I haven’t written in a long time! But, this might be interesting to write about.
My friend moved to Alaska. A couple of weeks before she had to leave, the company that they were going to ship their truck through canceled on them. She posted on Facebook, “Does anyone want to drive our truck to Alaska”? Um…. yea…. I do. Several of my friends had the same thought, but I guess I had the thought sooner. As luck would have it, I happened to retire from my engineering career yesterday so I have some time on my hands. I leave tomorrow on a sure to be delightful road trip, just me, the mountains and the road. I have some fun excursions planned for the trip. This seems like a wonderful way to celebrate the end of a career and the beginning of a new life unknown. Goodbye to the old me and hello to whatever is to come, whatever is already here that I haven’t discovered yet.
Next was a long drive to Wellington. We had a tour of Weta Workshops booked. I really wanted to go, but I’m still sick and this was the last opportunity to see a doctor for a while. Heidi and I skipped the tour to go to the doctors. Just to see the doctor and tell her I had a sinus infection and her to go, “yes you do” cost me $200. Ouch and ouch. We went out for dinner. It was the last night we would all be together. Half of the group would end their tour in Wellington and half of us would go on to tour the South Island. It’s sad to say goodbye to some of our group. The next morning was an early start with breakfast at 6:00am.. Half the group got on bus or had other plans. The rest of us got on a ferry to cross the Cook Straight. I’ve never been on a big ferry before. This boat was huge, full of semi trucks, cars and cargo on the lower levels and people on the upper levels. The views outside were stunning, but the wind and cold made it uncomfortable outside so we spent the 3 hours in the café area. We stopped for wine tasting. It was a tourist area with some shops – I could have skipped this part. We had lunch near a river where part of The Hobbit was filmed. I took a picture of the river, but can’t say it looked familiar.
We got to spend two nights near the Abel Tasman National Park. Two nights in the same place is a small luxury! The first morning we got picked up by a water taxi. Because of the big changes in tides, they load you into the boats and take the boats out to the water by tractor. That was a fun unique experience. Our boat took us to Split Apple Rock. Then we went to a nearby island and looked for fur seals. Our guide told us they were technically sea lions, but they never changed the name. We saw a few. They dropped us off at a different bay and we hiked back. There are a bunch of trails in the park and some go along the tops with great overlooks and some go down to bays. We did some beach time and a lot of hiking. We saw dolphin, but no orca. I keep hoping to see orca – maybe later in the trip. It was a little more hiking than I wanted. We got back around dinner time. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen.
They have a great sea gull here. He’s very white with red eyes and red feet. There was one on the beach that tried to sneak up behind us in hopes of getting food. He snuck all around us – up one side, then the other, round back, back and forth in front. It was a lot of work of pretending he didn’t notice us as he searched for scraps. He came up empty. The sand at the beaches is golden due to iron in the minerals. Some of the sand is black which was obviously metallic because it stuck to the magnets on my backpack, creating cool crystal like structures on the magnets. The water was too cold for me, but a few people swam.
Then it was time to move on. We drove through some of the prettiest mountains – very rugged and very green. More cows, sheep and farms too.
I got to Sydney exhausted. I guess paying so much for my baggage is just like “Welcome to Australia! Your days of paying reasonable prices for things are over”. My taxi cost $100. I’m staying in an Airbnb because there are no hotels for under $150 a night. Hostels were over $50 a night. I’m staying in some girl’s room while she sleeps on a spare mattress in the laundry room. I got there and she was at work and she failed to tell me she had roommates. I woke one up. She scared the crap out of me because I assumed I was in the house alone. I was so tired from the overnight flight, that I took a nap for a few hours. I got up only to meet another roommate. She has 3 or 4 roommates – I can’t even tell how many. This is really not ideal, but I kind of have no choice at this point. They all seem friendly enough. I spent the rest of the first day wandering around Manly Beach, checking out the visitor’s center and getting food. All the shops closed at 6:00pm. That seems weird. It’s chilly here which I didn’t expect. I have no warm clothes – one hoodie will have to do. Still the chilly air and bright sun is a delightful combination.
