Digital Nomading in Thailand
“Welcome to Thailand, I am your taxi driver! Hey, actually can I first get a selfie with you Mark Zuckerberg?”
“Ha ha, sure!”
I just landed in Phuket, and this was my first refreshingly confusing exchange, I’m on the road after an intense year, testing out the digital nomad lifestyle as I have been lucky enough to land a fully remote contract, so I have gone FULLY REMOTE.
I remember the feeling of waking up an hour before you had to go to school (when possible), and then feeling like you had won a free hour to do your own thing (probably play Centipede on the AtariST computer), well in Thailand I have 5 hours until Amsterdam wakes up to do my own thing, which is quite the dream, yes I have to work until 1am but whatever, It’s dark then anyway.
And so I settled in Ko Lanta, woke up early, did some walking, jungle trekking or/and bird watching, I saw some amazing butterflies, what I believe to be a flying squirrel but cannot confirm as it did not fly/glide, however flying squirrels do live in that area, so let’s go with that.
Generally cruising around on a moped hanging out in nature, refreshing the brain, then working hard. This is the elusive balance they talk of.
And so it went, thankfully the Thailand I remember although changed is still a beautiful country that I will happily return to whenever possible.
But now on to:
Japan
Everyone loves surprises and a gentle gamble, well I definitely do.
“Slow down, soon I’m gonna have to cut you off” Says a lady in an American accent to her partner as he sinks coins into a Gashapon machine, eyes wide with anticipation. The threat being she will soon stop funding his somewhat innocuous addiction.
One of my recent life goals is to have some Gashapon ‘published’ so these beautiful little toys in a ball you get from the vending machines all over Japan, here are a few we picked up this time:
ADD IMAGES ADD IMAGES
I would love to have my own series and see people’s response to them, I gave out many stickers on my travels and the response was overwhelmingly good. Even as far as “You are a great artist” Said the barman at a bar inside a Family Mart (I promise you this wasn’t a dream) - I almost fell off my stool, that was truly incredibly inspiring.
And so the next day I went with a pocket full of ‘Robot Pens’ (Affiliated Link) special merchandise (see below), to see if I could talk to someone at the HQ of TomyArts, and see if there perhaps was an opportunity there. Long story short, they said no. (Skip the next bit aka long story if you like)
< START OF LONG STORY >
I got there and the front desk is unmanned with just a telephone for calling your contact person to tell them you are in reception, I didn’t have a contact person and so I went back to the car park to think of a plan, just then from the corner of my eye I saw a guy walking towards the building in a cool ‘Souvenir Jacket’ looking pretty creative, so over I ran (In hindsight I probably should have walked) I said ‘Excuse Me’ In my finest Japanese and then fumbled through asking if it was possible to present some character ideas to someone, as we were talking he was edging further and further into the office door, in a hope that if he has 50% of his body in the building then he will be safe from this crazed fan. (Which thinking back perhaps there are crazed fans who do show up wanting a specific character etc. and maybe I am a crazed fan for going.) Something to think about…
“Not possible.” he said
That was the outcome.
< END OF LONG STORY >
A rejection early on makes for a better story, I am telling myself.
Anyway, this failed attempt gave me time to think about it all, IF I want to put my ideas forward for these toys I will mock them up into an easy to buy poster with 5 ready to ship products that will land in the Gashapon machines, and if I get to that point why would I not just ship them myself?
This bit of the story is in FLUX.
Moving on.
A travel hack for finding your vibe.
When I was 24 I went to Paris with very little preparation with a friend, we arrived and the only thing we had organised was a place to stay via Couch Surfing, not having a Lonely Planet or back then a million websites/Tik Tok videos telling you what to do in each city, I googled (yes that was around) ‘graffiti supplies Paris’
The thinking was the shop is probably in a cool/alternative area and we may meet some people there, It was and we did, a guy offered to take us to a legal wall near the Eiffel tower, and we painted some characters there, me drawing a plants from outer space and him using mine as guide creating a cool evil version of it. This amazing experience just from the likelihood of a certain brand/type of shop that fits your interests being in an area that most likely fits your interest.
And without further ado, the point I’m trying to make is I’m now doing this exact same process in S Korea, there is a very cool brand called ADER Error (introduced to me by fashionista partner) it has several stores and each of them is designed differently, reminiscent of how the scene is set when you are queuing for a Theme park ride, and there shops are pretty ambitious in regards to set dressing.
And true to my theorem robrob-agus, the areas they have chosen to have stores are the bullseye of various hip neighbourhoods, so if one then just gently wanders out from them there is gold that resonates everywhere. Like this cafe with a bonus treehouse.
Also how cute is this rack doing a dance in their store?
In other cool shop news in Tokyo we saw this, and it blew my mind how this could be in a shop and not a gallery, the lines are blurring I do believe.
