Domesticity and the art of basic maintenance on the road

Yes rather a drab topic but an important one as laundry does need to be cleaned, shoes need to be intact and luggage needs to be road worthy to avoid spilling the contents all over the conveyor belt after some 18 flights that we are taking on this adventure.  After two months on the road our shirts are horribly stained and shoes and luggage are falling apart.  

My black leather, cork bottom sandals took at big hit in the saltwater while sailing and the soles have been coming apart ever since Thailand.   I finally managed to get them fixed for $5.00 (patch job) in Hoi An as opposed to sending them to the trash.  They are super comfortable with wedge heel, practical and dressy.  I would dearly miss them as decent multi purpose footware is a tall order while traveling.

My crew does create a fair bit of laundry especially when traveling in the extreme heat, dust and dirt. Ideally I want the kids to look fairly clean on the road and less like street urchins as best we can muster.  The kids and I brought a very limited wardrobe so every shirt, shorts and skirt has to last and withstand numerous washings as well as being stain proof and drip dry for hand washings.  Jim brought a large suitcase with a much larger selection of clothes.  Just the other day, after over two months of travel he wore a blue plaid shortsleeve shirt that he had yet to wear on vacation.  He said that it had been buried in the bottom of the black pit also known as his suitcase.

I am in the habit of doing as much laundry as possible in the sink.  All my undies and most of Elizabeth's underwear are drip dry high tech fabric.  Everything including heavier cotton t-shirts are normally dry in a day with the heat or indoor with the air conditioning.  Jim keeps all if his dirty laundry, and there is a ton, in one black garbage bag and that gets full or he lacks for choice (approx every 2.5 weeks or so) then we send the laundry out.  What happens to the laundry after this point is a mystery,  in some cases it doesn't look all that much cleaner but it always smells great and is folded and presented in nice colourful plastic packages.  Things come back with holes and one time everything came back slightly pink.

Jim's only white shirt and my only two white tank tops are all stained yellow from SunScreen and sweat. I purchased stain remover and gave them all a super scrub and soak with bleach at our last Airb&b and used the ultra hot white setting with the washing machine, a luxury just having access to a washer, to no avail as the stains did not budge.  Jim promptly threw out his shirt but I had another idea.  I took the white stained tank and tied Elizabeth's hair elastic all over it in knots.  Then I washed it with all the natural blue dyed fabrics, hats and purse from the Vietnamese Hill tribes around Sapa near the Chinese border and voila blue tie dye tank...for Elizabeth.

I opted to to try my luck at tailoring in Hoi An.  This is what Hoi An in Vietnam is known for albeit everything seems to be somewhat a scam to grab more money from the tourists so I am extremely cautious in my approach.  Jim wanted absolutely nothing to do with a tailor, did not have the patience for haggling over price and fittings.  He seemed to be on his last nerve for Viettnam at this point and with three days to go had already started to slow down and count down to Singapore and the perceived Westernized utopia.  My approach was simple, go in with samples from my own wardrobe and have them make exact copies using different fabric.  John was happy to be my wing man and took along a pai of shorts to be copies.  I offered to get two shirts also made for Jim using one if his shirts as a sample and thus was the extent that he wanted to be inconvenienced for fear of interfering with satiating the inquentiable thirst of his blog followers. The lovely ladies from our hotel in Hanoi mad the recommendation for the tailor and the entire process took over an hour from material selection, sizing and haggling over the price.  Two shirts for Jim, two pairs of shorts for John and two dresses for me ready in less then 24 hours.  When I returned the following day for fittings I brought along Elizabeth who felt left out of the previous day's activities.  She was in desperate need of a bathing suit and possibly a skort.  Only after I saw and approve of the workmanship did I proceed with another order of two skorts, two tank tops and a bathing suit for Elizabeth. We didn't have a sample bathing suit to copy from so we quickly searched the Internet right on the spot and found one that caught Elizabeth's eye.  She selected blue polka dot material and after a very thorough, and she would say most embarrassing fitting with the young lady tailor it was all said and done.  We are very happy with all the results

