New Years 2012 - ZANZIBAR!!

Isn't that mentioned in a Tenacious D song? Where the hell is Zanzibar?!? Well I found out! Zanzibar is an island off the coast of Tanzania known for their exotic spices, interesting history and beautiful beaches. College Roommate I cross paths yet again in Stone Town in Zanzibar City. With four pairs of footwear and two backpacks between the two of us we started to wander around Stone Town. The seafood market was our first stop. Lobster, shrimp, fish, octopus, vegetables all grilled and on a stick. Any food on a stick is always a favorite of mine. College Roommate had lobster for the first time. After some more wandering we found a terrace bar right on the coast and enjoyed a few cold beverages.

The next day I saw the condition of his gym shoes...ratty, dirty, stinky. Except for the full beard and pony tail, the shoes were in the exact same condition as he (heh heh heh). I brought my old pair of running shoes which I bought two years prior. His gym shoes were also bought two years ago, but at a second hand store. Since I had a new pair of shoes in my apartment in Saudi Arabia (Yes, I am living in Saudi Arabia right now) and a pair of flip flops in my back pack, I decided to give him my old running shoes and the stench acquired from traveling and wearing them for the past 24 hours. The old second hand shoes were thrown out and his new second hand shoes were aired out for the day. I had my flip flops which seemed to be more than enough for 5 days on the beach and my return trip...

We went on with our first day in stone town, drinking coffee with the locals on the corner, eating potato soup (THIS SOUP WAS FREAKING DELICIOUS), and cold beers, before we made our way to the bus station. The trip to Bwejuu was very amusing for us. We decided to tap people on the shoulder until they turned around and pointed at local lady as if she were the culprit. WE ARE HILARIOUS!!! It didn't seem to get old either...we continued to do this for the entire hour and a half bus ride. Exiting the bus, we walked down a gravel road to our new home for the next five days. Me and the US Peace Corps Uganda. Small bungalows right on the whitest sand beach I've ever seen. It was beautiful. They were overbooked and six of us were put in one large bungalow and our price per person dropped from $30 to $9 per day. No one seemed to mind.

New Years we found a small bar with loud music and lots of people dancing. Since the bar was right on the beach and the floor was made of sand, the 15 of us piled all of our sandals in one spot with the intention to pick them up at the end of the night. As the number of people grew, the dance floor engulfed our sandal pile and sprayed them all over the place like a shotgun blast. Some people found one of their sandals, but most of us were unable to find any of ours. Barefoot in 2012...

2012 continued and we continued along with it, playing Zanzibol on the beach and also taking a late night voyage in the Indian Ocean. The seas were calmer than expected which allowed my paddling to be rewarded with increased speed. College Roommate at one point said, "Whooaaa! Slow down!".

Unfortunately all good things need to come to an end. After an amazing five days with PC Uganda, I made my way back to Stone Town to catch my ferry back to the mainland. Also unfortunate was the footwear count between College Roommate and myself. We had started with four and were down to one...the running shoes I gave to him. My feet were pretty tough after walking barefoot for the past few days on the sand, so I made my way to the van with some Germans and one other American I had met on the beach. We looked for sandal vendors along the way and in Stone Town, but could not find any. Since the ferry was leaving soon I did not have a chance to venture through town to find a pair. Waiting in line barefoot, the locals pointed at my feet and spoke to one another in Swahili. "Yeah yeah, I don't have shoes on". The ferry ride was about 2 hours long and I found myself back in Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. The pavement was hot and I was able to find a shady patch on the sidewalk to cool my feet. What to do now...

BOOYAH! Guy with pack of sandals on his head across the street! Finding a gap in traffic I was able to catch up with the sandal guy. I asked him for sandals and he said 20,000 schillings (about $15). I had 7000 schillings in my pocket and a boat load of foreign currency (Saudi Rials and US dollars). I showed him the schillings and he turned and kept walking. A good samaritan seeing the battered condition of my feet started yelling at the sandal guy and told me to give him 5000 for the sandals. The sandal guy was hesitant (I think he was just a delivery guy) and the good samaritan grabbed the sandal bag, ripped it open and gave me a pair of bright blue sandals which were too small for my feet. I thanked him and continued on my return journey to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Great Falls, MT

Well, I've been stateside now for almost a full year. Spent 9 months in Southern Illinois hanging with Superman in Metropolis, IL and then about two months back in Chicago. It was great spending that time in Chicago since I spent well over a year in SE Asia prior to my assignment in So IL.

