Gudai Myte

I loved Australia.
It was great fun. An easy country, oops CONTINENT, to do on my own. They speak English, sort of, and signs are in English, food is recognizable, currency $, and much is familiar.

Emmet and Mary picked me up at the Gold Coast airport. After an 8 hour flight to Sydney  and a 1 1/2 hour flight to Gold Coast. It seems close, because it is on the same page of the atlas, but it was a long travel day.

We had a great time.
They are in a condo, right on the ocean. There is a path along the seaside, and the beach, fine white powder sand, is not 100 meters from their building. On the beach are the iconic life guard towers, with a wonderful looking team of volunteer life guards. Yes, in their yellow and red beanies.

One morning we went down to swim, actually just be bumped around in the glorious waves, and a team of about 20 boarders came running full tilt on to the beach, carrying their boards under their arm. They dashed in to the ocean, paddled out at full tilt, came surfing in, and repeated that about 4 times, fast. Then they did a workout together on the beach. These wonderful Aussie bodies, in bathing suits, in ripping good shape, and giving it all they could. It was very impressive.

We went on a day drive, out in the country, rolling hills that reminded me of England, to this wonderful Art Gallery, sort of in the middle of nowhere. They had a wonderful exhibit of Ken Done. I knew that name because in the seventies, when you bought "wearable art" there were t-shirts of his. Very colourful, happy colours. They also had a showing of a very popular Aussie artist, Olley, who was homebound in her last decade, and she painted still lives, and the interior of her home. They were lovely, and it gave me an idea of her life.

We went in to Brisbane for a day, and visited a friend of Emmet and Mary's. We had lunch at a "balls club", that would be lawn bowling, and did a river tour. Brisbane is a charming city.

On to Sydney. A big, old city. I felt I was in Manhattan. Old brick cobblestones, street people, buskers, beggars, and a wonderful energy. It was an easy city to get around.

I did a tour of the Opera House. I was not disappointed. It is really beautiful. The architect, Utson, a Dane, thought it could be built in 3 years for $16 million. It took 16 years and took $50 million. But, you know, Sydney has this amazing iconic draw to the city. There are 5 theatres that seat 5,000 people, and they had 100,000 visitors last month! Utson designed stairs up to the theatre, you are rising in to cultural heaven. But it makes for challenges for audience, loading and unloading, and would not be done today (wheelchair accessibility a major design issue).

Sydney has some old buildings. Workmen's cottages that date to 1700's. With beautiful ornate filigree  iron work railings. But the Opera House trumps anything.

On to Perth. I decided to go to where my good friend Val lived. She talked it up as so beautiful. But it was bloody expensive, Myte. Had I known. But I am glad I went. It is a fresh new city. Booming, much construction, and crisp blue sky, and sparkling waterfront.

I went to Fremantle, a small town out on the coast, Perth being up the river a bit. Went to a Marine Museum, and a researcher invited me in to his lab, to show me what he did. He was an anthropologist as well as an archeologist,  so he was looking at these specimens from the perspective of life style back then. It really was fascinating. Showed me two cannonballs. One had been protected from the ocean elements and weighed a bloody ton. Another which had had the effects of the salt water for 300 years, was as light as a feather. Only carbon left.

The museum had an old shipwreck put together in the museum. The size of the lumber used for the ship. HUGE. They fixed leaks with animal hair and wax. They used English bricks as ballast, and  then sold them when they got to Australia.

I went on a bus trip that took me to see kangaroos, wombats, and koala bears. Of course.

To a lobster factory, to see how they grade and pack and ship those "live" lobsters far afield. (They stun them in cold water and then they are good for 36 hours to get to destination) Japanese love 1 lb lobsters, Middle East they love 5 lb lobsters.

We went to the pinnacles, an amazing formation of limestone pillars in the sand dunes.

THEN we went sand boarding. The bus we had was like a tractor trailer. The driver was in a cab, and we were seated in the "trailer". I wondered why, but the bus went in the sand dunes. Up and down these quite steep dunes, doing wheelies where the trailer skidded around on the turn. It was really fun. Some people went sand boarding. Like a toboggan ride in the sand. I couldn't do it, because my stupid knees don't bend the way they should. But it sure looked like fun.

Kids wear school uniforms, and the girls wear a midi dress, and a straw bonnet. Very nautical.

Construction workers take the brim from a sun hat and put it on their hard hat.

Small airplane , and float planes. Not seen in Asia.

Sorry this is way too long. Bear with me.

