So looks like I last left off right before the movie. So after meeting the casting guy, I had to go back to Krabi and take the bus back to Khao Lak again for organization reasons. I think the total number of western extras they were bringing in was about 200. The scene we were shooting took place at the Takuapa hospital which during the actual Tsunami was the closest full service hospital to Khao Lak. When we got there we were lodged at a place where retreats are held, so although nice, we were in the middle of nowhere. Not a restaurant or bar within walking distance. So here is the day in the life of an extra: Get up at 4am, arrive at set about 5am, wait, eat , wait, wait, wait, get called on set, wait, wait, do the same meaningless action about 100 times, go back to tent, wait, wait go home at 7pm. Long days with lots of sitting around. The first day I spent a grand total of 30 minutes actually on set. But besides that, it was fun just hanging all day and getting to know all the extras. I was very lucky in that my “role” was “uninjured volunteer” so my costume consisted of a tanktop and shorts. Some of the “injured victim” extras had to go through a half hour of makeup every morning and were covered in sticky fake blood that is made from chocolate syrup and attracts flies like crazy. I was also pretty interesting to be on a movie set and just see how things are done and how much organization goes into it. If you go see the movie, I will be just behind the big climax where Ewan McGreggor reunites with his kids sitting on a scooter or in a Hospital scene when EM goes down the stairs I am coming up them. It’s kind of funny because in some of the scenes they don’t tell you where the camera is so a couple of times I am walking and am like “oh crap there’s the camera” looking right at it. The inside of the hospital scene was pretty eerie though because the makeup looked very real and people had like torn off limbs and things. I was also pretty crazy how many of the Thai extras actually lost family in the Tsunami and many were at the hospital during the actual event. Even many of the western extras were involved in the Tsunami. One girl we hung out with almost lost her foot and suffered from post traumatic stress from when the Tsunami hit Ko Phi Phi and the movie was a way of trying to add closure to it. I don’t think that would be the way I personally would seek closure. After 8 days of shooting, 1 final night of Karaoke and a little bit of cash in the pockets, I took the bus down to Kuala Lumpur again to catch my flight to Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City is a crazy place. There are absolutely no traffic laws and there are hordes of scooters everywhere. With no stoplights, you have to wade through the river of moving traffic to cross streets: defiantly an adrenaline rush. The food is amazing with street venders dishing out Vietnamese sandwiches and Pho. The French occupation did wonders for the food here because for the first time since I have been to Asia there is decent bread. Beer is also very cheap at about 80 cents for a pitcher of the Bia Hoi. I went and checked out the War museum and it was definitely an interesting experience seeing the complete opposite viewpoint of the Vietnam War and we f-ed the whole thing up pretty good. Originally I came to find a teaching job here and live here. I really like HCMC, but…I don’t want to live here. There is not a real park or quiet area in the whole city and it is just too claustrophobic for me. So the plan now is I just got offered a teaching job in Shanghai. China here I come. The job doesn’t pay a lot but I get a free apartment, low working hours, and I am right by a park and university. Now I have to make the transition from dirty, unkempt, transient traveler to respectable teacher. So I am taking the next week to head north to Hanoi and checking out Ha Long Bay while my visa is processing. Then I am taking 45 hours worth of trains through the heart of China to Shanghai. I am actually really excited about the train because I will get to see so much of the country and get a better idea about the country that still has a lot of mystery. So the plan now is to go to Shanghai, settle down for a bit, save up some money, then eventually head to India. It may be longer than I thought before I see Seattle again.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Malaysia
It’s been a long time since I updated my blog. I guess it was part laziness, part inaccessibility to computers and part wanting to be devoid of any responsibility for a while. In any case, I am starting it up again. Here is a couple sentence quick recap of what I haven’t written about and I will start with my entry into Malaysia. Lots of good stories I didn’t mention, but it would take days to write it all down.
Indonesia
Yogyakarta: Only place in Indo still ruled by a king and very close to the two most famous temples south of Angkor Wat. Mt. Merapi erupted recently very near the city killing 300 people and the temples and cooled off lava coming down the river was destroying bridges. Let an ATM machine eat my card.
South Java: Spent a week at Pangandaran trekking through the Jungle and surfing. Saw a lot of cool Wildlife and ate Iguana during a big fish cooking party on the beach
Jakarta: Big, scratch that, huge endless crowded city (metro area has 26 million registered, many more not) Took a long time to get anywhere and I left to Singapore after a day.
Singapore: Cleanest city in the world, too clean and safe for my tastes. Saw the Police write a ticket to a guy doing absolutely nothing wrong. Explored the city for 4 or so days. Really good food and went to this rooftop bar where we convinced this rich couple to buy us a $40 Singapore sling. Also partied with the touring riverdance dancers that were performing at the hotel (ex-Michael flately dancers) and ended up at an after party with rich Indonesians buying $500 dollar bottles of grey goose. Food was really good.
Thailand
Bangkok: After a couple days there Tim came and visited me on his 17 days off from work. Went to Muay Thai match, markets, ect. Partied on the legendary Khao San Road.
