TravelStream™ news feed for member jlewku on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jlewku en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:08:57 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/4/1235797440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/4/1235797440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/4/1235797440/tpod.html Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:08:57 -0500 Rickshaw Run 2009...A 2500+ mile race across India starting from Himalayan mountains and ending in the tropical beaches of Goa. The danger, excitement, stories, and thrills will all be for CHARITY!

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Kansas City, Missouri, United States

I am now officially a member of "Lucknow be Two Ladies", the four person (Pippa, Helen, Jeff, and myself) two rickshaw team to tackle the Rickshaw Run 2009 race across India. More details to follow!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180810260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180810260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180810260/tpod.html Sun, 03 Jun 2007 14:56:50 -0400 Study Abroad adventure in Germany, Finland, Sweden, and a quick stop in London with fellow University of Missouri-Kansas City MBA students. A mix of school and pleasure but a great deal of enjoyment!

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Helsinki, Finland

We made it back to our hostel which was part of the Olympic stadium where they were playing the sold out soccer match of Finland versus Serbia. It was awesome to be able to walk outside your hostel into a hoard of crazy soccer fans all ready to watch their national team. We grabbed some beers and joined in the fun. We had some great seats and set by all Finland fans. It was a great game and we enjoyed our first major international soccer match. We even had one of the Finnish guys next to us take off his shirt and try to make it onto the field, only to get completely knocked the heck out by one of the millions security guys they had around the field. We got a great photo of him about half way to the field flipping of the security and then of one of him getting taken down. Finland lost but still enjoyable. We took it easy that night as everyone was headed out the next day. We chatted for a while as it was still like out at midnight and then headed to bed.
Everyone else headed out at 8:00 am but I stayed around until 2:00 so the professor and I took a tour of the Olympic stadium tower and a few other sites and then I headed out to the airport. I caught all my flights and now I am in London at the airport getting ready to go see some friends.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180709880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180709880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180709880/tpod.html Sun, 03 Jun 2007 14:51:02 -0400 Study Abroad adventure in Germany, Finland, Sweden, and a quick stop in London with fellow University of Missouri-Kansas City MBA students. A mix of school and pleasure but a great deal of enjoyment!

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Helsinki, Finland

We arrived early Thursday morning at the port of Helsinki, Finland in our cruise ship from Stockholm, Sweden and caught a tram to our hostel, which just happened to be part of the 1952 Olympic Stadium. We tossed out luggage in our rooms and headed directly to our first business visit of Aker Yards. They are one of the larger ship and sea vessel builders in the Baltic Sea area. We were able to get a personal presentation by one of the head engineers who knew everything a person could about the large ship building business. We got a personal presentation by one of the head engineers and then we were able to put on all our safety gear and get to take a walk into the massive ports where they custom build each vessel. It was amazing to walk underneath one of the massive ships and see different ones in the making. Now when I see all the large Carnival cruise style ships in the ports I look at them in a entirely different way.
That evening a few of us went out to an amazing little authentic Finnish restaurant where we ate Reindeer, which is a authentic Finnish style meal. The ambiance, atmosphere, and food was so enjoyable I would say it was one of the best meals I have had in a long time. We toured the city on foot that evening.
I also want to point out that Finland only gets like 3-4 hours of darkness during the summer months and only 3-4 hours of daylight during the winter months. We were walking around at 12:00 at night and the sun was still putting off a considerable amount of light. It was a very different experience walking around at that hour of the night and it feeling like its 6 in the afternoon. Plus, you wake up at 4 in the morning because you think its 8 or 9 and that you've slept through the business tours. It was a fun experience though!
Friday we went to two more business visits, The Bank of Finland and the OMX stock exchange (which just was acquired by the Nasdaq). Afterwords we tour the city markets and had then second best meal I have had in a long time. We had herring, salmon, and vegetables. The herring is small fish the size of minnows (and kind of look like them), but are grilled and have the most unique flavor for a "fish". That evening I organized the entire group to head across town and buy tickets to the Finland versus Serbia soccer match on Saturday. We then also purchased tickets for the ferry to take us to the country of Estonia.
After an entire day of events, we still were not done... the first Friday of each month is American car night where people cruise their American cars and then all makes of cars then come to the Olympic stadium parking lot to burn rubber and do "donuts". It was one of the most hilarious events I went to on the trip. All these weird Finnish people completely burning their tires up until they pop or catch on fire and then the crowd roars ( I guess ruining your tires makes you cool!) We stayed until we couldn't breath from all the burned rubber and smoke. I have the best photo of the trip from this night and several awesome video clips of old BMW and Volvo's and even a real old van doing donuts and roasting their tires. It was even more unique because like I said above it was one or two in the morning and it still was light outside (like the last 10-15 minutes before sunset).
We headed caught the ferry to Tallin, Estonia in the morning. This will be the next entry.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180808940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180808940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180808940/tpod.html Sun, 03 Jun 2007 14:49:11 -0400 Study Abroad adventure in Germany, Finland, Sweden, and a quick stop in London with fellow University of Missouri-Kansas City MBA students. A mix of school and pleasure but a great deal of enjoyment!

