Chiang Mai Part II

As with my last post, I have to apologize for going so long between updates. Between working at Citylife and spending time with FFA friends, I have had zero time for anything else. The fact that I remembered to jot down notes of what I've been up to is impressive to me.

Let's backtrack to three Mondays ago, when Lindsey, my fellow magazine intern, and I went to the night safari outside of town to do some preliminary investigation on a possible story. The story didn't happen as there were other higher priority things to be done, so it really was just a trip to see some exotic animals at night. I felt bad that these animals were in confined places (relative to the amount of space they would have in the wild), but was kind of delighted by the sight of giraffes, especially when they walked over to the tram and stuck their heads in. Not surprisingly, the animals are completely domesticated and associate the night safari tram with food. I would post some photos, except my camera totally sucks in low-light conditions and all my shots were blurry. This entire trip has been great for exposing the weaknesses in my camera setup. When I get back to the States, I need to upgrade my body (possibly to the new Canon 70D) and my lens (to something with a longer zoom).

The following day, there were festivities in town for the king's upcoming birthday, which is a major deal in Thailand. All the Thais I've talked to really revere him; he's been the face of the nation while it has grown and become more developed and successful in recent decades. Honestly, I don't know much about the man or his politics, but he has a nice grandfatherly look, so, sure, I like him too. Plus, on the 1000-baht bill, there's a sketch of him with a camera around his neck, so clearly he's a good guy.

The parade had Thais from all walks of life, lots of traditional dress, lots of colors, and, oh yeah, a couple elephants in downtown Chiang Mai. No big deal. After the parade was the national anthem (also a very big deal here) and then a few hours of music and dance performances.


The next day was the sixth annual Smile Party, a late-night party by the lake that I'd describe as "Diet Full Moon". Some local bands played on the main stage, DJs spun for a crowded dance area, people lounged on the ground and smoked shisha, and, like any good outdoor farang party in Thailand, there was the requisite fire poi and neon face/body painting. Unlike the real Full Moon, no one got overly drunk or too shitty to the point of pissing in the lake or passing out on the ground. Maybe white people in Thailand are capable of partying responsibly!


The following day was the actual king's birthday, a national holiday in Thailand, so we all had off from work. After sleeping off the previous night and watching some of the birthday ceremonies on TV with the FFA staff, I grabbed my camera and wandered the city for a while. Normally, when I go to a new place, this is one of the first things I do so I can get my bearings and get a feel for the place, but with everything that was going on, I just didn't have time. During my afternoon ambling, I came across a unique place that a friend had told me about a week or two prior: the Chiang Mai Women's Correctional Institution. They have a cafe, shop, and massage center that is staffed by female ex-prisoners who are trying to re-enter society. The massage portion is so busy that you have to make a reservation, which is unheard of in Thailand. I was able to get the last spot of the day and treated myself to a very nice foot massage, made even better than usual with all the lights turned down low and a warm, fuzzy blanket thrown across me. The man next to me passed out two-thirds of the way through and started snoring; a woman behind me legitimately yelped (twice!) during the more active parts of her Thai massage, causing all two dozen people (employees and clients) to burst out laughing. On a serious note, it's a great place and a really worthy cause and I can't recommend it enough. Go early in the day though; I went over there yesterday around 2:00 and they were already full for the rest of the afternoon.

One last interesting note about the king's birthday: alcohol sales are prohibited for the day, so bars and restaurants can get in trouble if the "boys in brown" decide to pay a visit, unless the place pays off the police (don't forget, this is Thailand!). This whole situation is really funny to me. Aren't birthdays the days where you consume the most alcohol?! I was able to get a couple drinks at a cute guesthouse pub in old city because I was there around happy hour, but the bartender had to stop serving at 6:00 out of fear of the police.

After the usual Friday night activities, including some very aggressive fun at a bar on Loi Kroh that has beer pong (The Playhouse), I spent a good deal of my Saturday afternoon at CNXP, a tech/music/photo conference that will hopefully become an annual event in Chiang Mai. It was portrayed as a much smaller (and obviously much more Thai) version of SXSW and though I've never been to SXSW, I'd say that the description is probably apt. Highlights included seeing a homemade 3D printer in action and a filmmaker's drone that can produce some really stunning Hollywood-worthy HD footage. That night, I wandered back to the aforementioned cute guesthouse pub and spent about six hours with some new friends, eating, drinking, smoking shisha, listening to music, and talking about life while sitting on a patio under the stars. It's funny how often little experiences like that will happen here.

