10 March 2014
30,000 page views and counting - WOW! That is HUGE for our first 18 months on the road. Amazing! Thank you to all of our fans! And our fans who are telling friends about the blog, and creating new fans!
Come join us on the road!!
Okay, so just one more Thai 
shrine - I'm not sure why there's a ladder, maybe to help the spirits reach the offerings? Or the statues then can move around? I don't know, I just enjoy the logic of adding a ladder to the shrine.
And our dad's hat enjoyed the wait at the airport by hanging out with this cardboard flight attendant.
We 
flew on Malaysia Airlines, and yes, it was just a little scary, but our flight went smoothly. The flight attendants had the most gorgeous uniforms that I've ever seen!
We arrived and went through some of the easiest, smoothest passport control and customs of anywhere - no forms to fill in, no long lines, just go up to the window, hand over our passports, get a stamp, chat with the agent a big, and go collect our luggage. Our visa is good for three months, so as we told the agent, we'll see how much we like Malaysia before we know how long we'll be here. (And we seem to really like just about everywhere!)
The Malaysian flag is wonderful, with the sun and moon. And then there's another flag, often seen as banners, with the motto in Malay and, well okay, I don't really know what language. But I love the colours and the 
tigers!
Our hotel is in the Pudu area, across the road (Jalan Pudu) from the central bus station. The subway trains 
also go to this station, so we have easy access to most parts of the city. Plus we're between the touristy area of Bukit Bintang (BOO-kit bin-TANG) and Chinatown, so there's a lot to see and do.
KL, as locals call Kuala Lumpur, is a major city but easy to navigate since it really isn't huge and spread-out like Bangkok. (I always liked that name, Kuala Lumpur!)
And the Malaysian culture is a fusion of Malay, Chinese, and Indian people who live here and created this nation.
And of course the food is a mix of all these cultures, with some leftovers of the colonial countries - we've only been here for two days and have had satay, croissants, dim sum, and a burger (guess who ate that?). There are chocolate shops all over, chocolate seems to be considered a separate food group (as it should be).
Richard noted there are so many different kinds of faces among the people of Asia, and we can really see variety of all those various groups of people here in KL.
Plus the clothing! Being a bit of a fashionista, I'm drawn to the colours and fabrics and styles that swirl around us. We saw a group going off to a wedding, and we suspect it was the family of the groom - the groom was decked out in purple with gold trim, and had some sort of dagger tucked into his sash. (We're hoping this is purely symbolic and not to be used in any way!) The rest of the family was 
arrayed in various shades of red to purple, with gold embroidery. What a gorgeous group!
There are also men with white robes and head coverings or turbans, looking like maharishis or maybe Biblical prophets. Women in head-to-toe black with just a little opening for their eyes. The majority of Malaysians are Muslim, and the women are dressed very modestly but 
colourfully. (I don't know how the 
women can be so covered up, the temperature is roughly 35 C or 100+ F - I would absolutely melt under all that clothing! But they barely look warm. I don't know how they do it!)
As I said, the clothing we see is just gorgeous!
We walked around Bukit Bintang today, and found strands of lanterns all around, flags fluttering in the wind, wonderful little shops and places to eat, beautiful light posts and rows of palm trees, and just more people.
We were on a mission to find memorial candles (yahrzeit candles) - or at least candles that might burn for roughly 24 hours. These seem to be few and far between in Asia, although we have found a few reasonable substitutes. Air freshener candles work well, and while those were easy to find in NZ and Australia, they aren't so easily obtained in Asia. After much wandering around from store to store and referral to referral, we finally were sent to a huge shopping mall and found a gift 
shop with some candles in glasses. They're blue. With a few seashells scattered in the candle, which is gel, not wax. This will be interesting. But it's the intention to follow the tradition that matters, right?
After all that walking in the warm KL afternoon, yes, we succumbed to a drink at Starbucks. Where they created a new version of my name. Fibbie'o. I'm not sure why 
Phebe was turned into Fibbie'o, but I kind of like it. (Sort of Italian!)
