Thailand, Final 2 Days

On Sunday we left from Chalong Harbour in a huge 75 person speedboat, 4engines, 225 HP each and raced to PhiPhi (pronounced Pee pee, I kid you not). We had an excellent snorkel, quite a few boats around but everyone was feeding the fish (bread) and there were plenty to see. Incredible visibility and of course exceptionally warm water. Not much colour in the coral, and you had to be aware of other boats around when you surfaced. Back on the boat and arrived at another beach on Phi Phi for our lunch. Happily the tables were under cover as the sun was very strong. Lunch was Thai food and some spaghetti and meat sauce as well, very good and plenty of it. Beer was available for a price so we availed ourselves of it! In the afternoon we sped to another, much smaller (5 minutes to circle it) island for an hour of swimming and snorkelling if you wished. We tried it but the visibility was much less and the water not especially clean. We were back at our hotel by 5:30 and enjoyed a hot shower before heading out for dinner.

Monday, our final full day in Phuket and Thailand, we spent at the beach in the morning. We got a front row umbrella this time as we went and staked our claim early. After lunch I had a Thai massage, very nice, for $8.50. Won't find prices like this back home. Tonight it is dinner and then a careful packing of our belongings, which have multiplied during the trip!

Thailand Day Six

We were picked up just before 8 a.m. this morning for our 4 island tour. It took over an hour to get all passengers in the van and to the dock. The ship held about 70 passengers and was full; quite a 'mixed bag' of families, retirees, young couples and from many different countries.
Our first stop was "James Bond Island", so called because part of the Man With the Golden Gun was filmed here. Not much to see beyond the famous perpendicular island just off the beach. Back on board we were served a nice buffet lunch with fish, chicken, kebabs, salads, crudites, and fresh fruit. Soda pop, water (not sure if it was bottled originally though), coffee and tea available all tour. Next stop was Hong Island where we were kayaked through an opening in the rocks into beautiful lagoons. Our paddler was Ruse and he spoke adequate English to be charming. He called me madam Ann but Felix became Sam?! Back to the boat for 25 minute trip to our third island where we kayaked into a 150m long cave with bats hanging from the ceiling. It narrowed and lowered to almost nothing and we had to lie back to get under the rocks. Glad the tide wasn't any higher. Our fourth island and stop was a beach for swimming. The water was so warm it didn't refresh much, but fun to swim in the A Sea. Back on board we were refreshed with a young coconut drink. Still in the green casing, the top is sliced off and an opening created similar to beginning to carve a pumpkin. Stick in a straw and you drink the milk inside. It is so immature that there is no brown husk visible and the actual coconut meat is very soft. I think it is an acquired taste and apparently has laxative qualities too! Not needed with all the fruit we have been eating. The paddlers performed a dance routine to make the sailing time back to port go faster and of course to garner bigger tips. We were very pleased with Ruse and he went home happy.

How hot is it in Phuket? Well, our first late afternoon in Phuket Town we sat on the front porch of a bar and had a cold beer. At street level were two large garden pots filled with water and containing water lilies in bloom. A mongrel dog walked over to one of the pots and put his head in. We thought he was just getting a cool drink. Instead, he stepped into the pot with all four legs and proceeded to sit down. It was nearly 5 minutes before he got out, shook himself off and walked away, much cooler.

Musings: Holey Soles, or Crocs, are available everywhere and worn everywhere--up steep temple steps, into the presence of the Buddha, and very often to the beach

The written Thai language and numerals seem to bear some similarity with Arabic.

Phuket is full of Scandinavians, especially Swedes.

People still think someone who doesn't speak their language will suddenly understand them if they shout.

Pictures of the king are everywhere; much like the Middle East.

