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| Nebraska | Gulf of Mexico | 2011 |
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Its a bit late, but I've left Thailand. After three years, I said Sawasdee Krub to the wonderful country of Thailand. An Island (well, an isthmus really) paradise: wonderful weather, blue skies, delicious food (I've built up an awesome tolerance for spicy food), and fantastic people. It is truly the land of smiles. I'm not ashamed to say I miss Thailand.
Lured by the promise of white sandy beaches, tropical breezes, and playing in the waters of paradise I accepted a transfer to Songkhla, Thailand. Based in the southern pennisula and servicing oil rigs smack dab in the middle of Thailand's Gulf, will it turn out to be a tour of pleasures or a den of sodden misery... Read more to find out!! ;)
The end of Japan or the end of my time in Japan. First arriving in October
2003 and returning off and on until permanantly stationed in 2004, I spent
almost 3 years in that land of the Rising Sun. I laughed, loved, learned, and
cried (cried? yeah, my eyes watered when I skidded my bicycle through an
intersection in the middle of town, I'll admit it). I will miss Nagaoka, the
sleepy little town surrounded by rice paddies where I lived. I will miss the cleanliness and
organization, parelleled only by Germany, that makes life in the rest of SouthEast
Asia pale by comparison. I will miss the people; hardworking, dedicated, exasperatingly
polite, with friendships hard-won and ne'er forgotten. Out of all the world's places
where I have worked, it is the best by far. Sayonara Japan.
I'm back to work. My vacation ended and I shipped out overseas again. After a quick layover in Japan, I jetted south to Miaoli, Taiwan. A temporary assignment of only a month (cross fingers) I'm babysitting the ranch while the current location engineer is on vacation (wait a minute, thats not fair is it?). The location has a secretary, an accountant, two operators and one engineer-in-charge, which for one month is me.
And in other news, my brother Jake is going to be stationed outside Cambridge, England not Okinawa, Japan. The marriage went as planned, even the mosquitos couldn't stop it. For wedding pictures take a look at my pictures or the official wedding pictures on Kendra's website.
I'm back in Japan. Working both on land and offshore oil rigs. The latest and greatest is there a new page for my daily entries. And that I'm trying to start an online photo album.
Even more exciting than all that is the fact that my brother Jake is getting married and is moving (weell, technically the Air Force is doing the moving) to Okinawa, Japan. Just around the corner in my neck of the woods!
The Koreans and Chinese call it the East Sea, The Japanese call it the Sea of Japan; I call it cold. With temperatures very similar to Nebraska, winds that don't drop below 30 mph and nothing but steel pipe for shelter its hard to stay warm out here.
But all of this is after a very hectic Christmas vacation that I managed to get at the last second. Seeing everybody and being back in the natural plains made all the hassle worth it. Happy holidays and the best of a New Year to y'all!
So I'm back in Japan. I don't know for how long but should be longer than before. My first big job in Japan will take place of the coast of Korea. It will start December 25. Hmmmmm, why does that date sound familiar? Nuts, thats Christmas!! Sieskel and Ebert says two thumbs down.
So I'm back in China. Shekou now. Its very close to Hong Kong and as dirty as white sock in coal bin. The drivers are crazy and there about a million bicycles. I read in the paper that the average is three fatal traffic accidents a day. But there is a lively international community and a whole slew of fun stuff to do.
Interesting trade off.
My project is with an American oil company drilling 120 miles south of Hong Kong. If you are at all close to a map you can see that its nothing but water. Nothing that is except for a bunch of oil platforms. The one I'm working on is called Nan Hai 2. A floater thats doing the job of keeping us dry in 300 feet of water.
A 12 hour boat ride or 1.5 hours in a helicopter and you can drop in for a visit.
Still based out of Tanggu China but am "on loan" for several more Japanese projects including this latest one, "Unzen Volcano exploratory and observation well."
Still based out of Tanggu China but am "on Loan" for an
exploration project in the sea of Japan. I live and work in a Town called
Nagoaka, in the Niigata prefecture of Japan. Translation: Two hours west of
Tokyo. Japan is exploring for gas in the sea of Japan. The wells are
being drilled from a floating platform anchored by four huge cables in 3000 foot
deep water. The deepest well will stop 9000 feet below the seafloor or more than
two miles beneath the surface of the water. More than 100 people live and work
on this platform that is accessible only by helicopter. For more information,
check out the Atwood Oceanics website,
select rig infomation and click on "Atwood Falcon." As for Japan, It is an incredibly clean, safe, wonderful
country. With good food, entertainment, recreation, and everything else. With a
quality of life similar to the United States, my stay here will make it
extremely hard to back to China. I like Japan, alot.
