Kirk

Closing The Door

Kirk — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Alright so this is my last blog entry before I head back to the states. I'll check this entry and if I get lots of comments to continue writing when I get to Hawaii then I will.

This trip has definitely been life changing. I wasn't really sure what I expected when I started on this trip. I know this wasn't what I expected, but wonderful in such a different way.

It started out so stressful losing my bank card on the very first day, then dealing with trying to find a way to get cash in countries that are completely cash driven, all the time feeling like I couldn't catch a break. There were moments in the beginning where I felt broken. I thought of giving up and just going home; but a voice inside of me, and many voices from those I love told me to stick it out. 'This to shall pass' I kept thinking, and it did.

On this trip I was able to really discover scuba diving; and find something I'm truly passionate about. I got to take a hard look at myself and see how I handled stress and find better, more effective ways to deal with hard times.

I met so many wonderful people, who will forever be in my heart and memories.

One of the most exciting things about this trip was just to get to meet people. The world is huge, and yet when you travel in it, it opens up. Then it feels small at the same time. Sometimes we look at each other seeing only what makes us different.

Race, color, culture, and we miss what makes us similar. We really are all human. We feel, care, love, hate, struggle, thrive. Everyone has a story, and I feel blessed to have been able to share in others'.

I met so many people from all walks of life, and I was able to look at each one and see our similarities as opposed to our differences. It was a wonderful experience.

I had my heart broken seeing the poverty in some places in the world; and felt overwhelmed viewing a problem that effects so many men, women, and children, and having a feeling of not knowing how to help. This is the way of the world though. It will lift you up and break your heart. Even in the poverty I could still see people enjoying each other, and loving each other, which was very special.

I was able to experience the innate goodness of others and come out from the trip not bitter and jaded, but renewed with a sense of happiness with my fellow man.

There were points in the trip when I would find myself worrying about things. Literally letting fear of unknown run my life. On one of my dives I was diving on a drop off and kept worrying about controlling my breathing and weather a big shark might come up from depths below, Jaws still has put fear in me lol; and then it hit me.

I've been sober now for over 2 years now, coming from a dark place where the only options for my life were jail or death; and now I'm scuba diving in the waters of Indonesia. I thought (pardon my language), but fuck that theoretical shark that may come up from the waters. Far better I die living life happy and fulfilled than dying how I was living before.

I've gotten to know myself, and like what I see. I'm stronger than I give myself credit, and I care for others more than I thought. I was able to learn to let my guard down more and trust in that I will be taken care of. I've made peace with some of my inner turmoil over past situations that I sometimes struggle with, and am able to now trust in the thought that I will be taken care of in the future.

The bottom line life is beautiful if you take time to see the beauty, and it's painful and hard if that's all you look at. I'm taking more time to see the beauty right now. I don't know how my life will turn out, but I'm not going to worry about the future. I'm just going to do each day what I can to leave this world better than I found it, and strive to work at doing things I find myself passionate about.

Thank you to all my friends and family, and everyone reading for having been a part of this journey with me.

Here's links to pictures of the trip:
Bali:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4544478686667.182381.1132242665&type=1&l=5e4bbd7275

Nong Kahi:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4490482936807.181132.1132242665&type=1&l=270f3d6a11

Chiang Mai:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4457541553293.180530.1132242665&type=1&l=a870dd5573

Koh Phi Phi:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4371890092060.178774.1132242665&type=1&l=fd42ed506c

Phuket:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4355554443679.178410.1132242665&type=1&l=0c1b7f2b4f

Manila:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4350763643912.178304.1132242665&type=1&l=0fc070430c

Whale Sharks:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4292793434693.176743.1132242665&type=1&l=352f3a873e

Cebu:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4276770314125.176269.1132242665&type=1&l=502a4e3ba8

Palawan:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4255828510593.175723.1132242665&type=1&l=f701f97ef5

Koh Tao and Koh Samui:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4193395109797.174274.1132242665&type=1&l=cfc3615967

Bangkok:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4179219235409.173854.1132242665&type=1&l=bd7fdd1f47

That's Ketchak like Ketchup with out the 'up'

Kirk — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Ok So this is going to be a big post. I was in Bali for about 2 weeks and really had an amazing time.

Before I came I went on CouchSurfing.org and sent a couch request to an amazing girl, Marisa. I asked if I could stay at her place, and if not if we could meet up and hang out.

When I first got to Bali I booked a hostel for 4 nights and then was able to stay with Marisa. She met up with me the first night and we went and had dinner, and I got to meet her friends. The next day she introduced me to some people that were couch surfing at her place and we all rented a car and went to

Uluwatu, and some beaches down south in Bali. The car was pretty cheap to rent, and came with a driver, about $10 each for the whole day. The beaches were beautiful and at Uluwatu, which is a temple on a cliff, we went and saw a Ketchak dance at sunset.

Ketchak is pronounced like Ketchup but you leave out the 'up'. It's really a cool dance. It's a very intricate story involving multiple God's

and one of the God's stealing,through trickery, one of the Goddesses from another God, and all the other God's who help get this girl back and defeat the evil God. The whole thing actually has 50,0000 lines so each dance only displays a part of it. It's called Ketchak after the sound that 70 men are making to create a rhythmic harmony as the dance is performed.

The day after this Marissa had a party at the villa she was staying at

where we all had to let her paint our faces like cats faces. It was a lot of fun. A really cool mix of couch surfers and locals. Everyone had a blast. I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know such a wide varied of cool people.

While originally Marissa said I could stay with her for about 4 days we ended up getting along so well she let me stay for the rest of my trip.

The villa that we stayed at was so nice. It had a pool, and her two cute kittens, Sari and Ginger, which are only 3 months old. I fell in love with them. Still miss them and Marisa :(

One day when Marissa was working I was able to book a scuba trip up to Tulamben in the Northeast corner of Bali. The drive is scary, but beautiful when you get up there. When I mean scary I really mean terrifying. The only similarity Bali roads share with roads in the states is that they are paved and the vehicles have wheels. Other than that all bets are off. It's filled with small narrow roads that cars zip in and out of each others lanes and any other free space on the road is occupied by a scooter doing the same thing. I had to close my eyes and pretend to sleep the whole way up and back. If I was going to die I didn't want to see it happen. lol.

The dives themselves where stunning. I did a wreck dive where I saw a Potatoe Grouper, huge fish, eating a puffer fish. then I did a dive at a reef wall drop off where I saw a glimpse of a black tip reef shark as it dived into the depths. I'm definitely going to invest in an underwater camera so I can start filming my dives. I very much regret not having one on this trip.

The day after Marisa and I drove out to Tanah Lot. A temple on the water in the ocean of Bali.

Very pretty temple. We got ourselves blessed in the water flowing inside the temple and walked around the little shops littering the road.

A couple days after that Marisa, Julie and David, a french couple staying at her place, and I all went up to Ubud in the mountains for a few days.

Ubud was great.

I went and walked in the Monkey Forest. which was beautiful and filled with monkeys.

We then explored all the temples around Ubud which are amazing. There's one that has tons of fountains and natural spring in the center.

When we came there we got to see a blessing ceremony that was happening.

Then we went to another temple which was old and stunning. You had to walk down a million stairs to get there though in the heat so the way back up was no fun, but still what an adventure.

On the way back from the temples we stopped at a local coffee farm and were schooled on all the various methods of their handmade coffee growing and brewing. One of the specialties here for coffee is coffee from a Luwat. I really can't believe I decided to try a sip of this, but basically there is the is cat like creature called a luwat that eats whole coffee beans. The beans aren't digested but passed and fermented in the animals body and then passed out. They are then washed and cleaned, then roasted and grinded and turned into coffee. Supposedly it's very healthy for you. I want to meet the person who saw this animals poop and decided, hmm lets brew that. Alas when in Rome. It was super bitter. Definitely not something I really enjoyed, but I can say I tried it.

The other real treat I found in Ubud was the spas. They were fricken unbelievable. I found a spa called Sang Spa where you could get an hour long Balinese massage, an hour long body scrub, which included a shower, with a yogurt body rub, and a bath filled with flower petals, hot ginger tea, and cold passion fruit for about $15 US. I couldn't believe it. I went 3 times to make sure it was real. lol

Once back in Seminyak, the area I was staying I spent my last days in Bali relaxing and hanging out with Marisa and her friends.

One night we went to go to a movie down in Kuta; and it was crazy. All the traffic was stopped because there was a huge procession going on that was an exorcism.

They were doing a parade with the whole community walking this man with a bad spirit in him, and if the possessed man felt he needed to stop then the parade would have to stop and try to get the spirit out. The spirit felt it needed to stop in a busy intersection. I thought it was fascinating to see a whole community care so much about someone that they would have a religious parade to help him. Really neat.

