Homestay in Isan

Partt time in Isan

Dinner is served

I get lei'ed and strung out as a welcome

One of the most interesting (not to be interpreted as enjoyable) things I have done on this trip was to visit my friend Sang on his rice farm in north eastern Thailand. I took an overnight bus from Vientiane, Laos to Pakse, Laos where I caught another bus to Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand. When I arrived at the terminal in Ubon I called Sang and he came from his home about an hour away to meet me. We stopped at a modern grocery store and bought beer, sodas, snacks, etc. for a party in my honor that night. Then we went shopping at the market for the other things needed for the party. Since I had not brought gifts for the family, not knowing how many people there were, I bought all the provisions and I was a little shocked at how much money we went through in a short time. I repeated my frequent mantra, "It's only money."
When we got to his house there were about 20 or 30 people waiting to welcome me. In greeting me they layered me with flower leis and then everyone tied strings on my wrists which is a Buddhist custom to wish well. After the welcome gathering I was invited to nap while my hosts got the party ready. At about 6 PM Sang roused me and these early to bed farm folk were ready to party all the way up to 8:30. There was a lot of food, most of it very tasty, a lot of beer and whiskey and a lot of dancing and karaoke. I felt a bit awkward being able to speak to only one person at this gathering in my honor. No one else seemed to be bothered.
The following day we toured the family rice and bamboo farm. The family owns a lot of land and the house where I stayed was by far the most modern of any I saw for miles around. I had a fine bathroom to myself with hot water but no toilet tissue. Septic tank I guess.
What was hardest to deal with was the cooking and eating area. Even thought Sang's house was new and very comfortable, the kitchen where all the cooking was done was in an outdoor shed complete with chickens, flies, dogs and well water. I think having gotten through the 3 days without stomach problems validate my good health status for the year.
While waiting for my train to return to Bangkok on my final day we went to the nearby river where I swam with the local kids. Here we built our own Wet n Wild slide by piling rocks to funnel water through deeper channels and then we would lie down and let the water propel us through the course. There was a lot of whiskey drunk that afternoon and many of the kids seemed well under 18. Who am I to judge? They seem like nice children and I doubt that juvenile delinquency is a problem with these people.
The sleeper train to Bangkok was very comfortable and I conked out before I got to place a dinner order. When I woke up hungry at midnight I was very happy that I found some crackers and a bottle of water in my backpack.
Now I am sitting in my hotel in Bangkok. I went out today and saw no evidence of political unrest, thankfully. Perhaps it is because there are heavily armed military and police everywhere. Many police have been recruited from all over the country and a lot of them are being quartered in my hotel. Seeing all the serious weapons on the street is reminiscent of Jerusalem.
I plan to chill here until I can get a non stop flight to LAX on Monday. Tomorrow I will go to Chatachuk Weekend Market and the pool at my hotel is looking very inviting. There are many worse places to spend a weekend than Bangkok.

Return to Thailand

I am once again in lovely Thailand after a long night on the bus from Vientiane. Now I am sitting in a coffee shop in the bus terminal of Ubon Petchathani waiting for my friend Sang to come meet me. His village is about an hour away. I plan to spend a couple or 3 days with him on the rice farm before heading to Bangkok. I wish that I had shopped for the children in his family but I do not actually know their ages and it is kind of hard to buy anything unknowing. I am really excited about an honest to goodness home stay here in Thailand.

Teaching English

Teaching novice monks English

Sinh eating lunch. The boy can put away some food.

While roaming around Vientiane on Saturday I asked directions of a local who turned out to be an English teacher and he was happy to practice his English so we ended up spending almost all day on Sunday touring Vientiane on his motorbike. There is no tour I have ever been on which can compare with riding around on the back of a bike with someone who lives there. Vientiane is not long on memorable sights so mostly we spent time just hanging out and eating.
I asked if I could go to his English class on Monday and he was delighted with the idea. He teaches in his apartment and the class I taught consisted of 2 novice monks. Their lesson had to do with southeast Asian geography. Since the class was conversational English I was teaching them the difference between Vietnam and Vietnamese, Laos and Lao, Thailand and Thai, etc. They caught on quickly and I enjoyed the hour immensely. Like many speakers of English as a second language there is a difficulty knowing what syllable to accent and I think I taught the students and the teacher to to emphasize CHI-na and not to say chi-NA. I was glad to reaffirm that I think I would be a good English teacher.
I will take the VIP sleeper bus tonight to Pakse in southern Laos and connect on to Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand. I am unhappy with speeding through the places i want to see but I am trying to get to Bangkok and out of there before the situation gets too bad. I will stay with my friend Sang and his family in Isan and I am looking forward to participating in village life for a few days. I will be away from internet while there so there may be a lapse in reporting.

