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Life After Asia

So i've been noticing even though I stopped this blog over 1 year ago this personal blog I kept up while living Abroad still generates a lot of traffic! Over 20,000 hits from a solid majority of countries, wow. Ok well i'm not sure who all of you are and how you're being directed to my blog but i'm glad you checked it out and learned something about life in Asia. I reflected on a few postings today since it's been a while and I was feeling a little restless over here. One thing is for sure when and if you move over to Asia, despite all the uncomfortable adjustments one might experience you just remember the good times over the bad (I remember being frustrated at some crap but I can't even remember that what stuff was anymore lol). Now I find myself really missing the easy life in Taiwan and after it's all said and done wouldn't hesitate on moving back there in a heartbeat.

I decided to put those 7 years of school I put in to use and got real job here in Toronto, Canada for a corporate marketing firm. While it's nice living in a comfortable condo in a posh area of the city and working a flexible job I still miss the crazy North Koreans living above me and the "immanent" threats of War on a weekly basis. I miss the food and culture too ; )

Anyways if you're a newcomer to this blog welcome and please check my previous posts on my experience living in Korea, Taiwan, Shanghai and visiting a number of other countries in Asia. You'll get a lighter perception of moving to Asia for your first time and going through the whole 'culture shock' business. Enjoy

If you have any questions just fire me a message on the 'contact me' button above.

Great Blog!!

I happened upon your blog by clicking a link from a Korean events page. You have really given a vivid view of your travels. Thanks .....it was quite entertaining...an hour(at least) well spent.

Good luck with your current endeavors.

Moongazer

End of an Era

Well - I've been meaning to close out this travel blog since I returned home this August. But between the trip to Vegas, Maurer's wedding and this new job...free time wasn't really around like it was in Asia lol. Reflecting back on my last year abroad, it was one hell of an experience. Living in a completely foreign culture was about as cool as experiences come and i'm glad I recorded a lot of it on this thing. By far the nicest country I lived in was Taiwan...i'm really going to miss Kaohsiung I think. Korea had so many things I loved and hated about it haha. There were times I despised that country and times where I was just loving it.

Highlights were definitely playing in the Canadian Ball Hockey League there in Seoul. Sadly, I will never play in a better run league probably ever again.

Korean BBQ was stellar too....

I came across the craziest group of drinkers I have ever come across in my life. Just when you think it can't possibly be taken to another level:

Banff Party Life ->

Uni PArty Life ->

Greek Party Life ->

SCOTTISH PARTY LIFE ->

SEOULLLLL PARTY LIFE->

Talk about a natural progression lol (Honourable mentions to Barcelona, Australia, New Zealand, Vienna, London and Panama *spring break*). It's good to know that if things don't pan out here in Canada i've got a healthy amount of places i'd go back to in a flash out there. The good friends you make abroad is something you can't trade for anything in terms of experiences. You meet some absolute beauties out there and it's been a pleasure fellas. . . it's been emotional lol.

Now i'm back in Ontario, my gf has come over from Scotland and on a one-year working visa here so we're going to hitup the Southern Ontario lifestyle, which i've grown to miss quite a lot since I left way back when. I took a job in Northern Toronto for a corporate marketing firm in Richmond Hill which is experiencing phenomenal growth and providing me with more opportunity I could have ever hoped for in an entry level position. I'm definitely planning on making the most of it...just closed an amazing condo on Yonge St. and moving in on Oct. 1st.

For the time being i'm not complaining and have put the PhD plans on the back-burner until I see how this job pans out. As I mentioned, it was just too good of an opportunity to turn down and would have left me wondering if I did otherwise. To say that i'm going with the flow these days is probably an understatement, but it keeps life interesting for me personally. If you're one of those people too, I recommend always having one or two solid contingency plans in your back pocket in case things don't work out...which you find can happen more often than not on any given year. For now though, it's going to be catching up with family, touring Ky around Canada a bit and getting back into the NHL and NFL (damn I missed those sports!).