Our luggage is also falling apart.  John's piece of luggage was man handled before our very first flight left Ottawa forcing us to purchase a new piece for John in Vancouver.  Elizabeth's piece of luggage split its seam in Japan and we always have it in mind to purchase a replacement piece but never get around to it.  Jim tried his hand in haggling for a piece of luggage in Vientiane Laos which ended in a teachable moment for Jim and the kids on the art of haggling but no luggage.  Again in Vietnam at the market we did see luggage however we tended to be too tired and too hot to go back and close the deal.  We also tried in Singapore.  We have delayed the luggage purchase so long now Jim also needs a new piece of luggage.  We visited the Mustafa Centre in Little India Singapore as my research indicated that this was the place for the best prices for everything...for the best prices in all of Singapore but very high for South East Asia.  Jim and I also have conflicting views on the size of his replacement luggage...and much to myself dismay he seems to want to go bigger.  He is already carrying a large piece of luggage and all of our luggage has difficultly in fitting in the trunks of taxis.  Case in point this morning when we left Singapore I had to sit in the back of the cab flanked by Elizabeth and John with Elizabeth's 20kg luggage squashing me on my lap and teetering back and forth for 40 minutes arriving at the Chiangi Airport in Singapore scratched up and dirty. Still no luggage, perhaps Bali.  

First impressions are so important - Singapore is amazingly amazing!

We arrived at the Chiangi airport late afternoon on Tuesday the 15th of September.  Vietnam was extremely trying at times.  I knew we would need a break from the constant culture shock and thought Singapore would be a nice distraction however Jim initially was not keen on visiting another big expensive city and had made the request to minimize our time in Singapore and perhaps skip it all together.  I blatantly disregarded thus suggestion and took another approach.  I not only booked a few days in Singapore but on recommendation from Kunta our sailing captain in Koh Samui, I extend our time to 6 days.  The Grand Prix F1 was occurring the same time as our visit and this had really increased the price of hotel rooms as well as making availability scarce as we would need two rooms - quad rooms are all but non existent in this part of the world.  Price of air B&bs were also going through the roof. After a ton of research I did finally find a nice modern albeit small central Air B&B with pool for $210 a night and went for it. 

Jim and the children had been secretly counting down the days since Hanoi and during our last week in Vietnam, Singapore and going to Universal studios came up daily.   The thought of going to anEnglish-speaking  developed country with clean side walks, pollution control and green space made Jim froth at the mouth.  They could barely contain their enthusiasm on the plane, especially after our daring escape from Da Nang and Typhoon Vanco.

Welcome to Singapore, the kids ran off the plane and into the most modern of airports.  There was no loud noises, no garbage, expansive space, orderly queues, English signs, vertical gardens and greenery, candies at immigration and a very large multi story slide...and this was Just the airport!

Jim went to get do local currency after we cleared customs, it was roughly 6pm and just a few people in this expansive and modern airport.  Something caught my eye and it was a sign for the super slide.  I quickly called the children over and said guys get a load of this.  It was a three story polished metal tube type of slide.  On monitors it gave the present time of the slider as well as the best time ever.  There was a lovely lady with her son who was about 8 years old and we got to chatting.  I asked were the tickets were being sold for this slide and she then offered us 4 tickets for the kids to slide indicating that the tickets were driven out with every purchase at the airport shops.  Wow what a lovely lady and so friendly.

We then queued up for a cab - is it a queue if it is just you? 😀. There was also a big sign at taxi stand indicating that it is a major offense for cabs to overcharge and not to use the meter.  Wow what a difference from Vietnam where cabs with tampered meters were the norm and being "taken for a ride " was a sport to some Vietnamese.  The cabby was super informative and when pJim told him that we were from Canada and this was our first time in Singapore he counseled Jim to never ever tell a cab driver that as they may take advantage of his unfamiliarity with the city...not in Singapore but other cities.  Good advice.