Fashion is art, just attached to people I guess!
As shown in this exhibit in Kyoto
Rare Proud Moment
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to your ancestors” Says the Uber driver after I mention I am from the UK. The conversation taking a slightly serious turn after the last 20 minutes of chatting about Korean drinking culture and telecommunication conglomerates.
Take-outs being that each country thinks they are the worst/best. Uber man said that from what he has seen on TV that the Brits have quite a reserved attitude to drinking, “Don’t believe everything you see on TV” I say.
Also Pork is the meat of choice while drinking Sochu in Korea he says, they drink liquor with food, but they like to drink until the end.
The reason Google Maps can’t give accurate walking directions is apparently as the South Korean government wouldn’t allow Google full access to the country as you don’t really want all your sensitive locations on Google Maps for the North and world to see.
I joined the walking tour at the War Museum and the tour guide asked where I was from as I joined, I said the UK and he said “ok great, I will show you to your countries section at the end, these people are from the Phillipines, who also really helped us…”
The tour was fascinating and sad, here is the tour guide who was previously in the Special Forces as a forensic scientist, after following the family tradition of being in the forces since his grandad’s family were killed and him forced to fight for the North against his own people in the North, a memory that brings with it tears.
Not to be hugely negative but it’s been a while since I feel the UK has done something to be proud of, however it was pride I felt as I heard how without the help of countries like mine South Korea would perhaps not exist as it does now.
Dinosaurs
I hadn’t been thinking about dinosaurs for a very long time, then a few months ago I happened across this amazing book The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs - Steve Brusatte and now they are popping up everywhere!
(any extra bits of wisdom from the book?)
First there was these guys in Thailand.
Secondly, this morning I took the cable car in Busan to this peninsula, as you get out of the building and walk towards the ‘Healing Forest’ you are shouted at by some Dinosaurs. “How random!” I would have thought, but actually I had read on the website before going in the morning that in this are they have uncovered a huge amount of dinosaur bones and footprints etc, looking at the lines on the cliffs I felt like I was looking back in time, which technically I was, just illustrated so clearly, like the rings of a tree.
Walking around on the same ground as these prehistoric monsters was pretty magical, even though we probably do it every day.
This poor T-Rex is broken.
I can see Japan from here
I am currently in Busan in S Korea, which is the closest point to japan, and where the ferry crosses from. As I was walking around hungry, using the usual tactics of if somewhere is very busy and has a queue short enough to match hunger levels, join the queue and order whatever and I’m sure it will be delicious. I did that and it definitely was, halfway through eating I came to the realisation that it felt like Japanese food, after some googling on the way out, it was indeed a chef from Tokyo (CHECK) and as I walked down the street I felt like I should have been eating Korean food, I saw a man spinning octopus balls, also a famous Japanese dish, I realised of course food knows no borders, the closer you go to Japan etc you get the idea. CHECK
Recommended Restaurant:
I can taste Japan from here
The ‘This is how you do it’ series
The guy opposite me (not in Japan) is stretching his feet, under the table and standing on my feet, this could be solved with:
– spinny chairs (GIF)
I’ve always had issues with zebra crossings in Europe, you can cross with no fear, UNLESS there is a little green/red man, then you have to wait… Why use the same style lines and then the user has to look for a second sign to check how to use the crossing? Why not just do a different pattern?
Or this is how they do it in Korea:
I like this as it feels like a wall you don’t want to cross, and thinking about it in the future it will probably be a holographic ‘wall’, which is pretty cool.
Recommended Highlights
THAILAND
KO LANTA NATIONAL PARK - Relatively small national park but nice to hike around ending with a dip in the sea (plenty of monkeys)
Koh Rok - Beautiful largely untouched island with great snorkling and huge wild monitor lizards if you can find them.
KO LANTA- Was always my favourite part of Thailand, and after a visit 13 years later, it still is. Big enough to not be too busy, easy to get around on the relatively quiet roads (although some of these are highways by now)
All inclusive land with hikes and into to the jungle
JAPAN
NAOSHIMA - My 3rd visit to Naoshima and I still found new things, now quite expensive and galleries etc require booking in advance.
Teshima and Takushima ** - Two other Art Islands I would now say these are unmissable, th can be done in a day, but require planning and ideally you would have more time.
Kinosaki Onsen - Like a pub crawl but instead of pubs they are public baths fed by hot springs. Veery wholesome and you walk around in your bathrobe.
Matsumoto - Recommended by fellow traveller Mr Thom Wong, hipster town with craft ales and great craft shopping.
S. KOREA
HIPSTER AREAS
https://www.instagram.com/leeummuseumofart
CHANGING OF THE GUARDS
BUSAN PENINSULAR
NATIONAL MUSEUM
WAR MUSEUM