And of course the hat had to visit a foo dog. Or are they foo lions? In either case, the Foo was happy to have a jaunty hat for a spell.
We rode the monorail and then subway (which is partly an el) home, quite an experience. The token used is a little plastic coin, like a large tiddly-wink. It gets swiped over a reader which then opens the turnstile. When you reach your destination, the token goes into a coin slot, and the turnstile opens again so you can exit. Sophisticated system, which is why the plastic token seems so incongruous!
Anyway, we're enjoying KL at the moment, and are making plans to explore more of Malaysia. We both want to head north to the island of Panang and the city of Georgetown, as well as south to Malacca. And then there's the archipelago of islands west in the Andaman Sea, where there's great diving. Then the central highlands are supposed to be lovely and cooler. Plus the east coast of this part of Malaysia, or maybe over to Borneo for the two areas that are Malaysian, up north.
Hmmmm, three months might not be long enough!!!
8 March 2014
First, let me say we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, safe and sound. It was scary flying Malaysia Airline after the news of their flight to Beijing disappearing this morning, but we did it and we're fine. (And our prayers are with the friends and families of the people on that flight.)
Okay, so, I have a bit of a history rescuing animals - I just can't stand to see a lost cat or dog, or a mistreated animal.
So the plight of Little Baby Orange Kitty, the little guy trapped in a building up the road from our hotel, really bugged me. After packing and getting ready to fly, I wrote a little blurb explaining that there was a cat trapped in a building, we needed to get the phone number of the owner at X address, so that we could call and get them to open the building and let the kitty out. And that the neighbour at the restaurant would take the kitten home.
Then I had the receptionist at our hotel write all that in Thai. (Which is a very pretty language, the letters have all sorts of little curliques and swirls, it really is lovely.) Anyway, once I had the Thai version, I headed up the street to the municipality building - which, of course, turned out to be closed since it was Saturday. So I went to the tourism center, where the nice lady said yes, the municipality offices close on the weekend. I explained the kitten situation, and that I was hoping to find an office that would look up the ownership of the building and give us a phone number. I then explained that we were flying out today, and asked if she could get the information on Monday and try to get the kitten out. She agreed that she'd do this, and gave me her phone number.
I walked down the street, and went back to the restaurant, where the lady who has been feeding Little Baby Orange Kitty works. (Or is a co-owner.) I tried to explain that Tourism Lady will call around to find the owner of the building. Restaurant Lady called over a friend who speaks more English, and I explained again. Through broken English and a lot of charades, it was explained to me that the building's owner is in jail (demonstrated by putting hands together as if in cufflinks, and a short bit of parading around). Oh, well, to me, that changed everything. I told the ladies that if the owner is in jail, then we were free to break the kitten out of this building jail! Lots more miming as I say this in simple English - and of course the ladies were laughing because this really was pretty ridiculous - and they mimed that I'd go to jail if I broke in. I mimed/explained that we were flying it in a few hours, and so the police couldn't catch us.
They assured me that Restaurant Lady would keep feeding LBOKitty, and when he's older/bigger/stronger he'll figure out how to climb up the chain link fencing and climb out. (I hope so.)
But wait, there's more - I head back to our hotel, and run into my Pharmacy Lady, whom I had asked if she knew the owner of the building. She asked if we had found the owner, and I explained about the jailed owner. So Pharmacy Lady (at this point half the neighbourhood is involved!) and her mother have a long discussion in Thai and decide I should call the police and ask them to help get the kitten out of the building. Oy! Restaurant Lady was adamant about not calling the police and getting them involved. But I did try calling them, got some runaround and "call this number instead" and of course the last number never answered.
So - the upshot is that I tried. Hopefully Tourism Lady will follow up on Monday and maybe track down someone who can open the building.
In the mean time, Restaurant Lady and family will keep feeding LBOKitty and eventually we hope he'll climb out. He has a name (Toy-ying? Soy-ying? Something like that) and a family ready to take him home. They go and talk to him, pet him through the fencing, feed him - all he needs is his freedom so he can run around and play.
