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July 31, 2006
Girl in a wetsuit (Stanley Park, Vancouver)
A Sunday off work. Stanley park is said to be North America's third biggest urban park - but it's very walkable, at least for Canadians and Europeans. The "Girl in a wetsuit" was, naturally, a point of interest - but even the other photo opportunities weren't too shabby. Enjoyable!
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July 30, 2006
Cognitive Science @ Vancouver
People in Canada, at least those in Vancouver, are nice. They don't jaywalk. They're super-welcoming when you're trying to shove your bag collection onto the airport bus. Apart from that, I haven't seen much of Vancouver, which is surprisingly small, with a few high-risers downtown (the view from the 34th floor Presidential Suite in one of the two Sheraton towers is amazing).
An interesting bit from the Cognitive Science conference I'm attending here: I have updated my beliefs (not quite a euphemism for "changed my mind?") on the question of language influencing thought. There is evidence that people change their color judgment (color names, thus concepts, differ between languages) depending on the language that an experiment was carried out in. Bilingual subjects judged different pairs of blue, light-blue and green boxes (IIRC) to be similar, depending on whether they received instructions in Indonesian or in English.
The fact that we come to different concepts and classifications of colors depending on the language that we use to learn them doesn't surprise. But that we can switch between different concept sets with the language we use, that's interesting. Of course, this, by no means, is to say that we are constrained by the structural properties of a language - like syntax. We can still REASON, no matter the language we speak.
But it will still be a difficult endeavor to show that people associate the German "Ärzte" (doctors, male and standard form) with male doctors rather than a female ones, so that only "Ärzte und "Ärztinnen" would be truely neutral. That's because of cultural bias: everyone is exposed to a world where more doctors are male than female. (Is that example still true? Take "pilot" instead, and it'll work for sure.)
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July 28, 2006
Sun[set|rise] over the Pacific and a US breakfast.
Sunset and sunrise (a few hours later), somewhere over the Pacific.
Flight attendant Ken was on his last tour before retiring (he might have been 50), to live a life on the beaches of Australia's Gold Coast. "I'm sick of getting up at 2 in the morning. I'm sick of endless security checks. I'm sick of the abuse, I'm sick of people dying in front of me." Ken's going home, and he was the happiest flight attendant I've met, even after a 14-hour leg.
Then, American breakfast in L.A., paid for in style (i.e. with plastic).
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July 27, 2006
City Giraffes, Wallabies and Pandas
Aussies take pride in their deadly animals - don't get too close to the Sydney Funnel Web Spider, a not so friendly fellow that you can find in your garden shed, and do avoid Mr. Sea Wasp, a jellyfish, who, by the time you sea him, has wrapped his tentacles around you.
Visit Taronga - Sydney's 90-year old zoo with a view.
Koala Bear
Giraffe and a another Aussie
Giraffe
A young (?) wallaby
A Red Panda
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July 13, 2006
Good Morning Sydney
Arrived in Sydney on good old BA009 (this one goes a long way...). This is work from now on. Mostly.
The photos below were taken at Luna Park (Sydney's 100-year-old amusement park with a great view over the bay). No animals harmed during the production. But scared, they were! Sydney Nolan's rendition of Luna Park (1951) is on the left.
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Millionaire for a week
Being in Thailand was an interesting experience. You come with a credit card in hard pounds, Euros, dollars, funded from a maybe mediocre salary back home - and over there you get to lead a life that's commonly reserved for the more affluent. A Thai worker makes 200 Baht a day, maybe less - that's not even 4 Euros. Of course, your wealth is undeserved - but you might as well enjoy it.
Contrary to other countries with striking exchange rates that I've seen (e.g., Romania), Thailand actually has all most of the amenties you would actually want, ready to be bought "for cheap" after some haggling. And fantastic food for a few dimes.
I got to see a number of well-dressed, young Thai women, holding hands with a (slightly...) older European or American guy. I don't think they're all going out for long, and from what I've heard, they're not conventional "escorts" either. It's probably much more the life-style that appears attractive - western clothes, champagne, nice meals. As we say in the West: a nice convertible comes with a factory-provided blonde on the passenger seat. I don't know if those brunette Thais are similarly shallow as their western equivalents - after all, they have less of a chance to get an education and emancipate themselves.
Bought a yellow shirt. Thais love their king, and the king was born on a Monday. Monday is yellow in Thailand, and because it's his 60th year on the throne, everyone wears yellow shirts!
