This is quite the place. It is 36 on a cool day and 40 today. Got in around 7pm and needed a room Grabbed the cheapest (I know, not the usual) and closest I could find on my wonky Playbook rapidly depleting in energy. I figured one night, can handle that. When I seen my room I almost ----. But like the trooper I am I endurred that one night. I had about a foot at the end of the bed and a foot on the door side wall. The door had a 3 inch magnetic strip and a hook latch. At least who couldn't loose your key. For $9 us including breakfast it was a break even at best.
Priority today, new room, actually a room not a closet. Found one for around $15us with breakfast on the 2nd floor and no the ground floor is not the 1st floor. Room was fine, came with a fan and had an a/c unit perched on the wall just to tease you.
Traffic here makes the Don Valley during rush hour look like a speed way. There are so many cars.So many new cars,tons of Toyotas,a lot we have never heard the names of. Crossing the street is a game of roulette but the drivers are not as aggressive as a lot of places. Pedestrians cross streets with no regard for lights at all. More to follow.
Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Moving on from Bangkok
Being reasonable able to walk it was time to move on to Ayutthaya. This was once a capital of the old kingdom. Filled with many temples and pagodas. Nothing here but the temples, did catch Mr.Noi a local jazz guitarist is the 4 bar gringo area one night while having a mamasan which is a muslim version of a mad mango soup. Basically a veg curry.
Continued up the road to Sukhotai which was also was a capital of an ancient kindom. It is filled with many more temples and shrines. Back continues to hold up. Pills I got in Bangkok are doing their job.
From here a took another bus to Mae Sot and crossed the river to Myanmar. One of the easiest border crossings I have ever done, even having lost my Thai visa in Sukhotai. The girl at the hotel there took it for the number and I didn't check to get it back. Read it was no problem just had to fill out a new one.
The myanmar side town is called Myawaddy. Kinda like something out of the old west. Needed to change some money and was fortuate to meet an older guy who spoke english. Did the deed and he arranged a bus, one that gave you a ride from the bus station into Yangon, which is about 24 kilometres out of downtown. Taxi would cost almost as much as the 10 hour bus ride in.
So I will leave my tale here for now just coming into Yangon. I have to admit that the heat is wearing me down and this internet is not only not air conditioned it is filled with about 30 noisy kids playing computer games. All boys much like home.
Continued up the road to Sukhotai which was also was a capital of an ancient kindom. It is filled with many more temples and shrines. Back continues to hold up. Pills I got in Bangkok are doing their job.
From here a took another bus to Mae Sot and crossed the river to Myanmar. One of the easiest border crossings I have ever done, even having lost my Thai visa in Sukhotai. The girl at the hotel there took it for the number and I didn't check to get it back. Read it was no problem just had to fill out a new one.
The myanmar side town is called Myawaddy. Kinda like something out of the old west. Needed to change some money and was fortuate to meet an older guy who spoke english. Did the deed and he arranged a bus, one that gave you a ride from the bus station into Yangon, which is about 24 kilometres out of downtown. Taxi would cost almost as much as the 10 hour bus ride in.
So I will leave my tale here for now just coming into Yangon. I have to admit that the heat is wearing me down and this internet is not only not air conditioned it is filled with about 30 noisy kids playing computer games. All boys much like home.
Monday, 13 February 2017
Finally Bangkok but Oooooooooooooooh Nooooooooooo
Finally got here. Every plane was delayed. Istanbul to Bangkok was an 8 hour wait all said and done. Hope that old saying "in like a lion out like a lamb" holds true for travel Not only were all the planes late, I lost my book in Toronto then will finishing a not very good but expensive turkish meal in Istanbul my back started to seize up on me while sitting in a chair. Needless to say, it was one hell of a long ride to Bangkok.
Istanbul has a lovely airport with the biggest and most numerous duty free shops but offers no free wifi unless you have a mobile phone so they can call and give you the code on it. At least I was lucky enough to get a seat with a little extra legroom.
Back pain was ok sitting but standing and walking was a chore. Don't know why it takes so much energy to walk when the back spasms. At least it didn't put me into the usual crab twist position.