One of my coworkers flew in from Sicily and needed to fly directly to Great Falls, MT with a short stop in Chicago. Her drivers licence had just expired and had received an extension in the mail at our office. I had volunteered to drop the extension sticker off at O Hare. When I arrived, instead of handing her the sticker through the window of my car and wishing her a safe trip to Montana, she climbed into the car and explained to me that all of her luggage was lost and she needs to be to the customer site by tomorrow morning AND catch the flight in three hours. And so I became her chauffeur for the afternoon...

We went back to work to gather safety equipment, stopped at her storage locker and also made a quick stop at Target. While back in the office, my managers decided that it would be a good idea for me to travel to Montana as well, as long as the customer approved. I got an e-mail from my coworker with the lost luggage the next day saying I should fly out that night. I packed my bags and was on a plane to Denver 6 hours after recieving the e-mail.

Great Falls, MT was visited by Lewis and Clark in 1805 and was one of their more challenging ordeals of their westerly expedition. Great Falls is split right down the middle by the Missouri River and today has several hydroelectric damns as shown by the picture below. There are five in total.

Great Falls is also known for a fantastic lounge called the "Sip 'n Dip" named for mermaid viewing while having a cold one at the bar. The customer suggested this place and me and coworker with the lost luggage decided that we had to make some time in our busy schedule to visit. Friday night after completion of a 20 hour day at the plant suited us well.

The Sip 'n Dip is a small lounge and casino in a small local Motel called the O' Haire Motor Inn. We arrived around 8:30, grabbed a beverage and waited for the mermaids to arrive at 9. One mermaid swam into view followed by another one about 15 minutes later. It was very bizarre, but really cool at the same time. Around 10, Piano Pat started playing lounge songs on her organ. With the old lady on the keys and mermaids swimming around in the pool behind the bar, this perfected the Sip 'n Dip experience.

The mermaids collected tips through out the night, and i decided to give em a 5 so I could get a picture with em.

GQ voted Sip 'n Dip the best Cocktail Lounge on earth and I can see why. Where else can you hear old timey songs played by Piano Pat AND watch Mermaids swim around the back of the bar. What an experience...what a night!

Oh man...where did the last 6 months go?

I'm sorry. I really am. I knew I was due for a new blog post, but am quite past my deadline. Not cut out for "on time" type work (hopefully my manager doesn't read this post). Or maybe I've been too busy with work to slack off and write a blog (now he can read it).

Well, as you have kept on living the last 6 months, I too have kept on keepin' on. For starters, I am back in Thailand. AH! I never told you I was here in the first place! I came to Thailand for about 3 weeks in February and then returned to Malaysia for the next 4 months. Now, I have joined the team here and should be here for awhile.

Awhile = more than 1 month, less than 1 year

My assignment in Malaysia was to be 3-4 months and turned out to be around 9 months. Both the planned duration and actual time fit into this definition of "awhile" so I will stick to this assumption on the length of my future assignments. Hopefully it won't be too long since I have not returned to the USA since my 25th birthday (just over 9 months ago). Awhile isn't all bad...especially when you have balcony views like this:

My wonderful girlfriend visited for a few weeks in January and it turned out to be the highlight of my time abroad. We visited Cambodia, ate ants, saw floating and stilted houses, climbed on temples about a thousand years old (Angkor near Siem Riep), taught English to Cambodian kids (after we ate ants with them) and just had a grand ol' time. She's beautiful inside and out so our time together is very much cherished...especially while I'm working abroad.

