I'm in the airport again. It feels like it has been forever since I traveled anywhere for pleasure. The last two sets of flights were to Hawaii to be with my mother-in-law after she had a heart attack. Since then DaLeiLei and I have made travel plans and had them thwarted multiple times due to family health concerns. This trip feels rushed and like I need to do it to get away from the rest of my life.

I've spent the last nine months trying to be a help to family members with very little success in that realm. It feels like the more I want to help, the less my help is wanted and that I just tend to upset peeps instead of comforting them. Unfortunately, now, I don't really feel like I have the strength to do it any more and I'm mostly numb and uncaring at this point. I think I'm beyond empathy at the moment. I'm sick of everyone and everything and am ready to head back to Asia where I was much, much happier one year ago.

Instead, I'm on my way to England and hope to find some stress relief in visiting loved ones there.

At the end of this trip we're getting on a cruise ship that sails from Barcelona to Miami. I'm thinking of stopping there for a while instead of going back to California. It at least sounds warmer and like there might be a chance of fishing if I hang out there.

Round The Bend

So I just finished re-reading "Round The Bend" by Nevil Shute.  It makes me realize a few things:

1. I have a very selective memory.  One of the main characters dies in the course of the book of Lukaemia.  How I managed to forget this from when I first read it as a late-teen, I'm not quite sure.  There was no way I could read this book and not place my father-in-law in the position of Shak Lin and think of him as a prohetic character loved by all.  It didn't make me sad, per-say, but it made me think a lot of Ben.  On many, many levels.  It's a book he would have enjoyed (and probably already had.)  It was a character that I could associate with him, not just due to a common illness, but to their shared manner and beliefs.  I guesing now that it will seem odd to my wife and sister-in-law that I was so insistant that this is a great book to read when it has this alarming similarity between the two men, all I can say was I was obviously drawn to read this book now for a reason.  I hope that if they read it, they will see the shared beauty in the book that I see.
2. I believe myself to be "round the bend" much the same as the Englishman, Tom Cutter, in this book.  I now feel like I've spent too much time abroad to be completely happy here.  I can be here for stints, but I'm feeling very, very uncomfortable around Europeans right now.  It feels extremely odd since I'm European, but there you go ... as I said,  "round the bend."  I am getting close to traveling again, either with my wife or on my own depending on her outlook in the near future.
3. "Sometimes you just have to finish things that you've started." This is a recurring theme in the book, and I guess I feel that way with my work.  Right now, I'm soooo swamped with work and I don't really want to be.  I was hoping by now to be working between 10 and 20 hours a week and instead I'm doing approximately 60 hours a week.  As an added benefit, I can't really concentrate well on my work so I'm only billing about half of the time I'm putting in ... that makes this long hours seem really worth it!  During the course of my mother-in-laws heart-attack and then losing a loved one, we dumped about half a years worth of savings and now we're trying to build the capital back up so we can travel more in the future so I guess putting in the long hours is what I should be doing.  Also, the project that my boss has me working on is such an interesting project that I'd like to see through to the end, I think I'm in it for the long haul.

Not much else to write.  Sorry it's been so long since the last post ... I've been ... let's say ... busy.

How I hate da mainland!

"People are much easier to take when you don't speak their language. Otherwise when you're shopping you think ... damn these people are idiots!" - DaLeiLei, April 8, 2009

So today was the day I realised my culture shock. I hate white Americans ... at least on the mainland. And yes, I am indeed, a white American. Luckily, with a good tan I can pass for all sorts of other things so no one really knows what I am. I blend!

After spending the last 6 months in Asia and then on Maui, I didn't realize it, but I wasn't ready to go back "into the fray."

I spent the day in Marin, CA running errands and trying to do a little shopping. During the course of the day, I was: snubbed, shoved, sneered at, ignored, condescended to, argued with, cut-off, complained to, cringed from and avoided. This all happened in Marin, in the little areas that pride themselves on being all hippie-dippy ... well let me tell you folks ... free-love is dead. Unless you look like a wealthy marin-ite, these people have no love to give. Since I wasn't driving my Acura and wearing $500 yoga leotards, I wasn't part of the club.

