scottyallen.com

Well, I did it. I’m coming home. I bought my plane ticket today. I’m flying from Bangkok to Los Angeles on March 17, leaving at 5:55pm, and arriving at 6:30pm. A 35 minute flight. The weird thing is that I change planes in Taipei at 11:15pm. So I’ll be going into the future, and then back again. The date line is still very strange and novel to me.

I still don’t have the actual plane ticket, just a receipt and a little slip of airline computer gibberish. So it still doesn’t feel very real. I pick up the actual ticket on Monday evening.

I added some pictures from way back when I was in Borneo and Australia. You can find them here:

Fraser Island
Borneo

Enjoy! More recent pics are coming, when I make it home and have the time to scan them.

I thought I’d write a bit about what I’m up to as of late, since I really haven’t been journaling much since I hit Bangkok.

My life recently has been largely preoccupied with errands, mostly related to heading home. Yes, indeed, I’m really coming home. As the plan stands right now, I should be back in the old US of A around mid march.

I’ve just signed up for an intensive 10-day meditation course from March 5-March 16th. Incidentally, I’ll be out of email contact during that period. I’m a bit apprehensive, given that it’s a complete vow of silence in all forms for 10 days (except for 5 minutes with the hed teacher once a day about practical aspects of the meditation), 10+ hours a day mediation, with no reading, writing, or exercise allowed during the course. But I’m excited as well. Buddhist mediation is something I’ve been working with a bit on my own, and I’m eager to actually be taught the “proper” way, plus have an environment conducive to actually practising it in depth.

I’ll likely be flying home the day after the course finishes, as that’s conveniently the day my visa for Thailand finishes.

I got my photos developed for the last eon. They turned out magnificently. Unfortunately, I don’t really have the money to get them scanned, so I’m going to have to wait till I get home and can scan them myself.

I went up and saw Jane and her 5-year-old son Ian, and Jane’s sister and her family, and Jane’s mother up at Jane’s sister’s house in the suburbs of Bangkok. It was really fun seeing Jane and Ian again, and meeting everyone else. Plus I got a hot shower, and slept on a real couch. It was definite luxury. Jane’s sister Mary and her family live in a gated expat community, which was definitely interesting to see, but also definitely a bit strange. Both her sons play baseball at the local international school, and we went to their games. I felt like I was back in the states.

I’ve been spending too much time on the internet, some of which is productive, some not. The productive part has included trying to find short term work on the various freelance auction sites, such as scriptlance.com. My favorite project I’ve seen so far was this highly ironic one. Needless to say, not all the work is strictly above board.

I’ve been riding my bike in traffic a lot, which, when it’s not terrifying, is lots of fun. I better sell my bike soon before I die. It does seem significant that I’ve seen very few locals on bicycles in traffic. On a related note, I showed my bike to a swiss guy today who seemed really interested. He was going to check out the local bike shops this afternoon, and get back to me.

And… I think that’s it. Life isn’t that interesting for me lately, at least compartively.

I’ve had a blast the past couple of days trying to sell my bicycle. The majority of offers I’ve had have been from tuk-tuk drivers and street vendors, for ridiculously low sums of money. Most of them are simply joking around. One guy persistently offered me 500 baht (a little over $10). Another guy even offered to swap me the stack of block prints he was hawking for the bike. They were nice, but I don’t fancy being a Khao San street vendor for the rest of my life.

My basic tactic was to find a piece of cardboard and make a sign that said:

I then stood out on Khao San Rd. with my sign and my bike and a loud voice, calling out to likely looking buyers(the one’s that looked physically capable of pedalling a bicycle), “Hey man, buy a bicycle. It’s a good deal.” I got mostly smiles and shaken heads. Some people even simply ignored me, even when they walked right by me, and we were the only two people around. It gave me a taste for what the thai vendors must put up with.

But some people stopped to chat as well. I even got a few, “Ok, let’s have a story then. It says stories free.” I had the most fun with people who stopped to chat. I met the coolest travellers I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet otherwise.

I met a 65+ year-old man who drove a custom VW van from England to Singapore 15 years ago. I met a couple who just cycled around india for 2 month on local one-speeds with panniers made from rice sacks. I met an Indian guy who spent 5 years travelling around India and Nepal on a bike. I met a guy who was living in Bangkok, living off the income from the house he was renting out in San Francisco. I met a Frenchman, who spoke no english, who lives in the Pyrenees with a heard of 50 cows, who I spoke French with for at least an hour and a half, who ended up inviting me to come stay with him if I ever go to France.

Most intriguingly, perhaps, I met a guy who is also named Scot, who owns a salmon fishing boat in Alaska. He sort of offhandedly offered me a deckhand position this season (starts in june, lasts about 6 weeks), if I’m interested. I have to say, I’m definitely interested. The pay sounds good, and the whole experience sounds incredibly interesting. Plus I’d get to go to Alaska again, which sounds great.

Today was my first attempt at trying to sell my bicycle. I knew it would be interesting, but I didn’t know it would be this interesting.

First thing, I had to clean all the mud off it. I asked around as to where I might be able to wash it. Some sharp person suggested a car wash at the gas station. Only the one that I knew of is closed on Sundays.

So I rode around for a good hour, looking for another one. I finally found one, and they washed it for me, though I helped with the gears and chain. It came away looking nearly new.

Then to sell it. I decided I’d like to get $90 ideally, but would easily settle for $80. $90 is about 3700 baht. The first thing I did was to go around to the various stands with signs saying “We buy everything”. In past expereience, I’ve found them to be confrontational and aggressive in their bargaining tactics, always criticizing the item in question, and offering ridiculously low prices.

This time was no different. I got offers ranging from 500 baht to 2000 baht. I did get one enthusiastic offer of 300 baht ($70 USD), to the point the buyer had the money in his hand, thrust towards me, waiting for me to take it. I was tempted to take it. But I’m glad I didn’t.

The next step was to see if I could sell it to a traveller.

An aversion to writing lately.

Two days back in Thailand now. It’s interesting that a place which once represented the exotic, the unknown, the adventerous, has come to symbolize luxury, comfort, and the first world for me. Thailand is 7-11, real gas stations, paved roads, and safe food. It’s airconditioned coaches and cheap email and good fruit. It’s people that speak english.

It’s nice to come back to a country I’ve already been to. So many times going to a new country feelslike starting all over again, learning a new language, new customs, new food, and new ways of living your life, and everything that entails. As exciting as it is discovering a new place, it’s discouraging as well, leaving the previous country just as you were starting to have figured it out, realizing you have to relearn everything anew.

But it’s also surprising how much you forget about the country you left in such a short time. Even now, Cambodia is fading fast in my memory, and I feel compelled to record all the little things I took for granted and never wrote about.

I had to stop today to fix 2 broken spokes. Must have broken them in Cambodia, and just now noticed how warped my rear wheel was. I found a shop where a guy with one food did an expert job replacing them and retruing the wheel. He even had a real truing stand. Fancy that.