It is shaping up to be a fantastic summer. We've got reservations for a tandem bike in Tuscany and on the West Coast Trail. I finally got around to getting my act together with the Thailand travelogue and first of the photos (I haven't scanned the conventional photos yet, so there's only the digital ones).
Friday, May 23, 2003
Thailand Travelogue
The trip has a rough start. With the uncertain situation in Kuwait, we had made several contingency travel plans: home, Oman, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Italy, we even looked into going to China! By the time the vacation was near, we argued about who had to call the travel agent to request a change, we were both sure she hated talking to us because it meant making another booking that we had little chance of using or trying to meet another of our requests.
Then on Monday, the US Embassy finally issued the ordered evacuation that would extend the holiday and provide financial assistance for the teachers to travel. By the middle of the morning, the principal had come around to ask if we wanted our flight home or cash in lieu. Since we already had our booking to Thailand (and it was already looking like it might be tight getting out) and we though the break would likely be brief and we would be back to school in a couple weeks, we opted for the cash. We would continue on salary, plus the school would give us money for the price of a ticket to Canada to cover the cost of our ticket to Thailand, plus a few dollars for spending money.
However, just as we got home and were about to go pick up our ticket, the director of the school called to let us know there had been a misunderstanding. He told us that teachers who took the flight home (or cash in lieu) would not receive the bonus that the school had previously offered to teachers who stayed and worked while the school was open. Up till then, he had promised that if the evacuation happened to coincide with a holiday, that teachers might claim both, as long as they didn't miss any days of school.
With our disappointment and mistrust of the school beginning to grow, we picked up our ticket and were ready to go. When school ended Wednesday afternoon, we hurried home and picked up our bags, locked up and headed out to the airport. We arrived half an hour before the counter even opened and joined the mob to wait. There were six flights to Cairo that were delayed and all their passengers with all their belongings (including at least probverbial two kitchen sinks from the size of the mounds of luggage) occupied any floor that wasn't dedicated to the mobs that were waiting to check in. After an hour of pushing, jockeying, shoving, elbowing, and the telling off of one Kuwaiti woman who "just needed to talk" to the counter agent (along with her four tickets and passports, mind you), we had our boarding passes in hand and were headed through to the lounge.
We were left in the line to board for a nervous hour, and finally, we were off. By the way, keen observer that I am, I noticed that they will not serve beer until after the plane has taken off. Thai Airways was comfortable enough and popped us out into Bangkok the next morning. By the time we arrived at our guest house in the centre of Bangkok, the bombing had begun in Iraq. After a little nap, we headed out into the streets to see all of the wonders Bangkok had to offer.
We stayed along Khao San Road, the backpackers headquarters in Bangkok.
The streets are lined with bars, restaurants, travel agents and shops selling everything from Thai handicrafts to used books to knockoffs of brand-name everything. It was a typical city in a developing country. The streets and sidewalks teemed with vendors to the point where it was difficult even to walk down them. When the police arrived, the vendors on the street packed up instantaneously and hurried around the corner.
We spent the first two days kind of decompressing from the rigours of staying in Kuwait until the last minute. But at the same time, we stayed in touch with the situation there. I felt fortunate when I watched the empty streets of downtown Kuwait as the first of the air raid sirens went off. But I also felt sad for the people I knew who could not afford to leave even if they wanted to.
We visited the temples and palaces around the old city. Thailand has never been a colony. Some of its buildings reflect the arrival of Europeans in the area, but there are almost no entirely colonial or European buildings.
There is a definite Thai architecture. Statues teem and the roofs sparkle with coloured glass mosiacs.
Temples house the usual collection of numerous and/or enormous Buddhas reside. For a religion that strives to eliminate desire for worldly things, the temples certainly reflect a bigger and more is better attitude.
Bangkok is a test even for the seasoned traveller. In our ten minute walk to the palace, we were approached twice by seeming passersby who just wanted to let us know that the palace as closed until the afternoon due to a Buddhist observance when was open all along. And that sort of helpful deception continued. At first it was surprising, then funny, but finally it just made us want to leave.
The national museum is immense, well designed and signed.
After 45 minutes we found ourselves only partway through the first of its almost 40 buildings. The museum is as if someone took a university textbook covering the complete history of Thailand and turned it into maps, videos, dioramas, models and artifacts to accompany the pages of writing. We gave up on watching the videos and trying to understand the history of Thailand to just look at their loot.
After two days of the bustle of the capital, we boarded a second class sleeper train to for the north. We chugged out of the station on time in a clean and comfortable car. About an hour into the trip, the attendant came and efficiently turned the seats into beds (and even made the beds for us). We climbed up (the bottom bunk tickets were sold out) into our beds for the night.
The ride would have been entirely wonderful, if it weren't for the a/c being left on full blast all night. By the time we arrived in Chaing Mai, most of the passengers were huddle in their seats trying to keep warm.
Chiang Mai is a wonderful small city. It is the capital of the north and the center for a booming trekking industry. There are tons of restaurants and hotels, even an Irish pub (run by an Australian, which apologized that Thailand was out of Guinness). But the city has not developed that attitude that usually accompanies tourists. The city also has hundreds of temples
and a strong artisan community (both traditional and contemporary).
People were friendly and helpful (and honest), and prices were very reasonable. We even felt safe enough to rent a little motorcycle to tour the city.
Karla fell ill after a night in the icebox/train. While she recovered (then shopped), I went on a overnight hike to see one of the "remote" hill tribes. The walk was easy and the village was far from remote, but my fellow hikers were a fun group. The Thai government, in an effort to improve the standard of living of the mostly fruit farming (and occasionally opium growing) people have build recreation centers and schools. The village we visited had a ping-pong table, soccer field and a court to play the local sport, a combination of volleyball and hacky-sack, all build around the school and the solar-powered community TV. That evening, we played a pick-up game of soccer with the village kids. When we left the next morning, the kids were all grouped around the TV.
