pheon phen hell

well, yesterday we finaly got out of seim reip. of cource we missed our first bus because a certen travel companion's one night stand adiction. but at least she talked the ticket offic into giving us tickets for a latter busm so i can't be too angry, maybe just a little jellous about someone getting action.
the bus wasn't too bad, and we go into the city around 9, once off the bus it started, we were greated by about 7 cambodian men running full steam at us. shouting at us.. oh crap, well they were just the ever present ever anoying every visious tuk tuk drivers, here is seem anyone with a motorcycle is now a tuk tuk driver, and they will get in groups around you, tugging and pushing and yelling, wispering obsentiys, offering drugs hookers and just being sleazy in creapy wispers. you can try and run but they keep coming out of the wood work, following you for blacks not taking no for ab ancer. and once one gives up another 3 join in, trying to keep you from reading your map, talking to anyone, or being abole to figure out anything. 1/2 the time you don't know if they are tuk tuk driver, or just scum bags trying to get there hands on you.about every 10 feet one will drive up and block your path with there motorbike, so you can't get past. while the herd behind you closes in.
i finaly remebred the trick of walkinbg aganst traffic, so they have less time to try and block you, and can't follow as easly. hell.
we walked for about an hour, dealing with this to one part of the city but found that there were no afordable rooms so we had to take a tuk tuk to another area of town.
dark dank allys, and in every showow a guy wispering , tuk tuk, want something?, cokane, lady boom boom, any anything ealse to make your skin crawl.
we checked every guest house and they all were full. standing there fucking beat, anoyed, hot and sticky, on edege from all these guys fowling you 2 steps behind and trying to block your path, hundreds of them!
about the 5th gusest house we were at trying to ask for a room, which of cource there was none, a french guy comes up and starts punching my bag. seeing my gloves, want to french box? i just keep saying no, looking ass tired, and knowing he's just drunk and trying to have fun, but there is a thick dark haze of pure hate arounbd me, enamating from my eyes and ears, coming out like vapor in my breath, he gets a worryed look and takes off. trying every huest house in this guest hous getto, swarmd mby men in shawos and tuk tuk drivers, at least here there are sooo many people *though 99% are human waste( at least on one is joning to just trry and jump us, just rape us with there offers of all the mortal sins one can buy.
after about 12 geast houses with no one working at them or full, we see a sighn for sunset guest house, down this dark deserted ally
well fuck, what choice do we have?
down and down 5 min, then 10 min, then 15 min down a wet, dirt pasth of small ally ways, darker and darker, each time we almost stop and turn around there anothe sign, just a little ferther, almost there... yea right, free candy, just get in the van.
we go and go, a pack of filty dogs following us in the showowas, my old shitty pack cutting into my sholders.
finlay get htere and it's just a locked gate.
so we turn around and start headding back then from the side out of the shawos, something lunging at us, a growing sound and the slam as a large filty dog lunges and slams into a chainlink fence about a foot away.. i'm too tired to even get a burst of adrenilan, my friend screams,.. fuck
so we keep checking, flowwed and getting blocked and getting wisperd to, and getting pawsed at. finaly fianly fianly, get to a place, get a room. yea the condom posters on the walls make it preaty clear what this place is.. fuck it, need sleep, and i'm happy i've toted my silk sleep sack with me. what lara calls my dush bag.
but she's always giving me shit your looking like a creap, wearing neard shoes, and my looser business cards, so i should be used to it..
so excet for someone knocking on our door and trying to get in a few times.. and of cource lara grabbing as she tryed not to piss her self.. yea it was a bit sketchy.
but that part is over, got a room with 2 big beds, full of honkys.. eh.. phon phen.. not sure how i feel about you city..

re last post

it's not my first day in asia. and i'm nt a 45 your old acountet from tenasie.
i now about the girls, here. no need to send me emails waring me against the obvious.
thanks for the concerned emails.. but really. i know the deal.

ankor wat ect.

earlyer today.. well, ass early today at 5 am i headed out to ankor wat.
got there in the dark and crossed the huge oat to the main complex.
and as the day slowly faided into view the temple apeared before me.
yes is was cool, yes it was amazing. yes to all that.
but perhaps becasue of my travels through so many ancent countrys, i couldn't exactly see what all the people are shitting them selfs over, perhaps with a bit of reflection i'll better undersatnd. and so it

so it's a goal to reserch more ankor history.