Thailand Day Four and Five

Great flight on Bangkok Air to Phuket and even got to use the lounge beforehand, very nice. Upon arrival we trotted outside to find our hotelier holding a sign with our name on it--unfortunately he wasn't there. We phoned and he suggested we take a taxi, but as we understood that the pickup was included and the taxi fare was 400 Baht, we said we'd wait the 45 minutes it would take to get us. Well, after nearly an hour we phoned again and he said yes my friend is outside looking for you. However, she was holding a sign with someone else's name and it took a little longer to connect. Finally arriving at Summer Breeze In n,we discovered it to be 4 km from downtown Phuket Town, no buses or tuk-tuks, clean room but totally unsuitable for our purposes. We left our luggage and got him to drive us to the downtown core. We went to a travel agent and booked the next 4 nights on the beach in Karon. Beers and dinner, then we tried to get a taxi back to Summer Breeze. It is so out of the way that none of the drivers knew where it was. The hotel's card was written in English so that didn't help them, and when we called the cell number on the card it didn't work. Turns out he'd left off the first 2 numbers! Well we finally arrived back, and asked for breakfast at 7:30, then in our room discovered on a card that the charge for b'fast was 250 baht per person, or $8 each! Back to the owner and expressed our displeasure and that we would leave in the morning. Turns out no money had been paid so that would be okay. Huh! This morning , upon being presented with the bill, there was a 450 baht charge for the airport pickup! Well, he had already said that he would drive us to our new hotel, so in the end we paid up. However, we will be reporting his deceitful business practice to the Thai website where we found him. Anyway, by 9:30 a.m. we were settled into the Karon Beach Hotel and are very happy, and doesn't cost much more than Summer Breeze. We are 2 minutes from the beach and lots of restaurants, etc. Today we booked our tours for caving canoe trip around James Bond Island! and Sunday's snorkel. Then it was to the beach with our books and large umbrella.

Bangkok day Three

Today we spent touring surrounding areas. We began at the floating market where we were poled around by an older man up and down quiet and not so quiet canals. At times larger long boats, motorized, whipped by and semi swamped our small craft. Vendors in their own small boats sold a variety of items, from fruit and vegetables, to waffles, to tourist trinkets like hats. Prices were high and no one in our boat, us and a Vietnamese couple, bought anything.

After a very long and hot one and a half hour drive, we arrived at a riverside cafe for our lunch of rice, curry sparsely sprinkled with bits of chicken, and pineapple for dessert. As the river was the River Kwai, it seemed special regardless. After eating it was another half hour to a large military cemetary to honour those who had died here building the Thai to Burma railroad. Very moving to read the inscriptions of the poor men who were mainly in their 20s and buried so far from Britain, India. A beautifully kept cemetary and a good reminder that while we all think of the Alec Guiness and David Niven movie, parts of it were based on fact and these graves represent that.

The actual bridge on the River Kwai was destroyed by the Allies and a newer one has been rebuilt on the site. It is in actual use today; a train crossed it just after we got off it!

Our final stop, another 2 hours away, was the largest pagoda in Thailand. We could not climb to the very top due to renovations, but enjoyed a walk around to see many small buddhas set in alcoves in the walls, and another reclining buddha inside. Traffic back into Bangkok was not too bad in our direction, horrific going out of town at 6 pm. A cold beer was the first thing on our minds as we got out of the van.

Bangkok, Day One and Two

We flew on Bangkok Air ("the boutique airline") from Siem Reap to Bangkok, landing at the new airport which reportedly was full of mistakes and never-ending problems since opening last Fall. We found it to be fine, very modern and efficient. And B. Air was superb. A 55 minute flight and we were served a box lunch and beverage. Hello Air Canada!!!!!!
We shared a taxi with an Israeli into town and are very pleased with our hotel. It is within walking distance of the main temple and palace area, and also the backpackers area with cheap food and knock-off everythings. Our first afternoon we just walked around the area and tried to cross the 6 lanes in each direction, no discernable traffic rules, no pedestrian right-of-way mentality intersections. Wow! The most dangerous part of our trip so far. Good dinner and our first Pad Thai in Thailand. Beer is good, too.
Today we had our hotel breakfast and then headed out around 8 a.m. to begin touring. Sure enough, just as the tour book said, two different touts came up to us and told us the temples we were heading for were closed today, but they could recommend and show us another one. No thanks, we said and kept walking. Surprise, surprise everthing we wanted to see was open and available to tour. So we did. More later, gotta go.

Cambodia Day Four

This morning we headed to another series of temples, some built to honour the king''s mother and father. The latter included climbing a number of stairs reaching the top 57 m high. Well I went but didn''t enjoy the top due to freaking out about the trip down! That''s my head peaking over the edge, afraid to come any closer. In the afternoon we ended our tour at a ""medical center"", a set of 4 pools (now dry), surrounding a main pool. Locals would sit under a creature: elephant (water), hawk (air), human (earth), or lion (fire) and expect to become or stay healthy as the healing waters poured over them. On our way back into town, we experienced Siem Reap rush hour, all the vans, buses, tuk-tuks, motorcycles, bikes, pedestrians trying to get through the narrow southern gate of Ankor Thom, either to race up the hill to catch the sunset or to get back to hotels, guesthouses, and homes. Quite the scene, and the pushiest driver won. Han was amongst the pushiest! Dinner tonight at an upscale restaurant (total bill $10 including 2 mains, one appie, and a jug of beer), followed by local dancers and musicians. We sat on the balcony one storey above the street. A great final day in Cambodia, and I haven''t mentioned the shopping!