Chang Mai: Chilled out mountain town where Tim and I went on a three day two night trek in the jungle. Rode on elephants, river rafted and more. Also took a Christmas day cooking lesson and learned to make some Thai food. Christmas night on an overnight train south – definitely different.
South of Thailand Islands: Spent 7 days there including new years. What happens there stays there.
Ton Sai: After Tim left spend a week in a bamboo hut in the Jungle and gave rock climbing a go there and at nearby Rah Lay. Made a sketchy decent to a lagoon. Probably my favorite place in Thailand.
Malaysia
So after spending 30 days in Thailand I was still not sure what I was planning on doing and I had to get out of Thailand so I hopped on the bus to Malaysia to try and figure things out. So 12 hours in a van later I arrived in Georgetown on the Island of Penang. Penang for centuries prior was a major British outpost in Asia where a lot of trade went through and that is still evident today in the architecture, and diversity of culture. Staying in little India I was quick to realize that Malaysian food is really good and cheap. About 2 dollars for as much Indian food as you can eat. My time there I spent with two English guys I met, and approached the nightlife like it was going to be like Thailand, but soon found out that despite the fair amount of bars and clubs, we were their only patrons. On Penang is also a big National Park that had a beautiful beach where sea turtles come up to lay their eggs. I didn’t see any but saw the multiple holes dug as nesting sites. While in Penang I finally made the firm decision to go to Vietnam and attempt to teach English for 6 months to try and save a bit of money to go travelling some more after it because thanks to Australia breaking my budget, I am way lower in money than I hoped. To be honest, after pushing 5 months of travel I am a bit exhausted from the constant meeting people and constant moving. I think actually living in a foreign city will be a great experience to take a break from the moving. So making this decision I took the bus down to Kuala Lumpur and applied for a Vietnam visa and planned to by a plane ticket as soon as it was approved. I spent the first few days in KL seeing the huge twin Pentronas towers and other sights in the city. A throat infection kind of put a damper on the first few days, but luckily the miracle drug amoxicillin cleared it up without having to go to a doctor. My visa also took way longer than it should of so I spent my sick days sending emails out to prospective English schools in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). While sending these emails, I also sent an email that explains me being back in Thailand. Rewinding, a couple of months ago I met a guy in Singapore who was an extra in “The Hangover 2” while they were filming in Thailand. (He had some great stories, but they are his to tell) Anyway, while I travelled around Singapore, he gave me the name of another movie that was about to be filmed about the 2004 tsunami and the number of the casting guy. I called him back then, and he told me it they need extras around late Jan early Feb and I sent him some pictures of myself. I wasn’t sure if it was still going to work out, because production was stopped around Christmas because an American extra sent death threats to Ewan McGregor. After that I didn’t know if it was still on, so I dismissed it. While in KL, I sent him an email just to see and he replied with the exact dates and where I needed to be to meet him in Thailand. After that, I decided to delay my expedition to Nam and take advantage of the opportunity to be in a Hollywood movie. Changing my plans, I realized I had about a week left to travel around Thailand. I prepared to go to the Cameron Highlands, but while in KL started hearing a lot of commotion about the Thaipusam festival and decided to stay for that. Thaipusam festival is basically a Hindu festival where basically devout Hindus pierce themselves with all sorts o needles and hooks and burden themselves with heavy ornaments to please one of their gods and have good fortune the rest of the year. It’s hard to describe but it was a pretty crazy three day event (that is banned in India). An estimated 1.3-1.7 Million Hindus come to the city where the main action is at the Batu Caves. The caves, 14 km north of the city, is where these followers mutilating themselves finish their journey and are often near passing out by the time they get there (and usually go into a crazy trance to get out of it) Taking the train there with some Scottish guys I met in Bangkok, then Kohl Phangan, then again in KL and two English girls, it took us a couple of hours just to get to the cave. The entire place was just one unbelievable crowd, and we definitely stood out being about the only westerns besides about three we saw the whole night. After waiting a while, we made the steep journey up the steps into the caves among the sea of people coming in and out. Inside we saw where the offerings were being made and were also still a little in awe of the amount of people of all ages ascending into this cave at 3 in the morning. Getting home at about 6 am, I caught the bus the next day to the Cameron highlands. Actually, because of bad information it took me two days to get there because I missed the last bus in a middle of nowhere Malaysian town. The highlands are just a little town up in the highest mountains that are sweet relief against the heat of Asia. Up there are lots of “Jungle walks” that involve no walking and mostly climbing with both hands and feet. The atmosphere up there was really nice and confirmed my preference of mountains over beaches. It was such a nice feeling being around a fire for warmth. After four days up there, I caught a bus back to Penang and then caught another bus up to Phuket in Thailand. I stayed in a really dirty run down guesthouse, that I learned was where they filmed the scene in the beach where the guy kills himself and gives Leo the map. Got out of Phuket pretty fast because was pretty put off by all the old white dudes walking around with their young “long stay” prostitute “girlfriends”. Phuket: dirty man capital of the world. The following morning caught the bus up to Khao Lak, met the extra casting director, and we start filming on Monday. Should be a fun experience and it pays about $250 for four days filming. I’ll see how it goes.
