bangkok - hong kong - no, bangkok

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there is lots to tell about our thailand adventures - we thought one of the most exciting moments was when our taxi driver to the airport , upon starting up the car, flipped down 2 DVD screens (front and back) popped in a karoke DVD and tested the re-verb on the mic "Helloooo, Helloooo, Welcommmme", before handing it to us. Lisa, myself and our two airport companions (two Europeans) groaned and laughed at the same time. 40 minutes of the Carpenters and The Eagles all the way to Bangkok airport. we didn't use the mic, but we did sing along once in a while.

the excitement got more interesting when i went up to the check-in desk to get our 1:00 flight to Hong Kong (so we could fly out tomorrow as scheduled) and they pointed out - very nicely because Thais are very nice - that the flight was today but at 1 AM not 1 PM. military time!!! who goes by that these days? we don't think like airlines and the military so we missed our flight.

after a lot of coins dropped into bangkok pay phones, using some nice Thai man's cell phone and calling upon the assistance of several airport people we re-arranged all our flights to leave on jan 3rd from Hong Kong. besides the fact that all hte flights are full due to the holiday it would have also cost us an additional $350 to leave bangkok then and there.

our taxi back to our hostel wasn't nearly as exciting, and we got some strange looks when we checked back into the hostel we had checkout of earlier that day, but we have decided to explore bangkok and celebrate new year's 12 hours earlier than all of you on the Stateside.

the up side is that we have a few more days of vacation, bangkok just happens to be one of the cheapest places to stay and we can continue with our strict Thai food diet of mangos, pad thai and anything else we can get our stomachs around - although it would have been nice if our crystal ball could have told us ahead of time of they delay then we would've stayed on the island for 3 more days.

face off -- chinese style

as promised i will back date a bit and tell the story of our face off at the great wall of china.

for all of you who think you might be cold right now, beijing is a 1,000 times colder. we stayed there 3 days. it required lots of layers and purchasing of a few more coats -- hard to resist those knock off mountain hardware and northface jackets. the 3rd day turned out to be our trip to the wall day.

there are several sections of the wall that one can visit, the most popular, easily accessible and nearest is BaDaLing. not wanting to buy a guide book we went to a foreign book store and read / copied all the information we needed for buses, etc. somehow the book failed to mention that the last public bus for badaling left at 9:30am from the station. we arrived at the bus stop at 9:45am and after a lot of going back and forth with some chinese bus stop guy it was figured out that badaling was not in the works for the day. we took the next option to simatai - another, but less developed section of the wall, and much further away. fortunately, we were able to catch the bus out to the nearest city in the area.

for the most part i can ask directions and generally be told what the best route is, so when our bus attendant (a young woman who goes up and down the aisle collecting bus fares once you have boarded) said that we had to take a taxi from the city to the wall i accepted that this was the only option.

because we spent the morning running around beijing trying to catch the right bus it was close to noon by the time our bus pulled up to the city (which i can't remember the name of). the first stop some greasy taxi driver ran on the bus beelined for us and said "taxi"? i told him i was going to wait for the last stop. then i thought -- "maybe we have to get off sooner than the last stop for a taxi." so i asked again and the girl said that we could get off anywhere for a taxi and told us that it shouldn't cost more than 200 yuan for the taxi fare.

we got off at the next stop and started the taxi negotiations. in retrospect i'm pretty certain we were picked by the greasiest taxi driver, Mr. Zhang. at first he wanted 500 yuan, at which point i walked away in disgust. suddenly the price dropped and we agreed on 200 plus a 40yuan parking fee. next thing you know we were on our way to simatai.

on our way there Mr. Zhang mentioned that he knew of a farm house that would feed us lunch for around 5-10yuan each, were we interested in that? it was very clean. in-between all this he told us varying details of the area, since he was native, and some historical facts of the wall. we thought lunch at that price sounded decent so we agreed on the lunch option. (5-10 yuan is about $.75-$1.50).

arriving at the farm house about 1 hr into the drive we were given a menu from which i ordered a few dishes and didn't pay too much attention to the prices. the little farmhousewife was thrilled to have us as no one, and i mean NO ONE else was there. it was a cold but clear day, and NO ONE was there. after ordering she suggested that i replace my beef and pepper dish with a farm raised chicken dish. OK, but once again, i didn't ask price.