Not So Good News

I doubt that there is much coverage back home of the political situation now in Thailand, but you may recall a few weeks ago I attended a Red Shirts rally in Bangkok. The Red Shirts are demanding a new election since the present military led government simply ousted the elected prime minister and parliament and installed themselves to run the country.

It seems the government is not bending and a confrontation even to the point of civil war seems likely. For that reason I plan tomorrow to star rt making my way back toward Bangkok in hopes that things will stay fairly calm until I am in able to catch a flight to LAX or Tokyo, and then head back home. Right now I am in Vientiane, Laos and tomorrow I will bus to Pakse in southern Laos and cross into Thailand to visit my friend Sang, the rice farmer and collect the bag he saved for me while I am up north. From there I head to Bangkok. I am so happy to have been able to travel as much as I have and I am planning my next trip to see some of the places I will miss this time.

So the news from Thailand is not so good. It is a shame that the lovely country of Thailand is undergoing such turmoil and I am praying for a peaceful solution to the problems. Please add Thailand to your prayer lists.

By the way I did something to my computer and now the display print is very small and I can not remember how to enlarge it. I would appreciate if somebody refreshes my memory. hanahan12@aol.com. Thanks.

VIP - I think not!

I thought this was an unusual display in a bus stop along the way from Luang Prabang to Vientiane.

This is the VIP bus but the VIP factor eludes me.

I took the VIP bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane expecting a little more than I got. Happily I did sleep a fair amount on the overnight ride and I am glad I paid the extra money to step up from the "local" bus. For the first time in my bus travels in Asia we arrived earlier than scheduled and so I was out on the street at 6 AM looking for guesthouse. Vientiane, which is French for sandalwood city, awaits my exploration.

Luang Prabang

I love the way bamboo is used for everything from firewood to scaffolding.

The former Royal Palace of Laos in Luang Prabang. The king was deposed when the communists took over in 1975. Some sources say he went into exile in Paris and others say he died in a reeducation camp in Laos. Today the palace is open to the public and is a not to be missed sight.

The monks in Lao are far more approachable than in Thailand and I was honored that they invited me and another American at the falls to have our picture made with them.

I am so hot and sweaty here I am surprised the pic doesn't have an odor to it. Minutes later I was swimming in the pool at the bottom of the falls and the relief was bliss.

I arrived in Luang Prabang really beat up from the hard road trip but after 2 massages in as many days I recovered nicely. Boy, will I miss having readily available inexpensive massages when this trip is over!

Luang Prabang is situated on the same old Mekong Rover I described back in the Vietnam/Cambodia days of this trip. Here the terrain is much more mountainous and the water runs more swiftly. I took a river trip upstream to Pak On Caves which is called the cave of 1000 Buddhas. It seems that people have brought Buddha images here for years in commemoration of some life events. I have pictures of some of the collection.

The same day I went to Xiaio Yu waterfall where I got to have a refreshing dip in the falls. I was pretty exhausted after all that trekking which is part of the plan as tonight I will take an overnight bus to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

Rocky Road

The Lao scenery is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I got to see plenty of it on the rough journey from Luang Nam Tha to Luang Prabang.

This highway has been under improvement since 1995 and still has a long way to go. Perhaps the same company is working here as in Miami. Here are some travel companions waiting as we are delayed for road construction.

