John’s Diary – Part 1 Thailand
To leave a comment go to http://gcasey.edublogs.org/2007/01/09/johns-diary/#comments
John’s Diary 11th Jan 07
We have been terribly spoilt here in Guang-ju. The female Kim (whose first name is really Yun-shin, a name very similar to the male Kim) arrived at our hotel with a friend (Tea-un) on the 9th. Both are about 25 years old.
They solved our money problems (only one bank in this city will give us cash, of course we didn’t know that), took us on a tour including lunch at a (beautiful) Italian restaurant in the hills outside the city area, showed us the entire city from a mountain top, showed us a beautiful traditional garden site and took us to a traditional tea room. This was all wonderful , giving us an insite into Korean culture and its importance. Our hosts would not allow us to contribute to any of the costs. They received our thanks and promises of hospitality for possible future trips to Australia. They also purchased presents for us from the gift-shop at the tea rooms. We hope to see them again on our next visit to Gwang-ju inviting all of our Korean friends to a dinner with us.
As we understand it, they had given up their last day of school holidays. Here, teachers have to return to work even though school will not be in session until February – these 2 are now off to Japan to report on their new classroom initiatives. They did so much for two people they had never set eyes on before, and at great expense too.
We spent the 10th looking around the shopping precinct – in this case not multi-storied but lots of streets with shops that could from the Paris end of Collins St, although there was a regular mix with food outlets including westernised ones (MacDonalds, KFC, Burger King, etc). Generally, cars don’t use these streets which are narrow, colourful, newish and nicely paved. I would guess that it’s the local version of a very large shopping mall, but open-aired.
The 11th has been a recovery day before packing again for the return trip to
Seoul. Once we start work (Sunday, 14th) we will have no time for anything except teaching (our requirement is for almost 12 hours daily) and this diary will almost certainly slow, as the remaining hours will be for washing, ironing, sleeping etc.
John’s Diary 8th Jan 07
Gwang-ju seems to be a more relaxed version of Seoul, with less bustle than the Capital. Because people live “vertically” the ground space needed to accommodate 1.4 million people is much less than Australians would expect. Stores also are multi-storied. Hence, covering most of the city by taxi can be done quite quickly and inexpensively. This city is also modern and spacious with roadways up to 14 lanes; that’s a lot of road for a pedestrian to cross.
We met with a Korean friend of Gail’s for what he called a traditional Gwang-ju Korean lunch; it turned out to be more like a huge banquet. He is Kim (his surname), who we now know that we should have called Young-shin, and had met Gail through the Intel Teach to the Future program in 2005. He is a former teacher and now a “supervisor” of 35 educational officers in the local version of Victorias DE&T main office in Melbourne. As his guests we were not allowed to pay and lunch must have cost him a stack. He made us feel “special” in his company and in his city we hope to meet his family on another visit. This lunch was a very special event for us and it was fantastic that he dedicated so much time, in his very busy work schedule, for us in addition the meal was quite exceptional. He has arranged for another Kim (female, teacher, known to Gail through her international blogging) to show us the sights of Gwang-ju. Apart from Young-shin spoiling us 2 other people (not shop employees) have approached us wanting to help us read labels (beer) or to explain to a taxi driver (whose English is pretty much nil even though their taxis have signs that say “free interpretation”) where we wanted to go. They sort-of “hover” almost unobtrusively but waiting patiently to see if they might assist eventually. Another took Gail upstairs to show where an ATM was located (our cards are not accepted in many Korean ATM’s). Lovely people!
John’s Diary 7th Jan 07
In cold conditions we slept late and then packed to go to Gwang-ju. We had planned to go to the Express Bus Terminal by subway but Gail (still suffering cold symptoms) decided, after only 100 metres walking uphill with heavy baggage in freezing air, that a taxi should be taken. The streets were almost empty of people but, as Gail was trying to explain to a taxi driver where we wanted to go, a lone Korean pedestrian stopped nearby wanting to “fix” it for us (but not wanting to intrude unnecessarily) even in the freezing cold – typical and wonderful. We only spent an extra Aus$4 more than the subway would have cost and had it easy, right to the door of the Bus Terminal.