The next day I wandered the city some more before heading off to a Thai vegetarian cooking class. I've never had any interest in taking a cooking class because I wouldn't be able to eat most of the food, but once I stumbled upon May Kaidee's class on TripAdvisor I didn't have any more excuses, so I signed up. I know reading about food is not that exciting, so I'll keep it brief: I was the only student, we made 14 dishes in 3 1/2 hours, everything was incredibly delicious, and my appreciation for Thai food has increased immensely now that I see how simple and easy it is to prepare it. Given that I was the only student, there were leftovers for days. Also: pumpkin fucking hummus. I'm really excited about cooking lots of Thai food once I settle back down in the States.


The next several days were filled with going-away festivities for those volunteers who were leaving Chiang Mai, a very entertaining trip to a fish spa, another birthday celebration, more wandering around old city, going to the hospital to visit a couple friends who had some bad food poisoning, and another day off from work due to another holiday (Constitution Day).

One of the more interesting stories of the week was numerous sightings of a Hollywood movie shoot that has been going strong in Chiang Mai for a few weeks now. The film is called The Coup and stars Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan, both of whom have been seen around town at various places (Owen more so). On Tuesday and Thursday night of last week, the production built a set and shot various action sequences on the streets around my FFA guesthouse. Some of the Tuesday night shots were directly in front of the guesthouse, so my roommates and I grabbed beers and watched from our balcony for a while as the cast and crew worked right below us.

(Editor's note: the film was later renamed to "No Escape", probably to avoid controversy since a real military coup happened in the country about five months after this blog post was originally published.)


The Thursday night shoot was a bit down the street from the guesthouse and more action-oriented. When I came back from the bars around 1:30, I was greeted by multiple takes of Owen's stunt double running down the street and out of sight with his on-screen family, followed by half a minute of muffled noises, followed by a gunshot, followed by a man yelling in pain. Around 2:00 I went to bed, but was kept awake by gunshots and the sounds of Pierce Brosnan's screams. If I had a dime, amirite? I finally dozed off, but a little while later, maybe around 4:00, both my roommate and I were awoken by a spectacular noise that sounded like an explosion, which I later learned was a car crash scene. Let me tell you, that's one hell of a sound to jolt you out of sleep. After that, the workers tore down the set while listening to loud Thai rock music, which kept me up even longer. It was definitely one of the more interesting ways I've lost sleep in my life, but I'll allow it this one time.

The weekend was filled with many more going-away trips to bars and restaurants and even a flag football game at CMU (this CMU, not that CMU). My one-month internship completed, I handed over the keys to the FFA guesthouse and moved into a new place by myself. Even though I had spent the first 3 1/2 months of the trip traveling by myself, it felt weird to be alone again after spending four weeks in a setting that felt a lot like freshman year of college. It might be a little while before I'm fully used to this style of traveling again.

Overall, the internship was everything I wanted it to be and I'm immensely happy I did it. I was able to contribute as a photographer (and work on my photo editing skills a bit) and also as a website consultant, though not really as a web developer. My responsibilities as a member of the web team ended up being more research-oriented and my biggest contribution there was researching various aspects of WordPress that Citylife will need to understand before overhauling their web presence. Though the internship is officially done, I will hopefully continue to contribute to the magazine and the website in a freelance capacity by submitting photos and/or stories as my creativity allows.

While reflecting upon my brief time working in Thailand, I realized that I had learned two things:

1. I don't like doing photography as a job. I had already suspected this, but I wanted to test the theory and this internship was a perfect way to do that. I enjoy photography only when it's on my terms and I will keep it as just a hobby.
2. I really enjoyed working for a magazine that has a significant "current events" flavor. I'm always interested in new places, events, and stories; with my friends back home and my new friends here, I often take the lead on finding new places to go or things to do. Working for a magazine that keeps its finger on the pulse of a city was a very nice match. I don't know if or how this will play into my future career plans, but it's definitely given me something to think about.

On a more personal note, it was really great to work in a foreign country to observe what was the same and what was different. Normally mundane details like commuting and communicating with coworkers were sometimes more difficult, but the daily culture exchange made it worthwhile. I will definitely be staying in touch with several of the Citylife folks for the rest of my time here.

And with that, the next chapter of Chiang Mai begins. I've got plans for some fun things to do here, but I'm also looking forward to having some free time for myself. I've been terrible about exercising and reading these last couple months and I'd like to get back to a point where I'm doing both regularly. I have lots of other things up my sleeves as well, so stay tuned!

Full photo albums:

• King's Birthday Parade
• May Kaidee Cooking Class
• "The Coup" Movie Shoot

Chiang Mai Part I

Upon arriving at the Chiang Mai airport, Omar and I said our (temporary) goodbyes and parted ways, me to the Friends For Asia guesthouse and him to a hostel. The rest of that weekend was set aside for meeting the FFA staff and fellow volunteers and various orientation activities, such as Thai language lessons, lectures on culture, safety, and visas, and a big lunch for everyone to meet each other. After the lunch on Saturday, we visited a couple temples in the city (see my previous post for pictures of those).

