#yolo4jesus

[xxweeabootrashxx]

Natsu 2013 Thoughts

Had a wonderful time at Natsucon this year! Big thanks to the Nerdfit Network for being hilarious and awesome! Con staff were great and super helpful in my experience with them! My panels went phenomenally, Thanks to everyone who came to Anime Hypnosis and Anime Hypnosis After Dark. Never have run the 18 plus panel before, and even though I was shitfaced, I remember it going pretty well! Can't wait for 2014!

[claytonstravelblog-blog]

Cities, Beaches, and Jungles

After spending seven days on Ko Tao, I finally felt it was time to leave the island paradise. The next destination: Ao Nang, Krabi, which is a tropical tourist town in the gulf of Thailand. To get there, we took a 7 hour boat ride through the night. It was a sleeper so there were beds, or should I say one giant bed. The distance between each mattress was about a centimeter and the size of the mattress you lay upon had just enough room for you to sleep with your arms to your side and your feet straight out and together. It was cozy, and actually pretty nice and easy to sleep on. The rocking of the boat and the breeze of the ocean was very soothing and put you to sleep instantly. From there we rode a bus to Krabi and then caught another bus to Ao Nang.

Upon arriving in Ao Nang, the first thing Roy and I did was explore the town. Nothing too special. Everyone tries to get you to dine at their restaurant and there are massage parlors on every corner. Luckily for us, there was an enclave in the town which was full of bars and clubs. Basically, it was an amusement park for young-adult travelers like ourselves. We were lucky enough to spend the 4th of July in Ao Nang. We met many new foreigners (none of them American) and showed them how we party on our Independence Day. Very fun night life there.

Unfortunately for us, there were three whole days of hurricane-like weather on Ao Nang, so we were stuck indoors only to watch movies and listen to coconuts land on our roof. On our final day in Ao Nang, the sun finally decided to pay us a visit. On that day, we took a water taxi to Riley beach, which was like the beach you see in travel magazines. Tiny yet tall, rugged islands with tropical growth that lined the coast. Upon arriving, we hiked, no, mountain climbed, to a look out. We then adventured down a stream that had run dry only to find a lagoon at the bottom. Basically we were at the bottom of a giant crater that had been filled with water, except along the sheer rock walls of the crater were vines and palm trees. After hiking the lagoon, we headed to the other side of the beach only to find rock climbers and tourists. We didn’t like the idea of sharing the area with tourists, so we ventured to an isolated part of the island, only to find a cave. If you have seen my Vines, you will know that white indigenous people still inhabit the caves and run naked swinging sticks over their heads. No just kidding. That’s just me acting like a 5 year old. But in all seriousness, the caves were awesome; and HUGE. Large bats hung from the ceiling, which most of the time was about 100 feet above your head. Because we came prepared and brought flashlights, we were able to venture into the dark chambers of the cave. Luckily, there was already a pathway worked out. You just had to follow the ladders. If you followed the ladders through the dark cave, you would come out very high above the water, with a perfect panoramic view Reilly beach. Amazing.

The next place we planned on going to was Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. But because it was a 16 hour bus ride, we decided to stay a night at the half way point: Hay Thai (I think that’s how you spell it). Hay Thai was basically a smaller and dirtier version of Bangkok. I will probably never go back to that town. The room we got smelt weird, it was very loud because it was next to the main road, and on top of all that, it had roaches. I guess that’s what you get when you pay $4.00 for a room.

We got to Kuala Lampur around 8:00 pm and immediately put our nice clothes on and hit the town. When arriving at our first bar, this Chinese man comes up to us and tells us to come over to his table, which was in the VIP room and filled with Chinese girls who didn’t know a word of English. He then proceeds to pay for the drinks that we had in our hands and buys us more and more drinks throughout the night: including aged scotch which was god knows how much. The next day, we awoke at 2:00 pm, which was actually a good thing because everything in Kuala Lampur is pretty expensive. Well, not that expensive; but expensive enough for travelers on a budget to stay away. Don’t get me wrong though, Kuala Lampur is an amazing city. Tons of very tall sky scrapers, friendly people, and fun things to do. It was basically like a clean tropical version of Seattle. I would love to go back someday when I have more money to spend.

After spending a good deal of money in Kuala Lampur, we headed to Tan Magara, which is deep, deep in the jungle of Malaysia. This is where I reside right now typing this up, sitting on my hostel porch which overlooks a brown river and a line of dense tropical trees. Today, Roy and I spent the day hiking on the jungle trails, hoping to see some wildlife. We were in luck. While hiking on the heavily rooted trail, a black and white snake came out of a hole and slithered across the trail. Didn’t manage to get a picture of that little guy; he was too fast. We also saw a fairly large monitor lizard, and so many god damn ants. The ants here are not like the ones back home. They do not go marching one by one; more like ten by ten. On top of that, you have the giant soldier ants who torpedo along at human walking speed and bite like a hornet. FUCK ANTS!

At the end of these treks through the jungle, we were rewarded with a nice swimming spot in the brown river. A little touristy, but that’s to be expected at a nice swimming spot. When lying in the shallow water, little fish would swim up and nibble at your toes and legs. It didn’t hurt; just tickled a little. While the fish were sucking on my legs, an exotic looking, teal and black butterfly would come and sit on my swimsuit (probably because my swimsuit was the same color as the butterflies). The butterflies would then shoot water out of their ass and onto my swim shorts. This water must have been some sort of pheromone because more and more butterflies of the same type would come to my swimming shorts and do the exact same thing. I was a butterfly mating platform. Those who know me well may know that insects seem to like me more than anyone else on this planet. For example, on this trip alone, I have put forth twice as much effort as Roy to avoid getting bitten by mosquitos, yet I have four times as many bites. Another example may be the bed bugs I got back at home, or the centipedes and drain spiders that sought me out and haunted my dreams for two years of my college life. So I have decided, fuck it! Might as well embrace this “gift.” I will be… an insect god.

As for future plans, Roy and I plan on staying here one more night so we have a chance to hike along the jungle suspension bridges and canopies in Tan Magara. We will then travel to Tioman Island, which offers some of the best free diving and snorkeling in the world. Until next time. Clayton. Out.