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Travelogue Index 02-17 - Made It! 02-27 - Downtown Kuala Lumpur with Chinatown ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Journey Begins - Feb 15 Skip to the next entry Back to the main Trip page Well, here I sit in Vancouver International Airport at an elevation of, if I remember my father's information on this correctly, about 6 feet. I will let all you brainiacs determine whether or not that is measured at high or low tide. An alert, as Warren heads into a tiny frustration rant: I am not in First Class, as I had been led to believe that I would be. My stinkin' travel agent was able to get this 'deal' of a cheap booking. Probably saved the company all of two hundred bucks, but there you go, now I am sitting in the cattle car deep within the bowels of a 747, ripped to pieces that I am doing this for 13 hours plus hovering time over the airport. Sheesh! May, I am not impressed! As Archie Cooper would say, @#$*%$@# travel agent. I am in the Maple Leaf lounge, trying to determine just how full or drunk I want to be for the flight out. These lounges have a little bit of everything in them. Juice, milk, pop (soda for Brett), liqueurs, hard stuff, white wine, red wine, beer, draft beer (pull handle included), soup, salads, bread, crackers, cheese, meat. So all sorts of options. This Maple Leaf lounge is for people that fly a reasonable amount and is in most of the big cities. Even Edmonton has one. Free booze, free food, wireless hookups that allow me to send out this email, no beds or showers that I ahve found so far, but I am looking. And no masseuses. So it is not a full-featured place by any means. But it is nicely appointed. I should get a picture before I leave. If I do, I will subtitle it, "Hey David! Betcha can't get in here!" which will mean something to the gang at the office. My email list is starting to get larger. I just noticed that I have 55 people on it. I didn't know I knew 55 people! I was impressed. And aren't you just bummed, thinking that I honestly wrote to JUST YOU! Oh, for those of you that are catching up here, I am on my way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, way, way way-yyyyyyyyy over there on the globe. Oh, stinkin' May again, no travel miles for this trip either. The horrible witch! I am ticked.I have now been burned out of 20,000 miles in the last year, that hurts. It's not all her fault, I know, I am just blaming her. So I am in bowel row #58. I have a hyper little boy bouncing in front of, which means that the tray that this laptop is on also bounces. I forgot how old 747's are. This plane is showing its age as I compare it with the Airbus' that I normally fly on. I get an A340 on the way home, but I will be in coach for that one also (I know, poor poor Warren having to come from Malaysia in coach, let's all sit down and have a good cry for the poor lad!). You will be glad to know that the air conditioner in the plane, however, is in top form. I am freezing. I have a window seat (Hello May!!!!) that puts my shoulder up against the frame of the plane. My left shoulder is numb from the cold. I have a pillow and a blanket lodged in there now, but it may be too late, that arm is lost to us. Let's see, outside temperature is a balmy -54C, can't imagine why my shoulder is numb. And they still have the AC chugging away. I have a cool wind caressing my hair as we speak that has created a freezing wave pattern on my scalp. I have icicles giving my hair a thick, luxurious look with a glassy sheen to it as it thickens and coats my frosty scalp. Turn it off for the love of palm trees! Man, what I will do to touch palm trees! I can't feel my toes. Silly me I took my boots off when I got on the plane, put them in the overhead because there is no extra space in coach, and now I have to decide at what point I will wake my sleeping row compatriots to go retrieve them. Heck, if I can't feel them, why worry, right? So my first stop was Vancouver, but now I am winging it to Taipei, which for those of you who can't tell the difference between a Communist Chinese and Democratic Chinese, these are the ones that look like Democracy personified. The other ones, apparently, are evil. I will see them on the way home as I have to land in Hong Kong for that portion of the trip. I sure hope they haven't read this page. But then, it's communist China, what am I worrying about, they barely have electricity, no one will have computers! Or internet! But this is Hong Kong, ex British colony, so they probably have progressed faster than mainland China, perhaps? Ahhhh, I am safe, if they were under British rule, then they do everything on the wrong side of the road anywayh, so all these words will be backwards to them, I'm still safe! Yeah, Warren has a real good handle on world politics and political-correctness still! Attaboy, Warren, why don't you try and tick of 1/6 of the world population! Throw in a Danish cartoon and I'm good to go! Oh, hey, guess what a midnight snack is here? Cup of Noodle soup. So enough for now, I have to go doctor up the webpage to faciliate getting the pictures ready, in and delivered to you, the people! Seriously, I am trying to write less. And I appreciate what I have been hearing from some of you, that you are now reading this without moving your lips at the same time. It's a good thing, really! ---------------------------------------------------------------- February 17 - Made It! Skip to the next entry Back to the main Trip page
And if you know the story, then you can probably guess on the password. Otherwise you weren't meant to be in here anyway ---------------------------------------------------------------- Downtown Kuala Lumpur Skip to the next entry Back to the main Trip page