Well it is about a year since my last trip alone

Hey, ski buddies. I am going to visit Mary and Emmett on the Gold Coast!

I will fly tonight, actually 2 a.m.!!!! Singapore Sydney, then 6 hours in the airport, urgh, and a connecting flight (pretty loose connection, I think -6 hours) to Gold Coast. Mary and Emmett will pick me up and I will stay with them for 4 days. They are in a condo on the beach (that was battered and bruised in the typhoon a few weeks ago).

I will then fly back to Sydney for 4 days, on my own. OMG is Oz ever expensive. Singapore is pretty pricey, but most of the places I have been travelling to are much less expensive than here. But not Australia. Ouch, hotels are expensive. I hope to see an opera performance while I am there.

The next stop is Perth. Had I know how expensive Perth is, I probably would not have gone. But I am committed now. My good friend Val, lived in Perth for years and loved it. So I am flying across the continent to see where she lived 20 years ago. hmmm it seemed to make sense at the time. Well, she has put me in touch with two friends there and I have enough info to last a month easy. So 3 days in Perth,(At one of the cheaper hotels- $400. OUCH) then an all-nighter home, leaves at 9:15p.m. and gets in at 3 a.m. to Singapore. These are the flights Tim flies.

I am starting to look at my next trip home. We have a wedding September 28 in Collingwood. At least I think we do. We don't have an invite yet, but we sure would come, if invited. AHEM, AHEM.

So I will look at coming home mid August, stay for the wedding and after in to October. Tim would take 10 days and just do the wedding. I want to get two weekends with the kids, and do Stratford one weekend, and Niagara on the Lake another weekend. Have to start working on that trip.

Hey, folks. I guess that you are keeping up with us, and what we are up to. But this is a one way conversation. I would love to hear from you and what you are up to. Just a short email every now and then would be great. It would help me feel connected.

Singapore

I have been in Singapore over a year now. That amazes me. A year.

I must admit the first few months were pretty much a blur of survival, but I realized I really knew very little about the city/state. So I have done a little reading, and am going to share it with you.

First, the location. If you look at a map, it really is this tiny island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula. It is teeny, tiny. 250 square miles. But ideally located in the past as a trade route (spices, silk, opium, tea, ebony, ivory). Now it serves as the economic hub of Asia.

It appears western, and is on the surface, but the Confusion philosophy runs deep. Freedom, respect of elders. Hence the strict laws; fines for littering, caning for vandalism. But the result is a very organized, efficient, safe, clean city.

The population is made up of Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian, and Caucasian. The national language is Malay, in deference to the founding father, but the lingua franca is English, which is referred to as Singlish (very heavily accented English).

Singapore was a British colony and was heavily populated with Chinese indentured labourers. The  isolation of the Chinese here gave rise to secret societies, which played a role in the make-up of the society.

As ideal as it was as a trading centre, Singapore was very vulnerable to attack. (My history is embarrassing lacking, and mostly of Europe since the 19th Century.) Early 20th Century, Japan had conquered much of Asia, and pre WWII  invaded Singapore- having invaded Korea, China, Malaysia. The occupation of Singapore by the Japanese is very talked about here. It was a reign of terror. But upon the surrender of the Japanese after Pearl Harbour,  Singapore regained autonomy, and with the British Rule of Law, but a People's Action Party, (somewhat communist), modern Singapore was founded.

They had no natural resources. What they had was political stability and cheap labour,  and to encourage economic growth, very little restrictions on currency movement.  What they have done in 50 years is amazing. They have a compulsory savings program and that makes home ownership (apartments in HDB- Housing Development Buildings, government controlled housing) possible, and home ownership is 90%!

To cope with their vulnerable location, they have compulsory military service (2 years for males 18 years old, and two weeks every year after). They have a standby runway. When you drive in to the city from the airport, there is a stretch of the expressway that is very straight, and the centre boulevard is not planted, but it is all planters. They can be removed in an emergency, and the expressway is a runway!

Having read about Singapore, it has helped me to understand the nature of this place. Such a wonderful contrast of the respect for the forefathers, and the cutting edge economic stand they have today. It does make for a clean, safe, efficient, savvy, energetic city, with draconian laws, and enough rules to boggle the mind. But it works.

a quickie

[There is only one person out there that will understand this. Don't worry if this makes no sense to the rest of you. You are not the "one".] I want to send a quickie, then I will sit down and do a "proper" [ahem, ahem] post about Singapore.

