Author: cyleodonnell

Malaysia was Awesome!  The most incredible part: The Hindu Celebration in Little India on the island of Penang.  It was really something.  There I was sitting in front of a little cafe right on the road and the next thing I know, there were these bells and sirens and horns and then a caravan of two huge cows and it was accompanied by Hindus on their way to the pre-New Year celebrations just a few blocks down the road.  I grabbed my camera and sprung into action.  I hadn’t been that engaged in a photo-op in a very long time.  It was like the rush I had working for the newspapers back in the states.

By the time it was done the processor in my camera was hot to the touch and I was soaked in sweat.  But all the while, it was such a great rush.  These photos can be found at this address:  But to cover what happened; I would have to say that it was a pretty remarkable experience.

After the caravan moved down the road and turned the corner to the temple, it

sat out front with people throwing powdered colors everywhere and placing a single colored dot in the centers of others’ foreheads, they positioned the main staple of the celebration, a large, chrome stag mounted atop the caravan, to move into the temple.  Before long, I was noticed as a photographer that was there for the duration.  I was moving throughout the crowd catching amazing faces and drummers and celebratory movements.  Just after I shot a breathtaking picture of the leader of the ceremony in a cold pause atop his eulogy, he came down to me and calmly invited me into the temple to take photos in the better spot.  He lead me right to where the action would be taking place — right where the statue was to be placed.  It was quite an honor.

While I waited for the crew to unload the item, I continued to walk around and snap shots of the precession.  What I walked away with was really incredible.  And I got some pretty nice photos, too.

Be sure to check out the photo album for this event. The feeling of that night will remain with me for a long time.  It was something I think few people would appreciate or even have the opportunity to experience.  And it’s all because I got up and sprang into action, jumped into the action and didn’t wait for permission.  I think I have found that it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.  One still allows for the experience to have taken place.  These photos can also be seen on my website: cyleodonnell.com

Well, I am finally back and working again.  It’s been a lot of days out of the office lately because of all the holidays.  There are the Asian holidays (Thai’s love to take as many holidays and days off as possible) and then there are the mid-term days off for all those in school.  And between them all, there were quite a few days off.  Luckily, this year, they all landed on weekend breaks.  So that was nice.

To start off my first holiday weekend, I left on Thursday, December 24th to Koh

Samui where I enjoyed a nice weekend on the more touristy islands.  It was a little busy for my blood, but all the same, it was nice to get away and experience a little bit of tourist-island fun before the New Year/full moon/blue moon celebrations took place and packed those little islands beyond capacity.

This past weekend I headed out to Koh Lanta where it was much more my

speed.  I wound up sleeping in my jungle hammock right on the beach as lanterns floated up and filled the sky over the resort celebrations on the New Year’s Eve holiday weekend.  The photos from this trip turned out to be quite nice. I shot several of a young Thai flame-throwing expert.  It was pretty cool to watch.  He was really good at entertaining the crowd.

People would burn these lanterns that would shoot up into the heavens and likely land somewhere where they would be ruining some fragile habitat where a niche-specific species of endangered animal lives whose waste is the cure for cancer, but it was a pretty sight.  Aesthetic is always a good cause.

When I left there, I headed over, by long boat, to Krabi, Rilai and Ao Nang.  This was a little faster paced.  But I hung in there for the rest of the weekend.
Journal Six:

Back in Surat Thani, I have returned to where my nice, easy, (locally) well-paid life continues; But only until tonight.  Tomorrow morning, it’s back on the road to Malaysia.  I have to go to the border checkpoint and head down to Penang so that I can extend my visa another two months.  But I will be traveling through some rough territory.

The South Thailand Muslim population has been at war with the Buddhist Thai-ruled government for the last five years.  It’s epicenter is what they call the notorious three provinces.  These are the three southern most provinces that have been bombing and shooting one another (mostly Muslims to Muslims, but also Muslims to Buddhists) with no end in sight since 2004.  The radical sects of these provinces are fighting to regain their Malay soil from the Thai government and they often single out and behead the locals who voice opposition to their plight.  There are bombings every day and they often take place at a spot chosen that morning, so there’s no real idea of knowing when or where the next bomb will detonate.

I will be driving through there tomorrow.  Hopefully there won’t be any bombs planned on my route.  It will be the closest that I have been to combatants and militants and armed only with a camera.  I will hopefully be getting some pretty good photos – while trying to keep my head down.

Photos of recent celebrations and of markets and people in my little town of Surat are being edited now and will be coming soon.  Picasaweb.google.com/cyleodonnell.

Wish me luck on my next leg and I will be writing again soon.

Hello all,
Well I have arrived at Surat Thani, a smaller town in Thailand that was upgraded to a city just as I drove over the bridge.  I think I put them over the population limit into a city.  But in case you’re not getting my humor; this place is called a town, but the only reason that’s the case is because the only tall buildings here are the four-story apartment complexes on the tops of the 7-11’s.  There’s plenty of people here to call it a city.  It is just small with respect to the idea that they are all just crammed into about 20-30 city blocks.  It’s pretty weird.  Getting here, my contact drove me through miles and miles of rice patties, sunken bogs and palm farms that stretched farther than you could see in any direction.

Bad news: I just mailed a box back home containing my cowboy hat, raincoat and rainshock for my tent… I thought that I had seen the last of the rain.  And, as it turns out, it’s the rainy season here in south Thailand.  What luck?!

Journal Four:
Good news:  I start my new job tomorrow and this town seems really great.  I just spent the last few hours getting lost throughout the backstreets and underground markets and the people are really wonderful.  They are all out in the street celebrating the new year playing music and dancing and having a great time.  I think that I will have a great time here.

More bad news:  I suppose I will be putting off cycling for a bit longer.  Since I accepted the job teaching science in a private institution here, I have signed a contract that will have me working until at least late February.  So hopefully at that point I will have enough money to extend my stay, cycle throughout the five countries I originally intended to cycle.  I will make it happen, folks, I promise.  Cycling in strange and foreign countries is one of the things I do best.

More good news:  My new apartment is pretty nice.  I have been put up in a very nice place with just about all I need to get by.  There’s no pool like the luxury unit I just moved from this morning, but I made sure to tell the manager there that I will be moving back in if I get a job in Bangkok after I have traveled a bit and finished this contract.  It was pretty sweet: workout gym, pool, great views of the city, nice neighbors.  Here is not so bad.  I feel a bit spoiled having come from the lap of cheap luxury.  But I will wait to form my final opinion until I have looked around and made sure that this is the place that I  want.

Though, in all fairness, there are several pools, workout gyms great sights and markets are all over the places throughout town.  So perhaps it’s not so bad that they are not all located right inside my apartment.  It just means that I will have to get out more and go check them out.  The sunset from out the back window of this apartment is really something.  There are mixes of deep maroons and browns — an unexpected change from sunsets elsewhere int he world.  I have even heard that there is an island in the middle of the river that circles town with a run/walk lane, several soccer fields, workout machines and great spots to relax.  I think I am going to like it here.

Well, that’s where I am at the moment.  Tonight, I will be uploading more photos to the ones that I added last night.  I spent the morning breaking into an empty apartment on the top floor of my apt building to get the sunrise over the city.  I had to climb out onto a ledge looking down over 9 stories of a drop to get the photos that I will be loading up tonight, so I hope that you all appreciate what I had to go through to get these for you!!  comments welcome!

Cheers until next time.

C.O.

P.s. Just in case you still don’t know the address to the photos, it’s picasaweb.google.com/shaggamaru