We stayed in London with my great friends from college, Al and Miranda.  They live in the Brick Lane district of East London.  The area is filled with Indian food, leather wholesalers, and hipsters.  Many, many hipsters.

Super-tourists.  We visited just about all of the big sights and museums in London during our visit.  (Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and the Eye of London, and the British Museum, pictured left to right.)

 Happy.

 It was rainy and cold every single day of my visit, except for the last day.  You appreciate a sunny day more when it is rare vs. California when it is like this every day. 

  I saw 2 plays while in London, one of which in the famous Globe theater.  It was about a universal suffrage push in London in the early 19^th century and ended with a very realistic and brutal hanging.  Good times.

***

Back home now.  Feels very strange; I don’t really know what to do with myself.  The trip went by amazingly fast.  It really doesn’t feel like I was gone that long.  I think this is because the trip was really more like six two-week trips than one three month trip.  I’ve got a few weeks to mellow out and then I move into my hot Escondido studio on September 7 and start school on the 17^th.  Life seems to move fast sometimes. 

Bay Area’ites, drop me a line and let’s hang out. 

***

I can’t believe anyone would actually want to read this blog + look at additional pictures.  But if anyone does, I have more pics online at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/gavinw/RtWTrip2007?authkey=bM9VEJ6sspk

  
Met up with my friend Elena Grindley.  Here we are on the dome of the Pantheon.  It was originally built by Louis XV as a church to honor a Saint that Louis felt helped him get over an illness.  However it was completed during the revolution and so it was changed from a church to a monument/mausoleum for great French intellectuals (Voltaire and Rousseau are buried there for example.)  Cool place; after seeing so many churches honoring so many saints it was nice to see a place dedicated to heroes of secularism.  Also contains Foucault’s Pendulum (which demonstrated that the earth is rotating) and a great view from the top of the dome.  

  
 Since it was built, I’m sure every single tourist has taken a photo with the Eiffel Tower.  This includes Gavin and Elena.  And Hitler (picture was hanging in a cool WWI/WWII museum that we visited).

 Louvre.

    
A fun thing to do is to rent bikes and ride around the very large, very beautiful garden of Versaille.

I miss nutella crepes.

Rome: Me inside the colosseum (left).  As everyone knows, the colosseum hosted numerous gladitorial contests featuring slaves fighting each other or big animals (Man vs. Beast, as it were).  Many people also think that Christians were killed in the Colosseum as well.  In fact, while this certainly took place in Rome, it is thought that it did not take place in the Colosseum.  To clarify this, they post these signs which say (I think) ”No Christians Were Harmed In The Making Of This Colloseum” (right picture).

 It is nice to know that even powerful Roman badasses get man-boobs.  This guy needs a Manzier (or Bro).

Venice:  I had kind of a love/hate thing going on with Venice.  On the the one hand, it is absolutley beautiful.  The canals are picturesque and just the architectural feat of the buildings rising out of the water is amazing.  On the other hand, Venice is insanely touristy and crowded, is the most expensive city I’ve ever been in, and is infested with pigeons.  All of this is on display in San Marco Square (pictured). 

 There is a saying that “Every Venetian owns a mouse and 2 pigeons.”  The city is indeed crawling with pigeon’s (or “flying disease bags,” as I call them) but what makes it worse is that the tourists actually like this.  People will buy bags of seed in order to lure the birds (or “winged rats,” as I call them) close to them, or onto them.  I even saw one little kid put the seed in his lips to try to get the pigeon (or “feathered vermin,” as I call them) to eat it directly out of his mouth.  When this didn’t work, the kid started eating the seeds himself.  Not the sharpest crayon in the box.

Cinque Terre:  Cinque Terre is a beautiful region along the Italian Riviera.  There are 5 little towns that are literally carved into the mountain side, all dramatically overlooking the Mediterranean.  There are gorgeous hiking trails between the 5 towns and in the mountains.  It is some of the most beautiful natural scenery I have ever seen.

Siena:  Siena is a smallish town southwest of Florence.  Most people stay in Florence and do a day trip to Siena.  We did the reverse.  While Florence has the famous museums, it can’t hold a candle to the cuteness of Siena.  Full of narrow, quaint, winding streets, beautiful buildings (mostly siena colored, which I thought was quite a coincidence), and containing my favorite piazza, Siena is the epitome of peaceful, cute Italia.  Pictured is Il Campo, the big, central, car-free piazza (pictured from ground level, left, and from the dome of the Duomo Museum, right).

Twice a year, Siena puts on a massive horse race, the Palio.  Eleven of the city’s neighborhoods compete.  In the weeks leading up to the Palio each neighborhood hosts pep rallies with drumming, marching, tossing of the flag of their “contrade,” and a lot of trash talking.  The race itself must be insane as the course goes through the many narrow streets of the city.  The summer Palio was to be held a couple days after we left, and they were just setting up the barricades and padding (left picture).  I decided to support the Contrade Della Tartuca (Turtle Neighborhood), and showed my colors in Il Campo (right picture).  Go Tartuca!