I am still connected to my book club back home. I try to do a Skype my Friday morning of their Thursday night meeting. I have been successful more times than not.

Our selection of books is, as with book clubs, chosen by members, and is a wonderfully eclectic mix. But eclectic as it is, it has been difficult for me to find some of the books here. That is until today.

Most book stores here are a combination of Chinese and English books, and the choice in English is limited. But there is a book store here that I found, and spent some time in today (and spent some $$ as well). It is the most amazing book store I have been in. It is as big as many community libraries in TO. But it is not a lending library. It is a store! That's like going to an City Art Gallery and having the art for sale! I found all the books for next months, except for one. (The Giller prize winner "419".)

It probably sounds silly to you, but that wonderful store has made me feel less disconnected to all back home. To have a good healthy pile of "books to be read" at my bed table gives me warm fuzzies. (Maybe I should not be admitting this! It does sound weird when I write this.) But I am well stocked with books to read that will connect me to my book club friends.

One is the Salmon Rushdie, "Joseph Anton, A memoir". It is as big as the ruddy Bible. Or a dictionary. And my club dared to razz me about my suggesting "Anna Karenina"- TOO LONG. I go away and they pick this Rushdie tome. But I have it, and it will keep me off the streets for a while.

the calm after the storm

The house is very empty. It is very quiet. I knew this would be, but, oh my, it sure is. Compounding this is that I am in bed. Not sure if it is a major allergy hit or a flu bug. But day three of cough, such sleepiness, and nose blowing. I have pulled a muscle coughing. Yuck.

As soon as the kids left, I signed myself up for a lecture, a tour, and yoga classes to keep busy. The only thing I made was a tour. Out into "rural Singapore" with lit highways, and building everywhere. Much land is being expropriated for development, so I am particularly glad I get to see these places. But "rural"?

A dragon pottery kiln. Dragon, because it is built in little adjoining kilns up a hill, looking a little like a dragon. They fire once a week, to show the ancient custom. Singapore wants it's traditions and customs honoured.  And provides an opportunity for the young Singaporeans to see. So many school trips to these places.

Next stop was "Bollywood Veggies". A garden, where there were many school trips touring. They are so cute, in their big sun hats, water bottle around their neck. We saw many fruits and veggies growing. Mango, papaya, curry leaves, kaffir lime,. Then a delicious veggie lunch there. 

But then I succumbed to whatever this is, and have been lying low for 4 days. It does make the house emptier, when I hang around all day feeling lousy.

Here are some photos of Siem Reap. Angkor Wat. Camdodia.  (wat means temple) We took a tour in Siem Reap which included a river tour.

Life on the river

 Oops, someone's home?

Seven of us at Angkor Wat

 Alex and Elizabeth

after much travelling

Angkor Wat walls

Add caption

Little person saying "payonedollar" (for photo op)

 Alex and Heidi at Angkor Wat

It has been a while

The kids are still here. This month has been wonderful. To see them. To have them see us in our lives here. To have down time together. Just live together. A luxury of time. At this stage in their lives I know how precious this time with them is. And I have so yearned for this for a year. I am hoping it will be easier to be without them , knowing they know how our days go.

We have had some AMAZING vacations.

Railay Beach was all I had hoped it would be. We each, Tim and I, and Alex, Heidi, and Elizabeth, each had a villa. That is, through a gate, behind a tall fence is a patio with loungers, a shaded area with chairs, an outdoor pool with jacuzzi pumps, an outdoor shower, and then the big room with beds and a bathroom. We hung out together, and separately, and it was perfect. We had a day trip, actually a sunset snorkelling trip. Left mid afternoon, and went snorkelling to two locations. I managed to do one time. With the restrictions I STILL HAVE, URGH, the bottom rung of the ladder out of the water, and it  took me about 10 minutes to do. I could not get my knees to bend enough to get to the rung. I had a little 80 lb long tail boat driver asking if he could help. I finally got my feet through the bottom rung, and pulled myself to sitting on the rung. Then it took ALL the strength I had to pull myself up from there. I had gone back first, all others were still swimming. I was glad this awful exit from the water was only viewed by one. When the others returned I saw how tough it was for able bodied people and, and that made me feel a tiny bit better. But I was not going to try it again, so missed the second location.

But then we went to a sand bar, between 2 islands, for supper and the sunset. It was absolutely magical. Just perfect. Actually the day had been overcast, with the water not that bright turquoise, but also not the blinding sun. But for the sunset, it was a fiery red ball falling of the edge of the horizon. Magic.