One thing I can say is that Bali wasn't exactly what I expected, simply because it's so populated, about 5 million people on an island the size of Oahu which has only 1 million, but it is amazing and beautiful, filled with a lot of lovely people, and culture.

I'm now in Bangkok enjoying my last 5 days in Asia and then on to Hawaii to start my new life. I'll probably do one new post before I leave, but all of you please pray for me, send good vibes my way, whatever you do to put positivity in the world send a little my way so I hopefully have an easy transition into life when I get to Hawaii. Thank you all.

Great Balls of Fire

Kirk — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

So this is about a week late. I have no excuse besides laziness. I'm sorry guys. So when I last left you I was heading to Nong Khai for the Naga Fireballs festival.

I took a VIP bus from Chiang Mai to Udothani. I made sure to pay for the VIP bus this time. It was a much better experience then the trip I took from Phuket to Bangkok. The bus did no smell like pee and I slept for a good portion of the trip.

When I got off the bus at Udothani I knew I had to take another bus to Nong Khai. I got of the bus and was trying to go to a bus stop and there was a cab driver who kept trying to tell me that I couldn't take a bus from that bus stop, that I had to go to another one and that he would take me to it. He wanted 100 baht. I accepted and he drove me somewhere and stopped on the side of the street and said that was a bus stop. I refused to leave the cab. I told him I wasn't getting out on the side of the street where there was no ticket counter or signs for buses. He then took me back to the same bus stop we had come from and pointed to another bus and said Nong Khai. Then he wanted me to pay him for taking me absolutely no where. I don't think his heart was in it though, because as I started to argue with him he jumped in his car and sped off.

I jumped on a bus to Nong Khai and then took a tuk tuk to the Mutt Mee hostel where I had booked a room. It was a cute place right on the river. I liked the hostel for the most part. The owner seemed a little fake and pretentious when he talked to you, but other than that it was nice. Nong Khai was a cute town, but compared to Chiang Mai it is very sleepy and not as pretty. I spent most of my time in Nong Khai reading and relaxing.

I had to take a night train from there back to Bangkok on the 30 to catch my flight to Bali on the 31st so I had to try to see if I could see any of the fireballs that were supposed to shoot up from the Mekong river on the 29th.

I originally thought I could see it directly from where I was in Nong Khai, but I found out that the best place to see it was about 40 km away in Phon Phisai. So I rented a motorbike and drove out there.

I unfortunately didn't see any fireballs, but did see an amazing festival. The fireballs don't come on an exact date; they are just around certain times. This year they were predicted to happen around the 29th and the 30th. Sometimes the fireballs don't even show up until after the festival happens.

When I got to Nong Khai I found they were holding the big festival on the 30th, but there was still a good size on the 29th. I had been hoping to see the fireballs but that's OK. I still enjoyed myself.

At first I thought I was seeing some fireballs, but then realized it was people lighting off lanterns into the sky. They do this on the full moon of October. It was beautiful but would trick me and get me excited if I saw one floating far off down the river.

I took a night train to Bangkok on the 30th. It was very nice. I just laid in the cot, watched some movies I had on my computer, and slept for the night.

We arrived in Bangkok around 6am. I paid 20 baht to use the showers at the train station. They were pretty gross, but I got showered and changed and was ready for my trip to Bali.

The trip there would have been OK except the ticket counter in Bangkok forgot to give me my boarding pass for my connecting flight in Singapore, and I didn't notice until we landed in Singapore. This part of the trip ended up giving an aerobic workout. When we landed we landed late, and my next flight was boarding at the end of the terminal I departed the first plane in. I ran down there and told them I wasn't given my boarding pass and showed them my booking confirmation e-mail. The sent me to the beginning of that terminal strip to get a boarding pass. After waiting in line at that transfer desk they told me I had to go to a transfer counter that was at the far end of a completely different terminal. I ran down there, waited in line, and then had to literally sprint back through 2 terminal strips to barely make it on my plane. I wasn't alone at least. There was another couple who had the same thing happen to them that were my running partners. Ugh!!! I made it to Bali though. So I will be doing a post on that very soon. I hope everyone is good.

Chedis and Temples and Food Oh Mai

Kirk — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

First of all let me start by saying I'm very sorry that I haven't updated my blog in about a week. I did about 36 hours of traveling to get from Phuket to Chiang Mai a little over a week ago. The train portion of the trip wasn't too bad, but if you read my last blog post you know that the bus trip from Phuket to Bangkok was horrible, but all worth it in the end.

Chiang Mai might actually be my favorite city in Thailand. I'm so thankful I was able to make it up here.

Where ever you walk in Chiang Mai you'll run into a temple or chedi just amongst the buildings in the streets. It's amazing. I would be walking down a street and then BAM there in what looks like a driveway is a huge gold buddha, or BAM there's a temple, or BAM there's a chedi. I felt like Emril I was saying BAM so much.

When I first arrived in Chiang Mai I took a tuk tuk to a guesthouse someone in Phuket had recommended to me only to find it was closed. I asked the tuk tuk driver where to go and she took me to a place that was right near by. It was OK, but a little bit of a hole. Not super clean, but about 250 baht for a room with hot water ($8). I woke up late the next day so I wasn't able to check out and had to book one more night. During the day I walked around and ended up researching places to stay, and I'm so glad I did.

I found a hostel called the Eco Resort by Immeco hotels, or just called the IM Eco Resort, and let me tell you I felt like a king. They had a deal that if you booked over 3 nights the room was only 187 baht.

That's about $6, and when you get to the place it's amazing. The hostel room only has only one other bed which was unoccupied for 3 nights, came with a buffet breakfast, had a beautiful garden area, and had a swimming pool with 6 lanes for swimming laps. The place is immaculately clean and decorated too. It's one of the few times I felt something was too good to be true and it wasn't. I've been really happy.

I did end up getting a freelancing job on the way up so while I've been here I ended doing about 30 hours of work programming some websites, which took up some time, but it's nice to be able to have some money coming in rather than going out while traveling.

The people up here in Chiang Mai are so nice. It's different than in southern Thailand. Some times in the south I would feel like I was viewed as an ATM not a person, like people were approaching you trying to see what angle they could play to get money out of you or sell you something. The people aren't really aggressive up here, and they're very polite and kind. So I've done my part to give the same respect and love back.

I rented a motorbike one day and drove up to this temple on the hill.

It was beautiful and there were stunning views of Chiang Mai on the way up. It's an interesting temple. It was built up there after a king put a holy relic on a white elephants back, and

where the elephant collapsed and died was declared a holy place and they built the temple.

While driving the motorcycle though I took a corner wrong, going slowly, but I ran into a steel door on a wall. I ended up busting one of the plastic outer casings of the bike near the foot rest. I had got insurance, but was still worried, because I would still have to cover a huge deductible. Luckily everything is cheap in Chiang Mai. I went to store and the guy gave me a name of his mechanic shop. To fix the bike it cost 345 baht, about $11. I was shocked.

One of the real beautiful things about this city is to just walk around. They have a huge moat and pieces of the old city walls going around the original town of Chiang Mai.

The views are very striking.

Finally one of the other thing I love about this city is the price. It's so cheap, and filled with amazing restaurants, and street food. I found these street deserts they make where it's cooked cups of sweetened coconut milk with corn or green onions in it. They're amazing, cheap and delicious. I fell in love with this dish local to the area called Khao Soi. It's a dish made with curry filled with vegetables, noodles, topped with crunchy noodles garnished with lime and onions. Sometimes it has chicken, but always really crazy good.

Comparatively to the south of Thailand things are a lot cheaper here. Like 60 baht for a 1/2 foot massage ($1.50), 120 for a full hour massage ($3), food ranges, but is generally pretty cheap like around a buck / buck fifty to eat.

I'm so thankful that I was able to make it up here. After coming here I can't imagine going to Thailand and not traveling this way. I guess everything works out the way it's supposed to.

I'm leaving tomorrow night to head to Nong Khai in north eastern Thailand for the Naga Fireballs festival. I'll update you all shortly after that. I hope everyone's well.

If you want to see the pictures there at :
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4457541553293.180530.1132242665&type=1&l=a870dd5573

Veggin out

Kirk — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

So I after my awesome trips to Koh Phi Phi and Railay I came back to Phuket. I stayed a really cheap clean hostel in Patong that I liked. When you're backpacking and you find a place that's cheap, has hot water, and is clean it's hard to leave.

