Welcome to my journal page. Here you can read about what I have been up to. I figure this is more convenient for everyone as opposed to a bulk group email. I will try to update this section and this whole site for that matter as often as possible.

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06|14|03
The Cambodian part of my site is almost finished. The pictures are up and the journal is almost complete.
Things here a getting crazier by the day.
Two days ago an Islamic terrorist cell was captured in town. They were planning on blowing up embasies and tourist spots. I was at one of those spots (kosan rd.) the night before!
Then today I was watching the BBC and there was this story...
They just arrested a guy in a hotel near where I live in Bangkok. He was trying to sell nuclear material for a "dirty bomb" on the black market. The Thai police were tipped off by the Americans. You'll probably hear about it shortly on the news there.
I think I'm leaving at a good time, things are getting to be a bit much here.
I get the feeling something is going to happen soon.
We get paid at the end of this month, then that's it. We're going to jet and hang out on the beaches down south. World class snorkling! Then perhaps off to Malasia and Singapore...though the terrorist threat there is at maximum. It's a matter of when not if, so not sure.
We know people there so we have a place to stay, just the safety thing.
I think while in Singapore in might try and get a ticket for spitting. That would make a great souvineer.
We've been looking into plane tickets and it looks like we're going to get a great deal. Tickets from Bangkok to Toronto are only 20,000 Baut. That's about $620, all fees and taxes included. If you want to travel, now's the time.


05|22|03
I know, I know.
Where are the Cambodia pictures? Where are the journal entries?
They are coming, trust me. It's the same old story...work. I just started the new semester and by the time I get home I'm ready for bed. I'm the grade 2-3-4 Art teacher and relief English teacher for grades 2-6. The kids are great but it's tiring. I'm up at 6:45 and work 'till 4. On Tuesday I had eight classes! That's too many, five is ok, eight is killer. I had three straight English classes in the morning with the same grade two class!
I teach over 700 kids in a week. Where ever I go there's some kid going "Hello Mr.Anthony!" I'm just like, "Hello." (who ever you are).
Today I had my first class (G4F) with the class of kids I taught for summer school. As soon as I walked in the room they started cheering and clapping. That made me feel good...but it took me a good five minutes to calm them down.
My art skills are coming in handy. For the first week I'm getting them to draw and colour a picture of what they did for their vacation on a handout I drew. I did a sample one to show them so they knew what to do. It looks pretty good and always stops them cold when I show it to them. They ALL pay attention and often gasp "oooyyee". The other day a grade three class gave me a standing ovation.

So the point is I'm too tired to finish the Cambodia section but I will do it this weekend. I'm so out of it and tired that last night Anna woke me up. She was all freaked out because there were people screaming outside. All I remember is opening one eye and saying (as I heard the screaming and two loud bangs) "Oh those are just gunshots, why did you wake me up?..I want to sleep!" I was going to get up to see what was going on but that never happened. Whatever, were on the 12th floor...no worries.

Oh, food.
I now eat two things religiously, and they are so Asian.
Tom Yum soup off the street and sushi. Man oh man the Tom Yum is so good! This lady makes it right in front of you and you can choose what you want in it, shrimp, squid, chicken. It's spicy and made with condensed milk. I swear 5 years from now I'll be somewhere thinking, "I wish I had some of that soup."
Sushi was a suprise. I thought I didn't like it. I tried it a few times before and hated it. I know why, you haven't tried sushi until you've tried sushi in Asia. It is completely different here...so good. I mean it is nothing like back home and it's cheap by Canadian standards. We eat at nice restaurants, expensive by Thai standards but in Canadian dollars the sushi sets we get are $4. They come with soup, hot green tea, kim chee, and other goodies. Back home that same meal would easily be $40.


05|12|03
Cambodia 2003.
Check out my journal and pics here.


04|26|03
Vacation time again!

