I'm on vacation ...

Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Local Time: Thursday, Feburary 23, 2006 - 12:07pm

I'm back in Thailand. I secured a visa, bought a ticket and flew out. I got here about an hour ago. Much cooler here than Malaysia. Not much English. Signs are all in Thai script.

I'm going on vacation for a few weeks. I'll be away from the computer for that time. Everyone take care. I'll spam when I'm back.

To The Park

Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Local Time: Sunday, Feb 26, 2006

Well, I went back for another Thai massage. A full 2 hours this time. Seems alright, still not all that painful really. Someday I'd like to find a place where they stand on your back.

After my massage, I walked around looking for the park. Well, actually, first I went to the bookstore and got the 3rd Robert Jordan book from the Wheel of Time series.

About 10 years ago Heintje told me not to start that series until it was complete. It drags on and on and on, and is still not complete.

However, now that I've started the series, I think I shouldn't have. It really isn't worth the time. There is almost a story in the books, but not quite. Events and the world almost seem logical and fit together, but not quite. The characters are almost interesting, but not really.

I read the Sword of Shanara by Terry Brooks for the first time a couple weeks ago, and I was very strongly struck by something Scott Wilson told me a few years ago. He said he doesn't read fanatasy because it is all Tolkin's work, re-worded by each author. It was never so obvious to me as in the Sword of Shanara, but Jordan's work seems also shows amazing similarities.

Terry Goodkind, however, has characters which seem like people, have depth, conversations and change over the course of the books.

Anyway, I digress.

I found the park in the afternoon. I watched some guys kick a ball around for a while. Pretty amazing stuff. They hang a net up in the air about 7-10m off the ground. Then, they all stand in a circle around the net and they kick the ball up in the air, trying to get it into the net. If they get the ball into the net, there is a cheer and someone lets the net down so they can take the ball out and start again. If they miss, a guy on the other side of the circle kicks the ball. The game goes on without stopping, no one catches the ball to kick and try again. It is like a game of hackysack.

There was a band playing on the bandstand, drums, guitars and singers, extolling the virtues of Jesus.

As I made my way back to the hotel, I passed through the Sunday market, which is only there on Sunday I believe. I bought a container of noodles for 10 THB (~$0.35 CND).

All manner of cloths and artwork were available for sale, the oders of food assaulted me from all sides. Tasty smells. People everywhere naturally. There were people with musical instruments playing, with widely differing levels of skill.

Around Chiang Mai

Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Local Time: Feb 25, 2006

Well, today was my first real chance to wander around Chiang Mai. I walked through the streets most of the day, locating the bookstore (always important), the Night Market, the icecream parlor and a Thai massage place.

Yes, I finally went for one of the legendary Thai massages. Sometimes described as brutally pleasant. A woman I met in Malaysia told me I have to go, she always goes when she visits Thailand.

Not sure if I could stand the pain, I went for only an hour. It wasn't painful actually. Maybe I got it easy because I'm a foreigner (farang), I don't know. In any case, it was kind of nice.

Thai Cooking

Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Local Time: Friday, Feb 24, 2006

I went cooking today. Thai food is very tasty, and not hard to prepare. Some of the dishes were cooked in as little as 10 minutes. However, the class was extemely well prepared and organized, so I think cooking and preparing everything myself would have actually taken longer.

I skipped breakfast, expecting to eat lots during the day. I was not wrong.

In the morning there was a trip to the marked to see the different kinds of fruits that are available, how to tell if they are fresh. A lecture on eggs, fiber content of pineapples and an introduction to dragon fruit and rose apples.

Next at the kitchen we cooked and ate tom yum, green curry, penang curry, phad thai. Then, stuffed to the top, we watched a demonstration on how to prepare sweet rice with mango and were presented with our complementary cook books before we were whisked back to our hotels.

Arrival: Chiang Mai

Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Local Time: Thursday, Feb 23, 2006

Well, I spent the day walking around Chiang Mai. My plane arrived here at 10:30 local time. I worked my way through customs, posed for the webcam shot they take of everyone coming into the country, had my visa stamped, checked it to make sure they stamped it for a full two months. Seth had a visa but when he entered the country they only stamped it for a month, instead of two months like he is suppose to get for a visa. He almost owed a big fine when he tried to leave the country.

I grabbed a metered taxi to Suthep Road to try and find some internet cafe. Then I spent the day walking up and down Suthep Road trying to find a Buddhist temple of particular interest to me. Asking directions only got me more lost as people pointed the wrong way for specific landmarks. Eventually a kind gentleman on a motorcycle gave me a ride to the temple doors.