The real treat of the weekend though was the lantern festival, or should I say festivals (plural). It can get a bit confusing because both festivals are celebrated at the same time and involve similar activities - fireworks and the release of lanterns with candles inside - but are actually separate events. Yi Peng is associated with releasing the lanterns that float away into the sky (khom loi), whereas Loi Krathong involves sending decorated candles (krathong) floating down the river.

These festivals have been on my radar since August, so I had been planning on going to Chiang Mai in mid-November for many months now. When I applied to Friends For Asia, I picked my start date such that I would arrive in town on the same weekend as the festivals. Not surprisingly, the volunteers were able to easily convince the FFA staff to forego the orientation activities previously planned for Saturday night and turn us loose to enjoy Yi Peng instead. The biggest and most popular release of khom loi occurs at Mae Jo University, where thousands of people arrive to send their bad luck and misfortunes floating away into the inky black sky.

Truth be told, the festivities at Mae Jo are a logistical nightmare. The traffic to and from the campus is terrible and the massive crowds are constantly forcing their way through various chokepoints and narrow walkways that were never intended for that many people. The actual release is over in a minute or two, but the overhead of being there in person is many, many hours and lots of shuffling through throngs of people.

That said, it is completely and undoubtedly worth it. As an adult, I feel like I've seen so much in my life that there couldn't possibly be anything left that could legitimately fill me with amazement or wonder. For the first time in many years, possibly decades, I witnessed and felt absolute magic. The sight of the sky lighting up with softly lit and slowly rising khom loi was nothing less than awe-inspiring. As short of a moment as it was, it truly was magical. Even after the initial release was over and the lanterns drifted away, the sky was filled with a gently moving mass of light, like a river of stars flowing dreamily through the night.


The following day we had some more orientation and another language lesson, then it was off to the Sunday market to taste lots of small Thai bites, including fried bugs. I opted to remain an observer and photographer.


That night was one of the nights of Loi Krathong, so a few of us loaded up on street food and walked down to the Ping River to watch the festivities. There wasn't a singular fantastical moment like Yi Peng, but rather a sustained release of awesomeness that lasted for hours. There were khom loi, krathong, lights, fireworks, lots of street food and vendors, and a parade. All the lights and the immense amount of fireworks made the river feel like a warzone. New Year's here is going to be flat-out ridiculous.


The following day (Monday) I started my internship at Citylife magazine, but I'll talk more about that below.

The week was filled with a decent amount of work and a whole hell of a lot of evening fun. Chiang Mai is a place where several forces combine to create a really amazing city. The main force is the constant influx of travelers, which means the city always has people from all parts of the world who are always looking to let loose. The city parties every night. And I really mean every night. It has taken a lot of restraint on my part to keep the partying to less than seven days a week. The Friends For Asia guesthouse is in a very active part of the city and the city feels so alive after the sun goes down.

Consequently, there are a lot of businesses that cater to the tourists and expats, which means the city is filled with restaurants, bars, clubs, massage places, hotels, shops, night (and day) markets, and live music. Some places are frequented by mainly farang (Westerners a.k.a. white people), some by mainly Thais, and some by a mixture of both. On top of all this, some very traditional components of Thai culture exist; the city is dotted with old temples, Buddha statues, and incense, and it's not unusual at all to see monks in orange robes walking around town. Like other places in Thailand, some of the most interesting visuals are when the ancient and modern worlds collide, such as seeing an ancient temple directly next door to a chic restaurant. No big deal.

The uniqueness and undeniable cool factor of Chiang Mai hit me within a few hours of arriving. As I walked around, getting my bearings and the lay of the land, I came upon a temple that offered foot massages (one hour for $4). I sat in a chair as a super-smiley, happy grandfather gave me a foot massage as monks walked around behind him, sweeping up leaves that had fallen in front of the golden temple that was looming over me. I think that was the moment I knew I'd be spending quite a lot of time here.

Fast-forward to the weekend. After a delightful and very long Friday night that included unlimited wine tasting with Omar and some incredible Burmese food courtesy of The Swan, a bunch of the volunteers went to an elephant park the next day. Besides riding elephants, we also rode bamboo rafts down the river, went on a zipline (yes, singular), trekked through the woods a bit, swam in a stream next to a few small waterfalls, and visited a market of some of the hilltribe people. The entire operation was manufactured and well-run (read: super touristy) and the non-elephant attractions felt a little forced, but overall it was a good day. An elephant's hide feels exactly like how I expected it to, so I kicked my sandals off and gave myself a little foot massage on his back as we rode around. Feeding our elephant bananas and sugar cane was super cool, though he was a fussy eater, so when we tried to feed him a banana, he would throw it on the ground and demand sugar cane instead.


