"We Bought a Zoo" and Bombings

Yesterday we went to the movie “We bought a Zoo”, directed by Cameron Crowe. The best scene in the movie was when Matt Damon goes to pay for his purchase at home Depot with a Capitol Federal debit card. Capitol Federal is a bank with its headquarters in Topeka, and doesn’t do business in Southern California, where the movie is set. Also, it’s the bank we use.

The movie was enjoyable but not rememberable. Best part of the movie was watching the development of Cameron Crowe. He’s gone from writing “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” to writing and directing “Almost Famous”, both of which were about him, to writing and directing this movie, which was not about him. Watching his movies always makes us think of the Rolling Stones performance in Topeka, which he chronicled in “Almost Famous”, and which Laura was at! A San Diego boy makes good.

As we left the movie Bangkok had a huge thunderstorm. Thunder and lightning everywhere, so we headed back to the hotel. Once there we saw on the television that there had been three bomb explosions in Yala, in Southern Thailand, set off by Muslim extremist, who want the three southern Muslim state of Thailand to separate from Thailand. And, there had been a gas explosion in Hat Yai. We recognized the area of the gas explosion in the center of town. We had been in the area as recently as January. It was the same area where Muslim extremists had set of bombs in 2006. We had gone through Hat Yai on the train just a few days ago.

Lao Visa

Today we went to get a visa to visit Lao. It is possible to get a visa at at the border when you enter, which we did sixteen years ago, but Jim decided it would be better to go to their Bangkok embassy and get the visa before we got to the border. Jim found the embassy’s address and it turns out it is on a small Soi off the main street that we have stayed near before. Since Sois are usually short streets, Jim figured it couldn’t be too far to the embassy if we took the subway and then the bus to just past the JL Bangkok hotel where we have stayed a few times, the most recent being in December. After we got off the bus Jim had a problem finding the right Soi. The Sois run off the main street with the even numbered sois on one side and the odd numbered Also, there may be a street between two consecutive numbered odd or even Sois. Or, Sois running off the opposite side. Unfortunately, some Sois have names rather than Soi numbers. the Sois may be named rather than numbered. This happened with the Soi we were looking for. The street sign had a name for the Soi instead of a number, even though the Soi also had a number. So, we walked back and forth looking for a Soi number that was signposted. Naturally, Jim refused to ask for directions, so Laura asked and we found the Soi. We then had the address and started walking down the Soi. The problem was this Soi must have been the longest Soi in Bangkok. We kept walking, and walking and walking. Finally, Jim was about to give up and either quit or find a taxi, and Laura asked directions again. Turns out we had not walked far enough, so we trekked on. Finally we came to what looked like a huge open field. We debated whether to walk on so Laura went into the nearby Mercedes Benz dealership and asked directions. After getting directions we trekked on, finally coming to the Cambodian Embassy, which was near the Lao Embassy. We turned at the Cambodian embassy and walked another couple of hundred yards, and there, on something running off the Soi, we found the Lao Embassy.

We went in, filled out the application form and handed them in. They told us to come back in about an hour to pick up our passports, so we went to eat. We ate, then came back and picked up our passports. We then walked down to the Soi and flagged down a passenger carrying truck and took it back to the main street, where we could catch the bus to the subway. The fare for the truck was 6 Baht, which is about twenty cents. So, by walking for well over an hour in about 100 degree temperature, we saved twenty cents.

Here's a photo of Jim paying the truck driver the 12 Baht (40 cents) fare.

In Bangkok II

We are back in Bangkok. We took the overnight train from Butterworth, Malaysia, to here. The train left an hour and half late which gave us plenty of time to admire the E&O luxury train which pulled into Penang before our train arrived. For $8,000 we could have a luxury tour of Malaysia and Thailand, or we could pay $35 for the overnight sleeper. The E&O train was met by a band when it arrived.

We have never been met by a band.

Our train was fun because we met some interesting travelers. We sat across from a Basque man, Iosu Albizu, who had lived in Malta, among other places, and was busy wandering around the world for a few years. There was Richard, who was from Hollywood, and who traveled in SE Asia a few times a year, and there was Bunny, an English great grandmother who was traveling by herself because her friends had too many aches and pains to get out of their homes.

Here is a photo of Richard and Bunny.

Here is a photo of Iosu.

