Two months ago we set off from Japan on this nifty little excursion of ours. WE were to travel southeast Asia by ship and stop and a few countries along during that time. The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. I was suppose to see Thailand once last year, but then I went home rather suddenly. Time flies, ay?
We wrapped up our stay in the Philippines with a two and a half day stay in Manila, the country's largest city and home to Asia's largest mall, complete with indoor ice-skating rink and IMAX movie theater. I saw the new Pirates movie while I was there. Manila reminded me a bit about both Bahrain and Cancun, Cancun for the flora and fauna and Bahrain for the heat and humidity. I have an old friend living there and while I tried my best to meet up her, given the fact that I wasn't expecting to stop in Manila and that I had neglected to contact her before leaving Japan, I was unable to reach her. But I don't dwell. All in all, our short time spent in Manila was fun and relaxing.
Thailand was our next port of call and it was great! We ended up having two days in Pattaya to ourselves to run amok. I didn't get to do many of the things I wanted to; elephant rides, the interactive zoo, or even just lay out by the pool. Mainly it was due to a lack of funds, but I had fun nonetheless. Our first night out started with a bang! A couple of my buddies and I stopped by the tailor where we had our suits made to check on their progress. Once that was done we left and started walking down the street. Now, if you have never been to Thailand or any other country like it, there is something you have to understand... Vendors and street merchants are pushy. They will run up to you, throw a monkey on your shoulder and take your picture. Then they'll expect you to pay for it. There were a couple of these guys outside a bar promoting with big signs that read beer prices and once the three of us expressed interest, they literally pulled us in before we had even made the decision to go in ourselves. It was only then that we found out that this place was a Go-Go Bar. Girls were all over us from the moment we walked in, and since it was still somewhat early, we were the only guys there for them to attempt to make money off of. Like any Go-Go Bar or strip club like it they had rooms available for private dances. The girls kept asking us, "You want go upstairs? 2,000 THB" The exchange rate was about 32 THB (Thailand Baht) to the Dollar. So that's about $64 to go upstairs with these girls, and I can only imagine what goes on up there for that much. Now, while these girls are trying to convince us to go upstairs with them, there were also girls dancing on stage. It was then that another one asked me if I would like to go upstairs, and jokingly I said, "No, but I'll tell you what. I'll go on stage and one of your girls can pick ME to go upstairs and give ME 2,000 THB!" Naturally, I didn't think they would go for it... I was wrong!
One of them led me to the stairs just next to the stage and motioned that I go up. "Are you serious?!" She nods and I respond, "OK!" I took of my shirt and climbed up. At this point, I'm wearing a pair of shorts a white undershirt. It wasn't long before there were women, the same ones propositioning me to take them upstairs, grabbing at my shorts. The undershirt was next to come off and shortly after... the pants! Now I'm on a stage, in a Thai Go-Go bar, in nothing but my under shorts dancing and working the poles like a pro. The two guys I had gone in there with were watching with laughter and enjoying the show, cheering me on. I've still got women tugging at my shorts but now some are throwing bills at me! It wasn't much longer that I'm considering loosing the shorts. I look to my mates, "Should I?" And they tell me, "GO FOR IT!" So with one quick motion the shorts came off. Now I'm shaking my ass and performing a few tricks I had learned back in Virginia when a friend tricked me into being the entertainment at a Bachelorette Party; namely The Slapper and the Helicopter... Soon enough I'm off the stage and putting my clothes back on. The guys welcomed me back to the table where we were sitting. Mike is smiling an awkward smile while trying not to laugh and KC says to me, "That was great! I hadn't seen someone work a pole like that since my time in Vegas." I didn't ask why he was in Vegas watching a male strip show, but knowing him, I'm sure he has a good, heterosexual reason. Anyway, I got dressed, we finished our beer, and were on our way. During my whole show I ended up making a little over 20 THB and a coaster from the place. Do the math and that's less than a dollar. Granted, the only people there I could make money off of were the very same girls that are trying to make money off me. Regardless, the whole thing was a blast!