Back in town, I grabbed a hotel. Only 300 THB (~$10 CND) for a room with 4 walls that go all the way to the roof and an attached bathroom. God, the luxury. I'm sure I could get something for half price or less, but I'm going to indulge myself for a few days.

It is pretty warm here in Chiang Mai, but it seems cool compared to Malaysia. Very dry as well. KL was so humid you were sticky just sitting around.

Still Here

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Local Time: Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006 - 4:32pm

Well, I'm still here, but I'm on my way out. I pick up my passport from the Thai Embassy tomorrow, hopefully with a 3 month visa in it. If not, maybe I'll go to China sooner than expected.

Got my bank card back. An ATM machine took it a couple weeks ago, and between public holidays, a few days in Sarawak and my own laziness, I didn't get it back until today. Seems my name has worn off the strip on the back, so they couldn't even figure out it was mine. I recited the number off the front from memory and they gave it back to me.

So, let that be a lesson. It pays to memorize your bank card number.

Food ...

Location: Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
Local Time: Thursday, Feburary 16, 2006 - 10:45am

David Eddings once wrote of a group of people that they "try to set fires in each other's stomachs." I think that is what they do here in Malaysia and in Thailand. They are very tricky about it too, because you cautiously take a bite and the flavor is so amazing you dive right in, not really aware at first of the burning pain in your lips and on your tongue.

Then, as your eyes are watering and you've drained all the liquid from your glass, even though you know that is only temporary respite, and you are sucking in mouthfuls of air in a vain attempt to relieve the overwhelming pain, you eat more.

Yes, that's right, you eat more, because it tastes so darn good.

Batu Niah (Niah Caves)

Location: Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
Local Time: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 5:08pm

I caught the bus this morning out to a national park about 2 hours away from Miri. A 3.5km hike through the jungle to the caves.

Big, dark, hot, full of bats.

And birds. Apparently there is quite a business climbing up bamboo poles to harvest the nests of the birds off the cave walls. The nests are then sold, to make soup.

On the Island

Location: Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
Local Time: Tuesday, Feburary 14, 2006 - 10:15am

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Well, I didn't have much to say for the last few days in KL. I was just hanging around, reading and relaxing. The ice cream parlors are quite good.

Yesterday I caught the plane from KL International Airport to Miri, one of the cities on the island part of Malaysia. The plane was late, then I waited an hour for a bus that didn't come before buying a ticket for a taxi into town. About a 10 minute taxi ride for 17RM ($6 CND). I got a room at a hostel in the Chinatown area. Larger than my room in KL, much better bed (the bed springs aren't sticking me every time I move), I even have a sink in my room. Pretty premium.

However, the girls hanging around on the street after dark are unexpectedly friendly.

Skybridge

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Local Time: Tuesday, Feburary 7, 2006 - 2:58pm

Well, I made it to the Skybridge that links the Petronas Towers. 170m above street level, it isn't even half way up the towers, which are well over 400m tall.

Nice view.

I tried to get tickets to the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, but they have a dress code. I was so sure I packed my suit and dress shoes, as well as an extra dress shirt (just in case you know), but I seem to have misplaced them somewhere in the last few months.

Oh, well.

I also passed through the Craft Complex here in KL for a display of songket which is a finely woven cloth which is decorated using supplemental weft weaving (I read the displays) of threads made out of gold or silver. The end product is pretty amazing.

Around KL

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Local Time: Friday, Feb 3, 2006 - 3:55pm

Not much to report. I've been hanging around the beautiful city of Kuala Lumpur, admiring the parks and lovely people, dodging the random rain storms and catching up on my reading.

I went to a second hand bookstore in Pasar Seni and it seemed really expensive. The books were very close to the price of a new book. None the less, I found the 3rd book in Stephen King's Gunslinger series for cheap and grabbed that. When I went back the next day to sell it, he only took 2 RM ($0.66CND) off the price I paid for it. That's a pretty good deal. I usually only get 50% for books I'm selling.

Malaysian food is really good, and the people here are very friendly. The only tout I've encountered so far was from India, here on vacation. He was in university in Southern India for computers and somehow felt that I would help him get a job in Canada.

Rain in KL

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Local Time: Wednesday, Feb 1 2006 - 8:44pm

The theatres open before noon here. Amazing. The lineups are equalling mindblowing. Malaysians really seem to love movies. Tickets are 11RM (~ $4 CND). I went to see My Kungfu Sweetheart today. I should have known better, I really, really should have known better.

I have never yet walked out of a movie in my life, but this is the second time I actually considered it. (The first time was Legends of the Fall. I was in university at the time, and didn't want to waste the $2 it cost to get it or I would have walked out.)

After that, I relaxed in the park and read a book for hours. The reading was periodically interrupted by random rainfall, during which I stood under the trees and read my book.