20070430

070430 Thaikarl - Home again

friends,

it is so nice to be home!  arrived at the house in lom sak around 8pm last night.  teri (toks daughter) came running down the road to meet us, and mama came up the drive to hug me.  mama kept saying 'n tur' which means "missed you".  most everything looks the same.  tok had windows installed around the house, the plants have grown some.  the TV is broke - its constantly resetting itself.  Kitty is gone (killed on the road a few months ago) but Bak is there, and there is a new cat i called "number 3", a calico sweet heart.  the electric circuits and lamps i installed last year are still working.  all is good.

this morning when i got up the crewe was out there - the kids from the neighborhood - Ah, Pet, Ai, Em, Game, and the neighbor Tai was waiting for me to say hi.  a wonderful welcome. then everybody went away and i slept most of the morning.  finally, i can relax!  for a day or two anyway...

onward!
Nu

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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

20070428

070428 Thaikarl - one day in bangkok

friends,

jeez, one day in bangkok can be over whelming, and tiring.  tok and i spent all day going hither and yawn, 5 trips on the sky-train. but we did manage to: take my computer to the shop - but of course the screen didn't go black when it was in the shop, so they couldn't do anything; bought some software and a camera; went all over trying to buy espresso coffee beans - i didn't bring enough to last.  and of course ate noodles, sticky rice and chicken, and a few other things along the way.  this part of the city is alive with people, street vendors, street food, shoppers, shops, kids, teen-agers, motorbikes, cars, buses and trucks.  it's busy like christmas shopping downtown the week before christmas, except it's like this everyday.

it's nice and warm out.  that part i am very happy about. being cold this last winter in seattle was hard on me.  if i want cold here, i can step inside any 7-11 for a few minutes. they always have the aircon cranked.  you will hear me commenting on this over and over. you'll just have to skip over the "i love the weather" bits.

not understanding this language, but being with a native is interesting at times.  Tok and i found a coffee supply shop today and went into see about buying a few kilos of beans.  Tok and the guy in the shop talked for 10 minutes back and forth, and then she got up and said lets go.  naturally, i'm wondering what's happening, are we getting coffee or not??? "No, we are not" she says.  but we are going to  yet-another-place to try there.  so what was the 10 minutes of banter about? i still don't know, tho Tok said he was a nice helpful man.  the second place did have beans, and even ground them for me.  but it was $21.00 a kilo.  american price the same.  i bought only 2 kilo's.  you can't get anything but instant coffee in Lomsak.  of course it comes in 27 different forms - with milk, with flavors, with sugar in all it's combinations, but it's all instant coffee.  so i had to stock up for 2 months.

this long conversation between thais with a one or two sentence summary happens all the time.  i have no idea if they get into family history, the weather, the state of the government or nuclear physics before they get to "oh, by the way, the foreign guy wants coffee, can we buy some here?" part of the reason for being in that place at all.  and i'll get "no coffee here" as we walk out the door.  i get to do a lot of looking around, smiling, nodding and studying the little details like lighting, wiring, construction methods, pictures with incomprehensible writing on them.  life is a mystery.  and i have a guide!

we're off to Lomsak tomorrow.  6 hours on the bus.  and i've already read 3 of the 6 books i brought with me.  send books.

onward!
Nu

replies - comments and questions are welcome - ask any body who has replied. i answer every one.  and do pass these travelogues on to others, post on your websites, send out on your blogs, email lists etc.  anyone can goto   http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/
for the collection of these emails, and the ones from last year.


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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

20070427

070427 Thaikarl - BANGKOK! YAHOO!

friends,

Back in Bangkok! figured my way out of the new airport, onto the airport bus, sky-trained to MBK, down the little Soi to the Star Hotel and checked in the bags.  very exciting to be here.  warm.  the people, writing, smell, everything!  home!

first thing i bought were some Samit cigarettes and a Kraeting Dang (thai red-bull).  First place i went was siam square to Coffee World for  an espresso.  then to MBK to the internet place on the 7th floor.  Tok lands at 10:05 tonight.  i goint to try to take the city bus for 35 baht ($1.00) rather than the airport bus for 135 baht ($4.00ish)  if i botch it like last time i'll have to take a taxi-meter for way more.

one of my readers sent me a question:

