Malay Peninsula: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand

2011

All images and associated pages copyrighted © by Don Chesnut, 2011

This is what I wore and took with me. 

This is all I took on this trip.

I went to Australia to attend the International Carboniferous Congress-Permian in Perth with two of my daughters. After they returned home, I traveled through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The following is composed of my daily journal entries and photographs taken during the trip (please excuse the tedious and poorly written nature of the journal). Or you may rather go through my thumbnail catalog (pages S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z). 

The prior part of my trip, Lombok, Indonesia

 6 August 2011, Saturday
For the previous part of this trip, follow the link above.

I landed in Singapore at 7:30 pm and walked a long way to passport control and customs. I changed my rupiah for Singapore dollars and caught a cab to my hotel. The cabby was Mohamed and a very jovial fellow. I talked to him all the way to the hotel. The hotel is Hangout Hotel. I was supposed to be at Perak Hotel, but Andy (from the Bali-Lombok tour) told me it had been changed. My first impression is that it's a hotel for school groups. There were middle school-age kids running everywhere. I think there are at least a hundred here. I saw the teacher and she looked a little harried. It was hard to check in because kids kept interrupting the check-in lady. She was pretty put out about it as well.

My room is tiny but clean (esp. compared to Bali and Lombok). No TV. I'm very behind on the news but Andy told me the American stock market crashed yesterday. I got a map at the desk and walked around. I've got 3 blisters (or sand abrasions) so I didn't go far. I went to the Sheesh Mahal Restaurant (northern India and Nepalese) at Albert Court and had mutton vindaloo (very good). After getting the bill, I asked the fellow if service was included. He said no, but the bill indicated that it was included, so I didn't pay it. He also didn't want to give me the receipts, although I insisted. This seems pretty odd to me. I walked back to the hotel, took a shower, filled out my journal and went to bed by 9:30.

7 August 2011, Sunday
I woke up at 6:30, but got up at 7. I went down to breakfast at 7:15 and had cheese toast, chicken sausage, and coffee. I went back for Mie Goreng (fried noodles) and cereal and more coffee. There are two entrance doors to each floor. My room is right next to the doors. Anytime anyone comes to this floor, there are two loud door slams. My head is just about where they slam. People come in and out all night long, so if you stay here, avoid rooms ending with 01.
After breakfast, I went to the second floor, where they have free Internet computers. I tried getting to my hotmail account, but apparently something was not working. I changed computers and everything seemed to work OK. It has been raining hard for several hours and I didn't want to go out. So I typed daily journal entries and sent them to my hotmail account. I typed for several hours and got about eight daily entries done. Because it was raining, there were many kids that wanted to play Internet games, so I relinquished my computer.

I got my cap and umbrella and went for a walk in the sprinkling rain. Last night, I saw a long line of people waiting at this little shop. Today, I went by the shop and there was no line. I asked the lady what people were waiting for. They made various fried breads, some with fillings of bean paste. They also served tofu in syrup. I had a long Youtiao (fried bread, Wikipedia entry), a bean paste roll and a container of the sweet tofu. I ate it all and it was good. I'm glad I tried it. After awhile I went back to the hotel. I went to the computer area again and sent out a bunch of daily e-mails. I typed all afternoon and now I'm sore.

At 6, we had a group meeting with our tour leader. This is a Singapore to Bangkok, two-week tour offered by Intrepid Travels (www.intrepidtravel.com, trip details). After the meeting, our leader, Kate (Khag) from Thailand, walked us to the metro station and we took the subway to Clarke Quay ("kee"). The group walked around and then picked an American restaurant "Hooters" to go to. I'm not kidding. I had eaten earlier, so I just had French fries and a Tiger beer. After we ate, we reversed direction and went back to the hotel. Some of the guys went on to a bar. I went to my room, took a shower and went to bed.

8 August 2011, Monday
I got up at 6:30, took a shower and finished packing. I checked out at 6:45 and waited in the lobby for the others. There are twelve participants and one tour guide. There are two Australian couples that often travel together. The others are Aussie, one Kiwi, two Irish, a Brit, two Swiss (German) and one American (me). We boarded three taxis and went to the bus station. We had reserved seats on bus 707 to Melaka. The seats are much nicer and roomier than on an airliner. We left Singapore at 8:30. At about 8:45, we went through Singapore passport control, which didn't take long. We crossed the Malay Strait and went through Malaysian passport control which took a bit longer. I was back on the bus by 9:20.

