Midnight train

Hi today that's the first you get it because I was always saying yesterday anyways today and tomorrow  I am going to drum roll please

By the way that was from Japan (coughing) Ladies and Gentlemen we are goinggggggggggg tooo 

find out the answer after this commercial 

SKIP

The answer is Koh Samui today we are taking the overnight train to Koh Samui before we got on the train I heard mom saying that we are in first class and I was like this 👯 but then we got on the train and we got two little cabins what a let down first time in first class and I get this but the rooms   connected.

That is in the hall 

Then it was diner time we ordered 4 simple things and we got 6 different things but it was all for everyone it was such a mix up I ordered beef and I end up eating DUCK!!!!!

Then it was time to go to sleep goodnight 

This into this

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 

  

Hot hot hot ,hot chocolate

Hi you know what really I did not like mom woke me up at 4:00 AM in the morning and you know how she did it she just turned on the lights.

When we got off the train we had to wait 2 hour at that little station for our bus there was a restaurant there so we had some hot chocolate to bad we did not have it on the train and where not going to the North Pole.

 Our bus finally arrived and before that there was a dog who was at our table and like this

Mom said that our bus was not going to be long well it was 2 hours and 2 hours of doing nothing well finally we got to the fairy.

So we got on it and we immediately went to the no smoking area so John was playing cut the rope and I was watching a movie it was chip wrecked but it was in Thai but I still did not care mom was sleeping dad was looking around so we did that forever.

Then we got to Koh Samui and we had to take a cab it was a really bumpy way they brought us to nowhere then we called the guy and he said he will be there in 2 mins he was not kidding he brought us threw a secret passage.

Then we got to the condo it was awesome we had lunch and dinner at the fishermens village but mom was to tired to come for diner after that there was a cat at the door we called him Fergus 2.0 because he looked like Fergus but smaller 

well bye

Insects and Elmer the safety elephant

We went to the night market last evening. On our way out the door we saw two orange lights in the sky, as if Mars and his new found twin decided to visit Earth and oversee our night out. Or maybe it was a couple of airplanes, but the lights weren't moving. I later learned that these orange dots in the black sky were floating lanterns which were being lit and released from the beach. When we first arrived at the market we were welcomed by the aroma emanating from closely packed food stalls, presenting all manner of homemade foodstuffs for sale. The area was packed with tourists mainly. While listening to the guitarist sing Bob Marley and Paul Simon tunes, we ordered a few appetizers for our stroll. I do enjoy Thai food which offers a lot of variety, but I do crave other foods now and then. Tonight I went for the pizza while Catheleen stayed traditional and had the pad thai.

One lady was selling a few varieties of insects and I suppose I stayed at her stall too long, since she asked me if I would like to try. I thought she was offering me a sample bug but instead she filled a small bag with a smorgasbord of insects and handed it to me. I didn't have the heart to to say no so I paid for my grasshoppers, grubs, and I'm not sure what, and tried one of each. They didn't have much taste other than the salt and flavouring she added, but I couldn't get over the fact that I was eating crunchy bugs. Catheleen called my aversion yet another first world problem - she wisely declined to join me.  I quickly made the purchase of a bottle of water a top priority.

I was accosted along the way by a tailor who talked me up and thought I needed an Armani suit. I declined as politely as I could, given his insistence and the fact it was a long wait before he would let go of my hand. I appreciate that you can probably buy a quality suit here at a good price, but I didn't want to think that far ahead. I was already overdressed wearing a short sleeved shirt with buttons, given flip flops, bathing suits and tie-dye are the standard dress code around here. 

The street was closed to traffic which made for a pleasant walk amongst the many stalls and restaurants. I had a good chuckle when a saw a couple of Japanese girls laughing and cowering in a corner when a dog was interested in their satay sticks. The dog looked harmless enough but the girls didn't seem to know what to do. I walked on by assuming they would either summon the courage to soldier on or pay off the pooch with a bribe.

At the resort pool today (same place as yesterday), I couldn't help but overhear a young man complain to his girlfriend about his haircut. He ended up with a buzz cut with the remaining hair on the back of his neck shaped like a V. He wasn't happy, much to the amusement of his girlfriend. I was a bit amused too but also concerned - I will have to get a haircut too at some point on this trip or I'll end up looking like John. 