We left Chiang Mai for Ko Pha Ngan, a small island in the Gulf of Thailand whose remote location preserves its quiet pace. After 24 hours of travel (overnight train, internal flight, 2 hours on a bus, three hours on a ferry and 45 minutes in the back of a pickup truck along rutted dirt road) we arrive and took up residence in our own little bamboo hut on the beach, complete with private bathroom, fan and mosquito net.
The beach was practically empty.
The nearest neighbours were at least 50 feet in either direction. There was breakfast, lunch and dinner and beach. If we made it to all three meals, it was a busy day. The town was a strip of simple hotels and restaurants. On our second day the German couple that we rode the truck to our hotel with invited us to a fundraising dinner for the local school. When we arrived, even before we had reached the food stands, we heard our names and looked into the crowd to see a friend from Kuwait. It turned out that Dave was installed at the beach next to ours.
The next day we walked over the hill and down to the next beach to visit. The town wasn't quite as quiet as the one we were staying at, but we decided to move over to join Dave and a couple of other teachers from another school in Kuwait that were staying at the same beach. We had someone to commiserate with when the missle hit Souk Sharq in Kuwait city and the schools still called us back for the next week.
After a few days on the beach, we headed back to Bangkok. We debated staying on longer, and left in mid-debate. We had flight reservations that we decided to keep. I hoped that we would still have the holiday extended by the school before we left. We arrived in Bangkok with two days before we had to get on a plane to return to Kuwait. We avoided the tourist alley we stayed in when we first arrived in favour of Siam Square, an area near the university where we would see more of the "real Thailand".
Siam Square is home to several embassies, almost as many Starbucks, at least two of every fast-food restaurant and two 7-11s on every city block. It was almost like being back in Kuwait. We enjoyed, The Hours, the first real, uncut movie we had seen since we left and called our director with a few questions about going back.
On the day we left, we took the train to the airport and dropped off our bags then continued to Ayuthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand.
Even though it has never been a colony of anyone, it has been sacked by the Laos, Burmese and Khmers. All that is left of the ancient city are extensive ruins of temple and palace foundations with a few towers and walls standing.
By the time we boarded the plane, there were 7 Kuwaiti teachers standing together in Bangkok. In the boarding lounge in Dubai, we numbered 30. No one was really happy to go back, but we had all decided for our own reasons that it was time to go back.
Then on Monday, the US Embassy finally issued the ordered evacuation that would extend the holiday and provide financial assistance for the teachers to travel. By the middle of the morning, the principal had come around to ask if we wanted our flight home or cash in lieu. Since we already had our booking to Thailand (and it was already looking like it might be tight getting out) and we though the break would likely be brief and we would be back to school in a couple weeks, we opted for the cash. We would continue on salary, plus the school would give us money for the price of a ticket to Canada to cover the cost of our ticket to Thailand, plus a few dollars for spending money.
However, just as we got home and were about to go pick up our ticket, the director of the school called to let us know there had been a misunderstanding. He told us that teachers who took the flight home (or cash in lieu) would not receive the bonus that the school had previously offered to teachers who stayed and worked while the school was open. Up till then, he had promised that if the evacuation happened to coincide with a holiday, that teachers might claim both, as long as they didn't miss any days of school.
With our disappointment and mistrust of the school beginning to grow, we picked up our ticket and were ready to go. When school ended Wednesday afternoon, we hurried home and picked up our bags, locked up and headed out to the airport. We arrived half an hour before the counter even opened and joined the mob to wait. There were six flights to Cairo that were delayed and all their passengers with all their belongings (including at least probverbial two kitchen sinks from the size of the mounds of luggage) occupied any floor that wasn't dedicated to the mobs that were waiting to check in. After an hour of pushing, jockeying, shoving, elbowing, and the telling off of one Kuwaiti woman who "just needed to talk" to the counter agent (along with her four tickets and passports, mind you), we had our boarding passes in hand and were headed through to the lounge.
We were left in the line to board for a nervous hour, and finally, we were off. By the way, keen observer that I am, I noticed that they will not serve beer until after the plane has taken off. Thai Airways was comfortable enough and popped us out into Bangkok the next morning. By the time we arrived at our guest house in the centre of Bangkok, the bombing had begun in Iraq. After a little nap, we headed out into the streets to see all of the wonders Bangkok had to offer.
We stayed along Khao San Road, the backpackers headquarters in Bangkok.
The streets are lined with bars, restaurants, travel agents and shops selling everything from Thai handicrafts to used books to knockoffs of brand-name everything. It was a typical city in a developing country. The streets and sidewalks teemed with vendors to the point where it was difficult even to walk down them. When the police arrived, the vendors on the street packed up instantaneously and hurried around the corner.
We spent the first two days kind of decompressing from the rigours of staying in Kuwait until the last minute. But at the same time, we stayed in touch with the situation there. I felt fortunate when I watched the empty streets of downtown Kuwait as the first of the air raid sirens went off. But I also felt sad for the people I knew who could not afford to leave even if they wanted to.
We visited the temples and palaces around the old city. Thailand has never been a colony. Some of its buildings reflect the arrival of Europeans in the area, but there are almost no entirely colonial or European buildings.
There is a definite Thai architecture. Statues teem and the roofs sparkle with coloured glass mosiacs.
Temples house the usual collection of numerous and/or enormous Buddhas reside. For a religion that strives to eliminate desire for worldly things, the temples certainly reflect a bigger and more is better attitude.
Bangkok is a test even for the seasoned traveller. In our ten minute walk to the palace, we were approached twice by seeming passersby who just wanted to let us know that the palace as closed until the afternoon due to a Buddhist observance when was open all along. And that sort of helpful deception continued. At first it was surprising, then funny, but finally it just made us want to leave.
