The Overpacker

Dateline: Transit from Bangkok, Thailand to Los Angeles, Calfornia, U.S.A. – Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Avon: You come in here, you get your mind right, you only do two days. The day you come in…

Stringer: and the day you get out.

–Stringer visiting Avon in jail, from HBO’s The Wire .

It’s odd to compare my five month stint in Asia with doing jail time. I mean, I paid money to go to Asia. I good food. And I’m pretty sure no matter how right you get your mind, you don’t enjoy lockup. Me? I loved doing my time abroad.

But I do know what Avon and Stringer are talking about because, after 153 days off America’s streets, the days I feel the most are the first day and today—the last. Read more…

Dateline: Hua Hin, Thailand – Monday, August 2, 2010

It’s clear this place is good. First off, the only people buying are Thai. Second, the place only serves one thing. You don’t make money serving only one thing unless you serve that thing well. It also probably helps when that one thing is mango sticky rice. Read more…

Dateline: Hua Hin, Thailand – Sunday, August 1, 2010

Natives are tourists, too. We forget this sometimes. In the U.S., most of the people you see staring up at the New York skyscrapers, gawking at the Grand Canyon, and wandering Disneyland are Americans. People like to visit objects of national pride or things that remind them of their country’s past. Or things with lots of neon. Read more…

Dateline: Hua Hin, Thailand – Saturday, July 31, 2010

I now know why countries still have monarchies. I know why subjects don’t mass at the gates to take their royals off to the guillotine. I know why a king or a queen is a handy thing to have around.

As an American, the idea that a modern country would perpetuate a monarchy seems like a sham. What do royals bring to the table anyway? They seem like man nipples or armpit hair—useful in the past perhaps, but now mostly around because we don’t know what it’d look like without them. Read more…

Dateline: Bangkok, Thailand – Friday, July 30. 2010

Today was a travel day to Hua Hin,a beach town south of Bangkok. That meant more driving on the left side of the road. A group of us had a seafood dinner once we’d settled into our non-cheap hotels. After months of roughing it, I can’t complain. Read more…

Dateline: Bangkok, Thailand – Thursday, July 29, 2010

This is the introduction to Day 3 of the four-day liveaboard trip to the Similan and Surin Islands off the coast of Thailand and Burma.

On this day, our boat headed out to Richeleu Rock. The dive site is a crescent-shaped reef formation off the coast of Burma and Thailand. The pinnacle of the site can only be seen above water during low tide. It’s in the middle of open ocean with no island in sight. It was discovered by Jacque Cousteau with the help of some local fishermen.

It’s renowned as the best dive site in Thailand. I can’t disagree. It is a rich environment, especially if you’re into the small stuff like nudibranchs and seahorses. There are supposedly whale sharks, but, apparently, sightings have dipped over the last few years. Theories for the drop off include dynamite fishing by Burmese fishermen, global warming, pollution, and increased boat and diver traffic.

Erick, a retired German guy, has been diving here since the 60s well before there were organized tourist trips. He said the wildlife used to be much more plentiful. Mantas and whale sharks were a dime a dozen. Alas, no more.

Today was also the only day of the trip that I had an underwater camera. I rented one from Rubi and took more pictures in that day than he did the entire trip. Let’s just say I was intent on getting my money’s worth.

Taking pictures underwater is like trying to take a picture of a sprinting cheetah while skateboarding on the back of a walking elephant in a hurricane. Everything is moving. Your subject is moving. You are moving. The ocean is moving. Most of the time, you have nothing to hold on to. It’s loads of fun.

I hope you enjoy. If I had to pick my favorite picture set from the Asia leg I’d have to pick this one. Be sure to check out all the bonus pics in the linked gallery at the bottom of the entry’s page.

You can read about Day 3 of the dive trip here. Gallery is linked at the bottom of that page.

GALLERY: None for this day. Just wrote and ate in Bangkok. Be sure to check out the mega-gallery though on the Day 3 liveaboard page.

Dateline: Bangkok, Thailand – Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Today I’m happy to introduce the second day of a four part series covering my scuba dive trip to the Similan and Surin islands off the Thailand and Burma coasts. I made my excuses yesterday so I’ll spare you a repeat.