I've been meaning to mention the egregious safety violations in this country. Utility poles with enough wires attached helter-skelter to look like noodles in a bowl. Workers opening traps in the floor without any warning of a potential death trap below. A father I saw today jumped off from one pool to a lower level pool over a concrete waterfall, with his son following behind. Minimal adherence to rules of the road. Locals riding motorcycles and scooters on the sidewalk without helmets, sometimes with children on the front, back or both. I saw one guy with a baby attached to his chest in a sling of sorts. I understand that motorcycles are often the only affordable means of transport for many Thais, but some of the tourists here are off their rocker. I guess I'm turning into Elmer the safety elephant. So ends my diatribe. 

Here is my bag of bugs. Yummy. 

Japan in a day Part 3

Hello guys, John here and I will be bringing you more of what we did in Tokyo. I will just say the rest of the highlights in Tokyo because I can't really remember the days and nights:(. But this will still be a very good blog, up first I would like to mention that me and mom went on a walk to see Tokyo's crazy lights and adds featured on the billboards and buildings in hoping to find a shopping center. We found this food hall that had crazy expensive! I'll tell you the price for 2 perfect cantoloaps... 36000 yen, or in our money 360$... PLUS TAX! Crazy but that wasen't really the cool part. We went to this gaming floor which was bursting with sound, music and electronic noise and you had to yell to actually whisper to the person. So, I was actually allowed to get my hands on some sweet Tokyo tech and video games that weren't featured in our western homeland and guess what I got my grubby hands on... The Splatoon game which I have been playing for 20 minutes. I was kindove sad that Elizabeth wasen't there because she was just as big of a fan of Splatoon as I was so we came back there on the last day and she had a blast. We coulden't wait till we got our Hands on the actual game and play it on our wii u! Second on our list is the tour to mount fugi which was pretty fun considering the fact that it was a super cloudy day and we coulden't see the actual mountain from where everyone was, and so we decided to head back. Just at that moment, we saw the mountain through a little cloud oppening. We we're considered very lucky and so we got to do some origami with the tour lady. After our little visit, we ate this very nice tradicianal Japanese lunch and the best part about it was the 'Jelly' 'Fish' which was fish that felt like jelly. After our big lunch which by the way... Had to eat in a rush considering we took so much one of schedule to look at our lucky cache... Anyways, we took this gondola up a different mountain and it looked so cool up there, there was a nice shrine and it was so cool to look at the Fuji village from the top of the mountain, did I mention there was a ton of mist? That made it look like it was from a scene for the new mission impossible movie. So that was the second thing on our list, I'll tell you guys the third which is actually gonna be a cool one for my cousin Sarah so here we go. We went to a robotics museum which is not that unlikely since Tokyo is so tech based, and so there was this special exebit that just opened called the Pokemon lab. It was one of the cool exebits out there because there was this game where you had to guess the Pokemon in your poke ball which you acquire at the start. Anyways so I have to admit it was a little hard playing the game because it was all in Japanese and there was not even one single word in English. But I was still just amazed at how Japan is so crazy with Pokemon and is so proud of the company of Nintendo. At the end of the Pokemon game you were actually able to chose a Pokemon which came with a code to put in the real game and aquire that Pokemon. Beyond that station there was literally every Pokemon  in 3d versions, all in glass containers which I personally though was pretty cool, we had the 100000 yen worth Pokemon card displayed safely and a wall featuring every single Pokemon ever published in a game. Now that right there is an awesome exhibit. There was a bunch of other cool exhibits in the museum but I think I pretty much coverd enough in Tokyo and should probably start in kosimoye, I now i missed a lot of the cool parts in Tokyo and didn't cover it all but hey! Who knows? I might do more Tokyo in the future considerin it's my favourite country and got so much fun out of it. Until next time, this has been john and is officially signing out. I know I haven't been putting any pictures up lately but tonight, I will spend time on that and its not like you guys need photos?

Sacred banyan trees and super heroes

We all slept in late this morning after a long travel day yesterday. I woke up to find the kids trying to manage an adolescent grey tabby that tried desperately to enter our condo. This was the same cat that visited us last evening and did make it into our living room briefly before I laid down the law - the cat stays outside and no feeding him. The kids seemed to comply, at least when I'm around. 

Perhaps it was the couches, cushions and indoor-meets-outdoor feel that lured us in, but we did enjoy the Fisherman's House restaurant on the tourist strip. They made great banana pancakes, which seems to be a favourite here, and the coffee menu ran on for pages. We'll be back. I noticed a small sign at the restaurant that said  "You look even more beautiful when you smile." I think that sums up the tone here in this tourist haven. People from around the world come here, partly I'm sure because the locals are genuinely friendly and accommodating. The only thing left to do here is just smile back and enjoy. 

