January 2020 – The Kinetic Canuck

CNY 2020 – Day 9 – The Batek People

We had 3 full days to enjoy in the jungle, and we did our best to spend them well. Of course, the heat was certainly a factor for how much we could do every day, so river and evening activities were always our preference.

We decided to begin our stay in the jungle with a “rapid shooting” activity. Basically, we got into a boat and moved through some tiny rapids and got a little wet. Then our tour guide rocked the boat back and forth to make sure we got REALLY wet. That was the end of that part of the tour.

Don’t worry. The sun has us dry in no time!

The second part of our trip was to visit an Orang Asli (Aboriginal) village. I didn’t have high hopes, because these types of activities are often very kitsch, but I was pleasantly surprised with the way the tour was done.

They still live in traditional huts that they built themselves. These huts can last several years.

Unlike many tours, where you just awkwardly walk through the town and look at people… In this tour, we actually learned about the tribe. Most of them didn’t speak English, but they all speak Batek and Malay, so our guide acted as a translator.

Our guide, showing us the tools that are used by Batek people, and explaining where they get these tools from

I learned a lot about the Batek people here. We watched how they traditionally started fires. No one tried telling us that it’s still how they do it, because now the tribe uses matches, but it was cool to see that they learned to use the best material the jungle had to get their fires lit. In under a minute, the villager had a flame growing. It was impressive.

Handmade rope and a very light and dry type of wood

We also learned how they still hunt. Blow pipes are still used today and are quite accurate and a reasonably good means to catch prey up in the trees. They taught us how they make the tranquilizer darts as well as how to use the blow pipe.

Every piece of the dart and the pipe comes from the jungle. Even the paralyzing poison they use comes from a tree

They use a special leaf from the jungle as sand paper. It’s very rough and helps make the blow dart balancers more smooth

He carefully made a dart for us, showing the process from beginning to end

Some tourists even gave it a try! I bowed out because I’m feeling a little paranoid about putting my mouth on something other people have put their mouths on at the moment…

Dave is pretty good! He said that the pipe is very easy to use

What I found most educational about this visit was the way that these tribes have been allowed to continue living traditionally in Malaysia. In Canada, aboriginals had their identities stolen from them through residential schools and even now, they are given useless land and people don’t understand why that’s a problem. They lost their way of living and have never been given the chance to get it back.

They were taken from their homes, put in European clothing, forced to take on the Christian religion, and quite often, were victims of abuse and sexual assaults. It’s no wonder things are the way they are in Canada even now. None of this happened very long ago after all…

In Malaysia, the tribes have been given much more freedom. They are allowed to live and hunt in large designated areas, and they’re allowed to live traditionally. We saw plenty of young kids going into town for school, but usually at about 11 years old, they start to learn how to live off the land. They are learning to read and write but they also know how to make traditional weapons and how to rely on the rainforest

This tribe has been living in this location for about a year now but they are nomadic. They can leave at any time, and eventually will. Our guide explained that tourism dollars is a very small part of their income. They are much more dependant on the rain forest than they are tourists.

The Batek people use the rainforest to make an income. They search for sandle wood and other rare jungle items that they can sell to the villagers. This particular tribe wore “regular” clothing and shoes they they could buy with the money they earn from the rainforest and tourism. They also use the rainforest for medicine, but if an illness is serious, they know to go to a nearby hospital. They are a part of Malaysia, but are still allowed their traditional way of life. It was really beautiful to see.

They make little souvenirs for tourists to buy, and they make a bit off the tours, but overall they do just fine without our money.

It got me considering my own country, as traveling often does. It made me sad that we can’t have this in Canada. Any chance for this was lost when the government took kids away from their families and never let them learn the traditional ways of their tribes. Too much was lost during that time and it’s not something that can easily be brought back.

Imagine for a moment if your kids were taken away by the government and you were told that you don’t have the right to raise them or to live the way you have always lived your life.

