Happy Kiva!

My opinions about the stupidity of adults celebrating Halloween have been included in a few past blog entries. I really cannot understand why the day has turned into a mass orgy of silly costumes for adults and Chinese-made party decorations. I know that people need a diversion but over the past 25 years the day has gone from trick or treat for kids to an excuse for adults to act like children.

Maybe it's just a money and time thing. Perhaps I'm annoyed because there are so many useful ways to use extra cash, ones that are more worthy of pursuit than adding a gallon of makeup and witch's attire to a fat 40-year-old office worker!


See my Kiva Page
The site above is not a charity. Kiva is a micro-lending organization that allows a person to contribute loan money to entrepreneurs in developing countries. A lender can make a donation as small as $25 to a specific individual. As the loan is repaid, the lenders' share of money is returned. It can either be re-loaned or withdrawn. Do take $50 out of next year's Halloween candy fund and put it to better use.

Use My Tags

I have hundreds of photos from our most recent trip to get online. If I do a few a day, it's going to be a while before they're all uploaded to Flickr. Once in a while I wonder about all the effort required. My reservations evaporate if I take the time to visit my account though.

Now I've over 6,000 pictures at Flickr. In a physical sense that would be too many to organize. Yet, as each online photo can have searchable tags, finding a needle in a haystack is easy. When uploading, I always type in a few terms of what is in the image. Click below to enter a page with my most used Flickr tags. Or do a individual text search and see what you can turn up!


See my common Flickr tags.

It's Habit Forming

I assume that everybody has an addiction problem. It may not be drugs or alcohol; it well could be the thrill of skiing, or time spent in front of a screen. I guess the idea of being addicted implies doing something more than is considered healthy. Or it might mean more than normal, whatever that is.

I've come to realize that travelling can be very addictive. If I have to have an addiction at least it's an educational one. I mean I've yet to be back a week from a six-week overseas vacation and I'm already thinking of other trips. We have $100 worth of credit with Allegiant Air which must be used before January 10, 2010. It appears as if we won't have the chance to use it. We don't have any time off or even three-day weekends before the end of the year. I teach right up till the middle of December.

There are some plans in the works. We do already have tickets for an 8-night stay in New York City over Christmas and New Years. Cathay Pacific has direct flights from Vancouver, and we'll be on one on Christmas Eve. We can visit Jay's brother. Also, I've always wanted to say I was in Times Square when the ball drops. Of course, I saw the celebrations as a child on television. When I was really young, I thought the change of millennium would make a great occasion. I missed that but it's never too late. Our last time in NYC was in May of 2005 when I took this picture.

Liar, Liar!

Nearly two years ago, I wrote an entry discussing how teachers can sometimes stretch the truth. Today, I found myself, on the first day with my new class, repeating something that never happened.

I gave an example when discussing the use of active or passive sentence structures. As a remember, active sentences start with the subject as the doer of the verb. For example, I washed my car is an active sentence. The opposite type is when the object is used first. That type of sentence would be written: 'My car was washed by me.' It emphasizes what happened to the car rather than who washed it. A writer must choose to use active or passive depending on their required emphasis. An easy way of talking about this is to say we should 'put the important word at the beginning of the sentence.'

I have a standard explanation of why using active is sometimes preferred in business writing. I talk about how I heard a tremendous crash when I was in the kitchen. I walked into the living room to find an enormous crack in my sliding balcony door. The story continues when I say I noticed two neighbour kids sheepishly standing in the yard. One had hit a line drive right into my window. He was around six or seven years old at the time. He could have tried to run away but didn't. Instead, he shyly looked at me and said, "Your window was broken." The point the students quickly understand is that some people use passive structures to avoid responsiblity for certain actions or decisions.

The problem with this story is that never really happened. I've repeated it so many times that it surely seems real to me though.

Sticking Around the House

This was my first full day spent with Windows 7. So far there have been no surprises. Of course I was able to upgrade as I had been running Vista Business. I had no problems with it although it had a lot of bad press. In fact, I installed the older operating system nearly two and a half years ago!

I bought Win 7 yesterday on a whim but had thought about installing fresh on a new hard drive. I mean, 1.5 terabyte drives can now be had for just $135. It's always better to install fresh rather than upgrading as many unused programs get installed over the years. The junk obviously degrades an operating system. Still, my 500 megabyte drive is still two-thirds empty. I just went ahead with the upgrade.

I didn't find any drastic differences to note. It might seem more of a jump for those who have stuck with XP all these years. All my peripherals seemed to have new device drivers. My video card, in fact, is hopefully more stable now. I spent half the day streaming hulu.com to the big-screen TV. The time of year we choose to take our vacation means we used to miss the new programming season. Now we're almost to the point where one could avoid cable or satellite and simply watch via the net.


Episode 1 of this season of House.

I Need a Nap

I put in my teaching requests for the term back during the summer. During my trip from mid-September until last Saturday, I did not log in to work email. Last night, I finally checked. I had planned that class would start next week, so I was surprised to find out that I was assigned one group that would start today!

My body still hasn't stepped back into this time zone yet. I was awake a 4:00 am. As well as the body-clock differences, I thought about my preparation for a new class this afternoon. It is longer than the 5-week Intensives I usually teach. I was thinking of how I could add nearly eight days of additional materials to my course outline. I was up by 5:15 am getting materials ready.