i'm getting more of a feel for cambodia, the busy dirty streets, the tinge of kaios, still flondering with the langeage.
i've got about a week left to work with in cambodia for now, then i need to make it into Sigon.

tomarow i hope to ither hit up the landmine musium, find a bus to hon pen, or both.

the maskitos are so thick here just walking you have to be carfull to not get them in your mouth and eyes. i finaly broke down and started taking the malrea medicin andrea left with me whan she viseted last year..
it seems that no amout of deet and keeping these little fuckers from eating me alive.

yesterday I had an intresting incounter at dinner, i was sitting alone at a small open air restrant, really nothing more than food vender stals in a peranet location. i was trying to ask in on plate came with rice, it think it was the fryed pig sternum but they wern't getting it, when the small grl who worked there roughly grabed my hand an draged me smiling behinsd the food cart to show me what was in teh pots, and i said yes but continued to try and ask about the rice. the guy there siad yes yes yes, and i sat down at on of the many empty tables. not far into my meat to preaty cambidian lady sat dow at my table as well and saterted eating and trying to talk to me. telling me i ws preaty. next thing i know there are 4 girls. really preaty all sitting there, chowing down and trying to talk to one. one lady cat spoke some thai and some english , w chatted for awhile. al the girls worked at a dance club/sprip club/masage parler/restrant acorss the street.
very strang, i was worryed the whole time that something fishy was going on, they kept offering me there food, an the waiter kept bringing me tea, and soup and kept saying free free!.
so odd, all teh girls finaly headed off to work. so strang, at thhe same place the guys hanging out there wanted me to hang out and drink beer with them but i was just too wiped out to atempt to comunacate and worry about scams ect ect ect..

cambodia

after may many hours in a honky packed mini van, a crap cambodian bus and then sharing a car with some nice polish people we got into seim reap last night, high on tramadol and cranky
found a guest house dorm for $1 a night.
this town s a tourest trap, and I feel far removed from the real cambodia.
i'm strugling with the langauge, like when i first came to thailand. but i think in a few days i could figure out some of it, though i really need to start working on my vietnmase in a hurry.
lol, what a mess.
I met a russon guy whos hich hiking acroos all of asia, hope to travel with him down to phon pen by hiching. would be a great way to start traveling!
tomaorow I go to ankor wat and the sorunding temples. should take 2-3 days to see them
...
in Phon pen i've been told there are some boxing schools to check out, so that would be cool, and at least make up for the pain in the ass of lugging these stupid gloves with me!!

anyways.. till next time

ling, chang and katoy , oh my

hey, so trying to drop something before i had to cambodia then on ward to Vietnam,
tomorrow moring i'm off to Cambodia, like a good white person i'm going to ankor wat, it'll be a tourist hell, and i'll be part of that gross tourist swarm eroding this ancient wonder of the world.. but,,, hey.
yesterday I went swimming with elephant, which was really cool, even if it took a huge dump in the watering hole
but of course, i took one pic and then the bat on my camra died. fucking fantastic hu?
geeze
to going to try and scoot through Cambodia to nam in about 9 days, then get into Saigon around the 6th to meet a friend who's grand parents live in a fishing village in a near by area. hang out there for a bit then all head up to Hanoi, and from there bring her back to Thailand to show her around. i think the plan is bkk, and chaing mai.
also Moosie coming soon so i'm ass excited about that, it's going to lead to a very busy next few months, which will really help take my mind off the whole getting blow off about working for burning man this next year (it's not official just a gut feeling)

monkye time

not much time to blog, but down in kho chang,
been riding motorcycles around, drinking, and today had a monkey climb all over me. and grab at me with it's little stinky monkey paws.
so very cute.
also got to help some thai guys deliver vegatables by boat by sea.
ate my first western meal out here, and got sick (am sick)