The bus was smooth, spacious, warm and comfortable. The 250 Km odd journey took about 3.5 hours including a 15 min toilet stop. At that stop Gail asked a woman in a shop about the location of the toilet and she was taken by the hand and escorted there – when Gail came out the woman was still waiting there to make sure that all was ok. She had nothing to gain except the pleasure of helping another human being. I am still amazed at the breadth of this concept of “helping”. Roger McCunnie might be one with an affinity to this concept as he has chosen to do regular volunteer work. Certainly it is in my nature to help others if I see a need, but to find an entire people with that culture is well beyond any reasonable expectation.
There had obviously been lots of snow in South Korea prior to this time as there was snow throughout the entire journey as far as the eye could see, although none fell during our trip. More than half of the trip was through mountainous terrain but the road was level (at least there were no noticeable rises or dips) throughout. The Korean approach was to raise the road above the surrounding land and then, when confronted with a mountain face, tunnel straight through to ensure that the level road continues.
About 25 years ago the then (military) government built huge highways and freeways between the main Korean cities – at that time they were severely criticised as 10 lane roads had only about 10 cars per Km, such a waste when 2 lanes were more than sufficient. Nowadays that previously ridiculed decision is applauded as clever and far-sighted.
Of course the Korean car industry 30 years ago was at the stage of making car bodies from old 44 gallon fuel drums – now the country is the 5th largest export economy in the world, mostly relating to car exports (almost all here are Hyundai and Kia) and electrical goods (Samsung is huge here and runs tollways and schools etc as well as making white-goods). Hyundai have department stores too. LG goods are also in evidence.
On the 10 lane freeways one lane each way is reserved for buses only. Smooth passage is hence ensured for buses. Petrol is almost Aus$2 per litre and I have seen no recognisable brands, only GS (Good Service), SK and S-Oil. Open road speeds (quite familiar) are generally 100 Km/Hr or 110 on freeways, which are usually tolled. Our bus passed through 3 toll stations and registered approx Aus$30 total. Of course, they drive on the wrong side of the road.
As Col Sturgess had said, rice fields (now covered in snow) are adjacent to multi-blocks of 20 story apartment towers. People live vertically in order to allow the maximum opportunity for food to grow horizontally.
Gwang-ju is the 5th largest city in South Korea (only about 1.4 million) and seems to be, after only 6 hours, a miniature version of Seoul.
We have booked into a “love hotel” where they are quite happy to rent rooms by the hour; but we were recommended to ignore that reputation and to use them as being clean and cheap. Ours costs us about Aus$40 per night and, although basic, it suits our purpose with a computer and internet access in our room – we cannot live at 4 or 5-star levels for the whole year or even a month or even .….. There are 8 similar “love” hotels within about 30 metres of here and lots more of them in the nearby streets. Although all are down laneways I feel safe and relaxed. (I hope that trust is not later found to be misplaced.)
We are still some 5 Kms from the main city area and hope to explore that tomorrow and then look at some schools in the next few days, too. We want to be sure that when Gail (we?) accepts longer term work (eg 6 months) that we will be happy with the actual school and the overall environment; hence the reason for this trip.
Seoul would be fine but might somewhere smaller be better? There are plenty of jobs on offer. We are trying to be discerning.
John’s Diary 6th Jan 07
Since my last words we have experienced Seoul, seen SunYi, from Geelong High School, and planned the next stage of our journey.
Gail has been fantastic (as usual) and by her initiative we have worked out how to use the Seoul Subway system. Mind you, it is an easy system to learn. It is huge, clean, efficient, warm, cheap and safe. I would be happy to send any 10 year old of mine (if I still, had one) alone on a subway journey. The stations are heated and comfortable with clean toilets and, in many cases, shops of many types. This system makes the one in Melbourne (including its above ground rail system) seem small, dirty, expensive, inefficient and unattended. Maybe there are better systems in the world – if you can point me to one I may then be in paradise.