---------------------------------------------------------------- Thailand, Day 1: Friday & the Arrival Skip to the next entry Back to the main Trip page Thailand, Day 1: Friday & the Arrival So, lessons learned? Many. The Tourist Association of Thailand, a government entity, is as corrupt as anyone out there in Thailand. On the trip that I went on, the prices paid by various people was staggering. 900 - 4000 for the same trip. It depends on who you talk to. One fellow was ripped off by the TAT for a total of about $2500Cdn, with no recourse. The Thai guy actually laughed at him and said, try! The people of Thailand are here to get your money! If someone is talking to you, they want your wallet. Normal people in Thailand don't talk to strangers. Easy test there. A shower with no hot water is only moderately cold. Lakes in Alberta are colder than this. A lot colder. Even in August. Thai people are cute! I wouldn't want to take one home with me, but they're cute! I had a supper with a full fish on my plate, head to fin. And I survived! Service is not really a functional term here. I was giving my order to the waiter and his phone went off, and he walked away from me to answer the phone. A waitress was getting my bill ready at the end of the meal, she never came back. Someone else had to finish it off. Sometimes they will just ignore you. Temple guides are not really there to help you. They are there to direct you to a túk-túk driver to start 'the game' or the racket, depending on how you approach it. Thailand is beautiful! I went and saw 3 Buddhist temples, rented a cabbie for 6 hours for $3, had an excellent meal at a Thai restaurant a good shower to boot. Not bad for 8.5 hours, eh? You don't want to come to Thailand uninformed, such as I am doing. Tough way to learn money lessons. Not that I am hurting because of it, the prices I paid are still about half of what I would have paid in Canada for the same thing, but the price should have been probably half or less of even that. My bartering skills are improving, now that I know what the expected price is, and the fact that I am not really that worried about buying most of the things I am haggling over. Seriously, if I don't get it, Kim's without a bracelet. And she's a big girl now, so she won't cry about spilled milk. Right, Kim? I know Brett will be quiet about this because he's getting a mod chip for his xbox that he didn't have to buy, but should have. Daddy loves his little boy. Right, Brett? There, I have now alienated both of my kids in a somewhat public forum. Will they forgive me? I don't know, depends on whether they want gifts. Good gifts. Daddy plays the system also. I also had a Thai massage. Most people think about the Swedish massage when they think of a massage, I know I did. That's the relaxing one that can feel good at the end. Thai massage isn't. They bend you funny ways, and it is more about pressure points and hurting you, it seems. So I may not get anymore of those. I think I found a place that does the Swedish kind, I may go there tomorrow. That's about it for today, nice and short, for all you attention deficit people. I have to admit though I had ..... aouuuuuugh, look at that pretty bracelet, now where was I? Tomorrow I am off to Kanchanaburi, home of the Bridge over the River Kwai ---------------------------------------------------------------- Thailand, Day 2: Saturday & the Realization Skip to the next entry Back to the main Trip page Today I went on a day tour to Kanchanaburi, home of the River Kwai bridge of film fame and Japanese infamy. It was a very good day. Thai's don't tell on each other. I asked the driver of the van I was in what the actual cost of what we were doing was and guess what? Suddenly his English abilities totally failed. Bridge over the River Kwai is really mis-named. It should have been some other name that eludes me right now and I don't have Internet access, but the name was changed in 1960 to Kwai. Kwal in Thailand. Don't ask, I don't know. I walked on the Bridge over the River Kwai while singing the song. Not the wrecked one that the movie is about, the original concrete one that was destroyed by the Americans, the one that the wooden one was temporarily replacing. Guess what show I am going to watch again when I get home. Oh, and in real life, the prisoners wore triangular patches similar to what the North American Indians wore, except not as concealing. I rode a train on the Death Railway as the train track that crosses the River Kwai is called. A lot of people died making and maintaining that railway line. A lot. The tour guide I had today was awesome. I don't know what his real name is, but he told us it was Michael Jackson! He was from Cambodia and he was just hilarious. I am sad that I didn't take a picture of him, he was funny! We had fun together. As we were getting on this train, he held my arm and told me to wait with him, he rides this train a lot and knows a good spot for me. So everyone is piling in, he had told us to try and get a seat on the left side of the train, better view. But all the seats are filling up very quickly. And yet he holds me back. Of course at this point I don't have a whole lot of trust for any Thai, but I figure he isn't getting any money from me, so maybe this will work, but I can't figure out what he is thinking. And so finally everyone is onboard, the train blows the horn and gets ready to roll and he says, sit on the step. Well, what an excellent view. I could sit, stand, lean way-yyy out if I wanted, get a good breeze in my face, an excellent spot and surely the best on the train. Except for maybe being on the roof which isn't allowed. I had lunch on a floating restaurant on the River Kwai also. I rode a boat on the River Kwai. It is a very fast moving river. Very fast. 1. Elephants don't smell as much as I thought they would, and they travel slower than people walk. But the view from on top is great. And their hide! I was on an elephant, that, apropos, was the same age as me, 45-50, and his hide was so hard and thick. I understand why it is hard to shoot them. That's a tough wall to get through. 