Homeward Bound

We left Bangkok Mar 10, 2002, bound for Victoria. It was a great trip! Memories we will cherish forever. Before leaving we had time for one last shopping trip!

Free Shirts

Here is the best sales pitch we heard in Thailand. A saleswoman in a mall was selling sport shirts. As we walked past, she said to Lance, “Try one sir, you buy.” “No,” Lance said. “They will be too small.” “Try, try,” she persists. “No, no,” Lance insists, “They will be too small.” Then she says, “Try on, if too small, it’s free!” Naturally, this line had Lance totally hooked; he agreed to try one on. Sure enough, it was too small. Valiantly, she tried to convince him that it was big enough. “Look at all the room in the body,” she says. “Yes, but I can’t do the neck up.” She tried as hard as she could, but finally even she had to give up and agree that she could not button the neck! Despite her offer of a free shirt, we left it there and walked away laughing.

Back in Thailand

Too Good to be True (Subtitle: Not a time-share)

The day before we left Bangkok, we decided to go to the Bangkok World Trade Centre - a large mall not far from our hotel - just to see what stores were there. As we approached the main entrance, we were approached by a young Thai woman who asked us to complete a survey. We agreed. We were relaxed and have lots of time. When we completed the survey, she gave us a scratch and win ticket as our reward for completing the survey. We scratched. We both won! And rather than just a token gift, we had won a medium-sized carry on suitcase with wheels and collapsible handle AND a one week free stay at a resort hotel. Now on normal days, we are not this lucky. We became suspicious. After all, if something is too good to be true - it usually is. To collect our prize, we had to go to a store in the mall with her. We became more suspicious and I think I smelt a “time-share pitch.” No, no, she assured us.

Once inside the store/office, we filled out a form before we received our gifts. And the form included the statement, “We agree to attend a presentation for a maximum of 60 minutes.” The smell of a “time-share pitch” is getting stronger. No, no the presenter (salesman) from Toronto assures us. We are not selling time-shares. Instead, he is selling a fixed pricing strategy for hotel accommodation at any one of the resort (RCI) properties. You pay only $10,000US for a lifetime guaranteed one-week pricing rate of 350US to 450US depending on the size of the unit (number of beds) in the high season. You can use this one-week pricing guarantee for as many weeks a year that you want - 52 if you like. You can transfer (of offer) this price to others for a fee of $148US per booking. “Is the weekly rate guaranteed over time?” I ask. “Well it might go up 2%, but not much,” he assures us. I am reminded of the old salesman joke. Q: How do you know when a salesman is lying? A: When his lips are moving. Or the other favourite saying: never let the facts interfere with the story. Given the Asian collapse in 97 and the inflation that followed, I find it hard to accept that any of us can predict how the economy of any country will perform in the future, or what future prices will be.

But our salesman persists. We fit the profile and he assures us that many others like us have purchased and are more than happy with the result. But somehow we manage to resist and remain disinterested. We endure the hour presentation, pick up our suitcase, complete an exit questionnaire and buy nothing. We escape. Oh, and about the one week free accommodation - there were so many strings, date restrictions and such as to make it unusable.

Mekong Delta Tour, Vietnam

On Jan 28, 2002, we took a three day Mekong Delta tour with Sinh Office (local travel agent). We were busy from 7 in the morning until 7 at night everyday. It cost $25 US per person and included all entrance fees for activities and two nights accommodation at great hotels. We visited temples (this country is loaded with them), floating markets, fish farms, a rice mill (very similar to milling grain), a vermicelli factory (rice noodle making), and incense making factory (for Buddhists worshiping at temples), a rice paper making factory, and a stork sanctuary. The trip included a final day boat trip through the Mekong Delta canals for 4 hours, where we were able to see how the people live and work.