The title of today's post is rocky road and it ain't about ice cream. Incidentally I have not seen any ice cream since Chiang Mai almost a week ago. I am jonesing for a little vanilla or chocolate. But on to the story of rocky road. The trip from Luang Nam Tha to Luang Prabang was the roughest and most uncomfortable trip I have ever made. For about 10 hours I was rattled, shaken, jolted and everything but stir fried as we crossed the northern mountains of Laos. The scenery was absolutely some of the most beautiful I have seen anywhere and I shared the minivan with a Dutch family of 4, 2 French guys, an Hungarian girl and a Spanish guy and we all enjoyed each others company and joked the whole way about the road and what it was doing to our insides.
I am enjoying Luang Prabang but it is soooooo hot. This is a World Heritage city and so has been preserved better than many places. Today I visited the former King's palace which was converted to a museum after the king went into exile after the Communist takeover in 1975. The palace was beautiful but actually not a whole lot bigger than some of the mega mansions people have built around Valdosta.
Tomorrow on to Vientiane, the capitol of Laos. I hope the roads are better because i am taking a night bus with the plan of getting a little sleep on the way. In a rush so I will add pics later. Got the promised pics in albeit a little late.

Zuela Guest House

I am so pleased with the beautiful little guest house here in Luang Nam Tha. As I mentioned previously it is the prettiest place I have stayed so far on this trip and the $3.50 per night fee is indeed icing. In this country where so few people so far have been able top speak English, the brothers who operate this place are fluent.

I haven't mentioned eating in the last day or so but today I chose my lunch based on the following description in the menu.

Mak Karn Jeow

Fresh herbs and spices roasted over open fire and then ground to paste. Known as "Lord of the Table" and always present on Lao dinner table.

I like fiery spicy and I sure had a dose with this dish.

Happy Birthday April 21 to my sister Eve Renfroe, one of God's best creations.

You Say Lao, I Say Laos

Rice fields in Laos

Another border crossing

These motorized longboats are used to traverse the river separating Thialand from Laos. It costs a few cents to cross and upon arrival in Laos you enter a waterfrnt customs and immigration hut where visas are processed.

In my last update I was in Chiang Rai planning to take a bus to Chiang Kong, Thialand, cross the Laos (They call it Lao here.) border to Bokeo, Lao and then continue to Luang Prabang. Traveling demands flexibility and sometimes changes can be serendipitous. I followed the plan as far as Bokeo arriving around noon. I arranged an overnight bus on to Luang Prabang and was almost to the bus terminal for my 5 PM departure when somehow the tuk tuk driver found out the bus was cancelled. Now I know how those poor stranded passengers on cancelled flights felt, and I hope I was more helpful with their plight than anyone here. I reminded myself to relax and not get upset.
Here is where the flexibilty factor came in. I found a hotel and met some other travelers and decided that I would change my route and detour to Luang Nam Tha. That is where I am now and I am staying in a the mosty beautiful guest house so far. It costs $3.50 a night. There is no A/C but it's cool and no TV but no problem and fine free internet.
I conquered a long held fear yesterday and I am so happy about that. When I was still in college my friend Mike Strom got a motorcycle and let me ride it. I had a near accident that scared me so badly I never tried riding again. Well, yeserday my travel companion from Marbella, Spain, suggested we rent motorbikes to explore to explore the surrounding mountains and villages. I took inspiration from my sister and brother in law Rena and Jimmy Hicks who ride their motorbikes all over south Georgia, mustered my courage and mounted my bike. I am happy to have successfully stepped outside my comfort zone and the day on the bikes was so much fun that we will rent again today.

Chiang Rai for a Couple of Days

The grafitti on the door of this hippie looking place says a lot.

Delicious fish and beautiful to look at too.

Aoy and Ed on the bus from Chiang Mia to Chiang Rai

I departed Chiang Mai yesterday morning by bus to Chiang Rai. The bus was comfortable and I made friends with Aoy who had been back to her home in Chiang Mai for Songkran. We chatted the entire way and when we got to Chiang Rai she offered me a ride to my hotel. We stopped for a long leisurely lunch on the way where I took lots of pics. The place we went was locally called Pattaya Chiang Rai (Remember Pattaya, the beach town where I went to the hospital?) because this is the river and beach where these mountain folk come to swim. One of the most beautifully presented dishes I have seen so far was the whole fish covered with crispy fried herbs like mint, basil, kaffir lime, etc.