Sunday was a lovely lazy day, perfect for catching up on sleep, which was desperately needed; I think I woke up at 2:00 pm, which I haven't done since probably college. In the evening, a few of us went to a Christian pep rally life festival in the Chiang Mai soccer stadium that featured a keynote by Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham. I was there with my fellow magazine intern Lindsey doing a story for CityNews (a sister site to Citylife); as she interviewed Thais about being Christian instead of Buddhist, I walked around and snapped photos.

The following morning, partially out of logistics and partially because it was my birthday, a few other volunteers and I set off before sunrise to visit Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a mountain temple just a little bit outside of town. We had decided the day before to go at sunrise because the temple is a massively popular tourist attraction. Sure enough, as we were leaving the temple around 8:00, the minivans and coaches full of tourists started showing up and whatever tranquility we had was dashed.

The temple is very beautiful, filled with gold, Buddha statues, bells of all sizes, and monks. It was really pleasant to enjoy the relative peace and quiet in the early morning while the number of monks still outnumbered the number of tourists. Speaking of the monks, one of the funniest things about them was their use of cell phones, both for taking pictures (for those who were visiting the temple) and for talking.


That night, a good number of the volunteers came out to celebrate my birthday via the usual Chiang Mai shenanigans: dinner at one of my favorite local cafes (The Cat House), followed by live music at a jazz bar, then barhopping until the early morning. Dinner was quite memorable because the restaurant blew a fuse while cooking dinner, leaving us mostly in the dark. However, since the kitchen appliances were gas and not electric, the staff was able to continue cooking by candlelight and slowly brought out everyone's (very delicious) dinner. I think "Happy Birthday" was sung three times and Jacky (the incredibly sweet and adorable owner) even brought out a pancake with ice cream and candles in it. She totally won me over that evening and I've been back to Cat House almost every day since, usually for her awesome (and cheap!) breakfasts and smoothies.

The rest of the birthday evening included lots of free drinks and shots courtesy of FFA friends, so let's just say that everything after 1:00 in the morning is a little fuzzy. When I pulled an Irish exit at the last club we went to, I had no idea where I was in the city, so I haggled with a tuk-tuk driver until I got (what I thought was) a reasonable price considering I was about to fall over. It was literally a thirty-second ride; I was basically around the corner from the guesthouse. I begrudgingly paid the man, cursed under my breath, and then faceplanted in my bed.

The phenomenal hangover the next day went until about 2:00 in the afternoon, when I could finally eat solid food again. I consider it a point of pride though that I made it into work right on time, even if I was a pretty worthless employee for half the day. Part of being an adult is living with the consequences of your partying. On a sincere note, it was a really great birthday and I feel blessed to be surrounded by a lot of wonderful people.

A few days later, about twenty of us had Thanksgiving dinner at Art Cafe, a local restaurant that caters to tourists. Their coverage of the customary Thanksgiving fare was pretty good: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, (canned) cranberry, bread and butter, and carrots with dressing and raisins. Actually, I left out the best part: the pumpkin pie, of which I ate two and a half slices. The food was good (not great, but I'm not complaining), but I think I derived as much pleasure from the food as I did from introducing some non-Americans to our traditions. Dinner was followed by the usual nightlife follies, cut a bit short so I could head home and Skype with my family during their Thanksgiving (2:00 am in Chiang Mai = 2:00 pm on the east coast).

Saturday ended up being pretty lazy, which was very much needed after all the week's events. In between breakfast, lunch, and working for a bit in the afternoon (Citylife has a monthly deadline crunch), I wandered around old city until I found a place to get a much-needed haircut. I ended up stumbling upon a fantastic spot (Joy's Salon) and Joy gave me one of the best haircuts I've ever had, plus a wash before and after, plus about ten minutes of head massage, all for $9. I gave the man working the register a 100 baht (about $3) tip and he emitted an audible gasp (tipping is a bit rare in Thailand), which brought me a little bit of extra joy (pun intended).

Sunday morning, while fighting through the haze of a solid hangover, my roommate and I were picked up at about 9:30 for our day's ziplining adventure, courtesy of Dragon Flight. Half an hour later, we were driving up the side of a mountain on a winding jungle road, windows down so we could all breathe in the cool air. After joining up with a group of the most stereotypical-looking gap-year Southeast Asia travelers (Chang and Red Bull tank tops and lots of cigarettes), we spent the next few hours ziplining, trekking, and "abseiling" through the cool, serene jungle. I put "abseiling" in quotes because we didn't rappel down a vertical surface, but instead were hooked up to a pulley system and just flat-out dropped about 40 feet. Think of it as a watered-down version of bungee jumping. Throughout the day, I had the humorous thought that the local villagers must be amused (or annoyed) that the serenity of their mountain home is interrupted every morning by the far-off screams of adventure-seeking Westerners.