Asia was so polite, even if they thought you looked like a goof or an under-dressed person, they would allow you to save face by being polite and trying your best to be a person that could be accepted into polite company.

Maui was so "island" that no one cares what your look like or do, as long as you aren't infringing on their ability to enjoy the cool breezes.

I can tell right now, I'm going to be island bound in a short amount of time. If not Hawaii, maybe somewhere in the Caribbean. Anyone know of a sail boat that needs a sitter?

What a long strange trip it's been ...

Sorry that I haven't posted more in the last while.

DaLeiLei and I returned from our travels in Asia and were in our California home for 3 days before we got a call from her father. It seemed her mother had suffered a heart attack while they were staying in their flat on Maui. We caught the next plane from Sacramento and headed over as quick as we could. Before I go any further, let me say that her mother is doing very well now and has a shiny new defibrillator that is ready to bring her back if any more of this tachycardia decides to rear it's ugly head again.

We spent the last month with D's parents and younger sister and her husband, doing what we could to make the situation easier. During the course of the visit, it became apparent that D's father wasn't feeling up to snuff either and so after he was examined by their doctor in Hawaii, we were informed that he has been diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia. It was a horrible shock and we all reeled a bit when we first found out. He is now at Stanford Medical Center and is starting treatment immediately. I hope you'll all join me in positive-thinking / praying for him and we'll hopefully report back soon that the family is in good health and our travels are underway again!

Peace to you all and fair winds in your sails!
KStJ

It's Fun To Stay at the Y.M.C.A...

That's right everybody...with arm motions this time...It's Fun To Stay at the Y.M.C.A....

Well it is....if the one in question is The Salisbury YMCA in Kowloon! It is a beautiful hotel right on the harbor across from Hong Kong. Next door is The Peninsula and the Sheraton at triple and double the price we paid. I think we did just fine. It is actually a nice hotel, only 2 stars but clean and the harbor view makes up for no bellhop or room service. The picture above is the view from our room during the evening light show.
Kim and I were lucky enough to arrive on Valentines Day (our anniversary too) and even though the desk said the dining room was fully booked we stopped by and they had a table for us. The Valentines buffet dinner was delightful . Between the view and the fact that they took anyone who wanted to go, up on the roof to watch the nightly award winning harbor light show, we had a lovely evening. The light show is made up of lot of buildings on both sides of the harbor displaying colorful lights on their sides and lasers and white lights from their rooftops. The whole thing is set to music so you can tune your radio to a certain band and it is choreographed to match. We really lucked out that night as they don't take people up to the roof every night(although it was a nice roof garden) to watch and it had to be the best view anywhere to watch the show. We could see the massed crowds down on the harbor walk from up there and were grateful for the elbow room and vantage we had.

Although we both ended up working quite a bit from Hong Kong...me on the phone to shrimp customers and Kim putting out programming fires for his boss, we still managed to see some of the sights in the 5 days we had.

I think the best way I can describe Hong Kong is that it is like San Francisco TIMES TEN and Chinatown TIMES A THOUSAND!! The similarities are many with the foggy weather, cable cars, bridges, ferries, hills, harbor, shopping, crowds and great food!
We did a couple of the city-hikes around town, went up to "The Peak" on the funicular cable car tram thing, rode the Star Ferry across the harbor and took buses and the subway all over. We had High Tea at both the Conrad hotel (fabulous buffet tea) and at The Peninsula. Enjoyed dim sum and some of the best noodle dishes ever. I am afraid that even having spent a great deal of time in SF and Chinatown, Hong Kong's lowliest dim sum kicks butt over anything in SF.

And yes we did try foot massages there and although good (how can you not say that with someone rubbing your feet after a long day of walking/sightseeing?) they were not of the caliber to be found in Thailand.

