English

So far we’ve been lucky with English being spoken and written everywhere we’ve needed it. Every airline announcement and all signs at every airport have been in English and/or another language. In Japan, even on the train and at the train station, English is spoken and written. Whew! Don’t know how people speaking any other language manage to get around.

Amagasaki 2 (for Mar. 18)

We awoke briefly while Carla and Tyler were getting ready for work, but conked out again until 10:30. We spent the rest of the day until Tyler got home unwinding, blogging, reading, emailing, and doing other computer stuff. Tyler got home mid afternoon and we headed out at 3:30 to meet Carla by the Kitanozaurus statue. From there we went out to eat, and then tour downtown Osaka.





We ate on the 29th floor of some building that had a view of a building where Carla works a couple of times a month (with OS on it) and the hotel that they stayed in for 2 weeks when they first came here (under the Coke sign).









If Celeste wanted to see busy Japanese street scenes, we came to the right place. The underground catacombs of corridors and shops are filled with throngs of people. Above ground, it was much the same, except that it was cold and drizzling. While the underground corridors are quite wide, the above ground streets (at least those intended for walking and shopping) are quite narrow and covered to keep out the rain.


We also toured a multi (about 8) storey department store that had almost as many employees as customers, something like the Bay, but way, way more. There were store employees standing around everywhere, seemingly doing nothing. There was a uniformed girl at the bottom of the escalator greeting everyone who got on and another girl running the elevator and announcing each floor. We picked up some yummy pastries, but it is impolite here to eat while walking and there are no places to sit down, so we took them home and made an early night of it.

Amagasaki (for Mar. 17)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. It is a cool, windy, and cloudy day in Japan. Quite a change from what we are used to! We saw a forecast for today predicting a high of 15. Amagasaki is the suburb of Osaska where Carla and Tyler live.

An hour after takeoff from Singapore they fed us another snack. We both watched a movie, and then I napped for a couple of hours. Celeste watched another movie and hardly napped at all especially with the guy next to her asleep and infringing on her space. They fed us breakfast at 5:30 Japan time – another one hour change. By the time they cleaned up, we were ready to land (at 7). After clearing health inspection, immigration, and customs, we headed for Japan Rail and were just in time to catch the 8 AM train to Tokyo (1.5 hour trip) for the 10 AM connection to Osaka.

The plan was to call Carla to confirm our arrival, but everything was moving so fast, we never got an opportunity. I thought we would have time in Tokyo, but by the time we made our way through the maze to our train, we were again tight on time. I found a payphone, but it only took phone cards, which we hadn’t yet purchased, and would not accept a credit card. We tried a phone on the train, but it was the same story. I am pretty sure that Carla will go with the original plan without confirmation and meet us at the station. If not, we will have to give her a call from there.

The ride from Narita to Tokyo was on a conventional train beginning in a rural area that became more densely populated as we progressed. The plots of land are very small, maybe the size of a city lot at home. Many of them appear to be growing rice. I hope one farmer owns more than one plot or it would be hard to feed a family. Celeste managed about a half hour nap on this section but the thought of missing our connection in Tokyo was enough to keep me awake despite eyelids as heavy as lead.

The city was much like any other big city, except there was more of it and the architecture was sometimes different. Actually, the many high rise apartments were quite plain and ordinary. We didn’t notice a downtown core cluster because we were in a tunnel for much of the last part of the ride, but it was sure bustling when we got off to transfer. We navigated the maze and found the high speed train for the next leg. I am not sure how fast it goes, but it seems quite a bit faster than a car at highway speed – maybe 150 kmph. We had to sit in a smoking car to get two seats together. What a treat! The smoke wasn’t too bad, but I found it quite warm and stuffy. I don’t know how all those businessmen in suits tolerated it. We had some great views of Mt. Fuji, but we were on the wrong side of the train. I tried to get a picture from the doorway, but Fuji disappeared behind some nearby hills and there is always some other obstruction popping up. I guess we will have to try on the way back. It is quite impressive, dominating the landscape with its white cloak. Although much of the rest of the ride was through almost continuous city hugging the level land near the coast, there was a surprising amount of agricultural land and heavily wooded hills and small mountains.