ache

yesterday training was good. i began working on training left handed. it was a bit confusing at times, and it's going to take a lot of practice but i think it's doable.
after class i whent to rachamadon stadium to buy some new gear, but the shop i had gone to last time was gone, luckly there was a twins shop,i'm not much a fan of some of the other gear makers, at least not as far as gloves go, for training pad work.
seems that all the prices had just about doubled, maybe i was getting riped off, but i try to bargain like crazy, and had only gotten maybe 10 buck off everything.. and i spent almost 200! but to think what that would have bought me in the states I can't com plane too much.
I ordered up 3 pairs of custom designed shorts, (either they';ll rule or just suck, I'll not looking forward to having to having to try to send them back if they are not right) also I got a new pair of gloves, boxing oil, anchel supports, a steel cup (yea talk about being put on the spot by the lady that works there.. what size?! what size?! lol, I opted for med (not like i could try it on in the shop) but I have the feeling it's gonna be way too small.. maybe i can just use it for a hat or something..
I got a warm up suit, it's a rubber jacket and pants that I've seen many boxers and muythai people using, guess it makes you sweat like hell, not sure if getting that was a mistake, I know it will be good to have in the usa, but it's already ass hot here.. though I am extremely paranoid about getting fat here... doesn't help that all my thai friends keep saying i'm looking chubby.. but maybe that's just supposed to be a complement or something... i don't know.
anyways, i can't kick myself too hard, if I got this stuff in the usa it would probably be about 600 bucks..
the rest of the night i was assss sore, my knees ache, everything was hurting. the pain kept up up till about 4 am, but i feel ok now, a bit sore but good.
I would really like to train, but i have to try and keep myself from doing so, I think at least one day off after every 2 days on is a good way to go. maybe they'll let me come by and lift weights after class.. anyways, if they say something i'll stop and leave..
so my hair keeps getting shorter, most likely due to the fact it's so hot, and the idea of a pile of shag on my head is not a pleasant one. not sure if i'll end up giving into the idea of just shaving my head again, it's been over a year since i last had a shaved head...
last night I whent out and saw cloverfild, yesterday was it's first day out here, ended up seeing that one because it was in English, didn't know anything about it before seeing it.. pretty cool.
but I think my friend who I saw it with was not too into it, the Thais have a much different expectation of movies, guess you'd have to see a corny, slapstick style of thai entertainment... eh.

ok, my brina is going flat.. till next time.

count down to kho chang

crap
as the US continues to plumit, it dosen't look very favrobly on my travels, seeing how my money is in us savings.

I'm in BKK, my knuckles are raw, red and probaly in need of some iodine. after training they'll get some, but i know they sure won't be preaty after my class today. you'd think they would just build up some scar tisue and toughen up.. eh.

yeaterday i was hitting the focus mits so heard my glove tore open and the padding shot out.. if only i could figure out a way to mantain some cardio.

soon i'll be heading south. going to kho chang, not sure how long i'll be down there, but ionternet is over 2x as expencive so, i'll be off the radar for awhile. my friend down there was sugesting i stay 3 months! don't think i could handle living on the island that long, last year it tryed to kill me with a haze of anaverys, unwanted suprises, a mountan of pills and windy roads.

this time i don't think the world is cruel enough to try that again.

after class I plan on going to ratamadon stadioum, and ordering up a new pair of fight shorts, still argueing with myself on the final design. drunken monkey across the front in thai of the monkey head, or something... gonna pick up some new gloves, we shall see.

made it into BKK

so, i ended up taking a bus from the morning market in Vientine, a small bus with about 20 seats, and about 60 people loaded in. so many people had to hang out the door. it was preaty bad, i kept worrying that i was on the wrong bus, but there wasn't really anyway to ask, so i just whent with the flow. worse caem to worse i could always find my way back to the city.
finaly about after an hour (i was sure glad i had the satand on audio book on my ipod to distract me.) we finly got to the border, for some reason all the border control seemed to take for ever, and it was a bit over an hour of standing in lines to get through. but while in line i met a girl, looked totaly lao, but i knoticed she had a usa passport, and when she spoke she had a southern bell accent, it was very strange but awfuly cute. she has grown up some where in kanses or some such place in the center of the usa.. it's always odd to meet people from the usa but not from real citys, normaly the only people in the usa that are likely to travel are ones from the big citys... eh
anyways, finaly found my way to the train depot with 10 min to spare, got a seat, and sat, it that brightly lit car, for 13 hours, every 10 min someone pushing down the hall, bumping you, calling out what ever it was they were selling. i spent a good amount of time just hanging out in the open door at the front of the car, sitting 1/2 way down the stairs that lead out. everyone in awhile a steel girder bridge would fly by a foot or so away.. a sobering reminder of how fast we were going... i often can't help but ponder on my many , many hours spent sitting in thoses door ways, if i slipped, lost my footing, ect. how long till someone noticed i was missing.. a few hours would someone see my empty seat and wonder.. probably not, maybe when the train got to the stasion and my bag was still sitting in the rack. I'm sure people forget bags all the time..
anyways, i think i fell asleep for maybe an hour. then we pulled into bkk, the sun coming up.
i tryed to rent a room, but the small rooms were full and i'm not going to spend over 5 bucks on a room that I can probably do without..
so it's 8am now, in about an hour it'll have been about 24hours up. I think in a few hours i may try and check again on a room, try and get a little sleep before training today. but it'll probably be too hot to sleep by then..
i'm delirious... I think my ipod got a virus.. lol.. such is life, at least no night mares :)