Here are some pics of us hamming it up with the statue of Bruce Lee and the star for Jackie Chan on the Harbor Hollywood walk.


It feels weird to be heading home with everyone talking about all the snow on the ground. I am sure my thin blood is not going to like it. However, we already have plans for the next leg of our grand adventure and it is only 5 weeks away so I should be able to handle the cold for that long.

More details on that soon...

Did I forget to mention the Tigers?

Well perhaps that is because I was too chicken to go in the cage with them at the Tiger Kingdom. Naww, just felt able to enjoy them from the other side of the fence is all. Besides I wasn't sure if they'd sense I'm a dog person and treat me accordingly. Sorry no pics.. I can't find any from that part of the day..my guess is I erased the chip prematurely.
On the day we went out to the Queen's gardens and temple one of our stops was at the Tiger Kingdom. If you ever make it over here to Thailand, every TukTuk driver, tour operator and taxi will be only too happy to tell you all about the Tiger Kingdom and take you there. Regardless as to if you just went there the day before AND are wearing a big Tiger Kingdom shirt to prove it! (as tested by our friend Mike) They can be rather persistent at times.
We spent Chinese New Year down in Chiang Mai's Chinatown. I didn't manage to get a good shot of the dragon-dancing but I did get a goofy shot of Kim, Alan and Marijke among the festivities.

In the last few weeks I have been working out, eating well and taking care of myself a bit. I've had my teeth cleaned (oh Mary how Kim and I missed your gentle touch!); Acupuncture (missing you too Linnie!); and had an appointment with a Podologist to work on my overwalked toes and feet.

Alan has taken on the task of teaching us Snooker....a far cry from the social pool I learned to play growing up. I am certain he is quite tired of hearing me say "You're kidding? Hit that one? It's acres and acres away!" The table feels twice the length of a normal pool table and there are twice the balls to hit, in a particular order of course. There are also young girls in skimpy hot pink outfits there to serve you drinks, keep score and hand you the bridge when you need it...all as part of your table rent.
Alan's girlfriend Marijke and I have gone out girly-shopping together and I managed to find a couple of new bras...slightly strange shaped cups but at least they had ones that fit me, a rarity here in Asia. We also hit the lovely jewelry shops along the Thapae Road and discovered we are a terrible influence on each other. Seven pairs of earrings and two rings later I had spent all the cash I had on me and half of what she had on her, lucky for me she'd spent the other half. We agreed those 3 shops are now off limits for the rest of this trip!



At the Wararot Market:
Yes that is a pork waffle right between the Strawberry and Chocolate....and we are talking salty pink hot dog type pork too!

So should I have bought the hat?















We met our alter egos from Seattle the other day. Richard and Stacy were enjoying Thailand as a rest spot to get ready to head off to India, Egypt and Turkey. We had two lovely breakfasts with them at our favorite, "The Blue Diamond". By the end of the second breakfast, where we again had to leave to make room for the lunch crowd arriving, we realized it was a bit spooky how parallel our lives were with these new friends. As Stacy put it "You said that and the hairs on my arms stood up!" To name a few coincidences, she can't eat bell peppers like myself and she also was so preoccupied with visa's for other countries along their journey that they did the same thing as we had. They had overlooked Thailand's visa rules until they were over the limit just as we had done.
They have started a blog called www.lyonsontheloose.com and their motto is "Live Like You're Leavin'"!
Not a far cry from our www.willworkforairlinemiles.com and "Live each day as though it might be your last!"

Meeting Friends Along The Way!

Just met a great couple in the streets of Chiang Mai.

Richard and Stacey from Seattle were looking into the window of the U.N. Irish Pub when we had just walked out having scored a few shortbread cookies and a piece of Apple & Ginger cake that was delicious. They were looking in the window longingly and we offered them a piece and the four of us joked about the odd tastes of home that are special treats along the way in foreign places.

We talked for a while and it turns out they are doing a very similar trip right now.

They have been traveling all through asia for the past four months and are heading on to India and Egypt and are really going to see the world until May.