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Tallin, Estonia

We got up bright and early to catch the 7:30 ferry ride to Tallin, Estonia. We were running on about 3 hours of sleep because of the car rally and tire spin out session that went on all night in the stadium's parking lot. We though were really looking forward to Estonia so we managed to get to the port in time and caught the hour and forty minute ferry ride to the port in Tallin. With the name of Estonia, we didn't know what to expect from a country that had been under Russian or German rule until just recently. We did know they had an Old City section that was suppose to be very special. When we got to the edge of town we found a small bike tour shop and after our wonderful experience in Berlin with the bike tour we decided to take it. We had a local Estonian as our guide and we road all over new and old town. We learned about how in 1988 there were 300,000 Estonians (with a total country population of around a million, it was like 1 in every three was there) who joined together on this large hill and pulled out their Estonian flags and sang Estonian songs for the first time in over 50 years. Then soon after they joined hands to make a chain the went across Estonia to show the German's they were coming together as true Estonians. Then in 1991 the were granted what they had been working towards, their independence.
One thing that stuck with me was that he said their hasn't been anything like the song singing, flag flying, or hand holding since the early 90's. Now all people care about is getting newer and nicer cars, houses, and clothes. He said once they had their independence the people split apart more than they were when they were under the control of another country.
We toured that afternoon the beaches, the monuments, and many other sites and then caught the ferry back to Finland in time to make it to the soccer game. But along the way we had some very interesting entertainment. Because it is so much cheaper than Finland, many guys go over their and drink and go to the strip clubs by the ports and then catch a ferry back to Finland. They are completely wasted and seeing them inside a large ferry that is rocking back and forth is hilarious. We had a few drunks on our boat that afternoon who gave us quite the show. A few fell completely down the stairs, one had to be even be carried out by a few other drunks. At the passport control they just let them through, which we was also interesting being they were so wasted.
We went back to the Olympic stadium and got ready for our Finland vs. Serbia soccer game.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180216440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180216440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180216440/tpod.html Thu, 31 May 2007 18:17:33 -0400 Study Abroad adventure in Germany, Finland, Sweden, and a quick stop in London with fellow University of Missouri-Kansas City MBA students. A mix of school and pleasure but a great deal of enjoyment!

