It's Fun To Stay at the Y.M.C.A...

That's right everybody...with arm motions this time...It's Fun To Stay at the Y.M.C.A....

Well it is....if the one in question is The Salisbury YMCA in Kowloon! It is a beautiful hotel right on the harbor across from Hong Kong. Next door is The Peninsula and the Sheraton at triple and double the price we paid. I think we did just fine. It is actually a nice hotel, only 2 stars but clean and the harbor view makes up for no bellhop or room service. The picture above is the view from our room during the evening light show.
Kim and I were lucky enough to arrive on Valentines Day (our anniversary too) and even though the desk said the dining room was fully booked we stopped by and they had a table for us. The Valentines buffet dinner was delightful . Between the view and the fact that they took anyone who wanted to go, up on the roof to watch the nightly award winning harbor light show, we had a lovely evening. The light show is made up of lot of buildings on both sides of the harbor displaying colorful lights on their sides and lasers and white lights from their rooftops. The whole thing is set to music so you can tune your radio to a certain band and it is choreographed to match. We really lucked out that night as they don't take people up to the roof every night(although it was a nice roof garden) to watch and it had to be the best view anywhere to watch the show. We could see the massed crowds down on the harbor walk from up there and were grateful for the elbow room and vantage we had.

Although we both ended up working quite a bit from Hong Kong...me on the phone to shrimp customers and Kim putting out programming fires for his boss, we still managed to see some of the sights in the 5 days we had.

I think the best way I can describe Hong Kong is that it is like San Francisco TIMES TEN and Chinatown TIMES A THOUSAND!! The similarities are many with the foggy weather, cable cars, bridges, ferries, hills, harbor, shopping, crowds and great food!
We did a couple of the city-hikes around town, went up to "The Peak" on the funicular cable car tram thing, rode the Star Ferry across the harbor and took buses and the subway all over. We had High Tea at both the Conrad hotel (fabulous buffet tea) and at The Peninsula. Enjoyed dim sum and some of the best noodle dishes ever. I am afraid that even having spent a great deal of time in SF and Chinatown, Hong Kong's lowliest dim sum kicks butt over anything in SF.

And yes we did try foot massages there and although good (how can you not say that with someone rubbing your feet after a long day of walking/sightseeing?) they were not of the caliber to be found in Thailand.

Here are some pics of us hamming it up with the statue of Bruce Lee and the star for Jackie Chan on the Harbor Hollywood walk.


It feels weird to be heading home with everyone talking about all the snow on the ground. I am sure my thin blood is not going to like it. However, we already have plans for the next leg of our grand adventure and it is only 5 weeks away so I should be able to handle the cold for that long.

More details on that soon...

Did I forget to mention the Tigers?

Well perhaps that is because I was too chicken to go in the cage with them at the Tiger Kingdom. Naww, just felt able to enjoy them from the other side of the fence is all. Besides I wasn't sure if they'd sense I'm a dog person and treat me accordingly. Sorry no pics.. I can't find any from that part of the day..my guess is I erased the chip prematurely.
On the day we went out to the Queen's gardens and temple one of our stops was at the Tiger Kingdom. If you ever make it over here to Thailand, every TukTuk driver, tour operator and taxi will be only too happy to tell you all about the Tiger Kingdom and take you there. Regardless as to if you just went there the day before AND are wearing a big Tiger Kingdom shirt to prove it! (as tested by our friend Mike) They can be rather persistent at times.
We spent Chinese New Year down in Chiang Mai's Chinatown. I didn't manage to get a good shot of the dragon-dancing but I did get a goofy shot of Kim, Alan and Marijke among the festivities.

In the last few weeks I have been working out, eating well and taking care of myself a bit. I've had my teeth cleaned (oh Mary how Kim and I missed your gentle touch!); Acupuncture (missing you too Linnie!); and had an appointment with a Podologist to work on my overwalked toes and feet.