After a three-hour bus ride, we arrived at Melaka (Malacca). Two vans took us to our hotel, the Aldy Hotel. We stay here one night.
At about 1 PM, we had a walk around the old town. We went to a money exchange place and I replaced my Singapore dollars for Malaysian ringgit. I already had ringgit as well (I got Australian dollars, Indonesian rupiahs, Malaysian ringgit and Thai bahts from my bank at home). While waiting for the others, I walked next door to an old style Chinese herbal pharmacy. I spoke Chinese to the old man there and told him where I was from. He showed me his son's PhD certificate from Washington University in Seattle. We continued our walk. It is very hot and very humid, perhaps upper 90's F and nearly 100% humidity. Not unheard of in Kentucky.
We were going to eat at a particular Chinese restaurant, but it was closed for Ramadan, so we went to another. It was a traditional old Chinese restaurant and we had a set menu. There was steamed rice, fried calamari, a spicy shrimp dish, a sweet and sour chicken, a chicken with brown sauce, bean sprout dish, stir fried cabbage dish and a few others. I had hot Chinese tea.
After lunch we continued our walk around the old Dutch part of town, taking lots of photographs. I noticed a Durian Cendol ("shen-dal", Wikipedia entry) dessert place. After the guide got everyone back to the hotel, I asked if we could try it, so we walked back. I bought two, one for the guide. It had beans, jellied longans, jellied fruit, a date sugar syrup with durian paste or juice all covered with shaved ice. It was quite good. I would order it again.
We walked back to the hotel and about 15 minutes later (5 PM) we met again. This time we went on a trishaw ride in the old Melaka part of town. This type of trishaw is with the bicycle on the side, not in front of back. We toured one old home that was 238 years old, it's been in one family for nine generations.
At the end of the afternoon tour, we all went to Geographers restaurant. I had curry ramen which was pretty good. I would order something else the next time. I had a Tiger beer to drink. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel. I took a shower and filled out my journal. I was in bed by 10.

9 August 2011, Tuesday
I woke up around 6 but didn't get up till 7:30. I brushed my teeth, packed and put electrolyte powders in my water bottle. Yesterday, I bought 10 packets of electrolyte powders to carry along on the trip. The electrolytes helped me a lot in the heat in India when I was there. I went down to the lobby and used my one-hour Internet coupon. I sent out several e-mail journal entries. I didn't eat breakfast, it wasn't included and I didn't want to eat and drink before the long bus ride.

At 9, we loaded onto two Toyota passenger vans and went to the big Melaka Sentral bus terminal. The terminal was like an airport terminal, there must have been a hundred kiosks including a McDonalds. We loaded our luggage onto a bus and got into our deluxe class seats (all individual seats).
We got to the large bus station at Kuala Lumpur at about 11:30. We caught a public shuttle bus to Chinatown and then walked through the midst of Chinatown to our hotel, D'Oriental Inn by 12:45. I put my luggage (actually my little pack) in my room and went to the lobby to wait for the others. Some of the others brought huge luggage which they had to wheel or carry in the heat.
We met in the lobby at 1:30 for a walk to the Central Market and beyond. It was very hot and humid. After the walk we all decided to go to Oldtown White Coffee in the air conditioned market. We all had iced coffee drinks which cooled us down. Mine was a frozen mocha and it hit the spot. The three single guys and I will have to buy a gift for our homestay families, so we shopped around and bargained for a set of place mats and fans for 40 ringgit (we were limited to 10 ringgit apiece). I also bought a Malaysian hat pin for 3 RM (I never found one for Indonesia). As the four of us were walking back, it looked like it was going to thunder storm, so we ducked into the Reggae Bar and each had a beer. It never did actually rain, although there was thunder.
We walked back to the hotel and went to our rooms. I went to the lobby and paid 4 RM for an hour of Internet. I typed for an hour and sent out three of four e-mail journal entries. Then in a few minutes, we all met at 7:30 and walked to the train station. We bought tickets on the monorail to the commercial area and walked through the Petronas world tower buildings. I took lots of photographs. It was remarkable at night. We then walked to a pedestrian restaurant area (serviced by different restaurants) and I ordered spinach with fermented tofu sauce. It was good, but I was hoping for chunks of fermented tofu like in Nanjing, but it was only a sauce. We then caught a train back.
Most of us went to the Reggae Bar which the tour leader took us to. I had a mojito and then left the others there. On the way back, I stopped at a Chinese massage place next to the hotel. I had a deep-tissue massage, cupping (Wikipedia entry), and ear candling (Wikipedia entry). I have about 10 deep-red circles on my back as I write this. The ear candling is supposed to remove the oil and wax from your ears. I can't tell yet about that one. I went back to my room, wrote in the journal and went to bed.

10 August 2011, Wednesday
I woke up at 6 but didn't get up till 7. I took a hot shower (the Chinese lady told me to take a hot shower in the morning). I looked at my back and it still had big red marks. I didn't feel any differently nor could I hear any better. I went down to the lobby to see about breakfast. Four of the ladies from our group were waiting there. I showed them my back and they took a picture of it for me.
We walked to the Old Town White Coffee for brekki (Australian for breakfast), but it was closed. So we walked back to the hotel and two of us had breakfast there. I had a scrambled egg with tomato chunks, mie goreng, toast, yellow watermelon, some Indian tart and coffee. I went to my room and mixed my daily water with electrolyte powder (I will do this everyday for the duration of the trip). With the mid-day walks in high heat and humidity, this is necessary.

