Khao San Man

I have been living in Bangkok for just over 6 weeks. With that time I have been moderately disappointed in my travels. Then again its because I have been busy working, so that would be the positive aspect of things.

The other day I finally made it to Khao San Road. This is likely one of the most famous back packer areas in the world. The attitude here is very mellow amongst the expats and there is tons of them. Most with hair braided or matted, wearing t shirts they paid 100 baht for and just relaxed. The change of pace was very different to see from the hustle and bustle of Sukhumvit. After touring around for a bit I decided to up my adventure factor.

How do I do this you might ask? Why don't we toss a little grasshopper into the mix, then wash it down with a cockroach. The best of course is that Kevin caught it on film. My reaction when I try new foods is seldom of disgust but more often of curiosity, you may recognize the face is similar to when I tried durian for the first time. Enjoy! And for heaven's sake, take a shot! Don't let unique opportunities ever pass you by!

I slightly described this in the video. The grasshopper was very crunchy, the texture was nothing crazy. There was also a salty taste to it as well.

The cockroach. Well it was about 3 times the size of the grasshopper and had inside that felt kind of gumlike. Similar the outside was crunchy (it's all fried) and salty. I must have chewed it for 5 minutes. Eventually borrowing some water from Kevin to rinse out my mouth. Seriously a cool experience, honestly not on my daily menu though.

Protein though? You bet, I can't find much online for insects, but 100g of caterpillar contrains 53g protein and apparently grasshoppers are even higher. Talk about a lean source of protein, your average 100g of beef has only 36 and chicken 32.

A Perfect Circle

 There have been a number of moments over the past week where I have thought to myself, hell this is pretty funny, but hey it’s my life. And with that I present to you my workout song from today and a soundtrack for your audio pleasure.

A whirlwind of a week has passed me by with ups and downs tracing me back to a place where I feel content again. A perfect circle if you will, similar to my latest addition of bodywork. Not that I have tattoos, but as the saying goes “scars are tattoos of experience”. Each scar or mark tells a story or brings back a memory, some are epic stories of attrition, others drunken mishaps and some are that silly burn you got by resting your arm on a bolt of a go kart motor for just that little bit too long.

After being spoiled upon arrival to Thailand with work, my schedule has lightened and I have more free time. So Iceman, Goose, Charlie and Viper (myself) headed to light up the track at the local EasyKart indoor go karting track. Armed with a helmet and a sense of adrenaline we took to the track. After 3 rounds of nail-biting and rubber spitting action we took our well-deserved thirst for a round of brew.

Naturally my favourite warm weather beer, Hoegaarden decorated the table in front of me in a lavish style. The Asian way of drinking beer frequently involves ice. Ice in the beer. For me this is outlandish, so I was pleased to see the throne my Hoegaarden was placed in.

I also took the opportunity this week to invest in my pearly whites. For years I have been considering whitening and its much more cost effective in Thailand. Fortunately I shopped around and made sure I found a dentist that went to the school in the US. As a matter of fact many of them study internationally and come back to practice. Here is the preliminary change, and I will be using the trays over the next couple weeks.

Before

After

My Big Bang ( My first Thai Commerical/Video)

Talking with an hold friend from university I decided to check and see if one of my videos is made yet, and with luck here it is!

This was the video that I did that incredibly late night. I spoke english throughout the filming, but I guess they decided to dub over with Thai.

So it's like that, my face has now been put in front of the crowd. Is this my big bang? Lately Kevin and I have had a keen interest in quantum and theoretical physics. I find this stuff crazy to read/listen about, very mind blowing. Since the universe is continually expanding, are my opportunities going to continue to expand as well?

This past Sunday I filmed for LG. I was super excited about this as it will be marketed worldwide on all media. This will essentially put the kai bosch on my opportunities with Samsung or other large electronic companies for at least a year or two, but that's just how it goes.

I worked with a guy from France who had his camera around, so hopefully I will be able to snag some pictures from him in the near future. Essentially for this ad we are researchers working in the LG labs. It was fun, we did little things with tablets, led's and a few other things, it will be interesting to see the final product.

Take a seat, up front (first pic from thailand up)

This past week we have felt the lingering effects of Song kran and things have been a little bit slower.  All week I had a total of just 4 castings, which is very slow for my Thailand experience. The good news of course is that tomorrow I will be filming my LG TV commercial.

