This will be my last posting until about the first week of September. At that time, I expect to have some definite plans for going into Asia in the winter...(here). Always summer over there.
It is my intention to go into Bangkok and from there, into other Asian places about the first of January. I intend to stay for 75 days without returning to Canada. I had mentioned this very basic plan to many friends over the past few months, and am now working to pull it off. I have a very good friend residing in Europe that will be also visiting Asia for a period of time in the winter. While we do not expect to be booking flights until late September or early October, the plan is simple. The intent is that I will fly into Europe, and meet up with my friend, then travel to Asia on the same flight. We will spend a month, or whatever time my friend has, then they will return to Europe and I will join up with some of my Thai friends.
My Thai friends and I will go over to the Philippines for several weeks and visit there for the first time, for any of us. Whatever time is left will be spent back in Thailand. I will return to Canada via Europe around the middle of March.....about the time the snow starts to go away.
There are many details to work out for this to happen, but there is no doubt that it will. The concept is outlined here. Now, we will define what area we will visit in Thailand, so my friend will have a good look at Asia. While there are over 30,000 temples there, we will limit our visits to three or four, although most are fabulous to see. I usually take guests to see the Golden Buddha, which is tons of pure gold, and is part of the Royal Palace, and the nearby Buddha, of pure jade.
This is my plan to avoid most of the cold weather that we get here in Ottawa. I hope to return to this site in September, (which is just over a month away), and put up some photos of my last trip. I need to find someone to come over and walk me through the process with Windows ten and this website.
At that time, I should have more details of the next adventure.
See you in September.
Sunday 22 July 2018
Sunday 15 July 2018
Ottawa, July 15, 2018
I have some comments about the services that are supposed to be provided by Canadian Embassies in other countries. The first requirement is to serve the needs of Canadians in those countries when requested. By and large, the majority of senior officials in those embassies are family, friends and hacks of the senior government officials. This applies to most countries. My experience when visiting a Canadian embassy was in most cases, a waste of time. The only Canadian Embassy that I can speak good about, in all my experiences, is the Embassy in Paris.
Back about 2000, the government greatly increased the price for passports, using the false story line that it was necessary because of the great number of lost passports and the cost to replace them. In the same line, they said that replacements would be easier and at minimum cost. Not True.
I was in Paris with a small group of friends after having been in London for a week. We took the Chunnel across the channel, and had been in Paris for about five days. We were in the last evening in Paris. Our return train was at noon the following day. While having dinner, someone took one of the lady's purses off the chair she was sitting on...the back had a horn on which she hung her purse. In it were her passport, money and credit cards. I took her to a nearby police station where we reported the theft, and the police could not have been better. They gave us an office with a phone, and told us to call any place in the world we needed to. They spoke English fluently. We called Visa in Canada, her Bank and so on to have the cards cancelled....all at no cost to us. We were not far from the Canadian Embassy, and at 09;00, we were at the Embassy. There were a lot of people there for documents to Canada, and what not. As soon as we went in, an official came to us, found our problem, and started the process for a temporary passport. They demanded one hundred dollars cash...and photos to proceed. We were directed to a near by photo shop, and a bank. I had to take out money for the passport, and photo...the Embassy could not help!!!. However, in just over an hour, we had the temporary passport, good for one year. When I asked about the things we were told back in Canada, the man laughed, and said...don't believe anything the government tells you!.
We had ample time to get to Gare du Nord and the train back to London. The embassy staff were great, and most polite.
I was in Brasilia, Brazil a few years later and went to the Canadian Embassy....only to fine one local lady at the front desk, and told that all Canadians were taking time off, and were at the golf course...
not sure about tomorrow!.
My experience in Bangkok on July 3, was not good. All information we were given at the front desk....15 floors below the Embassy was useless. The two email contact numbers were dead, and the phone did not work.
