|
|
Post by Netsuke on Dec 28, 2019 12:11:28 GMT 2
Well, the Big Day is almost upon me. Tomorrow begins the start of my trip - what escorted tours call Day One, but me, I just call it getting to the airport.
|
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Dec 28, 2019 13:33:05 GMT 2
Getting to the airport is most important. I don't relax until we are actually on the plane, it has taken off and we have gained height. One year I was flying from Amsterdam to Johannesburg. We took off from Schiphol but we didn't gain height. Eventually the captain announced that we had struck a large bird on taking off and it had cracked his window so the plane could not be pressurised. We went back to Schiphol, spent the night in an airport hotel until a replacement 747 became available and set off again at 6 in the morning. Dear KLM couldn't work out that 7 a.m. was breakfast time and instead served us the dinner we hadn't eaten the evening before.
|
|
|
|
Post by sophie on Dec 29, 2019 2:24:21 GMT 2
Safe travels!!
|
|
|
|
Post by wikki on Dec 29, 2019 4:59:04 GMT 2
Enjoy your trip
|
|
|
|
Post by lumi on Dec 29, 2019 12:43:54 GMT 2
Have a lovely trip and don't forget to get in touch when you decide when you'd like to meet up while in Singapore!
|
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Dec 29, 2019 15:12:29 GMT 2
Lumi, I'll PM you my phone number.
|
|
|
|
Post by auntieannie on Dec 29, 2019 15:16:24 GMT 2
have a lovely time, Netsie!
|
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Dec 29, 2019 15:38:42 GMT 2
Thank-you Annie, and thank-you to everyone for your good wishes.
At airport waiting. Delayed boarding due to mechanical issues on board.
|
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Jan 3, 2020 9:28:07 GMT 2
I really should have posted before now. Today is my fifth day in Burma. I will post about the previous days when I have more battery power.
Friday, 4January. Inle Lake.
Sitting at a restaurant on water while I wait for my fish to cook. A bottle of water and a cup of tea (Lipton, but a girl can't have everything!) listening to the soothing sounds of voices in many languages, to the putt putt putt of the motor of the long narrow boats controlled by a man who steers the boat by moving a long metal thing - a tiller?
Lunch has arrived so will continue later.
|
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 3, 2020 11:06:51 GMT 2
Enjoy Inle. We'll be there in about 6 weeks, staying at the south end of the lake in a house on stilts in the water.
|
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Jan 4, 2020 2:07:04 GMT 2
I am currently at Inle, and leave in a few hours for Ngapali.
I can recommend a trip to Red Mountain winery. The views and gardens are spectacular. Grub's good too.
My hotel organised a boatman and tuktuk driver for me. Lovely day on Lake, worth the trip, but seriously, once is enough.
Be careful of prices, Baz. We went to a silversmiths where you're shown the phases from start to finish of producing silver items, then taken into a huge showroom.
A necklace with coloured stones throughout caught my eye - and I was a goner. Long story short, I fell in love with this necklace. I just had to have it. It was US$165!
On the way back, we stopped at another place which sold a variety of items, including silver jewellery. And there was my necklace! I asked the price and nearly exploded when she told me the price - US$85!
I was so pissed off, seriously. I could have screamed. It was the same necklace.
So if your boatman takes you to where you came see the workers doing their work, be careful and keep a hold of your wallet.
|
|
|
|
Post by sophie on Jan 4, 2020 2:57:48 GMT 2
keep the memory.. that is really what we end up paying for, isn't it? ...and enjoy the fact that someone will be eating a bit better because of you today.
But seriously, the tour guides are touts in disguise in many places and work with the places which sell the eye catchers. Developing a very uninterested attitude in the goods is key.
