The Trip

Internet came back around the 20th and I managed to squeeze in several coaching clients and a final set before I flew to Bangkok to meet up with a friend of mine from the U.S.

Because I played so sparingly, January's results aren't too impressive.  But considering the rough start, I'm happy with how it all turned out.  The average buy-in is higher, along with my hourly.  Still need to earn a ton more VPPs, but I'm in no rush.  I had set my sights on 400k, but if I only get 200k, that's fine too.  I do plan to put in a lot of volume over the next two weeks, as I'm making a trip back home at the end of the month and won't be able to play for all of March.

Not bad for 30 hours of work, I suppose

But let's talk about Bangkok.  Part of the reason I came to Thailand was to see an entirely new part of the world, and after being in Chiang Mai for the better part of five months, I finally had the chance to get out of the city and go south.  Bangkok is expensive, congested, polluted and incredible.  I'm not much of a nightlife guy, but if I was, I'd live there.  Of course I'd be broke within a short time, but until the money ran out it'd be a lot of fun.  One example: During the trip I felt totally fine but it was comforting to know if I had been a bit under the weather, I could stop in for treatment at Dr. BJs.

Between nights out on the town, my friend wanted to do a bunch of touristy stuff -- Check out some reclining Buddha statue, see some temples, whatever.  Borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.  I had absolutely zero interest.  Didn't care in the slightest.  No, I wanted to walk up and down the streets, peruse the markets, and even see a movie. Yes, a movie.  I had heard about these VIP Theaters where you'd sit on a sofa, drink champagne, and be served some of the finest food available.  Unfortunately my travel buddy didn't want to "go all out," but we compromised and found a nearby theater with sofas. 

My coconuts?  They're real and they're spectacular.  

 After five days in Bangkok, we flew to Hat Yai, in the southern tip of Thailand.  Never heard of it?  Most people outside of Thailand (Or Malaysia) haven't either.  There weren't many farangs (Thai word for foreigners), in fact during my entire time I kept count -- 17.  Because many of the residents weren't used to seeing white foreigners, my buddy and I were somewhat of local celebrities.  Thais of all ages would stop and stare at us, as if we had three heads.  On more than one occasion girls asked to take pictures with us. 
 

At least...I think they were girls

Songkla, and more specifically Samila Beach, was only a half hour cab ride from Hat Yai and we had to go to a beach.  Believe it or not, it was the first beach I'd seen in Thailand despite living here for almost half a year.  Unfortunately the beach was cluttered with trash and dead squids, plus the wind was whipping around pretty good, so instead of laying out I took pictures of the neat looking statues. 

The Golden Mermaid, sculpted in 1966, has become the symbol of Samila beach.  There's a story behind her but it's not particularly interesting. 

All in all, it was a fun trip but it's good to be home and time to get back on the grind.  Now that the internet is working, I don't have much of an excuse.