Took the Skytrain into Bangkok and grab the first single room I coud wince to $50 a night tightened by back even more. Moved next day to a $6 a night room for 2 days. Lucked out again finding some good meds. Tylenol and beer weren't working.Got some Tramadol for pain and some really good muscle relaxants. Are helping immensely. Thought for a while as I was crawling around on the floor that Lou was going to have to come to Bangkok on a mercy flight to nurse her big baby back to health.
Coupled with these physical problems were electronic ones, battery power, email and on. More on this later. Suffice it to say I have survived and anm now in Ayutthaya and will be leaving for Sukhotai tomorrow.
Istanbul has a lovely airport with the biggest and most numerous duty free shops but offers no free wifi unless you have a mobile phone so they can call and give you the code on it. At least I was lucky enough to get a seat with a little extra legroom.
Back pain was ok sitting but standing and walking was a chore. Don't know why it takes so much energy to walk when the back spasms. At least it didn't put me into the usual crab twist position.
Took the Skytrain into Bangkok and grab the first single room I coud wince to $50 a night tightened by back even more. Moved next day to a $6 a night room for 2 days. Lucked out again finding some good meds. Tylenol and beer weren't working.Got some Tramadol for pain and some really good muscle relaxants. Are helping immensely. Thought for a while as I was crawling around on the floor that Lou was going to have to come to Bangkok on a mercy flight to nurse her big baby back to health.
Coupled with these physical problems were electronic ones, battery power, email and on. More on this later. Suffice it to say I have survived and anm now in Ayutthaya and will be leaving for Sukhotai tomorrow.
Tuesday, 7 February 2017
Back to the Fray
Only chasing travel insurance now as other essential have all been procured. Next will be making a list checking it twice then start packing and of course continueing research on areas i plan to travel through.
Originally I was going to spend a few days in Istanbul on the way to Bangkok but with recent events, the security will probably be so abundant that it wouldn't be enjoyable and a short time visit would be unfair to a city that requires at least 3 full days for just downtown.
They have a free tour in Istanbul if your connecting flight has a layover of 6 hours or more but you still need to get a visa which is $100 US. plus you need to have the time occur betwen 9am and 6pm. My fight lands at 4;15 pm and leaves at 1;15 am for Bangkok.
From Bangkok I will be heading north to the ruins at Ayutthaya then on to Mae Sot to cross the border at Myawaddy into Myanmar.
I have my visa for Myanmar and India already. Crossing from Thailand to Myanmar is not so difficult. There are 4 land borders.The crossing to India by land is a little complicated as you have to get a permit to do it. Will be a challenge to obtain and figure out.
Crossing into India and heading for Imphal and hopefully over through Nagaland and up to Tawang.
Big monestry in Tawang , second biggest next to one in Tibet. Tawang is a difficult bus ride not real far but very slow roads.
From there I hope to get to Siliguri and Darjeeling for a chance to ride the Toy Train and see lots of Tea Plantations.this should fill out the Month of February.
Just ready to head off to catch the REDCAR. Calling for freezing rain so letting Lou avoid the drive to Toronto.