Time with Sun Yi was limited to only 2 hours due, in part, to communication problems. We had a Traditional Korean lunch together and a wander around an arts and “traditional” precinct which seemed very modern (about midway between Victoria Market and Chapel St in Prahran) to me. It was a pleasant afternoon before re-exploring the subway system (did I mention that that was fantastic).
Since that time we have done less exciting things, like washing and practicing for our trip to Gwang-Ju which is the 5th largest city and although still inland is much further south (and hopefully warmer) than Seoul.
Our activities on the 6th Jan have been limited by snow! Fortunately after fair-welling Sun Yi we had purchased some goose-down coats (for much less than in Aus) and hence we risked an outdoor walk in today’s snow. Gail went to one of the many drug stores to seek assistance for her sore throat and other cold symptoms which have just started up. Another “short excursion” through the subway system took up more than 4 hours but it’s so pleasant to be there, who cares.
Food is more expensive here than in Thailand but cheaper than at home. There are all the sorts of shops you might expect at home except that I haven’t sighted a supermarket yet. There are a few street merchants but none of these could be said to be “eking out a living” as they seem to do in Thailand. Since arriving the temperatures have been as high as 5C (unseasonably warm) and as low as -2C but it doesn’t seem as cold as it sounds – just like on a brisk frosty morning (we were used to those in Wedderburn and Rainbow). We have been warned of temps as low as -12C; that might be a tester. Our floor is heated as was a toilet seat that Gail discovered in a public building – you could instantly change the seat temp just by pushing a button (see picture).
Tomorrow we plan to go to the express bus station (via of the subway of course) to travel to Gwang-Ju. The cost will be about A$27 each for the 3.5 hour of first class travel (there is a 2nd class option but we have lots of baggage). Arriving in Gwang-Ju at about 4:00pm we have no organised accommodation – this is another one of Gail’s “experiences”. I am beginning to understand now why certain of her colleagues refer to her as “Captain Kaos” -she gets heaps of things to happen but the people around her (those of us who are control freaks) can feel insecure by not knowing the outcome in advance. We could ring and book (we have an excellent accommodation book) but that would spoil the surprise, wouldn’t it? Travel is common for the locals as more than 2,000,000 people travel out (and back again) from Seoul every weekend. More than 7.5 million will travel out of Seoul in the peak “holiday” times.
Seoul is a modern metropolis – one that would be the envy of many others. Already I feel very comfortable here. It’s an idealistic western city but located in Asia. I no longer feel the need to look after Gail (she’s not likely to be taken off to the white slave trade), or to constantly feel for my passport and my wallet. I feel at least as secure as at home. Those over 65 travel everywhere for free and travel is just so efficient. All street signs – and signs generally – are in Korean with what they call Romanised (we would call it Anglicised) versions, so I don’t need to know the local language for that purpose. Some menus seem to be in Korean only. And the people – they queue up to assist. Young people (under 30) have some English language skills and WANT to help. Older Koreans also try to assist. If you stand still for only a few seconds you will be approached by someone wanting to know if you need help. When the extent of your wishes are known and they cannot explain the answer in English they will go out of their way, by some minutes and hundreds of metres, to take you where you want to go, and will use their Korean language skills to resolve your problem, no matter how small. If one assistant cannot solve your problem there are others waiting to take up where the first had to give up. It is amazing. John Howard, who has often wished for a return to the ethics of the 50’s in Australia, should move here. (Sorry, I realise that is not necessarily a recommendation at all, but it might make both John H and the Australian people happy.) Seoul is a bustling, energetic and crowded city – but still people are valued. Men and young people give up their seats for women and the elderly on public transport – as used to occur in our own country. People are well dressed and well groomed. Everything is clean, modern and well maintained. This is possible as the average wage, whilst increasing, is still considerably lower than ours – hence people services can still be a priority and a reality. How they might get people to offer to help others, however, without any possible personal gain, is a mystery. (Perhaps big brother is watching and will reward only certain behaviours and punish others?) At this early stage, I cannot help but be impressed by the sincerity and honesty of the general populous in Seoul.
Realistically, that’s the honeymoon period, let’s see if it continues. Cass Fresh is still tasting like a good beer should and yesterday the Aussies won the Ashes 5-0. Life could be worse.