I was also waiting for my friend Art, who was visiting Thailand from San Diego, to make it in to Phuket. Unfortunately I was to find out that Art couldn't make it. Art has a Mexican passport and a US Resident card. When he bought his ticket he went to the Mexican consulate and they informed him that he could fly in to Thailand and get a visa on arrival. This ended up not being the case. When Art went to the airport they told him he needed to have his Visa already. The airlines originally told him they would help re arrange the flight if he went and got his Visa. He went and did this only to find out that the travel agency listed him as a no show and in the end they wouldn't help re arrange his flight without him having to pay $1800. It was very sad.

Since I was no longer waiting for Art I decided to stay in Phuket a shorter amount of time and then go to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand which I had wanted to see, but didn't think I would make the journey up here this time.

I stayed for a little while in Phuket to see some of the annual Vegetarian Festival. Now to the novice this sounds cute. Let me explain what this festival is about in the cliff note version.

So back in the day some Chinese actors in Phuket were struck with Malaria. They believed that they were sick because they weren't

honoring their Gods. So in order to honor their Gods they went on a vegetarian diet and got better. The local Thais liked this and they started a festival on the 9th lunar month each year spanning 9 days for good luck. During this time they are to wear white, abstain from alcohol, sex, and meat. During this process some believe that the Gods inhabit them and they are spared pain which they inflict on themselves.

You will see people with various objects pierced through there mouth like the guy on the left, and the guy on the right is holding an axe which he is scraping his mouth with. You will see them walking down the street in a spiritual trance. They also throw firecrackers into the street during the parade to ward off evil spirits.

There was a few times I was pretty scared of getting maimed by the fireworks. While the Gods were protecting them I was pretty sure the same wasn't being held true for me. It was a neat festival, but very intense as well.

After 2 days of the festival I did a long trekk in an overnight bus to Bangkok about 12 hours, and then a 15 hour train ride to Chiang Mai. It was a very long trip. The train ride was comfortable, but I think I would I would have appreciated anything after that bus ride.

I bought the ticket for the bus ride through the hostel I was staying at without thinking about it. It was cheap. After buying it I read about the multiple different kind of buses that do this trip. Just in case anybody decides to take one of these buses take the VIP buses. They are about 300 more baht than the others, $6, but I believe probably worth it. I was not so lucky. My bus trip was a 3 or 4 different rides, changing buses to end up in an overnight bus that smelled so horrible. I have no idea how anyone else slept. When ever the bus started moving and pumping air it smelled like a man's urinal. I barely slept at all. I was so grateful to be off that thing once we arrived in Bangkok; and since have been testing the air and appreciate the non piss smell all around. You live and learn I guess.

I just got in Chiang Mai after about 36 hours of traveling so I will let you all now how my adventures go here after I sleep. Take care.

Monkeying Around part 2

Kirk — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

So I traveled over to Railay beach with the Kiwis. I have to say it might be one of the most stunning beach areas I've been to yet on this trip.

Railay is a very small destination of beaches spreading on both sides of a land strip surrounded by dramatic cliffs. It really is breathtaking. It doesn't take very long to walk around any of it either. The accommodation in Railay is a little more expensive, but the food is really cheap so that helps make up for the price difference of places to stay.

When we arrived on Railay we pulled into the mangrove side of the town. There is not a swimming beach there, but to walk to any of the beaches in Railay it literally takes like 5-10 minutes on really easy paths. When you read about it in the tour books they talk about east and west Railay and it makes it feel like it is a hike to get to the different sides, but it's not at all it's a very quick walk.

What Railay is really known for though is the rock climbing; and with the dramatic cliffs you can easily see why. There's

not a huge night life here, but it was nice to have some time to just unwind. Definitely has the feel of a lover's destination.

We spent our time going snorkeling on the beaches and lying around in the pool at the hotel

. It was very nice to just have some slow time to relax, and because it was so remote and not very populated there were

monkeys that would travel right through the hotel area I was staying at. These monkeys were pretty calm. The ones on Phi Phi were a little ghetto, I think because the tour guides fed them sugar; but these ones here wouldn't try to run up to you and steal stuff which was nice.

I spent my time in Railay just being grateful for the gift that I get to spend in such a beautiful place in the world. It's amazing to not be working every single day, and be able to really just experience this.

I wish I had more to report, but it wasn't an excitement filled trip to Railay; just a very relaxing beautiful time.

Monkeying Around part 1

Kirk — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

I made it to Koh Phi Phi and had such a great time. The island is beautiful. The first day I hiked up to a viewpoint which over looks Ton Sai Bay. You can see on the picture to the left it's a strip of land with water on both sides connecting the two large portions of the island. The view is very stunning. I then hiked over the mountain and walked to some of the northern beaches. It was about a 2 hour journey, but totally worth it. I came to one beach that had a security guard by the entrance. I tried asking him what was down the beach but he just smiled and waved me in. Thinking about it later I believe he thought that I was a guest at the private resort that the beach was on, but it worked out great for me. There wasn't many people, the water was so warm and there was a great hammock I curled up in and read a book all day. I then hiked back to Ton Sai Bay.

When I got back I made friends with a couple people in my hostel and went out to dinner with them and then some bars. I only drank cokes while they drank buckets and it was such a fun night.

The next morning I ended up going on a snorkel tour with one of the girls, Merrie, who was from London. It was loads of fun. While on the tour we met some really fun Kiwis (people from New Zealand),

and another two girls from London and Boston. I believe it's because we were all the funnest people on the boat so we naturally gravitated towards each other.

The tour took us from our beach to Bamboo island to snorkel and lay around, then we went to a reef outcrop near our beach for more

snorkeling and finally to monkey beach to interact with the local monkeys. The journey was great and we started to accumulate quite a large group of people to hang out with on the island.

After the tour we all met up and went out that night; which couldn't have been more of a good time. Everyone laughed and enjoyed each others company, and we stayed out til 3AM!

The next day Merrie left and so did Steph, from London, and Sarah, from Boston. Which left me and the Kiwis. I found out that the Kiwis, Penny and Emma, were headed to Railay as well so we decided to travel together the next day. After checking out of our rooms we all went to go have a massage at one of the places on the near their hotel. It was probably one of the most un relaxing massages ever. Not necessarily because the girls doing it weren't good but, but because we couldn't stop laughing. Penny had this one lady who was very strong, and every time I looked over her face was wincing, but if she showed that it hurt the lady would push and prod that area more, and Emma kept being ticklish and laughing or screaming when the lady pulled her in a direction she didn't think comfortable. The strong mas-sues then started to get into our laughing and was smacking Penny in Emma in the butt all the time. I laughed so hard I was crying.

Phi Phi was amazing. I'm in Railay right now which is stunning, but I'll report to you all about that tomorrow or the next day in part 2 of this entry. I hope everyone is well. Thank you for reading.

Underwater Adventures

Kirk — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

So I got to Phuket. The trip here was an adventure on it's own let me tell you.

My flight was supposed to leave Clark airport in Angeles City in the Philippines at 11:05am, I was to have a lay over in Kuala Lampur, and then I had to fly to at 8:40 PM to Phuket. Well the night before the flight I received an e-mail from Air Asia saying urgent pre-boarding info on your flight from Clark to Kuala Lampur, that's what the subject read. Then the e-mail said your flight from Manila to Kuala Lampur is moved to 10PM to arrive in Kuala Lampur at 2AM. There were many things that worried me with this e-mail: (a) My flight was from Angeles city not Manila. Manila was a 600 baht bus ride away, and I had just traveled from there to be in Clark for my flight, but I didn't worry too much about this, because in one of my flight bookings prior from Air Asia had said I was flying from Clark Airport and then in parentheses put Manila. So if they wanted to say a city was a different city than it was that's their prerogative. (b) I was going to miss my connecting flight, and this is the same airline that once told me a flight I had booked a couple months ahead of time was canceled a couple weeks before it took off. They refunded the money, but I then had to pay more to find a different airline to fly at the same time on short notice. They made no effort to help me get a different flight, so I wasn't sure if they'd actually help with the connecting flight even though I booked it as one trip.

I called Air Asia and then they told me that the flight wasn't delayed it was still for the same time, and if there was an e-mail to ignore it, they didn't know that an e-mail had been sent. So I did as they said and showed up to the airport at 9 AM to check in.

After checking in and getting through security, paying the stupid terminal fees they slap on for nothing, and went through customs they then said the flight was delayed until 10pm. Luckily some really nice worker there made sure that I got put on an earlier flight to make my connection. The flight took off at 3:15PM. So I waited around and read until my flight. Finally oh finally I made it to Phuket, unfortunately I couldn't say the same for my bag. I made the connection, but my bag decided to stay in Kuala Lampur.

One thing with having had such a rough start to this trip is that nothing really phases me all that much at this point. I handled everything without getting angry and lashing out at anyone. I let things run their course.