|
|
|
|
Post by Baz Faz on Jan 4, 2020 11:29:02 GMT 2
Noted Netsie. I shall distract Mrs Faz whenever necklaces are on display. She is a birder so all I need say (as I point to the far distance), "Isn't that the very rare Inle Lake eagle fishing over there?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Jan 6, 2020 2:30:21 GMT 2
keep the memory.. that is really what we end up paying for, isn't it? ...and enjoy the fact that someone will be eating a bit better because of you today. But seriously, the tour guides are touts in disguise in many places and work with the places which sell the eye catchers. Developing a very uninterested attitude in the goods is key. I know money spent by foreigners goes to help people and means food on the table, but is is the feeling of having been ripped off which annoys me. Yes, I regret buying what I did, a bracelet to match the necklace, a string of freshwater pearls US$60, and a silver bracelet. I thought it IS a silversmiths, be silly to leave without buying a silver bracelet. US$330 is a great deal of money, I wish I had been brave enough to say I am sorry, I've changed my mind. Or pretend I'd left my credit card at my hotel. (That last idea just came to me now). But from $165 to $85, it's obviously made by the silversmiths, then sold to the other villager, the silver maker isn't losing money and that's a huge markup. I'd rather have paid $85. I sort of felt obligated to purchase some from this poorer shop and was not displeased. Teak fridge magnet of an elephant with Myanmar carved below. A hand made silk fan $12 and a pretty bangle made of shell. It was a little tight going over the hand joint, lady taught me a trick, put a plastic bag over your hand when putting on and taking off a bangle. Slips on/of easily. I think the bangle was I can't remember how much it was. But I've worn it already, and the pearls but not the fancy expensive stuff! |
|
|
|
Post by lumi on Jan 9, 2020 20:43:05 GMT 2
I'd love to have been in those stores - sounds like so many beautiful items. I'd love to see your gorgeous necklace especially, so hopefully you'll have it on when we meet up in singapore!! I'd feel the same as you about the pricing of the bracelet but I do like the idea posted about having purchased the experience and memory. Sounds as though you are rich with experiences from this lovely trip. I am interested in visiting myself so following closely.  |
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Jan 11, 2020 1:02:06 GMT 2
Lumi, I just realised the phone Ber I gave you won't work. That is my number in Australia. The sim card fir Burma has a different number, and the sim card for Singapore will have a different number again.
I'm locked out of hotmail until I can sort it out at home.
BUT, a lovely local lady in Bagan showed me how gmail works and how to use it. Si if you PM me your email address I can contact you that way.
|
|
|
|
Post by kuskiwi on Jan 14, 2020 11:06:43 GMT 2
Late to this as just got home myself. My theory now is once I have brought something I love never look at something similar. Agree with Sophie that's it's the memory and not the price and I refuse to ruin my memories with the thought of being ripped off and I also set myself an I want budget so I choose carefully what I can use rather than falling for a salesman yarn.
Enjoy and I understand birthday wishes are in order even if belated.
|
|
|
|
Post by lumi on Jan 15, 2020 12:18:50 GMT 2
Lumi, I just realised the phone Ber I gave you won't work. That is my number in Australia. The sim card fir Burma has a different number, and the sim card for Singapore will have a different number again. I'm locked out of hotmail until I can sort it out at home. BUT, a lovely local lady in Bagan showed me how gmail works and how to use it. Si if you PM me your email address I can contact you that way. You can just message me on here or on whatever random number you get in singapore. I don't often check my emails, especially now I am working full time and am severely jet lagged. And I get so much junk in my email inbox I may well miss your email anyway. |
|
|
|
Post by shrjeff on Jan 15, 2020 13:49:58 GMT 2
Be careful of prices, Baz. We went to a silversmiths where you're shown the phases from start to finish of producing silver items, then taken into a huge showroom. So if your boatman takes you to where you came see the workers doing their work, be careful and keep a hold of your wallet. part of the problem is that we are unaware of the cognitive hit we take when jetlagged... i learned that decades ago when we had a deal for a few days in hongkong with non-stop flights... yes, i wanted a video camera (shows how long ago that was!) and thought that i could get a good deal there... but i wound up being exploited by the store who had an elaborate scam and wound up paying double for an older model... now i don't shop for expensive items when jetlagged!!! for example, wendy lost an emerald from a ring we had made up from stones we got in india... we were in columbia and started checking prices for a replacement... US$250 for a fairly small stone which was much, much more than we thought was worth... we've been in the same or adjacent time zone for nearly two weeks so were fully functioning... checked a couple of more stores with similar prices and then found a store which had better stones than the remaining emerald in the ring and bargained for two matched ones... got both for $200, $100 each... and bought them happily... |
