Money Makes the World Go Round

No matter where you go in the world, you will need money. Some places are predominantly cash based and you will be hard pressed to be able to count on paying with a credit card. Other places encourage the use of credit. Ultimately you need to be ready for both. Here are some practices I have found useful.

Travel with 2 different credit cards from two different banks. Check your limits before you go to be sure they suit your needs. Also bring your debit card. Keep these three in three different locations. (2 on you and one at hotel) Always arrive in acountry with $50 cash in local currency. This requires some on the go planning but is a step not to skip. When you arrive late at night and the currency places are closed, it is dark and rainy and you are hungry, only local currency will get you food and a taxi ride to hotel. If you forget you will walk 10K in the middle of the night with no food in search of your hotel!

Shop around a bit for a good currency rate place. Remember that there are buy rates and sell rates. You need to look at the buy rates ( lower of the two) Also you need your passport to convert money, so plan to have it with you for that part of the day that you are on a currency run.

Pulling local currency from a bank ATM is best. Best rate, least fees. Pull your daily max. (500-700 CND) then stash most of that with passport and 1 card at hotel (use room safe). Put money for the day in deep front pocket with another card.

Have a third spot (secret hiding spot- I don’t want to know) but this spot should be close to you flesh and have your 3rd card and $100 USD in twenties) It is presumptuous but often true that USD is a currency understood in many places of the world.

By taking this approach you will reduce the impact of an unfortunate incident such as loss or theft. Having plans B and C are important when plan A fails.

Thai Massage in Bangkok

After careful research I felt ready for this experience. My research taught me that there are a wide array of possible massages in Thailand. They can be broken down this way. The “soapy massage” usually 1600-6000 Baht involves a scrub down and rub down followed by sex. The traditional Thai massage that includes a “massage”

by a scantily clad lassie and sex. The price for this type is usually negotiated but it in the same range as the first type.

The type I experienced was also called a traditional Thai full body oil massage. The big difference is that no one was soliciting outside the massage parlour. When I entered I was presented with a menu and the prices were in the 500-700 Baht range. Seemed pretty safe. The large Samoan woman did a great job overall. There was a language barrier that was not easy to overcome. There was an awkward moment when she handed me an itty bitty nylon sock looking thing at the very beginning and said “underwear”. It took me some time to discover the little leg holes in the skimpier-than-a-speedo-type thing that I was ordered to wear. The massage itself was lovely. And while I had prepared my pleasant but appreciative “no thank you” should a happy ending be offered (apparently even in the most proper and legit places this is still a thing) I had practiced for nothing as I think my Samoan friend knew I wasn’t there for that. 

When I was wearing only that little sock on the forth floor of an unknown massage parlour in central Bangkok I remember thinking to myself: “This is only costing $30 CND and it couldn’t possibly get anymore minimalist, I must remember to blog this experience”.

A Trip to Remember

On the train home now, the final leg of the journey. Traveling 1st class which I booked by accident(really) is a great reminder of the incredibly high standard of living we enjoy as well as the ease with which priveledge has come my way as a white, highly educated, male, born in Canada, I have it pretty good. This was so clear to me as I travelled Mainland South East Asia this past month.

In the “things I noticed” category I have to start with these questions:

Do you have a roof over y head? Do you h

Do you have a roof over your head? Do you have walls?

Do you have something other than a dirt floor?

Do you have a “bed” or a horizontal space to sleep?

Do you have clothing? Do you have shoes?

Do you have running water? Is your water drinkable?

Do you have a heat source for cooking?

Do you have a table and chairs?

Do you have a toilet? Do you have a shower?

Do you have electricity?

Do you have a heaand helpful and pleasant

Moving to the “things I missed” category, I will start of with my wife, although she is not a “thing” she certainly does “everything” that and her company were missed, Next on the list is the ability to throw the TP in the toilet. This is followed quickly by the ability to turn a tap on and drink water. I missed the availability of fruit and vegetables. Understanding the language of the people around me. I missed seeing people that looked like me. I missed driving my car and petting my dog. I missed my  cottage and my comfy couch at home. 