The national museum is immense, well designed and signed.
After 45 minutes we found ourselves only partway through the first of its almost 40 buildings. The museum is as if someone took a university textbook covering the complete history of Thailand and turned it into maps, videos, dioramas, models and artifacts to accompany the pages of writing. We gave up on watching the videos and trying to understand the history of Thailand to just look at their loot.
After two days of the bustle of the capital, we boarded a second class sleeper train to for the north. We chugged out of the station on time in a clean and comfortable car. About an hour into the trip, the attendant came and efficiently turned the seats into beds (and even made the beds for us). We climbed up (the bottom bunk tickets were sold out) into our beds for the night.
The ride would have been entirely wonderful, if it weren't for the a/c being left on full blast all night. By the time we arrived in Chaing Mai, most of the passengers were huddle in their seats trying to keep warm.
Chiang Mai is a wonderful small city. It is the capital of the north and the center for a booming trekking industry. There are tons of restaurants and hotels, even an Irish pub (run by an Australian, which apologized that Thailand was out of Guinness). But the city has not developed that attitude that usually accompanies tourists. The city also has hundreds of temples
and a strong artisan community (both traditional and contemporary).
People were friendly and helpful (and honest), and prices were very reasonable. We even felt safe enough to rent a little motorcycle to tour the city.
Karla fell ill after a night in the icebox/train. While she recovered (then shopped), I went on a overnight hike to see one of the "remote" hill tribes. The walk was easy and the village was far from remote, but my fellow hikers were a fun group. The Thai government, in an effort to improve the standard of living of the mostly fruit farming (and occasionally opium growing) people have build recreation centers and schools. The village we visited had a ping-pong table, soccer field and a court to play the local sport, a combination of volleyball and hacky-sack, all build around the school and the solar-powered community TV. That evening, we played a pick-up game of soccer with the village kids. When we left the next morning, the kids were all grouped around the TV.
We left Chiang Mai for Ko Pha Ngan, a small island in the Gulf of Thailand whose remote location preserves its quiet pace. After 24 hours of travel (overnight train, internal flight, 2 hours on a bus, three hours on a ferry and 45 minutes in the back of a pickup truck along rutted dirt road) we arrive and took up residence in our own little bamboo hut on the beach, complete with private bathroom, fan and mosquito net.
The beach was practically empty.
The nearest neighbours were at least 50 feet in either direction. There was breakfast, lunch and dinner and beach. If we made it to all three meals, it was a busy day. The town was a strip of simple hotels and restaurants. On our second day the German couple that we rode the truck to our hotel with invited us to a fundraising dinner for the local school. When we arrived, even before we had reached the food stands, we heard our names and looked into the crowd to see a friend from Kuwait. It turned out that Dave was installed at the beach next to ours.
The next day we walked over the hill and down to the next beach to visit. The town wasn't quite as quiet as the one we were staying at, but we decided to move over to join Dave and a couple of other teachers from another school in Kuwait that were staying at the same beach. We had someone to commiserate with when the missle hit Souk Sharq in Kuwait city and the schools still called us back for the next week.
After a few days on the beach, we headed back to Bangkok. We debated staying on longer, and left in mid-debate. We had flight reservations that we decided to keep. I hoped that we would still have the holiday extended by the school before we left. We arrived in Bangkok with two days before we had to get on a plane to return to Kuwait. We avoided the tourist alley we stayed in when we first arrived in favour of Siam Square, an area near the university where we would see more of the "real Thailand".
Siam Square is home to several embassies, almost as many Starbucks, at least two of every fast-food restaurant and two 7-11s on every city block. It was almost like being back in Kuwait. We enjoyed, The Hours, the first real, uncut movie we had seen since we left and called our director with a few questions about going back.
On the day we left, we took the train to the airport and dropped off our bags then continued to Ayuthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand.
Even though it has never been a colony of anyone, it has been sacked by the Laos, Burmese and Khmers. All that is left of the ancient city are extensive ruins of temple and palace foundations with a few towers and walls standing.
By the time we boarded the plane, there were 7 Kuwaiti teachers standing together in Bangkok. In the boarding lounge in Dubai, we numbered 30. No one was really happy to go back, but we had all decided for our own reasons that it was time to go back.
Thursday, May 15, 2003
The calendar has been updated to again. We are stopping over in Italy on the way home. We've rented a tandem bike to spend a week riding around Tuscany. Right now, we are also thinking of squeezing in the West Coast Trail at the end of June.
June
11
12Kuwait-Rome
13 Cycling in Tuscany
14
15
16
17
18
19 Rome
20
21
22Rome-Frankfurt
23Frankfurt-Vancouver
24 WCT Preparations
25
26A walk on the West Coast Trail
27
28
29
30
July 1!!!!!
2 More Vancouver
3
4 Eugene, Oregon
5
6 Chris' Wedding
7 Seattle
8 Fernie - Wing night
9
10
11
12Travel day
13 Canoe Tipr
14
15
16
17
18 Regina
19 Kara's Wedding
20 Humboldt
21
22
23
24
25 Calgary
26 Folk
27 Festival
28 Saskatoon
29
30
31
August 1
2
3
4
5
6
7 Edmonton Folk Festival
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17 Fernie
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28 Calgary
29
30 Calgary-Frankfurt
31 Frankfurt-Kuwait
September 1
2
3 Back to work
Comments and suggestions welcome.
June
11
12Kuwait-Rome
13 Cycling in Tuscany
14
15
16
17
18
19 Rome
20
21
22Rome-Frankfurt
23Frankfurt-Vancouver
24 WCT Preparations
25
26A walk on the West Coast Trail
27
28
29
30
July 1!!!!!
