Nigel Naughton

Getting ready for outdoors....motocross!!

2013-05-17T13:02:00.004-05:00

New Favorite Place - Domus Cafe

2013-04-22T01:12:00.001-05:00

I'm back in my old neighborhood of Thong Lo for a month and seems like on a brutally hot day like today it's most comfortable to stay indoors. I found a nice Japanese coffee / tea house / massage spa yesterday but they weren't open today. Earlier I was searching for a place to chill out and wasn't too impressed so I won't even write about that place. Only thing to say is that the 'free' Wi-Fi became 50 baht /hour after you used it for an hour.. Lame!
Now I'm right across my condo on Sukhumvit (Thong Lo 55) at a really lovely place called Domus cafe. It is a wine / coffee restaurant with great decor. There is even a Gustav Klimt reproduction upstairs. And yeah there are 2 floors which makes it really spacious. I'm eating basil pork with rice and a fried egg (pad kapow moo sai kai dao) for a reasonable 60 baht. The Wi-Fi is really free and fast. Overall this is a great place to relax, eat, drink and hang out. My Location@12:54pm,4/22 ถนนสุขุมวิท, Khlong Toei Nuea, Vadhana, Bangkok 10110 http://m.google.com/u/m/xs4qv6 L

Mariachis At My Sister Maria's Birthday Party

2013-02-24T20:39:00.000-06:00

We had such a fantastic time celebrating my sister's XX birthday (I shouldn't say the age right?) Almost all of the family was there except Tim who lives in California but I was able to get some photos and video shot so I could share the event. James put together an opportunity for us to play some songs. Brian and I joined in and it turned out to be a fun time and of course we now have a record contract but we don't have time for that nonsense. More to photos and video to come.

Max and Cash Productions

2013-02-08T22:16:00.000-06:00

Tea And Pie Time At Baan Khrai Wang.

2012-11-19T04:54:00.001-06:00

Thought I would be getting back to the room before dark but had to stop at one more place to relax first. Now it's getting dark and I'll have to drive the 26k in the dark! But stopping here for cheese cake, cha yen and a great view is worth it. I'll miss the peace and quiet when I am back in Bangkok.

From Cha-am To Hua Hin On The Motorbike

2012-11-19T01:28:00.001-06:00

While staying in at the Cha Inn in Cha-am it was a good idea to rent a motorbike and see the surrounding area. I've been around here before so it's easy to get around. I drove to Hua Hin for lunch and to take a look around. It was raining before and looks like I'll get caught in the rain again. That should make for an interesting ride back to the hotel. And it's tom kha gai for lunch.

Traveling In Korea - Day 1&2

2012-10-28T10:33:00.001-05:00

Living or traveling in Thailand for more than 30 days has its drawbacks, especially if you don't plan ahead too much. You can get a 30 day visa exemption (basically translates to a 30 day visa) upon arrival for no fee. If you plan ahead you can possibly get a 1 or 2 entry 60 day visa that allows you to stay 60 days, leave and re-enter the country and then start your 60 days again. I bought my ticket on a Friday and left on a Wednesday so visa on arrival was the only option and I didn't care because I got the round trip ticket for $550. Well that brings me to where I am now. KOREA!

Coming to Korea is doing a lot for me:

I will renew my visa when I re-enter Thailand.
I will be visiting my friend Eric.
I will be guest teaching English at a University which will allow me to add that to my resume along with a letter of recommendation.
I get to travel to a country that I only spent about 5 days in previously.

I left Thailand at about 7:30 at night and had a 2.5 hour layover in Saigon, eventually landing in Seoul, Korea at about 6 am. I took the train to Seoul station and after waiting there about an hour looking for my friend by a miracle I found him. I only slept about an hour on the plane and I was already feeling the effects but a McDonald's breakfast of 'hotcakes' and coffee helped. That day was spent a lot on the train to get to the final destination of the university. Click here to see the map and how remote the location is. I eventually was able to pass out at my friend's dorm room at about midnight. The 2nd day, today, started out with a quick tour of the university then about a 5 hour hike up into the mountains behind the college. It had a pretty nice path the whole way up but it was steep! We eventually made it to the top and were greeted by a bunch of Korean hikers. Maybe it was a little strange for them to see foreigners up at the top but they gave us some oranges as a welcoming gift. We followed a long ridge line along the range for a while. Eric wanted to turn back but I hate coming back the same way I came so I insisted we find a continuing path and keep going. We did and when we finally came down we were about 5km away from the university still. That last part of the walk I could have done without. I didn't get to rest much tonight because I had to do a lesson plan for a 3 hour class I am teaching tomorrow. I kind of just got thrown into this but hopefully it should run smoothly...hopefully!! I better go get some rest now.