Not surprisingly, the staff (rural, blue-collar Thai men) were incredibly friendly and fun and really made the experience. After the ziplining was over, we sat down to a massive, delicious Thai feast prepared by some of the local women. When I say feast, I mean it; I'm pretty sure everyone had enough food for two or even three people: an entire plate of pad thai, an entire plate of rice, a bowl of steamed veggies, a bowl of coconut curry veggies, a plate of fruit, a bowl of soup, water, and coffee. We gorged ourselves at outdoor tables next to a peaceful stream that runs through the jungle. Oh, and did I mention the puppy that was running around and trying to play with the big dogs? The excursion was incredibly fun and a perfect way to treat a hangover; it's hard to be lethargic or tired or lazy when you're flying through the jungle with quasi-crazy Thais cracking inappropriate jokes and laughing maniacally.

Well, I think that brings me up to the present in terms of social stuff. This is making me realize I need to not go so long between posts, but that's easier said than done, as I have had zero free time between working, sightseeing, and going out on the town with my new friends.

Speaking of working, here's a quick summary of what I've been up to at Citylife:

• I've gone out a few times to take photos for stories that will appear in Citylife or on CityNews. Being a published photographer is a really cool feeling and I was all smiles at my desk on Thanksgiving, the day the Abundant Life Festival article was posted on the website.
• Citylife is looking to overhaul their ancient website by migrating everything to WordPress. As a part of that process, I've been asked to provide some guidance on their Google Analytics stats, choosing a new hosting provider, and making improvements to website in general. I've found that tech knowledge I consider routine could be potentially revolutionary in this kind of setting. Let's be real: a local magazine for a mid-sized city in Thailand is very far removed from the bleeding edge technology I was used to hearing about on a daily basis in Silicon Valley. I am very much enjoying the opportunity to pass some of this knowledge on to the good folks at Citylife.
• I've made a couple very small fixes to the CityNow website where I had noticed some functionality was completely broken. It doesn't make sense to make any significant changes since the site will be completely redone anyway.
• Most recently, I experienced the crunch of the monthly deadline as I helped out with taking the articles that appear in the print magazine and adopting them for the website. The two mediums are different enough that this process can't be automated; an actual human being has to go through each article, adjusting the layout, pictures, text, and hyperlinks so that the article can be appropriately displayed in a web browser. This required some extra hours over this past weekend, which I actually enjoyed in some sick and perverted way. It felt nice to be working on something important (and fun! and local!) where my contributions were legitimately needed.

So that wraps up my first two weeks in Chiang Mai! Other than battling travelers' tummy issues again (this is the fifth time now), everything is amazing. Even dealing with my most recent health issues was pretty easy, as anyone can buy antibiotics over the counter in Thailand without a prescription. Yesterday I left work a little early, popped into a pharmacy, told the pharmacist the name of the drug I had been taking, and $12 later I walked out with my medicine. Much cheaper and infinitely easier than American health care. Later in the evening, I treated myself to two hours of full-body massages (in the name of nursing myself back to health, of course), which cost me $15.

I love this country.

Full photo albums:

• Loi Krathong and Yi Peng
• Vichit Studio
• Elephant Park
• Abundant Life Festival
• Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

KL, Phuket, and Chiang Mai

Here's a quick update because it's been two weeks since I've written anything and it could be a while before I have time to write anything more.

Kuala Lumpur

I flew from Langkawi back to KL for a few days to take care of some errands, the most important of which was getting a 60-day tourist visa for Thailand. I slightly fouled up the application process my first time at the Thai embassy - I didn't have a photocopy of my passport - and the embassy was closed the following day because of a national holiday, so I stayed in Malaysia for a couple days longer than I had intended. I ended up doing a little shopping and enjoying the nightlife a bit more to fill the time, including a pretty fun rap and hip-hop party called "Ghetto Heaven" that happens every Tuesday night at Zouk. Tough life, I know.

I thought I needed a second Japanese Encephalitis shot, since that's what I was told when I received the first shot a month ago. However, after some confusion, paper rustling, and a phone call to who knows, the doctor at the clinic informed me that the shot I had already received was of the 1-shot variety, not the 2-shot variety, so I didn't need a second shot. I'm still a bit concerned that there was so much uncertainty regarding what shot I had actually received. On the outside, I was nodding and listening, but on the inside, I was wondering: "What the hell did you inject me with lady?!"

Also, given that I had some free time and access to an extremely fast and stable Internet connection (a rarity in these parts), I overhauled my online photo portfolio. I pruned the collection a bit, added the online-worthy photos that I've taken on this Asia trip, re-edited some of the older photos now that my Lightroom skills are a bit better, and, most importantly, migrated everything to a proper 500px account. I feel like a real photographer now!