And that was the best we could do in our short time after meeting him.
Note - these are NOT photos of Little Baby Orange Kitty. They're just photos of ginger tiger kittens from the internet. Because who doesn't love photos of kitties?
And he's named Little Baby Orange Kitty because the young cat a group of us rescued at school was named Little Mr. Orange Kitty (and eventually named Ronnie by the people who adopted him) - so this little one is LBOKitty.
Okay, on to KL tomorrow!
5 March 2014
We're still enjoying exploring Krabi, and somehow manage to keep finding new spots, despite 
having been here for nearly three weeks.
Today we found the Krabi historical wall, a concrete wall with 
metal bas reliefs showing the history of Krabi Town and Krabi Province. My favourite was the panel showing the dinosaurs that presumably once roamed this part of the world. (The horseshoe 
crabs are definitely still around, we see them at the fish markets daily.)
There was a wonderful sculpture of children playing, representing the ethnic diversity of the population in southern Thailand. Very dynamic sculpture full of energy and motion!
And odd little architectural elements, such as this metal thing hanging on an entrance post - I don't know if it's some 
sort of shrine, or maybe the way the address is displayed.
And of course the shrine that was salvaged from a 
demolished building. Or maybe a new shrine for the new edifice that will be built at this site.
It was a sunny day, and the long-tail boats were on the river in full colour. They're called long-tail boats 
because the engines have sort of an extended drive shaft from the motor to the propeller. We aren't sure why the engines were built this way, except thinking maybe it helps for navigating through river rocks and shallow water. Definitely a unique look to the boats! I love the colourful canopies, though.
On our way along the river, we saw this wonderful fountain full of porpoises and various sea creatures. We've only seen it spouting water at night, and yes, the porpoises (or maybe they're dolphins) shoot water out of their mouths). Of course, now that we finally went by during daylight, the fountain was turned off and still, no drama to the action. But still very nice sculptures.
We saw the Buddha of the Tiger Cave Temple in the distance, shining in the sun and glinting from the top of a huge, tall, steep hill. WAY high up. I'm not sure I'm willing to climb up to that height, given my vertigo. I've heard it's quite a climb up very uneven steps. If the weather cools down, I might give it a shot - days are about 100 F (35-ish C) and, well, 1270-1280-ish steps in that heat may or may not be fun.
Oh, one more lovely Krabi person. (Not sure
what we call people from Krabi - Krabians? Krabites? Krabists?
Haven't found one that sounds right.) Anyway, the lady who owns the
small restaurant we like up the road was feeding a kitten the other day -
he's about 2 months old, and inside a shop that is never open. Through
the woman's minimal English and a lot of gestures and charades, we got
the story: the mother cat made a "nest" in the building, and had her kitten(s?). Then the mother cat died.
The baby, a cute little orange tiger stripe, is trapped in the building
and too big to climb through the chainlink fencing covering the sides.
So the restauranteur is feeding the kitten (she named him Sirong, or
something like that) and hoping that when he's a little bigger, he'll
climb up the fencing and over the top, and then they can keep him. He's
very friendly and let us stick our fingers through and pet him.
Richard and I tried to find a way in to get him, and talked about
cutting the fence, but the lady said the police will come. (We may do this anyway, maybe on Saturday before we fly out.) So that's our kitten story, and we'll keep you posted if we get him out.
That's about it. We're winding down our time in Thailand, and heading off to Malaysia on Saturday. We'll see what happens between now and then.
From my brother-in-law re the long-tail boats:
According to Wikipedia, the long tail boat is built the way it is so that
they can use an automotive engine as the engine (readily available and cheaper
than a large outboard motor), and the “tail” is because the propeller is
attached directly to the drive shaft, and the whole motor shifts to left and
right to steer.
3 March 2014
That's Krabi Town's motto: Lively Town, Lovely People. We enjoyed another night or two of the lively Love & Jazz Festival, and met more of the lovely people of Krabi.