Sifting rice by hand. The rice was being dried out
covering one whole lane of the road.

Koreans absolutely love hiking!
They are always trotting around in some fancy gear and
walking poles. I have seen them geared up even if the walk is
only a couple hundred yards.

Ariel view of the university

Korea has an extensive national park system.

I think the swastika symbol represents a hospital here.

View Larger Map

Delta Sky Lounge Bangkok

2012-10-26T06:24:00.001-05:00

Going to Korea for about 11 days to see a friend and check out some universities to teach at. My friend Eric teaches at one and I will be a guest teacher for 3 of the classes then plan to travel south to Busan and around there. Right now waiting for the plane. It's nice to be able to relax in the lounges after waiting in lines, fighting crowds and going through all the check points and scanners. The first flight is to Hanoi then about a 2 hour layover and then an over night flight into Seoul. I think I arrive there at 6am. Hopefully I won't be too tired after all this.

Testing

2012-10-24T10:17:00.001-05:00

Land Of The Free Home Of The Nigel

2012-10-22T11:36:00.000-05:00

View Larger Map
It's kind of a sneaky place but you can see it in the background. I am only here for 2 months so I think it's a pretty nice place for a short time. 13,000 baht and the room has pretty good wifi and I don't have to share it! haha

My Ride Back From The Gym

2012-08-01T21:18:00.001-05:00

I always have the best intentions of riding my bike to the gym to work out but probably more than 50% of the time I drive there then just lift weights and do the cardio workout there. This last week I have made a better effort to ride my bike to the gym and stop being so lazy! haha It really isn't that far but I never take a leisurely ride. I always am going about as fast as I can which makes for a good workout but sometimes I would like just to enjoy the ride more. There is something wrong with bike lately so it prevents me from going as fast as I would like. I hate getting passed up by anyone. When I pedal hard the bike chain skips and makes my feet fall off the pedals. I think it looks silly. This is a map of my ride home using MyTracks from Google on my Galaxy Nexus phone. I think it's an amazing app. I used it when I was quite lost in the mountains near Nan, Thailand. I didn't have signal there but used it so I wasn't going around in circles. So enjoy taking this ride with me. ;-)
View Riding Back From The Gym in a larger map

Out For A Ride

2012-07-26T23:27:00.001-05:00

Went over to my brother James' house for a visit and he just got done fixin up his new BMW...well new for him anyway. He only had to ask me once if I wanted to take it for a ride and off I went into the sunset. I stopped just long enough to snap some photos on a lonely country road surrounded by corn fields in River Falls, Wisconsin. Thanks James!

Went out for a ride

Monsoon Season-Myanmar

2012-06-02T12:43:00.001-05:00

Just because it's raining doesn't mean eveyone runs and hides. Actually, it is a time for people to get out and have some fun. This kid was on his way to meet his friends across the street and then two of them came running back to see me and gave me the gun. They said, "you are James Bond!" I agreed! haha

You can see how high the water was getting. I am not sure how much that plastic raincoat was keeping this guy dry. I had an umbrella and still ended up soaking wet. Luckily my camera was ok.

When the monsoon season comes it not only brings torrential rain but crazy windy conditions as well. This poor guy almost lost his umbrella to the wind but managed to hang on to it. There is only so much wet you can get.

A nice ride in the rain.

When I was walking I saw a lot of these hanging down from the upper floors of the apartments. Later I understood what they are for. When people are walking around looking for alms the people lower money to them on these strings.

These are some of the youth out walking getting food and money.