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Stockholm, Sweden

Wow, I don´t even know where to begin as I left off last time that we were stuck one day longer in Berlin because of SAS airline strike but we thought we had a new flight to Stockholm. We ended up staying the extra day and night in Berlin, then catching a flight to Frankfurt where we were suppose to catch a flight to Stockholm. They canceled the flight to Stockholm once we arrived in Frankfurt and then we didn´t make the stand by passengers chosen for the flight later that day. They did put us up in a really nice hotel so we went and explored Frankfurt that evening and caught a few hours of sleep. Bright and early we woke up and headed back to the airport for the third day in a row to try and catch a flight to Stockholm. We were on the top of the list (out of 57 other passengers) for stand by and we were 3 of 6 allowed to catch the flight. It was the best relief to finally get on the plane.
We arrived in Stockholm with slightly chilly temperatures and me in my t shirt and shorts I had been wearing for 2 days (my luggage was already checked in from the first flight and we didn´t want to recheck it for each stand by) to find out they lost my luggage. They said they can get it to me by the end of the day so we go trekking around Stockholm in shorts and a t shirt. It turned out to be a very fun day with us touring the world´s oldest preserved sailing vessel, a boat tour of the city, and a lot of site seeing by foot. We ate some great local meals and then met up with the rest of the new Sweden-Finland group and went to the Absolut Ice Bar. It is a bar that is 100% ice where the glasses to seats are made out of ice. We stayed the allowed 45 minutes and took some fun photos and then enjoyed a few local bars as we got to know each other. The next two days we took several business tours to such places as the parliament and best of all V&W headquarters. They are the owners of Absolut Vodka. We got a personal presentation by the head of PR for the company. It was as fascinating of a presentation as one could as for. Very informational and enjoyable. We did some more site seeing and the last night we caught a concert of a local and also Norwegian band.
On Wednesday we then caught the Carnival cruise style ferry from Stockholm, Sweden to Helsinki, Finland. It was a massive ferry with cabin, casino, night club, etc. on it. We ended up having a very memorable evening. We sang karaoke to later even dancing down to some Euro House style music. Fun, Fun, Fun!
We arrived Thursday morning in Helsinki for several days of business visits and touristic attractions. As it will be the last part to the trip I will be writing that one hopefully from the comfort of my own desk and computer!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180184520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180184520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180184520/tpod.html Sat, 26 May 2007 09:37:35 -0400 Study Abroad adventure in Germany, Finland, Sweden, and a quick stop in London with fellow University of Missouri-Kansas City MBA students. A mix of school and pleasure but a great deal of enjoyment!

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Berlin, Germany

Well, I left off last entry with us leaving Bremen, Germany and catching a 5 hour train up to Berlin, Germany. I had been to Berlin on my motorcycle during my RTW trip 2 years ago and throughly enjoyed my time there and was looking forward to getting to experience more of the city. Our hostel the 25 of us stayed in was in a great location which was going to allow us to venture out into all parts of the city.
We got there in the afternoon and took the Fat Tire bicycle tour of the city. It was as much fun as you could have on a bike and as much fun as a person can have listening to historical facts. We had a large group with a few females who were not the most highly coordinated (they gave us fair warning) so all the historical site seeing aside, the crashes were worth it by themselves. From the Berlin wall to the bunker Hitler killed himself in, we got to see a great deal of interesting sites. We spent the evening enjoying dinner and drinks.
The next day we visited Siemens headquarters and learned a great deal about the company and the differences-similarities of it and General Electric. We were able to watch the production of mega transformers and learn about the logistics of what it takes for such a huge corporation. The fed us one of the best German lunches I have had so far and was at the table with the head of the company´s Media Relations. We had some great in depth conversation about business and the US. That evening we took a Berlin city pub crawl and made sure no bar was left untouched. The night life was what was needed after a long day of business related events. Let´s just say we might have tried going head to head with the Berlin bars and they might have won this time. As always, there are some great stories to one day be told.
The next day (friday) we got up bright and early and headed to Bayer´s headquarters and had one of the most interesting business visits to date as it was a product and company we were really familiar with. We learned all about patents, the time line of designing a new drug, how many they have going now, and overall great amount of info on the company and field of business. When investing in companies even for personal financial growth, it makes one think about looking into just how many drugs each company has in the pipe line, the success rate of their trials, or even how many scientist they have. That afternoon we went to the German Parliament (Reichstag) and had a private tour of the goverment building and history. The building and history was something I throughly enjoyed. We were able to walk to the top of the glass dome surrounding the Reichstag and see the entire city of Berlin. Very interesting.
With it being Friday and people heading either home or to the Sweden-Finland study abroad trip we decided to have a peaceful evening at a local bar. BUT....... we found out at 12:00 that night from one of the girl´s parents (she had her cell) that SAS airlines were on strike. We spent the next few hours trying to figure out how we were going to get to Stockholm, Sweden that next day. We finally gave up and woke up at 8:00 am to call them. Our professor was on the same flight and we got it worked out to go on Sunday. So we spent the day going to a massive cultural fair which was the size of the entire park. We sampled many different foods and snacks and had the best people watching experience in a long time. Quite the variety! We are now planning on hitting up a soccer game this evening and then flying out to Sweden bright and early in the morning (if luck allows).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180169220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180169220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1180169220/tpod.html Sat, 26 May 2007 06:03:09 -0400 Study Abroad adventure in Germany, Finland, Sweden, and a quick stop in London with fellow University of Missouri-Kansas City MBA students. A mix of school and pleasure but a great deal of enjoyment!