Cambodia Day Three

Up betimes (that's how Pepys starts his journals) and on the road for over an hour to the site of the original capital of Khyner. Sacred water flowed over phallic symbols of Vishna so rice crops would grow well; guess it worked! We had lunch on the road, a beautiful curry served in coconut shell, and of course beer, today from Laos. Very hot by the time we had finished, but we toured a delightful little temple with exquisite bas reliefs. Few tourists as it is 37 km from town. On the way back we stopped at the local killing fields. Whew! Amd according to Chom, his father was a soldier on the wrong team and was killed when PolPot took over, and his mother and 7 siblings did not survive working the rice fields. He has no idea where any of them are buried, but he can tell you to the year, month, and day how long the "darkness"" lasted. How can we hope to relate to someone who has experienced this?

Cambodia, Day Two

This morning Chom and Han drove us to Ankor Wat, and it is as magnificent as we had expected. A massive stone structure with each wall filled with bas relief of famous battles and Hindu gods. Crowded at times, but serene at others. We enjoyed our 3 hours touring, but returned to our hotel for a lunch break happily to avoid the worst of the heat.
A swim and lunch revived us for the afternoon at Ankor Thom, famous for its carved faces on all 4 sides of each of 49 towers. However, we had to change memory chip so photos will come another day.
Dinner downtown again, we're feeling like old pros now!

A Visit to Cambodia

Our trip to Cambodia seemed to be gett ing off to a rocky start when we saw the flight crew walk out of the plane at the time we should have been boarding. The captain announced that there was an engineering problem with the plane and he didn't feel it was safe to fly it. One and a half hours later, Silk Air had moved us to a new departure lounge, given us a $5 phone card, fed and coffee-ed us, and had a new plane ready for take off! Things were straightforward after that. We were met by our tour guide Chom and driver Han and taken to our lovely hotel. Our room is air conditioned and there is an outdoor pool! We had a boat ride that afternoon and climbed a high hill with small temple to photograph Angor Wat at sunset.

Last night we braved the streets in a tuk-tuk, a motor scooter pulling a compartment for two people. It cost $2 for a 10 minute ride down to the Old Town and its inexpensive restaurants and cafes. Delicious meal for 75 cents each, then we found a shop to sell us beer and we were ready to return to the hotel. The beer cost 55 cents for a 320ml can of local beer.

Back in Singapore

After a final day with Tomas in Sydney it was time to leave the Southern Hemisphere. We had an evening flight to Singapore and it was great to recognize the streets when we were getting close to Brian's house. He and Emi are away at the moment on a school field trip to Thailand, but left us a welcoming note. With a three hour time difference, we didn't do much except head for bed upon our arrival.
Valentine's Day, 2007 and here we are in hot and humid Singapore. As it is soon Lunar New Year, we headed by subway to China Town and were amazed at the hustle and bustle as everyone was purchasing red banners, plastic pigs, firecrackers, special foods, and lucky money. Two long streets of vendor stalls and so much to buy. Instead of waiting for Bangkok, we followed our own advice "buy it when you see it" but also reined each other in with impulse purchases. I mean, the mechanical pigs were cute, but where would we put them back in Victoria?
Little India was not nearly as interesting, but of course, they are not about to have a major holiday which everyone enjoys celebrating. Two beautiful mosques and wonderful scents.
We grabbed the subway home around 4 p.m. and missed most of the rush hour, which can be horrible. The subway cars and stations have many warnings about reporting suspicious packages and people acting 'strange and nervous'. And somehow they have fixed it so cell phones work in the tunnels, what joy! Those not speaking on their phones are plugged into their ipods.
We've finished tonight with our favourite laksa soup for $3 each while other couples lined up outside expensive European style restaurants. Worked for us.