When I got to Phuket I was very happy to have found an amazingly

cheap dorm room in Patong Beach, which is really touristy. The next day, after the airline delivered my bag, I ventured out and explored the beach. I also checked around with dive shops for prices on fun dives.

Something I've discovered on this trip is that I'm addicted to scuba diving. I can't get enough of it. I found one shop that had decent prices and went back to go book a trip of 3 dives with them, and when I went in the owner talked to me a little, and sold me on getting an advanced water certification, which is the next step up from the certification I have. It allows me to dive in deeper waters and do some different sort of dives I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. he gave me a discounted price and also through in an extra dive for me. You usually do five dives with this course so he gave me six. It was awesome

I woke up the first day and went diving. My first dive was a deep dive,

which really just means between 18 to 30 Meters. We dove down a reef wall on Koh Doc Mai, a small island off Phuket. It was amazing. We swam into this underwater cave on the ocean floor. That was a little scary being in the dark, but then when we turned around to go out you could see the illuminated blue entry hole swarming with fish.

The second dive we did was out at a wreck called King Cruiser's Wreck. It's a huge ferry boat that sank on the way to Koh Phi Phi and it had 350 people on it at the time, no one died or was injured. Actually people think the owner's sunk it on purpose to collect insurance money, because some people say that they were getting the life boats ready before the wreck and that a speed boat made out to where people were stranded with in 20 minutes, when it would take longer to get out there usually, and to get a speed boat in the first place in Phuket generally takes a couple hours. However the wreck got there thank you. It was amazing. Were swimming and all of a sudden the boat was covered in this school of fish that were long, thin and yellow greenish in color. There was so many that I couldn't even see the boat anymore at all it was like it was formed out of fish. Then as we swam up the hull if we stayed still they completely enveloped us and it looked as if I was standing in a prairie with long grass blades blowing all around me. After we swam a little I saw a pack of barracuda swimming through the school. It was such and incredible dive.

If that wasn't enough we went and did a third dive off what's called

shark point. It's called this because you generally see leopard shark here. Sometimes black tipped reef shark. Neither of these attack humans. While I didn't see any sharks that dive; but the coral and visibility was amazing. The only thing I could think of was that the scene looked like what the underwater world was displayed like in The Little Mermaid when they were singing the song 'Under The Sea.' there was so many bright colors and varied fish.

Three unbelievable dives. The last three I did today were okay, but didn't compare to the ones yesterday. I still enjoyed them but I still

have a pleasure buzz running from the first three.

I'm not sure where diving will take me but right now it feels like a drug. I can't seem to get enough of it.

Life of Luxury

Kirk — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

So this next leg of my trip has been pretty amazing. I was in Dumaguete really hoping the weather would permit and I could go diving off Apo Island. Luck swung my way and we received sun, and were able to dive. Unfortunately the side of Apo that is a marine sanctuary was struck by a typhoon last year so people aren't allowed to dive there for a while to allow the coral to rebuild itself.

The dives were still amazing. We swam out from the reef a little for one and were along side a school of jack fish. It was very serene, and then the last dive we did was a wall dive, which are amazing, because you can't see the ocean floor really below, and you get this amazing profile view of the reef and everything living there. It was beautiful.

After Dumaguete I went up to Cebu for one night and I met up for dinner with my friend James, who I met there, and then with another two friends, Shuto and Francis, who I met while in Dumaguete. Well I met Shuto in Dumaguete, and then I met Francis that night in Cebu. Shuto I met through a friend I made in Dumaguete, Circee, from the site CouchSurfers.org. Shuto was traveling around too, and Francis was a friend who Shuto had made through the same site. Francis had hosted Shuto for a little in Cebu. I made a lot of friends as a direct result of that website so I'd definitely recommend it to people traveling alone.

After dinner Francis, Shuto, and I went and did karaoke. It was a blast and a great way to end my Cebu trip. The next day I flew up to Clark, and here's the part of my trip where I had a taste of luxury.

One of my friends in San Diego, Carlos's, dad is mayor of Rizal, which is

in the greater metro area of manila. Carlos told his family I was coming for a couple days, and they really rolled out the red carpet. It was unbelievable. When I landed in Clark airport, about 3 hours from Manila, they had a personal driver pick me up and take me to a resort,

they may own I'm not positive, and gave me such an amazing room.

Then as if that wasn't enough they had the same driver drive me around while I was in Manila and take me back to Clark so I could catch my flight tomorrow for Phuket. The driver was a really nice guy named, Aries, who really loved working for Mayor Boyet, Carlos's dad.

While in Manila I went to an aquarium they had on the ocean. It was a lot of fun. I was able to see a some shows. They had a sea lion show

which was really cute. One of the sea lions kept tapping her trainer to get food and when she didn't get some she would applaud and then tap her again like 'See look what I did give me food.' It was really adorable. Then the aquarium was really neat

too. They had a big jellyfish area full of tanks of various forms of jellyfish in LED lit aquariums. Then they had a large aquarium full fish which

I had seen while diving and some I hadn't.

There was multiple kinds of sharks. The whole thing was really facinating, and then to be able to go back to the resort and really relax was such a treat.

I was invited to lunch with my friends family today, before I left to go to Clark. I am so grateful to have so much generosity extended to me, and what a luxury after backpacking and living on such a budget for a month. I don't know if Carlos is reading this, but if he is thank you so much to you and your family, you were all so welcoming and kind.

My trip has been so crazy, with all it's highs and lows. I'm sometimes amazed at my life, and all I'm lucky enough to get to experience. I'm looking forward to this next months adventure in Thailand.

Dichotmoy Speaking

Kirk — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

When I last left you I was in Cebu. I stayed in Cebu until yesterday, monday, where I traveled down to Dumaguete, which is on the next island over from Cebu called Negros.

While in Cebu I traveled one day with, James, my friend from South Korea to Lapu Lapu City to see the shrine of Lapu Lapu.

Lapu Lapu was the person who lead the Filipino's in a rebellion against Magellan, which Magellan was killed in. The

Shrine itself is nice, but the grounds it was on was very small for traveling about an hour to get there, but it was still really nice to hang out with James.

Dumaguete is called the 'Town of Gentle People.' So far it's lived up to it's name.

I belong to this online group called CouchSurfers.org. It's an online community where people let people traveling come stay with them at there houses all to be be able to form friendships with kindred spirits. When you log on you can send requests to stay with people, and are allowed to see their profiles and read what others who have stayed with them have said. I haven't actually stayed at anyone's place yet from there, but decided to get over my fears and reach out and try to meet people.

I made contact with a girl, and met up with her when I got to Dumaguete. Her name is Circee and she is so sweet. Unfortunately she lives a little far out, and with the weather being rainy right now it's

not the easiest to get to and from her place, so I got a room at this awesome hostel called Harold's mansion, and her and I hung out all night with another guy from Japan, named Shuto that she had met from CouchSurfers as well. It was so nice to arrive somewhere and immediately meet and become friends with people. Hopefully I'll be able to replicate such experiences as my trip goes on.

The hostel I'm staying at Harold's is so amazing, because of you get for the price. The hostel is 250 pesos a night, which is about $6.50, and you get a bed, sheets, towel, air conditioning, hot water, and breakfast, and locker storage. At the hostel I was at in Cebu for the same price I got a bed. That's it. So it's really nice to have all the amenities here, and they have bicycles they'll let you take out and ride around town.

I'm really hoping to go diving tomorrow morning in Apos island which is right off the coast. It's supposed to be some of the most beautiful waters to dive in in the world. So hopefully weather will be permitting.

Now I titled this blog Dichotomy Speaking, because while I'm having an amazing time in the Philippines, and seeing some beautiful things there has also been some things I've seen that have made me so sad to the bottom of my heart.

While I was in Cebu riding the public transportation there was this little boy I saw riding in the drivers seat who couldn't have been more than 4 years old. I thought that his grandpa was the driver and that he was just riding along. He was an adorable little kid, and I thought it was cute that he was riding along with his grandpa, until the bus stopped and he got off, and I realized he was just riding alone, by himself. He was 4 and just another passenger like me. I then started noticing how many children there are that are just on their own. It made me so sad.

I was talking talking later with people that live here in the Philippines I found out really how much prostitution there is here. With the dichotomy of rich and poor so great here you can almost understand the prostitution. When people work at a store all day long to make about 300 pesos for the day, about $5, not even enough to buy 2 Starbuck's frappacino's even here, and then they have an opportunity to make 3,000-4,0000 pesos in much less time I can understand the drive of why they would think that selling themselves. Then though there is the prostitution in areas of these open field in Cebu, where the girls are called 'The Cardboard Girls' where you pay 30 pesos to have sex with them, not even a dollar, and if you pay an extra 20 pesos they'll throw a piece of cardboard on the ground so you won't get dirty. Then even still there's an area of town where there is this whore house called the Casa, which has lots of girls 18 and up, but apparently as you drive up to it you have to keep your doors locked, because there's tons of girls under 14 trying to get in your car and get you to pay them to have sex with them.