Of course, things aren’t perfect for the Batek people. An outbreak of measles killed 15 Batek people last year. With a population of only around 1500 people to begin with, this perfectly preventable disease did a number on the tribe it affected. A simple vaccination would have saved a lot of lives. As much as it’s wonderful to live off the land and stick to natural remedies when possible… It’s still foolish to avoid modern medicine when it’s available to you.

People forget just how horrible the measles are because vaccines have more or less erased this disease from North America. The disease is highly contagious and can quickly result in death if left untreated. There is a reason why there is such a push for vaccines in Canada.

Our last day in the jungle we heard that some tourists from the Netherlands would be bringing the Batek village some medicine for a Gibbon who had fallen out of a tree and had been abandoned by its mother. The poor thing has a broken arm and an infection as a result (as best as I could understand). The village wants to protect this baby Gibbon, but because gibbons are endangered, they are reluctant to send it away unless they know it will be well cared for. The tourists are doing a great thing by bringing the medicine to the village.

He ended up pooping all over me but I didn’t care. The poor thing was so nervous, and everyone was holding him like he might attack. He just wanted to be cuddled close and feel safe.

I have 2 more posts planned for the jungle. One will be about all the wildlife we saw there! Check back soon!!

CNY 2020 – Day 8 – Getting to the Jungle

Travel days can be a bit of a bummer, but when your travel day involves going deep into a 130 million year old rain forest, things get a lot more interesting!

It was quite the long trip across the country. There are several ways to get there. We decided on a bus and a boat.

We began in Kuala Lampur. The bus company we booked, Han Tours, was located right next to a Travel Lodge, so we booked a night there and were waiting outside for our bus at 8:00am.

Unfortunately, our bus wasn’t a bus. It was a mini van, which is much less comfortable and much more crowded. When you travel through Asia, you learn that ‘bus’ can mean a lot of different things. I’ve been in nice buses, small buses, mini van buses, buses with standing room, buses with live chickens in them, buses driven by maniacs. This wasn’t the worst bus we’ve seen.

It ended up being another passenger who made this trip unbearable, and not the lack of leg room. He caughed and sneezed without covering his mouth the whole 3 hour trip. Coronovirus has me acutely aware of coughers and sneezers at the moment and, unfortunately, we couldn’t find masks in KL, so I felt extremely exposes in that enclosed space. I used a lot of hand sanitizer, and gave a lot of dirty looks on our journey to the jungle.

3 hours later, I was thrilled to get off that bus and away from “Sir Sneezes A Lot”. Kuala Tembeling was nice. We had lots of time to kill while we waited for the boat to pick us up. It’s faster to take a bus from KT to the little jungle town where we were staying, but who can resist a boat ride through the jungle!!

If you’re planning to take this route to the jungle, be warned: the the boats are pretty small and there isn’t much room for luggage. It’s pretty handy that you can pay your National park fee in that little town though, and you can also have some lunch while you’re there. Sadly, the cater to “Western tastes”, meaning the food is lacking in flavour and mostly just deep fried and salty.

I also made friends while we waited for our boat

Once the boat arrived, it wasn’t long before we were on our way. It was quite a long ride; 3 hours. We were pretty uncomfortable by the end of it, shifting our weight around to get feeling back in our numb bums, but I’d recommend the trip anyway. It was gorgeous.

It was nice to get some fresh air after being in the bus. The bald guy near the front is the germ-spreader. I made sure to stay as far away from him as possible ?

One other thing worth mentioning to anyone who’s considering taking this trip: bring sun screen! The boat is covered overhead, but as the sun starts moving down in the sky, you’ll get a sun burn if you’re on the left side of the boat. My arms are now 2 different shades of tan as a result.

Binoculars might be a good idea too. You might be able to spot some wild life. We did see some very beautiful birds.

It was a beautiful trip to a beautiful town. We’ve loved our stay here so far and I have plenty to write about it! Check back soon!