Hotel Yoma Yangon: 2 Rooms

2012-06-02T01:13:00.001-05:00

Okay this is a collage of my stay in Hotel Yoma so far. I will let you guess which one was the first room and which one I eventually moved to. Never thought that to be able to fully stand up would be part of a room's selling point. Other than no windows, a not attached bathroom (it was downstairs but at least was private only for this room) and a 5'8'' ceiling the room wasn't that bad. It had electricity throughout the day, the air conditioner worked well and even though the internet is super slow the signal from the wifi was good. The new room is called the "junior suite". Sounds so great and it is a lot better than the other one for only $3 ($28) more. They offer a free breakfast which is delivered to your room at the time of your choosing. You can also choose from a small menu what your breakfast will consist of. I chose the omelette with onion, toast with butter and jelly, and a banana.
I don't think I will do much today. Right now it is raining but maybe later will go out just to see if there is anything more interesting around here.

Back To Myanmar

2012-06-01T11:54:00.001-05:00

Some snacks at the sky lounge.

Wow...Food pictures!! Who doesn't like those? Well that's all I had at the moment because the internet at the hotel I am staying at in Yangon, Myanmar is pretty lame. It is so lame in fact that I can't even get a reading from speedtest.net. I shouldn't complain because it is much better than having nothing.
This return trip all started with my brother Tim taking me to the BART station at Walnut Creek, California and then taking the train into the San Francisco airport. The train takes you right into the terminal so it is really easy. I had enough time to spend in the sky lounge and sit around, eat, use the internet and waste time then it was time to board. Nothing much to report about it suffice to say it was an easy trip but the food wasn't as good as the first time.
When I arrived at the Yangon airport there was supposed to be a receptionist from a hotel that I previously booked online waiting for me. There wasn't anyone there so I struck up a conversation with a taxi driver and he knew where the hotel was. For $8 dollars he would take me there in his beat up, no air conditoned having, no suspension, stinky Toyota. There were 2 guys and they were nice enough to show me around to a couple other places. The place I originally booked didn't have any electricity due to the shortage around here. They have been testing the new government's push for reforms by protesting the lack of electricity and I guess all the protests have been peaceful and allowed to continue. However, for this place, Beautyland Hotel, there would be no electricity until about 5pm. I just wanted to take a shower and relax in a relatively nice room but as it turns out the room rates are really going up. I didn't choose this place but continued to look for something better. As Myanmar shows more openess to reform more western countries like the U.S are taking an interest and that means more business tourism. The hotels are aware of this and doubled their prices within the last 6 months. This means that there is a real shortage for budget or moderately priced rooms. The ones that are $25-$30 are what used to be about $10-$15 and it shows. I continued my search and found a place called Hotel Yoma. The reception was really nice and showed me their available room. My room has a ceiling that is about 5 feet 8 inches so being that I am just a spec over 6 feet, I can't stand up straight. I have to get a photo of that. I feel like I am in Alice in Wonderland or something.
They use a currency called the Kyat (pronounced 'chat') and right now it is about $1 = 850 kyat. I only got the rate of 780 at the hotel but that's pretty close. I exchanged 10 dollars and took that money and went out to the street and got 2 rotti with egg, fried rice with egg and chicken and some tea for less than $3. Now back to my room to lay horizontally and watch some really bad TV.

Hot tea, fried egg with fried rice, and rotti on the side. All of this for less than $3.

Living The First Class Life: Taipei To San Francisco

2012-05-29T11:57:00.001-05:00

Welcome to First Class: Can I offer you a drink or appetizer?
This was my first taste of real first class I am pretty sure. I think a long time ago on one of my first flights to Asia I was upgraded to first class but that was back in 1999 or 2000 and things sure have changed. There was always some crossover between first class and business but in this flight anyway they sure made the distinction that it is separate.
I spent about 6 hours in the first class China Airlines lounge waiting for the flight and then finally without any problems was able to board the plane. There was the usual people trying to board first because they thought they were something special but as far as 1st class goes there was only me and 2 other people in an area that can sit 8 people. That means that we each had our own flight attendant looking after our every need. They did such a good job making things perfect. Not only is the service very good and the seats comfortable folding into beds but the cabin is so quiet.

The flight attendant saw me taking photos and was kind enough to take one of me too. Not the best quality but good enough.