One interesting observation is that they have many huge mesh tents as big as a large multi-story building. These are baseball parks and multi-level driving ranges squeezed into areas that otherwise could not accommodate them.

We arrived in Osaka right on time at 1 and made our way to the exit, but no Carla. With the help of the guy at the information kiosk, I found an ATM while Celeste stood guard over our bags, then purchased a phone card. I got a hold of Carla only to learn she was inside the station because she had ridden there on the train herself. We made our way to an entrance and there she was. After a round of hugs, we hopped the train back to her place – about 15 minutes. We dropped off our bags and got a tour of the apartment, then headed out for a short neighbourhood tour, picking up a few groceries and treats along the way.

Carla and Tyler have a very nice place. It is not as spacious as our houses at home, but it is far from cramped and quite comparable to apartments at home.

Carla had to leave for work after 4:30. While she was getting ready, Celeste fell asleep and I lapsed in and out of consciousness. Once she left, I was out. Tyler was supposed to be home sometime after 7, but we woke up at 8:30 and there was no sign of him. A few minutes later, the two of them walked in. We learned that Tyler had been home, but we were passed out and he didn’t want to disturb us so he went out again. Poor guy! His company kicks him out of his place before he even gets to say hello! We all headed out to a restaurant just around the corner and had a very nice dinner with a couple of drinks. We returned at 11:30 and were in bed by 12.

Singapore Airlines (for Mar. 16)

This night was spent on the plane, like the one coming out of Darwin.

Celeste fell asleep with the TV on last night. When I went to bed a show about a British tourist who disappeared on Fraser Island was just starting. I figured I would watch a few minutes. Of course, they took an hour to tell a 10 minute story. This guy had disappeared in 2001 and his bones were found 2 years later with teeth marks on them. The show concluded on flimsy evidence that, in a weakened state after becoming lost, he had been attacked by a pack of dingoes, discounting the possibility that he had died of other causes, including snake or spider bites, and been scavenged by dingoes or other smaller predators later.

We were up at 8 and almost everything was dry. Celeste finished off a couple of things with the hair dryer. We spent the morning getting ready to travel, having another great breakfast, and finishing up some computer stuff. We checked out at noon and spent the rest of the day chilling in the heat on the main street along the beach. We walked along the street to the end of the beach area just observing what was going on. A couple of times we stopped and watched the world go by. It was a fairly cloudy day with a nice breeze, so the heat was pretty tolerable. At 3 we went back to the hotel for happy hour again, and then waited for our pick up at 5.


In the pool area they have trees covered in white flowers that continually fall, like leaves in our autumn. They have someone sweeping the m up and scooping them out of the pool practically full time.
















There are dozens of cabs and buses running up and down the main beach road. Some of the cabs are mini vans like at home with 7 or 8 seats, but most of them are these little trucks with a passenger varying box on the back. Except for the tourist tour buses, the buses are larger trucks outfitted like these small ones. On the way back to the airport it dawned on me that we probably could have hired a cab for the day for less than $20 and made our own tour. Lesson learned – again. Same lesson as Bali.

The ride back to the airport was more interesting than the one in because we could see things in the daylight. With only a couple of exceptions for tree plantations, pretty much the whole road for an hour’s drive was lined with small and large businesses of every description.

Our flight wasn’t until 8, but, by the time we went through security to enter the terminal, checked in through a huge lineup, went through security again, and grabbed a bite to eat, we didn’t have a lot of time to kill. They fed us a full meal on the airplane at 9. We landed in Singapore at 11 (we lost 1 hour in the time change from Phuket), and had to walk the length of the huge terminal to catch our connecting flight boarding at 11:30. We got away before 12.