The riverfront in Kuala Tahan. There are several floating restaurants down there. They all have Western and Malaysian choices

The little street near our hotel. The town is very remote and quite rural. I’m a little surprised we have working data, but wifi is scarce here

CNY 2020 – Day 7 – Coronovirus

I don’t think it’s possible for me to write about this holiday and not discuss what’s going on back “home” in China. The Coronovirus outbreak has been a very large part of our lives throughout this entire trip. When we aren’t reading up on news ourselves, we’re in contact with people back in Suzhou who didn’t go on holiday. It’s been kind of wild.

China is in the midst of building a hospital… In 6 days. There are actually 2 of these being built because most likely, a lot more people are going to be getting sick

The virus started in Wuhan, in a wet market. People there were selling exotic meats like bat and civet, and that’s how the virus began. We had been hearing about the pneumonia-causing illness in December already, but it wasn’t actually until we got to Malaysia that things got bad. First the market in Wuhan was closed, then the city shut down. Then, several others shut down too.

We live in Suzhou, which is about 300km from the city of Wuhan. There have been only 8 cases in Suzhou and no deaths, as of now. One of the infected Suzhou residents was even cured! Still, people are very nervous about it all.

I’ve never been to Hubei province, although it’s pretty close via high speed train

Watching this go down from so far away is kind of surreal. I keep seeing photos of empty grocery store shelves and I keep getting notices of all the venues and events that are shutting down because of the virus. Everyone has basically been told to stay home. People are going stir crazy.

It’s worse in Wuhan, where the city is in complete lock down. Roads have been physically closed to stop people from getting out. Unfortunately, 5 million people left Wuhan before officials realized that this virus is so contagious. This is why it’s spread so far throughout China.

We don’t really know when we’re going to be able to go back. Our three cats are being cared for by our usual pet sitter, and we’re ok to stay here in Malaysia for a while, but it’s still a strange feeling to know that we can’t go back home because it’s not really safe to yet.

Many flights have been cancelled already

The government has been really careful over the last week. Schools are being shut down for an extra week after the holiday and non-essential businesses are closed until February 8th. There’s even been a hotline set up where people can report businesses that are trying to get their workers back to work early. It hasn’t stopped several schools from trying to get teachers to come back early to sit in empty classrooms, in the name of “getting their dollar’s worth” out of us. They don’t want us feeling like we have extra holidays…

I’m fairly concerned about the emptying grocery stores. Fresh vegetables and fruit are in short supply.

All of this is leading to some panic, of course. There are a lot of rumours going around and quite a bit of misinformation. People are abandoning their pets and freaking out on other expats in the Wechat groups too. I’ve seen name calling and full on melt downs. People are scared and they want other people to be scared too so that they don’t feel so alone.

Of course, some people are creating memes in their spare time, which I think is a lot more productive than going over worst case scenarios in your head.

I’ve been trying very hard to stay calm. I’ve dealt with anxiety since I was a teenager and one of the best ways I know how to cope is to surround myself with positive people. I choose my friends carefully. But… I also feel like I have a role to play as an expat community leader in Suzhou. I am either the owner or administrator of multiple Wechat groups, and thousands of people use these groups to get information. I need to make sure that I’m there, providing good information and stopping bad information from spreading.

I’ve been trying to encourage people to stay calm, stay isolated and stay clean.

Still, I’m lucky. I’m facing this from the safety of a country that has been mostly unaffected by the virus. I have a reliable person taking care of my pets and the ability to stay abroad for a little while longer, although, to be honest I’d much rather be home, safe and sound with my furry family.

I just want to be home, curled up with Oliver

For now, I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing: staying up to date with facts, washing my hands frequently, using hand sanitizer when necessary, and staying out of crowds. It’s all I can do.

Here are a couple more coronavirus memes to brighten a rather gloomy post:

There are lots of these ones floating around including one of a guy who cut a hole in his mask so that he could smoke out of it

During Chinese New year, these red envelopess are given out with money in them. Of course this year, with masks being in short supply…. This is a great gift!