It breaks my heart to see the amount of poverty, and hardships the people here have to endure. There is so many beautiful and amazing parts of the Philippines, and there is some unbelievable lows, ghettos, and poverty. I suppose it's all shocking because it's not really things that are ever a part of my world, and it makes me so sad to see people in pain. I wish there was something I could do, and maybe hopefully someday I'll find a way to be a part of change. I'm not really sure how, but I'm sure that I'm shown things in my life for a reason. So I'll wait and keep looking for opportunities to arrive where I can contribute to being a force of positive change to areas like this.

It's just a lot to take in. This trip has definitely changed me.

Gentle Giants

Kirk — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Alright so I stayed true to my word. I stayed up last night and showered around 1:30 in the morning and was headed to the bus terminal in Cebu at 2:15 to catch a 3 am bus to Oslob to swim with the whale sharks. On the bus ride over I thought I would sleep, but I was just too excited.

Oh and get this. If you remember the last post I told you that the hostel I'm staying at has some guests that were really loud at night. Well of course last night they weren't there. Would've been a perfect night to sleep at the hostel. lol.

Any who. I read my nook, and we when I made it to Oslob as the sun was starting to rise on the Ocean. I could see the red splash of it's tip reflecting off the water.

The bus actually dropped me off about 9 km short of where I needed to be so I hired a guy to drive me on his moped and enjoyed a cup of

coffee at the whale watching resort before the snorkeling at 6am.

The weather was nice and the day was beautiful. The process was really quick they boated me in a catamaran down the beach where I paid my fees and got briefed on how to act while in the water with the whale

sharks. Then my drivers paddled me out about half a football field length off shore where another catamaran captain was throwing shrimp pieces in the water for the whale sharks. As we passed over one I could see it was huge.

I know they're harmless, but there is still something about a huge fish in

the water that made me hesitant, but I pulled off my shirt and got in. Once in I was amazed at how beautiful they were, and really cute kind of.

They're faces reminded me of something I would see as a Japanese anime character. It was amazing to be in the water with them for

30 minutes. I'd be watching one and then another one would swim right under me or on the side of me. It was such an unbelievable experience I wish I could share it with everyone. To see these huge gentle creatures so close just struck me such a realization that I was having a once in a lifetime moment.

I have tons of pictures on the following Facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4292793434693.176743.1132242665&type=1&l=352f3a873e

After completing my mission I jumped back on a bus to Cebu. Still my nerves kept me awake not being able to shake the amazing morning I had just had. I probably slept maybe an hour on the bus ride back, and then I came straight to the hostel and passed out.

I have no idea if I'll ever experience something like that again, but I'm so grateful to have been able to have had this moment in my life.

That was really the big highlight of my day. Stayed tuned for more of my adventures.

Slowing Down

Kirk — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This blog entry will be a short one. I don't have tons to report. I've been in Cebu for a couple of days now. I found a cheap hostel that is relatively clean and near one of the malls to stay in. The hostel is fine, except that theirs been a group of people the last couple nights that come in and are really loud for quite a while.

The way it is set up is that on each floor there's a lobby you first step into which has TV's, computers, etc. This is where people are supposed to hang out, and then they have all the rooms in the back with signs posted to be silent when in the room areas. That doesn't happen, but oh well it's cheap so my wallets happy, and the bathrooms aren't completely disgusting so that's even better.

For the last couple days I've been planning to take a bus trip to Oslob at 3am so that I can get there at 6 and go snorkeling with these whale sharks. The last couple nights the alarm has went off and I've shut it off without thinking about it. Tonight no trying to sleep early. I'm just waiting up, going to shower around 1:30, then take a taxi to the bus stop and jump on a bus. Come hell or high water I'm snorkeling with those beasts. So I should have some fun pics to put up tomorrow.

I haven't really moved on from Cebu to other places, because I've been comfortable, and they have 12 step meetings here, which I've been lacking in most of the places I get to. I find if I don't got to meetings enough I start getting too focused on my own shit, and then I miss the important stuff. So I've been enjoying the slow pace.

I've been doing some free lance work I was lucky enough to get, drinking coffee, going to meetings, and watching movies. It's been nice.

I should also inform you all of some other developments. As you all know the start to this trip was very rocky. It's been a struggle being able to get cash, which has left me in some moments crying, and worrying weather I would be able to eat or have a place to stay, it's not a really credit card friendly place.

Also while having some amazing experiences I've had some moments of real homesickness and loneliness at times too. After praying and thinking about things a lot I decided I wanted to be back in Hawaii for Thanksgiving. I decided to check with my travel agent to see how much it would cost to change my return flight from December to November. I've also been a little worried about keeping the budget I set out for myself.

When calling my agent they advised me to check with the airline directly, because it would be cheaper. I tried calling 2 times, and had bad reception. I then started to wonder if that was God telling me not change my flight. So I called one last time, and told myself if the reception was bad and I couldn't get through or the cost was too much then that would be my sign not to, but the call went through crystal clear, and I found out it was free to change my flight the first time.

So as of now I will be going back to Hawaii November 19. I feel good about it. I'm still going to accomplish everything I wanted to on this trip. I'm still going to Bali in November, and seeing the Naga Fireballs festival in October in Thailand. I also will be able to have a little bit of a nicer budget, because I have a little bit of a buffer now. It's something I feel good about and am at peace with.

This trip is by far amazing, and a huge growing experience for me. I continue to find truths about myself, and strengths I didn't know I had. I believe through this I've been able to be at a place where I could really slow down, think about, and process how I handle life, and evaluate areas I want to be different, and find ways to strive for that difference. It's so easy to rush through life without giving thought to the negatives and positives of our personalities. It's been really eye opening to be able to take this time to learn about me.

Friendly Encounters

Kirk — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

So when last we left off I was in Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan in the Philippines.

On my last couple days there I took care of extending my visa, because I'm here a about 5 days over the 21 days they give you when you fly in. I then booked a trip to the Underground River. Which was a blast, but also required patience.

The trip was 2 hours of diving to get to the first stop of the tour. There we ate a wonderful buffet lunch while we waited for our boat to be ready which would take us to the area we would take a boat tour of the underground river. They only allow 700 people in a day, and I believe it's supposed

to be allotted time slots, but with coordinating boat ferries to the location and then boat trips through the river once you are there you end up with having to learn to be patient and appreciate the beauty around you.

Luckily I made some friends with a family on my trip. Their kindness

really made the trip. They were so friendly and spilled with positivity. In fact I was amazed they told me this story that last month, August their house in Manilla was in a flash flood, and they were having to live on the 2nd floor of their house for over a week eating only what they had. It ruined their downstairs and they lost their car. Were they angry or bitter, absolutely not. They are building a new house in an area not in a flood zone, and they seemed to live in happiness and acceptance about the situation. It gives me something to strive for. I want to be able to still bring positive energy to this world and accept the stuff I can't control. We're now facebook friends so you know that it's officially a real friendship

now :D, but really if they hadn't been there the trip would still have been neat, but not nearly as fulfilling as it ended up being.

I was also told that Filipinos love the mall, and when we got back to Puerto Princesa city from the trip I found out why. I went there and watched a movie, and it was heavenly. When you're in a developing area especially in the tropics it's like having a little bit of luxury to go to a nice, clean, air conditioned place and just relax. I went to a movie. The only American one that was playing was Resident Evil: Retribution. There was terrible acting, but whatever it was nice to have popcorn, drink a soda, and watch a movie. And the movie was cheap. It was in 3D and cost about $5.

I then flew out to Cebu. Once landing in Cebu I used the jeepneys to get to get to a bed and breakfast I had found online. I was actually pretty proud of myself for figuring the jeepneys out. You basically jump on these trucks with benches in the back and pack yourself in until you reach different stops. I had to take 2 to get to SM City, a big mall in Cebu, which was a block away from my hostel.

It was nice having the mall near by, because most of the stores take credit cards, which was great, because I still don't have an ATM card, but I did receive my pin to my credit card so I can now pull out cash. It's more expensive, but at least I have options now.

Today I went to the mall and got Siopao, a steamed bun with sweet meat inside, for breakfast and then tried going to church. It was a Tagalog mass when I went. I still stayed for a little and then

walked down to this area that was home to Fort San Pedro which is a military defense structure that was built by the Spanish during there occupation in the Philippines. it now has beautiful courtyards overflowing with flowers and trees.