Alan has taken on the task of teaching us Snooker....a far cry from the social pool I learned to play growing up. I am certain he is quite tired of hearing me say "You're kidding? Hit that one? It's acres and acres away!" The table feels twice the length of a normal pool table and there are twice the balls to hit, in a particular order of course. There are also young girls in skimpy hot pink outfits there to serve you drinks, keep score and hand you the bridge when you need it...all as part of your table rent.
Alan's girlfriend Marijke and I have gone out girly-shopping together and I managed to find a couple of new bras...slightly strange shaped cups but at least they had ones that fit me, a rarity here in Asia. We also hit the lovely jewelry shops along the Thapae Road and discovered we are a terrible influence on each other. Seven pairs of earrings and two rings later I had spent all the cash I had on me and half of what she had on her, lucky for me she'd spent the other half. We agreed those 3 shops are now off limits for the rest of this trip!



At the Wararot Market:
Yes that is a pork waffle right between the Strawberry and Chocolate....and we are talking salty pink hot dog type pork too!

So should I have bought the hat?















We met our alter egos from Seattle the other day. Richard and Stacy were enjoying Thailand as a rest spot to get ready to head off to India, Egypt and Turkey. We had two lovely breakfasts with them at our favorite, "The Blue Diamond". By the end of the second breakfast, where we again had to leave to make room for the lunch crowd arriving, we realized it was a bit spooky how parallel our lives were with these new friends. As Stacy put it "You said that and the hairs on my arms stood up!" To name a few coincidences, she can't eat bell peppers like myself and she also was so preoccupied with visa's for other countries along their journey that they did the same thing as we had. They had overlooked Thailand's visa rules until they were over the limit just as we had done.
They have started a blog called www.lyonsontheloose.com and their motto is "Live Like You're Leavin'"!
Not a far cry from our www.willworkforairlinemiles.com and "Live each day as though it might be your last!"

Highlights/Updates from Thailand

Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything. Kim and I are doing very well here still. We are really enjoying ourselves and the weather has even warmed up some more . It was a teeny bit cool for a while there. Not enough to complain about, but enough to debate buying a blanket for sleeping. We settled for sleeping with the window closed on the chilly nights.

Let's see what have we been up to lately?

New Years Eve 2009 on the river in Chiang Mai
To celebrate the New Year in style we got dressed up and went to one of the finest buffets I have ever eaten at. It was at the Holiday Inn in Chiang Mai and in my opinion rivaled the Sheraton Palace Sunday Brunch for most amazing food and selection. I am certain that I ate enough at the cheese buffet to cover my entry ticket. It had been a while since I'd had any kind of cheese as there is not a lot of dairy in the Thai diet.

After the meal there were floating/flaming lanterns to set aloft out by the riverside as well as awful dancing in the bar before and after the countdown. The fireworks over the river were delightful, although the display in Bangkok back at the Loy Krathong festival was over the top by comparison.
Altogether a lovely and decadent evening.

On the 9th of January Kim and I, along with Linda and Mike hired a car to take us on an excursion out of town. First we went to the Queen Sirikit's Botanical Garden. This place covers an entire mountain. There are huge greenhouses of orchids, begonia's, cacti, rain-forest displays, lily's etc. etc. When we'd had enough of those we had a picnic lunch and then walked the rock garden, enjoying the lovely flowers and waterfalls there.
Check it out online at http://www.qsbg.org/index_E.asp

We have a slew of other photos of our adventures if you click on the link of the homepage or here:
http://willworkforairlinemiles.com/photos/

From there our driver took us to a large temple complex which was part old and part new. It housed a tremendous collection of artifacts and statues . I believe they were building new Wat's just to house all those extra items as it almost looked like a storeroom there were so many.

After the requisite stop at a fancy and expensive store very reminiscent of India, (no we didn't want to buy anything-it was just so the driver could get his free bottle of hooch for bringing us) we went to this gorgeous restaurant on the outskirts of town. No one was really hungry for dinner yet so we all had dessert and I had a coconut milk slushee! The whole place is designed to look like it is built into and out of trees (not wood but trees) and I was enthralled with the "waterfall" sinks in the Ladies' bathroom. We had done so much walking that Kim and I had the driver let us off at our end of town so we could get a foot massage before rejoining Linda and Mike for dinner that evening in the Night Bazaar area.