Here's the link: https://500px.com/kylegetz

Phuket

Upon flying to Phuket, I met up with Omar, a friend from San Francisco, who is on holiday in Southeast Asia. We spent the weekend in Patong, mostly to enjoy the city's world-famous (read: infamous) nightlife. I'm not going to transcribe anything that happened that weekend; you'll just have to use your imagination.

After the weekend in Patong, we took a boat to Koh Yao, a pair of small islands about halfway between Phuket and Krabi that are known for being very quiet and peaceful. It's a good thing this was the plan all along because I came down with some kind of illness and spent the next three days almost entirely in bed with a high fever. Koh Yao is a great place to do nothing though, so while I'm bummed that I didn't get to go cycling or kayaking or see James Bond Island, I'm grateful I had the time to rest before Chiang Mai. I may try to make it back to Koh Yao at some point for a do-over.

Chiang Mai

Some backstory is necessary for the Chiang Mai trip. For some time now, I've been planning to go to Chiang Mai in November to experience the two lantern festivals, so I also started researching volunteer opportunities there (of which there are many). I settled on a volunteer organization called Friends For Asia, which runs volunteer projects in several countries, including Thailand. They have a lot of great projects and I applied to a few, eventually getting accepted to be an intern at Citylife, the premiere English-language magazine of northern Thailand. My job responsibilities may include web design, graphic design, photography, layout, and writing.

Seeking out an unpaid internship in the middle of a holiday may seem borderline crazy, but I have my reasons:

• After a few months of very free-form, unscheduled living, I was craving some structure/routine.
• Some of the job responsibilities (i.e. web development) match up with my professional experience and some (i.e. photography) match up with my personal interests.
• This is a perfect opportunity to try a different and more creative career without actually committing to it. I can extend the internship on a week-by-week basis if I want; otherwise, it's over after one month, which is enough time to develop an opinion on whether this kind of work could pan out long-term.
• This is also a perfect chance to get some insights and exposure to a foreign culture that wouldn't normally be available to a tourist. I will have a commute, coworkers, a boss, meetings, business lunches, happy hours, and all the other normal things that working folks around the world have. I'm really interested in the prospect of having those things in a foreign culture.

I'm actually writing all of this at my desk on my first day here since there isn't much for me to do yet, which goes to show that first days everywhere are sort of the same. I'm heading out tomorrow to take photos of a new art gallery and a new shopping mall for a couple spreads in the next issue of the magazine, so I think that things will be ramping up very quickly.

The orientation activities for all the new volunteers this past weekend included a tour of a couple temples in the city, so in the interest of not having a picture-less post, I'll include some photos:


More on the lantern festivals later.

Full photo album: Wat Chedi Luang

Langkawi

On a hot and bright Monday morning in Penang, I caught the 8:30 Langkawi "fast ferry", a simpler alternative to flying or taking the bus. As I learned that morning, the term "fast ferry" is a euphemism for "massive speedboat". A bit before 9:00, about a hundred travelers boarded the boat and as we left the dock, everyone was in high spirits, looking out the windows, pointing, laughing, smiling, and taking lots of photos. However, the overall mood of the boat's occupants was about to change very quickly.

As we left Penang and accelerated to full speed, the bluish skies turned a dark, ominous grey and storm clouds extended in every direction as far as the eye could see. The sea, though still a very pretty shade of teal, grew choppy and the waves increased in size, replacing the smooth ride out of the dock with rolling, swaying, bucking, and jumping, for lack of proper nautical terms. Within twenty minutes, everyone's good spirits and smiles had faded into pale, sweaty expressions of worry as the gentle, sleep-inducing rocking we experienced at the outset transitioned into a stomach-churning aquatic roller coaster. The giggling of tourists snapping photos of the harbor turned into barely-stifled screams as the boat repeatedly launched off the waves and violently slammed back into the water.

Did I mention this ride is three hours? Yup, and that's on a good weather day.

The captain kept the boat moving forward as fast as it would go and the crew seemed unfazed by it all, which isn't a surprise since they probably make this trip a dozen times a week. The crewmembers tried to smile and joke and generally lighten the mood as they offered some kind of menthol-smelling chest rub to those passengers already feeling queasy. This rub was used in vain by an increasing number of folks until they started grabbing at the barf bags hand over fist. At about this time, I popped my earbuds in and cranked up some recently downloaded Moby tunes as loud as I could to block out the symphony of hacking, dry heaving, and vomiting that was playing in glorious surround sound in the cabin.

Did I mention this particular ferry ride is known as the "vomit comet"? Yup, and this ride wasn't even during monsoon season.

I have to hand it to my stomach; it did very, very well for me that day. I was more anxious than anything else as recollections of news stories of Southeast Asian ferry disasters bubbled up through my thoughts and my imagination constructed a chaotic, terror-filled drowning scenario set to a beautiful and moving Moby score. Maybe I shouldn't have had that coffee just before getting on the boat; I blame the caffeine for my anxiety. In the end, I closed my eyes and practiced my yoga breathing for three hours and made it through just fine. But holy shit, what a way to start the trip to Langkawi! I'm very happy that my next transportation adventure will be a flight to Thailand rather than a boat ride.