BKK bound

ok, i'm lagging, on the computer.. ehh.. it's almost as evil as the tv.
i need to head to nong kai to catch the train, but insted of buying an overprived ticket like i normaly do, i'm gonna try and find a bus to the friendship bridge, and find the train stashion from there, hopefully threre will be a free seat.
there are tourest busses, that are fairly cheap, that go strte to kho sarn rd, the armpit of thailand, but a convenat place, but they often crash and kill everyone, becasue to save money they give the driver speed insted to a replacment driver after 10 hours solid.
so, i was going to try and go much earlyer.. but ya know how it goes..
the plan is a few days in bkk, do some hard core boxing, then down to kho chang. hopefully intime to catch my friend kai before she heads off to auz.
i got my overpriced visa for nam ready, so at the begingin of next month i can go in.
hopfully the friend who i plan to viset,, well and her grandparents.. hopfully she dosen't back out and not go..
right now i'm just waiting for the last of my files to trasfer over to my ipod.. then I'm gonna hit the road, and hopfully everything will work out :)
till next time..

end of days (laos)

so, i have tryed to post a few outher blogs but the computers here have been crashing like crazy. my vietnam visa should be ready to pick up today, after i whent through all the hassle of finding the emasy and getting in i found out my outside contacts could have gotten me my visa for about 1/2 the price.. oh well, live and learn,.
today I have an apointment to meet with the Laos natanal boxing team and coatch. a huge cuben guy, who through a bit of spanish a bit of lao and a bit of help from a crazy martal artest for Irac I've been able to comunacate.
I'm still a bit suprised a Cuben and an Iracie, will speak to an american!
last nigth i ran around a bit with a 50 something bat shit crazy , but very out going and nice Jahovas Witness. which ws cool, i was tempted to goin him on a motorcycle adventure to an area where the Lao goverment has been at war with the Moung tribes people. but right now i don' think i have the time, and i don't know how much anti eveloshen talk i can handle.
suck i need to take off to, becasue a Mung friend has offed to bring me back to his tribe so we can do a forst walk and kill and eat stuff and such. but i will be moving back to Laos in a few months, and getting a place to stay so i'll be in a better situation to do such stuff.
I am a bit nevrous to hit Nam, becasue for the most part i have heard nothing but horrer storys about how awfull most Vietnamies are to tourests. also becasue I'm going to meet someone i have only met breafly at a club and chatted to a bit over the net, she has granparents who live in Nam, so i get to go meet them, which is fucking rad and defantly the best way to get the feeling for a country.. I got some vietamise on tape lessons, so hopefully wit a bit of disapline i'll learn to speak a bit before i go there.
still morning the loss of my sock and bandana...
and still having a hell of a time trying to get my photos up loaded to the net..
probaly going to try and set aside a block of time laster today to try and do that.
OUTHERWISE I'LL TTRY IN bkk.

i'm geting the feeling BM won't have me work for them this year.. i haven't been getting any responces from them, so i'm not sure about the tenitave return date i had planned. or what will happen to my bm car, or trailer. though i have some ideas of what i can do with both.. anyways. I wanted to get t something down while i could, who knows hown long the power and net conceting will hold up.
tomaorw I'm off to nong kai to try and buy a train ticket, well see if i get stranded over there.. lol, or if i have to spend 12 hours without a seat.. lol. anyways.