A Boating Mishap

A funny incident happened during the boat trip, or at least in retrospect it is funny. Lance needed to go to the washroom, so he went to the back of the boat where the washroom consisted of a round hole in the deck surrounded by a 3 foot high plywood enclosure. He entered the enclosure, pulled down his pants and bent down (so that certain parts would not be visible to the world). When he bent his knees he leaned on the enclosure (which much to his surprise was NOT attached) and it fell over. He was sprawled on the boat deck, his pants down around my knees, and fully exposed! Needless to say the other passengers had a good laugh. Fortunately, he was not injured, nothing more than a bruise on his arm and a bruised ego, and thank goodness he fell into the boat and not over the edge into the water!

Reflections on India

India is a place where ..........

• Hindu dieties change their names and form from region to region. Stories and legends vary. People pick and choose their favourite ones. Not surprising when you consider that there are more than 330 million dieties to choose from.

• a simple bus ride is a life threatening experience. Roads are filled with all types of vehicles, people and animals. From large trucks to buses of varying sizes, cars, bullock-drawn carts, motorcycles, bicycles, and women carrying all types of interesting things on their heads.

• cattle have the right of way. Buses swerve, cars yield more readily for them than for people, and pedestrians alter their route so that the cattle can continue on their chosen path.

• groups of Hindu pilgrims dressed in black lungis fulfill their annual 41 day pilgrimmage to cleanse their sins and strengthen their spirits.

• negotiation is pervasive and unavoidable. The final negotiated price for a service is smiply the base for the next round of negotiations (grinding) for a higher price.

• every child wants a school pen. Beggars are never satisfied, if you don’t give them money they are upset, if you do give them money they are never happy with the amount.

• men have time for endless cups of chai (sweet tea with milk) and women are noticeably absent hidden in the background doing most of the daily work.

• noise is a right from constant howling horns to blaring Indian music to heated arguments in the middle of the street.

• some young children walk to school in shabby uniforms in bare feet while others are dressed in spotless pressed uniforms complete with knee socks and shoes, riding in autorickshaws.

• English is widely spoken, but with a distinctive Indian twist and accent. As our tour guide announces “the bus is being back”.

• construction standards are absent, from uniquely sized doors and windows to counters of varying heights and makeshift electrical and plumbing installations prone to failure.

Jumping from the train!

After spending about 2 weeks on the beaches of Goa, we were ready to move on to Trivandrum in the state of Kerala. We booked our train tickets. This was our second train trip, but our first opportunity to travel by 2-tier A/C (meaning 2-tier berth rather than the 3-tier we had had before). On Dec 5, we set off from our guesthouse on the beach and went to the train station (in Madgoan, Goa) to take the Rajdhani express to Trivandrum: 15 hr, 1500 km away.

We arrived at the station at 11:40 am. I always like to arrive early - much to Lance’s dismay. Our train was scheduled to leave at 13:00. But when we got out of the auto rickshaw, the porters said, “Train here. Rajdhani here.” Entering the station, we saw the train and yes the name was correct, and it was early. (Hint #1: Trains are rarely if ever early.) We boarded the train, and found our seats. We had berths 2 & 3, and another couple had berths 1 & 2. We assumed this was a booking error. (Hint #2: Errors do occur, but despite its staggering size the Indian railway is amazingly efficient with few errors. A few facts about Indian railway: over 60,000 km of track, 1.6 million staff, and the whole system moves 11 million passengers each day to a network that includes 7,085 stations.) We squeezed our bags under the seat, locked both bags by threading our chain through the handles and the cable loops that were under the seat, and affixed our padlock. (This is common practice in India. Even the Indians lock their bags!)

The train started to pull away from the station. It was only 11:45 am. This seemed very unusual! (Hint 3: Trains do not leave early.) I asked to see another woman’s ticket. Then it finally clicked! “Where is this train going?” “Delhi” she responded. Oh no, we should not have ignored all of those hints! We were on the wrong train. We were heading north rather than south. And of course, the Rajdhani was an express train. It won’t stop for nearly 4 hours - going to the next station and then trying to change trains was not an option. What to do?