We're going to Cambodia on Thursday for ten days.
We just went to buy our bus tickets and were blown away, it's a 9 hour trip...guess the price?
100 baut. That's about $3.25 Canadian.
I mean the cab ride home from where we bought the tickets was 100 baut,
It's a nice bus, the only thing is we'll have to transfer to a micro bus once we cross the border. Cambodians will not let Thai busses in their country, they really don't like each other. Remember the embassy burnings a couple of months ago?

Cambodia is really scarry but we want to do it.
We're going to Angkor Wat (one of the seven wonders of the world) and the capital Phanum Penh, that's it I think?
Most landmines in the world and all those guns and poverty...not good.
The killing fields and genocide museum will be hard to see.
I just saw a show on tv about it last night on discovery (good timing).
The museum (an old school) is actually the place where they tortured then murdered 20,000 people. You can just walk around. They took mugshots of people as they came in. On television that was hard to watch, can't imagine what it will be like to be there. They had a look on their faces like they knew what was coming next.
In total I think 1.5 million people were killed.


04|24|03
Just a quick note to everyone who signs my guest book and sends me emails...
I appreciate it, thanks!


04|20|03
This country is super scarry at times.
Not surprising though, it is a third world nation.

Friday I was walking back to school after eating lunch at home. It only takes me 7 minutes to get from school to home and the walk is straight down our soi (street). In fact I can see it right now from my balcony.
Anyway, I was passing in front of this area where people get together, it's in front of this store/food area.
There were about 10 people sitting around, it was 11am.
I'm walking with my walkman on, I look over and there is this guy with a baggy in his hand. It had this white goo in it.
This guy was sniffing glue or paint or something.
It was so obvious but no one seemed to mind.

I couldn't believe it.
And it's not even like this is a bad area or a bad neighborhood. It's just the country as a whole.

That's not even the worst glue story though. A month ago I was getting off the boat and walking by the sky train terminal. It is a semi remote area with these big cement columns. Sometimes homeless people sleep there.
I was walking along and passed by this group, two older women with a baby and a little girl. I guess the little girl didn't hear me coming because when she saw me she hid what she was holding up to her mouth into her shirt.
She wasn't quick enough though, I saw.
She was sniffing glue out of a baggy right in the middle of the day, in front of her Mother. This kid was no older than 8.
They just watched me as I walked by.

I was so sad.

It's amazing the contrast between wealth and poverty here. Every car on the road is a Benz or a BMW, and there are a lot of them. Then there's people sleeping on newspapers and fishing in a tepid canal for dinner. And then there's me who gets to go to Sizzler when hungry and home to Canada when I've had enough of this place.


04|18|03
Our saviour was Sizzler.

Here in Thailand food is quickly becoming our number one problem.
Thai food sucks. It's not like North American Thai food, this is the real deal and it just gets tiring.
We often spend the day fantasizing about the foods we'd like to eat.
We need something, a change!

Then we heard about the Sizzler steak house in the mall.
We've always avoided it because the meals are very expensive.
Wait just a minute though, we just found out that they have these little known meal specials...99B for pasta. That is about $3.65 Canadian. It was this gross pasta with this sick white sauce. Worst pasta ever, we took one bite and that was it.

So what's the catch? Why was it so great?

With this meal you could go up to the salad bar and take as much food as you wanted. They had soups, tons of salads, fruits and deserts.

Man oh man, we were eating things we hadn't had in six months! Beats, cheese, apples, asparagus, potato salads...actually most vegetables.
It was so good, and so cheap.
If you were to go and just order the salad bar alone it would cost you 175B, figure that one out.
T.I.T (That is Thailand). Most things here don't make any sense so it's best to just say T.I.T.

I kept thinking, "this is to good to be true"... we'll probably get a bill for 1000B. But no, total was 199B!

All I know is that I'm there tomorrow.


04|16|03
Oh my, oh my.
Well, I'm alive but just barely.
The madness of Songkran 2003 is over and Thailand is getting back to normal.
This holiday was insane!

Friday at school with the kids wasn't that bad but by Tuesday we didn't want to leave the building. Actually, Anna and her sister didn't really leave the building all weekend.

