“What does your status update about “consequences” mean?” I typed yesterday to my A+ superstar former student. “It’s really scaring me. I thought everything was going well for you in college!”
The student took a little while to respond, but at last he did: “I got kicked out of school housing for ongoing violations of school rules.”
“WHAT?!” I gasped aloud, startling the entire Thai island. “Please explain what happened,” [...Read More!]
The moment I set foot off Ko Phi Phi and onto the ferry to beautiful Ko Lanta, my fever eased and my heart relaxed. But the final night in Phi Phi was quite the debacle!
It was four o’clock in the morning in our Phi Phi hostel dorm. Our new roommate, Andres, had finally stopped vomiting and was now presumably passed out on the floor of the communal bathroom in some [...Read More!]
On December 26, 2004, two giant tsunami waves smashed into the tiny island of Ko Phi Phi from opposite sides, meeting in the middle and killing an estimated four thousand locals and tourists.
Five years later, there are now “Tsunami Evacuation Route” signs and a Tsunami Memorial. But the main thing you notice about the island is its exploding tourism: specifically of the drunk and stumbling type.
For some folks this is heaven, [...Read More!]
In “Some Like it Hot”, the 1959 comedy ranked the #1 funniest movie of the past 100 years, Marilyn Monroe and her fellow busty “girl band” members have a rollicking party in the top bunk of a sleeper train.
Minute by minute, more ladies squeeze into the minuscule space, each hauling with them another batch of bootleg hooch and maraschino cherries. Poor Jack Lemmon is not only stuck in drag, but [...Read More!]
(Note: This is a seedy, spicy, shocking story that happened a few weeks ago in Laos, which I am only now at liberty to recount. Be assured, though, that the end comes with a wholesome lesson. The accompanying photos are utterly unrelated (sorry, but I couldn’t really have photos of the folks in this sketchy story!), and were taken tonight at the gorgeous Night Bazaar in Chiang Mai, Thailand: my current [...Read More!]
The accompanying (rather unrelated) photos for this article are street scenes from Hanoi, Vietnam (particularly motorcycle sights, which never cease to amaze me) and views of Hanoi’s Temple of Literature.
Shaun’s head was hung low over his coconut juice when I met up with him at the restaurant. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Did your lady friend fly in yet?”
Shaun shook his head in woe. “She woke up this morning [...Read More!]
The famous author from whom I bought my dear little Asus eee PC threw me a sharp Facebook message in response to one of my status updates. “What happened to the computer?” he typed. “I leave for Kabul in 30 hours. Give me the lowdown.”
So I did. “At exactly the same moment I was being groped on a moving motorcycle atop a mountain in rural Vietnam,” I replied, “a [...Read More!]
“I can’t believe it!” gasped David. “That little old street corner soup woman just scammed me!” The little old lady cackled and pocketed the 80,000 Dong she had charged for our two bowls of normally 20,000 Dong ($1) noodles and beef. “Now I’ve learned my lesson to ask the price before I eat the food!” David exclaimed. “You can blame my tourist face,” I said sympathetically, having gotten [...Read More!]
Here is a stark difference between Thailand and Vietnam: The Convenience Store Scene. In Thailand, every two hops you take you will smash against a 7-Eleven. Multinational colonization is pulsing strong in Thailand!
On the positive side of this situation, globalization allows any tourist to satisfy her Big Gulp craving from the top to the bottom of Thailand.
Unfortunately, however, this multinational dominance also meant that most of my Thai temple [...Read More!]
Let’s continue this groping theme for one more article, shall we? This time with a gender role flip!
Carey, a New Zealander who has been traveling the world for many months, sauntered home to his Nha Trang hotel late the other night. He had just had a riotously fun evening with friends at a beach cafe, and was ready for sleep.
Suddenly, a sexy Vietnamese woman blocked his path.
“Hello,” she said, [...Read More!]