Once in Pantai Cenang, the main beach on the island, I walked around for a while to get the lay of the land (after the rain stopped, of course). The area has a really nice feel to it, like a small tourist town with a sprinkling of beach culture, though this feeling is admittedly a bit diluted because of the ominous clouds that appear on the horizon every day. Daily rain is pretty much guaranteed; sometimes it's a drizzle, sometimes it's a violent storm. Looking at the weather forecast for this part of the world is a waste of time as it always says "chance of thunderstorms" for every hour of every day. But when it's not raining, the weather here is really pleasant: perfect ambient temperature, sunny, and partly cloudy. The "partly cloudy" part isn't great for sunbathing, but it's perfect for outdoor activities in a place where you break a sweat simply getting out of the taxi.

Being an increasingly popular tourist destination, there is the usual smattering of restaurants, bars, shops, massage places, and tour agencies. If you can believe it, the diversity in Langkawi is even greater than the rest of Malaysia, as there are more European and Middle Eastern tourists than elsewhere in the country. Clearly catering to the latter, there are quite a few Arabic/Middle Eastern/Mediterranean/Iranian restaurants, which brings the overall restaurant variety up to a fairly impressive level. I will need to be incredibly active here just to make sure I don't gain any weight from all the delicious food I will be shoving into my face. The food options here definitely rival George Town. And since Langkawi is duty-free, alcohol is significantly cheaper here than the rest of the country. Beers at some of the beach bars are less than $2.

Sidebar about the international tourists: After traveling to many Malaysian tourist destinations over the last month, I've noticed that every group of Asian tourists falls into one of these categories: a couple, a group of couples, a group of girls, or the occasional family. I've never seen a solo Asian traveler, which I don't find that unusual, but I've also never seen a group of guys, which I find really odd. Don't Asian guys ever get together with their buddies and plan a trip? I have no explanation or theory for this; it's just an observation. Feel free to educate me in the comments section.

After a day of rest and research, I booked a few activities through Dev's Adventure Tours: a kayaking tour through the mangrove forest, a cycling tour through the countryside, and a guided trek through the rainforest.

Though I had never been in a kayak before (just canoes and rowboats), the kayaking tour was really spectacular and easily my favorite activity of the three. For about three or four hours, we rowed the river and carefully navigated the tributaries snaking through the mangrove forest. Once we entered the tributaries from the main river, our surroundings became very quiet; the only sounds were our paddles in the water. The water, forest, and limestone cliffs were beautiful and we saw a variety of birds, monkeys (including one that fell out of a tree and into the water), and even a viper coiled on a tree branch. The coolest moment by far though was watching some of the boat operators feed Brahminy Kites (very similar to eagles) by throwing chicken and chicken fat out into the water from the boats. After the boats left and a gentle drizzle started coming down, I slowly rowed up to the feeding area and floated for a while, watching the kites circle overhead, swoop down, skim the water, and grab at the food with their talons. Some of them were coming down maybe only fifteen or twenty feet away; it was a really cool, peaceful moment, especially with the sounds of the rain on the river.

After finishing the kayaking tour, we all went back to the dock at the floating restaurant, had a Thai-style lunch, and briefly visited the fish farm, where they breed some massive, aggressive fish. The real highlight was petting the sting rays, which I didn't realize are actually docile, curious creatures. Their tops are a little rough, almost like a cat's tongue, but their undersides are silky smooth.

Both the cycling tour and the jungle tour were the next day and, like the kayaking tour, had an emphasis on discovering the local flora and fauna while being moderately active. Unlike the cycling tour I went on in Bali, which was all downhill, this cycling tour required actual effort, though still not as much as I would have preferred. The tour took us through the countryside and small villages, including stops at a rubber tree farm, a buffalo park, where we ate buffalo ice cream and buffalo mozzarella, and a local market where we bought some fruit (but nothing very exotic).

The jungle tour was in the evening and included sea cucumbers, bats, various trees (and their culinary or medicinal properties), and the occasional "Move quickly up here, there are black termites everywhere!" warning from our tour guide. We saw a lot of black termites (which can sting you with their acid) and decent-sized termite mounds. After emerging from the jungle a bit after twilight, we walked around the neighboring resort, watching flying squirrels and flying lemurs climb and glide from tree to tree, including one that flew right over all our heads. If those animals weren't cool enough, check this: they don't have eyelids (which means their eyes are always open to watch for predators), so they clean their eyes by licking them with their tongues. How cool is that?