Which brings me to the best part of the trip, Malaysia. I spent three days on a beach in the sun and called it work. How many people get to spend their days on remote beaches in the company of Malay Navy SEALs and call it work? Once the daytime routine was over, it was time to play. The first night spent on the beach we put a boat in the water and the guys went to explore the coast. I wish that I had gone that first night, but work overflowed into play time for me. They returned and told me what they had found, and that's when I knew I had to go to next time. After the next day's schedule had been completed, it was again time to play, but this time it was the fourth of July. Again we put the boats in the water and set off on our little adventure. The beach we headed to was just a couple miles north along the coast. Once we arrived, we pulled the boats up onto shore and went into the tree line. It was then that I could hear ans smell exactly what the guys had described the night before, squeaking and a strange musky smell. That's when I saw it, A cave, large and full of bats. Tens of thousands of bats! Some of the guys wouldn't go anywhere near the cave, others would only go as far as the mouth of the cave. I, on the other hand, went inside. The ceiling of the cave looked as if it were moving, but as I entered, many of the bats toward the front of the cave dropped and flew farther back. Now I don't know whether it was the fact that it was nearly dusk or that our winged friends may have had enough of us so near their sanctuary, but soon more and more the bats started to leave they comfort of the cave until it looked as if there was a living black cloud flowing from its depths. While the others ran for the safety of the beach, I stayed. I simply stood there, about five meters in from of the mouth of the cave, with bats flying past me on both sides. They flew past me so close that I could feel the breeze from the flapping of their wings against my face.
Once I finally left the cave to rejoin my mates, they had decided to continue exploring the beach. Fortunately we had brought dive lights with us to help us see into the bat cave, but they proved useful in the other caves we ended up finding. Many of them required we crawl inside, in one of them in particular, the sand flowed seamlessly from beach to cave floor. The entrance was not more that a couple feet above the sand. It was the first we explored after the bat cave and I was excited. My excitement soon faded after I saw that the cave led a short distance in before turning slightly and opening up to the beach again. But there were many more caves we had yet to find. My favorite one had multiple chambers with narrow passages leading from one on another. It started as the others had, I was first to enter and always went the farthest inside, but while most of the caves ended just as soon as they began, this one kept going. I went farther and farther until I could see an end, but I never did. By the time I gone far enough to the point that I couldn't I could not longer stand up straight was when I saw a small hole in the cave floor. I had to lay down and crawl my way to it, pushing with the toes of my feet, to even get close enough to see if it led anywhere, and it did. I reached out with my dive light and shined it through the tiny hole to see what was on the other side. I saw that the cave opened up again and when I turned my light away, I could see the faint glow of daylight. One of my mates was crawling his way up right behind me. He couldn't see what I could see as I was obstructing his view of the narrow passage, but I assured him that the hole, while small, was plenty large enough to fir through and that the chamber on the other side was large enough to turn around in if it turned out to be a dead end. Onward we went, and just as I began to squeeze my way through into the new chamber, I saw another on of my mates standing in from of me. While we had been crawling our way through the cave behind us, he and another had walked around and come in another way. When I looked back, I could see that our little hole was completely hiding by rock were the ceiling merged with the wall and floor. Unless you had come through it or already knew it was there, you never would have found it. From there we saw another passage which looked like it opened up to more beach. It was either that way or on of the way we had already come through. We could not longer walk the beach, it was blocked off by rocks so unless we wanted to swim around, it was through to cave or turn back. As we neared the exit of the cave, with me in the lead again, I could see people. "People?" the guys asked. We weren't expecting to see people on such a remote beach. "Yeah, and I think I see soccer goals too!" I told them. When we exited the cave, we found ourselves in a park, complete with playground, parking lot, and picnic tables. People were looking at us as if we had just dug our way out of prison. Which was not an unrealistic idea as we were all wearing the same outfits, green shorts and shirts.
Wrapping up my trip was Singapore, a fine city. And I mean that literally. You could be fined and/or jailed there for the most mundane things. Chewing gun... $500. Smoking... $1,000. Public Speaking... $2000 Eating or drinking in public... $3,000. Dancing in Public... $5,000. Drunk in public... Arrested! Even looking at a women the wrong way can get you busted! And there are some VERY attractive women in Singapore! To be honest, I saw people doing many of the things that you are told that you can't but it's not enforced in many of the more tourist rice places. Regardless, Singapore is a beautiful country. It reminded me very much of New Zealand and I look forward to going back some day. I'l just have to leave the gum at home.