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Bayreuth, Germany

Let´s going ahead and start off with just how much of a schmuck I am and how lucky I was. My flight was changed a few months back so when I got the email I wrote down in all my planners that it left at 3:05. I was pulling up to the airport at 1:55 when I looked down at my itinerary and saw 2:05 in big bold letters. OH SHIT! I knew right away I was going to miss my flight to Chicago and miss my flight to Frankfurt, which would ultimately cause me to miss Claudia´s big 30th B-day party. Well, to make a long story short, I miraculously made my flight, all flight´s were delayed, and I made my connecting flight by just minutes. I arrive in Frankfurt, Germany and catch a train down to Bayreuth where Chris and Claudia live (he and his brother are family friends through a high school foreign x-change student program 10 years ago or so and I also stayed with them two years ago during my RTW journey).
There are so many wonderful stories and tales along the way but as I am compiling 11 jam-packed days stories into two entries I am going to give everyone an overview. One example was on the train down to meet Chris I borrowed a man´s cell phone to tell Chris when I would arrive. On his cell phone screen he had a photo of a BMW motorcycle similar to the one I bought 2 years ago and did Europe on. We talked for several hours about motorcycles which turned a boring train ride into a very enjoyable one. I will skip these from here on but keep in mind each day several of these wonderful experiences happened.
Chris picked me up at the train station and we went back to there wonderful new house they just completed building in November. It is a absolutely gorgeous house in a tiny town outside the college town of Bayreuth where they both are teachers. Claudia´s (his wife) and his parents were all there and we enjoyed chatting over desserts. That evening 30-40 people showed up for Claudia´s 30th B-day party. I enjoyed learning German and allowing the kids at the same time to hone up on their English. We grilled out, drank some great German beer, and enjoyed everyone´s company until early hours of the morning. I woke up the next day later than normal as the jet lag and time difference was still in effect. We spent the afternoon cleaning up and then went down to the school to test out a new rock climbing wall they were installing. That evening we watch a movie and called it a night. The next day Chris and I took the mountain bikes out on the rolling hills and forest for a 6 hour bike ride. We went through amazing forests, through rolling wheat fields, tiny little German farm towns, and it was overall an amazing day of riding. That evening we met up with their friends to enjoy a true German Schnitzel at a great outdoor restaurant. We had a wonderful meal, complimented by just as wonderful of weather. One of the friend´s daughter who is in Kindergarten, taught me how to count in German, which was a hoot. I went out to their friend´s bar and then to a night club where we danced the night away. We enjoyed breakfast at his friend´s restaurant in the morning and I caught my train to Bremen, Germany where I would start my week long MBA study abroad program. Photos to be posted once I am back.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1179739560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1179739560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/europe-2007/1179739560/tpod.html Sat, 26 May 2007 06:02:00 -0400 Study Abroad adventure in Germany, Finland, Sweden, and a quick stop in London with fellow University of Missouri-Kansas City MBA students. A mix of school and pleasure but a great deal of enjoyment!