Later in the morning we went for a stroll down the sandy beach past restaurants, massage spas and resorts. With us all in bathing suits and me in my flip-flops (standard issue in Thailand), we were looking for a place to spend time on the beach, but we didn't notice a specific public beach area. We discovered that the beach strip is available to all but the beach chairs are reserved for the resort guests. Catheleen solved our problem by renting a couple of pool-side chairs at the Bandara Resort & Spa. We were a bit confused at first by the vouchers we had to purchase for a small fee, and even more puzzled when the bar tender asked us to bring the vouchers with us when we ordered from the pool bar. It turned out the vouchers weren't so much to rent a couple of chairs but were to purchase a minimum amount of food and drinks from the pool bar. So we ordered our drinks and enjoyed a day in paradise pool-side. While at the pool I admired a huge banyan tree nearby, with garlands of flowers and enough bands of ribbon fabric wrapped around the tree trunk to make a rainbow of sorts. I understand many Thai people consider these banyan trees sacred, either because Buddha sat under a banyan tree or due to beliefs in animist spirits. 

On the beach I noticed an entrepreneurial family had set up a barbecue, brought in by a small boat which was holding the supplies nearby. So we enjoyed a picnic on the beach with barbecued corn on the cob, chicken satay, spring rolls and papaya salad. A dog was quietly lying nearby and John eventually pet him and fed him some chicken when I wasn't looking. When another dog same along John's new friend took off and barked and growled at the interloper, who turned tail and went back where he came from. Our local dog then came back and sat quietly down near us again. I guess there's only room for one canine beggar on each slice of the beach. Later in the day I watched the family clean up and clear out. They packed up everything into a small blue wooden boat and walked it along the shore through the shallow water. Nothing was left for the dog. 

On the beach I saw the usual sea-side pursuits like wind surfing, banana boats pulled along by jet skis, and people just enjoying the warm water with the island of Koh Pha-Ngan in the distance. What we didn't expect was someone rising ten feet out of the water like a super hero with jets of water coming out of his feet. Whoever was hooked up to this contraption took a while to get adept at it, first falling this way and that a few times. Once he learned how to control the flow, he would shoot out of the water and hover above, attached by a tube to a jet ski that provided the thrust. I'm not sure what skill he was learning from this thing, but it certainly looked like fun.

Here's me next to the banyan tree. 

Alms giving and beer sales

Our train from Bangkok last night ran south along Thailand's peninsula en route to the coast, across from Koh Samui, which was our final destination on this leg of our journey. We could have taken the plane but we wanted to re-live the overnight train experience we had on our first visit to Thailand. On the train we had a couple of small private cabins where we were served a good meal and where the steward later converted our seating area into bunk beds. While an interesting experience, I'm not sure anyone had a truly restful sleep as the train bumped and clattered along from stop to stop throughout the night. I was almost fooled again as I was on this same train trip years ago when I thought there was only a squat toilet on the car - Thai-style. The kids were kind enough to inform me that there was also a western style toilet around the corner.  A squat style toilet is not your friend on a moving train.

We arrived in Suratthani before dawn where we had to wait a few hours before catching the ferry to Koh Samui. At dawn I went for a walk around the town to stretch my legs. Around the corner I saw a lady get off her motorcycle to give alms to a monk, who was walking barefoot and carrying a urn. She took off her sandals, touched the bag of food to her forehead, and passed the alms to the monk, who put the food in his container. She then bowed her head and held her hands together at her face like she was praying, while the monk quietly said or perhaps chanted a few words. As I continued walking I watched a man get off his motorcycle and do much the same thing for another monk. In this case the alms giver provided the monk a bag of food, and also placed a 7-11 Big Gulp container on the ground and filled it with drinking water. He then kneeled and bowed while the monk intoned a few words. I understand alms giving is intended to show respect, earn merit, practice altruism, and help the faithful stay connected with their Buddhist community. It was very interesting and peaceful to see this in action.

The ferry ride over was uneventful, other than the fact that there is a ferry now. Last time Catheleen and I made the crossing in the late '90's it was by speed boat with other travellers, sitting on our backpacks. Today it was with luggage on wheels and kids in tow. Things never stay the same for long it seems. We arrived at our condo on the island of Koh Samui and explored our surroundings. There is a kilometre long tourist strip with beaches and restaurants along a section of the north coast. I imagine we'll be spending the next few days relaxing and taking it easy here - at least that's my plan. I'm okay with the cities but I much prefer the smaller towns. 