good bye sock

shit....
ya know been fighting this cold, so i';m not drinking so haven't been invited to go out.. so spending lots of time alone.. and thats cool..
but just some shit..
lol
today i decided to do some landry, got some detergent, took over one of the bathrooms upstairs, emptyed and washed out the black bucket up there,,, washy washy washy.. wring out sopy closhs, dump dirty water down tolet, washy washy washy, rincing closth, dump drithy water down tolet.. one more wrince and dump... oh crap there goes some of my cloths down the shitter!!
fuck!
guess i'm gonna have to try and go in after them...
ick.
fucking hell. so now i have one sock, and no bandana. and a runny nose.
a reacuring fash back to "fuck whats that going down the ..."
oh well.
so i rented a bike and spent the rest of the day in the herbal sauna at a temple a ways away..
the folks at the sauna were happy to see me again...
eh, what can you do

Chaing Mai Bike Week

Chaing Mai Bike Week, originally uploaded by noble matthew.

MCing out heres not just about the road!

sisket provance, thailand

sisket provance, thailand, originally uploaded by noble matthew.

whats in the basket?

sisket provance, thailand

sisket provance, thailand, originally uploaded by noble matthew.

cruzing ...

sisket provance, thailand

sisket provance, thailand, originally uploaded by noble matthew.

My friends Kai's cow at the village in Sisket.
sometimes I'd get board and go pester the anamils....
:)

PC300562

PC300562, originally uploaded by noble matthew.

ahh, i jacked up my hands..
but now most of the skin has grown back.. lol

PC280552

PC280552, originally uploaded by noble matthew.

I saw this in Bangkok and thought it was the greatest thing ever.. the owner wasn't very amused about me taking a pic of there lic plate though..
anyways, if you get it you get it..
lol......

ok so

i think i'll be trying to switch to a photo blogging style o bloging and see how it works, your feed back would be most helpfull.
thanks

Chaing Mai Bike Week

Chaing Mai Bike Week, originally uploaded by noble matthew.

test test test

photo test...

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

snake eggs!

well i just got back from viseting my friends village with him, i've met his family a few times, and though i can't comunacate with them very well, they seem happy to se me ab\gain. (he just told me yeater day they his mother ordered him to teach me laos so i can chat with her) lol
I'd have to say the highlight was before we leaft i got to eat water snakes from my friends rice fild and the eggs they cut out of them were really tasty.
i found you always hang out with the dude, bbqing! yea often he can't speek english, but it's usaly him and you who will eat anything! also bbqing here is much more exciting because the food is always trying to jump off the grill!
i've been a bit of a zombie the last week, becasue i have just been crashing where ever i can, still haven't gotten a room, (but i think i just got one for tonight)
so haven't been sleeping real well on tile floor in a room with 4 outher people ;), also been having to drink far more than i like to, but it's really rude, not to drink with people here.. thought thats filany calught up with me and i have a bit of a cold from getting worn down.

today i hope to catch a boxing class at the natalan stadum. or at least check it out.
buti still have 6 hours till then
(i when and it was coached by a big cuben guy and helped by a guy from irac, (yea being an american will make me popaler, lol) anyways they were nice but the cuben guy and i couldn't comunacate very well, wit my crappy spanish and lao.. but i don't didn't have any of my gear with me, so i watched for a bit, and then just trained out in the stadum fild for a bit, got to try and teach some little lao kids kung fu! lol. all and all it was a good day)
hope to try and get my digatal camra working again.. keeps saying the card is locked.. (had to just format the card, :( but i think i still have the photos, fingers crossed..
outher than that just trying to take it easy today, and get better, i'm alwfully excited about someone who maybe coming out from the USA a see me and travel as well, that will be nice.

sitting in a internet cafe

ahh, here i am again/'
trying to get the pics off my cam and onto flicker.. a bitago, out of fustration i fainaly got a pro flicker acount. eh..
so now i'm busy being fustrated with it..
looks like it's going to take about 5 hours to down load my pics.. i'm sure i'm going to have lots of repeats over and over farom all the difrent times i've tryed and ge\ot sick of wasting my time.
but hopefully once i get the camra cleard\ed i can just do small uploads like i did last time i was here.. witht eh difrance that this next time i should actuly be able to get my phoptos off line ;)