This is what you see when you board the plane, take a left turn (don't go right, that is for the proletariat business and economy class). Each person has their own comfortable capsule to relax in.

This was to be my accommodations for the next 14 hours or so. The seat is completely motorized to fold and be manipulated in a variety of ways to make the journey as best as it can be.

My own personal attendant bringing me water. Too bad I don't drink because in addition to the great food there is a huge wine and drink list. Almost makes me want to start drinking just to take advantage of it. I got pretty full with orange juice, water and jasmine tea.

The love seat for couples. I wouldn't want to sit here so close to someone if I didn't know them.

When you first board the plane and get comfortable the attendant will present to you the menu which consists of 4 course menu and a variety of choices. The food has been painstakingly cooked to first class standards by some renowned chef and they had my approval for sure. The salmon was the perfect appetizer and the wasabi concoction was amazing. The presentation can be a little overdone but they just want to show you that they set you apart from a regular flying experience.

Next up on menu was the tomato soup. Now this is not just any ordinary Campbell in can soup. This tasted like homemade soup with a taste that was quite exquisite. Never thought I would say that about tomato soup but there were a variety of flavors that added to the overall taste.
The lighting was pretty bad and the photos obviously suffer especially using the phone's camera. I didn't want to have to take out the 7D just for this and didn't want to look too obvious about it either.
Overall the experience was great. I think I only slept about 4 hour but I still have the return to Myanmar and then another 1-way back to San Francisco to go. I don't think that flying with such comfort and amenities can get boring. As my friend Jeff said I will have a hard time flight economy or even business class again.

Landing in Taipei, Taiwan 5 Hour Layover

2012-05-28T05:51:00.001-05:00

I arrived to Taipei with no problems....Well, scratch that. My last blog post was saying how wonderful and easy everything was going and it was up to the very last moment. I was in the China Airlines Lounge watching the plane arrive to get prepped and ready for our flight. I didn't see any need to rush downstairs to board the plane because they didn't even start or announce it yet but as I was looking down one of the ladies signaled to me to come down. I thought maybe they called priority seating and didn't think I was around. Maybe they were going to give my seat away but it turned out to be a potentially more serious problem. I was greeted by some skinny, hairy, never having seen lotion, legs. I mean this lady was really skinny and hairy. At first I thought she was wearing a fur pair of stockings. haha.
Anyway she asks to see my passport and then instructs me to go with her to "her office". Oh No..does she want me to shave her legs or give her a lotion massage??!! Turns out there was some discrepancy about my 'transit' visa. When I arrived in Myanmar I went through one immigration line to enter the country and it went smoothly after telling them that the visa I currently have will be used at another time when I spend more than 3 hours in the country. They understood and allowed me to enter. All I did was go to pick up my check bags and then continue on to the departure area where there is another immigration place. This would be for anyone leaving the country, nothing abnormal about that. Again I described how I wanted to use the visa that was issued to my by the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok at a later time when I am spending more than a couple hours there. She called someone over to inquire about it, he looked at it and gave his approval and away I went thinking that was the end of that. I didn't even have to pay the $18 for the transit visa. Also, I didn't have to pay the $10 exit airport tax...maybe that is/was included in the price of the ticket so I am not sure about that.
Things got really heated after I was taken back to the departure immigration checkpoint. This part of the airport is really new and the checkpoint was pretty close to my departure gate so it wasn't like it was on another part of the airport. I was starting to get a little nervous because I was noticing that while I am listening to people argue about my passport, all of the passengers were now boarding the plane. The problem was that some guy that considered himself the boss didn't think that they did things correctly for my departure. He was telling me that they were going to have to use my tourist visa for the country and that there was no such thing as a transit visa on arrival. I told him to check his country's website and the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok for clarification because indeed such a thing exists and is for occasions just like this where someone like me is only arriving for transit to another country. I think he didn't want to have to face so many other people telling him he was wrong and that is why the tempers flared, voices got a little bit louder and he thought he had to prove something. He kept looking through my passport and flipping the pages as if something magical was going to appear that wasn't there before. Needless to say I got my passport back without having to change anything just in time. I ran to the plane being the last one on and settled into seat 1K.