Oh, and I bought a camera. My previous camera was really high tech...for the 90s. That means I can post my pictures to this blog as well. Here are some more good shots from the last couple of months:

• A view from the beach near the Hyatt in Kuantan, Malaysia

• Dusk from the Regency Club lounge at the Hyatt (my favorite picture I have taken thus far)

• A small island off of Tioman Island. We went snorkeling here.
  

• Buddha...in Sepia

• The Petronas Twin Towers at dusk from Traders hotel in Kuala Lumpur

Ok, I promise to write more. Once a week? Oooo don't know bout that. Maybe one every two weeks? I'll try my best. I haven't taken many pictures of Thailand yet, so once I get a nice collection going I'll be sure to post them. A friendly reminder here and there would be good to keep me on task. Until then, keep on keepin' on.

Cock Fight

"Why are those roosters in those wicker baskets?"
"They are for cock fighting..."

These words were said by the driver minutes before we pulled up to a Balinese Hindu Temple...not knowing what we were in store for. We needed to put on sarongs in order to enter the temple. The temple was beautifully decorated and made from volcanic rock. As we went further into the outdoor temple grounds we found a group of people gathering. It looked to be some sort of ceremony. I slowly approached an took this video:

It was a cock fight. Two aggressive rosters with blades on their feet were released at one another with money on the line...and a lot of it. There are two different words said in the video above, one meaning "I'll bet on this rooster" and the other meaning "I'll take that bet". At the end of the above video you can hear the chant change from the first to the second word.

The chanting stops and everyone in the crowd moves in to get as close to the action with about becoming a part of it. My eyes only saw the reaction of the crowd, but I did stick my arm up as far as I could to get over the hoards of people. This video truly shows the emotions of the gamblers with some breaks in the crowd where you can see the cock fight.

The loser was carried off in dismay by its owner and the winner...

To Kuala Lumpur

Well, I finally made it to KL (Kuala Lumpur) for the weekend. One thing I found out was that reindeer are male...and have testicles. All of the reindeer in the Pavilion Mall are shown with their man parts...every single one of them. The first video bares the story.

The other thing about KL is you have to represent your people. This guy was not a good spokesman for white people in general. This video was taken while the band was playing a very impressive drum solo. I think I saw this same guy at a Grateful Dead concert in the 70s.

This one gave me goosebumps. The legend I and many other young guitar players of all ages grew up worshiping was Jimi Hendrix. At the Kuala Lumpur Hard Rock, they had a ratty old Jimi Hendrix coat that looked like something you could pick up at a thrift store for 10 bucks. Regardless, I knew that my idol had worn this garment and all around me I could only here Voodoo Chile and all I could see was a burning guitar on stage with Jimi wearing this coat. OK, I was slightly intoxicated at the time.

Asia has not let me down in regards to surprises. We were walking around town and saw a sign that said "Fish Spa 38 ringgit for 20min" (38 Malaysian ringgit is about $12). I asked my friends they told me about this unique foot treatment. Immediately I decide that I had to try this out. The next day Coworker, Chinese Hair Dresser (my new close friend from Malaysia) and I decided to stop by the fish spa. Hundreds of small fish feast on the dead skin of your feet. The only hard part is getting over the laughing fit you will be in for the first 5 minutes or so. Very bizarre...but surprisingly enjoyable!

The King has Left the Building!

Work Hard and Play Hard

There has been a veteran guy from work who has come to the customer site. He also stayed in the same hotel with us. We ended up working long hard days and then eating and drinking well into the night. This was a nice revisit to the primary lesson taught at UW-Madison: Work Hard and Play Hard. Unfortunately for my 10 fans, I have left you in the dust...my apologies. I hope we can still be friends.

Veteran Coworker has now taken off. I decided to call it an early night and figured I might as well put together a post. A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks, so I decided to give some random thoughts and observations about Malaysia. Feel free to comment, e-mail or call me if you want to hear the story behind it:

• Saw a hornbill yesterday. Not my picture...