2 More Vancouver
3
4 Eugene, Oregon
5
6 Chris' Wedding
7 Seattle
8 Fernie - Wing night
9
10
11
12Travel day
13 Canoe Tipr
14
15
16
17
18 Regina
19 Kara's Wedding
20 Humboldt
21
22
23
24
25 Calgary
26 Folk
27 Festival
28 Saskatoon
29
30
31
August 1
2
3
4
5
6
7 Edmonton Folk Festival
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17 Fernie
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28 Calgary
29
30 Calgary-Frankfurt
31 Frankfurt-Kuwait
September 1
2
3 Back to work
Comments and suggestions welcome.
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Report card grades are all filled in after two busy weeks. The Thailand travelogue is still "under development". Before the war, we got a little behind in our marking. But eight weeks from yesterday is the last day of school! As of June 12th we are on summer holidays, and we don't have to report back until September 3rd.
In other news, we finally joined the majority of people in Kuwait by buying a mobile phone. We have a line here in Kuwait, which you can use to get in touch with us at (965) 902-5583 (965 is the country code for Kuwait, there is no area code). We plan to get a different line in Canada when we get back for the summer so we can use it as we move around.
In other news, we finally joined the majority of people in Kuwait by buying a mobile phone. We have a line here in Kuwait, which you can use to get in touch with us at (965) 902-5583 (965 is the country code for Kuwait, there is no area code). We plan to get a different line in Canada when we get back for the summer so we can use it as we move around.
Sunday, March 23, 2003
We safely escaped Kuwait. We left on the last of the Thai Air flights out. The airport on Wednesday night was a zoo. Mostly, it was made difficult by Kuwaitis who had stand-by tickets who pushed their way to the front of the "line" (ie. mob) and expected to get seats. But we survived the pushing and shoving in the line and the long wait to get on the plane. We landed in Thailand, very happy to be here , but with no plan. After a couple days in Bangkok, we are now in Chaing Mai. Here in the north we will do a bit of hiking before heading down to the south and the beaches. We are hoping for a third week of vacation to visit some of the ancient cities, but if we don't get it, we already plan to come back. Don't worry about us. We are safe and happy here. Thailand is a wonderful place. It will definitely go on the list of places to meet up.
Monday, March 17, 2003
I though a few people might drop in to visit. George spoke about 40 minutes ago with his ultimatum to Saddam Hussein. The 48 hour windows puts us through to Thursday morning, Kuwait time.
We are scheduled to leave on Wednesday night on a flight to Bangkok, Thailand. The school, in one of their few wise decisions, have extended our spring break to two weeks. The break could be extended further, if the military action continues longer than the two weeks.
Yesterday, when the evacuation was ordered, the mood at the school became very excited. Teachers were happy that some decision had been made. The administration came around and asked teachers if they would prefer a ticket home or a cash payment (which we took as we already had a reservation to Thailand).
By the end of the day, we had all made plans. At a staff meeting the school began to revoke its promises. First, the one month salary advance that accompanies the ticket home in case of an evacuation would not be given since we are being paid our regular salary this week. Furthermore, the money the school claimed it had to pay for such a situation would not be available. Teachers who wanted the money to pay for the tickets that they had booked on t he school's advice were told that the school could not say when they might be paid. The school has said that teachers who work everyday that the school is open will receive a bonus at the end of the year. If the evacuation accompanied a school closure, the bonus would not be affected. Minutes after we got home, we received a call from our director saying that their announcement that evacuation would not affect the bonus, had been a misunderstanding. Now the school's position was that staff who took the evacuation would give up the bonus.
Karla and I are not impressed by the school and their decisions not to live up to their word. But departure is a day and a half away for us. As long as the airlines continue operating and there is no pre-emptive attack from Iraq, we will leave on Wednesday night (Wednesday morning, North American time). Hopefully, the next posting will have photos of Thailand.
Hoping for as short and safe a conflict as possible...
We are scheduled to leave on Wednesday night on a flight to Bangkok, Thailand. The school, in one of their few wise decisions, have extended our spring break to two weeks. The break could be extended further, if the military action continues longer than the two weeks.
Yesterday, when the evacuation was ordered, the mood at the school became very excited. Teachers were happy that some decision had been made. The administration came around and asked teachers if they would prefer a ticket home or a cash payment (which we took as we already had a reservation to Thailand).
By the end of the day, we had all made plans. At a staff meeting the school began to revoke its promises. First, the one month salary advance that accompanies the ticket home in case of an evacuation would not be given since we are being paid our regular salary this week. Furthermore, the money the school claimed it had to pay for such a situation would not be available. Teachers who wanted the money to pay for the tickets that they had booked on t he school's advice were told that the school could not say when they might be paid. The school has said that teachers who work everyday that the school is open will receive a bonus at the end of the year. If the evacuation accompanied a school closure, the bonus would not be affected. Minutes after we got home, we received a call from our director saying that their announcement that evacuation would not affect the bonus, had been a misunderstanding. Now the school's position was that staff who took the evacuation would give up the bonus.
Karla and I are not impressed by the school and their decisions not to live up to their word. But departure is a day and a half away for us. As long as the airlines continue operating and there is no pre-emptive attack from Iraq, we will leave on Wednesday night (Wednesday morning, North American time). Hopefully, the next posting will have photos of Thailand.
Hoping for as short and safe a conflict as possible...
Friday, March 14, 2003
It's been a week of ups and downs.
Some schools have come back from the extended holidays they took at the beginning of February (and some are due back on the 22nd) to face futures that are much more uncertain than when they sent their teachers and students home. Our school has hung in there and stayed open. Teachers have left in a trickle since the beginning of February and we are now at about 2/3 staff. A few of the teachers that left have come back, having run out of money or faced some other unfortunate consequence of not working.