Today I have been a little unnerved because my computer has been acting up and I really enjoy being linked to home via internet. I found a repair man who did not do a very good job and then I thought of system restore and that (or he) got things going again. I will take a bus in the morning to Chiang Kong and from there cross the Mae Kong (Meekong) River into Laos. In Huai Sai, Laos I take my visa for Laos and then I travel by river or by bus to Luang Prabang. These are all towns I had never even heard of before this trip. I am a bit off the usual track and I enjoy taking "the one less traveled by."

Songkran Continues until Midnight

Palaquin with flowers instead of floats

Gongs, drums and flutes instead of marching bands

Thai beauties instead of cheerleaders

Today I was at another Songkran Procession (Parade) and I suddenly realized I was crying I was enjoying myself so much. I was so overcome with gratitude and pleasure of being able to do what I am doing that my emotions just kicked in and there I was in the middle of the sidewalk in Chiang Mai with tears running down my face. Thankfully I had on big sunglasses.

I lost the newspaper which explained the purpose of today's procession but I remember that it had something to do with presenting thanks to the city leaders of Chiang Mai. Instead of trucks with crepe covered beds there were palaquin with huge flower arrangements and the marching bands were made up of drums, gongs, cymbals and flutes. It was such an "I don't think we're in Kansas" moment that it brought about my above emotional reaction.

You may remember me saying the Tet celebration on 14 February in Saigon was one of the best days of my life. I can add today to that short list. Tonight the festivities continue until midnight and I hope the water sports abate after the sun goes down, but whatever happens I want to go out after a little rest and spend the rest of Songkran with these crazy Thais and farangs. Tomorrow I will leave by bus at 0900 for Chiang Rai, one point of the Golden Triangle, the other two being Chung Khun Laos and Tha Ton Myanmar (Burma). My passport is running out of pages and I hope I have enough space left for the necessary visas.

Spelunking and Springing

Boiling eggs in a bamboo basket in the hot springs

This is from top of cave looking down. The tiny white specks in center are people.

Oops! Can not delete duplicate.

My friend Sang and I decided to take a break from Songkran yesterday and hired a car to take us out of Chiangmai to Roong Aroon Hot Springs. En route we stopped by Muang-On cave. The peaceful day was a welcome respite from the soakings of the Songkran festival which ends today, by the way.

Muang-On cave is; like most remarkable, beautiful or unusual spots in this oh so Buddhist country; a shrine. To get to the mouth of the cave you have to climb 200 steps up the mountain. There you crawl/duck walk through a very small opening at which point I began to experience a familiar and uncomfortable claustrophobic sensation. If not for Sang's encouragement and pressuring me, I would not have been able to enter. Inside the cave was immense and well lit and my phobic reaction soon gave way to appreciation of the subterranean beauty. The last cave I remember impressing me so was Carlsbad Cavern, New Mexico. That was back in the 70's so there have been a lot of caves since then.

After spelunking, we headed to our real destination of the day Roong Aroon Hot Springs. The grounds and buildings looked like a nice country club with a hot water geyser, not a pro shop, as the focus of activity. We boiled eggs in the spring water, had lunch and then went for the plunge ourselves. You are given a small private cabin with a bathtub which you fill from two taps, one marked COLD and the other marked VERY HOT. There you soak, rinse with cold, soak, rinse with cold until your entire body just wants to lie down and melt into sleep. Sadly there were no hammocks available.

After a most peaceful day we were driven back to Chiang Mai. Due to the holiday traffic had been diverted from entering the area of our hotel so we had to walk about 10 blocks. From the taxi to our hotel everyone on the street did their best to insure we got home with nary a dry stitch.

It's Like Mardi Gras

Songkran Craziness

And More of the Same

Dancers perform on the Miss Songkran Stage

Some of the beautiful contestants on stage

Procession of contestants through the street going to the competition

Years ago when I was much younger I ventured to New Orleans several times for Mardi Gras until I finally said, "Enough! No more!" Well, as for Songkran in Chiang Mai, I am glad to be here and experience it but I think this one time will last a lifetime.

Songkran officially began today. The first event I witnessed was a procession of the girls vying for Miss Songkran 2010. How can the judges select a winner? Every girl was exquisitely beautiful and graceful. I was inspired to write a haiku.