On the list of “things I will remember” I must include: being a part of the Hong Kong Protests, getting tear gassed and everything. Sad to think that those young people are subject to up to 10 years in jail for doing what they were doing. Another thing I must include is reconnecting with a long lost friend from 45 years ago. He showed me Hong Kong and Macau like only a native could. The opulence of Macau also gets on the list. It is incredible how much money can be spent in one place! Surviving the Typhoon and narrowly making it off the island only to be denied boarding of my plane due  to a clerical error on dates in my visa. The escort to the hands of the Chinese military was pretty scary. Missing the entire week of “adventure travel” as a result of this was also memorable in an absence of memories sort of way. The perfectly orchestrated chaos of the Vietnamese streets will stay with me whenever I cross a street. I understand what the seconds before being hit by a vehicle feels like! The time we spent teaching English to the students in the orphanage and how welcoming and friendly they were was very memorable. Having my wallet stolen in Saigon was memorable as was the Mekong Detta and Cu Chi tunnels. 21 years they lived in those tunnels. Dam war! Once in Angkor Wat, the tuk tuk driver and theTemple were amazing. My final great memory would have to be the Thai massage. 

Sharing much of this adventure with my daughter was awesome. I think we solidified our relationship or possible just want to kill each other, not sure.

By and large, I recognize the incredible opportunity that I just had. If ever you get the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia or Thailand, take advantage! It is an eye opening experience and one you will cherish forever!

Stolen in Saigon

As a self proclaimed veteran traveler, blogging about my wisdom and knowledge, this post is a tough one. We are never to old to learn. It is in failure that we learn the most.

So the day in Saigon started out like most days in SEA, lots of walking, sightseeing and a grand finale to the day, a cultural acrobatics show at the Opera House.

Now, for those who also travel in this manner, leaving early can present challenges to your GI routine. Imagine how pleased we were to find a Starbucks when we needed it the most. We took full advantage of the familiarity of the place, the free wifi and the washrooms. We left and had a full day exploring the Cu Chi tunnels and came back to the Opera area with just enough time to have a bite to eat and then to enjoy our show. We were drawn to Starbucks, again, for all those reasons previously mentioned. This time, I let my guard down a bit. In hindsight, I recall subtly counting my money. I remember the sound of the velcro wallet and I remember not putting it back in my front pocket,like usual, because we were about to be sitting for a few hours. I put it in my day bag. A far away place, zipped in. I did not take the time to lock my zippers together. We left to go to the Opera and within minutes of leaving Starbucks my daughter says that my bag is unzipped. I am obsessive about the closing of bags and so she knew something was up, sure enough, my wallet was taken from deep inside my bag.

Problem solving on the steps of the Opera, after some difficulties getting my phone to work, I got ahold of Master Card. They asked a series of questions to ascertain the veracity and urgency iof the situation. Note to all: Please update your phone number from when you first got your credit card ( I was 18) also know your card number, credit limit and a bunch of other things you are too stressed to remember. (I have a picture of most all of this) Once this is done you get transferred to active investigations and you will need all that info again. It happened 10 minutes from the time I started calling, it has now been 25 min. Did I last spend $3.15 at Papaya Hotel in Saigon? Nope but it is in this very area. A freeze is put on the card. I can go to the Opera!

Although I clearly made some mistakes here, there are a few things that I did that mitigated the negative impact. 1) I had only my “daily money” less than $200 worth in Canadian. 2) only 1 credit card, no ID. ( I had just pulled our Opera Show tickets out). 3) the thief only got $3.15 on my credit card! 4) I had made copies ( phone and email) of all my important info. 5) I chaullked it up to experience and put it behind me right away. Ok maybe not right away as I wanted to go to the Papaya Hotel and be upset at them. By the time the show started, it was all in the past. 

I was hyper vigilant for the next few days, then went back to normal cautious mode. In places of comfort and familiarity, people let their guard down and theives know this. This was the only incident I had in 1 month of travel all over SEA. We never felt unsafe or uneasy. Ironic really how and where this happened.

Lesson learned!