I drove to the campus at around noon to get my photocopying done for the 1:30 start time. I had to hog the photocopier in our office building for a time. When everything was ready, I walked to a building not far from our offices that I'd never taught in. Room 108 was locked, but security came quickly to open it. I had my overhead transparency on, my notebook on wifi, and piles of paper ready to hand out by 1:15 pm. I waited. Then, I waited some more.

Due to a scheduling conflict the students weren't informed of the room change. The room was still empty at 1:45! Every room in which I teach is usually really noisy and active. The silence made me feel odd and out of place. I was able to use my cell phone and get into contact with administration. We decided that the students would be informed and real class will begin on Wednesday. (This class doesn't run on Tuesdays.) I was free to go.

On the way to my truck, I decided to walk into the BCIT Bookstore. I wanted to ask about Windows 7. This time, there doesn't seem to be any site-licensing agreements for work-at-home. That means the educational version of Windows 7 Professional costs $120. I felt like I may as well throw down my MasterCard and buy a copy. I've upgraded to every single version since 2 and not being an early adopter would have made me feel old.

Daily Pics Added to Blog!

I don't know when I'll get around to upload my full xD card of pictures of Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Cambodia to Flickr. I am not sure if I've even added the photos from Naples, Italy in October 2008!

I did go through and add my Daily Picture Parade Flickr images to blog entries of our completed six-week trip. If you only read my daily thoughts on Facebook, I encourage you to bookmark the authentic location where my words first hit the Net: my eJournal and images.

As well as search search capabilities, you can scan back to previous pages by clicking on the arrow buttons. They appear in the first and last entries on every standard page. A standard page is a 7-day Saturday through Sunday view. The arrow buttons allow a reader to flip forward or backwards through most of my blog. You'll even find one here as this is a Sunday. Go ahead, give it a try!

[Explains older pre-February 2010 format.]

They look like this ... or .

Or, perhaps you'd like to simply view the following special pages which are tagged with these topics:

Thailand
Cambodia
Sri Lanka 2009

Don't these images make the pages prettier?

Getting to Canada Felt Good

We did it; we're back home!

On the Japan Air flights there was only one short moment where I was so fed up sitting in the cramped economy-class seat that I wanted to run towards one of the 747-400's large door handles, pry it open, and jump out. Actually their staff and service were quite friendly and efficient. While on our trip, we did read about the Japanese government's assurances that they'd continue to bail out the floundering company. What is this? One year ago, we feared that Alitalia wouldn't have sufficient cash to fly us back from Rome! We have a knack at picking 'em.

I feel all confused at being back. It could be lack of sleep, but I think if one gets back from a vacation the same person, then the trip was a failure. I learned new things about myself, my partner, and the world. Long live, six-week vacations!

Another ‘One Night’

I think I already used One Night in Bangkok as a title for a blog entry. This time I mean that we only have one night remaining. We catch Japan Air at 8:15 tomorrow morning and after 14 hours of flying and a two-hour stop-over, we’ll also arrive in Vancouver tomorrow!

Today we went to Chinatown. Little did we know that it was a holiday today. The streets seemed a little empty for a Friday morning. We walked to Sala Daeng to get the Metro.

I feel so old last visiting Bangkok before either the Sky Train or subway systems. They sure make getting around more convenient. We noticed that the connection to the new airport is being tested. That will really make getting into town easier.

It was only two stops to Hua Lumpong, the main train station. That area is also the entrance to Chinatown. It was packed because it was a holiday. Thousands were on their way, dressed in white, to visit a big temple by the river. What colour and sounds! First though, we stopped to see the “Golden Buddha” at Wat Traimit. The 3-meter statue is made of 5.5 tons of pure gold. At today’s price of gold at over $1000 an ounce, I’ll let you calculate it’s value. This statue has a very interesting history. In 1957 a stucco Buddha was being moved because of the development of the port. By accident, the crane dropped it. It didn’t smash though, it just cracked and revealed a pure gold one inside. In centuries past, it was covered to protect it from invading Burmese. Some accidents can turn out for the best, I guess.

We ate from street vendors on the way back.

Now in the hotel room, we have yet to decide how to spend the one remaining night.

Out of Bus Windows

Today, we were picked up by a van at 7:20 am to be taken to a bus heading back to Bangkok.  Other vans and tuk-tuks slowly brought people to the same bus, so we didn’t get moving until 8:45.  It took us to the border.  It stopped at the government run tourist bus area where we got a short ride to the border on another free bus.  We had to exit Cambodia there.  We also had to get another free visa for Thailand there.  There were many tourists and it took nearly an hour.

On the Thai side we waited until another nine tourists got through and a new van brought us to a hotel to wait for the ‘big bus’.  It was 2 o’clock by then so we ate.  Eventually, all the other passengers arrived and we were shepherded onto the  ‘big bus’.  The air conditioning was pretty weak but it was fairly comfortable.  We hit Bangkok at rush hour but then this city is in constant rush hour.  It dropped us off in a different part of the city at 7:15.  We had to take a tuk-tuk to the National Stadium Sky Train Station, so we could get to our hotel at Chong Nonsi.  It was nice to get a shower after a little over 12 hours of travelling.  It was a bit easier getting to Siem Reap on our own but today our tickets were only $7.50 each.