This is the entrance to the China Airlines First Class Lounge. They have a separate lounge for business class.

At the end of this corridor are the bathrooms, shower room and assortment of food.The food wasn't anything special but dim sum was good.

I guess I am the only one here. No one is flying 1st class with me?

The drinking yogurt was the best thing there. Oh, the coffee was good too after adding
my sugar and milk to it.

Probably the best part of being in the lounge. It has been forever since I have seen internet speeds like this. Why does this make me so happy?!

Landing in Yangon Myanmar

2012-05-27T22:03:00.001-05:00

Wow ! Everything has been super smooth so far. The flight from Bangkok was in time despite a little rain and I even had a whole row of seats to myself. The flight took only about 35 minutes was faster than expected. Coming into Yangon and looking out the windows the landscape is almost completely covered in rivers , canals and lakes. It doesn't seem like there are any roads at all. However , the roads I did see had cars driving on the right hand side...the correct side. It was such a strange sight to see hardly any traffic at all. There weren't even a lot of motorbikes.
The airport looks really modern and really quiet as well. Checking in with immigration was painless and quick. I thought I was going to have to pay $18 for a 1 day transit visa but turns out I didn't have to do that. I didn't even have to pay the expected $10 airport tax. I was a little bit concerned if everything would work out regarding my outrageously cheap airfare in fist class round trip to San Francisco but it was smooth going. Right now I am in the VIP sky lounge relaxing and waiting for about 3 hours for the initial flight to Taipei and then a short layover then finally to San Francisco. It's been a great day. Hope it keeps up like this.

Going Back Home Soon

2012-05-14T12:41:00.000-05:00

It will be really nice to be back home after spending over 7 months living in Thailand: Back to see my family, to see familiar surroundings, to have cool evenings after hot summer days and to spend time with my brothers riding dirt bikes as often as we can. Take a look at an inspirational video of the pros practicing and getting ready for the outdoor motocross season. KTM - Orange sure is a beautiful thing :-)

Amazing Scenery of America Captured by Nate Zeman

2012-05-14T02:28:00.001-05:00

Take a look at these absolutely wonderful photos of amazing scenery in America. I haven't traveled to every point of the earth but have done quite a bit of traveling and have seen landscapes from all across the world but nothing compares to the diversity and beauty that you can find in America. This photographer has captured it.

This is my photo but...

CLICK on the title below to see the photos or CLICK here:

Last Stand : Mayflower Gulch - Colorado : Nate Zeman - Fine Art Nature Photography

Penang Hill Rest

2012-05-10T02:58:00.001-05:00

Walking up the rest of Penang Hill after the ride up in the tram was great. There weren't many people walking. Most of the people were in golf carts going up to the garden of carnivourous plants (Monkey Cup Garden). Was trying to see it too but went right past in on the quest for the top of the mountain. Eventually did find the route to the top but it was forbidden to go any further because it was a military installation. The hike was great and it always seems longer when you are not familiar with your surroundings. On the way down someone (nOk!!) got tired so I found a wheel-barrow and started the ride but it turned out to be defective. The wheel kept rubbing on the bottom so it was too hard to push. At the haunted house I found another one and this one worked out just great but after starting pushing it seemed the whole way was uphill!! I thought it would be all downhill from this part. Anyway I would not quit until we reached the end. After about 2-3k uphill it was finally downhill. Ahhhh....because it was easier I started to jog and then run down the hill pushing NoK in the wheelbarrow unti the very end. Hope it was an enjoyable ride.