In the late afternoon John had worn me down enough that I agreed to go with him to the mall. He's been looking for a wall adapter for his video game player which he hasn't been able to charge, and he hasn't given up yet. He assured me that he had asked Siri where that nearest mall was and was told it way only 94 meters away. I had my doubts (this is a small town) but I agreed to go with him. It turns out he was off by a bit and the mall was really 94 kilometres away. I tried to explain to him that this is what we call a first world problem but it went in one ear and out the other. His only thought was that Siri is not being accurate if it thinks a mall 94 kilometres away is near. 

As we headed back after a visit down the strip with rain clouds fast approaching, I stopped in at the convenience store to buy some beer, but without success. The sign said that alcohol sales were restricted today due to an "Important Buddhist Holy Day". It hadn't hampered Catheleen and me from ordering beer with lunch. I gather there is a distinction.

Here's a view from the ferry on a hazy day. 

Aquarium

Yesterday we took the sky train to this mall

me and John did not know where we where going and then we saw that there was a aquarium under da see oh sorry I mean under the mall.

 So dad got us tickets such a nice guy then we went for something to eat like I don't know Thai food Vietnamese food anything you imagine, you know why because there was a whole floor that was dedicated to food weird right anyways dad and John got Thai and me and mom had Vietnamese I know we are not in Vietnam but who cares.

Anyways when we went to the aquarium we had a lot of fun check it For you're safety this was took by a camera we are not vampires.

This guy over me is my friend star but everyone calls him sir spotsalot you know why it is because he has a lot of spots  

Oh and at the end mom met Tom cruse 

Mom said that Tom Cruse is much shorter then we expected 

Here I will tell you a secret it's not actually Tom cruse 😝

OK WELL BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Leaving Bangkok on the overnight train

Another wake up call by the local wildlife on this early morning. I don't know what the creature was but it sounded off at dawn like a whiffle ball being whipped around at increasing speed, followed by brief silence and a squeak. Repeat three or four times. The first time it happened it startled me out of bed - I thought something was happening in our room. But I think it was outside and just very loud. Nobody else had heard it. They all thought I was crazy. 

We don't let the kids pet the dogs for the most part, many of which are languishing about to stay cool from the heat of the day. John and Elizabeth are more interested in the cats, which are harder to spot, and the kids always seem to be on the lookout for felines. Some of them are missing parts of tails, maybe because there are so many motorcycles zooming about on the street and sidewalks, and sometimes the kids spot mother with kittens. But for the most part they appear to be reasonably well taken care of, and most of the cats seem to belong to the businesses and residences we pass on the street. The laundry lady was entertained when the kids fawned over her two cats when we dropped off our laundry. She was taking pictures - I suppose we were the tourist attraction in this case. Last night Elizabeth's seat was taken by the local cat at the restaurant when she went off to the washroom. We didn't have the heart to shoo it away, or perhaps we didn't have the courage in case the cat happened to be the stubborn type. So we finished the meal with a friend. I like cats too but I can't help but harp that the kids should try to keep their hands clean and free of cat fur at least while we eat. 

As we took a taxi to the train station in heavy traffic, I had the opportunity to talk with the driver. He was a young man who spoke some English, which he had learned from his customers. He was from a small village and came to Bangkok to work, as do most of the men from his town. His wife worked in a Bangkok factory which made bags of sorts, and their kids lived with their grand parents in their home town. He would work in Bangkok for a month at a time and then go home for a week. I asked him if life was good and he seemed to indicate it was. I wonder if his story is typical. 

We arrived at the train station early and spent part of the afternoon in Chinatown, where the kids found their first geocache in Asia. We also saw shark fin soup for sale in a number of places, which was sad to see since I understand this practice is hard on the shark population. We also visited a quiet Buddhist temple with some beautiful gardens and fountains. The kids tried to make an offering of incense sticks at the temple but were instructed to always burn three sticks at a time, which they did. I later learned that this is done so practitioners remember Buddha, his teachings, and the community of Buddhists. The monk who instructed us gave the kids a fanta pop each. It was a nice quiet oasis stop in the city. Speaking of monks, they seem to be everywhere. I understand they often start their day by collecting alms of food at dawn from the locals. As we sat at the train station waiting for our overnight train to the coast near Koh Samui, I noticed there was a separate seating area for monks and novices. They were all in orange robes with shaved heads and everyone seemed to treat them with respect.

On our way out of Bangkok on the overnight train, I saw various people living in simple, almost squalid conditions along the track. Strangely, at least to me, it seemed every other person was on their smart phone. No matter how rich or poor, it seems everyone is on their device these days, no matter where you go. As the train rumbled through Bangkok at slow speed, seemingly forever, we passed all manner of markets - we even saw a festival close to the tracks with bouncy castles for the kids. There was also construction of what seemed to me to be support pillars for a sky train. It ran on for miles along side the train tracks. There were workers at most of the piers, which were spaced out every one to two hundred feet. I wonder how many people were working on this huge project - there must be hundreds or perhaps thousands of workers. 

