hours. After a few rounds of Uno, we borded our plan.

Twenty four hours from our departure from San Francisco Airport, and nearly eight thousand miles later, we landed in Bangkok International Airport.

I managed to catch a few moments of shut eye. I checked into my hotel at 6am, took a shower, had breakfast - and began to wonder the SMOGGY streets of downtown Bangkok. Let this be a reminder - if you ever think think Sacramento has smog issues, wait until breath some foggy lookin air here in BKK - it's not fog.

I've taken a few pictures. I'll be geocoding them, however, I won't be able to do that until I get home. I'll try to upload some in the next few days once I find a better internet shop that allows USB connections.

For now - have a good day from tomorrow.

-Mitch

Movies

Some movies of Aibo for my auction over on ebay.

Return to EBay auction.

It's a sad day, but I've had to put my Sony Aibo up for sale on eBay today. If you're interested in it, it's an ERS 7M3/T (Model 7, Mind 3, Champange Limited edition). Anyways, check out the eBay auction if your looking for an Aibo in perfect shape.

I'll miss you Flux.

As usual, had a great time in the city. Friday night was early, and we called it a night around 10:30. Saturday, after dropping friend off at airport, I bummed around SF - was rather nice. At night, I went bar hopping and ended up running into a few peeps. Such a small world running into people in SF from other cities. I wasn't in the mood to take many pictures this weekend.

Had a great weekend in SF; the weekend before Halloween. Friday night, went to Dragon. There was not alot of people in costumes, but the night was still fun. Despite the lack of costumes, they still held a Halloween costume contest. There were some very elaborate costumes, and some, were, well skimpy; I suppose some thought it was a Mr Hunk contest.

Saturday, after sleeping in, we bummed around castro - didn't take a lot of pictures. Saturday night, went back to badlands and The Bar On Castro. We also roamed around Castro street a little bit. Here's one of me and a turtle on Castro street.

Random pictures:

Posted pictures from the San Francisco weekend of Oct 21 pictures.

First of all, my new car is getting better gas milage on the freeway. Check this out...

That same day, I went with Harrison to check out an apartment for him (he didn't get it). He had to fill out an application, along with the 30 other people, while still at the apartment.

Later that day, we ran into some of Harrison's friends at The Bar On Castro. They were alot of fun to hang out with - str8 girls are fun to talk about men with.

And last, but not least, meet Lola - Harrison's cute little puppy.

Yet, another AMAZING weekend in the city. The weather was pretty warm - about 75 to 78 degrees and sunny. Decided to head up to Twin Peaks to get a better view. Can you believe that weather in the middle of October?