John’s Diary 4th Jan 07
We spent the 2nd Jan going, with all our belongings, to the Korean Embassy where we easily picked up our visas (although it is unclear about how long they allow us to work in Korea) and on to our final Thai hotel (“Avana” – quite nice).
We had just the one night here as a jumping-off place to the Airport (up at 5:30am) – it’s nearby, about 25 minutes via a shuttle service, much closer than central
Bangkok.
Getting on the plane was easy, checking was done but not to Australian standards (I set-off the metal detector but they just told me to ignore it, “that’s ok, just keep on going sir”). The Airbus 330 was not of the same standard as our previous (737??) aircraft but the Thai service was still excellent. After 2 +1/2 hours we had a brief stop-off at Hong Kong (2 hours off the plane but not allowed to leave the restricted zone) and 3 more hours (the plane was about 20% full for this final leg) on to Incheon which is
Seoul’s international airport.
A very expensive “taxi” to Seoul (75 Km) and, by 9:15pm local time, (that’s still 2 hours behind Victoria, rather than the 4 in Thailand) our apartment hotel was reached (“Human Starville”) which is very nice – a serviced apartment more than a hotel room, with washing machine, stove, underfloor heating (very good idea), etc. We went to 2 nearby mini-marts and purchased the necessities (beer, of course) and some other stuff too. The beer – “Cass Fresh” – was good. I might try some more of that one tomorrow and …..
John’s Diary 1st Jan 2007
So we slept through most of the New Year celebrations in our Bankok “Hotel Trang”.
Apart from the obligatory cheering and fire works (sounded more like dynamite). We didn’t see much of it or notice the celebrations. Gail got us another room (she is getting good at this) after our initial one was found to be single beds (and this time there was the added problem that there was no hot water). They said there were no more rooms but they found one for Gail. I wouldn’t want to argue with her either. This room is a considerable improvement but nothing like the luxury we left in Pattaya. Prior to getting to the hotel we had seen lots of temples, palaces and historical ruins in Ayutthaya (about 70km north of Bangkok) which at one time was the capital of Thailand (I think it was 1350 to 1767ad).
Today we had a morning visit to the Floating Market at which was about 100km roughly west of Bangkok. The market didn’t float but was set up on the banks of the many water channels and our gondola (with a motor attachment similar in appearance to a garden whipper snipper) cruised past and was literally grabbed by the store holders who then had us as captive audience for their sales. They didn’t succeed in our case. Whilst they had some interesting carved items etc it reminded me of the Victoria Market in Melbourne where after about 4 stalls you don’t see anything different.
Some matters of general interest to me.
Petrol stations include Esso, Caltex, Shell, another called Jet and yet another in Thai (a language that I can’t read in the least). Most have convenience shops attached, petrol is not self-served and is priced at about 95cents per litre Australian.
There are lots of people who travel in the back of utes – dangerous but very popular.
Almost every important building, including major hotels, has security guards and/or security gate-posts.
Driving today I noticed there is lots of water in this part of Thailand (some fish farms) and lots of green shrusbs and trees.
Although I had a more limited view earlier on, there are other car types in common use – Nissan, Honda and Mercedes Benz – but most are Toyotas.
People are friendly and cooperative; even other tourists are lovely. But we do seem to come with $ signs plastered front and back.
There actually are elephants in Thailand – used as tourist attractions, of course.
The afternoon is our own. Sleeping, sorting photos and writing this will probably do. We have no Internet access in our room but will try to use the one in the foyer, along with Gail’s memory stick. Its already 4pm (8 at night for Victorians). I’ve no idea what happened in the first day of the cricket in Sydney – I miss my ABC radio, just a bit, at times like this.