Probably my favorite meme so far. Chinese people love to tell others to drink hot water…. For everything. Cold water is bad for you…. Hot water will cure fevers, ear infections, pneumonia and probably Coronovirus too

My next post will be about traveling to the jungle! Stay tuned! (I’m almost caught up!?)

CNY 2020 – Day 6 – Sentosa Island

The 6th day of our holiday was spent on Sentosa Island; a major tourism attraction in Singapore. We booked our tickets for the cable car ride ahead of time, and decided we’d figure out what we wanted to do when we got there.

The view was beautiful from the cable car!

Upon arrival, we quickly realized that without tripling our budget for the day, there was no way we’d be able to do it all, so we settled on 2 of the lower prices options (proving you can do Sentosa on a limited budget).

There is a Universal Studios on Sentosa islands and also a Madame Tussauds.

One thing we learned after walking around for a while was that transportation on the island is mostly free. There is a ‘hop on and off” type bus which costs 25 Singaporean dollars per person (the conversion is almost the same as Canadian dollars), but there is also a monorail and shuttles that can help you get around the island as well.

One of the buses we used to get around the Island

Our first stop was the Trick Eye Museum. It was pretty hot out so we figured we should spend the peak of the day indoors, where it was air conditioned.

Now, I’m sure part of my problem with this museum was my understanding of what it was. When I hear ‘trick eye’, I mostly think of optical illusions. I was expecting silly mirrors, maybe some amateur magic or just good old fashion tricks of the eye. But the museum only had 1 or 2 of those types of displays. The rest were all basically the type of thing you can do with phone apps like Beaty Cam and Instagram. Taking photos of myself with bunny ears or in a ballerina outfit isn’t really something I’ll do for free… Let alone paying $25 each to do it.

There was nothing ‘trick’ about this one. I just squeezed between a statue’s arms…

This one was actually pretty good. It was an actual trick Eye display

There were definitely a few good laughs, mostly in the ones that required videos.

Dave told me roughly where they were and I played along

Keep in mind that none of these special effects worked without looking through an app. So we were just goofing around in front of large posters

It didn’t really help that my phone couldn’t even run the app. I have a Oneplus6, so I’m not sure what the problem was. Even Dave’s phone glitched quite a bit. All in all, I wouldn’t visit a museum like this again. It’s too bad too, because there were other things I wanted to do, but after dropping $50 for us to spend 45 minutes there taking selfies… We didn’t have the budget to do other stuff we would have enjoyed more.

There was some weird stuff in that place!

Our second stop was Fort Siloso. We got there only 40 minutes before close so we didn’t get to see much, but it was a nice walk anyway.

It was a British fort during the second world war

Some displays were set up to help create ambience

On our way out of fort Siloso, we stumbled upon an Asian food market, so we decided to walk around.

The market wasn’t quite open yet but all the businesses were getting set up. Part of setting up included taking photos of all the food offerings from each shop. That was sort of neat.

Representatives from each food stall came for the photo shoot

They also all said as prayer before getting started

The trip back via cable car was equally beautiful during the sun set.

All in all, I enjoyed our trip to Sentosa. If we had doubled our budget ($200 instead of $100) we could have done a lot more, but when you go on holiday as much as we do, you’ve gotta give up some things. Singapore is overall quite an expensive country, so I wasn’t super surprised at the costs, but was disappointed in the value in some cases.

I did get to see baby peacocks, so that was pretty awesome!

Check back soon! More posts to come!

CNY 2020 – Day 5 – Gardens by the Bay

We didn’t have much time in Singapore, but we knew there were a couple of things we simply had to do and see. One of those things was Gardens by the Bay.

A photo taken from the bridge going into GBTB.

Strange floating eggs. This whole area feels otherworldly.

We knew we were going to enjoy this place even before we got there. So much green!!