https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/17.070962,98.3369318/Bangkok,+Thailand/Yangon+%E1%80%9B%E1%80%94%E1%80%BA%E1%80%80%E1%80%AF%E1%80%94%E1%80%BA/Old+Bagan+%E1%80%95%E1%80%AF%E1%80%82%E1%80%B6%E1%80%99%E1%80%BC%E1%80%AD%E1%80%AF%E1%80%B7%E1%80%9F%E1%80%B1%E1%80%AC%E1%80%84%E1%80%BA%E1%80%B8/Mandalay+%E1%80%99%E1%80%94%E1%80%B9%E1%80%90%E1%80%9C%E1%80%B1%E1%80%B8/Imphal/Tawang/Darjeeling/Kolkata/@25.9417437,88.4602229,7z/data=!4m51!4m50!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x311d6032280d61f3:0x10100b25de24820!2m2!1d100.5017651!2d13.7563309!1m5!1m1!1s0x30c1949e223e196b:0x56fbd271f8080bb4!2m2!1d96.195132!2d16.8660694!1m5!1m1!1s0x30b5e50393d8ca61:0x371a4717c3e89981!2m2!1d94.8585458!2d21.1717271!1m5!1m1!1s0x30cb6d23f0d27411:0x24146be01e4e5646!2m2!1d96.0891032!2d21.9588282!1m5!1m1!1s0x3749265bf16390db:0x19499aae263c5424!2m2!1d93.9368439!2d24.8170111!1m5!1m1!1s0x375cf4f8474f47b7:0x6448080fa5e6771c!2m2!1d91.8757422!2d27.5780678!1m5!1m1!1s0x39e42e654cf501bb:0x4175555979d4702a!2m2!1d88.2626751!2d27.0360066!1m5!1m1!1s0x39f882db4908f667:0x43e330e68f6c2cbc!2m2!1d88.363895!2d22.572646!3e0?hl=en
https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Kolkata/Madurai,+Tamil+Nadu,+India/Varkala,+Kerala,+India/Mumbai,+Maharashtra,+India/@15.6258549,76.1267422,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m26!4m25!1m5!1m1!1s0x39f882db4908f667:0x43e330e68f6c2cbc!2m2!1d88.363895!2d22.572646!1m5!1m1!1s0x3b00c582b1189633:0xdc955b7264f63933!2m2!1d78.1197754!2d9.9252007!1m5!1m1!1s0x3b05ef26d90220fb:0xa3ec40c67d4dd020!2m2!1d76.7163359!2d8.7378685!1m5!1m1!1s0x3be7c6306644edc1:0x5da4ed8f8d648c69!2m2!1d72.8776559!2d19.0759837!3e0?hl=en
Originally I was going to spend a few days in Istanbul on the way to Bangkok but with recent events, the security will probably be so abundant that it wouldn't be enjoyable and a short time visit would be unfair to a city that requires at least 3 full days for just downtown.
They have a free tour in Istanbul if your connecting flight has a layover of 6 hours or more but you still need to get a visa which is $100 US. plus you need to have the time occur betwen 9am and 6pm. My fight lands at 4;15 pm and leaves at 1;15 am for Bangkok.
From Bangkok I will be heading north to the ruins at Ayutthaya then on to Mae Sot to cross the border at Myawaddy into Myanmar.
I have my visa for Myanmar and India already. Crossing from Thailand to Myanmar is not so difficult. There are 4 land borders.The crossing to India by land is a little complicated as you have to get a permit to do it. Will be a challenge to obtain and figure out.
Crossing into India and heading for Imphal and hopefully over through Nagaland and up to Tawang.
Big monestry in Tawang , second biggest next to one in Tibet. Tawang is a difficult bus ride not real far but very slow roads.
From there I hope to get to Siliguri and Darjeeling for a chance to ride the Toy Train and see lots of Tea Plantations.this should fill out the Month of February.
Just ready to head off to catch the REDCAR. Calling for freezing rain so letting Lou avoid the drive to Toronto.https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/17.070962,98.3369318/Bangkok,+Thailand/Yangon+%E1%80%9B%E1%80%94%E1%80%BA%E1%80%80%E1%80%AF%E1%80%94%E1%80%BA/Old+Bagan+%E1%80%95%E1%80%AF%E1%80%82%E1%80%B6%E1%80%99%E1%80%BC%E1%80%AD%E1%80%AF%E1%80%B7%E1%80%9F%E1%80%B1%E1%80%AC%E1%80%84%E1%80%BA%E1%80%B8/Mandalay+%E1%80%99%E1%80%94%E1%80%B9%E1%80%90%E1%80%9C%E1%80%B1%E1%80%B8/Imphal/Tawang/Darjeeling/Kolkata/@25.9417437,88.4602229,7z/data=!4m51!4m50!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x311d6032280d61f3:0x10100b25de24820!2m2!1d100.5017651!2d13.7563309!1m5!1m1!1s0x30c1949e223e196b:0x56fbd271f8080bb4!2m2!1d96.195132!2d16.8660694!1m5!1m1!1s0x30b5e50393d8ca61:0x371a4717c3e89981!2m2!1d94.8585458!2d21.1717271!1m5!1m1!1s0x30cb6d23f0d27411:0x24146be01e4e5646!2m2!1d96.0891032!2d21.9588282!1m5!1m1!1s0x3749265bf16390db:0x19499aae263c5424!2m2!1d93.9368439!2d24.8170111!1m5!1m1!1s0x375cf4f8474f47b7:0x6448080fa5e6771c!2m2!1d91.8757422!2d27.5780678!1m5!1m1!1s0x39e42e654cf501bb:0x4175555979d4702a!2m2!1d88.2626751!2d27.0360066!1m5!1m1!1s0x39f882db4908f667:0x43e330e68f6c2cbc!2m2!1d88.363895!2d22.572646!3e0?hl=en
