malaysia/singapore

Although we didn't have enough time in either Malaysia or Singapore, we still managed to enjoy our time there thoroughly. Kuala Lumpur is a stunning city in parts, and although the subway is extremely overcrowded, the public transportation system is still not bad, and is inexpensive. We enjoyed visiting the Petronas Towers Skybridge, and although they wouldn't let us go to the top, we did get a pretty sweet 3D prep video before heading to the 42nd storey. Other highlights of KL included eating delicious naan and roti in an Indian restaurant (a feat we repeated in Singapore's Little India), eating two kilos of lichee by myself, and walking through the market near China Town. I purchased a sweet adidas bag for 6 bucks, but promptly left it in an internet cafe. Lance bought himself a "Gucci" wallet. Singapore was even more efficient than KL. We enjoyed a more spacious subway, free national wireless, and fluent English speakers. The only downside to Singapore is that it is much more expensive than any of the other southeast asian countries (our hostel cost $30 per person!). We went to see the giant concert hall and theatre that look like durians, and stumbled across the public library. At 15 storeys tall, it was definitely one of the poshest libraies I have ever seen. Phil and I couldn't help but check it out for 20 minutes or so. In the streets before entering Little India the faces slowly changed until all 100% were Indian. It was quite a change in just a minute or so. The walk from downtown was instantly worth it on our first bite of fantastic roti with fish curry and dahl. YUM! I hope to one day I can return to these cities and countries and spend more time enjoying what they have to offer.

lao

Last Wednesday Lance and I took a brief trip to visit Laos (we've become accustomed to calling it Lao since the French apparently added the "s" as a silent letter). To get to Laos from Bangkok, we took an overnight train to Nong Khai, Thailand, which is just across the border from Vientiane, the capital of Lao. We decided to try third class: 13 hours for a mere $6.50. The actual trip wasn't so bad, but the next day I was wishing for more than 45 minutes of sleep.
Lao was a nice break from the hectic atmosphere of Bangkok. No more horrible traffic, no more rushing everywhere, no more worrying about getting hit by a car. In Lao, they take life at a much slower pace. Maybe it's because they don't want to run into an UXO (unexploded object). Regardless, we passed a very slow day in Vientiane completing activities like eating at a vegetarian buffet, playing Scrabble at a bakery while eating delicious pastries, and becoming generally frustrated with the lack of working ATMs. That night we took a bus to Luang Prabang, about 9 hours to the north. Luang Prabang, located on a peninsula between the Mekong and another large, muddy river, was even more relaxed than Vientiane. We rented some bicycles for the day and rode around the town, checking out several temple complexes, eating delicious sandwiches (although I still suspect them of causing my current discomfort), and again playing Scrabble in a cafe. We even took a ride across the river to look at some caves (they were overrated).
On the way back to Vientiane the following day, our bus broke down. A strut on the rear axel snapped, and immediately caused a noise similar to grinding gears, only much louder. The driver and some of his helpers jacked it up a little, traipsed off into the woods, and returned with a log, which they proceeded to shove behind the wheel above the strut. I'm still not sure how we managed to limp the rest of the way, especially since the bumps only got much worse without the assorption of the strut.

june mystery picture

I decided to post a mystery picture (each month?). The reader who can tell me what the picture is of will receive a hand drawn postcard (don't expect anything good . . .). Be sure to include your address if you think you know what it is. This month's picture is of a famous attraction in Bangkok. We visited it on Sabbath.

bangkok - june 13-17

I mentioned to the parents before I left that living in Bangkok for several weeks would be the perfect start to the trip. It has been. Although many people might not enjoy relaxing in an apartment playing Scrabble, Lance and I have embraced it. We have played four times so far, I won once. The last game Lance won 340 to 339. But besides hanging out in or around the apartment, we have also done some fun things around the town.

On Friday we attended May Kaidee's cooking class. We learned how to make about ten Thai dishes including tom yam soup, isaan vegetables, fried vegetables with ginger and cashews, pad thai, peanut sauce, spring rolls, massaman curry, green curry, pumpkin hummus, green papaya salad, and sticky rice (with mango).










Our instructor was a little crazy. She made us dance to songs blasted from her cell phone and sing a silly song which started with the line "sap sap sap sap sap". I'm still not sure what it meant. Anyways, she claimed that the food turns out much better if you are happy and laughing the entire time. Here you can see bowls of vegetables and spices cut up and ready to be used. As we cooked, another girl washed and cut ingredients so that our bowls were always full. When we made green curry in Phil's apartment it took much longer. We took the class with two other girls, one from Chile, and one from France.