While there I met a South Korean guy named James whose in Cebu studying English at an international school. He was so friendly and nice and had an infectious laugh. We went around to see Magellan's Cross, Balisca Minore Del Santo Nino (one of the holiest of churches built in 1565, burned down 3 times and then rebuilt in 1737), and then we

managed our way on jeepneys to go to see a Toaist temple located in a swanky rich neighborhood of Cebu. After running around seeing sights all day James and I made it back to SM City mall and had dinner. He has to do school work all this week, but next weekend we'll probably meet up and hang out again.

I feel so blessed to have met so many amazing people on this trip. I've definitely had a rough start, but have no reason to complain about anything. Ultimately I'm blessed to be able to be on this trip, and blessed to be able to learn whatever lessons come my way.

If anyone wants to view my pictures from Palawan here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4255828510593.175723.1132242665&type=1&l=f701f97ef5

And from Cebu so far:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4276770314125.176269.1132242665&type=1&l=502a4e3ba8

Rainy Days

Kirk — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Ok So it's been a couple of days since I last posted. that's because I just got back to Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan from El Nido. I met up with my friends Angela and Samantha in Puerto Princesa and we took a 6 1/2 hour bus ride to the small coast town of El Nido.

After traveling all day to El Nido we arrived at night time when it was dark. So we really couldn't see much of the place. We took a tricylce, which are riding carts attached to motorcycles in to town and proceeded to try to find a place to stay. The tricycle rider seemed like he was helping us out going into various hotels with us and speaking in Tagalog for us inquiring about rooms. It wasn't until a little later that we realized that he was speaking to them so that they would charge us more and he would get a cut. We only discovered this after Angela went into a place Samantha, the tricycle driver, and I had just gone in and the price she was quoted for a room for us to share was 900 pesos, about $25, as opposed to 1300, about $33, we were quoted when with the driver.

We took the 900 pesos room, and were happy to have that taken care of. Our room was right on the beach and was beautiful. When we walked into the room though Sam in a flurry of fast movement slammed her foot down to kill one of the biggest cockroaches I've seen yet. These are pretty common in tropical places. It still scared the crap out of me. Sam assured us that they traveled alone, were lone creatures, there wasn't any more, many other lies to ease Angela and my fears. Sam then went to pick up the body only to find it was still alive and she squashed it again. We all screamed.

We were right on the beach but couldn't see what any of the scenery looked like, because it was so dark. El Nido is a town of maybe 4,000 people, so it's very tiny, not tons of lights. It also has brown outs every day where the electricity is off from 6am-2pm, and the internet isn't great hence the late blog post.

We ventured out that night and went to a beach bar right near by and ended up making friends with the live band singers, and a guy from the UK who was days away from opening a dive shop there in El Nido. We followed these guys to one of the oldest bars in the city and enjoyed the company and live music.

For being such a small town it's crazy how much live music they have. it was awesome. I think there's a huge percentage of the population that performs music.

After calling it a night, at 3AM (have no idea how time got away from us), we went back to the room to find another huge 'friend' waiting for us and for Samantha to squash again. That quite dispelled the lies of them being lone creatures lol. Every time I went to the bathroom that first night I was scared I was going to run into another one.

The room we stayed in didn't let much light in so we didn't know what time it was, and ended up getting up around 9:30 am and were amazed

at the scenery from are hotel. The view of the bay we were in was breath taking.

Now it's the rainy season right now while I'm traveling which in most places means it rains for maybe 90 minutes a day and then it's clear and sunny. Not so in El Nido. The clouds of rain roll in unpredictably any time of day, but the fog rolling over some of the limestone cliffs was something to behold.

That first day we went to breakfast and then ended up going to a beach near by where there was a resort called Las Cabanas. The beach it was in was beautiful

and had clear waters you could swim, and if we had brought gear, snorkel and see the beauty of the depths beneath. At one point we got caught in a rainstorm so we went into one of the restaurants of the near by resorts and spoke for a while with other people waiting out the rain and the hotel manager.

The day was nice and ended with us again going to a beach bar then turning in early for the night.

The second day we woke up early and walked around bargaining to get the best price we could for an island hopping tour. There are so many breath taking islands off the coast there that it is one thing you have to do when you are in El Nido. We ended up getting the tour we wanted for 900 pesos, about $21, and it included are snorkel gear and lunch. We had to bargain in the snorkel gear to get included, but it's easier to do right now while there isn't much tourists.

As we went out to the first island we went through quite a heavy

rainfall, but fortune smiled on us and for most of the trip the sun made it's appearances and we were able to enjoy the beautiful islands, limestone cliffs, and the

crystal clear waters.

At night we went out again and made friends with a group of local dive instructors. The people in Philippines, and especially El Nido have been some of the most friendliest, fun people I've met all trip. No one seems to have a guard up or large egos. They're just nice, fun loving people.

It's a good thing we went island hopping the day we did, because the next day, our last, ended up raining all day long. We went to try to go swimming at Las Cabanas beach and ended up being stuck in the same restaurant reading all day long.

Even with the rain the trip was amazing. Also one good thing, in El Nido they had a gas station that let me do a cash advance charging my credit card so I was able to access some cash, which you all know has been an issue on this trip. Hopefully I will resolve that soon.

The trip was amazing, and the company was wonderful. Right now I'm in Puerto Princesa for a few more days. I'm going to go to take a tour of an underground river here tomorrow, which is one of the new 7 wonders of the world, so that should be exciting. Things in my travels are good right now, because I have some cash to work with. I'm still trying to figure out ways to access my checking account until I get my ATM card but baby steps. Sorry for such a long time in between posts. I will be better while I have access to internet. Hope all is well with everyone.

Bi-Polar

Kirk — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Ok I titled my blog bi-polar, because that's how I've been feeling lately. This trip has been amazing and difficult.

So if you've been following you know that I lost my ATM card while traveling here. So the only funds I've had have been my credit card and the cash I had on me. I'm currently waiting for my new card to arrive at my sisters so she can forward it to me, and I was told by my bank that I could try using Western Union to get myself money.

So while I tried starting a Western Union transfer from my bank account. It asks you to verify your bank account either by doing it as a bill pay, where you set up a bill to be paid as Western Union and pay that amount, or it will charge my account and once the charge has been processed then I can see a number from the charge on my account online and then go back to Western Union put that in and my account would be verified.

Well first I tried the billy pay way and their system would cancel the transaction every time, not allowing me to set up the bill pay. Then I tried doing the account charge method, well it cancelled this charge too before I was able to verify it. I called Western Union and found out that since I'm doing the transaction from a computer in Asia that the system automatically denies the transaction, and they don't have an override option to allow me to verify my account. The only option they have they said is that I can take cash to one of their vendors and pay to transfer the money, completely useless, because if I had cash their wouldn't be a problem.

I was finding all this out as I had about 800 baht to my name, about $26; and I was about to fly to the Philippines. Very stressful. Luckily my mother sent me some money Western Union, and my sister logged onto the Western Union site as me and sent a transaction so hopefully I'll be able to verify my account now. For me this lesson was that I can't do it alone. I still had to wait though for my mothers money until I got to the Philippines, and I had to travel from Bangkok to Clark airport, stay the night there and then travel to Puerto Princesa the next day.

It's difficult down here to use a credit card. Many places are strictly cash. So I didn't really eat anything to start the day of traveling, because I didn't know how much a cab from the airport would be to my hotel in Clark. The hotel I had already paid for. When I got to BKK airport and tried to check in for my flight I found out I had to show a return trip ticket which I didn't have printed out, and they said I had to go to the internet cafe and pay to print one out.

I went up to the internet cafe and their credit card machine wasn't working. They told me I had to find an internet phone machine downstairs and e-mail them the file to be printed and then come up and get the paper printed. Oh and finding the internet cafe from where I was in the airport was a struggle all by itself. I found the internet phone sent the e-mail to find I had written the e-mail down wrong. I went back down to the internet phone and sent it again. Printed it out, and then went and checked in and went through customs.

When I got to Clark, initially the first cab driver told me it would be 500 pesos to go to the hotel. When I converted all the cash I had then I had only 1000 pesos. I told him no and found another guy to do it for 300. This is actually expensive for how far he took me.

The hotel I was staying is was not very nice. I feel bad saying that, because I met the owner the next day and she is very sweet, and from what I gather she bought the hotel and is trying to slowly make it better. Angeles City, where Clark airport is located, is also kind of a hole with a lot of prostitution places, and no cheap rooms anywhere. It was just depressing, and the wifi was out so I couldn't get the information I would need to take to Western Union to get my money from the e-mail my mom was sending, so I still had that stress going on in my mind.

I should say I did eat in the airport because I found a place that took a credit card.