After checking in, we went out to a nice outside seafood restaurant for dinner.  I will remember feeding a cat the ends of all my shrimps.  I am happy to be eating anything this time here.  My stomach was not up to ‘real food’ during the first days here.

Short Time Left in Cambodia

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in Siem Reap, Cambodia for almost a week.  Today, we had to buy tickets to get back to Bangkok tomorrow.  We’ll be ready at 7:30 am for the arrival of the tuk-tuk.  Then one bus company will take us all the way back. The first is only to the border where we must exit Cambodia and get another visa into Thailand, then we will pick up a bus from the same company on the Thai side.  The arrival in BKK could be as early as 3:30 pm but I shant count on it.

Today, there’s not much to do.  We don’t want to ‘see’ anything else.  After breakfast out, we spent at least an hour in the Old Market.  It is fun to walk around as it’s a curious mix of food, meat, and souvenirs.  I bought a CD of MP3 Cambodian pop music.  Yesterday I bought an eight-by-five inch wall hanging of the Bayon Temple faces.  It is made of wood and I’m sure I could have haggled a better price than $10 but it is worth it as it’s something that cannot be bought in other places.  I now try to avoid global souvenirs.  Why do some people buy souvenir-type items for their houses if they haven’t actually visited that place?  Export of such items cheapens their value.  For example, I often see similarly carved Kenyan giraffes for sale in shops in Canada while ours were actually purchased from a Kenyan.  I don’t even have to mention the silliness of buying supposed local souvenirs which are, in fact, made in China.   I limit junk to one item per trip nowadays.  It’s really past time to spend $1000 on a good curio-cabinet for the apartment in Vancouver.

Adaptation is Key

This morning we finished up our ‘breakfast supplies’ of jam, cheese, juice, and most of the bread.  Tomorrow will be our last full day here and we’ll just try eating out for breakfast.

After eating, as soon as we headed toward the old market, our tuk-tuk driver of yesterday came by.  Ever since getting here, Jay has really wanted to go to the “Floating Village”.  As it’s not far, we agreed to a price of just $5.

Both on yesterday’s long trip and today’s shorter one, it is interesting to see how people live by driving past the houses and neighbourhoods.  It is surprising how quickly the new scenery become familiar.  Most of the houses are on the second storey with the first floor just up on sticks or pillars.  This keeps the living quarters dry during flooding.

The most peculiar phenomenon is the annual enlargement of the Tonle Sap Lake.  It can increase 4.5 fold during the rainy season.  That’s now.  The change in the biosphere is amazing.  Both flora and fauna have to adapt to areas being underwater for half the year.  The village we took a boat to was made up of boats and floating houses.  I have, of course, seen old movies about Vietnam but seeing folks up close living out their lives in such different circumstances is quite amazing.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned in our travel experiences is that people have an amazing capability for adaptation.  People do change clothes, abodes, and beliefs to fit their  circumstances.   I often hear from a particular type of intelligent but misguided person that they think “people are all the same everywhere”.  These statements are simplistic and wrong.  These mushy sentiments are usually heard from well-meaning people who have, themselves, been nowhere.

Over a Hundred Kilometers

We didn’t arrange to go on today’s trip through the hotel.  There are literally hundreds of tuk-tuk drivers trying to find customers.  Here, there are not the Indian type of 3-wheel vehicles.  Rather they use an ordinary 125 cc motorcycle and tow an attached type of rickshaw seat, cover, and wheels.  They have leaf springs and are quite roomy.  We knew that going to the River of 1000 lingas would take quite a long time as it’s 60 kilometers from downtown.


We found a friendly driver with whom we’d talked with yesterday.  He actually found us on our way to the location where he parks.  He agreed to take us to Banteay Srei and Kbal Spean.

We left Siem Reap at around 9 o’clock in the morning.  We weren’t back from the interesting trip until nearly 4:00 pm.  He had agreed to take us for $17 this morning but we gave him a $20 bill.

Climbing the two kilometers up the mountain to see the waterfall and river carvings was quite intense.  It reminded me again why it is important not to put off travel until retirement.  An older person may have had quite a difficult time doing the things we’ve done this week.  Perhaps an older person has the interest, time, and money; however, they very well may no longer have necessary the physical ability.

I will be a little sore tomorrow but I’m so glad we’ve already taken on a lot of the world before it becomes more physically difficult with our increasing years.

Spreading Around a Few Dollars

We needed a day of rest between temple visits. We ended up walking around Siem Reap. After such a hectic day yesterday, it was nice to have little to think about today.

One of the bigger questions of the day was simply where to eat. There are many upscale restaurants where meals can be bought for $8. While that may sound pretty inexpensive, there are also more down-to-earth restaurants where the entrees cost average $1 only. Honestly, it’s not just my wallet that is happy to eat at the latter. I would much rather eat where locals do. I want to experience where I am. It seems silly to come somewhere different but live as if one were home. Of course, we could have eaten at a French or Indian restaurant but I got more satisfaction by going Khamer.

Even then, there are times when I have to think hard about cash. For example, I avoided the mother with child who were begging. I was just returning after eating a $2 pizza and $2 bottle of beer. Just a fraction of that $4 could have fed them for a week most probably.