It was really awesome to meet-up with some people sharing the same experiences as we are and hopefully we'll see them over the next day or so in Chiang Mai before they head out!

Peace.

Blue Diamond: The Breakfast Club

So I mentioned them in another post, but if you're looking for really good food here in Chiang Mai, go to "Blue Diamond: The Breakfast Club" and have a meal or three! "Ni" and her family / staff run a beautiful, organic, vegetarian restaurant (although you can get egg and even meat on request). The garden outside is gorgeous with a koi pond and fountain and there is no smoking in the restaurant so it is really a pleasant experience.

The clientele is almost all farang and the food is a bit higher priced than many small Thai restaurants. IMHO it is well worth it!

Today for breakfast, we started our day there. We each had a large bowl of fruit, yogurt and muesli and split an order of cinnamon toast. We ended up there tonight for dinner and had a fantastic meal as well. We had the "spicy avocado salad" that was delicious and filled with freshly roasted peanuts, among other tasty food sensations. We each ordered a curry, D ordered the red curry with vegetables over rice noodles and I had panag curry with veg and tofu and a bit of pineapple over brown rice. It was outstanding!

The service, food and atmosphere is so great at Blue Diamond, in Chiang Mai, Thailand that I can't recommend it enough!

Magic Bus

Khao Takiap in Hua Hin, Thailand / photo by "UKDevon" - some rights reserved

Every day I get in the queue
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
To get on the bus that takes me to you
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
I'm so nervous, I just sit and smile
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
Your house is only another mile
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
Thank you, driver, for getting me here
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
-- Magic Bus, The Who

Okay ... so when I told a friend that I'd be taking a bus for 12 hours to get to Hua Hin for a long weekend he said, "Better you than me!" Right then it hit me ... "Oh crap, I signed-up to sit on a bus for 12 hours to drive half the length of Thailand ... and after two days ... I'd be doing it all over again!"

It's not like it's expensive to travel in Thailand right now. A plane ticket from Chiang Mai to Bangkok is about $50 USD per person. A train ticket from Chiang Mai to Hua Hin wouldn't have been much more ... but we decided to take the bus as a new experience.

We arrived at the bus station at about 7:30 AM. It was pretty quiet at the station and soon after we arrived the bus pulled in to the terminal. These are pretty big and comfortable buses.

photo by "madaboutasia" - some rights reserved

A lot of the buses are Mercedes engines with (I believe) a Scandinavian body placed on the chassis. There's leg room for Thai people (read very little for "farang" like me) and the seats recline almost to horizontal ... or course this would indeed squash the person behind you like a bug, but you can recline quite well without affecting the person behind you too much. (NOTE: If you are getting ready to take this trip, I highly recommend seats 1C and 1D, as they are above the driver and there is a "luggage platform" in front of the seats that doubles as leg room for those of us with long legs!)

We sat down and got ready for the bus trip, wrapped the blanket they supplied around our legs and started watching the movies / music videos that played during the course of each journey. We watched a plethora of movies ... some interesting ... some unintelligible ... some weird ... and then there was the karaoke.

They didn't just display music videos on the bus, they played karaoke videos. I came to realize many things about Thais and their ideas of the world by watching these videos. First of all, according to the videos, every person in Thailand is a victim and will be moved to tears during the course of the next 10 minutes. I've never seen so many people blubbering ... it's incredible. Also, they all seemed to bring on themselves. "I know he's cheating on me ... but if I smile sweetly he'll forget all about her ... wait ... no ... he's sleeping with her again ... boo hoo hoo hoo." Or, "I'm just a lowly mechanic who works on her father's tractor but I've loved her since we were 4 years old and she doesn't even know I exist ... maybe if I stand peeking at her from behind the tree she'll understand my devotion and not think of me as a stalker ... wait ... is that her boyfriend coming my way? ... maybe he wants to offer me my true love since he knows my heart is pure ... wait ... is he punching me in the stomach ... boo hoo hoo hoo."