Flying Back From Penang, Malaysia

2012-05-10T00:49:00.001-05:00

I am jumping ahead to the flight back from Penang, Malaysia without including some of the other photos I took while I was on the island but there is a good story wrapped in this.
These are just photos I took with my phone and if you look closely at the lower left photo you can see the shadow of the plane silhouetted on the clouds with a circle rainbow around the shadow....can you see it? The flight wasn't all the way full but when they assign the seats they always pack the front first leaving some rows of seats completely empty in the back. I usually wait back there until everyone has taken their seats and then take the whole row for myself. This time it worked out great.
Well let's go back to the beginning when everyone (except for 1 Chinese guy who will be the topic of this story) was waiting patiently in line for the announcement from the attendants to board the plane. As most people who fly know, they usually call the front rows first and then go back from there. I don't know why some people are in such a hurry to get on the plane anyway but for this one Chinese guy, I will call him Dick, he must have thought it was some kind of status symbol to be able to get on first. Well Dick thinks he doesn't have to follow the protocol and that he can show off to his loser friends and just go on board when they call the first rows. Trouble for Dick is that he is not in the first 5 rows, he is in the middle where it is nothing special. The gate keeper sure stopped Dick in a hurry and it was "none shall pass!" for Dick. Dick sure "lost face" with his friends on that one so he tried to plead with the attendant and keep up his Dick attitude but it didn't work out. You see Dick had to walk back dejected and as a failure back to his friends who were all laughing at him. Dick wasn't done yet, it was time to call the rest of the rows. He had another idea...instead of waiting back with his friends in line like everyone else was doing he would just walk up to the front and demand that he goes first like he is something special which all his life I am sure he has been attempting this same Dick move and all his life repeatedly met with failure and ridicule. So what happens when Dick tries his Dick move? FAIL! It took a couple minutes for Dick to be convinced that his scheme wasn't going to work. In the mean time the crowd was getting a bit impatient with him and I politely asked his friends, "hey why is Dick being such an ass? Does he need to get his fat pan face punched? Because I would love to do it. Why don't you call your loser friend back to your little gang here." They just got nervous because here was Dick being a complete loser and his friends were now being the target of some off-handed language directed at them too. All the while Dick was trying to plead his case and move to the front I asked his friends 2 more times the same thing about "does Dick need his fat pan face punched in? I would gladly do it." Seriously I really wanted to do it and wipe out his whole crew in the process. You might ask why? Well I am sure this was not Dick's first attempt at thinking he could do anything he wanted, and as you will see it wasn't his last. How many other people had to be bothered and inconvenienced because of his stupid ass behavior? Needless to say, Dick got kicked back to his friends who started touching each other and licking each other's egos because they were so damaged in front of such a big crowd. We all boarded the plane like civilized people and then...
So as I mentioned before I got a row of seats, 3 of them, in the back and was chillin'. Just a short time before we started our descent into Bangkok I see Dick saunter back to use the bathroom. He goes in and after a moment of his thinking "why was I born this way....so small!" and relieving himself, he walks out and back to his seat. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until after we land and everyone is getting out of the plane into the bus that would eventually bring us to the terminal. I am the last one off the plane and what do I see? There is Dick, true to the last moment, being held back by 3 flight attendants for thinking the was sneaky and trying to smoke in the bathroom. What a Dick until the very end! It's been a long time since I have seen someone fail in such epic proportions over and over such as this guy. He looked like a little kid that was just caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar but in this case the penalty will be more severe I am sure. I had to laugh and when the attendants told me what he did they laughed at him too. Even one of the mechanics that came on the plane got a chuckle at Dicks's expense. While we were all waiting on the bus to carry us back to the terminal we all got to witness Dick's fat face being escorted off the plane and hopefully to some dark room where they strip search him and send him to one of Thailand's famous prisons. Ok, it won't be that bad but I wonder if he will learn his lesson after this. Probably not.

Haunted House on Penang Hill....Beware!

2012-05-07T11:29:00.001-05:00

Coming back down the hill from the highest point I found this old house and as you can see from the old tennis court now overgrown with weeds and grass it has been abandoned for a long time...The legend says that a family from England came to live here in 1903 after it was made for them. They stayed in the house one week and came back down the hill for some supplies and food. After they went back up to the house they were never heard from again. There is a swing that's on a tree that has been cut down several times but each time the rope is back on the tree with the swing hanging down and moving. As I was taking this photo there was a big flash of light in the upstairs window and if you look hard enough you can see a trail of light going from one window to the next. I was able to open one of the doors to take a look inside and the air was freezing inside the house. The next thing I knew it felt as if the door was pulled back from my hand almost ripping my hand off and then it slammed shut. I didn't want to hang around there anymore so I started to walk down the short steps that lead to a small trail that was really slippery from the moss growing on it. I looked back just one more time and all the doors and windows were open! That was the last I looked at that house.