Cambewarra, NSW

We drove through Ulladulla and Mollymook again today and further north through Nowra. We took the turnoff to Kangaroo Valley and headed up to the Cambewarra Lookout where we had magnificent views all the way to the coast. The teahouse at the top was very British and so were the patrons. We have been amazed at just how "British" Australia and Australians seem.
Heading back down from the lookout we followed Ian's excellent instructions and reached his school, where Linda Nonen spent her year as exchange teacher. What an excellent choice she made! Set amongst trees and looking towards rolling hills, I'm almost ready to return to full time teaching so I can do an exchange here. We visited some of the classrooms and all the teachers apologized for the bare walls but it was just the beginning of the year you know! Hmmm, I'm remembering all those hot August days working in my classroom before the children arrived; apparently not an Australian teacher's habit.
Ian and Judy live about a 5 minute walk from the school in a lovely bungalow. Their daughter Jessica was visiting and we also met Polly, their King Charles Spanial/poodle cross. Many glasses of champagne (Aussies drink champagne all the time, not just for a special occasion) and wine later, we enjoyed an excellent dinner and continuous talk. We also learned to ask for clearskins in the liquor store. There is a glut of wine from previous years and to sell it, the big wineries (Lindeman's, Jacob's Creek, etc) put it in no label bottles (just varietal and location) and sell it for cheap. And I mean cheap, boxes of 6 for $11.95! That's cheaper than two buck chuck in the US. We've bought a box of chardonnay and are hoping for the best, but apparently we can bring back the rest for a refund if we don't like the first bottle.
Just a few more days left in Oz before we tackle the heat and humidity of south-east Asia.

Ulladulla and Mollymook

Today we travelled to the wonderfully named towns of Ulladulla (all short vowels), and Mollymook. No stranger I suppose than Petawawa and Nanaimo! Good friend Linda Nonen recommended fish and chips in Ulladulla so we timed our visit over the lunch-hour. Very tasty. A true vacation town, similar to Bateman's Bay, but the library there wanted $1.50/hour for internet as opposed to an hour free a day here in B.Bay. Coincidentally parked near a quilt shop which I may return to before we leave the area.
Mollymook is known for its surfing beach. The waves were few and far between but larger and more powerful than the ones at Long Beach, which is within walking distance to our home stay. And after our deep-fried lunch a long walk along the beach was also in order.
The 'shire' is installing underground wiring along the road we're living on and indeed work crews are the same here as in Canada. Lots of leaning on shovels, etc. And there are 2 flagmen who alternate 15 minute shifts. Quite a noisy operation so we're happy to head out and leave them to it.

Adelong

We left Bateman's Bay (BB) on Monday, January 29 in warm sunshine and took the northern loop to the Lipscombs. Our first stop was Canberra, the nation's capital and 'made' town. We drove to the Parliament Buildings and past some museums and then parked the car for a walk through town. Surprise! We found a Starbucks! Happiness, and an appropriately named mug. We picnicked at a rest area about 20 km out of Canberra. Unlike North American areas, this one was more of a lay-by right on the highway. There were 2 picnic tables with roofs to keep the sun off, and many flies. The available water was labelled NOT FOR DRINKING, but we had our own beverages. We ate and departed. Next stop, Gundegai, where the bus had dropped Tomas on his Christmas visit. Another brief stop and an opportunity to buy wine and an ice cream, and them we trusted to Tomas' directions to take us into Adelong and through to Chatam Cottage. About 5 pm we were pulling in the driveway, and within 10 minutes were seated with beer and wine and snacks on one of several patios. Felix and Kathleen were given Gerald's old room and Tomas had the luxury of having the B&B cottage all to himself.
Mark and Diana have 41 sheep and lambs on their 40 acre property. There is a drought and so water must be supplied to troughs and pellet food given each morning as there is no grass at all. We enjoyed helping Mark with these chores, more fascinating, I suppose, on such a one-off basis. It was also time to put ear tags in the lambs. This is a new gov't regulation which indicates exactly where a meat lamb was born and raised. Diana's brother Peter, who is a lifelong rancher, grabbed the correct animal and held its head for Felix to tag. No blood and the lambs were silent, so one will presume little pain was inflicted. Very pleased to see the next morning that the tags were still in place. Peter had his sheep dog, Pokie, with him and the two put on a great show of herding the sheep into the pen so we could start the process.
After such a hard and hot morning's work, it was a relief to head into town and visit the service club for a few cold beers. Felix and Mark challenged two locals to a snooker game and Diana and I were cheerleaders. Mark is treasurer of this club and more money is made off the 'pokies' (slot machines) than the liquor. Dinner that evening was at Diana's sister's home but Mark was a bit quiet as his English team were losing against Australia in a one day cricket match. We'd have to be in Australia a lot longer to figure out this game.

Jungle Surfing

Felix and Tomas read the roadsigns about this, but it wasn't until seeing an illustration that we realized it meant a zipline through the canopy! Kathleen chose to keep both her feet on the ground.

And anyone can zip the usual way, so Tomas thought he would try something different, and Felix was there to record it.