You’ve probably seen Singapore’s super trees in photos before but nothing compares to seeing them in person. These solar powered beauties range from 25-50 meters tall. They are beautiful, provide shade in the heat and act as a huge tourism pull for the city. Best of all, it’s free to visit Supertree Grove, even during the nightly light show!

Still, it’s definitely worth spending a bit of money to see the rest of the park. The Flower Dome is a beautiful area full of plants, flowers and trees from all around the world. Best of all, it’s climate controlled, giving you a break from the hot Singaporean sun.

A beautiful shot Dave got of a bird in the flower dome

This flower was artificial but so beautiful!

There are various themes set up throughout the dome, with Alice in Wonderland being my favourite. Everything was so well done and so well maintained!

The first one we spotted was the Cheshire cat. I dressed as this iconic cat for Halloween this year!

Pooh and Piglet: another theme found within the Flower Dome

Another amazing sight was the wood carvings seen throughout the dome. They were beautiful works of art.

The Cloud Forest is also well worth a visit. With an artificial waterfall and so many flowers and plants to appreciate, this area is a lovely way to spend some time. The air smells so fresh and it’s relaxing being surrounded by so much vegetation. We really enjoyed our time there.

It smelled like heaven in the cloud forest!

The Cloud Forest had some really interesting displays as well. It didn’t seem as big or as impressive as Flower Dome at first glance, but then we realized that in The Cloud forest, you go up!

They also incorporated Lego into some of the gardens. See if you can spot the plastic flowers!

The skyway is yet another beautiful way to experience the garden. I am still dealing with quite a bit of pain in my foot, so I decided to skip that attraction and Dave went solo while I stretched out my tired muscles. He got some beautiful shots.

The Marina Sands Hotel the background: one of Singapore’s most iconic buildings

The bridge that takes you from one Supertree to the next

The most amazing feature at Gardens by the Bay is their nightly light show. They do this every night at 7:45 and 8:45. We caught the late show and it was incredible!

The eggs at the entrance of the park light up at night

The view from the lookout point is spectacular

There was an eerie song playing with the eggs. It felt like we were in another world

Even without the show itself, GBTB is an amazing sight at night. When the music starts though, it’s breathtaking. The park was full of people admiring this spectacular presentation of lights and music. It exceeded my expectations.

This was before the light show even began!

If you’re going to Singapore, you simply can’t skip Gardens by the Bay. It’s a delightful place. It’s so well maintained and clean and there’s so much to enjoy!

The trees were coordinated with each other as well as with music. The night we saw the show, the music was a Waltz

Finally, here’s a lovely video for you to enjoy!

For best effect, watch the video with the sound on! It’s really quite amazing!

Be sure to check back soon! I have a few other posts on the go and now that I’m in the relaxing rainforest… I’ll have more time for writing!

CNY 2020 – Day 4 – KL to Singapore

I’ve grown spoiled with China’s high speed trains, and I figured our trip to Singapore would be a quick one, given its proximity to Kuala Lumpur. I was wrong…

China’s high speed trains are incredible. They’re fast, cheap and can take you just about anywhere on the East coast!

A few years back, Singapore cancelled the train coming directly from Malaysia’s capital, leaving only two options: bus or plane.

After our experiences in Laos (where they sell motion sickness pills at every pit stop), I was a bit nervous about the bus…

For this trip, I tried very hard to minimize the number of flights we booked. Flying is not great for the environment, but we aren’t left with many other options during our holidays in this part of the world. South East Asia doesn’t always have the best roads, so flying is often our best (and safest) option.

With poor infrastructure and winding mountain roads to worry about, driving can be hazardous in South East Asia

We ended up looking into both options and saw that although flights are generally very cheap going from KL to Singapore, they quadrupled over Chinese New Year. The buses were more expensive too but still cheaper overall, so we decided to take the longer (and more environmentally friendly) option for this trip.

The plus side of driving is that you get to see more of the country. I’ll never forget the drive from Vang Vieng up to Luang Prabang. Breathtaking!