Our favourite person, I think, might be the young man who drives a pickup truck and seems to live half a block up 
from our hotel on Maharat Road. We don't know his name, but the first night we 
headed to the Jazz Festival, he backed up to the corner and offered us a ride to town. We gave him some money for gas, and received a huge smile from his little girl. The next night, he came around the 
corner again, minus the family, and gave us a ride to town - we sat in the bed of the pickup amongst the hands of bananas and a huge bag of papayas, and he drove to find a friend who could translate where we wanted to go. Our new friend refused any gas money, and happily drove us around the 
jazz crowd and one-way 
streets to find the restaurant we wanted. LOVELY person!!!
Then there's the adorable little girl, maybe age 8 or 10, 
who lives up the road and works with her family in their restaurant. (Her 
family makes the best chicken with hot basil and chilis that I've had here!) This child always tells me hello, whether she's working, playing, or shopping in the 
nearby Seven-Eleven - she always has a shy smile as she says hello (even when it's the third hello in ten minutes). Just a friendly child who is one of our Krabi neighbours.
Another lovely person is my pharmacist, who is acting like my personal doctor and checks my toes periodically. She's right, I need to stay out of the water for a while - even though the infection is cleared up, the blisters create little dry splits and can easily get infected again. So I'm staying on dry land and avoiding contact with water. (Although I'm getting tired after 3 weeks of showering with plastic bags on my foot.)
As planned, I visited the temple right in Krabi Town. This temple is named Wat Kaewkorawaram - Wat meaning "temple" and I not only don't know what the second word means, I don't know how to pronounce it.
It's a beautiful temple. It was built within the last ten years or so, although there may have been 
another temple on this site, perhaps several hundred years old. I'm not sure, there were information panels which of course were all it Thai. But the photos showed an archaeological dig with ancient walls being unearthed; I'm just not sure if they were found at 
this site or not.
At any rate, this is a lovely white temple on top of a hill right in Krabi, just off the main part of Maharat Road downtown, and a block or two south of the Cro-Magnon man intersection.
Others have likened this little ornate white temple as looking like a wedding cake perched on the hill and guarded by the golden dragons that snake along the switchback staircase that zigzags up the hill. I personally think it looks more like 
a Thai version of the Parthenon, adorning its own little Acropolis.
It definitely is a frothy little confection, almost like whipped cream with little ornamental peaks and flourishes, with more dragon heads instead of gargoyles, and little 
added embellishments of gold and red.
Toss in a row of rock balls adorned with gold leaf fluttering in the breeze - it looks like maybe people donate money and get some of the golden squares, then stick them onto the rocks. Good luck? Prosperity? Something like that. I'd love to see these balls in another ten or twenty years!
Add a rock 
garden - okay, a boulder garden - with a few statues. Like, a friendly tiger eying the elephants below. And a pool of koi.
I've always liked temples, mosques, churches, synagogues, whatever religion's houses of worship. There's the beautiful architecture, art, sculpture, and accoutrements that are used to express the people's reverence and adoration of the deities. 
But there's also a sense of peace in these places, a quietness away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Places of worship really are sanctuaries from the 
busyness of our lives, and 
I've always enjoyed that quiet, that peace. Some places may seem filled with a spiritual calm, others with an awe for the history accumulated within the walls. Still others house masterpieces by artists that are revered themselves. So yes, I visit churches, cathedrals, temples, shrines, mosques, synagogues, and all with equal parts respect and inquisitiveness.
Part of that respect for the site meant I didn't enter the temple because my shoulders and knees were bare - I was wearing a sundress because we're having nearly 100 F (33-37 C) days. I stood in the doorway and could see that the main room was painted pale blue with red decorations, and a huge golden Buddha was sitting up front. Beautiful, but someone was praying? Meditating? I'm not sure what Thai Buddhists do, or what they would call it. Anyway, it seems rude and disrespectful to take photos from the doorway when someone is mid-worship or mid-meditation. So I admired from a distance. And moved on.