I did a massage trade with Tameer, friend of Noriko's. She does Cranio-Sacral and energy work which was lovely and I did some Neuro-Kinetic Restructuring on her shoulders in exchange. We are talking of getting together at least once more before I leave and she wants to try a Lymphatic session this time.
One of the nice things about our trade is that she lives a ways out. The second time I went to her house I rented a bike for the day and rode out there. The distances between things here are so small that I unknowingly crossed over the superhighway (just looked like every other intersection) and kept on riding. By the time it occurred to me to stop and call I was practically in the next town! I couldn't help but laugh when she said "Oh NO you have gone way too far! Are you going to be ok?" I told her I'd ride back to superhighway now that I knew where I was going from there and call here back in 10 minutes. With the overshot I got a lovely ride past the golf course and the sports complex and all in all I was actually only 10 minutes late to her house. I do have to say without my own "easy seat" saddle, after the hour and a half getting there and then the perhaps 40 minutes to get back afterwards my butt was sore for a day or so. But it felt good to ride after being off a bike for so long. Ever since riding the ALC, getting on a bike and only riding for 15-30 minutes doesn't feel like riding at all and people who haven't done that kind of long distance think you are crazy to go so far.

This last Friday the 16th we all went to the Alliance Francaise and saw a hilarious film called "Les Vacances de Mr. Hulot". This is a fabulous black and white..mostly dialog free from 1953 and I would recommend it to anyone who likes Charlie Chaplin or Mr. Bean. We are thinking of going again this Friday for "Trafic" as it is the continuing adventures of Mr. Hulot taking a motor caravan to Amsterdam.

On Saturday the 17th we all took a bus down to Hua Hin on the coast, south of Bangkok. The bus took all day 8am-8pm and for the full bizzaro details read Kim's blog as he chronicles the whole strange sugary experience.
The beach was delightful, however the water was too cold for us to want to swim. There was a lovely ocean breeze and we did spend some time in the pool as it was warmer down there as well. This was a nice seaside resort town and Kim and I imagined it was what Miami beach or Cancun had looked like decades and decades ago -with an Asian flair of course.
We had a look at Khao Takip "chopsticks mountain" and the giant standing Buddha there with the view down the beach to town.
Because Monday night was Linda and Mike's last night in Thailand, we went all out and had a seafood extravaganza at a beach-side restaurant. We had crab and prawns and Tom Ka Soup and topped the meal off with mango-sticky-rice and ice-cream. As decadent as it was the whole thing was just over $50!

After another long bus ride yesterday, we are now back in Chiang Mai at the Khumsiphia Grand Hotel and Residence. We paid for last month and are now onto our second one here. It is starting to feel very familiar.

Chinese New Year is this coming Monday so my work with shrimp sales will probably be pretty light to nonexistent for a while. I may take the time to take the courses that I haven't gotten to yet.

Overall I have to say, I am not missing the cold back home and I'm still having a great time. However, I am missing all of you and the swing dancing, so I am looking forward to February as well.

Christmas in the sun, Hot Springs, Lady-boy Beauty Contests and Sung Tou Adventures

Christmas dinner at The Garden was a nice mellow social affair with a spread of food that resembled the attendees, a mix of Frarang and Thai. There was turkey and cranberry sauce with potatoes and gravy (neither of the last two resembling the kind we have back home) along side some interesting Thai dishes of rice noodles with green curry eggplant and other interesting dishes. During the midday dinner, the owner Tim had hired an Eastern Thai band to play and their authentic musical style was quite lovely. We had a lovely day as it was sunny and warm and we ate with our English friends Linda and Mike (they are from Hull). It felt a bit odd to be fanning myself and worrying about staying in the shade since we were outdoors for our Christmas dinner! It was a first for me. The owner of "The Garden" is British as well so there was a traditional fruitcake...I asked the Thai girl serving for "A small piece of cake and lots of ice cream". She didn't correct me so when I sat down Mike and Linda said "Wow you sure are going overboard there" and I just thought they were joshing me until I stuffed a whole mouthful in and almost gagged...felt like pure lard and tasted almost as gross. I promptly spit it into my napkin and said "That's not ice cream!!" which prompted the entire table to laugh at me and explain what "hard sauce" or "buttered rum" is.