We arrived a half hour before our scheduled departure, as recommended by the booking website (we used www.easybook.com). We were a little annoyed when we tried to board the bus with our full cups of coffee, only to be told they weren’t allowed. We drank as much as we could and left our half-full coffees behind, much to our chagrin.

The bus was clean and about half empty. With buses going to Singapore nearly every hour, I imagine they don’t often fill all the way up.

These are all the companies making the trip daily. Each company makes various trips throughout the day.

There are a lot of different bus companies making this trip, but we decided to go with The One Tours. They rated well online, while some of the other companies had awful reviews. Some bus drivers refused to even take passengers all the way into Singapore, leaving them stranded at the border. Aside from our wasted coffees, we were very happy with our experience and I’d recommend The One Tours without hesitation.

This is what our bus looked like. Lots of space and comfy seats

Because there is a border crossing, this trip into Singapore has a few stops (in addition to regular rest stops). The first stop is to leave Malaysia. You’re stamped out and sent on your way. The process doesn’t take long as long as you don’t have anything to declare. We had to put our bags through an x-ray machine but it wasn’t nearly as much of a hassle as at the airport.

Singapore is a very small island. The bus drives over a bridge to get there. No ferries!

After “leaving” Malaysia, you actually need to get back on the bus for a few more minutes until you reach customs on Singapore’s side. Here, you’ll get stamped in, asked a few questions and then be on your way!

It’s all very simple if you’re lucky enough to be Canadian. I’m sure it isn’t as easy with other passports. You’ll want to check your government website ahead of time, just in case you need to apply for a Visa before you arrive

I should note that each bus company does pick ups and drop offs at different locations. We were dropped off near a hotel in Singapore, where we were able to get onto WiFi to order a Grab (like Didi or Uber). It turns out that we could have gotten cheap roaming on our Malaysia Sim cards if we had done it before leaving, but once we were in Singapore it was too late, so of course, we had to get a Singaporean sim card too.

Each of these companies has different pick up and drop off points so make sure to double check once you’ve booked!

If you’re planning to take the bus out to Singapore, I can reassure you that it’s nothing like Laos or The Philippines . There will be no live (or dead) farm animals on your bus and the seats are comfy. Best of all, it’s a safe and reliable way to get around.

No one was sitting in either of the seats next to me. A very relaxing journey!

My next few posts are going to be long ones! I’ll be writing them on the bus ride back to Kuala Lumpur! Check back soon!

CNY 2020 – Day 3 – Bukit Bintang

One of the best things about living in Asia is undoubtedly the food. Food markets are one of the first things we look for in any new city, and that’s how we ended up in Bukit Bintang last night.

Some of the best food markets we’ve seen have been in Taipei, Taiwan. We’ve also enjoyed some great meals at night markets in Bangkok (Thailand), Luang Prabang (Laos), Danang (Vietnam) and of course plenty in China too. Kuala Lumpur is special though because of the diversity you find in their food markets.

They sure love their Durian in Malaysia!

Malaysia is one of the most diverse places we’ve had the fortune of visiting. There are strong Hindu, Muslim and Chinese influences here, and each culture provides its own dining sensations! Plus, of course, Malaysia has its own ethnic foods as well.

Malaysian Milk Tea and Nasi Lemak: Malaysia’s national food (rice cooked in coconut cream)

We did as we often do, and followed our noses though the Bukit Bintang market. If something looked good, we stopped and tried it. Plenty looked good!!!

There was dim sum to enjoy. You could choose from a variety of different dumplings. I especially liked the mushroom and pork and the curry dumplings.

There were also several bbq places. Dave especially enjoyed this one.

Eventually you run out of room and it becomes very hard to choose what you’ll eat.

This little girl looks about as stressed as I did when I realized I didn’t have room to try it all!

There’s often live entertainment in these markets as well. Several bands were set up just outside Bukit Bintang metro station, playing live music. Crowds formed and enjoyed the show.