Until next time.....keep fit and have fun. Good stuff!

#This is the End

Well I'll be damned. . .

Today I woke up and realized that it's Canada Day, the weekend where we all usually pack a few cars and head up to Burrows' place in Ottawa and celebrate it with 100,000+ fellow Canadians. What I DIDN'T know all these years was that we share this special day with COMMUNIST DAY as well. You can imagine my embarrassment when I found out. You mean to tell me all these years I could have been celebrating double as hard the formation of The Great Party? Needless to say, we're all going out here tonight in Shanghai and celebrating our first Communist Day like never before.

The air will be rich with conversation of our social relations based on freely-associated individuals and the proletarian revolution. The beers. . . the beers will flow like wine. . .Shanghai baby. It's all going down tonight, one harmonious celebration draping the red across everything WOOoooooo!!!

Off to Shanghai! Democracy WHO!?

Good-bye Vietnam, its been good! Nothing but fond memories of touring up this amazing country. I wasn't sure what to expect when I first arrived here, this was like no where I have traveled to in the past. The standard of living was much lower compared to Taiwan and Korea; as Thai's cousin put it, "the people here are not rich and not poor, everyone gets by on what they make and it's enough to live". I'd like to thank Thai's family for their gracious hospitality during my visit down South in Saigon. They treated me like family and made my experience all the more memorable.

I highly recommend coming to see Vietnam, don't be scared by Malaria or any other of that b.s., it's just something that gets blown way out of proportion by travel clinics. Most people that I have met here told me they never got any vaccinations. I am definitely planning on returning here, the time just flew by so quickly. That's traveling I suppose. For now, Thai and I are coming into Shanghai hot and we're staying with one of my best buddies from back in the rez days at Waterloo. He's out there on an engineering contract through his work and is putting us up in his apartment suite for a while. We're going to pick things back up where we left them when he came and visited Seoul. Let the good times roll.

China really puts the squeeze on social networking, so if it's what i'm told, this will be my last and final blog post here in Asia. I'll add a bunch of posts about Shanghai once I get back. I'll be looking forward to returning back to Canada after 1 year, it's been one hell of a journey and a life experience I will never forget!

p.s. my apology for the horrible grammar recently and sometimes incoherent sentences. I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to this blog like I did in Taiwan, so it usually is just a quick post without looking it over. Hope no points I was making came across wrong to anyone! Cheers x

One of the best tours of my life. . .

As mentioned in my previous post, Thai's cousin offered to take us on board his cargo ship after delivering a sand shipment down south and let us tour back up the Mekong Delta with him and his crew back to Saigon. For those that don't know, the Mekong Delta River spans roughly 39,000 km in Vietnam and has recently been dubbed as a 'biological treasure trove'. Over 10,000 new species have been discovered in previously unexplored areas of Mekong Delta.

They have floating markets on the river, where you just pull up your boat and board someone else to check out their goods. Our journey back to Saigon took 2 days, Thai and I just hung with the crew. They prepared meals for us everyday and were glad to have us aboard.

At night we'd sleep on the roof of the ship (which was really cool) checking out the stars and the moon, with no city lights for hundreds of miles. The Video below is when we took a small boat through the Mekong canals and all the small villages along the river.

Best. Seafood. Ever.

One of the days I spent at Phu Quoc Island, my buddy Joel and I toured it up on the bikes and made our way to the southern-east coast to this apparently legendary seafood restaurant. Now, i've tried good seafood from all over (Naxos Island, East Coast Maine, Australia, New Zealand etc etc.) but this crab and shrimp they served up to Joel and I blew us both away.

I think we just laughed through the entire meal like, are you kidding me?!? UNREAL. . . Joel works with the Navy and loves his seafood, he's been all around the world as well and agreed with me, this was the best he'd ever had. I'm telling you right now, if you're looking to open a seafood restaurant back home POACH this chef, he will make you a small fortune. I can't even remember the last time I had a meal comparatively as good of anything.