we wandered around the small 5 family village, talked with some of the locals then went in for lunch. i had invited Mr. Zhang to eat with us as it is customary to treat your driver to lunch in China. he readily accepted. the tofu was burnt, the greens dish was OK and the chicken was a whole chicken chopped into about 20 parts and stewed in chinese liquid something. it involved a lot of bones and picking to get at the meat. none of it was very good. Mr. Zhang ate everything heartily and then collected all the chicken bones to take home to his dog, or cat, i'm not sure which. at the end we were served 3 mantos (steamed buns), which i had not ordered and believed that they were complimentary.

the farmhousewife was cute and excited when she brought us the bill for 200 yuan!!! about $30us. after a moment of not talking i started asking the details as i was in more sticker shock than i've been in in years. i can get a bowl of noodles that i can't even eat all of for 5 yuan in the city ($.75). sure enough it was all priced as advertised. the chicken just happened to be 88yuan and the mantos had been ordered by Mr. Zhang without him consulting me at all. it was at this point that both Lisa and I's blood pressure almost shot out our ears as we realized that our driver was taking us for a ride in more ways than one - we are convinced that he got a hearty kick back from that meal, along with a bag of chicken bones.

the drive to the wall was 10 more minutes and he offered to buy our wall tickets as he had a special "lisense" that got us in cheaper. i have since learned that drivers get a kick back from this arrangement. even though it was cheaper for us we didn't want him to get anything else off our dollar.

it was cold as cold! so we took a little, and slightly scary, cable car to the top where we then hiked up and enjoyed as much of the wall as we could in 1.5 hrs - while warding off little farm ladies selling picture books and t-shirts of the wall. they followed us the whole way up and back. it was a cold day to stand on the wall and not sell anything - cause NO ONE was there.

still stewing about the driver's inability to hide his dishonesty, i inquired 2 different times as to how much the parking fee was for a taxi and it turned out that it was only 5 yuan. it was at this point that i began to lose it and started composing the biggest ma (scold/yelling) i could come up with for Mr. Zhang when the face off time came, cause it was comin'.

after a quick consultation with lisa and then finding out that there was a 4 yuan bus leaving for town at 4pm (we had 10 minutes), we decided to pay Mr.Zhang 1/2 his driving fare and 5 yuan for the parking fee = 105yuan. because i knew what would happen i was dreading it, but i was more mad than i've been in - probably my lifetime - so i decided to go through with our plan.

lisa ran to catch the bus and i shoved the money at Mr.Zhang and i started making my way across the parking lot for the bus, loudly declaring that he cheated us and i was not going to be riding with a schister such as himself. i was surrounded by 3 of his comrades who tried to wall me in from going to the bus, but i pushed through them an marched on. the march was quite the parade - me yelling about him cheating foreingers and how could he represent Chinese people that way and them yelling that there was no way that we were going to take that bus!!!

lisa was already glued to a seat in the 4th row and about 15 other local Chinese were waiting to ride back as well. i got boarded in a yelling heat and plunked down next to Lisa. my companions followed, also yelling. they started calling me all kinds of things like that i had agreed and i should pay the whole fare no matter what, they were going to call the police, etc. i was yelling here and there to go ahead and call the police, that he cheated me on lunch, and over charged me on the parking fee and i wasn't going to ride back with a ...... you know how it went from there. lisa sat next to me refusing to move, not understanding a word, but getting the idea - every once in awhile i would translate. she just kept saying "there is no way i an riding back with him."

this went of for about 10 minutes and when it became apparent to our fellow busmates that they were now impacted. they started encouraging me to get off the bus and resolve the matter so they could get back. NO!! then the attendant yelled at us to get off, and just ride back with Mr.Zhang - "would you ride with someone who cheated you?!" i yelled back, NO!

from the back of the bus came 2 older women who had seen plenty of these face off's in their Chinese lives (as this is often how public conflicts are handled), so they jumped in and started negotiations. "Give him his fare and we can all go," they encouraged me. NO! i pulled out 40 yuan cause i knew that i had to help him save some face otherwise it would go on and on and i personally wanted the ordeal to be over. he refused, so the yelling and negotiations continued. after the bus driver yelled at me to get off and we refused the diplomats in the back leaned over my seat and said that if i gave him 60 yuan he agreed to leave. i pulled out another 20 yuan handed him the wad.

