Although our mornings have been pretty lax, and we’ve been getting plenty of pool time, we’ve been trying to be more active in the evenings. Each night we try to take a walk somewhere nice. We ended up in Kuah, at a lovely little park on our 3rd night on Langkawi.
Beautiful clear skies
It’s a really nice place to go for a walk, especially at sun set. It’s right along the coast, so as the sun goes down, you get a spectacular view.
Lots of trees too!
The park isn’t super well maintained anymore but I’m sure it was beautiful in it’s time. It was set up in 1989 for a Commonwealth meeting. The park’s name CHOGM) actually stands for “Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting”.
Even though it isn’t super well maintained anymore, it’s still a nice place to go for a walk
You won’t find washrooms or food stands anywhere but entrance is free and you can go in any time. There are benches set up throughout the park and a nice pathway along the man made beach.
A little peace and beauty can go a long way when things are as crazy as they have been.
Nice little pathwayA relaxed cat, enjoying the sunset
We spent a lot of time there rapid shooting, cruising around and getting back and forth from the national Park. We even ate on the river! The Tembeling River was a big part of our stay in Kuala Tahan. It was the best place to cool down and a beautiful place to spend some time.
There was a lot of sedament in the river after our big rain storm but the water was pretty clean.If you want to take a river cruise, you can talk to the same guy who takes people across the river to the national Park (the fee to get across the river is 1rm. The fee for a ‘boat Cruise’ is 10rm)A boat just like the one we were inThe river is also where you can find some of the town’s restaurants, in floating buildings.The Tembeling River acts as a border between the town and the National Park (Taman Negara). This is a shot of the town from the national park’s entrance.
Our river boat cruise was quite nice. It gave us a chance to take some nice pictures of the river and we also saw some wild life, including a monitor lizard and monkeys. The lizard got away before we could get photos but the monkeys stuck around for a while!
These are long tailed MacaquesThey live in big family groups so if you see one, there are probably 20 others nearbyThis one was hanging out on some electrical wires
There is also a beach area where you can go swimming in the river. It’s about a 20 minute walk through the national Park to get there, but it’s all on a boardwalk path and is a lovely way to spend 20 minutes!
One of the best feelings in the world is to jump into some cool water after a sweaty hike, so when we arrived at the beach for the first time, we jumped right in!
Such a nice setting!
Before we knew it, a family of about 30 long tailed Macaques were swinging from the branches nearby. We watched them for about an hour. It was beautiful peaceful and lovely just watching them play. Unfortunately, we didn’t bring our camera during that particular trip so I don’t have photos of them, but I do have a video from my phone. You can see a monkey jumping from one tree to the next.
They came in from the right side and moved down, jumping from tree to tree lazily. We saw mommas with babies clinging to their bellies and bigger males too
We actually decided to go back to this beach on our last day in the jungle but we were less fortunate on that trip. The heavy rainfall resulted in an unreasonable number of leeches on the forest floor. They’re different from leeches in Manitoba, which tend to be fatter and mostly live in water.
Dave had one latch on really badly and his foot didn’t stop bleeding for ages. Worst of all, the scent of the blood must have attracted other leeches because by the time we made it back out of the jungle, he had at least 10 more try to latch on!!I only had 2 or 3 luckily. I kept checking between my toes ?
The river was lovely nonetheless. I would caution anyone from going down that way after a lot of rain though, unless you don’t mind these creepy crawlers latching on!!
Dave made a video of this one trying to make it back to us
Here are some more lovely river videos to erase the vision of leeches from your mind!
The name of the beachNice little areas where you can relax
It really was a gorgeous place to spend some time!
Malaysia is home to many endemic species and some of the oldest rainforests on Earth. We knew that when we actually decided to travel here (we’ve passed through in the past), at least some of our time would be spent hiking through national parks. After all, who can resist walking through greenery this beautiful?
The National Park where we were staying had nice boardwalks we could walk along. They are mostly well maintained and much safer (and easier for people nursing foot injuries, like me!)
On our second day in Taman Negara National Park, we saw plenty of wildlife. We had planned to do the Canopy Walk that day, but we got a lot of rain the night before, which had flooded the trails and left debris everywhere so the walk way was closed.
We decided to take a walk anyway, in an area that hadn’t been as affected by the rain.
We also took a jungle walk that evening. With a guide and some flashlights, we head off into the rainforest after dark, looking for nocturnal species and sleeping jungle friends.
We saw sleeping lizards right away.
I’ll admit, I was nervous before going into this because I knew that there would be a lot of spiders to see. Still, I rarely let stuff like that stop me from having fun. But there are seriously soooo many spiders in the jungle, guys. Big ones too!
Oh yeah…. And when I say “sooo many”, I mean they’re all over the jungle floor. They’re easy to spot because their eyes and spots on their legs light up under a flashlight. Stuff of nightmares, right there!
Spiders weren’t the only thing to see though. We saw 2 different kinds of snakes (both sleeping) and also a snake skin that had been left behind by its shedding host.
This guy was sleeping high up in the trees. Dave spotted him.
We also saw scorpions! They were only visible under black light, but the guide knew where they were because they usually hang out in the same holes.
These aren’t as poisonous as the ones in the desert but they’ll still do a number on you.
We also saw various moths and sleeping birds on this walking tour. We saw several stick insects and a millipede too! But the coolest thing we saw was a slow loris!
He’s upside down in the tree. We watched him move slowly down for some leaves, and then he moved back up into the tree when he’d eaten the ones he was interested in.
Slow Lorises are nocturnal animals that live on fruit and leaves. They’re one of the only venimous mammals on Earth and their venom is actually strong enough to kill a human. Still, there is a demand for them in illegal black markets because people like to try and keep them as pets. You’ve probably seen cute videos online of Lorises raising their arms to be tickled. It’s not cute: it’s one of the ways they try to defend themselves. They’re terrified.
This is what they look like. They move very slowly (you might have guessed that) and they’re a type of primate. Very interesting animals.
I really enjoyed our walk through the jungle at night! I hope to never see another huntsman spider, but I’d risk it if there was a chance to see another Loris!!
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 also wasn’t the best
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.
Me: the whole way there (in my mind)
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!!
The type of boat we took to Kuala Tehan
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 choicesThe 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 hereThe view from our hotel room
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.
Ground 0 for the Wuhan Coronovirus
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.
Good advice!
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!?)
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!Singapore
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 were a few cute onesThere 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 alongKeep 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 warSome 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.
Delicious, delicious food!
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 shootThey also all said as prayer before getting started
The trip back via cable car was equally beautiful during the sun set.
Pretty 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!
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!
Un-edited. Such beautiful colors!!The trees are quite large!
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.
Blooming flowers everywhereSo much colour!!A beautiful shot Dave got of a bird in the flower domeThis 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!The Queen of heartsPooh 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.
This one was huge!So much detailProbably my favorite carving
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!Everything was beautiful and green!!
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 had Venus fly traps in this areaThey 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 view from aboveThe Marina Sands Hotel the background: one of Singapore’s most iconic buildingsThe 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 nightThe view from the lookout point is spectacularThere 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!The trees slowly changed colorSo beautiful!!
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!
They exploded with color!The trees were coordinated with each other as well as with music. The night we saw the show, the music was a WaltzSo pretty!
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!
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!
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.
Be nice! Airports suck for everyone!
We’re in Kuala Lumpur now! Many more posts to come!!
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.
We’ve been to the Bund only once.
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.
Spanish Tortilla. Love!!!
Meatballs
Chorizo soaked in red wine
Fantastic sangria
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.
Their Churros and flan are decadent
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.
They were a very fun crowd.
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?