The next morning, today, I woke up and didn't eat again, because I still wasn't positive when I would have cash next and didn't know how much it would cost to get to my hostel from the airport in Puerto Princesa. The owner of the hotel, Jocelyn, drove me to the airport for 240 pesos. She was very nice, and told me if I came back she would give me a special price on the room. I would almost want to just because she's so sweet, but I definitely didn't feel comfortable sleeping there.

Now when I got to the airport this morning, my bag was 5 kg over the free weight limit. I thought I had bought extra weight when I purchased the ticket, but I guess not, and again having to use the credit card was a huge ordeal. I had to follow this girl to the other side of the airport where another girl tried to run the card and was having problems with their machine, had to call multiple people, and finally got it to work, again I should mention both the girls were very nice. So then having that paid I found out the airport itself then makes you pay 150 pesos has to be in cash. I thought this was BS, because my ticket already had airport fees charged on it, but they said I couldn't fly if I didn't pay it.

I would love to say I was handling all this stress well, but I wasn't. I wanted to cry.

While getting on the plane I ended up talking to a really nice Filipino couple who just so happened to be from San Diego, and where gong to Puerto Princesa for 3 days before they flew back home. Also when getting to Puerto Princesa I got a tricycle cab, actually it's a motorcycle with a riding cab attached for 50 pesos to my hostel. The cab drivers name was Laurence and he was very friendly, and then when I got to my hostel the people here were all very friendly as well.

One thing I can say is that the Philippines has some of the friendliest people I've met yet on my trip.

Once getting to my place I connected to the internet and was able to get the information I needed from my mom and go to Western Union. Hooray!! I celebrated by eating.

It's difficult because some moments of this trip have been so amazing, and some have been so stressful. In in some parts of this stress the last 2 days I've felt a little bit like that story where a man was praying to God and asked for sign God was listening and God made the wind blow, and he asked again and God sent a butterfly, and so on and so on; and at the end of his life he asks God why God wasn't listening and God said I was I sent you the wind and I sent you the butterfly (there's other similar tales). I felt a little like that man in some points because I was so stressed out about my situation, and then I would meet some really friendly, really kind people, and I would have to think OK someone does see me, but it was so easy to not notice that and be caught up in my own stresses. I also talked to my mom and she reminded me of a time I went through were just so many bad things were happening and while it was going on I told her "Well God must have something really great planned for me if all this bad is happening." I remember that time and a lot of amazing things did happen after that hard ordeal too.

I know that this to shall past. It's difficult to go through the hard times, but I guess I won't actually grow with an easy road. I have to have faith that I'll be alright and that the lessons I learn will prepare me for whatever else is needed for me in this life. Tonight I'm OK. I have a roof over my head, I have some cash in my pocket, and some food in my belly.

I appreciate all the prayers and good energy you all send me. Thank you again for reading. I promise I'll have more optimistic posts to come :D

Beginning Transitions

Kirk — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Hi everyone. I hope all is well. Currently I'm sitting at a coffee shop in Ko Samui writing this blog post. Yesterday I took a ferry here from Ko Tao, because I have to take a ferry from here tomorrow to Surat Thani and then the airport there where I will fly to Bangkok. After staying in Bangkok for a night I will travel to Angeles City in the Philippines for a night and then on to Puerta Princesa where I will be for about a week and a half.

In Ko Tao I got certified scuba diving, and made some friends from Australia that I hung out with the whole time. I couldn't have asked for a better time in Ko Tao. The new friends and amazing dives well forever be vivid in my memories. After completing the scuba course I decided to come to Ko Samui to spend 2 days here, because initially I wanted to go out. Ko Tao is fun, but Ko Samui is the island that has a little bit more as far as night clubs.

I spent the day with day with the Aussies hiking to a cool rock out crop on the ocean

and then

we went out for our last night together and I had a chicken bbq skewer, which did taste amazing. Unfortunately for me I woke up that night really sick. It figures I eat tons of street food, and don't have a problem with sickness, but the one time I spend a little more for a nice dinner and I get sick. I had already bought my ferry ticket so I had to go to Ko Samui. The trip over was a little miserable because I still felt weak, and couldn't really hold down anything.

Being sick from the food poisoning made me homesick as well. All I wanted was to be in bed and near family. When I got to Ko Samui I took a songthew, which is just a pickup truck that has benches in the bed to Chaweng Beach. Chaweng Beach is the beach with all the night life. I figured if I felt better I could still try to go out. That didn't happen though, I just felt like babying myself so I got a room with air conditioning, and hot water, took a long shower and watched movies in the cold. It was great. I felt silly for even going all the way to Chaweng Beach with not going out, because this morning I had to take a songthew back to Nathon Pier, where I originally was at, and get a room here. My ferry tomorrow takes off at 8 am so being on the other side of the island wasn't acceptable.

Oh well I still enjoyed my hot shower and air conditioning. I'm spending the day mainly relaxing. I got my room here and have been using the internet to figure out how to send myself money via Western Union because I lost my ATM card in the beginning of my travels and then I booked my hostel for tomorrow night in Bangkok. I have a couple days ahead of me of traveling so I'm going to spend some time reading and walking around in whatever city I'm in.

One thought that I thought was interesting was that I was thinking about how I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with nomad status right now. I thought about home sickness and then thought about what home was defined for me. Is a space that holds all your possessions? Is it because you bought a couch, or a car, or a house, that it becomes a home? I don't believe the material defines home for you. If you can feel at home in yourself and in your heart then you can be at peace where ever you are.

I don't have much more to report but keep reading and I'll keep updating.

Heating Up and Winding Down

Kirk — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Hi everyone. Hope every one reading is doing good. I finished my scuba diving certification this morning. Yesterday I went out on two dives around an area called Twins.

There is two twin peaks under the water here we swam around, and then we went to another area called White Rock, which a big white rock that peaks a couple meters from the surface. Both dives were amazing, but I got chased for a little by a trigger fish at one.

Trigger fish are these fish that eat coral so they have sharp teeth. They're called trigger fish, because when they are going to attack they have a small fin on the top of them that sticks up like a trigger. They are also an aggressive, territorial fish. They have a territory that is a cone shape of where ever they are to the surface so if you ever run into one you should swim on your back straight out of their territory, and defend yourself with your fins if need be. Don't go up because then you're still in their area since it gets larger as you get closer to the surface.

It wasn't too scary since I knew what I was supposed to do. I'm glad that my reaction was to not freak out and instead to think about what I was told to do. The final dives this morning were back at Twins, and an area called Buoyancy world, where they've set up multiple metal shapes and swim throughs on the bottom of the ocean you can play in. After that we went to an area called Pei Wei. It was amazing, because it was much deeper, there is also a shipwreck right near there that we swam over to.

Doing these dives got me so excited to do more with scuba diving. It is such a beautiful experience to be able to be a part of an underwater environment and see all the amazing creatures and formations of the ocean.

After the dives last night I met up with Stacy, Carl, and Stefan, the Aussies, for Stefan's birthday.

We went to a bar restaurant initially to watch the sunset, followed, by another beach bar, and then another beach bar. At night time there was lots

of fire dancers on the beach, which were mesmerizing to watch. At one point Carl even got into the action and one of the fire dancers taught him to do a fire dance with these two chains with balls of fire on the end. As he got comfortable with it he entertained us by dancing around as

he twirled the balls of fire. It was so much fun. I had wished that I didn't have to leave early, but my dives this morning were at 7 am. I'm still a pretty early riser here so it wasn't too hard to get up that early.

Now that I have my certification I'm ready to meet my friends and do some diving in the Philippines in a couple days. For now I will spend one more night here in Ko Tao and then I will head to Ko Samui for 2 nights, fly back to Bangkok, and then on to the Philippines where I will be for the rest of September. This trip has been amazing so far and I feel blessed and lucky to still be at the beginning of it. It's had challenges, but I've felt grateful to be in a position to take on those challenges. I continue to grow and change, as we all do, and strive more and more to live and love. I hope all is well with everyone reading. I'll keep you updated as usual as things go along.

Oh Happy Days

Kirk — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

As you all know I'm still on Ko Tao getting certified scuba diving. The dive course is going good so far. I finished all my academic work yesterday

including the final written test and passed, and I did all the confined dives demonstrating skills in the pool. Today I'll be going out in the boat for my first Ocean dive. I'm really excited since the scuba here is supposed to be some of the best in the world, of course any tropical location you look online tends to say that.

Stacy, one of the Australians I met on the way here, told me when she was scuba diving here last once and that she saw a whale shark. I know they have been seen here a lot, but I'm not sure if right now is the season for them to be here, fingers crossed though.

It was really nice after the class work I had today that I ran in to the Australians again. I had forgot to get there facebook information when we talked on the ferry so I wasn't sure I was going to see them again, but low and behold I did. Of course the populated areas of Ko Tao is small so I guess I was probably bound to run into them.