Dealing with beggars is not something new for me. It is strange how one can get used to it. One really cannot help out ever single one or the wallet would be empty before the day was done. Still, of course in Canada, I refuse to give any handouts. I know we have social institutions set up to help those in need. There is simply no reason for a person to have to resort to begging on the street. However, when travelling in poor sections of Asia, it’s important to remember there is no safety net. A person who has lost his leg from a landmine cannot work and may have no access to a pension. Some are out on the street begging because they have no other option.

I didn’t give money to that woman with a baby but I did have to try harder to make sure that fact didn’t negatively affect my memory of the great dinner.

People Must Travel to Know

We spent the day at Angkor, Cambodia. Some visitors get there before dawn but we left at a more reasonable time of 7:30 am. The tuk-tuk driver delivered us back at the hotel at around 4:00 pm. Without previous travels in India and Asia, I don’t think I would have been ready to really get much meaning from the massive amounts of stone I saw today. These great civilizations were powerful when Europe was in the dark ages and the Americas 'undiscovered'.

Perhaps I’ve been affected by Buddhist philosophy or perhaps it’s just wisdom that comes with age, but it’s hard to escape the temporal quality of existence. Huge cities, temples, and places of education come but are erased with the mere passage of time. Some civilizations peak but eventually, always, the importance moves to other regions. Humans stumble around thinking they are the end result of progress but in fact, all they know will one day be lost or considered irrelevant.

Today I looked at enormous rocks that once created walls and shrines that time has tossed around and that gigantic trees now straddle. I saw temples of such scope that their grandeur still amazes but they are no longer living places; they are simply empty husks no longer connected to the lives of those who once inhabited them. One temple in particular made me feel sad. I was overwhelmed almost to the point of tears. Bear in mind, I’m usually a pretty butch guy. I saw the crumbling walls, the forgotten effort, and the dead dreams of some ancient peoples.

Life is not one continuous procession of progress. History lurches backwards as often as forward. We think of ourselves as the end product of linear evolution. A few centuries ago, though, European power shifted to the Americas, and now a newer shift is rapidly rejuvenating China. Some life grows and old things dwindle.

This process shouldn’t really make me sad at all; it is, more simply, what makes me a part of humanity.

Hanging ‘round Town

We could have gone to the Floating Village or Angkor Wat today but we chose to just take it easy. After all, that is what a vacation can be about! Sometimes on these 'always-on-the-go' ones, it’s good to remember that fact.

We are sort of playing this part of the trip by ear. For example, although the idea of heading to Phnom Penh is on the table it looks increasingly possible we may stay right in this town for our whole week. Seeing Angkor Wat may well take several days. And in this heat and humidity, it’s best to take things slowly.

Today we walked around the city of Siem Reap. Unfortunately, too many tuk tuks are plying for the tourists in town. It’s impossible to walk fifty feet without being asked if we want to be taken somewhere. It could be annoying to some, but I quickly learned to smile and just say no. After all, the dollar they earn by the luck of having a ride may mean a huge difference to them and their families. After all the lot of us are here flashing around cash on seeming extravagances.

We managed lunch not on Pub Street but in a rather upscale restaurant. We were so full we ended up just having soup from sidewalk vendors for dinner. I really rather like it here. It must be like what Bangkok was like 60 years ago. Well, perhaps not. Yet, it has the feeling that it is a bit ‘undiscovered’ even though at that very moment a huge tour bus will rumble by.

Every weather forecast I see calls for different conditions for the the next six days. I bet we’ll try checking out Angkor in the morning tomorrow. Or maybe …

Bangkok to Siem Reap

There are tons of scary and complicated stories on the Internet about trying to travel from Thailand to Cambodia.  We read them all.  We tried to figure out how to prepare and decided to come by bus.  Key in getting here was the fact we got e-visas before our trip.  The whole process is pretty straight forward except near the border itself.

(I will leave this space to allow for a more detailed account of how we got here when I have the time.)

It was dark when we got to our hotel.  We had reserved in Canada so we knew, they knew, we were coming.  We must have checked in at around 6:45 or so.  First things first: a shower.  We then walked around looking for something to eat for dinner. 

I think I’m going to like Siem Reap.  It seems a perfect size, at least this part.  There are sufficient numbers of tourists to have a thriving restaurant and bar area.  Lots of folks can throw down $6 for dinner and get a rather upscale meal.  We’ll do that tomorrow.  Tonight we bought from street vendors.  We spent $3.50 in total only because I got a can of Anchor beer.  People bring in US dollars as they are the main form of currency.  There is also local currency called a riel.  At the present time the unofficial exchange rate is 4000 to a buck.  Stores and restaurants price in dollars but will accept riel.

We didn’t venture too far and will be in bed by ten. A little tired, yes.

Wat Po

I'm in the room. I have had a bout a rather strong intestinal flu. (Those words seems to adequately mask the actually symptions making this suitable for the blog.) I'm usually such a good tourist throwing away all old conventions, and jumping right into a new environment. Therefore, it feels strange that I ate at a Subway rather than having authentic Thai food. Jay feels it's not something I ate here but rather the alcholic coconut toddy I had on my last day in Lanka. Hum. That is known to affect the uniniatated. Hum. For most of the morning I felt pretty good. The weather was okay.


We went up the river to Wat Po. We toured the Golden Temple years ago, but going back to Wat Po was a nice diversion. We used to take tuk tuks around, now they're few and far between. We got right on the Sky Train station and exitted at the river. Since our last time here, tourist-friendly boats ply the river stops. I retook a picture at the foot of the reclining Buddha that I may have orginally taken in the 1980's.