We met in the lobby at 9 and loaded onto two vans. We went to the Royal Palace, the Monument for WWI, WWII and the war against the communists, and then a big mosque (masjid). At the mosque, we had to wear robes and take our sandals off.
Then we went to the Batu Caves (Wikipedia entry), a Hindu shrine (with many monkeys). We climbed over 200 steps in hot and very humid conditions. I took lots of photographs.
After the caves, we went to the Menara Tower, a very high communications tower. We bought our tickets for this yesterday. When we got to the observation platform (all inside), it started raining very heavily and clouds came speeding by. We couldn't even see the Petronas Towers and at times we couldn't even see the ground. We were given audio-visual units with screen and headphones that described what we couldn't see at each station around the tower.
Then we all got into two cabs and went to the Pavilion where there was a very large food court. I went to a vegetarian kiosk and ordered by pointing to items. I got a huge plateful of food and could only eat one third of it. The only things I could identify were steamed rice, an eggplant dish, and stir-fried baby Chinese cabbage. There were three other items that looked like meat, but weren't. For dessert, I got durian ice cream which was great.

After lunch, five of us went to the train station and made our way back to the hotel. I think most are going for coffee. I filled out my journal in my room and then got on the Internet near the lobby to send e-mail entries home.

At 7, we met in the lobby and walked to an old Chinese style restaurant. It used to be the Chinese laundry guild building. We got a variety of dishes with different meats. I didn't know what they were because I didn't order (it was all ordered at the other end of a long table and we couldn't hear any of the comments). It was all good though. I walked back to my room and started packing for tomorrow. I went to bed at 10:15.

11 August 2011, Thursday
I woke up throughout the morning but got up and took a shower at 7:30. I still have about ten dark-red circles on my back. They don't look diminished at all. I thought that they would be gone by now. I went to the lobby to use the computer (4 RM/hr), but they couldn't get it to connect for some reason. Instead, I bought breakfast (5 RM) and had two fried eggs, toast, potatoes and some kind of sausage, plus coffee. After breakfast, I checked out and waited in the lobby.

At 9:30, we walked to a bus station and caught a shuttle bus to another station. We had a 45-minute wait there, so I walked around ("jalaan-jalaan"). I talked to the owner of a food kiosk for quite awhile. He was very up to date on world news and I wasn't. He asked about Kentucky and I told him about my state. We finally loaded onto our bus. The tour guide asked the driver to make a break on the 3.5-hour ride, but he refused. He said it was only a station to station express bus. There is no bathroom on the bus either. He is also not going to stop at our homestay town which the leader was counting on. Now we will have to get someone else to transport us the additional leg back.

The brakes are either very grabby or we have a bad driver, I believe it's the last option. He seems to be surprised when he comes up behind someone else and then slams on his brakes. It's an unpredictable ride. The bus actually did stop at a truck plaza to gas up, so several of us ran to the bathrooms before he finished filling up with diesel fuel. The driver doesn't seem to know how to use the clutch either.

We have been driving in the mountains for awhile. I've noticed lots of dark, rounded (spherical exfoliation?) boulders along the road. Later, we passed a series of large hills with cliff faces. They appeared to be composed of steeply dipping beds of limestone based on the caves and karstic weathering. There also appeared to be lots of travertine deposits.
We got to Kamunting area of Taiping at 3:00. There, we got into three cars/vans and headed to our homestays. We pulled into a nice little village, Kampong Pueh and went into one of the larger houses. We first took off our sandals and then sat on chairs around the room. They offered us banana cake and orange drink. They couldn't eat or drink because of Ramadan. We were then divided into three groups. The two older couples from Australia went to one house, the four girls and the tour guide were in another, and the four guys were in a third. We walked to our house and the lady, Marchi Bedah (Auntie Bedah) showed us around. We met two of her young grandchildren and then were taken to a side porch. The lady gave us a bucket of local rambutans and we ate a bunch of them. I'm sharing a small room with James Ryan (from Ireland) and Conrad (from Switzerland) and Kieran (from New Zealand) are sharing another room.
At four, we were picked up and taken about 10 km to Le Hotsprings. The staff filled 13 buckets with hot water from the springs and we were told to lower our feet into the buckets and leave them for three minutes. They said the water was 45 degrees C. It was the hottest water my feet were ever in and it took awhile to lower them all the way in. It was painful. After a few minutes, we took out feet out. My feet and lower legs were quite pink. We then went to the warm pool, it was only about 20 degrees C (bath tub warm) and had a sulfury smell. We stayed there for about 20 minutes or so. A number of people commented on the dark red circles on my back and said they thought they'd be there for a month. One fellow took a photo of my back.
After the hot springs, they drove us back to our houses. I changed into my dry clothes and then Khag took us on a walk around the area, describing all the fruit trees along the way.
At around 8, dinner was served for the four of us in our house. We were shown earlier how to heat with our right hand and three fingers. They showed us how to wash our hands at the table with a special aluminum pot and little sink can. We had steamed rice, nice little smoked fish, chicken in a sauce, a cooked cucumber-vinegar salad, a cooked greens and bean dish, noodles, orange drink and orange jelly (sort of like jello) for dessert. We met Ahmed, the owner of the house. He was a very nice fellow and had been to the states before. Khag got us and took us to their house to show us how to play Congkak ("chong-kak," Wikipedia entry). It is exactly like mancala, but apparently the game is a little more complicated than how I learned it. I didn't play but watched the others play.
I went back to the house and brushed my teeth. The other fellows came back shortly and we talked a little. I went to my room and filled out my journal. I finished at 10 and went to bed. We have a fan which I hope will keep the mosquitoes away.