Like a flower petal
Floating to the earth, she walks
Across the stage.

I have included a few photos which show how beautiful they were but their grace just has to be seen.

The craziness of Songkran is the water shooting, throwing, splashing. It's just nuts! Chiang Mai was built along the banks of a river and that river is still the center of a large city. Well all along the banks of the river Thais and tourists engage in water battles which result in everyone being completely saturated within just a few minutes. It is all so good natured and joking that the aggravation of being wet is offset by the camaraderie. I am by no means the only foreigner here and the kids who are as cute as dolls seem to take special delight in hosing down farang, I emailed a couple of my friends whom I know hate getting wet that this is one part of my trip that I am glad they are not with me.

I have yet to witness a serious side to the festival and I hope that I will be able to experience that as well. Meanwhile it is time to reload my water bazooka and head back to the battle.

A Buddha for Every Day

Sunday Buddha Image

Saturday Buddha Image

Friday Buddha Image

Thursday Buddha Image

Wednesday Buddha Image

Tuesday Buddha Image

Monday Buddha Image

I was interested to learn here in Chiang Mai that each day of the week has a particular Buddha which influences people born on that day, something like Zodiac signs, if you are interested in that kind of thing. I was born on a Friday (oh so long ago) and my Buddha image shows that I hold family and friends very close to my heart. Well, that is for sure. Look at the Buddha image for your birth day and perhaps you will see something interesting.

Preapring for Songkran

Weapons for the upcoming water festival in Chiangmai

Well, tomorrow or the next or the next day is Thai New Year, my third new year since Christmas 2009. I am glad birthdays do not come as frequently! In preparation we purchased serious looking water guns. The most famous characteristic of this 4 day festival is throwing water on any and everybody. Today, even before the celebration starts, I was soaking wet by the time I got back to my hotel this afternoon. I think it could get very old after a day or so.

There is a Buddhist component which I will tell about later.

Train to Chiangmai

Our train for Chaingmai departed Bangkok at 1900 and hotel checkout was noon so we took our bags to Sang's friends condo and spent the afternoon there swimming and having lunch. For lunch we went to a nearby market for Isan food which is the state Sang and his friend come from. I thought I had tasted spicy before but this food kicked it up a notch, to quote not my favorite TV chef.

Waiting for the train we ate once again this time at the terminal KFC and it was a good thing as we learned the train we were on was a special route running only to meet the high passenger demand of Sonkran and therefore without a dining car. The beds were comfy enough and the other 2 people in our compartment were quite friendly and fluent in English.

When we got to our hotel in Chiangmai it did not match the description I had read online. The room was not AC, there was neither TV nor fridge. I politely but forcefully managed to have the very pleasant manager to find us suitable accommodations and now we are settled in for a week.

Our first destination in Chiangmai was the temple where Sang had done his stint as a monk when he was 25. It is not required but almost all Thai men spend at least several months as monks. This reminded me of a story from my previous trip to Thailand. I had taken a photo in the Bangkok airport of a sign designating an area as reserved "For Monks Only". When I was showing photos of my trip to my friend Alberto from Argentina, he was baffled by the sign. I explained the reason was because monks would not be able to sit next to a female. He still did not understand until the conversation continued and we realized he confused the word monk with monkey.

After the temple I took care of the second medical dilema of my trip. When I arrived in Bangkok airport a couple of days earlier I picked up a piece of sticky candy from the desk of the currency exchange. Wouldn't you know it pulled an old filling right out? Well I felt no pain but i wanted to get it repaired before experiencing any problem. We walked into a dental clinic at about 4:30 PM on a Saturday afternoon, I saw a dentist, got a fine reparation and was out in less than an hour. The bill was less than $25.

One Night in Bangkok

This is me at the Red Shirt rally, 9 April 2010, Bangkok. I was the only foreing looking person I saw there and I was recieved warmly.

I had one night in Bangkok after flying in from Singapore and leaving by night train to Chiang Mai. My friend Sang met me at my hotel and we went for dinner and then the evening got really interesting.