All in all, this summer's trip around southeast Asia was a great experience. I hope I can do it again some day.
We wrapped up our stay in the Philippines with a two and a half day stay in Manila, the country's largest city and home to Asia's largest mall, complete with indoor ice-skating rink and IMAX movie theater. I saw the new Pirates movie while I was there. Manila reminded me a bit about both Bahrain and Cancun, Cancun for the flora and fauna and Bahrain for the heat and humidity. I have an old friend living there and while I tried my best to meet up her, given the fact that I wasn't expecting to stop in Manila and that I had neglected to contact her before leaving Japan, I was unable to reach her. But I don't dwell. All in all, our short time spent in Manila was fun and relaxing.
Thailand was our next port of call and it was great! We ended up having two days in Pattaya to ourselves to run amok. I didn't get to do many of the things I wanted to; elephant rides, the interactive zoo, or even just lay out by the pool. Mainly it was due to a lack of funds, but I had fun nonetheless. Our first night out started with a bang! A couple of my buddies and I stopped by the tailor where we had our suits made to check on their progress. Once that was done we left and started walking down the street. Now, if you have never been to Thailand or any other country like it, there is something you have to understand... Vendors and street merchants are pushy. They will run up to you, throw a monkey on your shoulder and take your picture. Then they'll expect you to pay for it. There were a couple of these guys outside a bar promoting with big signs that read beer prices and once the three of us expressed interest, they literally pulled us in before we had even made the decision to go in ourselves. It was only then that we found out that this place was a Go-Go Bar. Girls were all over us from the moment we walked in, and since it was still somewhat early, we were the only guys there for them to attempt to make money off of. Like any Go-Go Bar or strip club like it they had rooms available for private dances. The girls kept asking us, "You want go upstairs? 2,000 THB" The exchange rate was about 32 THB (Thailand Baht) to the Dollar. So that's about $64 to go upstairs with these girls, and I can only imagine what goes on up there for that much. Now, while these girls are trying to convince us to go upstairs with them, there were also girls dancing on stage. It was then that another one asked me if I would like to go upstairs, and jokingly I said, "No, but I'll tell you what. I'll go on stage and one of your girls can pick ME to go upstairs and give ME 2,000 THB!" Naturally, I didn't think they would go for it... I was wrong!
One of them led me to the stairs just next to the stage and motioned that I go up. "Are you serious?!" She nods and I respond, "OK!" I took of my shirt and climbed up. At this point, I'm wearing a pair of shorts a white undershirt. It wasn't long before there were women, the same ones propositioning me to take them upstairs, grabbing at my shorts. The undershirt was next to come off and shortly after... the pants! Now I'm on a stage, in a Thai Go-Go bar, in nothing but my under shorts dancing and working the poles like a pro. The two guys I had gone in there with were watching with laughter and enjoying the show, cheering me on. I've still got women tugging at my shorts but now some are throwing bills at me! It wasn't much longer that I'm considering loosing the shorts. I look to my mates, "Should I?" And they tell me, "GO FOR IT!" So with one quick motion the shorts came off. Now I'm shaking my ass and performing a few tricks I had learned back in Virginia when a friend tricked me into being the entertainment at a Bachelorette Party; namely The Slapper and the Helicopter... Soon enough I'm off the stage and putting my clothes back on. The guys welcomed me back to the table where we were sitting. Mike is smiling an awkward smile while trying not to laugh and KC says to me, "That was great! I hadn't seen someone work a pole like that since my time in Vegas." I didn't ask why he was in Vegas watching a male strip show, but knowing him, I'm sure he has a good, heterosexual reason. Anyway, I got dressed, we finished our beer, and were on our way. During my whole show I ended up making a little over 20 THB and a coaster from the place. Do the math and that's less than a dollar. Granted, the only people there I could make money off of were the very same girls that are trying to make money off me. Regardless, the whole thing was a blast!