12 August 2011, Friday
I heard the call to prayer and the call to start the fast at 4 and 5. I got up at 7:30 and ate breakfast at 8. We had toast with jam, batter fried sweet potatoes and sweet hot tea. I didn't have a chance for the shower because it was continuously used.

We were picked up and driven to a museum fort, Kota Ngah Ibrahim (Wikipedia entry). It had served as a residence, a fort, a prison courthouse, and teachers school. A Japanese Zero crashed into the front wall and it had also become a Japanese fort during WWII.
Then we went to the large Matang mangrove forest, managed by the government. There were numerous species of mangrove, but the two most important (Rhizophora apiculata and R. mucronatus) were used in the charcoal industry. The government manages the mangrove harvest and then the mangrove logs are sent along tidal canals to the charcoal factory.
We next visited Mr. Chuah's charcoal factory. Mr. Chuah gave a very humorous introduction into his entirely manual-labor charcoal factory. There is no machinery, it is all done by hand. All the finished charcoal is sold to Japan where families use it to heat their green tea. At the end, Mr. Chuah served us longans, honey kiwi, and a Chinese sticky bun filled with BBQ.
We had our ride back to our house and Momma Bedah had our lunch ready. We had steamed rice, curried fish, smoked fish, cucumbers, leafy vegetable in a coconut milk, a water spinach dish and for dessert, an orange jelly. I also brought back a honey kiwi and we split that four ways. I also caught up in my journal.

About 2:15, our driver picked us up and we drove about 20 km to the base of the big mountain tn the area, Bukit Lakut (aka Maxwell Hill, Wikipedia entry). We loaded onto two four-wheel drive vehicles and had the wildest ride up the mountain road. There were about 50 steep hairpin curves and we swung wildly through them. We got to the top in about 20 minutes. We took photos at an overlook, but the humidity was so high that we couldn't see much of the plain below. We had another pretty wild ride down the mountain as well.
At the bottom, we got back in our cars and stopped at the Taman Tasik Taiping lake (Taiping Lake Gardens, Wikipedia entry) near the foot of the mountain. We walked around for a few minutes and then got back in the cars. We stopped at an open market and walked around. There were many interesting prepared foods and vegetables that people were selling for the festivities tonight. No one was eating because of Ramadan this month, but after 7:34 people can break their fast, they eat lots of good food. After the market, we made a short drive to one of the elder's house. Here we had a fruit tasting with lots of plates of cut fruit. We had rambutans, longans, pineapple, banana, watermelon, mango, papaya, etc. We ate till we were full.
I was informed that the group had chosen me to be the groom in a mock Malaysian wedding tonight. Anne, a lady from the group was chosen to be the bride. At 10:30 tonight (after my normal bedtime, because of Ramadan prayers) everyone will have to wear traditional Malaysian village clothes. The locals will show us what their traditional weddings are like. I'm not sure about this.

Anyway, we got our ride back to our house. I took a cold water shower (today was hot and very humid). Then we were served a bowl of deep fried jack fruit like seed and hot tea. It was good. Then a little later, about 7:30, we were served our dinner of fried rice with squid, fried chicken, fish curry, smoked fish, sliced cucumber and orange drink. It was very good, but I could only eat one serving of each because of the fruit sampling earlier.

After dinner, I filled out my journal. I went to sleep (or tried to in the heat) and got up at 10 PM. We put on our Malaysian costumes and our house mom walked us to the other house. I had to change into an elaborate outfit and a lady attached a short sarong and sash. Finally, she put a ringed hat on my head. The elder, a retired teacher, explained the wedding process. My bride and I sat on cushioned chairs as our "family" one by one, came up and put herbs in our hands and sprinkled water on them. I made a few funny comments along the way. At the end, they thanked us for volunteering. We had a mung-bean porridge with sugar and coconut milk which was nice. The elder then gave a speech about our being there in their homestay and gave the ladies a batik sarong and gave us men a male sarong. The guide hinted for me to say something for the group and I gave a short speech on behalf of the group. Someone in the group took photographs of everything for me. We all then walked to our houses. We signed the guest book and then went to bed. I filled out my journal first.