Karon Beach, Thailand (for Mar. 14)

We were up fairly early. Celeste had not had a good night, but felt much better after breakfast. Then we returned to our room to pack for our 11 AM pickup. Celeste had an air conditioned rest while waiting for her Advil to kick in. I went out on the balcony to blog yesterday’s story. In no time I was dripping sweat from the exertion of typing in 31 degree heat in the shade with high humidity. Talk about a whirlwind trip! But, that is more or less what I had in mind – to visit a couple of places I might otherwise never see since we were already nearby.

Our flight left at 1 and we arrived in Singapore at 3:30 for a 3 hour wait for our connecting flight. I had a window seat for this leg and the view of the harbour reminded me of the pictures you see of WWII convoys or the D-day invasion force. There must have been a hundred ships or more of all sizes. And I am not counting smaller personal or pleasure craft. I now sit in air conditioned comfort in Singapore airport as I write this. Thanks to Dale Montgomery, I am even plugged into the airport’s power. I had to use battery power in Bali as none of the adaptors he gave me fit their plugs. That is the only place so far that I have not been able to plug in. We took off at 7 and landed at 8:30 Singapore time, but we gained an hour, so it is 7:30 here. We collected our luggage, found our contact person and left the airport at 8. After a one hour drive we arrived at our hotel and were soon settled in. Celeste didn’t want to go out, so I went for an exploratory walk for about an hour. Just before the hotel we drove through a town named Kata that was just buzzing. The main street was lit like daylight and was bustling with tourists. Our resort is just off this street between Kata and another town only a couple of hundred metres away called Karon and directly across from the beach. I walked toward Karon and found that it is almost as lively as Kata. Stall after stall after stall of about 10 feet by 10 feet selling every type of tourist or everyday item you could imagine. Many of them are also bars – 6 to 10 tiny little bars all in a row. Talk about competition.

I was pretty glad to see my suitcase come down the luggage carousel. Another few days and my t-shirt might have begun to get a little high.

For the first half hour on the road toward Phuket it was quite new and modern. Lind of like Lewvan Drive or Sask. Drive south of Victoria. Some parts of 60 kmph through populated areas and some parts of 90-100 kmph in more open areas. Then we turned off toward our stop and the road became a little more primitive - more like Bali.

Karon Beach, Thailand (for Mar.15)

We had a great buffet breakfast before meeting our tour representative at 10:30. Our itinerary said we had a tour today, but it didn’t occur to me until late last night that this meeting likely wasn’t it. Sure enough, there had been some confusion and we were not placed on the tour. We will have to sort it out when we get back. In a way I am sorry to have missed out seeing some of the sites, but in another way, I am glad to have the day off to chill. Well, maybe chill isn’t the right word in this weather.



Our meeting was for him to set up our pick up for the airport and to try to sell us some other tours. With our limited time, there was only one that would fit and we decided to pass on it. Meeting concluded, we decided to head for the beach. We got there at noon and stayed until 3. We critiqued all the saggy old topless ladies, the misbehaving kids, the vendors on the beach, and the parasailing operation. The whole beach is lined with umbrellas and loungers that rent for $3. There was hardly a vacant one on the whole beach. The water was clear and almost bathwater warm. It was very calm, but there was a swell that wasn’t noticeable until you were in it. It was actually fairly strong drawing you in and back out with each swell, even though waves seldom broke on the beach.


We finally tired of the beach and sought a change of scenery at the hotel pool. They had a very neat little quiet, private grotto for relaxing away from all the action.












Luckily we were just in time for happy hour which ended at 4. We stayed a while longer, and then returned to our room to clean up for supper. I also had to repack my suitcase which I had emptied looking unsuccessfully for documentation of our missed tour. I finally realized that I had tossed out the tour company book when I was trying to lighten my bag out of Cairns because we were finished with them except for the Bali and Thailand stops which seemed to be so well documented in our itinerary.