A man who understood our predicament said, “Pull the emergency chain to stop the train.” We were reluctant to do this. Next to the emergency chain, there were large signs stating the penalty and fines for stopping the train without good reason. Vivid images of an Indian prison appeared in my mind. A conductor arrived, and we explained our problem. He reiterated, “Pull the chain!” I pulled it. Lance quickly unlocked the bags, unthreaded the chain and put it, along with our padlock back in our bags. The train started to slow down. We grabbed the rest of our belongings and struggled to the door at the end of our car as quickly as we could. The ground and the tracks below seemed very far away. But with little hesitation, Lance jumped off. As I looked at him crumpled between the next set of tracks, I was certain that he was dead, severely injured or at least incapacitated with a broken ankle. However, he was fine. (Later we discovered we had broken our French press coffee pot.) I jumped off and we walked along the tracks back into the station - only about 100 metres. Curious faces watched us as we picked our way among the tracks and plodded back to the station. If nothing else we succeeded in entertaining the Indians on the train. They were now even more certain that all foreigners were strange and confused!

We returned to the station platform, laughed and waited patiently for the south-bound train to arrive. The rest of the trip was uneventful. We had an entire compartment to ourselves, enjoyed the meals provided, slept well and arrived in Trivandrum on time at 6:00 a.m. The driver from our guesthouse, Wild Palms, was there to meet us. Another adventure, and another story to tell.

An Indian Temple Town

Train to Hampi

After spending a week lying on the beach and sunning ourselves in Benaulim, Goa, we took the train to Hampi (in the state of Karnataka) about 350 km from Benaulim. The train trip took about 9 hours and was a pleasure compared to taking a sleeper bus.

A Form of Torture

Two things you will never be short of in Hampi: tour guides and postcard sellers. It reminds me of the old Chinese water torcher technique where they hold you down and drip water on your forehead until you go mad. Every time you turned around in Hampi, someone would try to sell you a postcard or be your tour guide. Even the man who owned our guest house was (drip, drip) a qualified tour guide. What a surprise!

Watch Where You Step

A village of 1000 people, Hampi is truly a great place. Cows, bulls, calves, water buffalo, chickens, dogs, cats, and even an elephant wander the streets. One of the strange comforting things here is the smell of cattle. Interestingly, this smell doesn’t bother me as I feel I have returned to the farm and the related chores - it certainly smells the same. Of course, you have to pay attention to where you are walking!

A Bit of History

Hampi is a favourite backpacker destination and is famous for its temple ruins. Hampi (or Vijayanagar) was once the capital of one of the largest Hindu empires in Indian history. Its wealth was based on control of the spice trade to the south and the cotton industry of the south-east. Its busy bazaars were centers of international commerce. The empire came to a sudden end in 1565 when the city was ransacked by Muslim invaders. They destroyed everything, burning and pillaging the temples, sacred Hindu statues, and all religious images.

Robber Warning

Whether real or not we were warned by the authorities not to walk the trails among the ruins at dawn or dusk, particularly alone. We were also warned not to carry valuables or cash with us because there had been many robberies. Even as we reviewed the photos of the “most wanted” at the foreigners registration desk in the police station, we wondered if it is part of a plot to get us to hire one of the many guides. Besides it was rather difficult to take the warnings seriously as one policeman was asleep and the other one had to be drawn away from his Hindi soap opera to give us this warning. Nevertheless, we heeded the advice and had no problems.

Overnight Bus to Goa

We left Pune Friday (Nov 16) at 6:00 p.m.—a beautiful sleeper bus with berths was promised. On inspection, the bus had berths of course, but it was not beautiful. It looked road worthy, but it was not air conditioned and had no toilet. This was a surprise. What to do? Well nothing really as we had paid our money, checked out of our hotel, and it was getting dark. With nowhere to stay, the bus started to look better and better. Flexibility and patience are important attributes for anyone who wants to travel independently in India! This was simply an opportunity for us to apply these attributes and let the adventure unfold.