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July 12, 2006
More Wats in Chiang Mai and a night train home
I spent the last day in Chiang Mai looking for my lost cell phone - with the help of a taxi driver (the taxis here are more like pickup-truck style bus-taxis, taking up to 20 people in one direction). The guy spoke about as little English as I speak Thai, but he managed to negotiate with bus staff for me and drove me out to the bus depot, where I happened to find "my" bus driver (from Bangkok) and "my" bus - two days later! But no cell phone :-(
Visited ruins of temple buildings (including pagodas) at Wiang Kum kam, where, in 1984, villagers discovered dozens of votive tablets in the dirt right in front of their local school. Archeologists got insterested and dug up a number of ruins, relics from temples including a few nice Buddha statues that are still there today.
Night train back to Bangkok - first class (we're Royals, aren't we...). Again - a run-down train, but friendly, dedicated attendants who served us plenty of food (I learned to say "yummy, but very hot!" (something like ayola, te pad maak!). My "train car-mate" Masaki, who has been sent to Thailand by his company to study Thai for a year before building up their Thai branch, kindly invited me over to his apartment for a shower, e-mail checking and a sofa nap on 22nd floor of a residential high-riser. That's life!
That's what taxis look like in Chiang Mai (the local taxi mafia seems to prevent real taxis to be established, says the Lonely Planet):
My cabbie stops for a quick prayer at an outdoor Buddha:
Wat Kan Thome Temple:
Masaki, my new friend from Tokyo in his 22nd floor apartment in Bangkok:
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July 11, 2006
Chiang Mai and Doi Inthanon National Park
Night bus ride to Chiang Mai. Not-so-sleep-inducing rattle.
Thanks to low wages, the "first class" bus, while a bit run down, has a well-dressed 'bus attendant', who distributes snacks. Bus stops at 1 am (!) so everyone can have some chicken at a huge market-like highway food hall (seen these before, in Malaysia).
Chiang Mai is the more relaxing of the two big cities in Thailand - no high-rise buildings, and more tourist-appealing restaurants than hawker food stands. I meet Dana and Winnie, who've been shoestring-backpacking for six months. I manage to talk them into the luxury of renting a little jeep (for 800 baht/day, i.e. EUR 16.00) from local car rental guy "Mr. Beer". We make the trip up to Doi Inthanon Park, one of the national parks near Chiang Mai.
Driving in Thailand is a bit like driving in Italy - fast, organic (if there's room, there's a lane). The unwritten rule, says the guide book, is that the bigger vehicle has priority.
Doi Inthanon Park has great waterfalls, and on the day of the trip, great clouds hanging in the hills. Doi Inthanon itself, Thailands highest mountain, was covered in cloud & rain. Mr. Beer's jeep turned out to be a gas-guzzler with a need of choke fine-tuning and a very weak engine. Oh well, we had fun anyways.
Oh, and I guess I shouldn't have eaten that delicious chicken leg from the street vendor. The sweet chili sauce should have killed any microorganisms existing in the meat - in any case, it probably didn't. Thailand is hot day and night, and I should have wondered earlier about in what fridge these hawkers keep the poultry. (At home I take care to cut raw meat on veggies on different cutting boards, and here I'm in for the real Asian experience... :-)
Watched soccer final between 1 and 3.30 am at a bar with a good bunch of Thai (rooting for France, with me) and foreigners (mostly for Italy). Zidane is a hothead. France was the better team during the game. Oh well, whatever.
Chinese Hawker food in Bangkok:
Meet Dana and Winnie from Israel and Norway, respectively:
Dana and Winnie and a waterfall at Doi Inthanon National Park:
David and the waterfall...
A Thai gas station - no haggling, unfortunately!
Furry Caterpillar at Doi Inthanon:
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Bye bye cell phone
Elegant black cell phone lost on the 1st class night bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I suppose it was lost and then taken by whoever found it. Given that it costs more than the average worker's income here, I have little hopes of ever getting it back. My other things are still around (counting).
Posted by dr at 9:30 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 10, 2006
Thai Massage in Padpong - without extras
Enjoyed a masterful Thai Massage from Dilean - the massage saloon is located right in Bangkok's red light district "Padpong" and recommended by the Lonely Planet, the latter is why I went there. An hour for about 4 EUR - pretty good, eh?
All other offerings in Padpong are based on the typical Asian "hard sell" - try to make money being as pushy as possible, deceiving and playing tricks on wealthy western tourists... not appealing at all.