Today I decided to do ALL the things in the city. It’s a half hour ferry ride to the central part of Sydney from Manly beach. The ferry ride is beautiful. Firs I went to the Wild Life Sydney Zoo. It’s not Sydney’s main zoo. I kind of wish I had done the main zoo. This place was so small I’m amazed how they fit everything in. But, I had bought tickets on line for a back stage tour. I’m glad I got the back stage tour. It was fascinating to see how they made everything work in such a small space. We went through the kitchens which they share with the aquarium next door. They have half a walk in refrigerator full of eucalyptus for the koalas. We got to see the quarantine areas, the areas where they housed the butterfly chrysalis, the bird cages on the roof where they keep the juvenile birds before they are ready to be released. Many of the animals there are rescue animals. They don’t let you touch the koalas, but you can get close to them. I got to pet a wombat, but only because he was a rescue hand raised there and use to people. The wombat might be my new favorite animal. He’s so much bigger than I expected. They have koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, snakes, lizards, birds, a cassowary, and Tasmanian devils. Everything there was indigenous to Australia. I didn’t get to see the devils as they never came out of their hiding place.
After the zoo, I had lunch. So far this is the 2nd meal I’ve had at a restaurant here and the service was horrible both times. They seat you, but then no one comes to take your order, say hi, bring you water or anything. I almost walked out. After lunch I walked over the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Well, half way over, took some pictures and went back. I walked around the rocks – a shopping, dining area near the bridge. I had seen an ad for a special exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The artist does pieces with led number counters. It looked beautiful. So I went to the museum. Apparently, I don’t like contemporary art. I don’t like it at all. I didn’t like the special exhibit or any of the other exhibits in the museum. How is any of this art? I watched a contortionist street performer outside the museum. Compared to contemporary art, she was fabulous. Then I walked down to the Opera house. There is an outdoor patio bar, the Opera Bar. This must be the busiest bar on the planet. There had to be hundreds of people there. It was fabulous to see, but didn’t make me want to eat or drink there. It was a zoo. I went to the botanic gardens for about a half hour. It was more like a park than a botanic garden. There was some cool building and a lot of fences. The park is huge and I didn’t go far because I had tickets for a movie. I have so missed being able to see movies so I was excited about it.
I have decided that Sydney must have a City ordinance or regulation that only attractive people can live there. Everyone seems fit, young, and pretty.
Shanghai is smaller in land area than Beijing, but has more people – 24 million people. Beijing has 23 million people. Xi’an has about 9 million, Chengdu 11 million, and Chongqing has around 33 million. I wish we had more time in Shanghai, but we only had one day. The day started off with a visit to a temple. The temple had a happy Buddha and a female Buddha. After the temple we went to the Bund. Shanghai has a river running through the middle. One side is the older downtown and one is the newer downtown. The Bund is a waterfront area. The view from there is the iconic Shanghai view. It’s not very iconic in my photos since it was a very hazy day. There were a lot of European style buildings near the Bund too. We went to an embroidery gallery. The work is amazing. All the embroidery was done with silk thread so the photos glowed and changed colors as you moved. Some pieces took a year or more to make. This was art way out of my price range. After lunch we went to a garden and more shopping. For dinner we were on our own. We were supposed to go to a dinner show, but it got cancelled. 10 of us took the subway back to downtown area. We went to the Pearl tower and went up to the observatory and then had dinner in the revolving restraint. Every restaurant we ate dinner in on the trip had a huge lazy susan in the middle of the table so you could spin it around to try all the dishes. We joked that at our last dinner we were the lazy susan, spinning around the food. Overall, the trip was wonderful, the people were so much fun, the food was great, and the sites were beautiful. I’m tired, but so glad I did this trip.
Yesterday was a travel day. I decided not to walk the city wall. I called mom and checked some emails instead. We ate lunch and then flew to Chengdu and then dinner. Spent some time walking around the city after dinner. I found cheese flavored ice cream. How does that happen? Who thought that was a good idea? Yes, I ate it. It was sweet bland ice cream with a cheese after taste. I cannot recommend it.
I didn’t see this, but some of the other people on the trip did so our guide explained it. In Xian some people have birds for pets. They take their birds for a walk in the morning. They walk and swing the bird cage really high. The bird then gets to fly in its cage (just trying to stay balanced). This way, the bird gets exercise. When the bird is ready to rest, they put them on the ground or hang the cage from a tree. They cover the cages because they don’t want the birds to get scared or upset from seeing other birds or people. Huh? But if somehow two birds do see each other and they like each other, they will open the cage and let the birds visit and socialize with each other. True story.
Fun fact: Chinese people cannot get social services outside of their home town without paying. So children who live in rural areas cannot go to the city to attend school unless they pay extra. Rural teachers don’t get paid enough so the teachers quit. So, rural children don’t get good educations. Sometimes the parents leave the home to work in the cities and the grandparents raise the children. Ok, so that wasn’t really a fun fact, more like and interesting fact.