In the meantime this week, my extra time was spent, you guessed it exercising and also tossed in a bit of shopping. Kevin and I headed to MBK mall the other day to explore a little bit. I find it somewhat hilarious how you can bargain in a shopping mall and also the fact that 75% of the products are counterfeit. I picked up a few souvenirs and grabbed a bite while there.

While at the restaurant I confirmed further and interesting observation about restaurants in Thailand. They seem to sit Caucasian people at the windows/ near the front.  Alternatively the locals and the other Asians are sat towards the back of the restaurant. This has now happened about 10 times since I arrived in Bangkok.  

I also took the time to stop by a tailor. It was one recommended to me by a past client (thanks David). I know exactly what I am looking for which is good, and it made the process of pricing out more in my control than theirs. The suit I am looking for is a Navy Blue, single breasted, 2-button suit, with 2 flaps, flat front pants, and a couple dress shirts. We discussed the best quality of wools and silks. I was looking at a super 160 wool. The cost is about 13 000 baht, for one suit and 2 shirts. Now this is not a crazy price by any means, but it’s far from the $99 suits you can get. Over these next few days, I will determine for myself whether I need to spend this significant amount on a custom made suit. The suits from this tailor do vary that they take 2 weeks and several fittings vs. the 24 hr. polyester factory made suits at other tailors. 

We had to bail early on our adventure to run to an emergency casting for Cosmopolitan magazine. On that note, I did get some pictures back from the underwear shoot. I am not a huge fan of them; as a matter of fact I dislike most of them. However, my bookers are happy with the pictures and they know the market.

Also came across these 2 funny sights when driving around: 

I am not sure how well I trust a pirate to work on my teeth

And lastly why bother with tie straps, when you can just stand in the back of the truck and hold the rebar

Slice your obliques

Just a quick little video I made today. I have been experimenting with some new body weight core exercises and here is my newest one. What do you think?

Welcome to the year 2555

To start off with WOW! Song kran or Thai New Year is incredible. Hands down the coolest new years celebration ever. This was also my third new years celebration in 2012. I thought that was a little bit of an interesting aspect of things.

First, some big news, on my trip back from Laos I received a phone call from my booker Pla, she was incredibly excited, as am I now. I booked a TVC with LG and its global. I am incredibly pumped about that as it will be the first commercial I have ever done that will be seen on TV in Canada, as well as the other countries of the world I have followers.

Back to Song Kran.  Thai New Year is celebrated with essentially a nationwide water fight. Most stores close down during this time and people go home to be with their families, but either way everyone ends up wet.  Some friends from Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur were in town and anxious to rock out the water guns.

I have a few pictures from cab rides, but that is it. There is so much water being tossed around from buckets, water guns and fire hoses that you are completely soaked, so my cell phone stay safely tucked away in Ziploc bags for the majority of these 3 days. 

Our first day we spent part of the time on Silom (think red mile, but packed with people selling water, fire trucks hosing people down and 50 000 Thais. At the age of 25 I never imagined having such an incredible time at a water fight, one that put my childhood ones to shame. Another interesting aspect of these water fights was people walking around with pales of clay and spreading it on your face. Apparently the clay is good for your skin, but is it ever messy.

The evening was spent in an area called RCA at an outdoor bar Route 66. Thanks to Charles handiwork we had a table and an almost infinite supply of water via a 180 L barrel. I had an incredible time here as well, but it was almost too much for me. After being showered with water for 3 hours and crammed like sardines most of us had accomplished our mission for the day and were ready to call it a night.

The next day was much of the same, but at a different location, Khao San Road. Some of you may remember this road as the location Leo stayed in the movie the beach. It’s a fairly tourist area filled with backpackers. Although during Song Kran it’s known as the wildest water fights in Bangkok. Another fun time, hopefully I can snag some pictures from friends.

Kip to my lou

We arrived at the border crossing at 4:30 am, only to wait for a couple hours before the crossing opens at 6.  I took this opportunity to bask in fresh clean air. This was seriously one of the most wonderful things I have experienced in a while. A cool crisp feeling on my body and lungs, brought back memories of being back at home again. The countless trees provided me with clean pollution free air, and the travel of 650 km north of Bangkok presented a change in climate. It was relatively cool at 5 in the morning, sitting around 20 degrees, but the air was not nearly as heavy. For the first time outside in almost 6 months, I felt cold outside. Cold is all relative, I wasn’t so much as cold as not hot and sweaty. 