If one lives long enough all familiar things eventually seem new again!

Taking It Slowly

Last night I got something or other.  It may have been something I ate although I generally have a cast-iron stomach.  It may be have been related to hauling bags around in the heat.  Maybe it was N1H1.  All I know is that I had a fever last night and it has taken me most of the day to achieve the normality I am approaching.

It rained heavily this morning.  It was a warm rain and getting into and out of air conditioned places kept me quite dry.  We did get on the BTS and traveled about four stops to walk around Siam Square.  On the way back we did the same several stops closer at Sala Daeng.

We went to Pat Pong night market area early last night.  We’ll probably do so again later.  Things get rolling late here.

Chong Nonsi

Our flight arrived on time.  That meant we were through customs by 7:00.  We grabbed breakfast (hot Thai soup) next to the Express Bus pickup at the airport.  Of course, that put us in one of those busses during rush hour.  I haven’t been here since the 90’s and although there are new elevated trains and highways, the traffic jams are similar to those I remember.  From the express bus we took the BST station to Chong Nonsi.  First we exitting on the wrong side of the road and could  not locate the place we wanted to stay.  The system wasn’t set up for toting around 50 lb bags, which we hope to leave at the hotel during our travels to Cambodia later in the week.

At last,we checked into the Om Yim Lodge at about 10:15 as our room was already prepared.  We paid for three nights.

After sleeping for only about 20 minutes last night, we went to right to bed.  Rather than for the two hours planned we got up at 3:00 pm.  A cursory walk out about down Silom Road to the corner of Lumpini Park gave us an updated memory map of the area.

Now we’re in the room checking maps to see where things are.

A Countdown and Some Toddy

The day unwound slowly as a countdown to our departure.  Each move of the minute hand is bringing us one minute closer to our ten o’clock trip to the airport and subsequently, our 1:45 am departure on Cathay Pacific.


We got to sleep late last night as we watched some wedding video from Lal’s sister, Bobie.  Nearly five years ago to the week, when we were visiting in 2004, she got a visa for work in a hospital in Cyprus.  She met and recently married a Cypriot man.  The video was a bit boring but it did keep us up til midnight.  That really was okay as I had an extended nap yesterday afternoon due to a bout with another bottle of arrack.

We sort of packed slowly throughout the day.  We arrived with three bags and are leaving with just two.  The collapsible third is inside one of the others.  Strangely, they feel heavier as they shed their original gifts but are returning with the addition of unusual foodstuffs.

I have been to Sri Lanka at least six times but never drank any toddy.  It is the juice of tapped coconut tree flowers.  The flower is cut and the juice that runs is already mildly fermented.  Agile climbers collect the toddy which must be drunk fairly quickly or it turns to vinegar.  It’s well known here and is the basis for the further distilled spirit mentioned two paragraphs back.  Jay’s father ordered six-bottles worth which came in a large plastic jug.  My verdict is that I can say I’ve had it, but probably won’t request it again.  Its taste was interesting but not something that would become my favourite.  It might make for an entertaining party though.

Dhamika, Jay’s sister-in-law, lives in a newly built house next door with her daughters.  She had a big lunch for us all. 

Hours keep moving in a march towards 10:00 pm.  Leaving here is always harder than coming.  These past four weeks have surely seemed to pass too quickly.

Saying Bye to Virus & Island

Safe computing is easier at home.  On my last visit and last laptop I never encountered any computer viruses.  What a minute!  I never actually connected to anything on the last visit to Sri Lanka.  My old Gateway was just acting as an oversized notepad.  Even as I’m typing, I’m doing a virus re-scan.  Yesterday, my netbook starting acting a bit strange.  It took several attempts to load Windows.  There seemed to be a lot of unnecessary disc activity.  In the evening McAfee disappeared from my task bar and important executable programs were gone too.

I felt a bit sick to my stomach.  Had the virus jumped the machine human divide?  I have not encountered a virus problem since the days of my IBM XT clone.  That was twenty-five years ago.  I am more than willing to pay for a subscription to anti-virus software and I do.

I know exactly when I got infected.  At one Internet cafe on my trip McAfee needed to download a completely new version of its SecurityCenter.  I was attached to broadband by cable but I had finished my tasks and the download was taking too long.  I simply closed the lid and put the machine into hibernation.  I worked on tasks later offline but when rebooting there was no executable McAfee file on the machine.  In Galle, I attached again and began work while completing my download.  In that interim period, I apparently caught something.

I couldn’t even rid the computer of the virus as it was smart enough to ensure my virus scan software was the first to byte the dust, so to speak.  I wondered if I could limp along by trying to reload the program from the Net.  Then, I remembered about Windows Restore Point.  The ability to ‘roll back’ the system software had helped me on occasion with faulty drivers in Vista.  I wasn’t even sure if the newer incarnations of Windows XP, like on my netbook, included that wizard.  I was pleased to see it there.  I reset my computer to a point several days ago.  It rebooted without a hitch.  Doing a restore point doesn’t affect data so none of my blog entries or photos were modified.  Phew!

Upon running a full scan I found something called, sality.  It will be fun to look up that one when I’m online.