The staff requested a meeting with the board to talk to them about what plans are in place for evacuating the staff. We met on Monday afternoon. Despite the March 17th deadline, the school continued to take a wait and see attitude. It would not make a prediction about the start of hostilities and cancel school, or extend the holidays. At the meeting, this upset quite a few of the teachers and the director faced quite a few accusations of the school not being concerned about the welfare of its teachers. The director did however show a much better understanding of the staff's feelings by the end of the meeting.
The next day, the UK proposed its extension, and the certainty that the invasion would begin before our vacation that begins on the 19th looked less certain. We all felt more secure, holiday plans began to extend. If an invasion started during the holiday, who knows how long it might last.
Now, with it looks like a vote, if it even happens will take place on Monday. So our Wednesday holiday will go ahead. Our next worry is that will we over having to come back at the end of a holiday. (Is it wrong to hope for the war to start so we can stay in Thailand for a couple extra weeks?) Unfortunately, the board probably won't extend the vacation unless it is fairly definite that an attack will begin.
What we really fear is that the discussions over disarmament will continue over the summer and into the fall. And that when we come back next year, we will just be repeating the same situation all over again. (If it's wrong to hope for a war to stay in Thailand, it's even worse to hope for a war to make life a little easier)
Sunday, March 02, 2003
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
It is an extra long weekend in Kuwait. National Day and Liberation Day (the anniversary of the end of the Iraqi occupation) occur on consecutive days. The roads were full of honking cars last night with people hanging out of the windows waving flags, and covering each other in spray snow. Kuwait showed that it is different from the rest of the middle east there were a few American flags being proudly flown among the hundreds of Kuwaiti flags.
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Friday, February 14, 2003
The Canadian Embassy issued a stage two evacuation notice today, matching the US who announced stage two on January 30th (the Canadian Embassy has already announced that a stage three announcement will be done together). Hans Blix makes his statement in about 5 hours from now. School resumes tomorrow for the staff and Sunday for the students.
For the moment, we intend to stay and watch how things develop. Important decisions will likely be made in the next few days. We are going to try to make a airline reservation to make getting home that much easier if and when we make that decision.
It is true that three of the schools in Kuwait have closed for extended holidays until the end of February up to the end of March. These are schools that serve the American and diplomatic communities and are more effected by the US's evacuation of families. Those schools are scheduled to restart classes and run on extended hours until the end of June.
Like anywhere in a time of change or uncertainty, Kuwait is awash in rumors. We laugh when we listen to the American news, especially the reports from Kuwait. There is an increased police force on the streets and military vehicles posted around the palace, but otherwise things are nothing like the crisis situations that they describe. This weekend at the mall, the parking lot was full, there were inflatable jungle gyms for the kids to play on, and even when a fire alarm was set off by one of the restaurants in the food court, the line-up at Starbucks hardly stirred. This is hardly the war-ready state that the news would have you believe Kuwait is in. Nevertheless, Jamie and I try to remain alert and ready to get out should it seem warranted.
For the moment, we intend to stay and watch how things develop. Important decisions will likely be made in the next few days. We are going to try to make a airline reservation to make getting home that much easier if and when we make that decision.
It is true that three of the schools in Kuwait have closed for extended holidays until the end of February up to the end of March. These are schools that serve the American and diplomatic communities and are more effected by the US's evacuation of families. Those schools are scheduled to restart classes and run on extended hours until the end of June.
Like anywhere in a time of change or uncertainty, Kuwait is awash in rumors. We laugh when we listen to the American news, especially the reports from Kuwait. There is an increased police force on the streets and military vehicles posted around the palace, but otherwise things are nothing like the crisis situations that they describe. This weekend at the mall, the parking lot was full, there were inflatable jungle gyms for the kids to play on, and even when a fire alarm was set off by one of the restaurants in the food court, the line-up at Starbucks hardly stirred. This is hardly the war-ready state that the news would have you believe Kuwait is in. Nevertheless, Jamie and I try to remain alert and ready to get out should it seem warranted.
Friday, January 31, 2003
Today, the US embassy in Kuwait released a warden's message advising that all non-essential US citizens should leave the country. It is not an evacuation (yet) and it doesn't apply to us (yet). It's an admission that there may be an evacuation, and that an evacuation will be easier with fewer people and without babies and other needy passengers. If such an evacuation were to take place, the embassy says it will take place over a week or two and be done by commercial airlines (KLM, Lufthansa, British Airways, etc). The Canadian embassy in Kuwait, which also issued a warden's message today, is not advising anyone that they leave Kuwait.
This weekend we got a package together with all our important documents and changed some money into US dollars. We have decided not to travel this holiday. Karla has had a sore throat for a few weeks and doesn't feel like moving around too much. We are also saving a bit of money in case we end up taking an extended break. The ministry of education here has said that if there is a military action, schools will be closed for 15 days. And after that a decision will be made to reopen the schools or to close them down until September. (Note to relatives: Who has space for a couple of couch surfers until late August? Does anyone know about any under the table jobs for a couple of non-residents?) (Note to the taxman: Ignore that last sentence.)
These are interesting times (to say the least). We are talking with the school and each other daily to decide what we will do. For the moment, we are going to continue working (which our contract says we have to). If there is an evacuation notice, we will turn our noses up at the rumoured double salary for those who stay and come home. If we leave, it is with the understanding that if the school's population shrinks due to Kuwaiti families leaving the country for the duration of the fighting or longer, we may not be called back until September. We would hope that the evacuation would be brief (How long can Iraq remain a threat?) and that the impact on Kuwait of any combat would be minimal (No surprises falling from the sky). That way our students' families would be more likely to come back and re-start our jobs.