First a little background info. I doubt that the political situation in Bangkok is big news back home but here it gets 24/7 coverage. A few weeks ago I mentioned the peaceful revolution of the red shirts against the existing government. For a little history of what is happening, in 2005 there was military coup which ousted then PM Taksin and a military government installed themselves. There has been opposition to the military rule all along and earlier this year the general populace began to demand an opportunity to elect a new leader. This movement to reestablish democracy is known as Red Shirts. Their actions to date have been totally peaceful but intentionally disruptive. (For one thing tourism, a major economic factor, is down 35%.)

Well, back to the story. After we ate Sang suggested we go to the Red Shirt rally. I asked if he felt like it was fine for a farang (foreigner) to be there and he assured me he would not put me in harm's way. We went and there was almost a carnival atmosphere. On the main stage were orators and performers. I could understand only the word America and asked Sang for a translation. What the speaker was saying was the in America the black people were once slaves and the lowest in society and now a descendant of black people is President. The comparison cast America in a very positive light for a change which of course was pleasing. I am glad not to have listened to so many fraidy cat who advised me to stay away. I was warmly greeted and felt perfectly secure.

Today (2 days later) on the news I see some ambulance activity and it seems as if tempers are heating up. Sang tells me there will possibly be a resolution today. I am hopeful the self installed military government will do the right thing and allow free elections in this democratic country. Interestingly the soldiers who are positioned around the city to control the crowds are referred to as "watermelons", green uniforms on the outside and red on the inside.

SIN to BKK

That's my flight 4th from the bottom of the departure board.

I will be flying out of Singapore in a few hours to Bangkok where I meet a friend, overnight and then take the sleeper train to Chaing Mai in northern Thailand tomorrow evening. Chaing Mai is supposed to be the nicest city in one of the nicest countries so I look forward to being there. The festival of the Thai new year will be from 12-15 April. Part of the celebration is to throw water on everyone so I have been warmed to be prepared to stay wet.
I asked the computer man from my hotel here in Singapore about the problem uploading pictures to the blog and he seemed thought the problem is with the hotels internet access. Hope so and if so, you will see pictures again soon I hope.

P.S. I am now at Changi Airport in Singapore waiting to fly to Bangkok. It is a very relaxed feeling to show up at the airport with a confirmed, not standby, ticket. My problem is having been in the biz for so long I keep waiting for the delay announcement. I hope it doesn't happen.

I was 1 kilogram overweight on my bag and the kind agent said he saw 20 K not, 21 K.

I have been experimenting with pictures and the blog. Maybe I had changed toe setting on my camera somehow and the size of the pictures was too large. Oops! My bad! I want to solve the problem so you can see some of the great stuff I am seeing.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

One of the primary temples in this very ethnically diverse city is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. I am honestly puzzled and pretty confused with the Buddhist custom of memorializing various parts of the Buddha's body. Here there is supposedly one of his teeth enshrined in a gold stupa. It just seems inconsistent with such a peaceful and contemplative system that the Buddha's body would be so desecrated to have bones and teeth scattered throughout Asia.

I took some decent photos of the temple which is in Chinatown and very close to my hotel. I am having extraordinary difficulty uploading photos from this location. I will try but for those interested you may have to wait until I get home to see.

I have one more day in Singapore before flying to Bangkok on Thursday. This has not been my favorite place but I do give the cuisine an A plus. The residents are very friendly and helpful to a needy tourist like me. Above I mentioned diversity. I am amazed that Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian all have a significant presence and everyone seems to be very convivial with each other. Being here and even more so in Malaysia has softened my view of Islam. Instead of scary shrouded terrorist types the Muslims here are smiling, friendly, helpful non jihadists; at least all that I have met.

Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin is an island just north of Changi, location of the Singapore airport and the site of an infamous Japanese prison during WWII where over 1000 Singaporeans were executed for war crimes. To get to Palau Ubin I took an hour plus city bus ride to a ferry terminal and then a short ferry ride over to the island. Once there I rented a bicycle and rode all over the island searching in vain for a swimming beach, only to find out that coral and rocks make swimming impossible there. Still the day was pleasant riding through dense jungles and spectacular scenery. I got soaked by a rain shower when I was riding my bike and that was fine because it cooled me off and at the time I still had expectations of swimming in the Gulf of Singapore. When I got to the bus coming home it was another story. I froze in the AC bus.