On Saturday night we went to "Sabushi" - a sushi conveyor-belt restaurant. Besides eating as much sushi as we wanted, we got to make our own soup with ingredients that passed by. In this shot Lance and I are eating some sushi with roe on the outside. We didn't quite get up the nerve to try octopus. Maybe next time.








On Sabbath afternoon we went to China town to get materials for making journals. We purchased paper, cloth, glue, and other necessities and have been working on creating our own travel journals ever since. Phil has already made two, so he has been showing Lance and I the best way to create them. Lance's will be green with white pages; mine will be red with black pages. After getting the materials, we took a boat down the river a ways and enjoyed the temples around China town.







PS If this post doesn't look right, try adjusting the browser window. I need to change the template so it doesn't vary from one browser to another . . .

may kaidee's cooking class

bangkok pics

delicious meal of phat thai, som tam (green papaya salad),
and sticky rice



bangkok skyline from phil's apartment balcony

bangkok - june 10

Bangkok is hot, but not unbearable. Really, it's about the perfect weather for sleeping with a fan. A fan that's blowing directly on you at full power, that is. I haven't been tempted to use hot water for my shower yet, although accustomed Phil turns on the small insta-heater in the "cool" of the morning.

The apartment is small, but very sufficient. There is a bathroom with open shower, a small balcony perfect for drying clothes, and a good amount of cabinet and shelf space for storage.

Good and bad smells abound in Bangkok. It's very common to go from the aromas of delicious coconut milk to sewer or from pad thai to strange smelling fish in just a few steps. I never really know whether to be holding my nose or inhaling deeply. Mostly I just inhale deeply and suffer the consequences.

Food is of course delicious. We have eaten at several roadside restaurants and stands similar to the "menú" of Perú. Chicken vegetable stir-fry with fried egg, pad thai noodles, and som tham (a salad made of green papaya and flavored with chilis and lime) and sticky rice are some of the dished I have enjoyed. I hope to get some delicious smelling curry in the near future.

On a side note: If you ask a question in your comment, I'll try and answer them either indirectly in a new post, or in a self comment on the same post.

qatar airways

Qatar Airways is nice. Before getting on the plane (and since I had an extra 24 hours to burn before leaving), I looked up some reviews. Although some of them gave the company good ratings, the reality was far better than I expected.

1. Entertainment. This category was by the far what stood out the most. I could choose from 75 films (which ranged from the 1969 Italian Job to Juno or Jumper of this year; countless TV shows (including our favorite "Flight of the Conchords"); endless games varying from speed racer to backgammon, from virtual golf to battleship; a huge database of music with a special "100 Greatest Singles" list; and other sections which I failed to explore such as live satellite TV.

2. Food. Perhaps not ideal for vegetarians, but the food was quite gourmet. Dinner consisted of lamb or chicken; delicious mashed potatoes; green beans with coconut; turkey, apple, golden raisin, and romaine salad; and strawberry cheesecake and Godiva chocolates for dessert. And as expected of a quality airline, we were provided with hot damp towels to wash our hands with before eating.

3. Comfort. The chairs were quite nice for economy, and on the second leg from Doha to Bangkok I had three seats to myself. Perfect.

In conclusion: Qatar Airways deserves the 5 star rating they advertise.

PS I had several discussions before leaving about how to pronounce Qatar. In the airplane they didn't really put an emphasis on either syllable. However, it is definitely not pronounced like "cutter" where the "t" sounds more like a "d".

bangkoscow map

Hint: If you click on it, it gets really big.

june five

5:18PM. I should be landing in Bangkok in exactly 3 hours and 27 minutes. Instead, I've just picked four quarts of delicious strawberries from my grandfather's garden. So what happened? This happened:

June 4:

9:00PM I arrive at Dulles two hours before scheduled departure and join a long line of primarily Indian passengers (connecting to Bombay).

10:00PM I finally reach the ticket counter and am chosen for a random security check - they ask me for the credit card number with which I bought my ticket. I explain to them that it was cancelled because Visa couldn't figure out why someone from Boonsboro would buy a one-way ticket to Bangkok through Qatar. "I threw it away this morning!" I say. No luck.

10:30PM The americanized aussie issues me another ticket, for June 5, arriving 24 hours later.

In the words of Phillip Gray: "Don't you feel safer. I know I do. Makes me want to curse and laugh, all at the same time."

That pretty much sums it up.

trina check this out!

Hey Trina - I worked for an hour or so on this blog, and it came out decently. Thanks for the tips. I think I could do better with more time, and maybe I went a little wacko with the colors, but I like it alright.