In summary, Italy was amazing.  There is just so much beauty, history, and culture packed in one place, and the people are ridiculously nice and fun-lovng.  And I was happy to discover that my Italian heritage was representing, as I was mistaken for a native many times (one person even correctly guessed the region that my grandparents were from).  This, plus the fact that communication was easy as everyone understood my Spanish-Italian-English hybrid language, made me feel instantly at home.

 Skull from reliquary in Duomo Museum in Siena.  Not sure who it is (there was no English in the room) but they must have been important.  Possibly Jack Sparrow.

Tucked-away skulls on statues in St. Peter’s Basicila. 

 Skull on church in Monterosso (Cinque Terre).

 We went to the History of Science Museum in Florence.  It was fantastic, especially the Galileo wing which contained many of his original instruments and documents.  The museum also contains Galileo’s finger (pictured, blurry), which was snatched by one of his disciples when Galileo’s body was being transferred some years after his death.  As if still stickin’ it to the church, it is Galileo’s middle finger.

 Old manual of child delivery.  Ouch!  What I want to know is why they don’t just take the babies out of the huge hole in the womens’ stomachs.

 Dubai has many luxury hotels.  Even my fairly cheap, down-market hotel was very nice.  When inside your room, you could awaken and think you are in some ritzy hotel in Florida.  One hint that you are in Arabia is the arrow on the roof, pointing towards Mecca.

The Mall of the Emirates is ginormous.  Inside this huge mall (one of, if not the, biggest in the Middle East) is a fully functioning ski resort, Ski Dubai.  Wacky.  For not much money you can get a 2-hour ticket, ski and boot rentals, a jacket and pants shell (gloves and hat are extra).  Inside a warehouse and lit by flourescent lighting, there is 1 lift, 2 runs, and lots of man-made snow.  It is bordered by an H&M and a TGI Friday and a mosque directly downstairs.  So Dubai.  Definitely a fun experience and the cold is welcomed after the 110 degree heat outside.  Now I own Ski Dubai mittens. 

 After skiing you can enjoy a cup of coffee or hot chocolate by this fire.  The fire is digital.  Wacky.

A must-do activity in Dubai is a desert safari.  At 4pm I was picked up by a Landcruiser, along with 5 other tourists (3 aussies, 2 japanese, which is the approximate ratio of all touriststs I encountered in the East).  A 45 minute drive takes you out of town and into the desert.  After convening with about 20 other SUVs, you head off for some ”sand-duning.”  This is very fun – you are jumping over sand dunes and doing crazy hair-pin turns and skids.  It is like a rollercoaster ride and the bumps are so big your butt is sore afterwards. 

Sometimes the SUVs get stuck (middle picture).  Passengers get out and another truck has to tow it out (which only takes about 5 minutes so it isnt a big deal).

  Pretty sunset in Arabia.  Add another couple suns and it would look just like Tatooine (such a dork).

 After several stops for drinks and photo opportunities, you are dropped off at a Bedouin camp for a buffet dinner, henna tattos, a belly-dancer, and some hookah smoking.  Good times.

Back to the wackiness riddle . . . after some internet reading and talking to our SUV driver, I learned the Dubai marketing master stroke.  Apparently, Dubai’s royal family realized that their oil wealth, which is not as large as other neighboring countires or emirates would at some point run out.  So, these sheiks decided to plan for the future and remake the economy as one based on being a business and tourist destination.   But how do you lure rich tourists to a desert in the middle of nowhere?  It seems like a tough problem . . . until you remember that someone’s already solved it. Vegas baby, Vegas!

Of course, there is no gambling in Dubai (which wouldnt fly in an Islamic country).  But one of the main attractions of Vegas is the wacky sights and overal nutty extravagence.  This became the model for Dubai.  The announcement of each new fantastical project (man-made islands in the shapes of continents; the tallest tower in the world; a theme park where the theme is to aggregate theme parks, etc.) keeps Dubai in the news and keeps the tourist dollars (like mine) flowing.

Fun 3 days in Dubai.  Off to Italia.

Video of sand-duning:

http://www.youtube.com/v/MkrOL77Fcbw

 The gym and me doing “tire skipping.”  Warm ups for the 3 hour evening thai box workout consists of a 1 mile run, 10 minute jump rope, and 10 minute tire skipping.  This warm up is about equivalent to my usual complete workouts at home!

 Door to my room, right by the rings.  A very immersive muay thai experience!