Curry, Massage, and Tailless Cats

Hello guys, John here and giving you my only blog of Bangkok. So I will only be talking about a few things because I am pressed to finish my Japan blogs and as you can tell, Elizabeth has skipped Japan and I don't want to, considering it's my favourite country. So I won't talk about every thing in every day like I will be doin in Japan. Let's start with the cats in Bangkok, for some reason all the cats in Bangkok except for the exception of 2 cats(But we saw about 23 cats so that's beside the point), have lost part of there tails. Do my mistake me, every single cat had this problem and I'm thinking that it's because there are to many motorcycles and they got the tails crushed, Saaaaaaad :(. Next thing on the list are the massages that me, Elizabeth and mom got. I honestly really enjoyed it, and the fact that I asked for a foot massage and they gave me the full massage was really generous... Or they just miscommunicated. Something that looked kindle cool but also painful was mom's massage that I was 5 feet away, I could see the women pumping her into her own doom which I must say. Was amusing when you could hear the cries of mom. Last but not least on our list is the signature dish of Thai land and one of my favorites... The cury! Now you need to know one thing about cury, it's crazy spicy but it's completely worth it. I probably though it was really spicy because I kept getting the second hottest cury (Green cury) and asking them not to hold back by saying 'Thai spicy please!). It's super good, and yet we did have another cury in Bangkok which is not as spicy, more mild but really good. I actually suggest that you try these too and if you want, go crazy with the jungle cury which I'll be trying probably on the last day in Thailand, mom says I am still not ready, but with great power, comes great responsibility. Until next time guys, this has been john andis officially signing out. I will be putting pictures in later but I am really lazy and I think you can last a few days without em.

Bangkok funk

Catheleen

Bangkok has permeated my pores with its funk and filth. Ah the smell of moth balls always reminds me of Asia. We dropped off our luggage at the train station and had success at Geo Caching in Chinatown. We visited a small Wat, no one was around and the grounds and garden gave us a reprieve from the heat and pollution of Bangkok. A kind monk showed the children how to light not one but three incense sticks and gave them both a bottle of cream soda! Afterwards when Elizabeth opened her soda it sprayed all over. Monk humour? 󾰀 We are now on the overnight train to Koh Samui ~ a 24 hour journey. The flight takes a few hours but for some reason I just love taking trains especially overnight ones. It is all about the adventure.

Japan in a day Part 2

Hello guys, John here and giving everything that happened in Tokyo. Now I'm not sure if I will be able to squeeze everything in one blog but we will see how it goes. If it does in fact get to long I can assure you that there will be a part 3. Anyways so we arrive in Tokyo and the first thing we notice is the strong and beautiful lights of the tall buildings in Tokyo, we in fact spot these on our way to the hotel while in a taxi/cab. We arrive at our hotel and so we decide that me and dad will crash together while my sis and mom will have there girly slumber party or whatever? Anyways so that's about it on day one and me and dad we're about to go to bed, but then mom and Elizabeth show up at he front of the door rigning our doorbell and guess whAt? They found this ugly thing called a kimono in their room and started calling it their new style for Japan. I notice the eagerness in dad's eyes for those kimonos and ask's if we have a pair in our room. I immediately shove them and push them of of the room because I don't want a crazy hippy sipping his beer in my room while I was sleeping soooo... Yeah I gave him the talk... And there you day one in Japan, can't wait for more exciting moments that my family will present. When we wake up in the morning I couldn't help but tell dad my bed was uncomfortable when everybody else said that this was the best bed they have slepted on in forever. We go for the Hotel Asian  breakfast and so we start the day! Besides the jet lag and the lack of sleep we felt pretty good and up for the welcome I Tokyo tour that was set up by mom so that we can get I know Tokyo in the least amount of time, considering we are only staying there 7 days and 6 nights. I have to say the tour was great and or tour guide was very friendly, now it will take forever to talk about every little thing on our tour but we did get a little treat given by Mataki (The tour guy). We received this wasabi kit kats that we're surprisingly good and delish. Me and Elizabeth devoured everyone else because they did not want it... More for us, right? So then we go out for lunch and eat a nice noodle dish. I can't really remember a lot from there but I'm pretty sure this has been a amusing blog for all you Jelly Lovers. Anyways right now I am making my way to cosimoy on a overnight train, first class is cool... Anyways I hope you have enjoyed this session and until next time, this been john and officially signing out, I am really really far back on my blogs but bare with me and understand that I am having a way better time that you peeps. Also there may not be as many pictures as you may hope for but I'll see what I can do 