John’s travel diary 31st Dec 06
Pattaya city was just as commercialised, westernised, sales-oriented and a tourist rip-off as we had been led to believe. Apart from food we purchased nothing. Our hotel was about 5km out but a hotel courtesy vehicle took us to and from at no charge. The secondary streets of Pattaya were chocked with girlie bars or go-go bars and even at 4pm in the afternoon any 20m space on the footpath would have 30 girls wearing little more than bikini underwear. Some expressed their love for me even though I was holding Gail’s hand. These smaller streets were quite seedy and I hate to think what it would be like around midnight. There were plenty of other bars, hotels and tourist traps as well. The highlight to me was my Italian BMT at Subway.
The beach at our hotel turned out to look better that it really was. Only a few metres into the water white sand became black mud. This we discovered when the tide went out and some small boys were knee deep in the slop. Regardless of this I did not want to leave – although when checking out I found that I probably couldn’t afford to stay much longer anyway. They added taxes and services charges and an interesting money conversion rate. In total it cost me nearly 50% more than we originally thought. But it was lovely and peaceful although overnight lots of people started arriving in at the hotel for the New Year holidays. They were very excited and hence noisy.
It has been wonderful receiving news via emails and blogs from our family. I know it is a lot of effort but we have genuinely appreciated it and look forward to every communication but some are a little straining on the heart strings.
This has been written in a taxi on the way to Ayuttuya .
John’s Diary 28th Dec 06 – Pattaya
Thailand
We have really struck gold this time. After the stresses and traffic and crowds in
Bangkok, with our hotel that once may have been quite nice, we are now in Pattaya and this is resort heaven.
We have a pool-side suite that is modern, luxurious and naturally this is being prepared with a direct connection to the internet. (Although there has been an earthquake near Taiwan that has knocked out underwater cabling and has made all communications including those to Australia very slow or none existent.) But back to our hotel with its split level pools with inbuilt spa, indoor and outdoor 24 hour restaurants and we can do our washing – couldn’t do that in Bangkok. And did I mention that the beach is half a dozen steps away. Although it is not a surf beach it has clean white sand.
Local food is still cheap and even the hotel menu is inexpensive compared to the cheapest pub in Australia – and this hotel doesn’t look like the cheapest hotel anywhere in
Australia, it is “flash”. I feel like a millionaire and yet today being extremely extravagant we have spent a little over $20 in drinking (more than I should have, probably) and eating.
Getting here, however, involved some problems. That was yesterday. It was our third trip to the Korean Embassy and we are destined to make a fourth on the third of Jan. This time it was their inability to access the internet and, fair enough, your may remember me saying, above, about the earth quake and the communication problems. We need the visas for our camp work in Korea – today we have been offered, without application, more work (another week each) and have accepted.
After the Embassy we had a bit over 2 hours drive in our prearranged taxi to get to Pattaya. There are lots of Toyotas in
Thailand and our taxi was a Corolla – plenty of Mitsubishis and Hyundai’s too and even some luxury European cars such as BMW and Mercedes. I haven’t noticed any Fords or GM vehicles. Trucks, like buses, are much older than cars.
Flies – we’ve seen almost none either in Pattaya or
Bangkok. There are a few small insects but nothing to speak of. We haven’t seen one drop of rain yet. Sunrises and Sunsets at approx 6:00 (both am and pm). Daily temps range from min 20 to max 35C so it is warm at night as well as in the day – air con is helpful. In Pattaya we have had a gentle breeze outdoors all the time so far.
Pattaya is meant to be sleazy (girly bars etc) but we haven’t seen that part yet – might be able to report on that next time. There are lots (monstrous numbers) of tourists in Pattaya. It has 93 Seven-Eleven stores and more being built to cater for the westerners who visit and the many of them who stay on forever as expats, mainly in retirement.
We went for a walk along the beach and found theTemple of
Truth or Enlightenment – they called it something that sounded like “home” but, on reflection, it was probably that word that is used as a repetitive chant that sounds to me like “hummmm”. We also discovered the Saha Farms (not a farm – a food outlet somewhat similar to a combination of KFC and Seven-Eleven) where we ate. Like most organised food places they insisted that we purchase vouchers and then exchange these for food – presumably so that those preparing food do not also handle money.
Boxing Day – update
Our afternoon had both good news and bad news. I had started the day feeling positive, rested and only mildly hung-over from the several local beers (Chang Draught) of last night. Our health, at this stage is fine, but we have been quite careful about what we have put in our mouths – bottled water etc.