Which brings me to the best part of the trip, Malaysia. I spent three days on a beach in the sun and called it work. How many people get to spend their days on remote beaches in the company of Malay Navy SEALs and call it work? Once the daytime routine was over, it was time to play. The first night spent on the beach we put a boat in the water and the guys went to explore the coast. I wish that I had gone that first night, but work overflowed into play time for me. They returned and told me what they had found, and that's when I knew I had to go to next time. After the next day's schedule had been completed, it was again time to play, but this time it was the fourth of July. Again we put the boats in the water and set off on our little adventure. The beach we headed to was just a couple miles north along the coast. Once we arrived, we pulled the boats up onto shore and went into the tree line. It was then that I could hear ans smell exactly what the guys had described the night before, squeaking and a strange musky smell. That's when I saw it, A cave, large and full of bats. Tens of thousands of bats! Some of the guys wouldn't go anywhere near the cave, others would only go as far as the mouth of the cave. I, on the other hand, went inside. The ceiling of the cave looked as if it were moving, but as I entered, many of the bats toward the front of the cave dropped and flew farther back. Now I don't know whether it was the fact that it was nearly dusk or that our winged friends may have had enough of us so near their sanctuary, but soon more and more the bats started to leave they comfort of the cave until it looked as if there was a living black cloud flowing from its depths. While the others ran for the safety of the beach, I stayed. I simply stood there, about five meters in from of the mouth of the cave, with bats flying past me on both sides. They flew past me so close that I could feel the breeze from the flapping of their wings against my face.
Once I finally left the cave to rejoin my mates, they had decided to continue exploring the beach. Fortunately we had brought dive lights with us to help us see into the bat cave, but they proved useful in the other caves we ended up finding. Many of them required we crawl inside, in one of them in particular, the sand flowed seamlessly from beach to cave floor. The entrance was not more that a couple feet above the sand. It was the first we explored after the bat cave and I was excited. My excitement soon faded after I saw that the cave led a short distance in before turning slightly and opening up to the beach again. But there were many more caves we had yet to find. My favorite one had multiple chambers with narrow passages leading from one on another. It started as the others had, I was first to enter and always went the farthest inside, but while most of the caves ended just as soon as they began, this one kept going. I went farther and farther until I could see an end, but I never did. By the time I gone far enough to the point that I couldn't I could not longer stand up straight was when I saw a small hole in the cave floor. I had to lay down and crawl my way to it, pushing with the toes of my feet, to even get close enough to see if it led anywhere, and it did. I reached out with my dive light and shined it through the tiny hole to see what was on the other side. I saw that the cave opened up again and when I turned my light away, I could see the faint glow of daylight. One of my mates was crawling his way up right behind me. He couldn't see what I could see as I was obstructing his view of the narrow passage, but I assured him that the hole, while small, was plenty large enough to fir through and that the chamber on the other side was large enough to turn around in if it turned out to be a dead end. Onward we went, and just as I began to squeeze my way through into the new chamber, I saw another on of my mates standing in from of me. While we had been crawling our way through the cave behind us, he and another had walked around and come in another way. When I looked back, I could see that our little hole was completely hiding by rock were the ceiling merged with the wall and floor. Unless you had come through it or already knew it was there, you never would have found it. From there we saw another passage which looked like it opened up to more beach. It was either that way or on of the way we had already come through. We could not longer walk the beach, it was blocked off by rocks so unless we wanted to swim around, it was through to cave or turn back. As we neared the exit of the cave, with me in the lead again, I could see people. "People?" the guys asked. We weren't expecting to see people on such a remote beach. "Yeah, and I think I see soccer goals too!" I told them. When we exited the cave, we found ourselves in a park, complete with playground, parking lot, and picnic tables. People were looking at us as if we had just dug our way out of prison. Which was not an unrealistic idea as we were all wearing the same outfits, green shorts and shirts.
Wrapping up my trip was Singapore, a fine city. And I mean that literally. You could be fined and/or jailed there for the most mundane things. Chewing gun... $500. Smoking... $1,000. Public Speaking... $2000 Eating or drinking in public... $3,000. Dancing in Public... $5,000. Drunk in public... Arrested! Even looking at a women the wrong way can get you busted! And there are some VERY attractive women in Singapore! To be honest, I saw people doing many of the things that you are told that you can't but it's not enforced in many of the more tourist rice places. Regardless, Singapore is a beautiful country. It reminded me very much of New Zealand and I look forward to going back some day. I'l just have to leave the gum at home.
All in all, this summer's trip around southeast Asia was a great experience. I hope I can do it again some day.