https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Kolkata/Madurai,+Tamil+Nadu,+India/Varkala,+Kerala,+India/Mumbai,+Maharashtra,+India/@15.6258549,76.1267422,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m26!4m25!1m5!1m1!1s0x39f882db4908f667:0x43e330e68f6c2cbc!2m2!1d88.363895!2d22.572646!1m5!1m1!1s0x3b00c582b1189633:0xdc955b7264f63933!2m2!1d78.1197754!2d9.9252007!1m5!1m1!1s0x3b05ef26d90220fb:0xa3ec40c67d4dd020!2m2!1d76.7163359!2d8.7378685!1m5!1m1!1s0x3be7c6306644edc1:0x5da4ed8f8d648c69!2m2!1d72.8776559!2d19.0759837!3e0?hl=en
Sunday, 3 April 2016
It's a wrap
In review, what did we learn from our trip?
We wanted to see how we would do at a place for a longer period of time on holidays. Determined that maybe a month was a bit much and there would have to be reasonable access to a beach. Lake Attilan was nice but the lake has no beaches and swimming is dicey due to pollution.
Progreso was has a nice beach but was extremely hot and bare.
We kind of concluded that maybe a 2 week trip to a place is as long as we can handle unless there is something of interest such as a lithography school or a guitar school. Sounds like Havana.
Don't think Lou would be interested in going back to anyplace we were at and I have little interest as well.
Loved the kids and home cut fries in Guatemala, enjoyed the people we met couchsurfing and in the overall the weather was good.
Next year, choices, Spain Portugal, Morrocco or Australia or a couple of shorter trips to Cuba. or then again maybe just stay home.
We wanted to see how we would do at a place for a longer period of time on holidays. Determined that maybe a month was a bit much and there would have to be reasonable access to a beach. Lake Attilan was nice but the lake has no beaches and swimming is dicey due to pollution.
Progreso was has a nice beach but was extremely hot and bare.
We kind of concluded that maybe a 2 week trip to a place is as long as we can handle unless there is something of interest such as a lithography school or a guitar school. Sounds like Havana.
Don't think Lou would be interested in going back to anyplace we were at and I have little interest as well.
Loved the kids and home cut fries in Guatemala, enjoyed the people we met couchsurfing and in the overall the weather was good.
Next year, choices, Spain Portugal, Morrocco or Australia or a couple of shorter trips to Cuba. or then again maybe just stay home.
Cancun to Detroit and home
On leaving Cancun we were again reminded of how sometimes accidents can be beneficial. An option for getting to the airport in Cancun is to take the ADO bus for 66 pesos each plus a 50 peso ride to the bus station for a total of 172 pesos compared to 350 pesos for a taxi direct. Takes about a half hour with light traffic. We checked out a taxi driver who offered to do it for 300 pesos so we set it up for 7:45 am next day pickup at the hotel. So this was about $6 dollars more than the bus scenario. Amazing how you can get into a penny wise mentality. Anyway next morning Iam in the shower when the hotel guy knocks on the door and tells us our taxi is here. We look at our watches and figure he is about an hour early. Communication problems we figure. I go out to talk to him and low and behold Cancun is an hour different than the time in Campeche. Rushing through our packing we jumped in the taxi and headed off to the airport. Arrived with lots of time but had we not taken the taxi man we may have missed our plane. Tipped the taxi man well. Remember, always check local time.
Straight forward flights fro Cancun. Luckily we went by the baggage carousel in Dallas. Here were our bag and guitar going around and around. Didn't think we had to do our own luggage transfer, in fact I think we were told they would be forwarded on. Took them to the baggage place and checked them on only to have the guitar go missing between Dallas and Los Angeles. Turns out the Department of homeland Defense wanted to inspect this funny shaped bag to keep us all safe. Ended up arriving midnight next day and delivered to Ben's.