Today we went to see the Leshan Giant Buddha. This involved a long drive to a boat dock. We got on a boat and rode to a big Buddha carved into the rock. It took 30 years to carve the head and shoulders, 30 years for the body and 30 for the legs. Then after lunch we went to a shopping area that was made to look like an ancient city, or it was an ancient city fixed up. It was beautiful and fun shopping. I bought something that looked like roti sai mai, (my favorite Thai dessert), but it was like fuzzy peanut butter. There were people cleaning ears by sticking small brushes in your ear and then using metal tongs to vibrate the brushes. I tried that. Not sure my ears feel cleaner, but it was a unique experience. The guy did a neck and shoulder massage after that was worth the price of admission. For dinner we did hot pot. I think I’m not a fan of hot pot. More walking around the city by night.
Today we went to see the terra cotta warriors. This is one of the things I most wanted to see in China. There are over 8000 terra cotta warriors. A lot of them are still underground because we don’t have the technology to preserve them yet. Most of the ones they uncovered had bright paint on them. Within a short period of time, all the color oxidized and was gone. They are 2008 years old. Each warrior has a different face, the faces of the actual soldiers. Before the warriors we went to a shop where they make replica warriors. They also made lacquer furniture. The first thing we did in the morning was go to a local park, Xingqing Park. Like the other parks, there are a lot of retired people exercising and playing games. Apparently no tourists go to this park except with this tour group. The people love to see the tourists and invite them in to join. We did some tai chi, hacky sac, a fan dance and acupressure massage. It was a lot of fun. The Chinese people were quick to grab you and have you join in. They loved taking photos with us too.
We had a dinner show tonight. It was wonderful, with great costumes and quite a variety of dancing.
We have tomorrow morning off to do what we want. I’m torn between going to see the drum and bell towers up close, walking along the city wall, and sleeping in. When we got back to the hotel, one person asked me if I was going to the towers tonight. Duh. I could do that tonight and then the wall tomorrow. We took a taxi from the hotel. You couldn’t get very close to the bell tower, but you could get pretty close to the drum tower. It was real pretty, all lit up. Getting back proved more difficult. We stood where a lot of taxis were coming by. One stopped and a Chinese couple appeared from nowhere and took it. Then the next one stopped and some Chinese people just jumped in front of us and took it. This went on for quite a while. Most taxis didn’t even stop. Most that stopped, drove up to Chinese people instead of us. Two taxis did stop. When I handed them the address of the hotel, they both said no. I finally decided a 40-minute walk lead by Google maps sounded like a great idea. The guy I was with didn’t like the new plan, but he didn’t have much choice because he wasn’t any more successful at getting a taxi than I was. We came to a smaller street. As you looked down it, all you could see is small colored flashy lighted business signs. It looked like a spy or kung fu movie where the hero escapes into a crowded back alley. I decided this was the better path back. It was. We zig zagged through small restaurants, businesses, street vendors and alleys. I liked seeing this side of the city. I like getting a glimpse of how people actually live.
In the morning we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is something I have always wanted to see so I was quite excited for today’s tour. When we got to Tiananmen Square there were so many people. We had to go through a bunch of guards. People were getting turned away, but we just walked by. There was no line, but more of a weird series of barricades that didn’t make sense. We’d walk around some and then cross the street and then walk around others. There were people on the other side of some of the barricades, but we couldn’t get over there and they couldn’t get to where we were. Somehow we arrived at the Square. There were more barricades in the square too. If I had been travelling alone, I think I would still be standing on the street corner going “It should be around here somewhere. Why can’t I get to it?”
The Forbidden City was wonderful. It’s a walled city surrounded by another walled city surrounded by two more walled cities. The size of it was ridiculous. It took us most of the morning to walk from one side to the other. We learned a lot about the different Emperors that lived there. The amount of paranoia they had was amazing. The walls were built so thick. The pavement was thick so no one could ever tunnel in. There were not many trees so no one could hide in them and shoot arrows at the emperor. Stories of wives and concubines, sons and brothers, all vying for power. Why anyone would want to be an emperor is beyond me.