Saturday, while collecting our laundry down the street, Kim and I were discussing what we should do after dinner when someone handed us a flyer for Miss Hua Puk 2008 Beauty Contest and Cabaret show. Problem solved. So after dinner we walked to the Thapae Gate area paid our 50baht ($1.45 per person) entrance fee and then watched the pagent, cabaret and comedy that was the show. So many of the contestants were so beautiful I had difficulty believing they weren't female-even when they made them take off the wigs! I used up every last photo on shots of the contestants and vegas style costumes worn by the cabaret acts. Check out more amazing photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/KimStJohnWoodward

Today we met Linda and Mike at their hotel early so we could join them for some rice porridge (Juk/Comgee) and then go on a Sung Tou adventure. We had heard that you could get to San Kampang by Sung Tou and so we took one out to the village. 15 baht later we found out that the hot springs labeled San Kampang Hot Springs is about a 30 minute drive outside of said village. After picking up a stray Aussie, nice young man named John, Linda managed to haggle another Sung Tou to take us for 20 baht each. We walked the floral laden grounds, boiled eggs in the hottest pool and then had a swim in a luke warm swimming pool with a light sulfur smell. It was a nice day and although it cost us 300 baht in a taxi to get back to town we all enjoyed the adventure of it all. We had the taxi drop us in BoSarn where the hand painted umbrella factory is. I had one of the artists paint an elephant on the back of my little daypack and now I am quite pleased with it. Before it was just a good deal being 50baht and slightly faded from spending years hanging in the night market but now it is nicely decorated for 50baht more and I like it even better.

Now however it is time to head out and have a little supper since the 2 boiled eggs and handful of banana chips I ate for lunch aren't holding me very well. Tough dilemma now...pizza or Thai food?

Anyone interested in reading more details about what Thailand is like...this writer's description is right on the money! http://mybt.budgettravel.com/_Thailand-The-Land-of-Smiles/BLOG/154630/21864.html

Tomorrow is New Years Eve and we are invited to a BBQ and then have booked in at the Holiday Inn for a Seafood Buffet/Music/Dance evening by the riverside. I expect it will be enjoyable and decadent . I will be thinking of all of you, my dear friends and family back home and around the world and wishing everyone a very Merry New Year!

A day in the life...Chiang Mai style!

So my dear friend Donna mentioned how exotic and adventurous we've been and asked what our typical days are like. I thought I would share my response with all of you.
Since we've been in Chiang Mai, Thailand and Singapore our adventures haven't really been that exotic. They are both modern cities with all the conveniences and amenities. And the demonstrations didn't affect us at all, other than noticing that there are very few tourists around. Certainly not as many as there should be for this time of year.

As a snapshot of our lives here in the north of Thailand:

The other day I woke up early to make my calls to shrimp customers(yes I am still working selling shrimp...same as if I was in Colfax..maybe more as I don't have housework, errands or my massage practice to distract me) then we adventured out to find breakfast. Came back to the hotel and did some paperwork/emails on the computer while Kim worked at his programming. By 1pm we took off and met our friends Linda and Mike and went to a car show at the BigC (K-mart-esque)where we enjoyed puzzling over the Hydrogen kits for better fuel mileage and the fun little fiat 500's with snazzy paint jobs.
Then we came back to the center of town and went out to dinner at this little place next to their hotel. It is someone's front yard and there are several tables set up and one guy with a wok cooking dishes one by one. So eating there with 5 people was interesting as each dish came individually. But they were all lovely so we were happy. I think I had flat noodles with chicken and veggies and Kim had pineapple fried rice with pork. After wandering about the night market and catching a little bit of the puppet show and traditional Thai dancing in the Kalare food court Kim and I walked back across town to our hotel and then I stayed up late enough to call Barry and Skip and put in my shrimp orders.