The next part of our journey takes us to Singapore!! Stay tuned!

CNY 2020 – Day 2 – Airports

Living abroad, I spend a fair amount of time in airplanes, at airports and on long flights. Between long queues, lost luggage and rude co-passengers, I’ve really grown to hate flying.

We’ve managed to have our luggage misplaced a total of 4 times in the last 5 years…. It’s a horrible feeling

More than once we’ve nearly missed flights due to other passengers and poorly managed airports. So many people wait until the last minute to check in and then cut in front of everyone else so they don’t miss their flights. Those people suck. Please don’t be those people.

Crowds are bad enough. Crowds this size + people repeatedly cutting in front of you are much, much worse

Security is also a brutal point in the whole flying process. I am always very polite to the staff in that area, mostly because I know they control my fate… But I like to think I’m pretty well liked by security personnel as well because I simply follow the rules.

I don’t bring liquids and insist on drinking them before I’ll go through the rest of security
I pack all my electronics into an easily accessible part of my bag so I can get at them quickly.
I pack my miniature liquids and gels all together, so they can be easily retrieved
I don’t fly with belts, change in my pockets, excessive jewelry or difficult shoes (many airports require you to take them off)
I pay attention and hand over my passport when needed. I move through the queue aware of my surroundings…
I don’t bring half eaten sandwiches and burgers in my carry on
I don’t bring half drunk alcohol in my carry on

These are all things I’ve seen people do by the way… It shocks me how hard people make this for themselves. So many people don’t even pay attention to the line up. Dave and I always arrive with our bags half unpacked and ready to go.

Get yourself one of these bags. They’re a life saver

I get especially annoyed with other passengers when it comes time to board the plane. Getting stuck in an aisle while people struggle to get oversized bags into the overhead bins has got to be one of my biggest pet peeves. It’s like they’ve never flown before! Please don’t be this person!!!

Also annoying: people who come into the plain with bags and bags of duty free and shopping bags.

This guy hit me in the head with his bag about 4 times while be waited for people in front of him to get out of his way so he could store his back pack. No one is comfortable at this point in the process so please do what you can to make it easier!! Get your book and headphones out of your bag before you board. Move quickly and don’t stand in the aisle!

Once seated and ready to go, the next concern is always what sort of neighbour I’ll have. Yesterday, I sat next to a lady who seemed to be unaware that she had someone sitting on either side of her.

She took up her space and half of mine with her newspaper and kept bumping me with her wet bag of fruit. People are strange…

Dave also sat next to a weirdo. The man kept picking at his face and putting his dead skin on the ground. I’ve also seen people clip their nails in airplanes, pick their noses and in a couple of cases…spit on the floor….

I didn’t take this picture but I’ve seen airplanes this dirty. Especially on longer flights. I don’t understand how people would want to be surrounded by so much garbage!!

Dave and I are lucky enough to do a lot of traveling, and we’ve gotten better at it over time. I’m sure I ticked some people off on my first flights. So, if you’re reading this, and you do any of these things, please consider how your behavior effects everyone else’s experience.

Final tips:

Be at the airport, standing in line to check in, 2 hours before your flight.
If it’s a national holiday and lots of people are traveling, try and be there even earlier if possible.
Pack smart! Don’t bring stuff that you know you can’t bring. They are going to take away your water bottle, so just save everyone the time and get rid of it before the lineup
Put all your gels and liquids in a plastic baggie, together!
Don’t wear knee high boots, excessive jewelry or difficult belts and don’t show up with pockets full of change and garbage. It slows everything down!
Take out the stuff you want for the flight BEFORE you board the plane. Don’t wait until hundreds of people are waiting to get to their seat to retrieve your book from the depths of your carry-on abyss.
Don’t go overboard buying duty free and other items at the airport. We all have to share that limited overhead space.
Keep your stuff in your space. There isn’t a lot of room in the plane and I don’t want your newspaper hitting me in the face.
Don’t leave a mess!
Be nice to the cabin crew. They have to put up with this every day. They very well may be the most patient people on the planet.