Sunday me and Anna went to a mall near Sukomvit. We ate, read then sat watching the street. This is where it all began.
There were People up and down the sidewalks with buckets, hoses, water guns...anything to propel water on someone else.
Then there were people packed on the back of pickup trucks firing water on any and everything. This was very dangerous and I can't figure out how more people don't die doing this. Some had 15-20 people on them. Come to think of it I think about 400 people did die this weekend.
There were others walking around with baby powder putting it on peoples faces. Some mix it with water so it forms a paste.
We lasted about 5 minutes outside before a group got us. We didn't even bother cleaning up, more was to come.
I rushed back into the mall to arm myself.
Emerging with a water gun we headed for a pint. The street we wanted to go down was blocked by kids with buckets and we were like forget that.
There were snipers everywhere.
We sat and watched. We saw some guy on a truck fall off and get his leg run over. They just loaded him back in and continued.

Madness.

We went to another bar, where I was attacked by the waitresses...in the bar!
I was wet and in a air con. place...not cool.

We got home and ate. Then Sash came by and asked if I wanted to go down to KoSan Rd. to meet a friend and see what was going on.

This is where it really gets nuts.

This was "the place to be" and there must have been 10000 people there. The cabbie couldn't get anywhere near it. Chuckling, he was like..."you'll have to walk".
We did and soon found out why he was laughing.
We were in trouble.
Tons of people, tons of water, tons of powder.
We were zapped almost instantly. I wasn't dry until I got back home and changed at 2am.

I was only packing a wimpy squirt gun so we bought more, the good pump ones.

The vibe with the crowd was great,
I'm not sure you could pull this type of thing off in any other country.
Definatly not in North America, there would be too many fights.

Everyone was soaking each with water or getting people with the powder. There was wall to wall people. People drinking, music, dancing in the street. No one was safe, even the police were getting hit.
The worst were those damn pick up trucks, you really had to keep your distance from the street. Getting squirted with a gun is one thing but getting a bucket of water launched at you is another.

We battled until midnight before we had our fill.
It was such a funny feeling squirting someone and knowing there would be no hard feelings. Don't get me wrong, they fought back but it was all in good fun.

The next day we were back, to do the same thing in the sun...all day. Before we left though we went down to our local wat where a vendor was selling water guns. I bought a nice big one.
It paid off, it held a lot of water and delivered a nice punch...nice distance too. I was getting people from 15 feet away.

Quite an experience, and a dirty one at that. I'm sure I'll be washing that damn powder out of my hair a week from now.

On the last day of the festival (Tuesday) we took it easy and stayed indoors. The locals in our neighborhood were still going at it. People everywhere with buckets, guns and hoses. Walking to 7-11 I had a few close calls but I just looked them in the eye and shook my head. They laid off...they were good like that.
Speaking of 7-11, that day some weird stuff happened. I guess it was about 2 in the afternoon when there was an explosion right out front. It was too big to be a firecracker but not big enough to be a car bomb or anything like that. The next thing you know there's some dude running for his life and about 14 guys chasing him with sticks, chairs, fire extinguishers...
We're still trying to figure out what that was all about.


04|11|03
Happy Birthday Christina!
Today is my sisters birthday, hope she has a good one.
Actually I know she will. Have fun and stay safe on your trip!!!
I'll email you before you go.

School is very draining. I teach three or four classes a day, that's only three or four hours. By the end of the day though I'm destroyed. It's hard work trying to keep 9/10 year olds interested and behaving.
Reading is the focus for summer school so that's what I'm working on.
These kids are very smart. Some can read and speak very well. Others need more help. The hardest class is 4a, there are 27 kids in it!
It's tiring but rewarding. When I'm in front of the class (and the kids are behaving and paying attention) it's a good feeling.
The kids are kids and are funny sometimes. When we play hangman or pictionary they really become passionate, they just start yelling " I want, I want..." Which means, I want to come up to the board and draw next.
It's ok for now but after only a few months I'm already getting burnt out. This isn't a profession for me.

