Bangin’ Photos of Bangkok

That title has probably been abused by millions of internet users.

Here are some photos from our journey through Bangkok.  It was a massive city, with a lot more nighttime activities than daytime ones.  I think we were all in agreement that it would have been nice to trade one day for an extra night, if only Superman could hold the Earth in place for us.

Pictured here are some of Bangkok’s premiere temples and palaces, some New Years celebrations, our canal tour, a Muay Thai training session, and my secret, solo journey to collect Mr. Yuu Koyama from the airport.

We arrived in Bangkok on Monday, December 28th, and departed on the evening of January 1st.

Departing Chiang Mai International Airport

Departing Chiang Mai International Airport

Wat Arun

Wat Arun

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Chiang Mai – The Elephants

CHIANG WAT, CHIANG MAI – On our first full day in Chiang Mai, we visited an Elephant Retirement Park.

Initially I sought to visit a park where we could ride elephants, but my brother Chris pointed out that these establishments have come under intense criticism from animal rights activists.  Chris worked for a zoo and studies the issue extensively.  Deferring to his experience and expertise in animal politics, we instead visited an elephant retirement park a couple hours north of Chiang Mai city.  It was aptly called “Elephant Retirement Park.”

At the park, we fed and bathed several elephants.  Their trainers told us about elephant habits and routines.  One egged on a baby elephant to step on me.

Here are the photos of this unforgettable experience:

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Chang Wat

Me with an elephant at Elephant Retirement Park in Chang Wat

Me with an elephant at Elephant Retirement Park in Chang Wat

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Chiang Mai in Photos

Editor’s note: I’ve decided to stop giving Facebook all the ad revenue from my wonderful photos.  So I’m going to host them here instead.

CHIANG MAI – I traveled here with my brother Chris and my Cousin Eli.  There we met my friend Evan.  We saw some stunning temples, watched some Muay Thai fights, toured through exciting night markets and experienced a very interesting nightlife.  On one day we visited an elephant refuge.  That will be a forthcoming album.

The photos:

Chiang Mai International Airport

Chiang Mai International Airport

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That Weekend in Nagano, As Evidenced by iPhone Notes

Though it has spent a year tumbling around in my head, everything in this post is entirely true.

Hakuba, Nagano.

Hakuba, Nagano.

I’ve got to write a blog post about this weekend I thought, watching Yuu Koyama steal fried chicken off his father’s plate.

It was breakfast on Sunday morning.  Yuu Koyama was disrupting the cold, silent and nearly empty hall with casual English cursing that his father only vaguely recognized.  He was taunting his father by eating his food and moving his plates away from him.  It was December 21st, 2014.

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What You Just Said…

August 2014

Great Wall, China

Great Wall, China

The week preceding this story was one of the few vacations Japan seems to tolerate. During that time I took a much-needed eight-day trip to China. It was one of the most exhilarating, dynamic trips of my life, with two of my best friends. We explored many famous sites, ate a lot of different foods, hung out in all kinds of cool, weird, or historic districts, and I felt like I conquered China itself. But on the last day, after a heavy meal at a famous duck restaurant, China fought back. I returned to Japan at the end of the week, with my digestive system in tatters.

I knew asking for a day off was akin to asking my boss to let me punch her in the face. And I knew the company rejected criticism on all fronts.

So I stumbled through the week, gray in the face, taking bathroom breaks between each lesson. But no matter how much water I drank, I steadily approached full dehydration going into Saturday.

The Japanese are a very serious people.

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