THE SECOND he accepted the money all the bus riders pushed Mr.Zhang and his comrades out the door and the bus driver started up the bus to take off. once the doors were closed i apologized profusely, took off my face a few times while they warned me more than once to not ride with those "black people" (the chinese term for bad people is black people for a black heart). i told them i just didn't know that there was another option, etc, etc.

it was quite the day. we saw some of the best sections of the wall that i have ever visited and it was topped by a real Chinese face off - something i haven't done in a long time.

malkamikimaka - merry christmas

December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas! Once again the day is here, that magical day when special things happen. I woke early this morning, as I always do on Christmas, and walked out the front door of my Thailand beach bungalow to the scene in this photo. It’s a Christmas miracle. I guess I am on Santa’s nice list this year.

After over 10 days of fun (but intensive) travel through China, Lisa and I made our way to Hong Kong on 12/22 for a night’s rest before heading to Bangkok. China makes the ease and efficiency of Hong Kong look like you’ve just gone to heaven. Due to space constraints everything in Hong Kong is small. Think of the largest closet in your house downsize that by 1/3 and that was the size of the hostel room we stayed in at the Chung King Mansion in downtown Kowloon (the main land section of the city right across from Hong Kong island). Somehow, we fit ourselves, 3 large suitcases, 2 backpacks and a camera bag in there for a night. I spent the afternoon making the trek across town to China Air to purchase a re-issue of my return plane ticket while Lisa rested. That evening we made our way through the maze of the Chung King Mansion to the Taj Mahal restaurant for some of the Chung King Mansion’s most famous Indian food, we walked around with the rest of Hong Kong who was out Christmas shopping, then talked our new friend Ramsey into keeping the 3 suitcases at the hostel for the week and went to bed exhausted. Beside that we didn’t do much in Hong Kong.

The next morning we were up and at it and out the door by 7:30am headed for Bangkok. Our goal was Koh Samet Island a small 6k long island just off the southern coast of the upper gulf of Thailand. Our transportation to our end destination - bungalow on Koh Samet - went like this: HK subway – airport shuttle – flight – shuttle bus – bus to coast – taxi ride (in the back of a mini-truck on small benches) – ferry ride – taxi truck (again) on a horrible dirt road – walk to our resort. We arrived almost 12 hours after leaving our hostel in HK. Waiting at the end of it all was a snug beach front bungalow with A/C lots of space and a toilet that you have to throw a bucket of water down to flush. After some of the best pad thai in the world and 2 mango shakes we were here to stay for a week.

For Christmas Eve we slept whenever we felt like it, floated around in the warm ocean water, ran our feet through white sand the consistency of fine flour and generally marveled that we everything had worked out so well for us. Our resort is packed into a small stretch of beach with about 7 other bungalow resorts. It’s one of the smaller beaches so we are sharing the place with a small amount of Euros and that that is about it. Because of the Bangkok airport shutdown 3 weeks ago the typical high tourist season for Thailand isn’t happening this year. It’s sad to see so many of the bungalows empty, but it’s working for us.

Lisa found out about our place after digging through several internet sites and finally found a blog detailing this particular place. Based on that information we had a friend of ours, Margo – who speaks Thai – call ahead and make a reservation for us at the Candlelight Beach resort. We weren’t sure they would hold the reservation as Thais on these islands tend to be very laid back and not too organized. But there was Lisa’s name was on the calendar for a beach front with A/C and hot water and here we are in a perfect place for a week.

For Christmas Eve dinner we ordered up lots of pad thai, basil fried shrimp, 4 mango shakes and a big bowl of tom ka (coconut based soup with chicken lemon grass and all that other yummy stuff that Thais put in their soups). We were so stuffed we had to take a long walk on the beach to work it through – life is certainly hard these days. When we got to the end of our beach stretch, about 15 minutes of slow walking, we sat on some beach chairs and watched Christmas fireworks, listened to the waves lapping and enjoyed the warm night air.

My only Christmas wish is that my family could be here with me. I love you all and hope that your Christmas is filled with the love of Christ and happiness. During this time in Asia I have been reminded over and over again of the love that the Lord has for each of his children individually. I pray that you feel that yourself and also pray that governments that restrict the practice of His gospel will change their policies in order to allow the knowledge of Christ to be preached freely. This would be the biggest Christmas miracle of all.