After that was lunch and pearl shop. After the pearl shop we went to the summer palace. It was real beautiful, but it was very cold and windy. We were supposed to take a dragon boat back, but it was too windy and our boat wasn’t running. I think most or all of us were ok with that as getting on a boat to cross a cold windy lake didn’t sound fun. Instead we had to go on a long walk over the mountain. We went through an area where most Western tourists never go. It was beautiful like walking through a park. There was also a pretty temple and some old houses that use to be for the concubines. There was a fake shopping center that one of the emperor’s wives had created so she could pretend to go shopping with the normal people.
That evening we were on our own for dinner. We got back kind of late due to the boat not being available so I was tired. I ate at the hotel and packed up my suitcase since we are leaving very early tomorrow morning.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Vent for “air conditioning”
Hollow box they would set fires in to create floor heating
When I got to the airport in Bangkok to go to China I was told I would need to go through immigration, get my luggage and recheck it at the next airport. Oh jeeze, I have an hour between flights. That’s going to be close. Then I look at my seat and it’s row 33. It will take forever to get off the plane. Row 33 was actually the 6th row. Who knew? I got to China, had to take a shuttle, go through immigration, get my bag, recheck my bag, go through security again, another shuttle, a long walk, get some water, and go to the bathroom. When I finally got to the new gate, they were loading the plane – perfect timing. China magic.
When I got to Beijing I was supposed to have someone pick me up from the tour company, but there was no one there. I got scared for a minute. I realize the tiny bit of Thai that I speak makes me feel more comfortable in Thailand. I know no Chinese. Then I told myself to relax and I just waited. The shuttle guy looked more flustered than me when he showed up. He spoke no English, but got me to the car. The car driver spoke no English. I walked out of the airport and it was cold! It felt so wonderful. Beijing traffic is horrible so it took forever to get to the hotel. The hotel is nice. My room has an actual shower and bathtub. Unfortunately, my room also had wet carpet in the entrance and an angry voice in the bathroom. Also, the heat didn’t work. The man staying next door to me was in his bathroom yelling on his phone for over an hour. I did get the hotel to switch my room, but now I have a twin bed instead of a king. It is warm and quiet though.
Day one of our tour was awesome. It’s a tour group of 23 people and a guide. The guide is great. So, far the people on the tour are nice and interesting. We went to the Temple of Heaven. In the park portion a lot of retirees come to play card games, knit, exercise and just generally hang out together. In a lot of families, the grandparents take the kids to school and then go to the park to hang out. Then they pick up the kids in the afternoon since the parents have to work. The park had exercise circuit similar to Thailand, but much more of it and people use it. There was a massage circuit too. The park was beautiful and in great condition. The actual temple was beautiful. Our tour guide gave us so much information, but a lot of it I don’t remember so I just can’t pass it on. Our tour guide gave us whispers – he can talk on a mic and we can listen over earphones. It makes walking around crowded loud places so much better. He can tell us about the area we are seeing as we walk around it. After the Temple of Heaven we went to a jade shop and then lunch. Lunch was ridiculous. They just kept bringing out food. We had at least 12 different dishes at each table. I tried some of everything, but the soup – there just wasn’t any room left when the soup came out. Then we went to the Great Wall of China. This is something I’ve always wanted to see. It is an amazing feat of engineering and hard work. It’s so beautiful where we went. My knees felt great – Thanks PhuketFit. After that we went to the Olympic complex to see the Bird’s Nest. We didn’t go in, but just took pictures from outside. Dinner was Peking Duck and then another 10 dishes or more. It was like ridiculous lunch all over again. All the food was excellent.
Yesterday was my last day at Phuket Fit. I gained weight – fat, not muscle and I was dehydrated on my check out stats. I think they had my food goals off a little, but my biggest goal was to try to get my body to want to exercise again. After over a year with no exercise, I was tired and unmotivated. So, I feel ready to go again. I was hoping to process a lot of my experiences over the past eight months, but that didn’t seem to happen or is happening in a different way or is partially happening. So more on that later as I figure it all out. I didn’t take as many pictures as I wanted of Phuket Fit, but a few are attached.
Today I had a lovely pancake breakfast with Lynne and James. I might have gained some more weight just from breakfast. I went to the airport early, because what was I going to do for two hours after hotel check out in the rain?