Abalone At Last!

I am just back from dinner. I ordered abalone with rice, not really remembering what abalone tastes like. I ate abolone a few times when I lived in California but it was a real expensive delicacy then and there. Here in Sinagpore on the other hand it is still pretty commonplace and very affordable. I took a picture of the husband and wife owner/chefs of the restaurant. They were pleased with that.

This morning for breakfast I had coffee which is always served with about half the cup full of condensed milk which makes it so good and nasi lemak. That's not Big Mac, it's lemak.
Nasi lemak is a pile of rice flavored with dried fish, head eyes and all, sweet bits which taste like raisins, and savories like celery and pepper. It is wrapped in a banana leaf and cooked over a fire so one side is charred and crunchy.

Eating in Singapore

The food here is just soooo good. I am eating lots of noodles and rice topped with curries or other tasty entrees. The above picture is a typical food court. These are usually located on the upper floor of markets which sell fish, meat, produce, clothing, household items, etc. on the ground floor. On the right is the vendor and there you pick (in my case by pointing) what you want and then it is boiled or stir fried and given to you on a tray. On the left are the tables which you often share with others while you dig in. This sort of reminds me of a cross between a school lunchroom and an old Hanahan favorite, Morrison's Cafeteria. (When we used to drive from Valdosta to Charleston to visit my grandmother we always scheduled our trip to be in Savannah in time to eat lunch at Morrisons.) I guess it's the trays. Food is fantastic and cheap.

Sin City

Air Asia Airbus 330 from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore

Having spent most of my adult life in the airline business I think of most cities as a three letter airport code as in ATL, MIA, etc. The three letter code for Singapore is SIN which is a misnomer as this is one of the most straight laced places anywhere. Even chewing gum is forbidden (because of littering.)
What Singapore is probably most known for is a variety of excellent cuisines available everywhere. I am doing my best to sample as much as I can however I can not get hungry quickly enough to try all the places I want. I was a bit lazy getting out this morning and therefore missed the famous rice porridge (congee in Chinese) that had been recommended at Tiong Behru Market near my hotel. Instead I had wonton noodles and barbequed pork for an early lunch. Prices are a bit higher than places I have visited before but not drastically. I have lowered hotel standards as a concession to pricier accommodations here, and I look forward to comfier rooms up the road. At least I have internet in my room here.
I did not know before setting out on this trip that English is the primary and official language here. In the buses it is funny like in London to hear the politest announcements and words like "alighting" and "whilst." Every person I have asked for directions or help in some way seems to be genuinely concerned to meet my request.
There being no particular places to sight see here I am having fun just wandering different neighborhoods absorbing sights, smells, sounds. I walked around in little India this afternoon and ate supper tonight in Chinatown. Weather is a little rainy and I keep thinking of buying an umbrella but to tell the truth the rain feels so refreshing in this heat I enjoy the relief. Also I have not found an umbrella yet that is cheap enough to be disposable. If weather gets too bad I can always resort to a plastic raincoat in my day pack.

Not in Cans!!!

While our shopping for daily supply of bananas and pineapple yesterday I spotted a sign in English identifying the strange looking objects above as water chestnuts. I always thought they come in cans.
I am sitting in Kuala Lumpur Airport waiting for my flight to Singapore. I have been told by almost every person I speak to that Singapore is very expensive. I already have a hotel booked and it is a bit more than usual but not significantly. I'm not worried yet.
I have enjoyed being in Malaysia for many reasons, among them being the ubiquity of English. I am reminded of Miami. A friend who was visiting me there once said, "I know who the richest man in Miami is." "Who?", I asked. "The man who makes signs. He has to make every one in English and Spanish." Here in Malaysia almost every sign is in Malay and in English.
I saw on TV last night an interesting story. A Malaysian woman's sentence had been changed from flogging to public service in a widely observed case. Her offense was drinking alcohol in public which is forbidden by the Koran for man and women. My friend explained that would never have happened in KL but only in the back wood provinces. Seems like such a modern country and then I hear something like that. The people her who are not Indian or Chinese are Malay and by birth rite Muslim. That means they are bound by Koranic law, no questions asked. Of course there are varying degrees of observance , but still.