Amsterdam - Early Evening

These are a few random shots of the area around my hotel when I was in Amsterdam. I really need to get back here again. I think a trip to Europe with my wife would be pretty fun and would get here to see some of the world.




This was the hotel I stayed at. The Swissotel was fantastic accomodation. Large bed, a tub you could swim in, a decent restaurant and close to the central train station.


I'll have to see what photos I have left from any trips. This was everything from Amsterdam. I guess I can get a few photos from my trip to Koh Chang in Thailand from February. I'll have to see how to load them with the new photo editor on Google.

Cubs are making their run for the playoffs. Hopefully, my next post, they'll have won the division.

A museum, a brewery, little cars, and the Amstel River

This is the Riks Museum. I didn't have the time to go through and see the collections here and since the next day I would be in Paris, I decided to take a pass since I didn't want to get museumed out.

This is the Heineken Brewery. I personally don't like the taste of Heineken, I think it tastes awful and skunky because of the deterioration of the beer due to light coming in through the green glass of the bottles. I also found that with the brewery close by that the local supply would not have that skunky taste.

Wrong. Still skunky.

I stuck with Carlsberg (a Danish import also in green glass, but not skunky) in the bars and taverns of Amsterdam.


I just loved taking photos of these little cars. If you were to get into an accident, a serious accident, they could pull your remains out with a shop vac or just use the car as a coffin. Pretty convienent.


These remaining photos are of the Amstel river. Yes the same name as that other miserable beer that comes from Heineken.




I've been extremely delinquent in putting up photos and posting anything. Let's just say that the past couple of months have been extremely hectic for me. I suspect that I'll have a little more time to post and get a few more of my travel photos and observations up by the end of July. Till then...

Amsterdam - More canals and the Anne Frank house

Been very busy working on getting a visa for my wife to come to the states. Between that and work, I haven't been terrible motivated to post here. I've got a few photos from Koh Chang in Thaialnd which I'll post eventually, but in the meantime, a few more photos from Amsterdam still.

The line of people here are waiting to get into the Anne Frank house.

Amsterdam - A few Canals and other significant buildings

I leave for Thailand in a week. Stressed at work and it will continue into the next weeks. Here's a few more photos from Amsterdam...



This was a restaurant that had some pretty good food and real good Blegian Trappist Ales. I really liked the chandelier that had candles lit instead of actual lights. I never got a decent photo unfortunately, way way too blurry.





Below is the central train station in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam - The Dam

Here are a few photos from Amsterdam that I took back in 2002 in the fall. This was my first multi country trip and I stopped here for a couple days and then went off to Paris by train. In the background is the central train station.

Soccer celebration in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam of course it's outside of my hotel room

One of the last two video clips that I have uploaded. I just remembered that I do have a couple that I took when I was in Mae Sot back in April, so I'll upload those also and eventually post them.

This and the other clip that I need to put up were also taken in December of 2005. I was sitting in a Bia Hoi, a bar that serves cheap beer on ice and food. I was sitting relaxing and watching the crowds of people gathered around single televisions watching the Vietnamese national soccer team compete against Malaysia. Vietnam won the match and this is the beginning of the celebration.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam Traffic

Traffic in HCMC on my trip last December.

Temple Ruins - Siem Reap, Cambodia

This is video of one of the temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I really need to get back here and take more video. I guess next time I'll have more memory to take video.

Happy New Year?

In Bangkok there has been a grenade attack in the capital just as New Years parties were getting ready to start. Two people have been killed at this time and dozens injured according to this CNN article.

It can be a dangerous world out there. At this time no one has claimed responsibility for these cowardly acts, but speculation is that it is realted to the ongoing separatist insurgency in the South of Thailand.

Anyway, here's to a safe and happy New Years and a prosperous 2007 for you all.

Big Buddha at Wat Phra Yai - Koh Samui, Thailand

Video of the Big Buddha at Wat Phra Yai on the island of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand.

Sitting on the beach - Pattaya, Thailand

This is one of the beach areas in Pattaya. We got a hotel room pretty close by and walked over to find a good spot to sit and relax. I went with my girlfriend, her mother, one of my girlfriend's friends and her boyfriend. We left late morning and got to the beach by about 1:30PM.

Here you don't really see it, but when we got to the beach the entire area was covered with umbrellas to the point where the sun wasn't getting down to the sand.