Aquariums, durians and scoops of happiness

Yesterday evening Catheleen took the kids for a massage, Thai-style.  I've never been a big fan of massages and I find the Thai version is my least favourite, based on the torture I received at the hands and feet of a masseuse many years ago. These massages involve a lot of stretching, pummelling, and cracking. Think chiropractor meets personal trainer. Catheleen's plan was to just get a foot or a head massage for the kids while she enjoyed the full body treatment. But something was lost in translation and while she started her massage on a table she looked over to see Elizabeth and John getting their full treatments next to her. Elizabeth seemed to be ticklish, John needed to take a break half way through to go to the bathroom, and only Catheleen was stood upon, but otherwise the kids and Catheleen claimed to have enjoyed the massage. I was suspect though when Catheleen said post-massage that she could be sore tomorrow.  

In the early morning I tried a new coffee stand, and the coffee lady attempted to make a cappuccino with some success. At her stand she also had ice cream for sale with the tag line "scoops of happiness". This works for me - I'll be back later for a few scoops. Compare to yesterday where we tried a couple of iced drinks. Mine was called Roselle juice and the sign said it "relieves phlegm in the throat, fatigue, expectorate, digestion and blood distribution". Not exactly scoops of happiness but I tried it and it tasted pretty good - a bit like grapes perhaps. Can't bear witness to the purported health benefits though. 

Today we took the sky train to visit the Siam Ocean World aquarium, which is reported to be the largest aquarium in Southeast Asia. We've been to Thailand twice before, once every decade or so. Every time we come I see that the country has developed a little bit more. Like the new airport we viewed upon arrival, the new sky train is a nice addition which wasn't here last time. Not quite as well organized as Tokyo's subways, but not bad. After a short trip on the train we arrived at one swanky mall, with the aquarium on the lower level.  The aquarium was world class with some amazing exhibits. One of my favourite exihibits was watching the sharks swim overhead while scuba divers fed some of them with fish on metal sticks. I'm not sure if this was a necessary way to feed these sharks or whether this was entertainment. Perhaps a bit of both. 

Afterwards we explored the mall. What a contrast to the street, where it's quite clear the standard of living is not that high by western standards. In this mall you would think you were in some high end shopping area in a wealthy country. There were even Bentley and Rolls Royce cars for sale on the top level. We tempered ourselves with a few pastries in the food court. 

It's durian season and I see them everywhere. On the outside the fruit is tan coloured and around the size of a large melon, and it has big intimidating spikes - you could probably use these things as a weapon like the spiked metal ball on a mace. On the inside there is a small yellow filling. Catheleen picked some up at the market the other night. She tasted it and used sommelier terms like custard, butter, cream, ambrosia, savoury onion. I tasted it and preferred descriptions like smelly, stinky, awful. Supporting my case were signs at the train station specifically banning durian and other strong smelling items. The kids were not impressed either. After some complaints, Catheleen finished off the offending remainders from the fridge.

The legend of the palace rain

Hi yesterday I went to the palace and I got a worm welcoming by the guards with there long guns and uniforms when we entered the palace we could not show our legs and our shoulders and I thought ok I can do that because mom brought these like towels but way softer.

Anyways John and dad could not where that soooooooo they had to borrow stuff anyways now to the good stuff it started to poor and I mean like really poor if you where there on Canada day worse then that.

Ok after that we went back to the apartment I stayed at the apartment mom,dad, and John went out for diner meanwhile I was chilling at the apartment then the magic happened me mom and John went for are you ready a masouge oh I mean massage.

It was a magical night I will tell you why ok me and John asked for a scalp massage but then John changed his mind at the last minute and here is the confusion starts ok we where placed on a big mat all beside each other, and surprise surprise we got a full body massage oh and I forgot to tell you that mom also got a full body massage.

So that is our full body massage

 

Bangkok unhinged

Thailand is the third world so it's easy to focus on the negative - too crowded, to disorganized, too poor. But we've been to Bangkok a couple of times before so we know what to expect, and we wouldn't have come back if we were focused on the down side. Rather I think Thailand is just too special to avoid if travelling to this part of the world. The food is on par with the best cuisines, the people are friendly and welcoming, and it's just a unique place so different from the West. The kids seem to be focusing on the positive too for the most part. Case in point, John and Elizabeth ordered green curry and rice for breakfast. Way too hard core for me but they seemed to enjoy it.