So, to sum up, it's a time to be vigilant (ear to the ground, stick on the ice), but not to be fearful or worried. We are prepared; we are connected; we stay informed. As Jasper says on the Dead Dog Cafe: Stay calm. Be brave. Wait for the signs.
This weekend we got a package together with all our important documents and changed some money into US dollars. We have decided not to travel this holiday. Karla has had a sore throat for a few weeks and doesn't feel like moving around too much. We are also saving a bit of money in case we end up taking an extended break. The ministry of education here has said that if there is a military action, schools will be closed for 15 days. And after that a decision will be made to reopen the schools or to close them down until September. (Note to relatives: Who has space for a couple of couch surfers until late August? Does anyone know about any under the table jobs for a couple of non-residents?) (Note to the taxman: Ignore that last sentence.)
These are interesting times (to say the least). We are talking with the school and each other daily to decide what we will do. For the moment, we are going to continue working (which our contract says we have to). If there is an evacuation notice, we will turn our noses up at the rumoured double salary for those who stay and come home. If we leave, it is with the understanding that if the school's population shrinks due to Kuwaiti families leaving the country for the duration of the fighting or longer, we may not be called back until September. We would hope that the evacuation would be brief (How long can Iraq remain a threat?) and that the impact on Kuwait of any combat would be minimal (No surprises falling from the sky). That way our students' families would be more likely to come back and re-start our jobs.
So, to sum up, it's a time to be vigilant (ear to the ground, stick on the ice), but not to be fearful or worried. We are prepared; we are connected; we stay informed. As Jasper says on the Dead Dog Cafe: Stay calm. Be brave. Wait for the signs.
Saturday, January 18, 2003
First day of exams. The students are done at 10 on some mornings and at 8:30 on the others. The teachers still have to stay until 2:30. Happily, the tutoring crush is almost over. It has been exhausting. So far the submissions page is not working. I lack the knowledge to make it work. The books explain how it is possible, but FrontPage won't let me set it up the way it says it should be able to help me do it. I am sure someone out there has written a web page about it. The pop-up windows in the Sri Lankan travelogue are a web learned feature.
Sri Lanka Travelogue
Two weeks in Sri Lanka was just not enough. We weren’t ready to leave the tranquil beaches, the leafy landscape or the friendly people. We left reluctantly already talking about possibly going back to enjoy the things we still wanted to do (or to take up surfing as an alternative to teaching).
It all started with an overnight flight the day school let out that deposited us at the airport (a awkward 40 kms north of the capital) at 5:30 in the morning. Fortunately, our guest house (the Sri Lankan term for a B and B – that offered anything from only the bed to complete room and board) let us check in early and we slept that morning and got out into Colombo for the afternoon. Russ met us and took us around. Wouldn’t you know it. We landed on a poya day (the Buddhist full moon holiday) and there was no alcohol to be had anywhere. Colombo was nothing special. Your average developing country big city: dirty, busy, polluted, but still the center of the country’s business and people.
After a couple days we were ready to hit the road. We followed the guide book to a little hole-in-the-wall travel agent, who walked us to see some friends who were still in the business of cars and drivers. We got ourselves set up with Ari and his white van for 8 days.
We left the capital to find that crowed, narrow, winding roads were the rule all through the country. Thank goodness the country is so small. If you can average 40 km/h you are making great progress. We spent the next three days touring the ancient cities and temples north of Kandy.
Dambulla rock caves, hidden high hill, behind the world’s largest (and possibly gaudiest) gold sitting Buddha, were frescoed top to bottom and filled with statues, many of which were part of the mountain just not chipped away when the caves were enlarged.
Sigiriya was the highlight of the trip. The history goes that the bastard son of the king killed his father and drove the legitimate son into India. He got nervous and spent the next 30 years building an unassailable castle/palace on top an enormous rock.
A metal pathway has been bolted into the side of the mountain to get up to the enormous lion statue who's mouth once served as the starting point for the final sheer ascent.
Only the foundations of the palace are left.
It is beyond my imagination to envision what a splendid and remarkable place it must have been. The legitimate son did come back. The bastard and his army took a wrong turn and got stuck in a swamp. The army deserted its leader, who killed himself. Also partway up there is the only example of secular ancient art in Sri Lanka. Several women's portraits served as a kind of ancient Playboy for the ruler.
Eventually the palace was forgotten and just rediscovered in the last century.
Later that day we headed out a road (it barley qualified!) that Ari told us had been too dangerous to use in years past because of the separatist movement. An hour got us 20 kms through rice fields and small villages to Medirigiriya.
It was practically abandoned and the guards were having a little swim in the lake when we got there. Words don’t do it justice. The rock of the columns and statues shone like it was encrusted with raw diamonds.
The next day we set out on clunky Chinese bicycles for a tour of the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, the 13th century capital of Sri Lanka.
The city is on the shore of a large lake that is, to a great degree, man-made. It was carved out from the rock by a series of kings (all trying to outdo each other) whose philosophy was that “not a drop of rain shall flow to the ocean until it has been used by man.” A great museum helped to recreate some of the ruins.
We almost got rained on and practiced riding bikes with umbrellas. By partway through the bike tour we were feeling ruin-apathy, the affect of too many ruin visits.
One more stop to see a temple that had been moved due to a hydro project pushed us over the edge and we were happy to get to Kandy where we would spend Christmas. Christmas eve, we visited the Elephant orphanage where they take care of young and injured elephants and train them to be working animals. The keepers have them very well trained (with big metal spears – but I guess you need to show them who’s boss). We were face to face with about 60 of the big guys as they rounded them up to take them down to the river for their bath. We also took a long walk around the botanical gardens – which should rightfully be called the “bat”-tanical gardens due to the huge bats filling the trees and the skies above.