Move over Taiwanese. . .we have a new champion.

It's official, the VIETNAMESE will eat absolutely anything. Ho-ly CRAP. . .there is really no limit here. This culture has adapted their culinary appetites to just about anything other than rodents. Thai tries everything put in front of him. . .but given my recent bouts of food poisoning last year, i'm starting to learn that my stomach isn't made of iron and I chill out on some of the more questionable dishes, including dog.

(dog)

Uhh. . .?

I gave the turtle a try...Thai had to order it off the menu. It shed a lot of light on why it's not a staple in the North American diet.

The Delta Showdown. . .

We ported at a town during the Mekong Delta tour and there was a bunch of guys playing some football in town. They let us join in which was pretty cool, although playing on turf barefoot wasn't the smartest idea ever haha. It took a few days for the blisters to chill out !

. . .beat

Serbian Special Ops

Something sweet. . IF you travel to the Cu-Chi tunnels northwest of Saigon, you can shoot off an array of guns from WW2 and the Vietnam War. After much deliberation with the frenchman, Thai and I settled on the AK47 and the Machine Gun. . .Why not eh? haha - SO much fun, take my word for it.

DETAINED!!!! (by the Communist South)

This is about exactly as it sounds like. Today was interesting to say the least people. Things escalated pretty quickly when our cargo ship pulled into one of the ports along the delta and we tried to make our way into town. Immigration pounced on us immediately and when they realized Thai and I didn't have our passports on us, things got Communist pret-ty quickly. It also didn't help I had a canceled Korean visa and new Chinese visa locked and loaded....things are a little.......tense.....with the Chinese right now as the war games continue up north.

Anyways, we were instantly detained and not allowed to go anywhere for a while Thai's cousin once again had to step up his game and make a few calls. 5 hours later the family entourage rolled up in this giant SUV (coming all the way from Saigon mind you) and things started to roll and look good for poor Thai and I... the fact I had 2 passports as well, only made the situation more awesome as you can imagine. In the end, after getting some quality time to myself pondering how long i'm going to last in a Vietnamese prison (given my western democratic ideologies and all) I actually was able to calculate carefully and hypothesize. . .not long. So emotion wise, I was probably at an amber alert lol. Finally Thai's aunt came out of the office and informed us that she was able to bribe the bastards to letting us walk, which abruptly ended the ordeal and got us back on our boat. GOD!!! Thank you JESUS! . . .where the hell is Alec Baldwin and the Film Actors Guild when you need them though, really.

If you come over here, try to avoid anyone in a uniform is what I learned today. Good times, keep em' coming. I love it haha. . .gearing up for night 2 sleeping on the roof of this freighter again! The moon is full and the skies are clear once again. . . communist interrogation and encroachment to a minimum. Peace again lol

One of the coolest experiences. . .

I figure i'll add this to the blog entries as an experience worth noting during my travels. As I type this i'm on board a giant (and I mean massive!) cargo shipping coming back from the deep south of the Mekong Delta river in Vietnam, heading north to Saigon.

As it turns out Thai's cousin is the captain of this ship and has shown us one hell of a time down here. He manages a crew of 6 people on board this vessel who are so chilled and cool with Thai and I being on board. We did a bar night tonight and just as we got back he made the decision to anchor up and start making our way to Saigon. Just like that the whole crew gets up and this ship is cruising its way back up north. This guy is 26 and living the life down here in Vietnam, Thai and I are both pretty jealous. Anyways he couldn't be any more hospitable and lets us have our run of the ship pretty much...he said if we wanted to party late tonight he'd hold up the ship until tomorrow morning for us! Classic. But Thai and I thought a cruise through the legendary Mekong Delta river on such a nice, clear night would be stellar.