We went for supper in the hotel restaurant at 6:30. Ron Sprung be warned: real Thai food is twice as spicy as at home! After supper I took Celeste on a tour of the sights I had seen last night. Then we walked to Kata, about a hundred metres from our hotel. We strolled down the main street soaking up the atmosphere and picking up a couple of souvenirs. In one place a guy had a mature and a juvenile elephant. He was charging people to buy feed from him that they then fed to the elephants. He attracted quite a crowd. Several places had live entertainment on a Wednesday night, all performing western music. One place had a Thai Elvis impersonator who had a crowd up dancing.

As we were finishing up our shopping in our last store there were a few sprinkles of rain. Celeste was feeling the heat and wanted to head back. We started back and the rain became a little heavier. I suggested we wait it out, but she insisted, with predictable results. We ended up walking back through heavy rain with rivers running in the streets and all the sheltering people pointing and laughing. We were totally drenched. I am not sure how we are going to pack these wet clothes for our departure tomorrow.

When we got back, Celeste set about wringing out and hanging up the clothes while I finished blogging. She fell asleep around 10. I called the front desk to arrange what we understood was a wireless connection. Next thing I knew there was a technician at the door to set up a modem for us. That was a bit of a surprise! I continued bloggine, emailing, etc. until 1.

There sure are a lot of Europeans here – probably more so than English speakers. It is probably closer here for them than it is for us, although they come from the other direction.

Kuta, Bali (for Mar. 13)

We slept in until 9 and then wandered down for a sumptuous buffet breakfast. We explored the resort to get our bearings. What a beautiful spot! We only visited the beach briefly because of the peddlers. I feel for then because they have to do what they have to do to make a living, but we don’t want what they are selling and they won’t give up.

After our tour, we went back to our room to cool off. First I phoned the airline about my bag, but no luck yet. I then went on the balcony and started making a list of what was in the lost bag while it was still fairly fresh in my mind and in case we needed it. Celeste decided it would be a good idea to have an inventory of her bag also, so she made one in air conditioned comfort. It is very warm and humid on the balcony. You can only catch a hint of breeze and you sweat just sitting in the shade, but I came here for heat and I’m a goin’ to soak up some heat! I kind of like it as long as I know I have an air conditioned refuge to retreat to once in a while.

Next stop was the pool. Heaven! Sitting by the poll in the shade you caught enough of a breeze that it was actually quite comfortable. Celeste had a nap and I finished the book that I started on the airplane out of Sydney.

We packed up at 2:30 and went back to our room to clean up for a 4 PM pick up by our tour guide. When he picked us up at the airport, it became clear that he was our personal guide for our stay here. We also had a driver and van. He said we had to leave the hotel by 5:30 to make it to an included cultural performance, but he suggested picking us up earlier so he could show us around. We agreed on 4 PM. At the appointed time, we were off and running. It now became apparent that this was not so much a tour as a series of visits to artisan stores where he, no doubt, received a commission on whatever we bought. He was going to take us to a woodcarving shop, a gold and silversmith shop, and a sandstone carving shop. We told him we weren’t interested in the gold and silver, but might take a look at some wood. We really don’t need any more bric a brac and getting it home unbroken is problematic. Anyway, Celeste found a small carving that wasn’t too expensive and looked like it might travel OK, so we picked it up and moved on. We stopped at the stone carving place for interest – we weren’t taking any of that home. Most were a couple of hundred pounds or more. We were more hoping to see the sights and some of the many Hindu temples we passed. In hindsight, we should have just worked out a price for him to show us what we wanted to see. Lesson learned. But remembered? Probably not.

Finally, we arrived at the cultural performance. This consisted of a short play and two unrelated performances accompanied by a group of 36 chanting, and occasionally singing men. At first, just the chanters came out and did a bit of a warm up. When it seemed like it was going on a little too long, Celeste leaned over and said, “I hope they don’t want us to buy their CD.” Very funny, but maybe you had to be there. What made it even funnier was that I had seen their CD in the shop before the show!