My advice is to avoid our overseas offices unless it is a dire emergency. They do not want to be bothered. While External Affairs, (now Global Affairs under Trudeau) ask us to tell them where we go, it is a waste of time, in my opinion!.
Back about 2000, the government greatly increased the price for passports, using the false story line that it was necessary because of the great number of lost passports and the cost to replace them. In the same line, they said that replacements would be easier and at minimum cost. Not True.
I was in Paris with a small group of friends after having been in London for a week. We took the Chunnel across the channel, and had been in Paris for about five days. We were in the last evening in Paris. Our return train was at noon the following day. While having dinner, someone took one of the lady's purses off the chair she was sitting on...the back had a horn on which she hung her purse. In it were her passport, money and credit cards. I took her to a nearby police station where we reported the theft, and the police could not have been better. They gave us an office with a phone, and told us to call any place in the world we needed to. They spoke English fluently. We called Visa in Canada, her Bank and so on to have the cards cancelled....all at no cost to us. We were not far from the Canadian Embassy, and at 09;00, we were at the Embassy. There were a lot of people there for documents to Canada, and what not. As soon as we went in, an official came to us, found our problem, and started the process for a temporary passport. They demanded one hundred dollars cash...and photos to proceed. We were directed to a near by photo shop, and a bank. I had to take out money for the passport, and photo...the Embassy could not help!!!. However, in just over an hour, we had the temporary passport, good for one year. When I asked about the things we were told back in Canada, the man laughed, and said...don't believe anything the government tells you!.
We had ample time to get to Gare du Nord and the train back to London. The embassy staff were great, and most polite.
I was in Brasilia, Brazil a few years later and went to the Canadian Embassy....only to fine one local lady at the front desk, and told that all Canadians were taking time off, and were at the golf course...
not sure about tomorrow!.
My experience in Bangkok on July 3, was not good. All information we were given at the front desk....15 floors below the Embassy was useless. The two email contact numbers were dead, and the phone did not work.
My advice is to avoid our overseas offices unless it is a dire emergency. They do not want to be bothered. While External Affairs, (now Global Affairs under Trudeau) ask us to tell them where we go, it is a waste of time, in my opinion!.
Monday 9 July 2018
Ottawa, Canada July 9, 2018
This update is a bit later than I expected. I did not have the time to do an update while in Bangkok for a short stay.
The return trip to here was not without some unexpected events. The trip from the town of So Phisai on July 1 to Udon Thani is, as I have said only 127 kilometers, but the bus took us almost four hours. The only things that did not pass us were two men walking, and someone with a motor bike that had broken down. We stopped many times to pick up and drop off passengers, in an air conditioned...Thai style bus....all windows open four inches, and a door at the front and back open all the way.
A Tuk Tuk, (took took), was our ride from bus station to the airport, and a good 45 minute back to Bangkok's second airport, on the north side of the city known as Don Mueng. It serves most of the domestic travel. It was dinner time when I got to the hotel. The following day had been reserved for dental appointments so that went good, got excellent report, good for another year.
I wanted to do some work at the Canadian Embassy, so did a short walk over there on July 2. Despite all the crap that the Government tells travelers about checking in and being welcome, that was not the case. I do a good amount of Travel Consulting work, so do visit many embassy's here and in other lands. With the exception on our Embassy in Paris, I have not a good word for Canada. More on that in another post. In this instance, I wanted to talk to the people in the Visa section. The Canadian Embassy is on the 15th floor of what is said to be the most expensive office building in Thailand, known as Abdulrahim Place. Security inside the door directed me to a counter where a Thai told me I could not go up, then told me the Visa section was about five kilometers away, and not easy to get to. They had no cards or any document to give, but a plastic coated sheet that one could take a photo of, with the contact information; I wrote that info down, held up the line to do so, then, back at the hotel, found all information was outdated, and emails all returned as "unable to deliver."