Christmas day was quiet. It is a holiday in Sri Lanka, so most of the shops were closed. We roamed around a bit, made a couple of phone calls home and then spent the rest of the day eating and drinking. The Kandy dancers did some fine footwork and then walked on hot coals at the end of the show to cool off.
We had Christmas dinner at a fancy hotel. A children’s choir came in and sang some carols for us and we got a visit from Santa Claus himself. He came danced along to the carols ringing his single sleigh bell. He wore one of those grotesque rubber old-man Santa masks and his white gloves were latex (we discovered when he shook our hands on his tour of the room).
Boxing day we set out on Sri Lanka’s narrow twisty roads again, headed into the high country. On our way, we passed two men painted a fresh line down he road that gently weaved from side to side. One man guided the other as he held a small can of paint and a paint brush and painted the lines one by one. Ari, told us the line was going to be the new middle of the road when they got around to widening it. We arrived at our small guest house around lunch. We spent the afternoon roaming around the small town getting ready for our big climb to the top of Adam’s peak the next morning. We settled into bed early.
The next morning we got up at 2:30 to be on the peak for sunrise. After a quick cup of tea, banana and handful of cookies, we began the ascent. The path began as a road, lined by stalls selling refreshments as it climbed out of the town. As we walked, stairs began to interrupt the path that was still as wide as a dirt road. As we climbed the path stairs became more and more regular. The last hour of the three hour climb was one winding but continual flight of stairs up to an immense concrete temple perched on the top. The temple houses a footprint that is a pilgrimage site for Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. During the peak pilgrimage season, there can be 20 000 people climbing the mountain at one time.
We were five out of about 300 that were at the top for the beautiful cloud-obscured sunrise. We could see green mountain tops poking through the low blue clouds as the light intensified.
Finally the sun broke out above the clouds on the horizon and rose up to cast a shadow the the mountain across the western half of the island.
After a hour and a half on the top, we began the long downhill walk.
That day we traveled to Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka’s most English city. We stayed in a questionable guest house, that definitely had a very different idea about what constituted hot water than we did. We were just down the street from a little hotel where we would have stayed had they had space for us. We took over their bar for dinner while they tried to temp us with their karaoke system. After a few minutes of a BeeGees concert, we talked them into a putting on a few episodes of Mr. Bean. Again we were early to bed.
The next morning came at 5 am. We set out for World’s End.
We got to the park just after sunrise and were lucky enough to make it to the cliff to see the 700m drop (No, mom, we didn’t get to close to the edge) before the mists rolled in. We even saw a few deer munching some dewy grass. No leopards though.
Our last official inland stop was an old tea plantation set up by the Thomas Lipton. We toured the factory from where they pay the pickers a couple dollars for the 15kgs of tea they collected while walking up and down the steep hills where it grows to the sorting area where they collect all the good tea to send overseas and save all the second rate tea to sell in Sri Lanka.
Then we hurried down to the coast, making our last inland stop to receive a speeding ticket (78 in a 60km/h zone – fine $4C). We arrived in Tangalle where we spent a couple days relaxing on the beach. Near our simple little cabana was a secluded little beach where we spent a couple days body surfing and generally enjoying how unlike Kuwait our surroundings were.
December 30th, we headed off to Unawatuna, a more popular beach town. Our hotel reservation turned out to be in a dive, but after a little searching we found a beautiful hotel just out of town looking down the coast. The beach was sheltered by a coral reef, which proved some interesting snorkeling and the beach was lined with restaurants with comfy beach chairs set up to attract customers. We were attracted.
New Year’s we had dinner on the beach. After dinner we walked along the wide bay past the picnics and tens of restaurants all serving celebratory meals. We returned to our restaurant for a little news year’s boogie. At midnight everyone stood out on the beach as all the bay reflected the fireworks that filled the air all along the beach. Out at sea, fireworks flashed above the glowing lights of the ships at sea.
The next day we headed back to Colombo for the next day’s flight home. Even though New Year’s Day isn’t a holiday, all the places we wanted to go in Colombo just happened to be closed. I did buy some alcohol and get it all repackaged and disguised in my bag.
It all started with an overnight flight the day school let out that deposited us at the airport (a awkward 40 kms north of the capital) at 5:30 in the morning. Fortunately, our guest house (the Sri Lankan term for a B and B – that offered anything from only the bed to complete room and board) let us check in early and we slept that morning and got out into Colombo for the afternoon. Russ met us and took us around. Wouldn’t you know it. We landed on a poya day (the Buddhist full moon holiday) and there was no alcohol to be had anywhere. Colombo was nothing special. Your average developing country big city: dirty, busy, polluted, but still the center of the country’s business and people.
After a couple days we were ready to hit the road. We followed the guide book to a little hole-in-the-wall travel agent, who walked us to see some friends who were still in the business of cars and drivers. We got ourselves set up with Ari and his white van for 8 days.
We left the capital to find that crowed, narrow, winding roads were the rule all through the country. Thank goodness the country is so small. If you can average 40 km/h you are making great progress. We spent the next three days touring the ancient cities and temples north of Kandy.
Dambulla rock caves, hidden high hill, behind the world’s largest (and possibly gaudiest) gold sitting Buddha, were frescoed top to bottom and filled with statues, many of which were part of the mountain just not chipped away when the caves were enlarged.
Sigiriya was the highlight of the trip. The history goes that the bastard son of the king killed his father and drove the legitimate son into India. He got nervous and spent the next 30 years building an unassailable castle/palace on top an enormous rock.
A metal pathway has been bolted into the side of the mountain to get up to the enormous lion statue who's mouth once served as the starting point for the final sheer ascent.
Only the foundations of the palace are left.