• Climbed up 15 flights of stairs about 4 times a day for the past week and a half.
• Ate at a fisherman's village restaurant with the Plant Manager.
• Had a full day of meetings in an overly air conditioned room. The CEO said he wanted to visit Canada in January. I told him he could borrow my coat if I was still in Malaysia.
• I had either a chipped tooth or a really thick fingernail in my fried rice a couple of days ago. Veteran Coworker had the other half of it...
• Every other dining experience has been spectacular. The food is great in Malaysia.
• A common greeting in Malaysia is something on the order of, "Good Morning, Have you taken your breakfast?" Or "Hello, have you had lunch yet?"
• Explained the impending doom of social security in the US to a Malaysian while eating spicy chili crab with my hands. Malaysians get to keep all of the retirement money they pay in as taxes and it is invested in the market...they couldn't understand the idea that we pay tax that gets paid out to other people and that this pool of money is not invested in anything.
• Went to the Sungai Pandan Waterfalls and Gua Charas twice (including once with College Roomate). The first two videos are the water falls and the Buddha caves (Gua Charas).
• Partied with the Indian Mafia. They are big Indian guys who wear pinkie rings and gold chains. I have a picture of one of them balancing a cocktail on their head.
• Can not tell the difference between Thai, Vietnamese, Filipino, Indonesian and Malaysians. I'm working on it!
• Played Purple Haze with the Filipino Band in the Hotel, twice. Also played mustang sally once.
• I now know a few words in Malay. Salemat Pagi = Good Morning. Terima Kasi = Thank You. Nasi = Rice. Ikan = Fish. Udang = Prawn. Football = Soccer.
• The Sultan of Pahang had his birthday party at the hotel I'm staying at. The last video is of the fireworks that were going off during the celebration. There were glowing chunks of firework shrapnel hitting the building I was in. I stay on the 5th floor and the fireworks were almost eye level.
• Family of 4 on a moped cruising down the highway.

There's more but I'm too tired to type. It was a good run with Veteran Coworker and
College Roommate! Now its time to rest up. Enjoy the videos!

The Religions of Malaysia

Malaysia is a country that has a very eclectic religious makeup. The largest groups of people in Malaysia are the Malay Muslims, the Chinese Buddhists and the Indian Hindus. My 2nd weekend here was the celebration of Diwali which is a celebration of lights for Indians. They celebrate on a night with a new moon and light candles. Diwali celebrates the triumph of good over evil. The first video is the Diwali decoration on the Mall's floor in Kuala Lumpur. The decoration is made out of colored rice.

Once we got back from KL, we decided to celebrate Diwali at our favorite Indian restaurant across the street from the Hotel. Renu and Shan own the establishment and have become family to me. They feed me well and every once in a while give me whiskey. My dinner was on the house this night!

Renu thought my video camera was a camera camera...little did she know!

Since the government of Malaysia is mainly held by the Muslim parties, there is always a large mosque in each of the state's capital cities (I am in Kuantan which is the capital of Pahang). Below is a video of the Mosque of Kuantan. Non-Muslims are not allowed inside. If you see a video of the inside, I either converted or snuck in.

Innocent Monkey?

Don't have anything to say about this one...still at a loss of words.

Purple Haze after the Storm

The 2nd week of my stay in Malaysia is underway. I survived my first week. It helps that the food is amazing, the people are incredibly friendly and the weather has been great...so far...

The people and food will hopefully stay conditionally good year round, but the weather is headed for a unfavorable turn. So far, we get a couple wild thunderstorms in the evenings (we had 3 last week). The first video I am posting is actually kind of embarrassing, but funny and awesome at the same time. I waited to see lightening then turned on my camera right after. With all the storms coming up I am hoping to capture both the lightening and the thunder in one clip.

Episode II is the house band at the hotel I am staying at. They are a Filipino band that have really impressed me. They play everything from local Malaysian pop songs, oldies like La Bamba, Top 40 US songs and songs by hard rock bands like Korn.

As a guitar player, I absolutely hate it when you can't hear a guitar solo. This clip of Episode II covering Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix was before I had a friendly chat with their sound guy. This clip would have been a lot better had I taken it after my sound advice!

