This weekend I have been reflectful of our time here in Southern California. I don't feel I live here although it has been over a year. Not sure why. I guess it is because I don't own any real estate here.
California is indeed a bit like a separate country rather that one of the US states. When Kobe Bryant died last week (taking off less than a mile from our apartment and crashing in a familiar place just north of LA), it was another reminder that this is the place where the megastars live. Name almost any megastar and although they may not live here they will very commonly spend time here. I have almost forgotten what bad weather is. I walk to work everyday. I wear only a sport coat everyday. I have used an umbrella maybe once. It is common to get a small shower (or a very heavy dew) in the night and it will be dried up early in the morning. It is low humidity.
Angie and I went for a short drive to Chino (inland) today. We had the top down on the freeway up to 90 mph (or so).
A couple more pics of jewel. Gracie and Jewel are getting along. We were fearful, that they may not. But I think we are past the tipping point. They are sleeping close to each other and are sharing a litter box.
I guess I cant stop buying radio equipment. I found a good deal on a few pieces of test equipment I didn't have. I had to buy them. I bought an IFR FM/AM-1200S service monitor. It is a classic. It is mostly pre digital. I consider this unit to be an "argument breaker" as far as determining what exactly is happening on frequency. It is very good at determining sources of interference and it has practically every bit of test equipment in one package. And it is battery powered. I also bought a Rigol DG1022 Function/arbitrary waveform generator, a BIRD watt meter/dummy load and a variable transformer. The only regret is that the Variable transformer is not the isolating type. I will have to figure out if I can make it isolated. It is an important piece of test equipment for old vacuum tube radios.
This past week we obtained a second cat. It was a long search (years) with previous disappointments. But, we have our dream cat Jewel at home now. She is getting to know Gracie. It is a change for all four of us.
Jewel is a Turkish Angora kitten with the very rare condition of Heterochromia Iridum (different color or odd eyed). The cat pic is not photoshopped. She has one blue and eye and one yellow eye. Often cats with this rare condition are deaf in at least one ear, not Jewel. She's a beauty and she is extraordinary sweet.
This is a video taken aboard a river boat to the caves on the Mekong river. We embarked in Luang Prabang Laos --Dec 24, 2019
We stopped for a Milk Tea in a cafe and waited for the rain to stop. Great people watching at a normal intersection in Hanoi with no traffic control devices-- none. Dec 26, 2019
I haven't blogged in awhile. I guess I am still decompressing from our most excellent, but crazy vacation in SE Asia. Things really went as planned. We first started considering the trip and these counties over a year ago and bought the transpacific flights 6 months prior. We were making reservations up to the day before we left.
We had 10 flight segments in 14 days. For clarification, we made no tight connections. We did have one long connection in Seoul (12 Hours). We didn't need a hotel since we landed at 5:00 AM and left at 6:00 PM. We had breakfast/brunch in the 4-seasons hotel downtown. I used their business center for some personal business. Never stayed in the hotel. Although the Royal Brunei ticket was to/from Brunei, it was not a layover, but still a a single ticket. Also, we had no morning flights. All flights were in the evening, so we could sleep, albeit in economy. Early morning flights were invented by the devil to totally "F" you up. The money you save is easily taken from your soul.
Airlines: Delta/Korean Air, Thai-AirAsia, Laos Airlines, Vietjet, Scoot!, Royal Brunei, and Philippines Airlines.
All the airlines were great for the most part. It was my second experience with AirAsia (first time was Kuala Lumpur to Chennai India a couple years back). We aren't going to use them again. Scoot! was a better than expected experience. They are a Singaporean LLC (Low-cost Carrier). They called us "Scooties!". Funny enough, but you start to see the utopian Scootie persona and motif in Singapore in public service messaging---I am ok with a sub-utopian life.
We are planning the next trip to Egypt (transoceanic). Then Malta and the Balkans (Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia, etc.).
A pic we got after we got back from Singapore. Gotta love the "hokiness" of Singapore. Like in Korea, we did not stay in the Sands hotel. We had a great/better hotel a short walk away, actually with nice view of the Sands.
And for something totally different: (The Good Bad and Ugly Danish National Symphony) Ennio Morricone
We are back from our most complex trip yet. This time in South East Asia.
Some stats:
8 countries (not including the US)
10 flight segments
6 airlines
14 days
4 boats
1 elephant ride
1 scooter rental
Countries:
South Korea
Thailand
Cambodia
Laos
Vietnam
Singapore
Brunei
Philippines
Cambodia
For Cambodia we concentrated on Siem Reap since that is the city closest to Angor Wat. The Angor Wat park complex is enormous. The active temples have oscillated between Buddhist and Hindu over the years. We were quite interested in a huge stone carving depicting a great battle. It is very similar to the Bayeux Tapestry. Interesting, the Bayeux Tapestry predates the Angor Wat carving by about 100 years (1066). We also liked Angor Thom best, the temples with the large faces. Good vibes there for sure.
I haven't seen this type of pull-tab on a can for probably 30 years (or more).
Apparently bamboo scaffolding is still used in Cambodia.
Vietnam
Vietnam is a photographer's paradise. We went to Hanoi as well as Ho Chi Minh. It is recommended as an American to call the city Saigon these days. It carries both labels. There is no limit of what you will see on a motorbike. No limit. Hanoi was a particular delight. Highly recommended for adventure tourism.
There are few traffic lights. The traffic is enormously heavy, you use natural protocols in crossing even the busiest street. You walk out into moving traffic, the bikes, trucks and buses will steer around you. It is best not to stop, but continue moving, slowing if you have to. But most of all, Don't Panic! It really is amazing.
We took a day trip to Halong Bay. It is touristy, but we felt compelled to go. Our boat was the White Tiger. The caves and kayaks are about an hour away from port on the boat.
Brunei
We managed to squeeze in a flight into Bandar Seri Begawan the capital of Brunei Darussalam a semi-enclave of Malaysia on the island of Borneo. It was a very different country than others on this trip. Sharia law is in place in Brunei. We stayed for one night at the majestic 5-star Empire Hotel. The whole place is made of an immense variety of marble--everywhere. The Royal Brunei airlines has a prayer in Arabic proceeding the safety video nicely subtitled in English on the video screens. There was no trace of any Christmas decorations. We got the opportunity to swim at private beach in the South China Sea.
There is a town there that is all on stilts over the water. You might think slum at first, but this is Brunei, one of the richest countries in the world. Approximately 10000 people live in this town. It is complete with stilted schools, fire departments, etc.
Thailand
Thailand calibrated our palettes for Indochina cuisine. Bangkok is a big city and reminded me the place is indeed Indo-China. Something in between India and China. What I saw was cleaner than India but very similar in character. Seeing things by tuk-tuk is best.
Laos
We concentrated on Luang Prebang. Good choice. The atmosphere was very relaxed- very chill - Buddhist. We took a nice trip up and down the Mekong river to some caves and some Hmong communities. You cannot beat the value of the crafts, including the crazy whiskeys, textiles, and carvings.
We put about 100 km on a rented scooter in crazy traffic to go see some waterfalls and elephants. Great adventure! My overall favorite.
Singapore
Singapore is near utopia in many regards. Expensive. Play by the rules. The light show in the artificial forest is crazy cool. The experience is most like winding thru never ending opportunities to spend.
Philippines
Crazy place where no one trusts anyone else. We focused on Manilla Bay and Makati. I had to settle on the few pics I got of the distinctive "Jeepney". Jeepneys are tragically being phased out. It is one thing that I see as uniquely Filipino.