Merry Christmas from Koh Samet!

December 18, 2008

The time came and the program ended and now I’ve been on the long road of China since last week. Lisa (my friend who arrived on the 8^th) and I spent the 2^nd week of December in Nanjing wrapping up the program, eating good food and shopping as much as was possible in-between. We visited the typical Nanjing sites: Sun Yat Sen Memorial, Nanjing Massacre Memorial, walking around the neighborhood, etc. It’s a lot of fun to have her here as all that has become normalized to me is new for her. We went into a grocery store to pick up food for our train trip to Xi’an. She wanted a drink so I led her over to the drink section of the store to choose something, “WOW!” she exclaimed upon seeing row after row of bottles full of everything from milk fruit juice to cans full of soupy peanut beverage.

Getting out the door was as crazy as ever. Down to the last minute I was packing and stuffing and throwing un-necessaries away. While cleaning out my locked drawer that had held all my important documents I pulled out some plane tickets that for some reason in my mind were receipt tickets from my flight over here. After a glance I put them in the discard pile and shoved them into the kitchen garbage. It wasn’t until 8pm that night, after barely making our train out of town because a taxi wouldn’t stop to get us and getting finally settled on the sleeper bunk for the night that the voice of my travel agent came into my head with the strong reminder that there were “paper tickets” and DO NOT LOSE them. In a split second my brain searched all over remembering that moment, that one moment when everything could have gone a different route. Instead I was stuck on a train between Nanjing and Xi’an with no way to figure out how I was going to get home.

Hoping my maid had put off doing the final cleaning I called her in a frantic. No, she is responsible and reliable to the core – the trash had been emptied already. She jumped on her bike at 8:30pm and rushed over to see if the garbage cans had been taken out for the truck. Somehow one of my students got involved given that my maid didn’t know what she was looking for. After 3-4 calls back and forth by 9:45pm my destiny had been decided – of all the inefficiencies of China apparently the trash pick up is not one of them. They must come once or twice a day! The tickets were gone to some Chinese trash dump and I tossed and turned all night on a sleeper train running the scenario over and over in my head – very helpful for a good night’s rest. Once we arrived in Xi’an I called my BYU travel agent and after working her magic I now have an electronic .jpg of my tickets and only have to pay $100 US to have them re-printed in Hong Kong. I figured it was better than a whole new tickets home.

We did the whirlwind tour of Xi’an given we only had 2 days to see the place. Somehow in a 36 hr period we managed to – see the Terracotta Soliders, roam the Muslim Market, walk around on top of the Xi’an wall, attend church at the Xi’an branch, visit the adoption center and eat as much Xi’an food as possible. Again, it is fun to show Lisa these places as it’s all new to her.

After Xi’an we boarded our next sleeper train for Beijing. Arriving at 7:30am was about the time everyone else in China was arriving in Beijing so the line for the taxi’s was backed up far enough to be quite annoying. Dragging 3 suitcases, 2 backpacks, a camera bag and a few bags full of food and misc we made our way to a public bus that took us to our hostel, The Red Lantern Hostel for Backpackers located in the back HuTongs of Beijing. A Hu Tong are the old neighborhoods of Beijing consisting of courtyard style homes built out of grey brick and decorated with all kinds of traditional Chinese home decore. A lot of the Hu Tongs have been effectively razed over the last 10 years due to push to re-build/develop Beijing, and also due to the fact that many are dilapidated beyond repair. In all the times I’ve visited Beijing I haven’t roamed what is left of these remnants of Beijing traditional life. The hostel we stayed in I specifically picked because it was in a Hu Tong and it provided the experience we were looking for.

After checking in we walked through these narrow bustling streets of pedestrians and bicyclists peering into local shops and ordering up some Beijing breakfast. We turned several heads of course as this area isn’t typically visited by foreigners (except the hostel visitors). Mr. Li, the hostel’s cabbie, loaded up our suitcases on a 3 wheeled cart and pedaled us over to another building where we would be staying. He told me that the area were staying in (Xin Jie Kou Nan Da Jie) had been designated for Hu Tong preservation. I was glad to hear that. Our hostel was great, comfortable and one of the Hu Tong houses. It’s was a true Beijing experience. Check out photos for my adventures thus far. And stay tuned for the drama of the “face off” we had with our taxi driver to the Great Wall.