The good news is that Gail’s I-Mate Jam is ok and that John feels less guilt now that she went and bought two colourful pairs of ¾ pants in a clothing-only complex which was multi-storeyed, super-modern, amazingly colourful and containing more than 1,300 separate clothing shops (how does that compare to Bay City Plaza?). These 2 pairs of pants cost approx $12 total (that’s the good bit). This was somewhat less (actually a lot less) than John had spent on his 2 hand-made Thai silk shirts on our first day (I’m still somewhat embarrassed about that and I will be for a long time). Stores like this are rare and are so different to the ordinary streets where people eke out a living by selling whatever they can on the footpaths (including delicious food) and the somewhat less-than-spectacular shops they work in front of (sorry about the poor expression but I couldn’t think a better way of saying this). Whilst cars are modern (year 2000 or newer) public transport buses are rusted, faded, tired, 40 year old vehicles. Traffic is terrible – at least they drive on the correct side of the road here – and, surprisingly, the air does not smell bad. Although some locals wear masks the smog at this time of year, at least, is not particularly noticeable.
The (sort of) bad news related to our Korean work visas. This was our second visit in 2 days to the Korean Embassy and they said, this time, that they were very sorry that we did not have the required documents to be able to work in their country. We felt VERY stressed. Gail was VERY sad. Our interviewer obviously wanted to help and didn’t actually push our documents back at us but kept them on her side of the desk, even though there was no hope. Extra money wouldn’t do the trick.– a shock to our Asian expectations and beliefs – obviously a dangerous tactic to try, but when all else fails……. John was ready to walk out the door but Gail was not. She persisted, she pleaded and a few tears were shed. Somehow she convinced them that our documents, even though clearly NOT meeting their requirements, would be ok – that our documents were somehow different, being in sealed envelopes or on special paper, etc. Amazingly, we have now been told to come back tomorrow morning to collect our visas – we hope that it actually happens. Gail has promised herself a Thai foot massage if it does (very expensive at about Aus$10 for an hour).
We went to a major local bank (who would not accept our Keycards even though Australian banks had said that this is the way to withdraw money when overseas) to get cash to pay for our Korean visas. We later experimented with an ATM which did accept our Keycard even though Keycards were not on the acceptable list. Confused? So were we.
Gail also used an international phone card to ring “home” – she spoke to Shaun, left a message for Len, but no other family member was available for conversation or message. Total cost a bit less than $4 in Aus money.
I found an English language version of the local paper today (I was looking for news of the cricket which was to start in Melbourne today – and was surprised to find a significant advance article about it) and the front page story was a reminder of this date in 2004 when 230,000 people died in the tsunami – very depressing for Thai people.
This is our last night in
Bangkok for now. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we are to be collected and driven to Pattaya where we have accommodation booked by ourselves via the internet (not by our Drysdale travel agent who could find nothing) and again have that hopeful feeling that it will be alright. We rang in advance to check and it seems ok, but we assume nothing after we believed that we had exceeded all requirements for the Korean visa (obviously a sore point which will be mentioned to our Korean “employer” whose advice we were following).
Of course we have to collect our Korean work visas on the way to Pattaya. This means more negotiation will be needed with our driver to vary our route via the Korean Embassy which is some distance away. I hope he has some English knowledge although understanding, generally, seems to improve when money is promised.
While I remember, we have breakfast includedin our hotel cost but after that, today, between us we ate 4 small (thumb sized) cooked bananas, some rice with chicken and pork and vegetable, cappuccino, tea, chicken soup – total cost 130 Bart (about $5.20). If we had not had the coffee, our day’s food would have cost 70 Bart (about $2.80) excluding breakfast.
Johns Diary, Boxing Day 26th Dec
Yesterday was Christmas Day and apart from lots of decorations in our hotel foyer there was little in the streets of Bangkok to show this special day. Traffic was still bumper to bumper although some shops were closed.