Anyways we're sleeping on the roof of the ship tonight and taking in the fresh air (a nice break from the pollution back in Taiwan!) Cracking some beers on the deck with the captain and calling it a night later. Sunrise on the river here is a trip too. . . We've got a 48 hour trip back to Saigon and honestly, i'm looking forward to it. This country has definitely made an impression. It's only been 4 days and i'm already dubbing it the most epic trip i've been on thus far. If you're into the history of the Vietnam War, a truly unique cultural experience and incredible scenery...this, most definitely is it. What I think probably pushes this trip over the top is the constant hospitality of Thai's family and pretty much spoiling us rotten over here. Like I mentioned before, they are literally hooking us up with everything and going out of their way to make sure we have a great time. Props to them...next time I have the chance to take someone up on a similar offer, I won't even think twice. Done deal.

Chilling in Saigon!

Well I arrived in Saigon a few days ago and so far it has been impressive. What is even cooler, i'm staying with my friend Thai's family who live right downtown. They have been the most hospitable hosts, taking Thai and I everywhere and refusing to let us pay for anything. It's a pretty cool experience living with a Vietnamese family, eating with them, going out, etc.

Today we are off to tour up the Mekong Delta river. Thai's family owns a boat and have arranged for us to check out the historical river for a few days (including the world famous floating market). Should be pretty sweet!

The housing in Taiwan is Class

April 20, 2011 (Post)

IF you're over here teaching english you will notice some of these 'closets' they stuff you in. Korea can't hold a candle to the pads you get setup with over here in Taiwan. A lot of the time they come with big flat screen TVs and balconies (my place has 2!).

I was well impressed how nice all my friend's places are here. So much more space.

Why NOT travel around Asia

(Just some older posts I had saved in my drafts before I left Taiwan)

I don't think enough of western society realizes just how great of an experience it is to travel around Asia. For many reasons really, but I've covered a lot of ground thus far in my travels and so far without a doubt, this has been the most interesting and rewarding.

Korea, China, Philippines have all been amazing places to visit. The PEOPLE I find to be generally warm and friendly and eager to help you. They are kind to their neighbors, kind to strangers and I am often humbled by how welcoming people are to me here, especially when I think about how foreigners are often treated back home. Moreover, you'd expect to be treated like a second class citizen when you are going about your business in a society in which you don't speak their language or have a clue about their culture.

It's remarkable how safe it is over here also and how well foreigners are protected in all these countries. While gangs are a big problem here in Taiwan, they won't mess with foreigners unless provoked. The same in Korea, people generally don't screw with you because of the attention it may bring. This is probably the exact opposite back home.

All in all, it adds to the experience here and my personal impressions of Asian society. These 'elitist' attitudes don't really exist and people more or less want to engage conversation with you (if not to practice their english, then just to be friendly). I often get people requesting to take a photo with me or if they're too shy (life jeff and I experienced at the supermarket the other day) they will just pretend to take a picture of their friend while snapping one of you haha.

*Side note: I understand that there's no where near as many foreigners here as their are in Canada, but my point is that it's just a different experience and I wasn't quite sure how well westerners would be received in these cultures. Definite class on their part.

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HELLLLLOOOOOooooo VIETNAMMMMMMMMMMM!!!! (and GOOD MORNING BABY!)

Bags are packed, moving my life a bit more South today. I'm staying with Thai and his family in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh)

They are picking me up from the airport today and will tour us around southern Vietnam for the next 10 days before Thai and I bounce it up North to Hanoi and Halong Bay. I'm ready to take a vacation from my vacation right about now and tour up the deep jungles of Vietnam (maybe make some contacts Frank Lucas styles) before moving to Shanghai this July.

Pretty stoked, i'm ready to hit this country up hard Thai! If I ever go completely off the grid in Asia, this is going to be it lol. Thai and I are coming in hot...gonna check out where they filmed scenes for the most expensive fake true war movies ever. . . it's all going down now! Going full retard for this one. . .

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