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Bremen, Germany

After a 5.5 hour train ride from Bayreuth, Germany to Bremen, Germany I arrived and dropped of my bag and headed to meet up with the group. They were finished up a Beck´s Brewery tour and we all grabbed some dinner by City Center and gorgeous old churches. A few of us stopped by a German Irish pub on the way back which was both very busy and unique. It gave us more time to get to know each other and enjoy our first evening together.
We made it back to our hostel safely and bright and early caught a train to the northen coast (Cuxhaven) where were there a small piece of the sea ground recedes twice a day allowing people to walk out into the ocean for miles. This is before high tide brings the water back to depths of over 12 feet where you previously were walking. It was a very quaint ocean town and learning about the sea was intriguing. That evening we enjoyed the laughter and good times of a German Karaoke night. My one karaoke song I sing wasn´t an option so I was able to get by without making a fool of myself.
The next day was Monday and started our actual program. We toured Airbus (the airplane manufacturer and main competitor of Boeing) that morning and learned about the business. It was intriguing as I had toured Boeing in high school so I was able to see the differences a German vs. US based company is ran. That afternoon we toured Daimler Chrysler and their production plant of the new SLK convertibles. I am sad to say we were not given one for touring their company but were did receive an excellent experience. Once I get back I will have to see if I can scrounge up $70K to buy one so I will be asking for donations from everyone. We enjoyed a nice quiet night down by the river at nice restaurant-bars, though once again I can´t say it was a early evening. We ended up stopping in a German ´´adult´´ shop and had a laugh at the German adult toys and magazine. We got a gay adult magazine to play a prank on one of the guys and that story will come later.
We trained to Hamburg, Germany and toured Otto that Tuesday, which is the world´s largest catalog ordering company. They own or are partners in so many companies I was shocked I had never heard of them. They own Spiegel catalog, Crate and Barrel, and numerous other US brands. They had just installed a massive new distribution-shipping system that was absolutely astonishing to see how quickly and much it could process. We enjoyed another wild and crazy evening where we even met back up with so local girls that we karaoked with a few nights before. We were spending the day on the train the next day to Berlin so we knew we could sleep then and took advantage of that.
Ok, now back to the gay German adult magazine. We had put it under one of the guy´s mattress as we were going to put it in his laptop bag so when they asked him to open it up at the airport (he was headed to India for business afterwords so he brought it along) that it would fall out in front of everyone. The thing was his bed broke so one of the young ladies working came up to help him and when they lifted up the mattress this magazine with two naked guys were starring at them. Neither knew what to say but if a person can turn red, they both were as red as one can get. She didn´t speak English so she didn´t know what to say and he was so embarrassed he also was speechless. It was a hilarious moment to watch.
That morning we headed to Berlin on the train for the last half of our Germany trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/theworld-2005/1131978540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/theworld-2005/1131978540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/theworld-2005/1131978540/tpod.html Wed, 16 Nov 2005 22:32:52 -0500 A farm kid's dream of traveling the world.. seeing what most can only dream of, experiencing the unexpected!!