anywas.. here i am in Laos. it took 3 busses, a limozine (over packed minivan) and getting slightly riped off by a tuk tuk.. but i got back to misok guest house where my friends work,
it sems that for some reason vientine is really full of tourest now, and all the guest houses are full. so last night my friend brought me with him where we slept above an internet cafe. i'ver slept in worse places.. but not sure about where i'll be tonight. i hope to look to rent a room here, even if i only use it one month out of the 3 i'd need to rent it for it would probaly be cheaper that reanting a room at a guest house, if there were rooms avalable.. so we shall see. i like laos and wouldn't mind living here for awhile but i'd endup needing to rent a motorcycle, ect etc etc.. so i might be more than i want to deal with right now..
last night my friend deth brought me out, he's funny anlways trying to get me to talk to the Lao girls here.. even if it's just to say "young lady" (in lao) to girls we ride past.. is odd to be in a cluture where it's so ok, just to say hello to anyone, ask anyone what job they have, a commen way to say hello is to ask if you have a girlfriend. lol,
and getting used to the trafic is a bit to get used to again aswell. they ignore all signs, right of ways, ect. you can drive on the sidewalk, right side of the street, left, midle. we almost got hit by a truck yesterday seeing how no one stops at stop signs.. i can't belive last tiem i was here, i was riding around.. lol. crazy.
ahh. i'm at 5% of the batch of photos i'm working on and i'm already sick of being in here.. ack!
suck!
and it failed, i had to restart it.. i've been on the computer now for 3 hours and my brain hurts..
i gotta figure out another sulution... :S
eek, computer crashed, but i just found a file full of old blogs that i guess never made it up.. lol, gues i'll have to do something with them some day..
so anyways, my friends here pulled me away fromt eh computer for a bit to eat with them, so i feel a bit better.. after some critter organ soup and raw bitter beef (lap) and sticky rice.. i'm back at trying to get this to work..
so I don't continue to up load the same pics over and over again i guess i'm going to have to go through all the photos on fliker and try to see whats up and pick out ones that arn't thre yet..
guess i'm not going to geta chance to go to the stadum today to go lift.. oh well, hopefully tomarow..
i'm also going to see if i can hide some files on this computer to try and upload while i'm away.. lol..
so later today a friend is bringing me to go check out an apt they say is in walking distance to here.. maily good so i can walk to the natnal stadum, they have a bunch of classes offered there, which i'd like to check out.. i think judo, akido, boxing.. and a olimpic size pool and weight room.. woot! as long as i can avoid the beerlao, and not get shot, ran over, or imprisoned this town could be good for me ;)
anyways, my brain is turning to jelly so i'm gonna stop babbleing now.. geeze bloging is lame

to nong kai

trying to throw up a quick something, about to head off to nong kai to try to get to the friendship brige.
it's funny to get reminded, it dosen't matter what the price is suposed to cost.. your sol white if you don't pay wat we want. lol.
yea so we shall see.
some crazy (limozine) gona drop me off in a fild o donkeys,
ok, mistakenly droped more $ into thisa computer.. oh well, then at least i'm not totaly out of time.
so, i'm heading to laos, just came from the last 3 days in Loie (luy)
this last timei was in the (city) area, a bit difrent than my last trips where i was in a sm,all village.. well, i was still in a small village, but a town like area of it.
so next it's off to try to get through the border, last time i delt with the laos border/passport crap they wanted to throw me in jail.. or at least scare the crap out of me saying i had snuk into there country, and falsafied my stamps! eekk!
but for the most part i love Laos PDR, i think this next time i'll stay for about 2 week, depending.
mainly need to get back to BKK, for trainingm, and to get some $ from a friend.
so we shall see.
Laos is like the wild west version of thailand, makes me intrested to see what the real cambidia is going to be like. but that'll takle living there for awhile or meeting someone from there first.. eh.

gotta say i am really not in the mod to try and haggle a ride out to the friendship brige from shady tuk tuk drivers.. fist i need to get to noig kai, tyhe city with the brige, then a tuk tuk to the brige, then a bus across the brige, and then another bus into the city.. if i can figure it out.. last time a nice lao girl grabed me by the hand (i was petaticly trying to figure out which bus to take.. and all the tuk tuk drivers were saying there was no bus,, and being a pin..
fuck, out of time... till next time..
i hoipe everyone is happy and healty.
xoxoxo