Let the Adventure Begin

A free* stay in a world class hotel (Windsor Casino) and a free* supper, with the love of my life. What a great way to start a trip. Having someone drive you to the airport and then using the ‘Kiss and Fly’ saves on parking fees. Careful who drives you, remember it is a ‘Kiss and Fly’. In my case it all worked out well as the ‘goodbye’ brought me back to a time, long ago, when I said goodbye to my heart, at the same airport, and sent it to Belgium.

*not technically free as we had to feed the one armed bandits downstairs on the gaming floor. 

When you travel as a minimalist your ‘little bag’ is your everything. You will have researched weight and size restrictions for each airline you are flying with. You will also find the loopholes around ‘carry on’ and a ‘second bag allowance. All this having been met and my bag having passed the watchful eye of the gate attendant, I was confident I had pulled it off until, once on the plane (seat 1A at the entrance), I attempted to ram, cram and slam my bag into the overhead compartment.  I ignored my seat mate, who was an undercover flight attendant ( they live among us ). As it turned out my bag missed fitting by ‘this much’. Then I heard those dreaded words from Kate, our actual flight attendant: “I can place that in our sky cot for you sir”. I dug deep and found my most charming, helpless and appreciative smile and said that I would prefer to hang on to it. The main reason is that I didn’t want her to take it was because whenever I hear them say ‘sky cot’ I picture them chucking it out the window onto a cloud. ‘Sky cot’ my butt.

She sensed my reluctance and offered option number 2, she could keep it ‘on board’ and place it under another person’s seat ‘inside the cabin’. Although this wasn’t really what I was planning for, I removed my mini day bag, preloaded with my extra critical stuff, and surrendered my bag while still holding that smile. I had held up the boarding of the other passengers onto the plane long enough.

In these delicate ‘high level’  negotiations you have to know when to retreat. It was time. I was traveling alone after all and with my extreme motion sickness I might still need Kate as I fill barf bag after barf bag later on. I thought that Kate might be a fellow minimalist, by the nature of her job. I sensed a positive offer coming my way as I still held that smile. Sure enough the angel spoke these words “if you would like to move to the ‘wing seat’ there will be room there for your bag under the seat in front of you and no one else will be next to you either”. I didn't know I could move that fast. It was like I was in a transportal and found myself at seat 4B before I could thank her or change my smile to one of gratitude, appreciation and relief.

So here is the travel tip. Don’t pay for upgraded seats just remember that the ‘wing seats’ are usually the last assigned and if you give them a reason to offer this to you then there is a great chance you will get it. Avoid the temptation to ask for it and worse yet say ‘I know that there are seats...bla bla bla’ if you are kind, patient and hopeful sometimes good things happen. The added bonus was that I am now trained as an ‘emergency door opener’. I agreed to single handedly take responsibility for the entire crew and passengers in the event of an emergency. I was that guy, the silent, trained but eager hero. Fortunately, my services were not needed. 

Lucky, unlucky, I don’t know... ;)

After checking my gmail and printed eticket multiple times to ensure we would arrive in time for our 8:30 am departure, our morning began.

We were so sure of the timings for the day that we leisurely lounged and gorged ourselves on a plentiful breakfast buffet. We sauntered to the bus station, strategically located 3 minutes from the hotel. (By and large, the time spent researching and planning exact locations of hotels and spots we needed to be had paid off.)

We arrived without issues, as planned, at 8:07 am, theoretically with time to spare. A pleasant ticket man asked cheerful “To Cambodia?”, we smiled and thought to ourselves “What a smooth start to a relaxing day on the bus”. How wrong we were...

The first sign of trouble occurred when he confirmed that we were there for the 9:45am bus.

“Um... nope. Have printed tickets for a bus to Cambodia departing at 8:30am?”

“Oh....you need to see my colleague in the back.”

Colleague in back was the only unpleasant person in all of Vietnam. She insisted repeatedly that they had sent me the notice of the time change from 8:30am to 8:00am. She continued to assureme that her company had sent me an email 6 months ago about the time change. After cycling through this dialogue 3 times I shifted us into problem solving mode with this query: “When is thenext bus to Cambodia?”. She couldn’t resist mentioning one more time that they had notified me. I took the high road and sat patiently while she changed our booking to the 9:45am bus. Only after she was delivered breakfast (soup) and a reasonableamount of time did I ask if there would be room on that bus. She confirmed and we went for a walk. 