Today, I’m trying to take in as many of the sights and sounds as possible.  Late tomorrow night we leave Sri Lanka for Bangkok.  The actual flight time is Monday morning at 12:45, I guess.  Coming here is too far for an annual trip, so I’m not exactly sure when I’ll be sitting here again looking at the coconut trees.  It’s a little exciting to think of the upcoming two weeks in Bangkok and Cambodia though. 

This will be my last uploaded entry from the island.  Surely, I can connect in hotels further along on our journey.

Still, wishing you were here!

Eating is a Verb I Know

We arranged for a three-wheel to come to take us downtown this morning.  Actually, we arranged for two.  Jay’s father and younger sister went after we did.  Jay had given money to make some new purchases.  The plastic chairs for the breezeway were getting a little ratty and the garden hose needed replacing.

I knew of the business called APICO from a long time back.  I associated the company with rubber mats and foam mattresses.  The one in Minuwangoda still sells these basics, but on this trip we also went into an APICO Supercenter.  One in Negombo had an amazing collection of household and vehicle items, and even had a food selection that competes with the local supermarket chains.  It’s not quite Walmart but it surely is a new trend in Sri Lankan retail.

Jay and I went in the other tuk-tuk.  We went first to the Internet Cafe.  We were going to have all the photos from both my xD card and younger sister’s new SD card put onto a DVD.  That way they could look at all the photos we took on our trips on the TV.  Unfortunately a few minutes after arriving, the power went out.  The whole town and area lost electricity.  Occasionally this happens for a few minutes so we waited about 15 minutes.  Still nothing.  That’s one task saved for tomorrow.  We also went to the large Co-op Supermarket to pick up some special items for the house and even a few food items to bring back to Vancouver.  The generator backup kept the coolers and cash registers humming.

We returned home before the chairs and others.

I love hanging around the kitchen here. Most of the day is spent making food and whatever’s left seems to be the time for eating it.  I could easily loose count of the time I hear the Singhalese word for eat in a day.  Portion sizes are now too large here though, not only in this house but in restaurants also.  I noticed more and more obese people here.  Sri Lankans used to be a healthy lot.

Sticking to the same topic of food, today, the oven opened for a rich fruit cake.  Jay always keeps a fruit mixture with nuts and spices in the back of the refrigerator at home.  Before coming here, he packed a huge jar full of it.  Some of this is in a great smelling cake with a golden brown top.  Of course the multitude of Sri Lankan curries I have been eating defy words.  Thankfully, I’ll have a few more weeks before I have to step on my bathroom scales but after a month I can already see the results of all of this in the mirror!

My Life and the Mango Seedling

Today, I hardly accomplished a thing in the traditional sense of the word.  Most people have come to understand that accomplishments are steps towards a grand, pre-defined goal.  Today, I had no big goal.  Living is a miracle in itself, I’d say.  I spent my day doing that.

I always get a little sad when I see it’s almost time to leave Sri Lanka.  One month hasn’t been nearly enough this time.  In 2004, we were wiser in spending two months here.  I keep wondering about the prospects of spending five or six months of every year on this island.  I think I’d feel in tune with the cosmos dividing my time between two main spots on nearly opposite sides of the earth.

I feel really fortunate to have led a rather blessed life.  I have been able to live the way I want and have had the means to do so.  I can see how people could get sidetracked by many obstacles.  I can also understand how one could get sucked into a mainstream way of living.  I’m thankful, in fact, that most people do.  The way we’ve created our economic system, it’s necessary that most people replace their car every three or four years.  On the other hand, my truck is going on fourteen.  It’s important for general society to put in eight-hour days for 48 to 50 weeks per year.  Yet, I have taught 30 weeks or fewer of half days for decades now.  Some people never leave the location they were born, yet I’ve been able to not only walk, but stay in hundreds of spots around our globe.

Today, I just existed and spent a great deal of time thinking about how I’ll spend my remaining years.  This is not something that can be understood by someone in their 20’s or 30’s.  With age really can come wisdom, not for all of course!  I am smart enough to realize that, God willing, I only have another 25 years for an active lifestyle and for all the choices those years could offer.  How do I want us to spend our precious remaining time?  This big question is much more important than most I have on a normal afternoon of teaching at BCIT.

Today was filled with the ordinary things of life as well as some things which are rarer.  For example, we planted a mango seedling in the back yard today.  The newspaper said the auspicious time was at 11:40 am while facing north.  What will fate hold for that tree?  Will it wither or prosper?  For what other creatures will it offer shelter or food?  Will it remain alive at the end of my own days?

Home, Again.

Our trip south only lasted four days, a mere taste of our usually longer backpacking adventures in Sri Lanka.  I do have to admit, it seems very nice typing this from a chair in the breezeway in front of Jay’s house now.


We passed through the largest metropolitan region of the country to get here today.  By the time we had finished our continental breakfast at a bakery along the Galle Road, travelled through Petta, and walked up the Kopiwatte Road to the driveway, the journey clocked in at around two hours.  Travel here can seem like a lot of work though.  Buses complete with each other and all means of conveyance for limited road space.  It can be hot, dirty, and crowded.  As soon as I reach a destination, all I want is a a shower and a drink, and not necessary in that order!

It seemed like such an oasis getting back to this little patch of green space where the house sits.  There seem to be many more houses in this area with each visit.  The town of Minuwangoda seems to have grown each time we come.  I hope the new bus stand being built will allow for an interesting municipal space in the center of the city.  It’d be great if it ended up as a civic park but, unfortunately, that just won’t happen.