The Bus

There were 31 berths: double width berths on one side, like a double bed, and single width on the other side with a small hallway between. And of course, two rows high on both sides. The double wide ones had walls with a sliding door so that you could crawl in, close the door and have your own chamber. Of course, three further attributes were required at this point: sufficient flexibility to actually be able to get into and out of these chambers; comfort in small spaces (not claustrophobic); and a personal height of less than 5’6”. If you were taller, you won't be able to sit in the the chamber without hitting your head on the ceiling.

Since Lance isn’t actually a slight person, the good news for us was that we had been given the bottom berths at the far end of the bus. One berth was in the hallway, and the other was on the single side of the bus (no hallway here). While initially this seemed less than ideal, it turned out to be a blessing since Lance could hang his feet over the end into the hallway and there was no one above him so it was less claustrophobic. Now of course sleeping in this vehicle as it lurched and bounced along the road was quite another thing. Amazingly, we did manage to fall asleep at times. But this was often disturbed by honking horns, sudden braking and at one point, we were rudely awakened when we were tossed into the air when we went over a bump!

Toilet Facilities (Not!)

Since there was no toilet on the bus, there were three bathroom breaks along the way. The first was at a restaurant stop—very clean, no problem. The second was under a banyan tree at the side of the road. I took a pass on this one. The third was in the middle of a village. Since I couldn’t wait any longer, I got out and was informed that the women’s place was over behind a small van about 100 feet from the bus on the left side of the road. Men were directed to go to the right side of the bus—anywhere would do. Welcome to India!

Despite all of this, we managed to reach our destination on time, found our hotel, checked in and went to bed. Panaji was a lovely town with little traffic and few people. The next day we moved to a town on the beach, a little village called Benaulim. The water, weather, food, and guesthouse were perfect. It was great to be out of the pollution and able to breath some fresh area. Pune wasn’t nearly as bad as Calcutta, but it was still polluted so the clean sea air was a welcome change.

Dawali In Pune

Pune, a city of 4 million, is small by Indian standards. We observed Diwali celebrations here and wandered the crowded streets as people prepared for the festival by buying food, gifts, and socializing. Diwali is a Hindu festival. Various ceremonies are conducted at the temple and people get together with family and friends to eat and give gifts - much like we do at Christmas. There aren’t really specific costumes for Diwali other than people dress up, and the women will wear their best sari often one trimmed with gold thread and lots of gold jewelry of course.

Fireworks and fire crackers are also used to celebrate Diwali. This can be very disconcerting since they are ignited in the crowded streets. In addition to the deafening sound, they are downright dangerous! By lighting fire crackers they express their joy: the louder the bang, the more joy they feel. Of course, people are also killed, usually when dilapidated “stores” catch on fire and someone is burned to death.

Train Travel and Delay

In Calcutta, we booked a “2/tier a/c” ticket to Pune. We were scheduled to leave Calcutta Nov 9 and arrive in Pune 36 hours later after a journey of approximately 1700km. Or at least, that was the plan!

We were the only foreigners on the train. But that was not a problem, and in fact, a wonderful opportunity to meet Indians. Many of them spoke excellent English. They were friendly, and most interested in learning about us, our travels and our country as they told us about themselves and their country.

Trains and Train Delay

We arrived in Pune Nov 11 at 9:30 pm. A trip of 48 hours rather than the scheduled 36. We had a 5 hour delay before we left Calcutta, and then the train was diverted because of a protest, which added another 7 hour delay. But the good news was: we had berths, the air conditioning continued to work throughout the 48 hours, we slept well, food was available and good, and the coachroaches were small and generally kept at bay because of the a/c!

Now about the protest ... the train had to be diverted because farmers were blocking the tracks. A large group simply congregated and sat on the tracks. Some said there were 1,000 farmers; others said 15,000. Apparently, the gov’t had promised to pay them for their rice, but no payment had been made, and they wanted their money before the Dawali festival which began Nov 14: an example of Indian political protest. Amazingly, the others on the train accepted this delay with a dismissive, “What can you do.” They recognized the farmers demands as valid even though it meant that they are personally inconvenienced. They were also not surprised by the delaying tactics of the gov’t - nothing new.