Besides, my airline reservations were sketchy and I figured if something was amiss, I’d have time to fix it. I had a minor freakout when I booked the flight and the confirmation came from a company different from the airline. My confirmation came through with the note that I could not check in on line because the airline wouldn’t have my info on line. I could only check in at the airport in person. It also had the copy of someone else’s credit card attached to the confirmation. What? Then I reminded myself that everything works out exactly like it should. And if something seems unlikely in Thailand, it will work out exactly as billed no matter how unlikely it sounds. There is some sort of “that can’t work” magic in Thailand that makes unlikely things work. In any other country, I’d be buying another ticket today. I sat in a restaurant for a couple hours until the check in desk opened. I got in line to check in. There were about 30 middle aged or older Thai women in line. Is this the Thai middle aged woman airline? One lady made me go ahead of her and her friends because there were 7 of them and they didn’t want me to have to wait for them. So nice. Then the husbands started arriving – oh, the women go and wait to check in while the men do what? I checked in fine (duh – of course – magic) and now I’m waiting for my flight to board.
I might do some more blogs tonight when I get to Bangkok. I fly to China tomorrow. China blocks a lot of websites. I bought a VPN, but I’m new to this concept so we’ll see how it goes. But, if I don’t post for two weeks, I’m either having way too much fun or the VPN didn’t work. I hope China has “that can’t work” magic like Thailand does.
I haven’t written in awhile mostly because I don’t know what to say. A lot is going on spiritually, but I don’t know how to put any of it into words. So, that will have to come later after it’s done processing through my system.
On a more superficial level, I’ve just been working out and eating. There are a bunch of workout classes available every day, but I’ve been attending around three high intensity fitness classes a day. I’ve been having trouble getting out of bed in the morning so I’ve been sleeping more too.
It’s been an interesting meeting the people here. The staff is all nice and wonderful. Some of the guests are kind of snobby which I didn’t expect. Some of the guests are very nice though. Most of the unfriendly guests have left so it’s more pleasant now. Most of the guests are return guests and I can see why. This place is well run and provides something people need.
One night there was a trip to a night market. Since I love Thai markets, I went. I didn’t love this market. It was really for tourists. But, I’m on one of the biggest tourist islands so it makes sense. There was another night market trip the next night to a different market. I decided to skip it.
Loi Krathong is the lantern festival that I’m coming back for in November. It’s been canceled in Chiang Mai because of mourning for the king. The festivities were canceled in Tak, but they are still going to do the actual floating of the candles in the river which is what I wanted to see. So, I had to change all my hotel plans and pretty soon I need to figure out where I’m going to go after that. I would have skipped it altogether, but I still have a suitcase of stuff at Noi’s house that I need to get and a plane ticket to Mae Sot which is not refundable.
When I was diving in Samui I touched some coral with my knee and it turned all red. When I asked the divemaster what he thought it was he said “coral” as if it was no big deal. It didn’t look like a cut. It wasn’t until 4 or 5 days later that I noticed tiny scabs where the coral had cut me. Then about a week later it puffed up and turned even redder. Someone here suggested I go to the doctor right away because it was infected. I looked it up on line and it said to seek medical attention right away. Great. So I rode my motorbike in the pouring rain to the nearest clinic. The doctor gave me a cream. I asked if I needed an antibiotic and she said pointed to the cream. How is a cream going to get under the skin to the infection? I went home later and did a little homegirl surgery. I cut some of the skin away so that the cream could get in. I also used some tea tree oil and neosporin just in case those might be helpful. I’m pretty sure neosporin is the answer to most medical problems. Then I broke my no searching things on the internet after 10pm rule and looked at the coral cuts info closer. This rule was set in place for a reason and breaking it means no good sleep. I read that there are all kinds of nasty things in salt water and coral cuts often get infected and then if you see a dark line on your arm or leg you need to go to the emergency room for iv antibiotics. I woke up every few hours to check my arms and legs for dark lines. I have antibiotics my doctor gave me before I left Colorado in case of an emergency. I started taking those. It’s been a few days now and no dark lines, just an upset stomach from the antibiotics.
Yesterday I rode the motorbike around and went to two overlooks and a beach. We have been having a lot of stormy weather due to big storms in the Philippines. The wind was so strong it was blowing salt mist way up past the beach. The waves were huge. It was unfriendly for swimming which was good, because I didn’t feel bad that I can’t swim because of my coral cut. It was nice and relaxing to watch the waves crash and watch the sea move. I feel like just watching it reset something and I was more relaxed after. It was also nice to ride around and see some of Phuket. It’s more mountainous than I expected. I like it.
Today I took another field trip. When I was looking for fun things to do near here, I found a rum distillery that gave tours. I have drank a lot of rum over the years, but didn’t know how it is made. It was a small distillery and the tour was interesting. The rum was real good too.
I have two more days of fitness camp and then travel back to Bangkok and then off to China!
Rraine Drops 