We all went to dinner and then just watched the sunset at various

bars and restaurants on the beach. I was happy to see that I can still make friends pretty easily out of my comfort zone.

Most of the time when I make friends it's because we work together or are in some situation where we'd have to talk to each other at some point. In Bangkok I didn't meet too many people, and I think was a little nervous because I was out of my element and wasn't sure how to start conversation, but it's nice to see that as I get more comfortable with traveling that the good social skills I thought I had are still present.

After my dive today I'm supposed to meet up with my new friends for

dinner. It's Stefan's birthday so we'll see how crazy that gets, but so far I've loved every minute of my stay on Ko Tao. I'm pretty sure the majority of my trip will be beach stays. At least that's how I see it right now. I'll let you all know how everything goes today. I have to dive today and tomorrow and then I'll have my certification. After that I'll spend a couple days on Ko Samui and then fly back to Bangkok for a night and then head to the Philippines to meet friends and do more diving. I hope all is well with everyone reading, and I'll talk to you all soon.

Travel Day

Kirk — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

So today I woke up around 7 am and showered and got ready for the day. I was in Ko Samui where I arrived last night. I had to take a ferry this morning from there to Ko Tao an island just north.

The hotel I was staying at had shared showers and bathrooms for each floor which is fine because I'm already used to staying in a hostel, but this was my first cold shower. I know that this will be pretty common in Thailand, because I've heard from people most of the cheap places don't provide hot showers. It wasn't horrible though. The water isn't freezing and even early in the morning it starts to get hot outside so the cold shower is invigorating.

After my 'refreshing' shower, have to stay optimistic right lol, I went and had breakfast and talked on Skype with my dad. I've talked with my Dad twice since being here and my sister once. It is great when I get to talk to people because I don't feel so disconnected from my old life, and Skype is great in letting you feel like you're in the same room with the person you're talking to.

After Skype I walked around the town a little before i had to go meet my ferry. At the hotel there was a really cute pug lounging on the counter. Apparently she is well adjusted to the island life.

Since this is island time the ferry of course wasn't on time, but it didn't bother me. I met some Australians and ended up talking to them before and for the entire ferry ride. It's crazy they're on the end of a long trip where they've just spent about 6 months in South America, and our now finishing their 6 week trip in Southeast Asia.

It's amazing. Every time I'm backpacking I always meet Aussies that are traveling for really long periods of time. I have no chance at ever beating them. It's like talking to the one up guy.
me: "I'm backpacking for four months."
Aussie: "Oh that's great. We just finished 6 months in South America and now are doing 6 weeks in Southeast Asia."
me: *smile with hidden jealousy*

Just kidding. It's great to meet other people who are out and about exploring the world as well. They were super friendly and made the ride more fun. Especially since the first ferry was so packed. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but I was trying to get on board and didn't think about it. There were literally people hanging and lying on every inch of the boat. The seats floors deck were full. I didn't realize that the full moon part was going on right now.

The full moon party happens every month on the island Ko Pha-ngan. Which is the island right before Ko tao. From what I gather it's a big party stretching all over the beaches of the islands where everyone is smashed and getting more smashed all night. So the first half of the boat ride was cramped, but the second half from Ko Pha-ngan was really comfortable.

When arriving in Ko tao I new that this was what I've been looking for in my tirp.

There's something nice about being on islands. I always feel comfortable and relaxed, and the island is beautiful.

I took a taxi from the ferry and checked into the dive resort I'm staying at to get my PADI certification. I had to do about 2 hours of class room

work today and then I came to the reception to do a little freelancing work which has an amazing view of the ocean. I loved my experience in Bangkok, but I'm so happy to feel less of the hustle and bustle and more of island breezes. Tomorrow I'll be doing more of the dive class. I've posted a little of the pictures I've taken from Ko Samui and Ko Tao so far, but nothing amazing. I'll be adding to them though so keep looking. You can see that album at :
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4193395109797.174274.1132242665&type=1&l=cfc3615967

Talk to you soon.

Adventures in Motion

Kirk — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Ok so I have a lot to talk about since my last post so prepare yourself. As promised I drank a Redbull and stayed up late to go out to a club.

The gay club I was looking for was around others located near the Patpong Night Market, which is also incidentally a big sex district. It was interesting to see vendor's selling clothes and DVD's right next dildos.

I also cannot tell you how many times I had to tell people I didn't want to see a 'ping pong' show, even if it was only 100 baht. I had to keep telling the same people this too, because I couldn't for the life of me find this club or any of the other ones that were supposed to be around it. I must have walked up and down the street 5 times tell finally I gave up. As I was

in the sky train terminal above the street walking back to get on the sky train I finally saw the club. If you look at the picture on the left, that is the alley it was in, and then then the non lit up sign which I'm sure you can't see that's posted above the lighted ceiling, completely invisible from the ground is the sign that says 'DJ Station'. That was the club. So I went back down to the street and went down the alley and low and behold there were all the clubs and bars I had been looking for, unfortunately midnight wasn't late enough, because they were all empty, and I was drained, but I'm still happy I found it.

The next day I woke up and went to the Jim Thompson Museum. Jim Thompson was the American who moved to Thailand and made Thai silk famous. His silk's were used in the movie The King and I and he got designers associated with Vogue magazine interested in the fabric.

Jim Thompson became rich and famous and then at the age of 61 disappeared while visiting the Malaysian jungle. According to our tour guide there were many reasons this possibly happened. One he had no kids. Two he wasn't married. Three he collected artifacts and ancient Buddha statues that were broken, this meant your home would be broken. Four he was a horse sign, and the age 61 is the age horse's need to be careful. Aw superstition.

One thing that was cool at the house was the spirit house, which as you can see I'm scared of. The spirit house is built before you build your house, and then when you build your house you must build it so that the shadow of your main house doesn't touch the spirit house otherwise it brings you bad luck.

I ended up meeting some people who were from other countries, but now lived in Bangkok. I ended up going to lunch with them that day. It was nice to talk and socialize with others. We ended up eating at the hospital cafeteria near where I was staying, but unlike our hospitals there food was amazing. I got a Thai meal with two different entree items and a bottled water for 45 baht, about $1.60. Amazing!!

It was interesting at lunch they talked about many things. About how there was a noodle soup census done and the price of noodle soup in the last 7 years has gone from 20 baht to 35 baht. Now for Americans this isn't really a big deal, because that's still about $1, but if you live here that can be a very big deal if it's reflective of the inflation in the entire economy. That's a 75% increase, and when you only live on 10,000 baht a month, roughly $200, you are probably accounting for each baht you have. It made me appreciate what I have more.

From lunch my new friends suggested I should go to the Wat Arun

Temple, also called The Temple of The Dawn. It was really cool. I took a water taxi, and ferry over there and back. The total trip with admission was about 130 baht, about $4.

The temple is very old and beautiful. You can climb up it to get a look of the whole city, and of course in the prayer building next

to it are rooms lined with Buddha's.

After a long day I went back to the hostil, and got some dinner on the way at a hole in the wall Thai restaurant.

I got gaeng gai, read curry. Probably some of the best I've ever had. One of the guys I had had lunch with said that the Thai food in America can't touch the flavor of the food out here, and I'm inclined to agree. Maybe it's that I'm here that it makes it tastes better, but I think the spice and taste was just great.

I went to bed early, because i had to get up and travel to the Don Muaeng Airport to go to Surat Thani.

So when I woke up today to travel to the airport I had to take the sky train, subway and regular train, about 45 baht, less than $2.

After many transfers I made it to my plane :D

Once getting to Surat Thani I needed to get to Ko Samui tonight. To do this I took a bus and ferry to the island.

This cost about 721 baht, about $21. Arriving in Ko Samui was a little scary, because I didn't know where I was staying at yet, but that problem got quickly solved. There was a ticket stand at the ferry station where some ladies where selling tickets to the other islands. I have to get to Ko Tao tomorrow because I'm starting my scuba diving course in the afternoon. I booked a ticket with them and they told me right across the street was a cheap place to stay, and they were right. Only 300 baht for my own room, about $10, which also had

a great street food area across the street where I had dinner, some pad thai and a mango shake. Which cost about 70 baht, $2.

So it's definitely been a full couple days. I feel much more at ease with my traveling than I did at first. I realize that Bangkok is not Thailand. Just as New York City is not America. They are their own entities which you can't compare the rest of the country to. While initially in Bangkok I felt overwhelmed and a little scared at times I left feeling at ease and really finding a love for the city I didn't know I would have, but now being in the gulf and on the islands I feel I'm stepping into more of what I was looking for on this trip. While I love the temples, and movement of Bangkok I think I will enjoy the slowness and warmth of the islands. More to come stay tuned!!