Entry in to Laos was the easiest experience I have ever had. The company responsible for helping with our visa run (www.thaiviasrun.com) took care of nearly everything for us. We literally just walked into the country and took a van to our hotel. After a quick breakfast of eggs, rice and some miscellaneous foods I chose not to try, we headed to the Thai consulate to take care of the visas. This was quite possibly the simplest experience ever. We literally walked into the building and walked out.

For the rest of the day Charles ( my new French friend) and I toured around Vientiane. We found a place that served 3L of beer for 65000 kip which is approximately $8.00. During these adventures, I participate in my first tuk tuk ride and also got to see the night market of Laos. 

All and all the trip was short and sweet. I had the opportunity to see part of another country, although certainly not enough to gain a full appreciation of its beauty. Also bonus is I have another stamp/visa in my passport. Enjoy a few of the pictures. I have a super fun update coming from Songkran. 

Hunger… it gets to us all

It was quite the treat to have nothing on the go all weekend. Pure recovery and enjoyment, especially after the long week I had. This time was well spent catching up with friends, hitting the gym and going on a much-needed grocery run. Sunday was much of the same as Saturday, except with the plan to attend a stuntman class.

Damian, a fellow Canadian I met on shoot for the Megafon ad invited myself and Kevin to join the class. We were both excited as it would be adventure and of course a new experience for the both of us. As we scurried down the block to flag down a cab, it happened what we didn’t expect. Well actually a couple of things. We truly struggled to find a cab. Now usually there is a bit of a challenge getting a cab to take you to your destination, sometimes hailing down 2 or even 3 before one agrees to take you, but today they had sticks shoved up their asses or something. Some refused to even listen, others wave away saying too far, others couldn’t read the map, and it was incredibly frustrating. After nearly 45 minutes of cab after cab, probably 20 in all, we gave up. We were already late for the class and it would be at least a 45 min ride depending on traffic. Not cool. A lesson was learned in that we should really take BTS (the sky train) to the closest possible location. Many cab drivers will only drive within a certain area of town, so if you want to go somewhere remotely distant you can be SOL.

After that entire shuffle we were already at the mall so decided to check out what movies were playing. The choices became limited very quickly when you decide you want to watch a movie in English, so we ended up watching the Hunger Games. While I will admit I wasn’t completely interested in seeing it, the story did intrigue me. Now for my review/synopsis, no spoilers I promise.

The movie pretty well stunk, their were some cool parts to it, but it was by no means worthy of being part of anyone’s regular DVD collection (yes I know most of us don’t buy DVDs anymore). Have you noticed I am not much of a reviewer; this is basically my opinion of the movie. And the story: Basically it follows a similar idea to Condemned, you know the movie with Stone Cold Steve Austin, and even to some extent Deathrace with Jason Statham, except instead of prisoners fighting for freedom along with their life, its kids between the ages of 12 and 18. Essentially this chick with crazy eyes is in love with Sydney Crosby, her sister’s name gets drawn in a lottery to basically die in a battle royale. She steps in for her sister and asks Sydney Crosby to look after her family. The dude from her area that gets to fight in the battle royale is Steven Stamkos. A love triangle ensues between Crosby, Stamkos, and crazy eyes.  As planned people die in the battle royale, and the movie ends in terrible fashion. The conclusion is basically non-existent and leaves more questions for you and hopes that instead of creating another movie they just burn any potential script for a sequel or heaven forbid a 3d prequel. 

As for my life right now, it’s rounding in on midnight, I am taking an impromptu ride in a van stuffed with other foreigners or farang to Laos. It turns out that I need to go and get myself a Visa. I was quite frustrated with this trip as I would much rather have spend a couple bills and did this ordeal in Singapore while visiting friends, then be stuffed in a van 10 hours each direction, but c'est la vie. I have been saying that a lot lately. I guess it comes to mind as just an acceptance of facts. With that mindset also comes they lets make the best of this ideal. So rather than be negative, which I am at the time for having to sit in a van (which really isn’t that bad, it’s a touring van so big reclining seats and air conditioning), I am going to take a positive outlook and think that I will have some time to view the country of Laos.  Laos has never exactly been on my list of countries that would be cool to visit. Nonetheless it will appear as a stamp on my passport and hopefully I can snap a few cool photos while there. 

Well all this talk about the hunger games has made me hungry.