Calcutta

India is an exciting, exuberant country where you learn to expect the unexpected. We travelled independently making all of our own travel arrangements and bookings. For the most part this worked out very well, but occasionally some unexpected things happened. But in the land of reincarnation, meditation and yoga, we learned to accept the unexpected as simply an opportunity to test of our “India-readiness.”

On Nov 1, 2001, after 13 days in Bangkok, it was time to move on. We flew to Calcutta: 2.5 hours flying time. Calcutta was dirty, congested and teaming with people. Nov was the “cool” season; however, for a westerner it was still hot and humid, about 30-32C during the day, but at least the pavement wasn’t melting as they say it does in the summer! Simply driving into Calcutta from the airport was an adventure! The road and roadsides were filled with a throbbing mass of humanity. There were people everywhere, cars, buses (more or less road-worthly), push cars, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, human-drawn rickshaws, cows, dogs, and more. Welcome to the second most populous country in the world.

Internet Cafes

In addition to email and web access, Internet Cafes provided a welcome respite from the noise, heat, and general chaos of the non-stop streets. Each one was a little air conditioned oasis where you could rest and regain your energy.

But one Calcutta internet café was particularly unique. There were 9 stations, in a room about 8 x 15 with a ceiling height of 5’. I felt like I had entered the movie set of “Being John Malkovich.” I got there by entering a restaurant, and climbing a set of half width stairs to a room suspended from the 20’ ceiling. In Calcutta, every space is put to use!

Time in Bangkok

The Atlanta Hotel, 78 Soi 2 Sukhumvit Road, was our home in Bangkok. It is moderately priced, with very competent, friendly staff and an authentic, inexpensive restaurant. Independent travelers favour this hotel, and you meet people from all over the world. It was amazing who we met and how many people were travelling. Young people, retired people and families. One such family was from Sweden with 2 kids: 9 and 11. They had spent two months travelling: one month in Thailand and one month in Vietnam. They had enjoyed it thoroughly and were sad to be going home.

Another young couple we met, from the Chicago area, arrived in Thailand early Sep with a plan to spend a year in the area including Indo China, India and Thailand. After the terrorist attack in New York, Sep 11/01, they questioned whether they should continue or not. However, after reviewing the latest information and talking to people in the US embassy, they decided to continue. Live the life you have!

Outward Bound

From Oct 2001 to Mar 2002, we visited Thailand, India, Cambodia, Vietnam and Lao. Bangkok was our base, our point of arrival and departure and the place where we obtained onward tickets and visas and rested in between one portion of the trip and the next. Here are some of our adventures and thoughts during this time.


Oct 17, 2001: Departure from Victoria/flight

We flew our favourite airline, EVA. It is a Taiwan based airline with 4 classes: first, business, evergreen deluxe and economy. We booked Evergreen Deluxe. This $500 upgrade is worth every cent! The flight from Vancouver to Taipei was 14hr, and travel time from “door-to-door” was 30hr. The extra comfort of Evergreen Deluxe was worth every cent of the $500 upgrade. The seats are wider with a leg rest; the service is better; and each person has an individual entertainment system - you can select from a set of movies which you watch on a personal screen embedded in the headrest of the person in front of you.

Oct 19, 2001: Arrival in Bangkok

Bangkok is a city of more than 10 million. It is overwhelming, stimulating, exciting, polluted, and exotic all at the same time. It’s a great place for organizing other parts of your trip. It's a good choice as a "first time" entry into Southeast Asia. The infrastructure works well, ATMs are available, lots of English is spoken, good medical care is available, and you can buy virtually anything you can imagine - legal or not. There are the usual scams and scam artists, but they're fairly innocuous. Overall the Thai people are friendly and helpful. They want you to enjoy your stay and they will help you find as many ways as possible to leave as much money as possible in their country!