I'm very "streaky" with the food I eat. For example for the first month I ate tons of fried rice. Since then none. Then it was these jelly drinks, then chang beer, then watermelons...there's more but I'll spare you.
My favorite things now are pineapples. I can get them for 24B (90 cents Canadian). They are the best things ever and so healthy. They're soooo sweet. I swear I eat one every day or every second day.
My method of eating is simple...cut off the top and start eating it with a spoon.
Trust me.

Food here is really getting to me. It's getting to all of us.
I wish I could have a real projutto sandwich with pickles, wine and a fresh slice of cheese.
Oh my gosh, I wish.
Well, I'm sure my Dad and Sister will cover that for me. Have one for me please.

It's summer here and super hot. My class room is not air con. so I sweat off 10 pounds a day. The walk home is the worst. I'm soaking wet. Our pool is very nice though, water is super warm.

Tomorrow is the songkran festival. It is a big holiday here, we get Mon, and Tues. off!
The downside is it's a water festival. This means for the next four days people try and hit you in the face with talc powder and dump water on you. I kept telling my kids if they throw water on me tomorrow the next class I'll get them in front of the class singing. I know I'm going to get soaked though. They just smiled at me.

People on the street will even be throwing water at each other. From buckets, bottles...squirt guns.
This has the potential to be fun but we're all dreading getting hit with canal water, that stuff is rancid. Water here is sketchy, If only they would use bottled water.


04|01|03
Holy cow!
The BBC is melting my brain! Is it me or do they keep repeating the same stuff every hour?
So let me get this straight, there's a war going on?
Dude, that's so 1991.
I was for it, now not so sure.
Whatever, when this started I was on a beach.

It was our first night in Ko Lanta. Eating Pad Thai I think, we were watching CNN, yes CNN on the television to the left and the sea to the right.
Was a bit weird because Ko Lanta is an island way down south, an island that is 90 percent Muslim.
As a matter of fact as I'm writing this, I can hear the prayer being blasted out from the mosque two blocks away.
No worries though, things are fine.
It is amazing to see things from this perspective. I'm so used to the North American attitude and media machine. It is really interesting to see things from the other side of the globe.
I'm learning.

So back to the beach.
What a great time. Spent the first few days in Krabi, Ralley beach. Take a look at the pictures! Absolutely amazing...total postcard material.
Went sea kaiaking and snorkeling.
Oh my gosh, the snorkeling!!!
Saw so many crazy things. All the tropical fish you would expect plus little sharks and a ton of misc. things.
After a few days we started getting really brown.
Great caves and rock islands.
We did all this stuff with Kasia and Sash for the first few days, also some stuff with Allison and Adam, friends.
Oh, on the way we forgot out tent somewhere. Sad but we got our moneys worth.

A few days later me and Anna then went on to Ko Pi Pi. This is where the beach was filmed. It was touristy, tacky and over priced but it was beautiful.
Picture the perfect beach and this was it. We found a good bungalow and promptly went in the water to snorkel.
Was the best.
I saw a five foot thing in the water as we were walking in. It saw me and took off, my only guess is that it was a shark. Unfazed we continued. It was nice and shallow for a long way out which was perfect. Green water, white sand. We wore lifejackets and just glided around. Oh, we saw these gummy looking plants with these gummy looking fish in them. The cutest fish I've ever seen. They looked like orange and white Japanese anime characters. They were our favorite fish until one bit me!
I was playing with one, he took it the wrong way, and he bit my finger.
It hurt.
It was soooo beautiful and it was so fun exploring the reefs and seeing the tons of fish. The main thing we had to keep an eye on were the sea urchins. These nasty things are just puff balls with tons of spikes. It's easy to get stung by one. If you do get stung look out. It kills. It's the thing in Survivor Thailand that bit that guy. Remember? That girl had to pee on his foot to stop the burning.
Guess what? I got stung by one a few days later.
I wasn't snorkeling, just swimming. I think it was long beach on Ko Lanta.
I was getting out and zap! Felt like I got stung by a bee. I took a look at my foot and sure enough, four spikes.
I almost couldn't walk but I got off easy, it was a baby so I was fine shortly after.
And no, no one had to pee on my foot.