The first thing I always notice when I come here is the Thai's reverence for their King and royal family. There are pictures of the royal family everywhere - some covering whole sides of skyscrapers. The monks in orange robes are also a striking site which always remind me we are in Thailand - only difference this time is some of the monks are on their smart phones. 

Our afternoon activity today consisted of a visit to the Grand Palace, which is one of the main attractions in the city. Bangkok is a huge city and we've learned that using the water taxis along the Chao Phraya river is an efficient and scenic way to get around.

At the water taxi barge we visited the pet hog, which is a full sized black pig with his own food bowl - it is definitely a pet. Elizabeth was surprised and offended to see a hog as a pet - I suppose she was experiencing a little culture shock. On our way across the ferry to the other side of the river we were delayed for quite awhile as a number of massive river barges passed by. They consisted of a half dozen or more barges strung together, each around 100 feet long, pulled along by one or two tug boats. On the other side we hopped onto the river taxi which took us down the river to the palace. Along the way the traffic was thick with boats of all descriptions going up and down the river. I started to notice that all the long tail boats (another iconic image of Thailand) had garlands of flowers tied to their bows. These were the same flowers we saw at the flower market last night. I understand these garlands are used to provide good luck and protection and honour the spirits of the water.

At the palace Catheleen brought sarongs for everyone to wear since our legs needed to be covered to enter. But after seeing John wrapped in a sarong I just couldn't do that to him or me - it was just embarrassing. I confirmed my awkwardness when I asked a lady official if I could wear a sarong - she just looked at me sideways and said they were for ladies. So I signed out pants for us guys, we purchased our tickets with one hour to spare before closing, and then, much to our chagrin, we watched the sky open up in a torrent of rain which lasted the better part of an hour. 

This is where Catheleen and Elizabeth, the intrepid travellers, parted ways from John and me. There were two factions at play here. Catheleen and Elizabeth fell into the enthusiast camp who were willing to get soaked through if necessary to see something special they may never get the chance to see again. John and I fell into the heal dragger camp who would just rather not get too wet if we could avoid it. So Catheleen and Elizabeth had their adventure seeing the sights. They also watched people's shoes wash away along the rush of water flowing down the street from where the temple goers had removed their shoes. I was just happy to watch the thick crowds of people go to and from the palace in various stages of sopping wetness. At least the rain cooled things down nicely for awhile.

Our adventure continued as we swarmed onto the water taxi for the return journey, swept along with the crowd from a moving pier onto a moving boat on a choppy river. I'm quite surprised the kids put up with all this since it was a bit extreme, even for Catheleen and me. But they seem to pretty easy going so far. Another day, another adventure. 

Thailand hype

Hi I am sorry that I have not been writing in a while but yesterday we got up in Thailand went for breakfast John and dad got dim sum and me mom and dad got these pastries from a bakery. 

Then we went for lunch we went to this noodle house after we went for a swim relaxed at the hotel for about 2 hours then mom and dad went for diner me and John stayed at the condo.

 They would bring us back something so they went to a night flower market and they saw beautiful flowers

and brought back a flower bracelet 

For me and John well when they came back they brought DURIAN if you do not know what that is it is a fruit they say tastes awesome but smells really bad I do knot like it though well bye

Japan in a day Part 1

Hello guys, John here and bringing you the entire week of Japan in just one blog because I think I can finally place what was happiness into words. Now I know this blog will be long but just bare with me, by the way I am in Bangkok right now which is pretty awesome by the way, but in order to talk about that I need to finish this masterbeast (Get it? I said masterbeast instead of masterpiece because it's a long blog?). Anyways so first off, let's talk about the plane ride, you will not believe the things on this plane, there was a pullout remote/video game controller in the seat and you we're able to play games with people around you (Me and dad hit it off with Tetris) and watch movies which had one of them that I was pretty interested in... Insurgent which I did not see yet and was eager too watch on this 10 hour flight... Oh yeah I forgot, this plane ride was 10 hours (Long right?) Anyways the last thing I'll say about the plane are the toilets which they have everywhere you go in Japan. But these toilets are not normal toilets, they have plenty of buttons that are variations of water shooting up your butt. It feels pretty good (TMI!!!!) but it did not feel normal so I didn't do it often in Japan. Anyways that was the plane ride TO Japan, that was actually longer that it should've been but that's okay! I told you this was gonna be long so there you go... Potentially long blog. I think this should be broken up into parts soooooo... Until next time, this has been John and is officially signing out. Sorry pics are blurry...