On our way back, in the long tail boat, the wind had really picked up, and we were getting splashed. But strange, in the dark , and the wind, it should have felt cool, but was warm! At one point the boat scraped along bottom. In the dark. Way off from any shore. We slowed right down, and scraped along for quite a while. We wondered if he was off course, if he knew where he was, or if the tide was lower than he expected. But a little excitement for the end of a fabulous day. Actually the boats are designed with a very sturdy bottom, and the draw on the motor is like nil, so they can be in very shallow waters.

It was a holiday just like I had hoped for. Down time together and time separate. Perfect

Back to Singapore for an overnight. Elizabeth and I went off to Bali, Alex and Heidi went off to Bangkok, Chiang Mai , and Sukathai (Thailand.

Elizabeth and I loved Bali. I think of beaches in Bali, and with that wild Aussie partiers. But we went to Ubud, a city of much culture. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, had lots of touring, great meals, some mean shopping (E a beautiful bathing suit for $15, me two tops for $25). We hired a car and driver one day and saw woodcarving, silver jewellery making, painting, art gallery, gardens (we saw coffee growing, cocoa beans, and spices. We bought some excellent Bali coffee. We went to two temples, and the zoo. Elizabeth was like a kid in the zoo, very excited. Fed the elephants! Turned down feeding the lions and tigers.

Tim's sister Maribeth and her Greg arrived from a house sit in Australia. It is wonderful to have them here. We are all off to Cambodia, tomorrow, to Siem Reap, and we will be 7. How cool is that?

So more to follow.

I will now try to post some hopefully self explanatory photos.

another quickie

Well, Malaysia was wonderful. We landed in Penang on the island of Penang. Penang is a district, and a city and an island. When we first came here, and Tim said we were going to Penang, and I had no idea where it was.
To be met at the airport by the hotel is the easy way to do it. Just look for your name, or the name of the hotel as yu exit baggage area. A long drive through the town and through Georgetown, to our hotel, a small hotel (90 rooms) only three stories, quite private from the road. They remembered me from our visit. (I had inquired about renting an apartment for the 6 of us. That was prohibitively expensive). We had two adjoining rooms, which worked very well. The beach is lovely, filled with tourists, on banana boats, seadoos, and kite flying. Elizabeth and Steve went for a kite ride. They loved it. We swam in the ocean, which was only a few degrees cooler than the warm air. The pool had an infinity pool, surrounded by these "pine" trees. The hotel is misnamed. Some Englishman thought these casaurina trees were pine. Tall, majestic, very long needles. We hired a car, actually a van, for the 6 of us. We toured around all day- spice garden, fascinating, butterfly museum, fabulous, dam for fresh water, historic Georgetown, a great day. We did a cooking class, all 6 of us, at the Spice Garden, and that was fun. Much hanging around, reading in hammocks in the shade of these majestic trees, lolling by the pool, walking the beach. All wonderful. The kids did some snooping around by them selves, sometimes we were 3X2, 4+2, and sometime  all together.
The hotel wants the guests to feel like they are at their second home. I have to say they are successful. We so wanted our kids to see this. Quiet elegance, not a big busy hotel on the beach. Our last night they had a cocktail party for all the guests, full bar, as many drinks as you want, and never ending food. The staff was there, having drinks with us. Irene, head of housekeeping, wanted to know if we were happy with our rooms, and she wanted to know if not. Assistant manager Khoo, was a name on the email correspondence, and a charming man who was very eager to get me a 2nd and 3rd G&T. I met a couple, Scottish, that spend 8 weeks at The Lone Pine, and then 6 more weeks at the E&O Hotel in Georgetown. E&O is a very very fancy hotel. What a way to spend your winter. They think the hotel a second home, but find the dinners very expensive so eat at the food court next door, for $5.
Back to Singapore. Alex and Heidi went to HCMC (Saigon) for the weekend. We had a weekend with Steve and Elizabeth.
This morning we 5 head off to Railay Beach. It is a one hour flight to Krabi (Thailand) and the hotel takes us to a marina and on a long boat, around a point of land, to Railay Beach, which is not accessible for vehicles. We 5 will have 4 days there.
I will have time to attach some photos next time maybe.
Oh ya, when we get back Thursday, Elizabeth and I are flying Friday-Monday to Ubud, Bali. Not the beach, but inland, a city rich in Indonesian culture. I tell you, the fun never stops!