After a day of rest and a day of rain, I ventured out to two of the more popular sites on the island: Panorama Langkawi (a.k.a. the cable car) and Telaga Tujuh, a series of connected pools at the top of a waterfall. Telaga Tujuh was significantly less crowded, probably because of the 300-step climb that is enough of an obstacle for out-of-shape tourists. The views were really nice and the pools were pretty peaceful, which was certainly not the case at Panorama Langkawi, as I learned later. The cable car is part of the "Oriental Village", a sort of mini-Disneyland with lots of annoying rides and shops and other methods to separate tourists from their money. Large coaches came through constantly and the place was overrun with Muslim schoolchildren. Just my luck that I picked the same day to go as schools in the area, though I have a suspicion that it's like that everyday there. The cable car ride was fun and there are great views of the mountains and valleys below, but once I made it to the top and snapped a few photos (none of which I even kept), I wanted out as quickly as possible. In hindsight, I should have spent twice as much time at the falls and avoided the cable car altogether. On the plus side, the absence of people at Telaga Tujuh offered me the opportunity to start messing around with HDR photography.


The following day I rented a bike from the hotel across the street and went for a 20-mile ride around the southwestern part of the island. I might have gone further had my bike not been a rusty heap with gears that slipped and barely worked to begin with. I was so drenched in sweat after cycling in the heat and the humidity that when my shorts dried later in the afternoon, they were covered in white salt stains. (Yeah, yeah, insert crude joke here.)

I think this photo sums up the internal part of the island very well: bright green rice paddies and massive storm clouds.


The next morning was a four-hour, island-hopping jet ski tour around a popular portion of the Langkawi archipelago. It should go without saying that four hours of jet skiing around tropical islands is nothing short of incredible and awesome and every other positive adjective you can think of. As I posted on Facebook immediately after I got home, that $200 expense was one of the most sound financial decisions I've ever made.

It was a bit of an off-week for the company, so I was the only one on the tour. My guide, Isha, and I cruised around the islands, drifted under limestone cliff overhangs, watched eagles feed, shouted at the "fjords" to hear the echo, swam and snorkeled at an empty beach, and enjoyed some 40-mph "play time" on the open water with no boats around. In some places, the water was so calm and the surface was so glassy and smooth that it felt like we were flying across a massive mirror. The waters were pretty tame for most of the tour, but we encountered just enough choppiness towards the end to launch off the waves and get some airtime. This was actually my first time on a jet ski and now I totally get it. Those things are fucking fun!


After a couple more days of beach time and cycling and eating, my last adventure was a short ride on a powered parachute (another first for me) above Cenang. To call this thing an "aircraft" is a bit generous and probably offensive to actual aircraft. I believe the official term for this type of conveyance is a "contraption". I mean, come on, look at this thing:


To complete the look, it really should have a motorized umbrella pumping up and down. And maybe one of those old-school horns that goes aaahhh-wooo-gaaa!!!

To address all of your safety concerns, I will say this: I was wearing a helmet, a life vest, and a parachute. If I had been wearing a condom too, I would have been invincible!

The flight was actually very smooth, very enjoyable, and very safe. Come to think of it, the only scary part was how docile I was with the whole experience. I'm very comfortable with heights, but I don't think my heartrate even went up at all when we took off. Either I'm developing a tolerance to adventures (I better not be!) or, rather, that speaks volumes for how effortless and smooth a powered parachute ride is when it's done correctly.

After about two weeks - wow, was I really there that long? - it was time to move on. Langkawi is a spectacular tourist destination and it's no wonder that it's gotten so popular in recent years. There's something for everyone here: beach laziness, swimming/snorkeling/diving, duty-free shopping, eating, drinking, nature tours, culture tours, and outdoor activities. One of the benefits of staying in Pantai Cenang is the location on the western coast of the island: sunsets every day. In fact, Langkawi has some of the most consistently beautiful sunsets I've ever seen; the sky lights up tangerine, pink, and eventually a fiery red every night. The ever-present smattering of clouds gives the waning light a medium to play off of, enhancing the whole scene.


Speaking of the clouds, I've actually enjoyed them a lot. Partly cloudy (bordering on overcast) is my favorite weather and its especially nice here since you'll get a real beating from the sun without anything to block it. The rains have been nice too: they defuse the humidity, provide some variety to the weather, and force me to go inside for some Internet/blogging/photo editing time, which I need anyway. The storms are rarely full-day or even half-day affairs, so once the rain is done you can go right back outside.

In hindsight, I ended up accidentally picking the best time of the year to come to Langkawi: the weather is improving every day as the monsoon season winds down and the peak tourist season doesn't start for another few weeks. I wish I could claim 20/20 foresight and careful planning, but it was really just dumb luck.

Up next: back to KL for a few days to take care of a lot of nagging errands and Internet tasks, get my last vaccination (finally!), and get a tourist visa for Thailand. After that, off to Phuket!

Full photo album: Langkawi