Today was a Sunday relaxation day with a sleep in until nearly 9 and then a walk about town looking for a new breakfast place. Found one, but it was a disappointment. Luckily, it wasn't far from Starbucks and I got my chocolate fix (only place to get real dessert) of a double chocolate cupcake...warm!! Then we went to the Luck Fish Spa and had another one of the fish clean your feet sessions (see weird video) and a lovely full body Thai massage. The rest of the afternoon has been spent cleaning up my in-box and writing to May re shrimp stuff.
Now it is time to put on shoes walk back to Thapae Gate and listen to some live Jazz at that same Starbucks before we meet Linda and Mike again for dinner and more live music (blues this time I think) at "The Garden". I think that pretty much describes an ideal day for me. If we are feeling really decadent then on the way home tonight we may splurge and spend another $5 dollars each on another hour long foot massage before bed.
Well the music at Starbucks wasn't worth staying for so we went to Ratana's Kitchen on Thapae Road and had an awesome dinner (Khao Soi) one of my favorite dishes. After that we had a long, tedious, slow walk to "The Garden". To get ther we had to walk through the Sunday Walking Market where they close off most of the streets to traffic and everyone has stalls on the sides and middle of the roads. The music was fun...classic rock stuff Jimmy Hendrix, Dire Straights, Beatles etc. By the time we left it was late enough that we passed on getting another foot session and just came back to the hotel.
I am hoping to stay up late enough to make a few work calls but if not I will set an alarm and make the calls first thing when I get up.

So far no special plans for tomorrow, work in the morning and Fish and Chips day at Sunee's restaurant. Other than that I think we will just "wing it".

Emergency Visa Run to Singapore

On the 10^th when we were taking the taxi to the University for the orchid show our friend Allen was bemoaning having to have his visa renewed and I made the nonchalant comment that I was glad as Americans we had 90 instead of only 30 days on our visa. He informed us of the recent changes in the Thai laws which are not so friendly to visitors for some reason. Sure enough we got back to the hotel that evening to find our visa had indeed expired that day! So in a flurry we researched where to go, got up really early, packed up all our stuff and went to the airport. We bought a ticket to Singapore as it made sense to go there and renew our visas in style. I was able to contact my cousin Daniel and voila, it is a return of what my father affectionately calls the “Grateful Dan Fan Club”! Back in 95, the last time we were gallivanting the globe ,we kept following him around from Paris, France to Majorca, Spain and Miami to the Florida Keys too.

Kim and I are in Singapore now and just made the conservative decision :( to go back to Thailand rather than take an 18 day cruise to Hong Kong. It was a tough call as that did sound like fun. It was on the Azamara line which I have been interested in checking out. But, it would have been completely out of budget so we are behaving.

We are also quite enjoying Singapore. It is a clean lovely city, manageable in size, easy to get around and lots to see. There is plenty of upscale stuff but we have found food is really reasonable and the taxi's are downright cheap! Dan has taken us around a bit and turned us on to some local specialties. My current favorite is the Sambal Stingray. Basically BBQ stingray smothered in a sweet and mildly spicy roasted chili paste very unlike the sambal I have had in the past. We have checked out Boat Quay, hiked in the big park up to the top of the small mountain behind his house, had a buffet brunch with him at the American Club and gone to some great hole in the wall eateries. He took us to see Quantum of Solace (ok fun but not spectacular) and we got to hang out at his house for a while. (Bless him for letting us mooch his internet and do some long overdue laundry too!)

The other night we explored Chinatown on our own and we have been taking advantage of the pool at our hotel almost every day. Although it is quite cool in the water we keep reminding ourselves that it is mid-December and really not that cold at all! We have had rain almost every day and it is quite humid and much warmer than the north of Thailand.

It is Monday night and as soon as Kim finishes his work for the day I'd like to go check out all the over-the-top Christmas lights on Orchard Street and find some dinner. Tuesday/tomorrow we pick up our passports and visas at the Thai Consulate office in preparation for our return to Chiang Mai the following morning on Wednesday. At that point we will have 36 more days in Thailand and 5 in Hong Kong before our return. Seems like it is going by super fast.