I will never, ever again complain of local taxes in Canada.  For the relatively small investment as a percentage of income, we get safe sidewalks, manicured city landscaping, and well-lit streets.  First, as I’ve mentioned before, in North American we all claim to have ultimate freedoms.  Yet in reality, we’ve bi-lawed, regulated, codified, and zoned ourselves some nice places to live.  Structure and order take precedence over freedoms.  Here it’s the wild west in terms of regulations.  Perhaps more importantly for this country, when there is insufficient cash, adequate infrastructure simply cannot be created and maintained.

This said, it is certainly Sri Lanka’s turn now.  With the three-decades of war over, it’s time for this country to begin catching up with its many Asian neighbours who are no longer classed as developing.  Sri Lanka should be poised for better days.  It still has an excellent national education system, a long history with the English Language, a key geographic location, and abundant human and natural resources.  It needs to find better leadership, a unified spirit of internal and external cooperation, and a way to ensure all benefit from an improving economy.

Still Seaside

We did come up from Galle today.  We awoke early but did not rush at all.  Jay had found the train schedule at the station yesterday and knew there would be a nine o’clock local.

It was marked as a slow train and certainly lived up to that reputation.  I find some of the train system absolutely amazing not for any hint of luxury nor speed but for the sheer tenacity of the equipment, structures, and staff.  Stations are a prime example of what can happen in a government organization: it continues, just.  Take away incentive and there’s little to no innovation.  So much of the network still seems to still be run on original equipment.  Stations built in the 1960’s haven’t been updated in the slightest, and here I’m talking about the paint and signs.  Some far older structures hang in there with original steel weathered to point of near collapse.  If it works, there’s no pressing need to change anything.  This seems to have been the mantra for decades and decades.

It sounds like I’m suggesting one not travel by train here.  I feel quite the opposite, really.  It took us four and a half hours to travel 117 kilometers to Mt. Lavinia.  As I admitted, we were on a train that stopped at most every station.  Also, we had to wait a half hour when changing trains at one point, as the one we were on turned into an express that would’ve skipped our destination.  These hours were interesting and relaxing though.  One can really get a glimpse of life when the train barely tops 45 mph.  So many house and back yards are right outside the train’s windows.  I enjoy being a casual voyeur.  People-watching aboard is fun too.  For example, I’ll never know if that young girl gave that persistent young chap her real mobile telephone number.

We got out at Dehiwala and had a 3-wheel take us to the ‘restaurant part’ of Mt. Lavinia Beach.  We walked down the beach with our backpacks in search of lunch as it was already 2:00 pm.  We saw an older hotel called the Ocean View TourInn behind the rail tracks.  We ordered lunch and checked out the rooms.  We decided to stay tonight just to be able to see what activities take place here.  During the day it seemed a little slow.  I can’t see why tourist spend so much time and energy getting to southern beaches.  The sand and sea look great here and the tall buildings of the city of Colombo are in the distance.

Tomorrow it’s Minuwangoda or bust.  Home is not far really.  We can take a bus to Colombo and a direct bus from there.

The Spice (Trade) of Life

We keep bumping into the Sri Lankan president, although not literally mind you.  We left Unawatuna Beach after breakfast to come to Galle.  This is Jayantha’s birthplace although he hardly spent any time here at all.


We are staying right in the Fort area.  If you search for the name of this town, you might be able to see aerial photography of the immense Dutch fortification.  Of course that was done four centuries back.  I like Sri Lanka for all the impacts of historical and sea trade whether from the recent influence of Europe or ties to the the ancient world.  We might visit 2000 year old ruins in the morning.  Then, for lunch, we could order lamprais a culinary left over from the Dutch.  At the same time, a baiela Sri Lankan song could be on the radio with melody and rhythms derived from the Portuguese.  We might be beside the train track, a vestige of the British era.  Sailors catching the trade winds, Moslems traders, or colonial powers have all left their mark.  An occasional glimpse of someone with green eyes will hint to even human genes as a part of the living history.

As I suggested in the first paragraph, the Sri Lankan President is in town.  It is election time in the southern provinces.  With a visit comes the security forces and disruption to normal life.  Part of the Fort area is closed off at the present time.  Perhaps later in the afternoon things return to usual.  We’ll probably just hang here for one night.  Rather than venturing south, we just may hop on a north-bound train tomorrow morning. 

Real travellers don’t need an itinerary.

Life’s a Beach (and a Mountain)

I love this bay.  Unawatuna is still undeveloped enough to feel as though one has personally ‘discovered’ it.  The bay is a perfect size.  The most striking attribute is the mountains at each corner.  Most of the southern beaches are relatively flat.   There are no large hotels yet, and part of the road is still unpaved.  Yet, there are at least eight other beach access restaurants within a half kilometer from this hotel.  The big tourist season in the south is November, December, and January.  I’m sure it’s more crowed with European visitors at that time as now we’ve only seen, perhaps, a dozen.