2. You control an elephant when sitting on their neck by flicking the bottom of their ear with the foot on the side you wish to turn, so a right foot nudge gets you going right. Houn, spelled some way I don't know, is the stop command. To go forward, nudge both ears. 3. Elephants have big eyes and big eyelashes. 4. Elephants look a little sad. 5. I rode an elephant before Kim did, and I have a picture to prove it. So there! It was around 36 today and I was sweating like a stuck pig. But I didn't burn. I don't think. And I took 142 pictures for the day. A fair amount, actually. Culled it came down to just over 100, and on the website it will probably get pared down to 30 or 35 or so, one in three of the culled pictures. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Thailand, Day 3: Sunday and Ayutthaya along with the Summer Palace Skip to the next entry Back to the main Trip page Well, the fun just keeps on rolling here. Started today off at 6:30 a.m. Yesterday was 7, so this even feels bad. I still have a cold working its way through my system, so the mornings definitely do not feel great. Anyway, we went to the town of Ayutthaya, pronounced eye- yoot-thay-ah, the old capital of Thailand. They have actually had four capitals, they keep moving them depending on who is currently attacking them. And boy, do these guys love their King. Everything is King this or King this. Actually the designations for them is Rama, which in itself is a short form of some horrendously long name. Us English speaking people can't fathom the names they have here, most of our words are less than 8 letters long if you think about it. Quick what's a 9 letter or greater word? Good, now think of one more. Then keep on reading. So, today was filled with temples (called a Wat) some elephants, and the Summer Palace, which only last week was used to house the Spanish ... what do Spaniards have in control right now, is there a King? No Internet connection so I can't check on it. President maybe? Hopefully Tim will get back to me on this one. You will see a lot of pointy temple type things. These are actually stuups, or stoops, or however you want to pronounce it. Basically it is a sepulchre, if I am using the correct word. Buddhists burn the dead. This is holding the ashes of the various kings and their families. It is amazing how many of the kings died 'of an accident' is what the story always goes as. Clumsy? You figure it out, I couldn't. Oh, one of the first pictures you will see is what I designate as an ordination site marker. If there were two markers, then it is an ordination site made by a king. As this site has only one such marker, it was made by the people, for the monks to do their ordination. Think about what you know about monks and the ordination process. Certain anatomical parts get, um, removed. A lot of the pictures appear to show destroyed building. Back about 400 years ago those Burmese Devils came in and took the town, hence the move to Bangkok as the new capital, and destroyed the place. What you are seeing is good reconstruction. Interestingly enough, there were two buildings in the Summer Palace, which is very beautiful by way in its 48 acres of manicured lushness, that we were not allowed to take pictures in. One was this royal pavilion that was done totally in a Chinese style and had a throne for the King when he was in residence. Very plain. Actually looked like a bad wicker chair with gold plate spray painted on it. There was this other house which was apparently the actual residence of the king and family, and no pictures there. It also had a functional throne (and one for the queen as well), and this was even worse. It looked like a decked up chair with chrome tubular sidearms that were also spray painted gold. Can't figure that one out. But you don't mess with royalty in Thailand, they get better reverence than in England by a long, long shot. So, not a whole lot more to actually report, the pictures pretty much sum it all up. Enjoy! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Thailand, Day 4: Monday and the Grand Palace Skip to the next entry Back to the main Trip page Not much to say here, went in, sweated, took pictures, sweated some more, took more pictures, still sweating, headed for the airport. Still sweating. It was humid this weekend, for sure! How badly? I have salt stains on my shirt and shorts. On Saturday I drank 6 litres of water and was still peeing salt pellets. It was hot! But I did make it back to KL safely. Not without incident, of course. This one is totally stupid. I was going through immigration and after waiting for a half hour in the slowest line, I got up to the girl and tossed my passport with all the information (ticket and departure forms) in it on to the counter. She looked at me and said that was very rude. She then smiled and had me hauled over to the side for 'questioning' by her boss. I was still sweating, so I really wasn't in much of a placatory mood, so when her boss asked me what the problem was, I showed her what I did, and said to watch her, she is also the slowest moving lineup there, out of 6 or 7 that were going. And then I said that she was just giving me a hassle, and I didn't appreciate it. Actually, I passed through this hoop without incident. And then I headed on to my airplane. I was actually going to say I wanted to talk to this lady's manager, but then I remembered I was in Thailand, they had monks, and I remembered what they did to monks, so I shut up and moved on. See, getting smarter by the day, aren't I? |