Since I spent all day writing, I won’t waste your time with much more. Without further ado, click here to flashback to Day 23 and my second day living on a boat and diving my brains out.

GALLERY: None today since, again, all Mervyn did was write.

LINK:  Click here to read Day 2 of the four-day liveaboard series.  If you like, you may click here to start the series from Day 1.

Dateline: Bangkok, Thailand – Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Ah, at last! I haven’t used exclamation marks much, but I think here, one’s warranted. After months of agony, I’m (sorta) ready to post the Khao Lak dive trip entries from way back in March. Yup, frickin’ March. Read more…

Dateline: Roads from Amphawa to Bangkok, Thailand – Monday, July 26, 2010

It’s been five months since I’ve driven a car. Today seemed just as good as any to break that streak, since Fon was willing to let me drive her car back to Bangkok from Amphawa. One complication: in Thailand they drive on the left (wrong) side of the road. How hard could it be? Read more…

Dateline: Amphawa, outside Bangkok, Thailand – Sunday, July 25, 2010

I missed Amphawa’s floating market on my last run through Thailand. Today I corrected that oversight and joined throngs of holidaying Bangkok citizens in a trek to the delta outside Bangkok. Today was the second day of a three-day Thai holiday. Monday, the country commemorates the day Buddha gave his first sermon outlining the tenants of the Buddhist religion. That’s tomorrow, though. Today, it seemed like half the urbanites were out for a quiet weekend in the country. Read more…

Dateline: Bangkok, Thailand – Saturday, July 24, 2010

Let’s talk video gaming in Asia. I touched on this briefly at the beginning of my trip but I’d like to delve into it more now that I’ve been here a few months.

As I previously noted, the death of the PC game is overblown. It just seems like it in the U.S., where A-list titles are typically geared towards the standalone consoles (Xbox, PS3, Wii) and PC games are more skewed towards casual games like “Farmville” or “Bejeweled.” That’s not the case in Asia. In Vietnam, Cambodia, and China I saw internet cafes stuffed with young men playing massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG) made specifically for each country. From the number of avatars on each screen, it looked like half the population was playing the games online. I’ve seen girls pounding away at keyboards playing a PC version of Dance Dance Revolution. There are Asian PC versions of first person shooters (FPS) that rival Halo or MW2 for graphics and interface. Of course, there are Farmville, Tetris, and Mafia rip-offs. Read more…

Dateline: Chinatown, Bangkok, Thailand – Friday, July 23, 2010

The freedom of speech is totally overrated. When was the last time you exercised it? Wrote your congressman? Participated in a protest? Published an article that would have landed you in jail if you were in communist China or Vietnam? Even been so fired up from an anti-establishment editorial that you took any action against your government? I’m guessing never, if ever. Read more…

Dateline: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and Bangkok, Thailand – Thursday, July 22, 2010

I didn’t get to bed until nearly 4 a.m. this morning. That’s because I had to pack up all my gear after last night’s feeding frenzy. I was up at 6 a.m. to shower and find a taxi to the airport. On my way out I woke up my hotel buddy, asleep on a cot by the hotel door. He said a sleepy goodbye and I started my search for a cab. Read more…

Dateline: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) – Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Last day in Saigon also means it’s my last day in Vietnam. Naturally, I did what for me has become a typical day in this country: I drove a motorbike around and took intermittent breaks to eat food. I’m a simple man. I know what I like. Besides, this will probably be my last outing on a bike until I buy one of my own. (FYI, parental units. Start dealing with this reality now. Mervyn on a motorcycle—it’s going to happen. Count on it. I’ve heard visualization helps so perhaps you can start imagining me dead or paralyzed or, worse yet, in leather.) Read more…

Dateline: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) – Tuesday, July 20, 2010

My number one rule when trying to decide on whether I should eat something is this: If the person offering it to me is eating and enjoying it, I’ll give it a try. If someone else digs it, I can respect them enough to at least give it a shot. This is why I haven’t eaten rat even though it was on a menu in Can Tho, Vietnam. It’s also why I didn’t try skewered grubs in China. Perhaps someday. Till then, I remain blissfully ignorant. Read more…