This was a little hiccup, we will arrive a couple hours later, no harm no foul.

At 9:25 we boarded and were told firmly to sit in our “assigned seat » probably a sold out bus, we were lucky to get spots. Not! By the time we left there were only 12 people in a 45 passenger bus. Anyway, we are off and enjoying the journey...A/C... wifi... perfection. Until...

On the bus we were required to surrender our passports and $35 USD each to a non customs person who left the bus, requiring us to attempt to cross sans passport and sans visa. He did come through in the end and took care of everything for us. When we got back on the bus our bus driver said: “I have some news, lucky, unlucky, I don’t know”. He was referring to the fact that our bus’ paperwork was not in order and could not drive in Cambodia. So we waited in some kind of “no man’s land” without passports and we were ordered to wait for “another bus-20 minutes”. We eventually boarded a different bus with a different driver, but this bus was legally permitted to drive. Legal driver, legal bus and all paperwork was in order now. A smooth continuation of our journey was assured.

This “new bus” was a step down in the echelon of luxury bus travel. There were many broken seats and other people’s garbage. (We later figured out that our group coming from Vietnam into Cambodia had waited 30 minutes for the next bus with our company coming from Cambodia and heading to Vietnam, in order for us to swap vehicles.)

Awoken by a piercing beeping alarm on the bus we continued to drive for a few minutes before finally pulling over to check it out. Yes, we were overheating and this drive and stop the engine to “cool down bus, heat up passengers” continued 4 times before we were given options.

Pulled off to the side of the road, our bus driver proceeded to flag down and coordinate rides for all passengers n a variety of modes of transportation. We opted for the seemingly empty and presumptuously spacious mini van. We were a group of 4 travelers with luggage. After intense roadside negotiations we bid farewell to our driver opened the door to the mini van to find a small family already living inside the van. We squished in the back row making for a total of 4 tourists, a mom with a baby, a random guy and a driver. Away we went. This is about the same time that we lost the pavement on the road. We were really missing the shock absorbers and wifi on the bus.

The driver stopped often, sometimes for food, other times for gas or washrooms but only ever forthe driver. He also stopped to pick up more people. There were 2 other people we picked up en route, bringing the total number of passengers to 10 people, including a sick baby.Everyone had a cell and was in a video conference with others throughout most of the journey. There was a lot of talking very loudly as each person was trying to hear and be heard. The crying baby did not help.

We eventually made it into Phnom Penh about 6 hours late. We figured out that our driver wasn’t just a good samaritain, driving the “highways of Cambodia” rescuing stranded tourists, he was a Grab driver (like Uber) and this was his job. That would also explain his confidence playing fast and lose with the gas pedal and our lives. Our original bus driver paid him well to “continue us on our journey”. Unfortunately the price did not include a drop at our hotel but rather some random spot that was good for him. We walked and walked late at night in Phnom Penh and finally found our hotel.

To answer our bus driver’s question about lucky or unlucky, I am going with lucky! What a day!

Night Travel

We found a good way to save on the cost of a hotel. When covering large geographic areas taking night trains and buses are great. We had 2 great night train experiences (Hanoi-DaNang-Saigon) and one good night bus (Phnom Penh-Siem Reap). The prices are about the same as a hotel.You get a semi private space (a cot/bed) no seat. There is always free water and snacks sometimes even free fruit, wifi and wet wipes. The toilets can be rough as well as the ride itself. Taking slightly more extra strength gravol than recommend is very helpful. Buses don’t usually have toilets so purposeful dehydration is required but not recommended in high temperatures! (A bit of a gamble / knowing your body’s functions well helps.)

On the down side the « station » is not always awesome and can be in a not great part of town. Gathering food prior to boarding is critical. Freshening up is challenging and having s busy morning is critical because your hotel room will not beready until afternoon. You will have your luggag with you all morning (6-8 hours) backpack required.

Buy tickets ahead online to be assured a spot and check in at least 30 min prior to departure time. Also double check to see if departure times have changed. For example if you think you are leaving at 8:30 am and you arrive just past 8:00 am... you may discover the departure time has changed. The ticket lady will assure you that they sent you an email 6 months ago, not! - roll with it and see when there are spots on the next bus. Bonus extra 2 hours to explore the city! Attitude iseverything when traveling on the cheap as a minimalist.