Life in Chiang Mai Thailand

Kim and I have been in Chiang Mai, here in the north of Thailand since the 15th of November. Most of this time we have been keeping busy by doing some work, walking everywhere, eating delicious food, dancing and seeing the sights.

Kim has been working on his laptop and I have been keeping up with shrimp clients by phone and booking some travel for folks via the Internet. I have done a few hotel reservations, some research for a group going to Hawaii and may be putting together a group for a Panama Canal Cruise at the end of February or the middle of March. Anyone interested? So far I think we have 3 cabins already spoken for. Write me for the details if you want to come with!

What have we been keeping busy with you ask?
On the first two Sundays here at the Queen Vic, we've gone downstairs to the pub for the all you can eat “Carvery” buffet of roast meats, Yorkshire pudding,gravy potatoes etc. and it is almost $10each! So for the sake of our cheapness and our big bellies we've skipped it since.
Every Sunday evening we find ourselves hanging out at “The Garden” listening to the blues/folk music there...we even got up and danced to one 50's song last Sunday despite the fact that we were the only people dancing! We have made some great friends there and have had lots of fun with Linda and Mike from England since our first Sunday at the Garden.
We've gone to High Tea and dancing at the Shangri La hotel for the last few Saturday afternoons. It was fun despite the fact that there wasn't much food and the band stunk- we are talking “cringe” bad. At least we got to dance.
We had two Salsa lessons on Wednesday nights since we have been up here in Chiang Mai and have now switched to Monday night Argentinian Tango class. Only had one lesson so far but really liked it! Linnie and Ty, you would be proud of us!
On the 3rd of December I went with Linda and her friend Valerie to the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School and learned to cook several more Thai dishes. The lesson was: cooked Pad Sey Yew (Wide noodles fried with sweet soy sauce), Steamed fish in Banana leaves, Yellow curry chicken, Chicken with Cashews and Spicy Prawn salad North-Eastern Style (in a chili jam sauce!) Everything was delicious and I brought my leftovers back for Kim. Unfortunately the dessert was a disappointment, it was cooked green bananas in Coconut Milk...not my thing!
On the 4th we went to the, get this...Ratchaphruek rumjaiphukrakporluang, (see Bobbie your name isn't really that long!) The Royal Flora Rachaphruek 2006 exhibit just outside of town. We are talking impressive gardens, with an orchid show going on and all sorts of events leading up to the King's birthday. The evening we chose to go, there was live Jazz and they were to play some of the King's compositions. I don't know if we heard any of his music but the band and singer were really pretty good. Linda caught us dancing on the way up towards the stage (see pics!) I don't know how she managed it but somehow she got us in the shot without anyone else, as if we had the place to ourselves, which was far from the case.
Monday we spent the morning working and then had a lunch date at Sunee's for her Panko battered fish & chips day, with Linda and Mike. After lunch we all went to the Holiday Inn to reserve our New Years Eve Buffet dinner and then to the massive Airport Plaza mall. They have this lame machine at the gym there which I was dying to check out until I saw it- I think it is called the Turbo-sonic back home but this seemed like a knockoff. Remember those goofy machines ages ago that had a vibrating belt you stood in and it was supposed to jiggle the fat away...same thing just a vibrating platform you stand on...no belt. Got back to the hotel with just enough time to grab our shoes and catch a taxi as we had a Tango Dance class that night.
The next day I worked for our dinner. I did an NMR/NKT session on Noriko, one of our Tango classmates. She has had neck stuff for a long time and I am hoping it helped her out. She certainly fed us well on an amazing organic peanut butter curry, which I will be struggling to replicate as soon as we get home!
On Wednesday the 10th we took a Green Sung Teow out to one of the big Universities and checked out the flower show there, orchids, bonsai, gourds, agriculture exhibits and a parade including parrots and a snake that I got to touch.(again see pics)
So we've gone from having very little on our plates to a busy schedule in no time at all! And you can see we are in no danger of getting bored with Thailand. The weather has been in the low 80's consistently and I hear there is snow at home so I am sending you all warm tropical mental hugs from here!