This my friends is a Thai karaoke video disc in its entirety!

Now ... another thing about the bus ... my god do they feed you ... I'll try and remember what they fed us each way on this trip and it goes a little something, ah-like this:

• Odd morning pizza pastry thingy, bag of cookies, sweetie cake with some kind of faux chocolate inside.
• Drinkable Yogurt
• Bottled Water
• Pound cake
• Genmai flavoured green tea
• White bread sandwiches with segments of hot dogs and lots-o-mayo
• Stop for lunch (included in the bus ticket price)
• Glass of green apple juice
• Glass of Pepsi
• Glass of caffee yen (Thai iced coffee)
• Orange (that seemed to be purchased by bus stewardess and given to the "farangs" in the front row)
• ... and I'm pretty sure I'm missing a few other items that were distributed amongst the crowds

As far as the movies go ... we watched: Get Smart, Death Race, Wanted, Battle Royal II (totally bizarre and completely, horrifically, bad), Some German film (looked to be made for TV) with a cop and dog and some zany antics, Twilight (the pirated copy was sooooo bad that we couldn't watch it, the English subtitles were written by a penguin that had been smoking crack all night ... okay ... at least by a non-native English speaker), Some monk and hippie drive across Thailand movie ... couldn't really follow that one ... but it did have themes similar to those in the music videos, a variety television program that had been recorded to VCD, and I'm sure I've forgotten a few other items.

So ... my review of the bus ... WILD!!! It's kinda worth doing once! Remember these tips:

• Wear long pants and a jacket ... Air-con can be cold.
• Wear ear plugs or headphones ... but realize the music / movies will probably be loud enough to override these.
• Don't watch the road ... Thais drive fine as long as you don't project any "rules of the road" upon them.
• Hang on tight and enjoy the ride!

Peace

Highlights/Updates from Thailand

Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything. Kim and I are doing very well here still. We are really enjoying ourselves and the weather has even warmed up some more . It was a teeny bit cool for a while there. Not enough to complain about, but enough to debate buying a blanket for sleeping. We settled for sleeping with the window closed on the chilly nights.

Let's see what have we been up to lately?

New Years Eve 2009 on the river in Chiang Mai
To celebrate the New Year in style we got dressed up and went to one of the finest buffets I have ever eaten at. It was at the Holiday Inn in Chiang Mai and in my opinion rivaled the Sheraton Palace Sunday Brunch for most amazing food and selection. I am certain that I ate enough at the cheese buffet to cover my entry ticket. It had been a while since I'd had any kind of cheese as there is not a lot of dairy in the Thai diet.

After the meal there were floating/flaming lanterns to set aloft out by the riverside as well as awful dancing in the bar before and after the countdown. The fireworks over the river were delightful, although the display in Bangkok back at the Loy Krathong festival was over the top by comparison.
Altogether a lovely and decadent evening.

On the 9th of January Kim and I, along with Linda and Mike hired a car to take us on an excursion out of town. First we went to the Queen Sirikit's Botanical Garden. This place covers an entire mountain. There are huge greenhouses of orchids, begonia's, cacti, rain-forest displays, lily's etc. etc. When we'd had enough of those we had a picnic lunch and then walked the rock garden, enjoying the lovely flowers and waterfalls there.
Check it out online at http://www.qsbg.org/index_E.asp

We have a slew of other photos of our adventures if you click on the link of the homepage or here:
http://willworkforairlinemiles.com/photos/

From there our driver took us to a large temple complex which was part old and part new. It housed a tremendous collection of artifacts and statues . I believe they were building new Wat's just to house all those extra items as it almost looked like a storeroom there were so many.