Volunteering in Vietnam

Through some early friendships forged by my parents and some incredible friends from France we were able to teach English in an orphanage in rural Vietnam. As a result, we met some great people and new friendships have been formed for future generations.

Although it costs us nothing and we didn’t use many supplies to teach, our hearts have been filled with the joyfulness and yearning to learn that this group of 28 students (aged 5-21 years old) can give. We have both been able too plan and deliver approximately 25 hours each of lessons within the week. 

Our hosts have been incredible, sharing what little they have,  freely and lovingly. Although some have had a few opportunities to learn English before, most are brand new to it. Not being able to rely on a common language to teach from was an added challenge. I relied on my daughter and her recent experiences to guide me.

The opportunity to live within a community  as we have,  has been incredibly educational from an  ethnographical perspective. The teacher becomes the student again. My best moments in life are when this happens!

If ever you can create this type of opportunity foryourself, do it. You will be swept away by appreciation that they give you and then again appreciation of what you have so effortlessly at home.

Dining in DaNang

If you happen to be vacationing with a vegetarian you would do well to seek out a few scrumptious spots in DaNang. We have found that there are some great economical and plentiful options, such as AN’s Vegetarian Cuisine (review) and MauDich 1986 (review)!

Buying fruit from street vendors is a treat in and of itself. Although we are convinced we are supposed to haggle we just couldn’t do it. A kilo of fresh lychee for $2.50 seems pretty good to us. 

Hydration in 51C is important and so is finding cheap water. Look around for the cheapest in 1.5 litres and buy, drink, repeat.

Hangin’ in Hanoi

Hustle and bustle mixed with coordinated chaos and slight bit of delirious delight, you must be inHanoi. This place is like no other I have experienced before. Is it the high pitched engine of the ubequitious scooters or the piter pater of sweet little old street vendors with their shoulder scales for carrying fruit, I am not sure,  but Hanoi presents itself to the world in a very transparent and unpretentious way. There are sights and smells that my eyes and nose will prefer to forget but the overall sensations of being in Hanoi are fantastic. If you book a 3 star hotel for about $75 CND a night you will get all you can eat breakfast buffet and à la carte ordering included. You will get free welcome drinks and free wine and fresh fruits in your room daily. You will get a lot of bang for your buck. 

Hop on and off buses are not always a good thing. We forwent this in Hanoi and were glad. Research the sights and see if you ‘need’ to take the bus. 

Taking the night train can save you a night in a hotel and the berths (beds) were comfy and clean. They also provided fruit snacks. 

Using the free wifi to plot your course using Google Maps is great. So long as you ‘start’ the route in wifi the satellites take over and will continue to navigate you for free, no data, no wifi. 

Typhoons and Terror

Ok, so the plan was to take the bus back to HK Airport along the longest bridge-tunnel in the world. (just opened last year) Apparently they have these things called Typhoons here and it is ‘Typhoon Season’. Macau is an island in the South China Sea. When they hoisted level 1 Typhoon, no worries then they hoisted level 3. Now everything starts to get a little hectic. People are worried they will be stuck on the island; and they will be. At level 8, all transportation is ceased. Already at T3 there are people with no hydro and flights have all been canceled from Macau airport. No worries right? I have a flight from HK Airport to Hanoi. We had breakfasts (sic)  I had a fruit breakfast on my own before my friend joined me for a full traditional English Breakfast. We both ate that; breaky #2 for me. Then he ordered us each a dim sum Chinese style breakfast. Now, he is a little man and could not eat any of the food and so I ate both our Chinese breakfasts to be polite; those are #3 &#4! Did I mention we were rushed to be sure and catch the bus? It was almost sacrilegous to whoof down delicious dim sum like that. When we reported to the ticket office, they announced a T8 is being hoisted soon and so no more buses. What happened to 4,5,6 &7? Yikes! 