Coworker and I watched them play Saturday night. The guitarist closed with this Eddie Van Halen-esque guitar solo complete with tapping and dive bombing the whammy bar (see picture to the left if you're not sure what a whammy bar is). This is another clip I am hoping to get before my time is up in Malaysia.

The singers are also something to brag about. There is one male vocalist and two female. The male vocalist was featured in the Jimi Hendix clip and the below clip features Vanna.

Into the Jungle

Well, I made it. The total flight time was 21 hr. In this time period, I briefly graced my presence in five cities. The fifth put me in the middle of the jungle...

My first stop after Chicago was Hong Kong. Who knew that the shortest distance between these two cities involved flying quite a bit north of both Alaska and Siberia? The roar of the four 747 jet engines must have covered the sound of sleigh bells.

After a 3 hr layover in Hong Kong I made it to Singapore at Midnight (the day after I left). This is all sorts of confusing for the body and mind. Singapore told me it is midnight, but in my mind, I thought it was noon. I only thought that I experienced jet lag before this experience...

After a night in Singapore, two flights later I ended up in my destination city of Kuantan. My layover was in Kuala Lumpur, but didn't get a chance to leave the airport. My coworker, hereafter known as Coworker, picked me up at the airport and we both decided a weekend trip to KL needs to be in the works.

There are other work crews in Thailand and Vietnam right now. Coworker and I will probably take a weekend trip to meet up with at least one of these other crews. Apparently there is an island off of Thailand that is incredible to visit.

I have videos of the hotel rooms I have stayed in, but I find the "outside the hotel room" environment to be much more descriptive of the location. There will definitely be video of wild monkeys, crazy scooter drivers and Chukka, the club which the Malaysian Sultan of Pahang frequents, in up and coming posts. The Sultan's palace is right down the street and Coworker is under the impression he "acquired" the hotel we are staying at.

For now, I'll leave you with these clips:

Going to Malaysia

Just found out yesterday that I will be heading to Malaysia in early October. The length of the assignment should be around 3-4 months which just happens to coincide exactly with their monsoon season...Average rainfall per month:

October - 10"
November - 16"
December - 24"
January - 11"

For comparison, Chicago averages 36" PER YEAR. On the bright side, the temperature will be in the 70s and 80s for the whole trip. I'll get a nice welcome back to the Midwest when I show up in late January and its a -40 windchill.

Also, I got Magic Jack to work on my computer, so people should be able to give me a call as long as the Internet is working. I am refraining from putting my number on this blog, but please contact me individually if you would like the number. The great thing is that it's a 262 area code, so its just a "local" call.

It was really bizarre going to Best Buy and shopping for a land line. I asked the sales rep, "Where are the non-cell phones?" He replied, "Most people don't think we sell home phones anymore."

Simon's First Sheepshead Game

Part of leaving is saying goodbye to everyone. I apologize to anyone I wasn't able to visit. In the next couple of years, I figured you wouldn't grow up as much as this little guy would.

I personally do not think that baby videos are fair game...especially in advertisement. The crappiest of products can be sold if the ad wizards incorporate a cute baby. I'll try to hold off myself...but I do have another 4 or 5 videos of Simon.

September 1st 2009

This is a first for me. I've never blogged or followed blogs. I sort of feel like Garth Algar after Wayne leaves the set and has no idea what hes doing. So please, bear with me.

I'm in Chicago and its about 9AM on the first of September in 2009. Last night it dipped below 50°F. There is no August I can remember that has been as cool.

I'm a 24 year old guy who is about to start traveling for work Mid September. Where to you ask? Your guess is as good as mine. I'll be sure to post that when I find out. The length of stay and location of my travels will be unknown anywhere from a couple hours to a couple weeks before my assignments. This is how I came up with the name, "The Impromptu Traveler".

My hopes for this site is for me to be able to share stories, pictures and videos with my friends and family while I embark on this adventure.

I would also like to formally endorse the following organizations/blogs/websites:

http://www.thebigcactus.blogspot.com

http://manbque.com

http://www.wauwatosanow.com/blogs/communityblogs/gas_pains.html