We’re in Kuala Lumpur now! Many more posts to come!!

CNY 2020 – Day 1 – Bonus Holidays

I’ve never been much of a fan of Shanghai. It’s polluted, crowded, expensive and it takes forever to get anywhere. Unfortunately, there is no airport in Suzhou, which means that any time we travel, we have to go to Shanghai.

Things have become better in the past couple of years, since we discovered some great restaurants and Shanghai’s vibrant expat scene.

Turkish appies in Found 158. We also very much enjoy the Vietnamese restaurant down there called Cyclo

The Hop Project was a game changer for us. They serve gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches on sour dough bread. I’ve never seen this in Suzhou.

Now, we spend the night before our flights in this megacity, to enjoy food and atmospheres we don’t really get in Suzhou. It’s become a bit of a bonus vacation for us, something I never really thought was possible.

Last night we had an especially cool experience at our favorite Tapas bar in China, Tres Perros. From its music to its clientele, Tres Perros takes me back to Spain. The food and drinks are on point and the atmosphere of the bar is just like we experienced last year as we traveled around Europe.

Even some of the Chinese staff speak Spanish and they all speak some English. Last night, while we were enjoying our dinner, one of the waiters came by and explained that he had a friend who had been in an accident and who had lost his leg. He asked if we could help him out at all. Before I knew it, everyone over at the table next to us was ordering him food, drinks and just having laughs with him. They were Spanish expats and it was a wonderful thing to see. They didn’t pity the disabled man. They just treated him like he belonged there and that he was welcomed there. It was a beautiful reminder that there are amazing people in the world.

Shanghai has won me over. It took a while but I’m glad we’re friends now. After all… Who doesn’t want bonus vacation?

Day 10: Spas

There are probably about 100 spas in the small city of Danang. I spent quite a bit of time in them this trip, as I’ve tried sorting out the muscles in my leg, and I had an array of experiences from excellent to “what the heck just happened to me?”

These are just Danang’s most high end and fancy spas. Most spas are small, and just do the basics: foot massage, oil massage and hot stone massage.

Most of these spas are run by women who sleep during the afternoon while tourists are at the beach and work hard in the evenings, when tourists are walking around, looking for dinner and something to do.

The prices are astoundingly low. You can get a 1 hour foot and leg massage for about $10. A hot oil massage is usually around $15. The fancier places have larger packages with more options (facials, body scrubs, mud baths etc…), but even the high end places are reasonably priced when compared to Canada.

Dave and I got hot stone foot rubs here. The masseuses were lovely.

Of course, in Canada, you’re paying for a certified professional who went to school and learned about the body. In South East Asia, you’ll get some masseuses that know a thing or two but you’ll also get ones that don’t seem to understand that the human body isn’t just a large punching bag.

They forgot to advertise their UFC- Style massage…

We decided to go for Thai massages together on new year’s Eve at a little place called Kaly Spa. It was the worst massage of my life and anything but a Thai massage! They punched and slapped me, and dug their toes into my ribs. Multiple times I had to ask the woman to ease up. At one point it felt like she was trying to remove my shoulder blade. She dug her fingers under it and pulled and pulled until I actually got mad. And I’d like to say you get what you pay for, but this was the most expensive massage I went for the entire trip (it cost about $30).

Of course, I also had some very good experiences. Thuy Nguyen Spa was fantastic. It was down a back street, a few doors down from our first Hotel. The women there were lovely, and they undercharged me every time I went. Vicky, the woman I saw there, was determined to help me, because she knew that I was in a lot of pain. She would work on me for 2 hours but only charge me for 1. Amazing and caring people.

So if you’re heading down to Danang, be sure to stop into a spa or two! The hot stone massages are so nice, and there’s nothing like a nice foot rub after a day of travel (or leisure!)