We had been told that the Korean Embassy would be open at 9:00am so we took a taxi (probably got ripped off again) and arrived at 10:30am only to find that we had to come back tomorrow (Boxing Day) at 1:30pm which we are planning to do as getting these visas is very important to us for our work in Korea.
Gail wanted to go to a complex (huge and modern) called the King Power Complex. We went there but I don’t think any Australians (with the possible exception of the Packer family) could afford anything there.
Went to see a Buddhist Temple (along with Buddhist Monk living quarters and lots of Buddas) and was surprised that the adjoining International school was operating as usual on Christmas Day. We had seen lots of other kids in school uniforms elsewhere on that day too. Today I read in the paper that a school the north-east of the country was burnt interrupting their mid-term exams, so it seems that it was school as usual throughout Thailand.Gail has fallen in love with Computer City and has seen another, as we drove past, called IT City which seems at least as big. We did spend less yesterday as we learnt more. It was great that we had exchanged all of our Australian cash for Thai Baht as the last thing before boarding the plane. I would hate to be carrying more than one currency at any one time. Jodie’s
Bali experience came to mind too – where you move quickly from thinking things are cheap (are these really only a dollar?…. I’ll take 6 of them) to the other end of the spectrum (are these a dollar each?…. no way, that’s much too expensive) – you do gain some local perspective of prices.
Gail found one of the many internet cafés and apparently was able to send photos as well as my words from the 24th. Found an email from Jodie (which was lovely) and received SMSs from lots of people – many arrive to us at 4:30am (8:30am in Vic) – and these made us feel really special and helped us feel like we were sharing Christmas with everyone.
We enjoyed club sandwiches for last evening’s meal – it was our Christmas Dinner.
Can’t use Skype yet and having trouble finding “secure” internet places. Weather has been warm and dry and the streets are crammed with people and cars that are at least as modern as those we are used to in
Australia (newer than our own vehicles).
John’s diary Written 24th Dec – Bangkok 2nd night Christmas Eve
We dropped in to see Len in Werribee then onto Laverton to farewell Wilma, Sharron and David. Shaun dropped us at the airport 3 hours prior to departure time and at this stage Gail had only cried twice but she had been silent for the previous 20 min before getting out of the car at the airport. She owned up later that it had finally struck her that it was not just a one week to
Penang, for example, but a life changing 12 months in foreign countries.
Thai Air was great. Attention, food, smiling faces and the multimedia system was first class. According to Gail it was much better than Qantas. Flight lasted 9.5 hours which is a bloody long time to be followed by an hour at the airport and another hour to get to our hotel.
We arrived at the “First hotel” (that is its name) in Bangkok at 1:00am Thai time (5:00am Melb time) and John has had no sleep at this stage (Gail had dozed for an hour on the plane) – the day was now 22hours long. So when they gave us a room with twin beds rather than double I was surprised that Gail still had the energy to argue for, in fact demand, a change. She didn’t win – well not until after midday by which time we had had 3 or 4 hours sleep – but she did win eventually.
Of course we had to explore after a huge breakfast (included in the accommodation cost) and went for a walk at 10:00am. By 10:10am Gail had managed to get us picked up by a local open-air-type taxi man. He obviously thought that I had sucker written all over me and only took us to places where I was certain to spend money – and of course he was right – but at least our accommodation and travel is now assured throughout our time in Thailand.
Went to the night market where we shopped briefly, ate and watched some of the local entertainment which was very similar to anything on Australian Idol. It has been hard to find time to do this writing and it is now 9:09pm – a little after 1:00am in Clifton Springs. During the afternoon I had difficulty dragging Gail out of what was called Computer City – multi, multi story electronic/computer stuff (something like Market Square and Bay City combined together and then multiply by 3) and every shop sells computer and multimedia stuff, except for a few food shops. Food is very cheap, taxi rides also are very cheap. Most other stuff is cheaper than Australian prices but not a real bargain. My most poignant moment for the day (still haven’t been here 24 hours yet) was the message we found on the internet from Jodie which had covered 2 days her time. It was detailed, reassuring and very, very sweet. The pictures topped it off and we both had tears in our eyes – how beautiful it was to us both.