July 4 was a day to do a bit of small item shopping, and relaxing, and on 4th, had a massage and readied for trip home. I went to the hotel lobby at midnight and read until three A.M., when I took a taxi to the airport.
Upon check in, I was given the three boarding passes and, only then discovered that United had changed my flight from Newark to Ottawa, almost two hours earlier than original.
The flights with All Nippon and United to Newark were great and on time. While flying over Sault Ste Marie, we were served a "lunch snack", in a bun...the food was totally unidentifiable. Later, as we were going through the security checks at Newark, for the first time in my travels, ever, by carry on bag was taken from the x-ray machine, and I was asked to step aside for a check.
This big chap, with a Brooklyn accent asked me if I had any "Unidentifiable food", in the luggage, because there was something inside they could not identify. I told hem, "No, United served us that over the Soo, and I gave it back to them". He had a good laugh, then I opened the bag and showed him.....the found nothing unusual.
We finally got on the flight to Ottawa, and returned to the terminal after twenty minutes due to thunder storms in Ottawa, Toronto area. We finally arrived in Ottawa, a bit later than the original schedule.
I will do a fill in blog by the end of this week, and also outline plans for the next adventure, which will be in the winter for 75 days.
The return trip to here was not without some unexpected events. The trip from the town of So Phisai on July 1 to Udon Thani is, as I have said only 127 kilometers, but the bus took us almost four hours. The only things that did not pass us were two men walking, and someone with a motor bike that had broken down. We stopped many times to pick up and drop off passengers, in an air conditioned...Thai style bus....all windows open four inches, and a door at the front and back open all the way.
A Tuk Tuk, (took took), was our ride from bus station to the airport, and a good 45 minute back to Bangkok's second airport, on the north side of the city known as Don Mueng. It serves most of the domestic travel. It was dinner time when I got to the hotel. The following day had been reserved for dental appointments so that went good, got excellent report, good for another year.
I wanted to do some work at the Canadian Embassy, so did a short walk over there on July 2. Despite all the crap that the Government tells travelers about checking in and being welcome, that was not the case. I do a good amount of Travel Consulting work, so do visit many embassy's here and in other lands. With the exception on our Embassy in Paris, I have not a good word for Canada. More on that in another post. In this instance, I wanted to talk to the people in the Visa section. The Canadian Embassy is on the 15th floor of what is said to be the most expensive office building in Thailand, known as Abdulrahim Place. Security inside the door directed me to a counter where a Thai told me I could not go up, then told me the Visa section was about five kilometers away, and not easy to get to. They had no cards or any document to give, but a plastic coated sheet that one could take a photo of, with the contact information; I wrote that info down, held up the line to do so, then, back at the hotel, found all information was outdated, and emails all returned as "unable to deliver."
July 4 was a day to do a bit of small item shopping, and relaxing, and on 4th, had a massage and readied for trip home. I went to the hotel lobby at midnight and read until three A.M., when I took a taxi to the airport.
Upon check in, I was given the three boarding passes and, only then discovered that United had changed my flight from Newark to Ottawa, almost two hours earlier than original.
The flights with All Nippon and United to Newark were great and on time. While flying over Sault Ste Marie, we were served a "lunch snack", in a bun...the food was totally unidentifiable. Later, as we were going through the security checks at Newark, for the first time in my travels, ever, by carry on bag was taken from the x-ray machine, and I was asked to step aside for a check.
This big chap, with a Brooklyn accent asked me if I had any "Unidentifiable food", in the luggage, because there was something inside they could not identify. I told hem, "No, United served us that over the Soo, and I gave it back to them". He had a good laugh, then I opened the bag and showed him.....the found nothing unusual.
We finally got on the flight to Ottawa, and returned to the terminal after twenty minutes due to thunder storms in Ottawa, Toronto area. We finally arrived in Ottawa, a bit later than the original schedule.
I will do a fill in blog by the end of this week, and also outline plans for the next adventure, which will be in the winter for 75 days.
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