|
|
|
Post by shrjeff on Jan 15, 2020 13:51:56 GMT 2
Be careful of prices, Baz. We went to a silversmiths where you're shown the phases from start to finish of producing silver items, then taken into a huge showroom. So if your boatman takes you to where you came see the workers doing their work, be careful and keep a hold of your wallet. part of the problem is that we are unaware of the cognitive hit we take when jetlagged... i learned that decades ago when we had a deal for a few days in hongkong with non-stop flights... yes, i wanted a video camera (shows how long ago that was!) and thought that i could get a good deal there... but i wound up being exploited by the store who had an elaborate scam and wound up paying double for an older model... now i don't shop for expensive items when jetlagged!!! for example, wendy lost an emerald from a ring we had made up from stones we got in india... we were in columbia and started checking prices for a replacement... US$250 for a fairly small stone which was much, much more than we thought was worth... we've been in the same or adjacent time zone for nearly two weeks so were fully functioning... checked a couple of more stores with similar prices and then found a store which had better stones than the remaining emerald in the ring and bargained for two matched ones... got both for $200, $100 each... and bought them happily... so chalk up your purchase to learning to be cautious when jetlagged... |
|
|
|
Post by slowcoach on Jan 15, 2020 17:02:16 GMT 2
Having arrived early in Gatwick UK for a flight to Spain I sat myself down and looked around and there was a stand offering Nikon cameras. I wandered over to have a look to discover that I could get a body and a separate telephoto lens for about 1,500 pounds sterling each. I wondered who on earth would impulse buy such a camera on a whim rather than take the trouble to go to a proper camera shop.
Sometime later I asked a friend who sells upmarket cameras and he informed me that their two most productive outlets were similar affairs at Singapore and Dubai airport departures. Quote "Bored people with too much money".
|
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Jan 16, 2020 11:52:18 GMT 2
Nikon camera.....1,500 pounds sterling..... I wondered who on earth would impulse buy... Quote "Bored people with too much money". ωωωωωωωωωωω⊙ ⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙¤ ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤° §§§§§§« »»»»¡ ¿¿¢ ¥ . |
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Jan 19, 2020 4:26:32 GMT 2
^^^^^^^^^^^^
I vaguely remember typing that. It must have been during a fugue moment of memory lapse during the beach party around the bonfire where I had my first Piña Colada. I liked it so much I had three in 45 minutes.
It didn't seem like alcohol, it was just like a fluffy drink.
But I KNEW the minute I turned my head!
|
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Jan 20, 2020 8:24:24 GMT 2
Well I'm here in Singapore, hello Lumi, Mr Lumi and Lumi Junior. It is every bit as hot as I've been told!
Were today 2010, I would be better equipped to handle it! Time, however, marches steadily on.
In brief:
1. Plane was a little late.
2. Bought phone SIM card.
3. Hotel did not send a car. (Oh! The Drama! The Drama!)
4. Took taxi, good driver, pointed out sites etc on the way.
5. Have a lovely room with a balcony. It was most important that I had a balcony, I imagined myself sitting outside in the evening drinking tea. The hotel Porter smiled, said perhaps early morning when it's cool.
I tried both times - you can scratch that idea, put it out of your mind completely.
6. I've been shown how to use one of those Nespresso coffee machines - you know, one of the cheap $29 ones with capsules. I made myself a cup of the most revolting coffee ever! I put three of those little milk things in and it tastes just as disgusting.
7. I'm sitting on the chair that falls back when you sit on it in front of the good, clear Swiss style desk (smoked glass top), looking out the large door/window to my balcony and see other guests balconies with the same glass windows like mine. There is a nice palm tree in my line of vision.
8. So far, have booked a few tours with the hotel tour guide. At the concierge desk when I asked for the tour guide, this chap said, "That's me. I'm the walking tour guide!"
9. I have a Swiss Studio with Balcony. Actually, I just realised the rooms opposite mine are facing away from the sun - their balconies are in the shade. Lucky ducks! My balcony has full sun. Sigh...
10. I now know I will not fall off the chair and onto the floor when the chair leans back - something thuds against something and that's as far as it goes!