13 August 2011, Saturday
I got up at 7:30 (we went to bed about midnight last night). I packed my stuff to get ready for our next travel leg. We ate breakfast about 7:40 and had hot tea, batter fried jack fruit-type seeds and toast with jam. Ibu Bedah (the lady of the house) brought each of us a little gift bag that included water, a piece of cake and a clay pot with lid (I still have the pot). We presented her with our gift of place mats, napkins and five fans.

At 8:45, our driver picked us up. We went to the main mosque (Masjid Ubudiah) and then the royal palace (Istana Iskandariah). After that, we went to the open market. Because of Ramadan, most of the restaurants were closed, but there were still quite a few stalls with fish, vegetables, fruit, prepared food (for later at night) and other items. I took a lot of photos.
We then caught our short ride to the bus station and left at 11:15 AM. We had reserved seats, but seat reservations are not honored, everyone sits where they want. There were only a few seats left when I got on and I sat next to a Malaysian fellow. When we got to the coastal town called Butterworth, near Penang, we got off the bus and walked a short distance to the ferry. It took about 20 minutes to cross the water to Penang. From there we caught a cab to our hotel in Chinatown, Hotel Hong Ping. I took my luggage to my room, changed shirts and took three shirts to the laundry.
We went for a walk and stopped at a noddle soup stand for lunch. Then we went to the Pinang Pernakan Mansion, or Green Mansion, an old Chinese-Malay house. It is now a museum. We went on the tour which was very interesting.
We came back toward the hotel and several of us went to the Banana Guesthouse for our first beer in three days. I then walked around on my own for about half an hour in the Chinatown area. I came back to the room for a rest and air conditioning and fell asleep watching non-English TV. I watched a Russian show with Malaysian subtitles.
We all met in the lobby at 7. We walked to Kapitan Restaurant, an Indian restaurant that's very popular here. We were there at 7:05 but all the seats were being held for the end or Ramadan (7:34). We sat at a table across the street and placed our order. We were moved inside after about 20 minutes. I had a mixed grilled kebab with garlic naan and a mango lassi. After dinner, we walked to the shore and Town Hall. A huge Chinese festival was going on (for a mainland Chinese conference). We then went to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel (Wikipedia entry) which later became a Raffles Hotel in 1887. Several people booked a high tea there for tomorrow.
On the way back to the hotel, several of us stopped at a bar and had a few beers. After the tour guide came back (after walking the others back to the hotel) we went into the sports bar and several of our group sang karaoke. The group paid for my beer for volunteering last night to be the mock groom. It was very nice of them. We then walked back to the hotel. I filled out my journal and then went to bed.

14 August 2011, Sunday
I got up at 6:45 and took a shower. I watched a little Malaysian news (not in English) and then went to the lobby at 7:30. Khag took us to a Dim Sum restaurant for breakfast.
A little later, we got in a 12-passenger van and rode around town while the driver described the sites. We got out at Fort Cornwallis (built 1786, Wikipedia entry) and several other places including a Chinese jetty village (Chew Jetty World Heritage Site), a Thai Buddhist temple (Wat Chayamangkalaram) with a reclining Buddha, a Burmese Buddhist temple (where I got a blessing and orange string tied to my wrist)(Dhammikarama), and a huge standing Merciful Goddess statue (Kek Lok Si, Wikipedia entry) on Penang Hill.
We got back to our hotel at 1:45 PM. I was going to take the funicular up Penang Hill this afternoon, but a thunderstorm developed over it. Instead, I got my laundry, repacked my pack and took a nap. At 7:30 we met in the lobby and walked to an outdoor food mall. I had crispie duck from one place and roasted chicken wings from another. Both were delicious. I had so much duck that I passed my plate around so others could try it. It was a roasted duck and not at all like the crispie duck in Bali. After dinner, several of us went to a sports bar. James, the Irishman, wanted to watch his local hurling team. He explained the game, hurling (Wikipedia entry) to me. His game wasn't on TV, however. After a little while, we walked back to the hotel.

15 August 2011, Monday
I woke up at 6:30, but got up at 7:30. I took a shower and finished packing. I took my pack to the lobby and a couple of us walked to the Banana Boutique Hotel for breakfast. I had toast, corn flakes and good coffee. I went to two places to exchange Ringgits for Thai Bahts, but both were out of Bahts.