I didn’t know this going in, but the camp was a little Italian enclave in Thailand.  The owner and top pro at the camp is an Italian named Christian Daghio and over half of the people at the camp were Italians.  One of them, Simone, was one of my best friends, and my sparring partner (as he was a beginner too).  Our fierce, championship action is pictured.

 Group picture taken my last night.  The guy in the middle next to the girl is Christian, the camp owner (the girl is his wife; they both live at the camp.).  He has a very strong professional muay thai resume and was a really nice guy.  I was very impressed with how attentive he was to make sure his new students and beginners were taken care of.  If he ever saw me sitting around, not being instructed he would grab one of the Thai trainers and have him run me through some drills or techniques.  In many of these instances, I was sitting around because I was so tired I could barely stand up, so his attentiveness wasn’t always welcomed.  But I appreciated it nonetheless.

 Me demonstrating very incorrect clinching.

 Collage of pictures.  The center picture is a Swiss named Fabian, who was another of my friends at the camp.  He was on his last of 5 weeks training.  The instructors convinced him he was ready for a real fight, which took place my last night.

 Fabian at a local muay thai bar, before his first ever fight.  I was extremely nervous for him, but he did quite well.  He lost a 3 round decision but he got some good shots in and did a good job.  Very inspiring!

I was sad to leave.  Although I was there for 2 weeks, I only had 8 days of training as I got a thai stomach bug + bad cold the day I arrived.  Just in the last couple of days I could really feel myself starting to learn the techniques and getting in better shape so I wished I could have stayed longer.  Fortunately there is a great muay thai gym in Mountain View (Fairtex) that counts as a member one Todd R. Gregorian, esq.  So I plan on joining when I return.  For now I guess I’ll have to endure a month of Italy, Paris, and London.  Life is so tough for Gavin!

 Spent a fun afternoon at Siam Ocean World.

 This is absolutely, without a doubt, the creature from the Alien movies.

 Siam Ronald.

 When I was leaving for my trip a friend of the family, who had lived in Thailand for a while, gave me one piece of advice: never ever disrespect the King.  They absolutely love the King in Thailand and pictures of His Majesty are literally everywhere: every hotel, every business, every home.  And the funny thing is, I have found myself thinking very fondly of HM too.  Maybe the ubiquitous pictures have a subconscious effect, but also during the chaos and feared violence of the “Judgment Day” political tension, he gave a speech that cooled everyone down.  I appreciated that!  Further, there are articles in the paper almost every day about his good deeds, charity work, athletic prowess as a young man, and even one article detailing his scientific accomplishments (the article said he invented a “rain making” technique which has revolutionized all of Asian agriculture!  Objectively I kind of doubt this, but right now I totally believe it.)  Whatever the reason, I have developed a great respect for His Majesty the King!

 The Grand Palace.  HM no longer lives here but it is still used for state visits and special ceremonies.  Very majestic and beautiful and one of the MJ Bangkok sights.

 Two guards who appear on numerous walls and doors in the Grand Palace area.  I liked them, they gave me a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern feeling.  But also, I thought we kind of looked alike, they and I.  Like looking in a mirror, I’m telling you. 

 The Grand Palace was built by English architects and is considered *the* definitive fusion of Thai and English architecture.  I thought this door was pretty cool and the green glow emanating from within seemed like something from a Harry Potter book (yes, I am a dork.)

There is an insanely beautiful and ornate mural that runs all along the inner courtyard wall of the Wat Phra Kaew (one of the most famous temples in Bangkok, essentially the official royal chapel of the Grand Palace).  These are a few snippets, but just a small portion of the total.  It was farking huge - had to be 10 feet high and several hundred feet long.  Really cool.

 Me with ‘old stone guy’ at the Grand Palace.

Goodbye, sawadeeka, Bangkok.  Tomorrow I leave to go back to camp for 2 weeks (muay thai camp), my last 2 weeks in Thailand.

I recently sat ringside at a top-level muay thai competition (featuring the national bantamweight belt-holder) and it was awesome.  Met some other tourists who were also into muay thai and mma and had a great time at fight night.

 Collage of pictures from my night at Lumpini Stadium.

The Wai Kru ritual is done by the fighters before each fight.  It is done in part as a stretching exercise, part symbolic dance, part intimidation, and part religious expression.  I think it is mostly done to look cool; chicks dig the Wai Kru.

Some fight action.

Unfortunately, I had to leave a couple days ago.  I had sent myself a box from the US that got held up in Bangkok customs.  That wouldn’t be too big a deal except that there were Stanford text books in the shipment that I need in order to complete my summer “online pre-requirements,” which are mandatory (GSB has said several times explictly that if you don’t finish these pre-reqs by their due date that they will revoke your acceptance!)  So my plan is go to Bangkok, get my box, finish my Stanford requirements, and then most likely return for another few weeks to Rawai (only a 1 hour flight to Phuket from Bangkok and then a 40 minute cab ride from Phuket Airport to Rawai, so not that big a deal).