After 5 days in Los Angeles visiting the kids we were off to Detroit . Landing here our plan was to take the shuttle bus to downtown and figure a way across to Windsor for our bus to Kitchener. We asked an employee at the airport where to catch the shuttle. He told us very adamantly that there wasn't one and we would have to take a Metro Taxi. He knew this because he works here and laughed when I mentioned the webpage for the bus schedule. Not fully believing him we went outside following the transportation signs. We found the Smart Bus stop and took the bus downtown. Cost us 50 cents each as seniors and took about an hour for the 25 km ride.Why the guy in the airport lied to us I don't know, Lou thinks he has a taxi.
So a long dumpy ride rougher than any in central America deposited us downtown Detroit armed with new information gleaned from a fellow bus traveler about something called the Tunnel Bus.
We jumped into a local breakfast diner as much to eat as to get out of the cold and see if we could discover where this Tunnel bus thing stopped.
having finished the option 3 breakfast for me and the option 1 for Lou we set off found and boarded the tunnel bus. The driver treated us to a free $4.50 each ride as his money machine wouldn't take Lou's money .
The tunnel bus takes you right to the Greyhound terminal. Spent an interesting hour reading the local real estate rag. You can buy a small older house in Windsor for well under a hundred thousand but after being in the bus station and the local Tim's, we can understand the prices better. Bus stations are so much different in Central America than here. So a 5 hour weight and off to Kitchener and a ride home to Elora with a friend. Fait accompli.
Straight forward flights fro Cancun. Luckily we went by the baggage carousel in Dallas. Here were our bag and guitar going around and around. Didn't think we had to do our own luggage transfer, in fact I think we were told they would be forwarded on. Took them to the baggage place and checked them on only to have the guitar go missing between Dallas and Los Angeles. Turns out the Department of homeland Defense wanted to inspect this funny shaped bag to keep us all safe. Ended up arriving midnight next day and delivered to Ben's.
After 5 days in Los Angeles visiting the kids we were off to Detroit . Landing here our plan was to take the shuttle bus to downtown and figure a way across to Windsor for our bus to Kitchener. We asked an employee at the airport where to catch the shuttle. He told us very adamantly that there wasn't one and we would have to take a Metro Taxi. He knew this because he works here and laughed when I mentioned the webpage for the bus schedule. Not fully believing him we went outside following the transportation signs. We found the Smart Bus stop and took the bus downtown. Cost us 50 cents each as seniors and took about an hour for the 25 km ride.Why the guy in the airport lied to us I don't know, Lou thinks he has a taxi.
So a long dumpy ride rougher than any in central America deposited us downtown Detroit armed with new information gleaned from a fellow bus traveler about something called the Tunnel Bus.
We jumped into a local breakfast diner as much to eat as to get out of the cold and see if we could discover where this Tunnel bus thing stopped.
having finished the option 3 breakfast for me and the option 1 for Lou we set off found and boarded the tunnel bus. The driver treated us to a free $4.50 each ride as his money machine wouldn't take Lou's money .
The tunnel bus takes you right to the Greyhound terminal. Spent an interesting hour reading the local real estate rag. You can buy a small older house in Windsor for well under a hundred thousand but after being in the bus station and the local Tim's, we can understand the prices better. Bus stations are so much different in Central America than here. So a 5 hour weight and off to Kitchener and a ride home to Elora with a friend. Fait accompli.
Campeche,Progresso and Cancun
Entering Campeche came with with a beautiful view along the Gulf coast. It has a very modern fell to it especially coming from Palenque. The centre of the city is surrounded by the defensive old walls and is a World Heritage Site.
Overall Campeche is very clean and straight forward in layout. We took a room at a fairly new facility offering a small pool we only used once because of the rain. The room was nice until someone in the neighbourhood decided to provide very loud boom boom music to everyone late one evening till after midnight.
Originally thought that Campeche might offer a long term winter holiday location but the beach is quite far from downtown.