On 4/27/07, S. P. <*****@ vom.com> wrote: Hey Karl,
When you move to Thialand do you think you will miss this country? I've often thought of packing in all in and running away but I imagine the adjustments at this point would be just too overwhelming.
Travel safely,
S.P.

and my reply:

i won't miss the united states of amerika at all.  miss My family there, yes, but i won't miss the country or the xians, or the politics etc etc etc.  not that any of those things are that much better over here, but the food is better and the weather is warm...  there may come a day i want to go back...   running away doesn't do much for ya... running TO something does. which in the process will take you AWAY from whatever you don't care for "back there"  i actually still like the states (mostly), i just like it better here. adjusting to the 'slow complacent getting old and die" in the usa was just getting too overwhelming to me.  i was worried about adjusting to asia , but it's not difficult for me at all... fires me up, inspires, intrigues, etc. 

my life was definitely in need of renewal.  refreshment.  here it is.  of course, after some time it will be come "normal", but i've lived "normal" in the states, and i want to be here to get to "normal" here.  but i think it will take a while.  especially since i'm pretty much illiterate, uncultured and rather mute in thailand.  that will always keep things interesting.

we are going to stay in BKK for a couple of nights, do some running about here - have to take a computer to see about getting fixed, buy more espresso coffee (i didn't bring enough), goto the embassy to see about visa... stuff and stuff.  we'll take the bus up to Lomsak day after tomorrow.  i'm looking forward to seeing mama and teri, and the neighbors and friends, and the house and the new kitty cats and the mango tree and the house and, the long list of things to fix Tok has ready for me :-)

Onward!!!
Nu
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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

20070426

070426 Thaikarl - departing for the homeland tommorrow

friends,

tomorrow tok and i fly to bangkok.  the homeland.  on different planes at different times.  another opportunity for being in the wrong place at the right time, or vice versa, or both.  when we came here, i arrived early in the morning, Tok was due in later that same day, but at evening time.  So i took the airport express bus into Ban Chaio, found dougs apartment, dropped off my gear, got some food, and wandered around a bit.  i went to the bus stop at 4pm to be there early for toks 6:15 arrival flight.  but the bus never came.  at 6pm i flagged a taxi, and offered him all the 100 NT bills i had and all my change - a little over 700 NT ($21 US).  he reluctantly agreed, and took me all over the place, arriving at the airport where i found Tok wondering where the heck i was.  the embarrassing part was, that the next day, doug and jasmine took me to the same bus stop and pointed out the airport bus --- "right there"  because i didn't have luggage, the bus driver(s) didn't automatically stop for a man standing at the airport bus sign, and i didn't wave them down, so there must have been 3 or 4 airport buses that went by while i was standing there... duh.  if i had matched the characters on the corner of the bus sign with the characters on the front of the busses, i would have caught one to the airport and been way early.  the airport bus is 135 NT ($4.06 US) that was an expensive lesson.  what fun the challenge.

i fly in to bangkok in the am, Tok arrives late at night, so i get another chance to go into town, set up in the hotel and find my way back to the airport to meet her.  there is a new airport in bangkok, that i haven't been to, so it will be exploritory and guess-by-gosh again.  but there is more english at hand, and it IS thailand, where i'm a little more usede to getting around.

the adventure continues.  
Onward!
Nu

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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

070426.8 3 photos for you of Tok and i

by request:
1. at a government building in Hauling
2. same building
3. at donshui

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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

20070425

070426.5 Thaikarl 5 photos for you from Taiwan

1. Jasmine and Doug - our hosts in Taipei
2. Remember the graffiti "if you want a cool surprise..." modernized
3. Choose your food! add rice, eat! yum... about 2.50 USD per person
4. Betel Nut production.  They sell these all over.  provides a mild lift, like 1/2 cup coffee
5. Sunday strollers at Donshui.  By the water at the end of one of the subway lines. popular place.
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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

20070424

070425 Thaikarl on the east coast of taiwan


friends,

where are we now? Hualien City.   Got off the train at dusk, just as it started to rain.  short walk across from the train station and found a hotel for NT750 ($22.61 USD).  not as nice as the room in the other city, but oh well.  and of course, when we walked down the road we saw hotels with signs for rooms for 500 NT.  bt the food we found was very good.  they have these buffer style restaurants, where the various dishes are in steamer trays, and you select what you like to go with your rice and soup.  very good.  a young boy in the restaurant spoke excellent english, and with some encouragement from his parents and sister, help us order food and directed us to a shopping district where i could buy some pants.  i only brought one pair.