Overall though it was a great week in Rawai.  Worked out at their cool gym that kicked my ass, met a nice family of geiko’s in my bathroom, and awakened in the night by cows that lived outside my window.  Oh, and twice in the morning when I put my shoes on there was a frog sleeping inside.  Good times at Rawai. 

 My amazingly cute little bungalow.

  I had never really seen this before.  Sink, toilet, shower all in the same little room.  You could be showering whilst also using the sink or toilet – very efficient!

 Downtown Rawai.  Pretty nice, down-scale beach town.

 There was a cool, long pier at Rawai.  I would read at the end of the pier everyday (nice way to get away from the bugs, stray dogs, and people trying to sell you junk – 3 omnipresent features in all of Thailand, but especially southern Phuket).

 Can anyone account for the whereabouts of Dan Sussman?  Because it seems to me that the Crabinger struck recently…

 Lots of boating activities in Phuket (taking tourists to the many smaller islands, fishing, etc.)

Goodbye, Rawai, for now.  I hope to return to you later in June…

 The Dusit Laguna Resort in Bang Tao.  I’m just stopping off here on my way to the Rawai Muay Thai camp but this place is great.  Highly recommended.

 Beautiful, long beaches.  Not a lot of tourists, but a few elephants.

 When I first walked by and glanced at this place, I thought I saw a small person sitting in the window, perhaps the proprietor.  Who knows – he does kind of look like he is balancing his budget doesn’t he?

 Mmmmmm….mocktails…..

 Good local seafood place on the beach.  Looks like a strong breeze would blow it over though.

 Pretty clouds.

Which isn’t to say that it isn’t a fun city.  There are a ton of restuarnts (all cheap by US standards), beautiful temples, and an active night life.  And if you want to buy a cheap, fake Rolex and have a 2 hour massage by a young Thai girl for $10, then Bangkok is definitely your town.  But I will be in no rush to return.

 This is the headline from the local paper soon after I arrived in Bangkok.  Note the sub-bullet: “Are we really on the bring of chaos?” and “Street reaction to determine need for emergency rule.”   In a nutshell, after an election with fraud allegations, there was a military coup (last year).  Last Wednesday (the 30th of August) a court tribunal decided whether or not to dissolve several political parties and ban their members from politics.  Of course, this tribunal was appointed by the military.  If all political parties were dissolved, people would have been unhappy!  As it turned out, the oldest Thai party, the Democrats, were absolved of all guilt by the tribunal.  However, the party of of the coup-ousted Thail leader Thaksin, the Thai Rak Thai party, was in fact disbaned and their leaders banned from politics for 5 years.  This is a big deal and many people are unhappy.  This could cause unrest in Bangkok and the north (where TRT is popular).  Luckily, I left Bangkok the day after the ruling!

 My hotel was quite nice (Lebua at State Tower).

 For very little money, you can dine like an absolute prince in Bangkok.  This is a very amazing restaurant at the State Tower called Breeze.  It is an open air Thai restaurant on the 52nd floor of the building.

 Another phote from Breeze.

There is a 2 week mandatory international internship associated with the GSB MBA.  I’m going to try to do mine in Japan.  I can’t wait to get back there.   

Where Unagi Comes From

This is from the Tsukji Fish Market in Tokyo.  This market supplies the majority of fish to all the restaurants and markets in Tokyo.  It is a city of fish.  This video shows a guy killing eel (towards the end of the clip).

 Dancing Elvii

In a really cool park in Tokyo (near Harajuku) there was an Elvis convention.  They would take turns dancing 50′s style.  Badly. 

Religious Service

We stumbled onto some kind of buddhist religious service in kyoto.

My hotel room on my last night in Tokyo was a bit Lost in Translation-y, with an amazing downtown Ginza view and a little perch by the window. 

Bye Japan!

 As an example, here is a small store on a rather residential street in Kyoto.  There are nine vending machines here!

PS: Yes, that is Tommy Lee Jones on the blue vending machine.  He is absolutely *huge* on Japanese vending machines. 

 Get swept up in the mania. 

KYOTO

 The Nashinoki Inn.  Japanese B&B (“ryokan”).  My Kyoto Krib. 

 Pot district in Kyoto.

 Shrine in Kyoto.

 Kyoto is temple-laden. 

  The only problem with this is that the temples are swarmed by tourists, both Japanese and Western.

  Me at famous Golden Temple in Kyoto.

 Elizabeth at golden temple. 

 One more picture of the photogenic golden temple. 

  I really do.

 Make note: no smoking elephants allowed in Japan.

Gavin with the Costume Play Gang.

• Sonoma trip 2006.