I had a couple of local dinner specialties here. One was a Queso Rellano. It consists of a thick piece of gouda cheese on the bottom with about 2 to 3 inches of mixed ground beef and pork then a 1/2 inch slab of gouda cheese and covered in a cheese sauce. You can add a tomato sauce if you want to include a vegetable. At least 300 calories per bite.
The next delicacy was Papas Fritas. It is basically mashed potatoes stuffed with pieces of pork or bacon and cheese wrapped up in a tin foil ball. Quite bland and calorie laden.
The bus from Campeche took us to Merida where we caught another bus for the 45 minute ride out of the city to Progreso on the Yucatan coast.
Progreso is a city of about 60000. We had heard a lot of good things about the city as an expat place. We did meet a lot of Canadians and Americans that were staying here for long periods of time.We stayed 9 days and I think that was about 7 days too long. It does have a beautiful beach, no undertow and shallow for kids. It is undergoing a transformation to it's economy due to the arrival and increase in cruise ship visits.
We couchsurfed 2 nights at the house of a 67 year old lady from Washington State.She has a nice house and was starting her plans for leaving on a month trip to Europe with her daughter and family stationed in Germany.
Progreso like most Mexican cities is almost devoid of trees. Way to much concrete, especially in the heat and blazing sun.
We rented an apartment overlooking the beach. It started getting busier as the week progressed towards the weekend and Semana Santa or Holy Week. Progreso fills up with a lot of celebrators from Merida and other areas looking for beach time. There are small carnvals with rides and games at all the little beach towns as well.
Moving on from Progreso was a bus back to Merida and then a 4 hour trip across the Yucatan into Quintana Roo and the city of Cancun. we had bought our ticket for the bus earlier in the week because of the increase demand that occurs during Semana Santa.
We arrived in Cancun under showers prepared to go souvenir shopping and with 2 days to kill before flying out to Dallas and then Los Angeles. Our hotel was almost brand new, about $30 us per night (Reasonable for Cancun), well located and staffed by really helpful and friendly people.
Overall Campeche is very clean and straight forward in layout. We took a room at a fairly new facility offering a small pool we only used once because of the rain. The room was nice until someone in the neighbourhood decided to provide very loud boom boom music to everyone late one evening till after midnight.
Originally thought that Campeche might offer a long term winter holiday location but the beach is quite far from downtown.
I had a couple of local dinner specialties here. One was a Queso Rellano. It consists of a thick piece of gouda cheese on the bottom with about 2 to 3 inches of mixed ground beef and pork then a 1/2 inch slab of gouda cheese and covered in a cheese sauce. You can add a tomato sauce if you want to include a vegetable. At least 300 calories per bite.
The next delicacy was Papas Fritas. It is basically mashed potatoes stuffed with pieces of pork or bacon and cheese wrapped up in a tin foil ball. Quite bland and calorie laden.
The bus from Campeche took us to Merida where we caught another bus for the 45 minute ride out of the city to Progreso on the Yucatan coast.
Progreso is a city of about 60000. We had heard a lot of good things about the city as an expat place. We did meet a lot of Canadians and Americans that were staying here for long periods of time.We stayed 9 days and I think that was about 7 days too long. It does have a beautiful beach, no undertow and shallow for kids. It is undergoing a transformation to it's economy due to the arrival and increase in cruise ship visits.
We couchsurfed 2 nights at the house of a 67 year old lady from Washington State.She has a nice house and was starting her plans for leaving on a month trip to Europe with her daughter and family stationed in Germany.
Progreso like most Mexican cities is almost devoid of trees. Way to much concrete, especially in the heat and blazing sun.
We rented an apartment overlooking the beach. It started getting busier as the week progressed towards the weekend and Semana Santa or Holy Week. Progreso fills up with a lot of celebrators from Merida and other areas looking for beach time. There are small carnvals with rides and games at all the little beach towns as well.
Moving on from Progreso was a bus back to Merida and then a 4 hour trip across the Yucatan into Quintana Roo and the city of Cancun. we had bought our ticket for the bus earlier in the week because of the increase demand that occurs during Semana Santa.
We arrived in Cancun under showers prepared to go souvenir shopping and with 2 days to kill before flying out to Dallas and then Los Angeles. Our hotel was almost brand new, about $30 us per night (Reasonable for Cancun), well located and staffed by really helpful and friendly people.
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