taiwan has some notable aspects.  the country side is lovely, mountainous along the whole of the island, alluvial planes on the west.  there is a rather utilitarian plainness to the houses.  very little flash in the architecture, few curves, decorations or design flairs.  boxes for people to live in.  very few houses say "rich man lives here"  the people are very nice, and friendly, dispute the lack of english.  they try to understand, and try to be helpful.  i forget a word as soon as i hear it.  i know three words as Tok just pointed out to me - good morning, 100 and thank you.  :-)

we are taking the train back to taipei this afternoon.  spend the night at doug and jasmine's tonight and go into taipei on the subway tomorrow.  Tok would like to go up Taipei 101 - the tallest building in the world.  then friday, its off to thailand for both of us... on different planes at different times. that should be interesting.  i didn't tell you what happened when i went to get Tok from her plane the first day.  I'll put that in another post.  i'm short time in this game arcade.

onward!
Nu
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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

20070423

070423 ThaiKarl - where are we now?

friends,
 
the bullet train was just that - a bullet! 286km/hr in places (177 miles per hour!!!!)  we got to the south of the island in 2 hours. smooth ride.  the countryside that wizzed by was mostly flat and very cultivated.  not much rough land laying around. rice and vegetables growing on nearly every bit of land that doesn't have a building on it.
 
we got out at the end of the line.  nice new train station.  we walked away from the station to find food and alcohol for my espresso cook stove.  english speakers are few and far between here.  you have to be clever or just give up.  i finally communicated that i wanted alcohol by finding a bottle of mouthwash that had the ingredients in english and chinese - so i could point out the characters for alcohol. had to goto another store, but i had the correct word written on a piece of paper, so i'm all set.
 
the city we were in just seemed like a big city, so looking at a map we got at a car rental place, we just picked a spot northward up the east coast of the island and bought regular train tickets to there.    figuring out what platform and train to be on wasn't too hard.  had to ask a few people, and got the shrugs a few times, but got on to another train, switched trains a few stops down the road.  we had a 2 hour layover at the second station and considered just looking for a hotel there, but it seem too much big city.
 
the train went along the coast and up the mountains thru a lot of tunnels.  tok was following our track by matching the characters on the map with the chinese characters on the posts in the train stations.  of course we didn't know how to say any of these, but you have to go with pattern matching to get anywhere.  if you know the pattern to match.  our destination appeared after dark, we disembarked onto a platform with very little activity or lights surrounding the station.  had no idea where we were.  outside the station there were a few buildings with lights off in the distance, and far away one sign said "hotel".  we walked down past there, but we were out in the stix, not even a shop to buy water in sight.  hmmm.  we past a place that tok figured was renting motorbikes and went there.  turns out you must have a Taiwanese drivers license to rent a bike, but the guy who convey this to us understood that we were looking to eat dinner and find a hotel.  he walked us the hundred meters to the taxi stand and set us up with a taxi.  young fellow and his girlfriend drove us into town - which satisfyingly turned out to be nicely lines with commerce and neon signs.  took a couple of where-we-goings and a mobile phone call to a friend who spoke english to convey that we wanted an inexpensive hotel.  they dropped us off in front of some buildings that had signs, not of which said "hotel" but it did look like a hotel lobby inside.  550 NT$  ($16.92 USD) later we had a room. not fancy, but it will work. 
 
wandered off for dinner of rice, pork and tofu.  you have to do a lot of pointing and finger waving.  we learned that to indicate the number "3" with your fingers, you make what people in the USA would call an "OKAY" sign - circle of index finger and thumb with other fingers raised.  i would say "which platform" and they would sign "okay".   tee hee. what fun.
 
so here we are, in some city on the south east coast of taiwan, hotel'd, fed and found internet.  got alcohol for my espresso maker, cigarettes are $1.00 a pack, Tok is happy, and so am i. 
 
onward
Nu

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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

20070418

07419 Thaikarl - the adventure continues...

friends

departing tonight for a week in taiwan, then three months in thailand.
if you know anyone to add to my travel list, send me an email, when
you forward emails, the recipient sees all these goobly characters,
i'm glad to add anyone direct.

you can see previous travelogues at http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

onward!!!!
Nu

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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/