11. Going on the Night Safari (dinner included), tonight.
P.S. I just saw it is nearly half past two! In the afternoon! My goodness. I think I'd better put my feet up and become an Italian. Siesta time!
|
|
|
|
Post by lumi on Jan 21, 2020 0:50:04 GMT 2
Welcome to Singapore! Not much time.e to comment but wanted to say that yesterday wasnt actually a hot day. There wd s lot if cloud cover so much cost thsn usual. So be careful if you found it hot yesterday. Drink loads of water all day long! I drink tea on these hot days but it fits taller somer getting used to! At least it doesnt get cold quickly.  |
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Jan 23, 2020 6:22:27 GMT 2
Fast forward a few days.....all being well, I will be meeting Our Lumi tonight. I am really looking forward to this.
Going to have Afternoon Tea at Raffles today. Had planned to wear my pearl necklace I bought in Myanmar, but got it snagged on my bag strap last night and no time to get it restrung. I'm really disappointed. One of the two bracelets I bought has lost a stone, a bangle has lost a piece if shell, and the silver bracelet slips undone and off my wrist. Same as the bracelet that lost a stone.
I haven't had much luck.
That's not all, I left some items when checking out of my Yangon Hotel at the beginning of my trip and would pick them up at the end of my trip when I stayed my last night there.
Arrived in Singapore to realise I had forgotten and my items are still sitting in the Yangon Hotel. They forgot about them too. Some if my things weren't cheap either, but, you can't buy them elsewhere.
|
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Jan 23, 2020 9:04:37 GMT 2
Some good news on the jewellery front. I planned asking at the concierge desk about getting the pearls restrung. Fernandy told me one of the staff was going into Chinatown later and he'd ask him.
It turns the chap is a jeweller, so he said, and has a shop at Raffles. I did wonder if he's a jeweller, then why is working at the hotel as a "bellboy"?
The pearls of which he said we're good pearls, will be ready either this evening or tomorrow. I leave the hotel tomorrow at 5:00pm. He also fixed the bracelet, think he may have glued the stone into place. He apologised and daid the mother-of-pearl bangle couldn't be done because a machine is needed to cut the mother-of-pearl to shape and size and he didn't have the machine.
I'm sure it will cost me an arm and a leg to replace in Australia!
I was surprised at the price of restringing the pearls and repairing the silver bracelet - only S$40. It costs more in Australia, a lot more AND it takes much longer.
This is one thing I've noticed about South East Asian countries, nothing is too much trouble, there's none of this carry-on and dufficulties like there is in the west.
I changed the time of Arvo Tea at Raffles from 2:00pm, only the 4:30pm timeslot had availability which suited me better, but to be honest, I don't really have the same passion to do it now.
Having been Raffles last evening and having a jolly good time at the Long Bar, it's sort of like well I've already been there, do I REALLY need to go to Raffles again?
TBH, having been there once, I'm over the hype. Perhaps I'm being lazy, but I'd rather relax in my hotel room until I leave to meet up with Lumi.
Meeting Lumi means more than having fancy cakes and scones and sandwiches which you can do anywhere. I hope they let me cancel.
Now to drink a lively cup if Earl Grey.
|
|
|
|
Post by Netsuke on Jan 24, 2020 3:21:19 GMT 2
I ended up cancelling Arvo Tea at Raffles, going to the Long Bar the night before fulfilled my needs. Sitting with a room full of well-dressed ladies sipping tea, their pinkies raised, speaking in dulcet tones and daintily nibbling on cucumber sandwiches crusts removed just doesn't seem as enticing as sitting at the Bar filled with chatter, music, noise and fun!
I met up with Our Lumi early evening and was surprised at how young she looked! (Not at all like a strict, stern Mod!) We enjoyed sitting outside a cute little cafe with a lovely garden, lots of greenery.
I had a lovely time, thank-you Lumi, it was great.
|
|
|
|
Post by slowcoach on Jan 24, 2020 5:57:38 GMT 2
Sitting with a room full of well-dressed ladies sipping tea, their pinkies raised, speaking in dulcet tones and daintily nibbling on cucumber sandwiches crusts removed just doesn't seem as enticing as sitting at the Bar filled with chatter, music, noise and fun!
To make this gesture is to carve, a usage of the verb that is very obsolete and even more obscure. It translates loosely as "How about it?"
I have just had some fun and games trying to track down a quote about carving. Eventually it came to me that it was from Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor.
So not exactly the pinnacle of refined sophistication.
|
|