After the requisite stop at a fancy and expensive store very reminiscent of India, (no we didn't want to buy anything-it was just so the driver could get his free bottle of hooch for bringing us) we went to this gorgeous restaurant on the outskirts of town. No one was really hungry for dinner yet so we all had dessert and I had a coconut milk slushee! The whole place is designed to look like it is built into and out of trees (not wood but trees) and I was enthralled with the "waterfall" sinks in the Ladies' bathroom. We had done so much walking that Kim and I had the driver let us off at our end of town so we could get a foot massage before rejoining Linda and Mike for dinner that evening in the Night Bazaar area.

I did a massage trade with Tameer, friend of Noriko's. She does Cranio-Sacral and energy work which was lovely and I did some Neuro-Kinetic Restructuring on her shoulders in exchange. We are talking of getting together at least once more before I leave and she wants to try a Lymphatic session this time.
One of the nice things about our trade is that she lives a ways out. The second time I went to her house I rented a bike for the day and rode out there. The distances between things here are so small that I unknowingly crossed over the superhighway (just looked like every other intersection) and kept on riding. By the time it occurred to me to stop and call I was practically in the next town! I couldn't help but laugh when she said "Oh NO you have gone way too far! Are you going to be ok?" I told her I'd ride back to superhighway now that I knew where I was going from there and call here back in 10 minutes. With the overshot I got a lovely ride past the golf course and the sports complex and all in all I was actually only 10 minutes late to her house. I do have to say without my own "easy seat" saddle, after the hour and a half getting there and then the perhaps 40 minutes to get back afterwards my butt was sore for a day or so. But it felt good to ride after being off a bike for so long. Ever since riding the ALC, getting on a bike and only riding for 15-30 minutes doesn't feel like riding at all and people who haven't done that kind of long distance think you are crazy to go so far.

This last Friday the 16th we all went to the Alliance Francaise and saw a hilarious film called "Les Vacances de Mr. Hulot". This is a fabulous black and white..mostly dialog free from 1953 and I would recommend it to anyone who likes Charlie Chaplin or Mr. Bean. We are thinking of going again this Friday for "Trafic" as it is the continuing adventures of Mr. Hulot taking a motor caravan to Amsterdam.

On Saturday the 17th we all took a bus down to Hua Hin on the coast, south of Bangkok. The bus took all day 8am-8pm and for the full bizzaro details read Kim's blog as he chronicles the whole strange sugary experience.
The beach was delightful, however the water was too cold for us to want to swim. There was a lovely ocean breeze and we did spend some time in the pool as it was warmer down there as well. This was a nice seaside resort town and Kim and I imagined it was what Miami beach or Cancun had looked like decades and decades ago -with an Asian flair of course.
We had a look at Khao Takip "chopsticks mountain" and the giant standing Buddha there with the view down the beach to town.
Because Monday night was Linda and Mike's last night in Thailand, we went all out and had a seafood extravaganza at a beach-side restaurant. We had crab and prawns and Tom Ka Soup and topped the meal off with mango-sticky-rice and ice-cream. As decadent as it was the whole thing was just over $50!

After another long bus ride yesterday, we are now back in Chiang Mai at the Khumsiphia Grand Hotel and Residence. We paid for last month and are now onto our second one here. It is starting to feel very familiar.

Chinese New Year is this coming Monday so my work with shrimp sales will probably be pretty light to nonexistent for a while. I may take the time to take the courses that I haven't gotten to yet.

Overall I have to say, I am not missing the cold back home and I'm still having a great time. However, I am missing all of you and the swing dancing, so I am looking forward to February as well.

Shave and a Haircut

So I went to a barber day before yesterday and got a shave and a haircut. The haircut was unintentional. I thought I'd explained that I didn't want the haircut, just a shampoo and a shave ... I guess my Thai still stinks!

Anyhow ... I've never had anyone shave me before, much less with a straight razor. It was interesting ... and frankly a bit nerve racking. The guy even shaved my ears ... now I'll admit they get a bit fuzzy ... but shaving my ears ... wow.

So ... now I feel all primped and ready for the prom ... and it cost about $5 for the whole thing. My only complaint ... I need a shave again already ... I thought when someone scraped that much whisker off me it would scare them into staying away for quite a while.