Maybe we could still catch a ferry? Off we go to the docks. Frantic turns into panic here as only 1company is still running. It is 12:10 and the last sailing is at 12:30. We have no tickets. 12 people in front of us. Magic/Fortune/Miracle/Dumb luck, you choose,  I get the last ticket. People are running and it reminded me of that scene in the original Godzilla when all the people are running in terror of Godzilla, except in this case, they are running to get away from the Typhoon,

Despite all my traveling,I still do not have my sea legs. Ok, that was an understatement, I puke at the thought of swinging in a swing. Popped two extra strength gravol and boarded. I don’t know how many of you have been on the last ferry having purchased the very last seat crossing the South China Sea with a T8 Typhoon blowing but there are no words that come close to describing how this felt. Terror times a trillion comes close. It was like the end-of-days meets the sinking-of-the-Titanic. It was surreal. I actually calculated the distance (62K) and figured out if I swim my normal pace I could make it to shore in 31 hours, if we went down. Only 31 times further than my furthest consecutive swim. As absurd as this mental exsecise was, it calmed me a bit. Then I closed my eyes and meditated, imagining i was in my kayak on the shores of Lake Huron and some heavy winds were causing the kayak to go up and down, up and down. I will spare you the description of the sounds and smells emanating from that boat. Obviously, we all made it across alive a little shaken from the experience.

Once back in HK, I took the express train to the airport ( bus would have been cheaper) but getting there before they suspend flights was important. I managed my way there, through all the security screening and checks, no issues until the boarding gate.  They hadn’t started boarding yet so, no worries. I did the ‘double check’ thing and showed them my boarding pass and passport. They also asked for my visa for Vietnam, I didn’t yet have the visa but I had the invitation letter required to get the visa and I will get my visa once we land. No problem. I proudly took it out. I was thinking to myself: ‘Good thing you have every thing in order’ when several Cathay Pacific employees started to scrutinize my letter; it was in Vietnamese. “You can’t fly until tomorrow according to the dates on the letter.” What? “ I narrowly escaped a Typhoon to make this flight. I am meeting my daughter. She has broken her toe ( true story ) We are taking a tour that starts early tomorrow. I must get to Hanoi tonight.”  Nope. Didn’t matter what I said, it was not happening. Further issue if I didn’t take my regional flight my ticket home would not be usable. Oh that is not good!

Only solution was to take the next available flight, within the dates of my visa letter, and that will be August 2, missing our tour departure. And so , I was escorted out, like a criminal. ‘Not being allowed to board’ is not good. The customs guy really wanted to know why I didn’t board my flight. I swallowed a lot of humble pie and tried to explain. Being patient and keeping my mouth shut kept me from more trouble with customs. HK is technically China and they already have two Canadians in detention. I did not want to be the third! Cathay Pacific staff were good and accompanied me but only to the ‘army of Chinese military personnel’ waiting; no, thank God, not for me. Their presence is just a reminder to everyone that China is here. So two more days in HK and lots of last minute scrambling to book hotels and transportation. Some money lost but it is only money. 

The minimalist and thrifty take aways here? Don’t check your bags ever! Mine would be in Hanoi or destroyed as a potential explosive device. Check your visa letter dates and get the actual visa ahead, if it is an option. It may cost more but it is worth it to be sure you will get in to your desired county. 

Oh what a day!

Opulence in Macau

I am not sure that freeloading from a friend who gets “free” rooms and such qualifies as thrift butI can tell you it qualifies as minimalist. Everything is provided here. Not being much of a ‘resort traveler’ this ‘all inclusiveness’ is a difficult but pleasant experience. The fanciness and opulence here at The Parisian is incredible. There are some 30+ hotel-casinos in Macau each with 2000-4000 rooms and all the luxury you can enjoy. My friend’s willingness to share his spoils with me is fantastic and makes for a very cheap few days. 

There are free shuttles most everywhere and the main square is much like being in Portugal. The highlight being the iconic Ruinsof St Paul’s. The island originally being developed by the Portuguese more than a hundred years ago. As always people watching is free and so long as you are not staring rudely people don’t mind. In Macau, as in the rest of Hong Kong, I am a real minority. I am usually the only white person wherever I go. Even as a minority my priveledge follows me. Everyone is kind and helpful. So blessed. Now days, the island is ‘owned’ by American, Japanese, Chinese and Hong Kong tycoons. The overall feel is pretty surreal. If ever you get the opportunity, visit Macau! 