Creepy Japanese robots at the Miraikan

The Miraikan is Tokyo's Premiere Emerging Science and Technology Museum.  Japan and Robots in my mind just go hand so it's was no surprise to find several robots at this museum...but why are they all so incredibly creepy?

The first robot display had fembot lounging on a couch in a typical casual Japanese soccer mom type attire.  She smiled and waved, perfectly coifed and manicured.  Her voice was high pitched and saccharin sweet - the entire tableau made my skin crawl.

The next robot exhibit allowed you to have "fun" with the robots in a singing game.  These robots sang a song perhaps known only to Japanese folks and they sang it over and over, faster and faster.  This song will haunt my dreams now to the end of my days.

The final robot experience was very odd.  You went into this black corridor and to the right was a slit cut out of the wall at eye level.  Through this slit in the wall you could see a bright white room almost glowing and a robot sitting on the side of what looked like a like a hospital bed.  The woman robot in this scene had what appeared to be a white hospital gown.  With no instruction or indicators for interaction we all just stood there waiting for something to happen.  After a few minutes of silence just standing there looking at the robot with all the other visitors, Elizabeth in a rather loud voice asked why the robot was in a white hospital gown. I quickly answered that the robot had just been abducted by aliens and wash happily waiting for the medical experiments to start 😜.

Japan - the toilet issue

So what is this Japanese obsession with bathroom activities ? Yes this is the toilet blog.  Although I had recently experienced new and interesting squirty types of toilets in Turkey, Japan takes toilet culture to an entirely new level.  So many buttons, privacy features, music options, deodorizers, hot and cold water, various water pressures, water aim, heated seats etc etc no wonder there is always a long lineup for women's bathrooms.

This toilet features both hot and cold water.  It took me a few days to realize that the difference between spray and bidet was exclusively water temperature as the pictograms indicates a coverage difference 😜

These images make it look like the force of the water will blast you off of the toilet.

This device provides a sound feature of flushing water for "privacy".  In one toilet I could not figure out how to flush the toilet and kept hitting a button that only provided the sound of a flushing toilet, made me angry 😡.

Most toilets have complicated instructions - giving you the "gist for use".  Do you really want to be faced with this type of tutorial when you have to go or perhaps it is for bathroom reading and not a  mandatory reading before pressing cheek to toilet seat type of guide.

This was a 10 step tutorial on how to wash your hands!  John's method has regrettably only one step wipe hands on shirt.😜

No idea what all there buttons with dot images symbolized.  I like the flower dot pattern the best but what does this really mean in "toilet" speak? 

And if all else fails there is an emergency button which was normally clearly marked.  I suspect that possibly the force of the water shooting up from the toilet or a severe allergic reaction to the deodorizer being unexpectedly spritzed on nether regions, are the number one reason for pressing the emergency button.

At times the toilet seat was heated, a feature I did not want, or need.  Nor could I figure out how to turn off in the +40 Celsius Tokyo weather.  Curse you hot Tokyo Museum toilet! 😠

Next stop - Thailand

It's our first day in Bangkok and we're settling into our new surroundings at a privately owned condo. I'm relatively adventurous when it comes to lunch and dinner, but not so much for breakfast. I was disheartened as I made my way to the street early this morning with John and first spied a street vendor cooking whole fish for the breakfast crowd presumably. I next went in to the local convenience store to find that the coffee on offer consisted of hot water with packs of instant Nescafé.  This wouldn't do. But I felt better later on when Catheleen and I strolled a while down the street to find a bakery serving banana bread and coconut flavoured treats, and a street vendor who made us fresh coffee with her espresso machine. Problem solved for breakfast. 

We enjoyed the morning pool-side along the Chao Phraya river. The kids skipped their Woboba balls across the pool, and Catheleen and I watched the boats pass to and fro along this slow moving river. In the afternoon we walked around to the local water taxi launch and park to check out our surroundings. The locals at the park were playing sports unknown to me. Young men were playing a vigorous game of volleyball using a small ball and their feet only, and executing over-the-head spike shots. Some older gentlemen were playing a game where they stand in a circle and use their feet and elbows to keep the ball off the ground while trying to get the ball in a net about eight feet in the air. At the end of the park the ladies were engaged in stretching and some form of calisthenics.

In the evening the kids wanted to stay put in the cool condo so Catheleen and I ventured out via water taxi on the river to the flower market. This wholesale flower market stretches for blocks in all directions and is a remarkable spectacle for the eyes. It's also more pleasant for the nose than the fish market in Japan we visited recently. A lot of the flowers are assembled in colourful displays and strands, and much of it is sold off for use in temples and shines. 

Here's a picture of Catheleen at the flower market.