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July 9, 2006
Grand Palace and three Buddhas by tuk-tuk
Went to see the Grand Palace, with all its temples and galleries and Buddha statues and demons... Fantastic for taking pictures (not very creative though - full of tourists taking the same shots). Had my own, personal tuk-tuk driver (a tuk-tuk is a trike with two-stroke motorbike engine, ratatatatat...), who insisted on getting me to all three buddhas: the sleeping buddha, the laughing Buddha and the standing Buddha (not much of the latter, due to momentary downpour). Mr. tuk-tuk driver also dropped me off at two textile stores, asking me to just spend a minute at one, and five minutes at the other one, so he could get vouchers for gas and t-shirts. He was a nice guy and honest about it, so I thought I'd play along. On the other hand, it's rather uncommon to find a tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok who wouldn't do just that - and cash in big time on the commissions (or vouchers or whatever). Even bought a silk tie, which, after haggling, cost me 4 British pounds or so.
Haggling is fun. Managed to get cheap t-shirts and many other things at a market at Sala Daeng, usually for less than half the price they quoted first. Makes me feel good and I'm sure they still turned a profit!
Dinner time. My trusty Lonely Planet sent me up and down a Sub-Soi and into dark alleys, but the promised restaurant "Le Lys" doesn't exist any more. Instead, a block down (same dark alley), a nice Italian/Thai fusion food - of course I ordered Seafood salad with peanuts and all sorts of yummy things, a coconut chicken soup (asked for medium spicy, came bland) and some - commendable - pork with leaves and whole pepper corns.
Demons...
Feeding the Fish:
Reclining Buddha:
Driver with is tuk-tuk, living off shop commissions he gets for bringing tourists to some textile shops...
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July 7, 2006
More Bangkok fun
Went for shopping attempt at the Pantip Plaza Mall. Turns out, the really nice, big Canon lenses that I'd like to have aren't much cheaper in Bangkok than they are in Europe... I'll stick to T-Shirts from now on...
In my quest to explore yet another means of transportation for which the operator tries to rip off a Westerner, I took a water boat up the river (at night).
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5+6 July 2006: one... two nights in Bangkok
Wednesday afternoon, arrival in Bangkok. Left Luggage people won't take my laptop. Managed to trick them into taking it, but picked it back up after talking to local tourist police.
Train ticket is 10 Baht, around €0.20. Helpful, neatly-dressed Thai guy coaxes me into a car and offers me a seat -- I politely decline and move on. Wooden seats. Toilets. Locals only. 20 minutes later, the Thai guy shows up again and starts a conversation. Turns out Weng is a history teacher. Are you staying in Thailand for long? No, I'll be going to Sydney. Oh, my son studies there. And so on. On a sheet of paper, he writes down times for the ferry near his home town. My guide book says the really sincere people are too polite to start a conversation. Others would trick you into spending your money on something like fake gems or tour ticket you don't want, or they'd mangage to convince your camera and wallet to change owners. So I keep watching my stuff, and at the train station evade him after a friendly, western-style handshake. Maybe he is a history teacher after all. Maybe.
Dinner at a Chinese place. Get served chicken neck and feet and other not-so-good pieces of chicken. Nice dumplings. Beer at the Sky Train Bar, an improvised Jazz club on a large balcony on top of an otherwise little-used concrete block - somewhat obscure, but once found, very urban. View down the Sky Train line. Busy with locals even on a very late Wednesday evening. Cold Singha beer.
Forgot to set time on phone. Slept until 1530. No good. Invited random Thai med student for noodle lunch. No available train tickets for Chiang Mai, will have to take the bus from the Northern bus terminal.
Banglampou has a few cool bars. Took river taxi to get there - nice (though expensive) ride.
At the Phra Arthit Pier, there's a bar (of the same name?) - food is served out of an old VW in front of the bar. I had Chili Chicken (except that they didn't have any Chicken, but something else - don't want to know). It had lots of chili and lots of big pieces of garlic. Good that it came with lots of beer to soothe my throat.
Can you spot the picture of the King?
Phra Arthit Pier
... mobile Volkswagen kitchen
Now that's a Margherita!
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July 4, 2006
Germany will win the World Cup (or not?)
Every four years, the great round were-wolve awakes and brings magic to Germany, to Brazil, to England. Intellectuals and neds, oil magnates and grocery merchants, university professors and plumbers all become experts at something many of them would never care about. It's rare that I would go to the pub and watch a champion's league game (except when Charles is around). I wouldn't normally bother to check scores, and seeing a Beckham on the street would only make me look out for his pretty wife.
But now, all of a sudden, I can tell Beckenbauer from Plattner, I know who Klose and Klinsmann are, and hell, I even cheer for them. Germany is scheduled to win tonight... (in my dreams at least)... Italy can be beaten! And it will, now that my friends Elena and Stefan support Germany with a song...
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