Anyway, when the show started, it was actually pretty good. The costuming was quite excellent. From the broken English program they gave us, it was about an evil king who kidnapped a beautiful princess who was rescued by the handsome prince with the aid of the white monkey and the monkey king. This was followed by a dance by two young girls (supposedly in a trance) who were able to coordinate their dance steps with their eyes closed. Nothing they couldn’t do at the Martin School of Dance with a little practice. Finally another guy with his eyes closed in a supposed trance kicked around some burning coconut husks. Ouch! That’s got to hurt. I didn’t get very good pictures because the stage was not brightly lit and we were not close enough for the flash to be effective despite being in the front row. And the chanting actually seemed to fit the show and blended in quite nicely.

After the performance, we asked our guide to take us someplace where we could purchase some cable ties (zip ties) for sealing our suitcases closed. I like to uses them so you can tell if anyone tampered with your bag, but it is no big loss if someone official decides to open it. I have been using them all along and brought along a supply of extras that I had been carrying in my carry on bag. However, in Darwin, there was no lineup at check in, so we were rushing through and I stuck them in my pocket. When going through security, I emptied my pockets into a tray for x-ray. The security guard said I couldn’t take them on board because I could string them into a rope-like tool that could be dangerous, so I had to forfeit them.

Anyway, our guide had never seen such a thing. He took us to a grocery store in a nearby mall, but they had never seen anything like it either. They suggested another store in another mall. I was ready to give up, but our guide insisted on taking us and said it wasn’t far. Sure enough, a few minutes later we were back in business. I gave him some samples for his own use. He was quite intrigued. I felt like an ancient trader who had just brought some new tool to a primitive world – sort of. I guess I will have to fatten his tip for the extra time, trouble, and gas.

The performance lasted from 6:30 to 7:30 and we were back at the hotel by 8:30. There was a message waiting for us to call the airline. Betting on good news, I gave them a call. They had found my bag in Sydney. After some discussion, we decided that the best course of action was to send it from there to Phuket. If it leaves Sydney on the morning flight, it should easily have time to make the connection.

Celeste was developing a headache and I was also tired, so we were in bed by 9.

Traffic here is pretty wild. Except for a couple of main streets in the city, the roads are very narrow and crowded. There are quite a few cars and vans, but most people ride motor bikes and scooters. Our guide said that, although helmets are mandatory and we observed that the majority wear them, 60-70% of deaths every year are in traffic accidents. Leaving from a traffic light is like the start of a marathon race, every body scrambling for position. Bikes and cars dart in and out of gaps in the traffic just inches for other vehicles. Lines painted on the toad are only suggestions, kind of like Regina in winter, except here they don’t have ruts to follow either.

Kuta, Bali (for Mar. 12)

They served us a lunch at 1:30 AM Darwin time (3 AM Sydney). That was unexpected! We arrived in Sydney at 6:30 AM after a flight of just over 4.5 hours. I managed to sleep about 3 hours. I am pretty pleased with that. Celeste watched the movie, so she hardly slept at all. She can’t stay awake for one at any time of the day watching TV, but on an airplane in the middle of the night she can stay awake through a movie she wasn’t even really interested in. We should try to bottle that.

Our connecting flight doesn’t leave until 12:45 PM, so we are killing time reading, doing crosswords, and blogging. I am also going to try to catch up with our MasterCard charges and match the Canadian dollar amounts with my Australian receipts – always good fun.

Well, I got all that good accounting stuff done, backed up all my text, credit card, banking, and bookkeeping files, and backed up all my Australia pictures. I have not backed up pictures since New Zealand. I just never seemed to have the time. If anything had happened to that laptop, we would have been scuppered. I feel a lot better now.