Back at the hotel, we loaded our packs onto two minivans and set out for Thailand. We crossed the straits between Penang (which means "betel nut") and the mainland over a 14-km bridge. We drove several hours till we got to the Malaysian-Thai border. We went through Malaysian passport control and then walked with our packs to the Thai immigration office where we went through Thai passport control. We all loaded onto a 12-passenger van after putting our packs on the top of the vehicle.
We continued our trip. Many of the hills have rocky faces and they seemed to form a linear trend. We passed a sign for a cave, so I assume that these hills are made of steeply dipping beds of limestone (later confirmed by an English school teacher in Thailand; he said they were 300 million years old {Carboniferous}). We also passed a number of rubber tree plantations both in Malaysia and Thailand. At noon we stopped at Kuandon, Satun District for lunch. It was a Muslim restaurant, but they had special permission in advance, to prepare food for us. I had an excellent spicy Tom Yam seafood soup. The restaurant owners gave us a bag full of a fruit I've never tried before, the fruit is longkong (aka langsat, Wikipedia entry). It looks like a longan on the outside (round, tan, ping-pong ball size) but when opened, the edible part is in segments. The flesh is like a lychee (i.e., translucent and white), but it doesn't have a hard seed. It's sweet and juicy. At three, we made a bathroom stop at a department store. I bought a bag of roasted chestnuts and passed them around on the bus. Most of our group had never had them before.
We arrived in the city, Nakhon Sri Thammarat (spelled many different ways) and the Thaksin Hotel a little before 5 PM. We've had a whole day of traveling.
At 5:30 we met in the lobby and loaded onto the van. We drove a short distance to see the famous shadow puppet master who has a home, workshop, theatre and museum here. He has received all sorts of rewards, one from the king and queen. They put on a short performance for us and then we went backstage to see how it was done. They also showed us how the puppets were made.
After that, we were dropped off close to the hotel. We went to the A & A restaurant. They had an English menu and a Thai menu, but the Thai menu had many more dishes than the English one. I talked to the leader and she ordered some special dishes for me. I had fern vegetable with chilies and garlic, stinky bean (Wikipedia entry) dish with chicken and vegetables, and a pork dish with a coconut curry sauce. It reminded me a little of Panang sauce, but was thinner and with different chilies. It was all very good. For dessert, I had vanilla ice cream cake.
We walked back to the hotel and went briefly to the karaoke bar-restaurant in the hotel. I went to bed shortly after.

16 August 2011, Tuesday
I woke up about 5 (I'm used to Malaysian time)., but got up at 6:30 and took a shower. I went to the lobby by 7 and about eight of us walked to the A & A restaurant for breakfast. I had two fried eggs, toast, jam, coffee and a piece of ham and some kind of sausage.

We walked back to the hotel and met in the lobby around 8. We hopped onto a pickup truck-like cab with bench seats in the back. Most or our group were able to sit but there wasn't enough room for all. Several of us stood on the running board at the back of the cab and held on to the bars. After about 10 minutes, we arrived at the most famous site in this city, the Wat Phra Mahathat, a Buddhist temple and stupa. According to Khag, this is the most famous Buddhist temple in Thailand. We walked around the compound and made our offering of three incense sticks, a candle, and three flowers. I took lots of photos. We caught a truck-cab (same type as before) back to the hotel and I rode on the running boards again, which, to me, was fun.
We loaded our packs onto the top of the bus. Khag bought a container of durian flesh, so she and I ate the whole container of very creamy, very tasty durian. She warned me not to burp on the bus because of the durian smell. We had a 1.5-hour ride to the coast where we loaded onto a ferry. We had a 1.5-hour ride to the island, Ko Samui ("sam-oo-ee") and finally, a half-hour ride in two vans to our hotel at Lamai Beach. I had plenty of electrolyte water and roasted chestnuts to keep me entertained. I bought five more packets of electrolyte powders earlier today.
Our hotel is Lamai Buri Resort (www.lamaiburiresort.com) and is the nicest place that we've stayed on this trip. We got our rooms and then walked several hundred meters to a restaurant. I had Chinese kale and Crispie Pork (spicy), steamed rice, a coconut milk shake and a Chang beer. On the way back, the guide (Khag) suggested the best Thai massage place. I booked a Thai massage and at four, I walked back. I think it must have been the best Thai massage I've every had. The guide was right. After the massage, I walked back to the hotel and went to the swimming pool where most of the others were. I told them about the massage and recommended it to them. I went swimming for awhile with the other fellows, but it rained off and on.
At 7, I went back to the room and got ready for dinner. We walked to a seafood restaurant. I had a small steamed crab which was very good. I wasn't hungry because of the late lunch. It was raining while we walked back, but I had my umbrella. Kate (Khag) took us to a bar with a live band which was surprisingly good. I shot pool with the fellows. I walked back to the hotel a bit later and went to bed.
17 August 2011, Wednesday
I got up at 7 and went to the included breakfast. I had an omelet with onion, and bell peppers and a side dish of papaya, watermelon and a cup of coffee.