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Ko Toa, Thailand

The pain I am feeling is unbearable; my knuckles are clinched shut, my face is as white as a ghost, and they still are digging. I finally tell them I can't take any more, I'm either going to have to pull an ol' country western movie (which they have no clue what I'm talking about) and get drunk or just let it be. In broken Thai English they tell me that it is terribly infected and they can give me a local antistetic if I absolutely need it. I am sitting there on the operating table in a 3rd world country with the dilemma of letting my foot fall off from infection or take the risk of them jamming a needle in my foot. I know the latter is my only choice, so I tell them to go ahead and administer the shot. She pulls from the cabinet a 3 inch long needle and proceeds to jam it all around the infected gash in my foot. A shattered foot, broken femur, broken arm, and I still haven't felt pain like this. She is ruthless and carefree about how it is effecting me, I'm just another dumb tourist to her. After the medication kicks in, she is right back at peeling the skin back. She is picking, scraping, and pulling at the gash in hopes of getting the sand and grime fully out of the cut. From the way it feels even with the pain medication, she must be doing a heck of a job. Now lets rewind a few days. I made it down to the island of Ko Tao where I started my Rescue Diver (scuba) course. I had finished the first 3 day segment and with luck, it had fallen on the day of the 1/2 moon party in Ko Phanagn. We leave our luggage and gear at Ko Tao and catch the afternoon ferry over the Ko Phanagn. I'm telling myself right away that college "J-Lew" won't be coming out, for I've been really good and safe for 6 months of traveling solo...and I'm not wanting to repeat another Thailand experience. (Three years ago when I was here after Australia I had a run in with Thai whiskey and a Thai kickboxer, lets just saw I lost again both!) We check into this amazing bungalow that overlooks the beach and has its own private pool. We all chipped in so for the two nights it was $15 a piece, such a good deal. We relax around the pool and watch one of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen (pictures to come soon). We order some food and a few rounds of beers. Again, I keep telling myself to be smart and keep it cool. I'm doing pretty good by the time we leave for the party, but then it all turns south at the convenience store. One of the girls had gotten her sandal stuck in the mud so I come to the rescue. I step into the mud to find her sandal and instantly something slides up the side of my sandal and rips the side of my foot open. This was something I was hoping I wouldn't do AT the party, and here it happened before we even get there. They said someone would have a first aid kit at the party so we hop back in the rickshaw and head out. We get to the party and have them administer some first aid. It's throbbing pretty bad, I'm frustrated with myself for not being more careful, and the party is ROCKING!! The only thing I can do is let the "J-Lew" out and forget about my foot for the time being. Jump to six in the morning, the DJ is still throwing out some great techno dance tunes, the cove it is hosted in is still filled with partiers, and I'm still loving life. For the next few hours we keep on partying, dancing, and having a unbelievable time. Once the sprinklers comes on to cool everyone down, we know its time to call it a night/day. We head back and spend the day relaxing and sleeping around the pool. The evening turned out great, I met some amazing people, went to one of the biggest outdoor party events I've ever been to, and nothing negative occurred (the foot event happened before). My foot didn't look the best but it has been bandaged and I only knew of a doctor back on Ko Tao. I let it be until the next day when we arrived back at Ko Toa, where I visited the clinic. The beginning of the log is where this leads to next. Since I left it for over a day, they couldn't stitch it up (I had no clue it was that deep or I would have gotten help immediately) and it had gotten infected. I somehow make it through the procedure and walk away with antibiotics and a whopping $12 bill (that wouldn't have even covered the bandages in the states). JASON= ZERO , THAILAND = TWO. I have yet to make it to Thailand without a accident occurring, even as hard as I tried this time for one not to happen. Now to the GOOD events of my travels in Thailand. BEACHES, SUNSETS, DIVING, MOPEDS, and AMAZING FOOD! I can't tell you how nice the weather has been for me. You have to remember the first 2 days I was here, it rained for 48 hours straight. I came in dead middle of Monsoon season so the weather forecast was bad to say the least. In the past 10 days it has not rained once and the sun has shown it's beautiful rays everyday. They said they haven't gone more than a few days without a downpour since the monsoon season started. Along with the weather, the diving and the completion of my Rescue Diver course have been outstanding. I am now certified to rescue swimmers, divers, or whoever else might be in need of help that requires the use of a scuba diver. The past few days have been used exploring the island on scooters, finishing up my first aid course (required for rescue diver), and eating my favorite meal of Kaw Paad (Thai fried rice, pork, and vegetables). I was a really bummed once I found out I had come in monsoon season, but it has turned out to be an amazing couple of weeks. My feet is healing, I'm getting a darker tan, and I'm now needing to decide where to go see next. I'll keep everyone posted and I'll be thinking about everyone in the cold midwest while I'm soaking up some rays!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/theworld-2005/1131179340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/theworld-2005/1131179340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jlewku/theworld-2005/1131179340/tpod.html Sat, 05 Nov 2005 04:24:11 -0500 A farm kid's dream of traveling the world.. seeing what most can only dream of, experiencing the unexpected!!

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Bangkok, Thailand

Since arriving in Bangkok from Nepal, my time has used walking around Khoasan Road (the major backpacker hub for traveling southeast Asia), checking out all the street vendors, stores, restaurants, and crazy antics of young backpackers. Today, I got up bright and early and took in a day of classes at the Baipai Thai cooking school. It was a magnificent day of hands on learning, which included 4 wonderful Thai meals. I am hoping with my skills I learned and the notes I took (cookbook included), that I'll be able to prepare them for everyone once I'm back home. Afterwards I went in for my 2nd fitting of my custom tailored suits. I'm truly hoping these turn out to be as good as I'm hoping. If my suit is done for my 3rd and final fitting, I will be heading off to the islands tonight on a overnight bus. I'll post again once I've spent my time in the islands soaking up some sun and doing a few dives. Until then, I hope all is well!
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