Here's a perfect example of what I was talking about. Umbrella on top of umbrella. Now the reasoning that there is this heavy a concentration is that culturally, Thais don't want to get suntanned. My girlfriend wanted nothing to do with sitting out in the sun. I'm not a big sunbather either, but if I was going to go to the beach, I was going to sit in the sun. My chair was on the end in the sun and everyone else was in the shade (and thought I was crazy for doing so).


You can buy food from the various vendors and here is a table of grilled squid, crab, and green lipped mussels. I loved the mussels and the squid, but didn't really want the crab. It's too much work for too little payoff. We had to go get the beer (the bottle of Leo that you see in the photo), but you could buy ice there. For the entire day the cost was about $20, which I think is a pretty decent deal.


Here's the sun just getting ready to go down. Sunset is fairly early here around 6:00PM, but I just love getting photos of the sun setting behind the waves. The last time I had the opportunity to catch a sunset in Thailand, I was going to take a boat trip to the setting side of Koh Samui. Unfortunately, that trip was cancelled because a weakening typhoon was passing by.




Pattaya is a true beach resort with a lot of hotels and high end hotels going up. Because it is only 1 1/2 hours away from Bangkok is is a very popular destination with foreign tourists and Thais alike.






The sun is just about out of sight.


And it's gone until tomorrow...



These are all of the photos from my recent trip. It was a good, but busy time and I have a few ok photos and even better memories. I'm going to head back in 43 days to see my girlfriend for her birthday and for our wedding in Mae Sot a few days afterward.

I'm really excited for this trip and a bit nervous as I mentioned to her the other day. I'm very familiar with weddings in the West, not so much in Thailand and don't want to make any cultural gaffes. I'm sure all will go well when it is all over. After our wedding, we'll be going to the Adaman Sea (Indian Ocean) side of Thailand to Phuket.

I'll be putting up a couple videos as time permits in the next couple days. In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Pattaya, Thailand

I always forget that my camera can take short video clips, so the video isn't the best quality if I actually had a video camera, but its the beach. Nothing terribly exciting, but I'll have a few photos by Friday from later in that day at the beach and the sunset.

An Evening Walk in Mae Sot, Thailand

The nice thing about Northern Thailand in the cool season is that the temperatures do get cooler in the evenings and are warm during the day. I had a different opinion of Mae Sot in April when I first came to meet my girlfriend's parents. In the evenings, we would take a walk around the village and talk. Didn't typically matter which direction we went in, but this evening we walked out toward one of the main roads because I saw a photo that I needed to get as the sun was going down.




It's much greener than in April because the rainy season has only ended about 5-6 weeks ago and this is just the start of the dry season. In Bangkok, we did see rain, but the showers both times only lasted about 20 to 30 minutes each time. I know that this area does get a lot of rainfall during the rainy season from May to October.


This is a cleared ricefield. One thing that I try to impress my girlfriend with is my rudimentary Thai language skills. The name for a ricefield in Thai is 'naa', so as we were walking by I ask her in Thai "this is a rice field, right?" and received a suprised "yes" in Thai from her. I really need to start studying Thai a lot more in my spare time.




This is a front wheeled drive cart that is used by people in the area. There are several around and I always kid that I'm going to buy one and use it when I'm in Mae Sot. I rode in the back of one of these this evening and then got another photo of this one.


Another rice field. This one was being flooded.



A papaya tree.


This was the photo that I wanted.


and this one also. I really liked the sky that was offset by the sun going down and how green everything was at this time of the year.


This photo was taken from the other side of the road. The sun has slipped behind the mountains and its going to get dark now pretty fast. I'm also about to become a meal for the local mosquitos for the first time in three days in Mae Sot.


Some cattle at a farm on our way back. I've also joked about becoming a farmer when we finally decide to move back to Thailand. I already know, I don't think I'd be a very good one.



This is the shop at the front the home of my girlfriend's parents.


in the metal container is the broth for noodle soup. It's one of my favorites and my girlfriend makes some of the best. The broth is combined with vegtables, rice noodles, and pieces of pork. Its garnished with crushed peanuts and cilantro also. I think I might know what I'm having for lunch today.


Some of the goods that are offered for sale.


These little red peppers are some of the hottest you will ever try. I love them, but sometimes eating them really sets my mouth on fire. I guess I don't learn so easily.


So on tap next will be photos from my trip to Pattaya, Thailand. It's the closest beach to Bangkok at a 1 1/2 hour drive away and we went here for a day prior to going to Mae Sot. I think I'll post the video first and then the photos a day later.