It is beyond my imagination to envision what a splendid and remarkable place it must have been. The legitimate son did come back. The bastard and his army took a wrong turn and got stuck in a swamp. The army deserted its leader, who killed himself. Also partway up there is the only example of secular ancient art in Sri Lanka. Several women's portraits served as a kind of ancient Playboy for the ruler.
Eventually the palace was forgotten and just rediscovered in the last century.
Later that day we headed out a road (it barley qualified!) that Ari told us had been too dangerous to use in years past because of the separatist movement. An hour got us 20 kms through rice fields and small villages to Medirigiriya.
It was practically abandoned and the guards were having a little swim in the lake when we got there. Words don’t do it justice. The rock of the columns and statues shone like it was encrusted with raw diamonds.
The next day we set out on clunky Chinese bicycles for a tour of the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, the 13th century capital of Sri Lanka.
The city is on the shore of a large lake that is, to a great degree, man-made. It was carved out from the rock by a series of kings (all trying to outdo each other) whose philosophy was that “not a drop of rain shall flow to the ocean until it has been used by man.” A great museum helped to recreate some of the ruins.
We almost got rained on and practiced riding bikes with umbrellas. By partway through the bike tour we were feeling ruin-apathy, the affect of too many ruin visits.
One more stop to see a temple that had been moved due to a hydro project pushed us over the edge and we were happy to get to Kandy where we would spend Christmas. Christmas eve, we visited the Elephant orphanage where they take care of young and injured elephants and train them to be working animals. The keepers have them very well trained (with big metal spears – but I guess you need to show them who’s boss). We were face to face with about 60 of the big guys as they rounded them up to take them down to the river for their bath. We also took a long walk around the botanical gardens – which should rightfully be called the “bat”-tanical gardens due to the huge bats filling the trees and the skies above.
Christmas day was quiet. It is a holiday in Sri Lanka, so most of the shops were closed. We roamed around a bit, made a couple of phone calls home and then spent the rest of the day eating and drinking. The Kandy dancers did some fine footwork and then walked on hot coals at the end of the show to cool off.
We had Christmas dinner at a fancy hotel. A children’s choir came in and sang some carols for us and we got a visit from Santa Claus himself. He came danced along to the carols ringing his single sleigh bell. He wore one of those grotesque rubber old-man Santa masks and his white gloves were latex (we discovered when he shook our hands on his tour of the room).
Boxing day we set out on Sri Lanka’s narrow twisty roads again, headed into the high country. On our way, we passed two men painted a fresh line down he road that gently weaved from side to side. One man guided the other as he held a small can of paint and a paint brush and painted the lines one by one. Ari, told us the line was going to be the new middle of the road when they got around to widening it. We arrived at our small guest house around lunch. We spent the afternoon roaming around the small town getting ready for our big climb to the top of Adam’s peak the next morning. We settled into bed early.
The next morning we got up at 2:30 to be on the peak for sunrise. After a quick cup of tea, banana and handful of cookies, we began the ascent. The path began as a road, lined by stalls selling refreshments as it climbed out of the town. As we walked, stairs began to interrupt the path that was still as wide as a dirt road. As we climbed the path stairs became more and more regular. The last hour of the three hour climb was one winding but continual flight of stairs up to an immense concrete temple perched on the top. The temple houses a footprint that is a pilgrimage site for Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. During the peak pilgrimage season, there can be 20 000 people climbing the mountain at one time.
We were five out of about 300 that were at the top for the beautiful cloud-obscured sunrise. We could see green mountain tops poking through the low blue clouds as the light intensified.
Finally the sun broke out above the clouds on the horizon and rose up to cast a shadow the the mountain across the western half of the island.
After a hour and a half on the top, we began the long downhill walk.
That day we traveled to Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka’s most English city. We stayed in a questionable guest house, that definitely had a very different idea about what constituted hot water than we did. We were just down the street from a little hotel where we would have stayed had they had space for us. We took over their bar for dinner while they tried to temp us with their karaoke system. After a few minutes of a BeeGees concert, we talked them into a putting on a few episodes of Mr. Bean. Again we were early to bed.
The next morning came at 5 am. We set out for World’s End.
We got to the park just after sunrise and were lucky enough to make it to the cliff to see the 700m drop (No, mom, we didn’t get to close to the edge) before the mists rolled in. We even saw a few deer munching some dewy grass. No leopards though.
Our last official inland stop was an old tea plantation set up by the Thomas Lipton. We toured the factory from where they pay the pickers a couple dollars for the 15kgs of tea they collected while walking up and down the steep hills where it grows to the sorting area where they collect all the good tea to send overseas and save all the second rate tea to sell in Sri Lanka.
Then we hurried down to the coast, making our last inland stop to receive a speeding ticket (78 in a 60km/h zone – fine $4C). We arrived in Tangalle where we spent a couple days relaxing on the beach. Near our simple little cabana was a secluded little beach where we spent a couple days body surfing and generally enjoying how unlike Kuwait our surroundings were.
December 30th, we headed off to Unawatuna, a more popular beach town. Our hotel reservation turned out to be in a dive, but after a little searching we found a beautiful hotel just out of town looking down the coast. The beach was sheltered by a coral reef, which proved some interesting snorkeling and the beach was lined with restaurants with comfy beach chairs set up to attract customers. We were attracted.
New Year’s we had dinner on the beach. After dinner we walked along the wide bay past the picnics and tens of restaurants all serving celebratory meals. We returned to our restaurant for a little news year’s boogie. At midnight everyone stood out on the beach as all the bay reflected the fireworks that filled the air all along the beach. Out at sea, fireworks flashed above the glowing lights of the ships at sea.
The next day we headed back to Colombo for the next day’s flight home. Even though New Year’s Day isn’t a holiday, all the places we wanted to go in Colombo just happened to be closed. I did buy some alcohol and get it all repackaged and disguised in my bag.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)