At 8:15, we loaded onto two vans and traveled for about 30 minutes to a beach landing for boat trips. There were over a hundred people there, but most were going on different boats to different islands. About 24 of us got on Boat #3. In addition to our group, there were a couple of Dutch families and some orientals. Our boat was a fast one with two outboard motors of 200 hp each. The boat trip to an offshore group of islands (Ang Thong National Marine Park, Wikitravel entry) took an hour at fast speed. The first island we went to was for hiking, swimming, or sea kayaking. The island was made of limestone and the limestone contained gastropod and crinoid stem fossils as well as calcite-filled cracks. I didn't have any waterproof bags and I had things I didn't want to get wet, so I didn't do the kayaking. It was very hot and very humid and I didn't feel like climbing the mountain, so I stayed at the beach and swam. After the others came back from their activities, we all had lunch. I had a fried chicken drumstick, a squash green curry and steamed rice.
Then we loaded back onto the boat and went to another island (Maekoh Island). All of these hundreds of islands are limestone and they show some karstic features. On the second island, we climbed steep metal steps to get to an overlook. On one side, we could see many of the limestone islands and on the other side, we could see the "Emerald Lake," a beautiful green lake. I took lots of photographs.
On the way to the third island we passed a lot of fantastic scenery. At the third island, we went snorkeling. There were very abundant Diadema sea urchins (Wikipedia entry) with long and sharp spines. If you step on these, the needles pierce your skin and then break into pieces. Some of the diademae were larger than basketballs (i.e., with the spines). I warned people about them. There were also very abundant sea cucumbers (holothurians), hard and soft corals and the usual array of diverse and abundant reef fish. The coral looked pretty healthy. I did see a couple of overturned coral heads. The carbonate sand appeared to be from parrot fish.

After an hour of snorkeling we re-boarded the boat and made the hour return trip back to the Ko Samui shore by 5 PM. We got into our van and made the trip back to our hotel. Everyone seems to be pretty tired. I got back to the hotel and went to the swimming pool. I stayed there for about an hour and then showered and changed for dinner. I'm still not hungry and haven't been for a long time.
At 7, we all met at the front of the hotel. We boarded a van and drove to another beach. We walked to the Ark Bar and Restaurant on the beach. We all sat together on cushions on low platforms, sort of Japanese style. I had fried pork with Basil and Chili. It was good but I could only heat half of it. After dinner, Khag waked the whole group to the Starz Cabaret (www.starzsamui.co.th), a transvestite bar where the "tranies" put on a gala show. We watched the show for about 40 minutes and then caught our ride back to the hotel. I went to bed right away, because I was very tired.

18 August 2011, Thursday
I got up at 7:15 and took a shower. At breakfast I had another omelet with toast and coffee. Today is a free day so I hope I can get on the internet to send my journal entries. I paid my money to get on the internet (10 Baht/10 minutes), however, when I went to Hotmail or Gmail, I got a message from the browser that there was no security certificate for the connection. I tried a different browser and got the same message. I didn't want to log into any account with a compromised connection, so I abandoned this idea. Instead, I went for a Thai massage.

When I got back, I went to the pool and talked with the others. Several said that they had a problem with the internet as well. I'll have to wait till I get somewhere else to log in. I went for a walk in the general area of the hotel. In contrast to the limestone mountains and hills in the offshore islands, the boulders that I've seen around Ko Samui are crystalline rocks, some with large, white feldspars. All the rocks are weathered and I haven't seen any fresh surfaces. Some appear to be granitoids.

Back at the pool, I talked with some Russians and Spaniards for awhile. I haven't been hungry, so I didn't eat lunch. I may not eat dinner either. I stayed in my room for the evening watching CNN and English-language shows for the first time in a long time. I'm very behind in the news, but I understand that the economic situation is not so good.

19 August 2011, Friday
I got up at 7:30 and took a shower. I went to breakfast and had another omelet with toast and coffee. After breakfast, I went to my room and packed. Today is another long travel day. At 11, I checked out and met with the others. At 11:30 we loaded onto two mini-vans and rode to the area of the ferry. We loaded our gear onto a large passenger bus and got onto the bus. We rode the crowded bus about 1 km to the ferry where we got out, presented our ferry tickets, boarded and sat down in the passenger area on the ferry. Our luggage stayed in the luggage hold on the bus. It's an odd arrangement. The ferry was comfortable and the air conditioning worked. It was very hot and humid outside. An American slasher movie was being shown, but it was dubbed in Thai. They even had a massage area (reflexology was 300 Baht for an hour). I took a nap. The ferry ride was 1.5 hours and it started to rain halfway through.
When we got to the mainland (at Nathan Pier), we disembarked the ferry and loaded back onto the bus. We had a 2.5-hour bus ride to get to the Pun Pin train station (Suratthani). It rained very hard during the bus ride and the air conditioning vents started dripping water. My pack was on the floor and I didn't realize that a puddle of water developed where it was sitting. The leather and nylon fabric along the bottom of the pack got very damp.

It turned dark by the time we got to the train station. We carried our luggage onto our sleeper car. We all had reserved seats. This is an overnight train trip to Bangkok. Khag had ordered each of us a fried-rice dinner to be delivered to the train. We got settled and ate our fried rice. Khag brought around some more durian for us to eat (probably not good for a train though). We all talked and played games till 10 PM when the steward made up the beds. I slept on the top bunk and Kieran on the bottom.

20 August 2011, Saturday
They woke us up at 6 AM. In one-half hour, the train will pull into the Bangkok station. At the station, we got into cabs and rode to our hotel, Viengtai Hotel. Not all the rooms were ready that early, so all the guys went to my room and took a shower. They then went down and had breakfast, and I went down and broke some large bills. I got my new towels and took a shower and brushed my teeth.