The name of one mountain we hiked down today Rumassla.  If I can get the story straight, according to Indian mythology, the out of the place hunk of mountain should be in far-way, northern India.  Hanuma, the monkey god, was on an errand to bring a medicinal herb only found in the Himalayas.  By the time he’d flown there, he forgotten the exact name of the plant.  So, to save time he picked up a whole chunk of the mountain sure that it would contain the needed medicine.  On the return route he dropped five pieces of it in five different places along the way.  He must have been quite the god, as the existing mountain here is several kilometers wide.  Strangely, it does support types of plants found in no other places in Sri Lanka.

We took a tuk tuk to “Jungle Beach” and then walked back from that side of the mountain, first visiting, the Japanese friendship dagaba and then the Sri Vewakarana Temple.  A very nice monk showed us around.  We came back down the hill following an unmarked trail and passing through a rice paddy as well as the back yards of a few houses.

We lunched at Coral Light restaurant and napped.  I finally went swimming this afternoon.  Now as light is beginning to fade, all of the day visitors have gone.  Perhaps pizza and beer, later?

Set Compass to ‘South’

Today, we came to Unawatuna (una WAT ton ah).  It was Full Moon Poya so nobody had to work but it fell on a Saturday this month anyways.  The road to Galle is fairly good.  A great deal of it hugs the coast enough so that one gets a hint of the beaches and tourist towns.  We weren’t quite sure if there would be less or more traffic because of the holiday.

The driver and van were the ones which we usually use.  The driver is safe and dependable.  He started in Minuwangoda picking up Jay’s father, younger sister, and auntie.  Also, one of the main reasons for the trip was to bring Jay’s sister-in-law and two nieces for an outing.  The girls have grown so much over these past three years!  They, then, came to pick us up in Nugegoda.  Lal didn’t come on this trip.

We didn’t intend to set any speed records getting here.  We left and stopped to have breakfast along the way.  Another big stop occurred at a large temple along the way.   We didn’t even try a Kalutara but went further to Kandera Viraha.  When we were there in the past the huge Buddha in a sitting position wasn’t completed.  Now it is.  Jay’s dad had brought along a collection of fruit, which needed to be cut, for an offering.  There were lots of people there.

By the time we got here in Unawatana it was about 2:00 pm.  We drove in on the public access road right to the end.  The area was mobbed.  Hundreds and hundreds of local folks were taking a swim.  There were hardly enough places for all the cars, van, and busses that brought them.

We’d not had lunch, so that was a priority.  Jay and I took a walk down the beach.  Jay’s dad can’t manage on the sand, so we started down the road we’d come in on.  The first place we came to was the Sea View Restaurant.  We ate here.  The grounds were nice and they had a hotel part too.  We decided right then we’d stay here for a few nights.  All the others were to head back after lunch.  The nieces did get a good swim after eating but in retrospect, they would’ve had more time in the water if they had swum as soon as we put in our order.    Our meal was good but it took a while in arriving as everybody ordered something different and another large group preceded us in ordering.

We waved everybody off at about 4:00 pm and I finally felt as if another part of the vacation dawned!  I love a little beach time.  I’d be bored just spending a vacation at one, but ah this is the life!  We ate dinner within two meters of surf.

Not Quite to the Fort

Jay and I headed towards downtown Colombo today.  We hit two big shopping plazas: Majestic City and Liberty Plaza.  The only thing purchased though was a DVD of a award winning Sinhala film and a map  of Colombo.

Shopping is never big on our agenda.  Generally, we try to get to a Laksala, the government handicraft an souvenir reseller, but haven’t yet.  How many tiny elephants can one give away?  I was half thinking about buying an authentic ruby ear stud as precious jewels are a big export commodity here.  On all the past visits, I was never interested in the slightest.  Now that I have a $9 gold-coloured ear stud in my left ear, I figured I may as well upgrade.  Rubies are my birthstone. We’ll see if I get a chance before we leave the island.  That unfortunate occurrence will happen soon enough!

One other interesting thing we did today was lunch.  Jayantha got his first real job at a hotel not far from here in 1979.  He was a room steward and barman.  We went back to Hotel Janaki and it seemed to be doing well.  We had a great Sri Lankan lunch in their air conditioned restaurant.  I know that Jay enjoyed seeing the differences, like a new swimming pool area.  Of course the whole neighbourhood area had changed a lot in thirty years too.  For example on the bus we passed a great many new multiple storey apartment building towers between the Galle Road and the High Levels Highway.

Following a New Tradition

Exercising a schedule similar to the past several trips to Sri Lanka, the first full day in Nugegoda was shopping day for the sisters, Jay, and me.

We hit the House of Fashion, No Limit, Fashion Bug.  This trip didn’t produce as much booty as in past years.  I bought some underwear as the real designer labels sell for prices of ordinary Wal-mart clothing at home.  Unfortunately, I always forget that the sizes are not designed for the North American market.  Therefore, if I want M, I need to select XL.  I forgot that.

We ate lunch, continuing with these new traditions, at Devon Restaurant and Bakery.  Before heading home we did find something larger to buy.  We got an good quality, Indian-brand food processor for the house in Minuwangoda.  It has all sorts of stainless steel attachments.

I’m typing this while looking out into the little driveway / garden this evening.  Bird watching is as fun here as out in the jungles near Jay’s house.  It seems that most households produce waste food but none of it goes to waste as the birds and animals are fed.  There are several feeding platforms in the yard and a little tub of tiny seeds for smaller visitors.  Last night we even cut up some browning bananas for cute little fruit bats.  A mongoose stopped by for a short visit but was a pretty shy fellow.