Protests and Pigeons

Although not directly related to minimalism or thriftiness, I have experienced, first hand, the protests of the young Hong Kongers and feel I should share their message. 

For nearly 8 weeks now there have been protests. At first it was about the extradition bill but now I see it is really about much more. From what I understand they want freedom from China. They want to be a truely independent state. The day I arrived they had taken over the airport. Such a protest has never happened in the history of Hong Kong. Each day a different area of the city is where the protests are staged. They are primarily peaceful but the HK police have allegedly hired gangs (triads) to strong arm the protesters. This did not intimidate the youth. It actually is what has made things more aggressive. 

Last night in Lan Kwai Fong (a popular bar area) the police shot tear gas at the protester. That stuff burns the eyes. We took refuge inside the bar. (This is another reason to always tip your server) The issue is threefold: 1) the youth want voice and change in the form of more independence from China, 2) the police are using tactics to escalate the situation and 3) the media is not covering it because China controls the internet message. I urge you to listen to and support the youth of HK in their plight for freedom, independence and democracy.

On a lighter note, I was in a square relaxing in the sun and was visited by a pigeon, a pretty common thing really, but this time the vibe was different. I thought about it for a while and then realized in my quest to eat less and less red meat I found myself experimenting with some new foods.I had  eaten pigeon the night before ( head and all) and I figure this is why it felt weird with the pigeon in the park. We see things differently once we have eaten them. The pigeon was delicious, tasted much like quale. 

Hello Hong Kong

If you happen to know someone in your arrival city you can really reduce some of the stress of travel. They can meet you at the airport ( always such a nice feeling) and they know how to get you to your hotel. They likely have transportation andlocal currency. Enjoy this international hospitality.

My friend even brought me a local cell phone to use. One of the tech perks in HK is that there is free wifi everywhere. No need to pay for roaming fees or get a local SIM card. Just seek out the free wifi.

Subway Savings

Most cities with a subway will offer a ‘tourist pass’. For once it is good to identify as a tourist. This pass (usually for 24 hours) has a few rules and is available only to tourists. It will give you unlimited ‘rides’ within the regular lines. For about $12CND I have taken about 8 trips that would easilyhave cost $40 or more. Many subway stations are set up with ‘things to see in the area’ posters. Also a blessing ona rainy day. Subway is clean, safe and air conditioned.

If you find a bar during ‘happy hour’ you can drink for half price. Just saying. 

Walking is Economical

So after clocking nearly 30K in about 12 hours I can tell you that you can save a lot of money walking places. We combined subways, ferries, trams, busses and cable cars and still managed to walk that much.

By avoiding the convenience of 7-11 on every corner and seeking out an actual grocery store, the fruits and water were way better price. 

Currency exchange is tricky. Most banks won’t deal with you if not a member and you have foreign currency in hand. Rates vary wildly from exchange place to exchange place. The plus of bringing some US dollars is you avoid the ATM and possible bank fee per transaction. Shopping around for a good rate paid off. 

1 Month SEA

Packing for 1 month and not wanting to check your luggage on the plane presents some challenges. The maximum weight allowance is 7 Kilos and the minimum dimensions are 23 x 36 x 56 ( 115 cm ). And let’s not forget that there are limitations as to what you can carry with you in your carry on. The obvious stuff was  omitted easily- only regret is that I can't bring favorite pocket knife. The 100ml limit containers of liquids, gels and aerosols are also a pain. What follows are some labelled pics of gear. Comments and questions welcome.

A tour of a few countries of Mainland South East Asia is my next trip. This trip has been roughly a year in the making. I will share a few posts relating to the planning of the trip. The trip is both a solo venture and a shared trip. The first week ( Hong Kong and Macau ) is solo. The next 3 weeks ( Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand ) are shared with my daughter. I was given her blessing to do all the planning.

For those who are frugal, thrift, cautious or just plain cheap, here is the blog for you. On this blog, if things go as planned, you will find tips and tricks to travel very economically.