We all met in the lobby at 9 and walked about half a mile to a long-tail-boat jetty on a nearby river. We got on one of the boats and rode down one of the canals and out another till we got to the main river, all taking about 45 minutes. We went across the river to Wat Pho (Wikipedia entry) and walked around the large temple and stupa compound. We removed our shoes a couple of times and entered some temples, including a huge reclining Buddha and a golden sitting Buddha.
We took cabs next, some went to the Royal Palace complex (I had already seen it) and some of us went back to the hotel. James and I moved some luggage from my room (where we stored it) to James' and Conrad's room.
I then went out to look for something to eat. I came across a vendor selling durian. I purchased one and he cut it open and extracted the fleshy pods, wrapping them in paper. I couldn't take the durian back to the hotel (it's forbidden), so I had to walk around eating it. I ate about 80 percent of it, but I couldn't eat the whole thing. I ended up giving the remainder to a lady selling rice on the street. She seemed very pleased.

Next, I walked back to the hotel and got a Thai massage at a place in the hotel. After the massage I walked back to my room and took a shower. I brushed my teeth to try to get rid of any durian odor. I watched TV for a little while.

At 7:30, we met in the lobby and walked to a very nice riverside restaurant. It was our farewell dinner. I had a Chang beer and Tom Yum seafood soup which was excellent. The group had asked me to get up and make a short speech about our appreciation of Khag, our leader, and we presented her with a card and tip. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel. Most of the group went to a bar with live music. I had one beer and then went back to the hotel by about 10:30, and then went to bed shortly after.

21 August 2011, Sunday
I woke up at 6:30, but got up at 7:30. I took a shower and then went down to the lobby. I'm still trying to figure out how my paid airport transfer is going to work. I haven't received any information so far. I met Khag in the lobby and she tried to contact her boss, but it's still pretty early, there was no answer. So Khag and I walked down the street to an outdoor restaurant and had breakfast. I had two fried eggs, bacon, toast and coffee. We got a call from Khag's boss that I'll be picked up at 8 PM tonight. Then we walked to a coffee shop and got a good cup of latte.

I went back to my room, finished packing and took my last shower before checking out. I also caught up on my journal. I put my pack in storage just before noon. I bought a day's worth of Internet at the hotel. I typed all morning, all afternoon and into the evening. I missed lunch altogether. I typed continuously for over nine hours.

My ride picked me up at 7:30. I got my little red pack out of storage and got in the taxi. It took 30-40 minutes to get to the airport. I had to search around for quite awhile till I found the Japan Airlines counter. I was the only one in line and the fellow gave me boarding passes for all my flights. I went through passport control and security clearance quickly. I was in the gate area by 8:30. There are lots of restaurants in the gate areas and I picked a Thai one. I had a spicy Tom Yum Koong (prawn), steamed rice and a large Singha beer. And I filled out my journal. Khag had told me earlier that Singha was the name of the mythical lion and in the Thai alphabet, the "ha" part is marked as a silent "ha" and that the beer (and lion) should be pronounced as just "Sing." Singha Yai means a large Singha beer. I went to a bookstore and bought a book I always wanted to read, George Orwell's (actual name was Eric Blair) "Burmese Days" (aka "Myanma Days"). I also got two scoops of ice cream (coffee and coconut) and went to my gate area. My plane to Tokyo Narita airport left at 11:10 PM. Onboard, we were served juice, a sweet bun, and rice cracker.

22 August 2011, Monday
During the night, I watched the movie "Source Code" which was OK, and then the movie "Limitless" which I didn't really care for. About 6 AM, I was served breakfast. I had the Japanese one which was interesting. It had rice congee, miso soup, pickled vegetables, yogurt, fruit, noodles and water.

We landed in Narita about 7:30 AM. I went through the airport security again. I could see my flight listed on the departure boards, but no gate number. I sat down and watched a little CNN and BBC. Apparently the Libyan rebels are making a fast advance through Tripoli. I fell asleep several times. I went to an information counter and asked what the gate number would be and they told me #73. I went to an Asian Bowl restaurant and ordered a noodle bowl soup and a large Kirin beer.

The plane for Dallas/Ft. Worth took off at 1 PM. It was a 10-hour flight and I watched a bunch of movies including Kung Fu Panda 2, Henry, Crime (or something like that), Thor, and another movie I can't remember. My first meal was a pork dinner with rice and a bunch of sides. I also had a breakfast with a variety of rolls, fruit, juice and coffee. Snacks were served several times. I had an aisle seat and it wasn't too bad. The flight landed in Dallas about 10:30 in the morning of the same day (we passed the international date line). I went through passport control, customs, and a new, more rigorous round of security and was in my next gate area by 11:30 AM. I went to a ChilisToo restaurant and had a bowl of chili and a Samuel Adams.

My flight to Lexington left at 1:40 PM and I arrived in Lexington at 4:50 PM. Anne and Mary greeted me at the airport and drove me home. It's good to be back.   The End