Hong Kong

We arrived last night in Kuala Lumpur after a journey that lasted from 1:00 pm on Monday to 9:00 pm on Wednesday.  In the process we missed Tuesday and a whole lot of sleep and adjusted our internal clocks by 12 hours (Kathleen was delighted she did not have to reset her wristwatch).

Hong Kong at 6:00 am

On the way we had a 11 hour layover in Hong Kong. John, our group leader, had arranged for us to have a bus available for the first part of the day. Since we arrived at 5:00 am, the bus tour started at 5:30 am, and we got to watch the city waking up.  At 6:00 am in Kowloon, not many people were around except for a groggy-looking bunch of Canadians.

The bus took us up Victoria Peak on a winding road. There were a few queasy stomachs after 14 hours on the plane and the winding road but we all made it.

Our bus

It is always interesting when you visit somewhere to imagine what it would be like to live there.  One of the students told me she would like to live in Hong Kong for a year.  Hong Kong is filled with what seems like endless super-high buildings, most of them apparently apartments. The apartments look quite impersonal from the outside anyway.  I was surprised that the population of Hong Kong is only 7 million.  It seemed like there were way more apartments than that.

After the trip up and down the mountain, we had lunch at 10:00 am at Big John's hole in the wall in Kowloon.  Actually it was breakfast - Big John doesn't start serving lunch until 11:00 am. Then we headed back to the airport for a 4 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur.  We were a little tired when we arrived (understatement).

No stolen backpacks so far.

We are off !

The title does not refer to the smell.

Today is the day we leave. We have each packed and repacked 3 or 4 times and feel like we have got everything we need. The bus leaves at 1:30 from CP and Kathleen's cousin Beth has kindly agreed to meet us at Scarborough Town Center and then take us to the airport. That makes the airport trip seem much easier. I was wondering if the most dangerous part of the trip would be going through the Toronto bus station.

laptop in the drying position

I think I needed more stress in my life so last night as I was enjoying my final glass of wine I spilt it all on my laptop. The laptop died instantly and so did I (almost).  I took it all apart and have left it to dry while we are away.  I won't know until we get back if it will come back to life. Something to look forward to while we are away.

Our luggage ready to go (11:00 am)

The backpacks are packed and ready to go. Oh oh! -  I see a suitcase in there. Kathleen has done a last minute switch on me. Do I have to change the blog title to 3 Backpacks and a Suitcase? What do you think?

I think we are both a little excited about this trip.

Other people will be on this trip?!

SSU 2012 Asia trip participants in uniform (mostly)

It is now starting to become real. There will be other people besides Kathleen and myself on this trip - I have met them.  And they are all a lot younger than me (with one exception and he is still younger).  Even the two other leaders - Jennifer and Madi seem very young.   What if they have to stop the bus so I can go pee?  How will Kathleen and I do sleeping on the floor in a Thai hill tribes village for two nights?

I have sat through a couple of classes with these kids and a lot of them are very bright.  The rest are probably bright too but just quieter.   Today's class was Cultural Anthropology with Lois Mitchell.  The class was about education - what is education? why do we value it? how does it happen? and what should we do about it?  Very interesting, and even though I have a PhD from Oxford ( I am supposed to be educated), I am not sure I have many answers.

Last night we watched a film called Lola.  Lola is a Philippine expression meaning grandmother and is used by most of the people in the film when talking to or about the two senior ladies who are the principle characters - they are Lolas.  The film takes place in Manila and certainly took me back to the time I was in Manila 24 years ago.  It looks the same.  The poverty is crushing and even makes what we saw in Mexico seem well off in comparison.  My main reaction was - that was depressing.

I got my first look at Ringgitts (Malaysia) Pesos (Philippines) and Bahts (Thailand) when we got some spending money.  Very exciting!

I am sure glad we did not do China

I have reached that point of panic and regret that happens before every major trip. Why are we doing this?

Our home today

A couple of days ago both of us heard a big crash somewhere in the house.  I ran upstairs and Kathleen ran downstairs but we could not find the source.  Today I found it -  I was out cleaning up all the garden hoses and draining the outdoor water pipes.  While taking the hoses into the basement I noticed that one of the jackposts that holds up the living room floor had died.  It had rusted away from the bottom and keeled over.  My reaction was that there is no way this place can survive without me.  Who else is going to notice and replace a rusty jackpost?

It is so beautiful here it seems insane to be heading off but in my head if not my heart I know that it will be worth it.  

Perceptions

I grew up in Winnipeg and at that time Winnipeggers considered themselves as Westerners - maybe they still do.  So I was a Westerner.  The Blue Bombers played for the Western conference of the CFL so West was good and East was bad. Boo Hamilton! Even the "W" stands for West.

But when we get to South East Asia we will have travelled West to get to the East.   And home and Winnipeg will be in the East.  And Western Europe is East from Carleton Place.  I wonder if the people of Malaysia think of themselves as East or West or in the middle? But it is the eastern part of Asia so I guess that is OK for them to think of themselves as Easterners.  But wait - the Middle East is in the West part of Asia!  What happened to Western Asia?

I think my perceptions of the world are going to get adjusted.

Why South East Asia?

South East Asia (SEA) has always been a big unknown to me. Kathleen has always wanted to visit Thailand because friends said they had a wonderful time there but for me it was sort of like - well Regina in winter(you need a really good reason to want to go).  Why go there?   It is hot and humid (SEA, not Regina in winter) and poor. My impression was lots of bugs and nasty animals and not a lot of history or spectacular sights.   My principle exposure was the "King and I" and my reading about WW2.   That is how I felt anyway but when the chance came to go I started learning.

Our daughter suggested we watch the movie "Entrapment" as it takes place mainly in Kuala Lumpur, our first stop on the SEA trip.  It was quite an eye opener as we found out that the Petronas Towers featured in the film were up until a short time ago the tallest buildings in the world and are still the tallest twin buildings.

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur

It was fun to see Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones hanging by their fingernails from the bridge between the towers but I don't think we will try that.   My mental image of Malaysia got a major adjustment and I haven't even been there yet.  But it is hot - the high today was 34 with 90% humidity (feels like 46).   This is going to be quite an experience.

Here is a brief itineray
Leave Toronto 24 Sep.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 26 Sep. to 4 Oct.
Laoag, Philippines 6 to 18 Oct.
Manila, Philippines 19 to 21 Oct.
Chiang Mai, Thailand 23 Oct. to 11 Nov.
Bangkok, Thailand  12 Nov. to 15 Nov.
Back to Toronto 15 Nov.

There are several stops in Hong Kong while in transit between the various cities.

P.S.  3/4 of the way through the film we realized we had already seen it but it was worth a re-watch.