Bunny had traveled on the Trans-Siberian by herself a few years ago and convinced Laura that it was really a great trip. Laura has finally relented and agreed to go on the trip, from Hanoi to Beijing, then on to Moscow, which is actually the Trans-Mongolian Express, the Trans-Siberian Express going from Moscow to Vladivostok, Russia.

Sunkist Oranges

Tonight we are in our room at the PP Island hotel eating Sunkist navel oranges imported into Malaysia from the U.S. We bought them because they were the cheapest oranges in the grocery store. Is there something wrong with a fruit that originated in SE Asia, having been cultivated by the Chinese as early as 2500BC, being shipped and sold in Malaysia cheaper than the oranges grown around here?

Guess this is just the corollary to Jim's buying electronic parts on E-Bay and having them shipped via air mail from Hong Kong cheaper than he can buy them in Topeka.

Pontianak Riots

We didn't blog about the riots in Pontianak, Indonesia, while we were there. Apparently for two nights in a row, the Muslim Indonesians rioted. We did not find out why, nor did we see any information about the riots in the newspapers. We found out about the riots by people we traveled with on the bus to Kuching. They said that they had gone out to eat and photographed the riots while we were sitting in the hotel lounge listening to music. Apparently a few years ago the Muslims had also rioted and had chopped off a few heads, but this time there were no heads lying around.

Most of Indonesia is Muslim, being the largest Muslim country in the world. But the indigenous people of Kalimantan, the province where Pontianak is located, are mostly Christians, and mostly Catholics. The government has tried to get people to immigrate to Kalimantan from the other islands and other Muslim countries to work in in this sparsely populated country, but apparently there are problems.

In Penang

We are back in Penang, Malaysia for the third time on this trip. It feels like coming home. We took an Air Asia A320-200. This plane (9M-AHC)is less than five years old so it is still very nice inside. No Air France seat belts.

Since coming back to Penang we have seen both the "The Lady in Black" and "Starvation Games" and greatly enjoyed both. Laura got her hair done and really enjoyed the neck and back massage that came with the wash and dry. Jim bought a pair of red socks. These are the kind of things we do here.

Zigu Shen, Chinese Opera, Porcelain & John Carter

Yesterday we went on a search for a statue of Zigu Shen, aka Ceshen Tzu-Ku Shen, Keng San Gu Niang and Mao Gu Qi Furen, the goddess of the latrine and concubines. We don’t think we are ever going to find a statue of her. The people at the Chinese gods shop had never seen a statue of her. And, we found out that she is not a Buddhist, but is a Taoist goddess. But, from the shop we did find out that there was going to be a free Chinese Opera that night.

So, last night we went to the Chinese Opera. Couldn’t understand a word, but it was colorful and funny. We knew the plot was similar to a melodrama. The opera was loud and noisy because of the high pitched gongs, other instruments, and with loud high pitched Chinese voices. Chinese operas were originally acted by all men and in this opera the women actors had painted sideburns as if they were men. It was at the Kuching Hong San Si Temple, which is a Taoist temple. This temple’s host deity is Kong Teck Choon Ong, who is a transformation of the human being Kuo Chung Fook, who is worshiped in the Fujian province of China. The opera was part of his birthday week celebrations.

We are thinking that a lot of the Ming porcelain that we thought was from China was actually made by Chinese living in other countries, such as Indonesia. We went to an antique store here and the owner related an exhibit that had been at the Sarawak museum on Ming porcelain that said that the Chinese had established porcelain factories in SE Asia wherever they could find kaolin, which is a main ingredient in porcelain. The Chinese had porcelain factories throughout the area, and especially in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia where they exported the porcelain to other parts of the world, but mainly to Europe.

Because of this we have become interested in the town of Singkawang, near Pontianak, Indonesia. This town makes the Ming blue and white porcelain and has for centuries. We saw what was called a dragon kiln, which is a long narrow tunnel shaped kiln, at the ethnographic museum in Pontianak.

Earlier in the week we went to see the movie “John Carter”. We didn’t think it was that good. But the view from the cinema on the 9th floor of a parking garage is great. The building is confusing to us. In the basement is a food court, on the ground floor are a few shops, with more vacancies than occupied, and only the parking between the first floor shops and the ninth floor cinema.

Before the movie we stopped for drinks and met an American couple from Houston.