Yeah, snorkeling is good.

Oh, one more thing about Ko Pi Pi. In Thailand you might think that terrorism or SARS might be my biggest cause for concern....Wrong,
Seems like coconuts were the biggest threat to life.
We finished snorkeling and were feeling really good. We got out of the water and decided we wanted to go back to our bungalow, change, then go for a drink. There was a restaurant/bar right in front of us. We started walking and thirty paces later all hell breaks out...huge crash, bang!
We turn around and a coconut tree snapped in half and fell on three tables at the place we were just at. It snapped from the weight of the coconuts. How scary is that? What if we were there? Thank goodness no one was at those tables, they would have been dead for sure. The tables and chairs were destroyed.

So we then move on, taking a boat from Ko Pi Pi to Ko Lanta.
We ended up staying there for the rest of the trip. It reminded us of Ko Chang and was the vibe we were looking for.
One day we rented a motorbike. Driving on this island was a bit sketchy. At times the road becomes a dirt road.
Plus, there was this fine dust everywhere. It was like fluffy cake mix, sometimes it was two feet deep.
Whatever, we set out to go see us some monkeys!
Saw this huge five foot green snake on the road.
Anna suggested we go see this cave. Sounds like a good idea, eh? We pull up, take a few steps, walk around the cave on a nice platform and we're out.
Not quite.
We need a guide. We then take a half an hour trek through the jungle and get to this spot. We were with a group of about 10 people. This one family brought their 4 year old, how dumb is that? The guide ended up carrying him for the entire time. He was like, come here litten boy. (not a spelling error, he was saying litten)
So we trek for half an our, and that was no picnic. Some spots were 90 degrees up...we had to use toe grooves in the rocks and ropes.
Me in my bathing suit, white shirt and sandles.
So we get to this spot and Anna is like, so where's the cave?
The guide looks at her and motions down. Everyone groans.
This was actually the last picture I took as my batteries died. How crappie is that. I missed tons of good pics inside.
So there we were, tired, hot and looking down into this little slit in the rocks.
We all new we were in trouble.
This was the real deal.
It was so nuts I can't believe it still. We were crawling down rocks, up rocks, at one point we were crawling on our bellies for four feet.
By the end we were destroyed.
This is not something for the faint of heart, the elderly, the overweight, those with heart conditions...Clostrophobia.
It was an unexpected thing but I'm really glad we did it. Oh, we saw bats too.

Completely dirty we pushed on down South on the bike.
Actually we got cleaned up at this posh resort. We just walked in and went straight for the sea. We were filthy. I asked some guy how much it was and he told me $3500 a night. He then escorted us to the front door. Whatever, the food sucked.

Ended up not seeing monkeys that day but the amazing scenery more than made up for that.
Spent many chill days on the beach and then made our way home.
We got an email from Kasia that Sash had been in the hospital in Phuket. Bad food, he was there for two days. I'm not sure if he's better now, they are in the United Arab Emerits this week.
We also got emails about that virus killing people. Started to freak out a little but soon figured out I wouldn't be any safer in Canada. Over a hundred people sick there?!
I won't be going to Hong Kong for a few months, hope it's gone before then.

Oh, on the way home we had to take a mini van from Ko Lanta to Trang. A two our trip that made us witness to a few bad accidents.
The worst was a girl face down in the middle of the road, dead. Se was, of course, on a motorbike.
Shocking though, no blanket over her. Some people standing around, we just drove by...driver didn't even slow down. It's such a non event here. Back home the 401 would be backed up for 20 miles.

So that was the latest vacation.

Got back and started teaching summer school.
I've got a feeling this is going to be tougher that my last job.
These kids have rich parents, know I can't fail them and are not very well behaved.
Things are fine so far but I'll have to rule with an iron hand. I just threaten to make them stand in front of the class and sing.
I teach grade four english, an hour at a time, three to four times a day.

Think I'm going to walk to the mall and get my soup. I've spent the last few weeks eating seafood and am ready for a change. I miss that soup!






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