We are sitting in Changi Airport, Singapore, waiting for our next flight. We got off the ground about 1 PM Sydney time and were 7 hours en route. With the 3 hour time difference, we arrived at 5 PM local time. On one of the viewing screens they periodically showed our aircraft’s progress. We flew just south of Darwin about half way though the trip and flew right over Bali two hours out from Singapore. All pretty useless, but we had to book with one carrier and its partners to be able to check our bags all the way through and get the fare that comes with making a complete circuit. Although Qantas has a flight from Darwin to Bali (2-2.5 hours) it would have broken the continuity with the Star Alliance group. The Qantas flights were OK previously because Singapore Airlines doesn’t serve those destinations.

I was kind of looking forward to flying with Singapore Airlines anyway. They have a reputation for great service and I was interested in checking it out. I was not disappointed. They gave us a very nice lunch and another nice snack before landing. There was an overabundance of cabin attendants that were constantly circulating with complementary drinks, including liquor. And they twice brought hot wash cloths around for refreshment. Not at all like home. Despite being based in an oriental (I am not sure if that is the right description as they are actually next to Malaysia, but I don’t know how else to describe them.) country, all their announcements and service are in English first. They serve a worldwide market and cater to the largest group in the market.

I slept 2 hrs on this leg but Celeste didn’t sleep much. In the 3-4-3 seating alignment, we were in the 6th and 7th seats, in the interior, on the aisle, so we didn’t see much. Especially since nearly everyone closed their window blinds! On departure to Bali, I had a window, but I was over a wing bigger than my driveway, so I didn’t see much. Looking behind me though, I could see that there were dozens of ships in the huge harbour. Soon after departure it was dark and there was nothing to see.
We landed in Bali at 9:30 only to learn that they had lost my bag which had all the souvenirs that we had not sent home. By the time we did all the paperwork, found our guide, and drove to the hotel, it was 11 PM and we were in bed within half an hour after that.

Our time sure got scrambled around. For posterity it went something like this:
Fly Darwin to Sydney 12:30 AM to 5 AM Darwin time (4+30 en route). But we had to set our clocks 1.5 hours later for Sydney time (2 AM to 6:30 AM). We had a 6+30 wait in Sydney. Then we flew Sydney to Singapore 1 PM to 8 PM Sydney time, but we had to set our clocks back 3 hours for Singapore time. We waited 2+30 there, then flew Singapore to Bali 7:30 to 9:30. I make it 22+30 – and we could have done it in 2+30 on Qantas. Oh well, it was an adventure.

Qantas (for Mar. 11)

I have been naming the blog titles for the place we stopped and spent the night. Tonight we will spend it on a Qantas flight from Darwin to Sydney.

Last night I was blogging and photo editing (187 pictures) from 7:30 to 11:30 and again from 8 to 11 this morning. I finished just in time to check out and we headed for the internet café. We had 10 days to post with 45 pictures, banking and credit card info to download, and email to download and reply to, so it took until nearly 2 PM. We then headed back to the hotel to put the laptop bag into storage with the others and returned to the mall to pick up a few items for a late lunch.

From lunch we hit a souvenir store to finish up and then toured the parts of the downtown and Esplanade that we hadn’t yet seen. We finished with a visit to a fish feeding ritual that has become a Darwin ritual. Some guy started it in the 1950s because he liked fish like some people like birds. It has since grown into a full blown tourist attraction at afternoon high tide. Tourists throw bread in the water and the fish scramble for it. In its purist form, you are supposed to wade into the water on a ramp and feed them by hand, but the wild scrambles are more exciting. The main fish species are Diamond Skinned Mullet (about 5-6 pounds average), Catfish (3-4 pounds), and Milkfish (about 30 pounds). Although the Milkfish look the coolest (the silver ones), they are bottom feeders and apparently are bony and not very good eating.



We wandered around for a while longer, returning to the hotel before 8 to bail out the laptop, have a complimentary beer, and blog our day so far. The airport shuttle will be picking us up at 10:45 for departure at midnight.

Billy Can Tours

By the way, here is our tour group. From left to right: Celeste, Glenn, Steve, Pat, Katrina, Holgar, Kristien, Tina, Marie (kneeling), Lisa, Renee, Norm, Ros, Greg, and Julie.