Our air B&B is one of many condo buildings tucked aware off of Orchard Road right across from the presidents residence, a lovely park and green area but what I have seen of Singapore so far greening of this city has been a priority for a long time which great success in terms of air quality and access to green spaces and parks.

Has it really been two Months? Reflections on Luang Prabang

Where oh where does the time go?  I cannot believe that we have been traveling for two months already.  We have touched, tasted and experienced so many wonderful and a few unpleasant things since my last blog a month ago.

I last left you upon our arrival in Luang Prabang Laos where we plunked ourselves down in a lovely guest house for 10 days and slowed our previously frantic pace.  This allowed time for lazing around, meandering into downtown Luang Prabang on our bicycles and basically chillaxing.  Luang Prabang was hot, seemingly more so than Thailand and Japan but also gritty and dusty.  More dirt roads and dogs.  Every family had chickens and roosters in their yard, bikes and motorbikes.  Only a few cars to speak of. Laos for me had always been for me the road less travelled and it didn't disappoint, it kind of reminded me of Cambodia in 1999 and all of this was delicious to my traveller self.

When we arrived at our guest house in Luang Prabang in the extreme heat of the afternoon, we immediately found out that our rooms were not available and that we would be put up at the "hotel" next door for the night "Free of Charge" and then are 2 rooms would be available.  The hotel owner was so upfront and super nice about everything that we all just went along with it.  The other hotel was a backpacker hostel and they gave us two small rooms tucked away on the second floor.  Both rooms were extremely basic, with dark wood floors and super clear.  We had to walk by all the laundered sheets drying on the racks to access the rooms.  I was expecting worse and was very happy with the result.  For one night I can and have slept outside and in train stations.  The kids had their own room but to their horror they had to sleep together in a double bed.  Lots of fighting ensued where we had to read them the riot act and put the foot down.  Their only other complaint was the hole in the ceiling of the bathroom - I said that it was a skylight 😀 as it is all in the marketing!  Anyhow this little adventure for one night in a quiet backpacker hostel actually made them appreciate our guest house much more for the entire duration in Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is known for their large night market which also includes a colourful food section.  The baguette sandwich stalls were very popular with Jim and the kids.  There was a row of nearly twenty stalls all selling ready made baguette and you could essentially get anything on a baguette to go.  Each stall had a homemade sign indicating that the stall had the Best Baguette sandwiches etc.  on this one sign were comments painted in bold colours from travelers.  I spotted something familiar "C'est Bon en Tabarnak" chuckled to myself as I knew Quebeckers had eaten here.

There was this narrow alley serving all kinds of hot goodies on small grills.  Crowded with people and dogs with lots of smoke and steam.  Jim found it claustrophobic.  I loved venturing down there and every time I would find something new.  The man selling piping hot pork dumplings was a hit with the kids especially with the hot sauce.  There was also several one plate "all you can eat" buffets for ~ $2 with a Beer Laos.  This was extremely popular with locals and backpackers.  

My favourite dessert there was the small coconut milk pancakes, hot off the grill - so delicious.

Our absolute worst meal in Luang Prabang and on our trip to date occured in Luang Prabang around August 16 and I have been haunted ever since.  You simply cannot trust a restaurant that served me the Worst Papaya salad ever.  I am a huge fan of Thai papaya salad and they have a lovely variation of it in Laos.  However we made a rather poor choice of a lunch restaurant in Luang Prabang.  Jim wanted to try something new by the river however I suggested Joy's restaurant were we had eaten and thoroughly enjoyed the day before.  I lost out, John was not hungry and stayed back at the guest house  The papaya salad was the colour of the Mekong and smelled equally as foul. I tried a micro bit and immediately stopped eating deciding not to have lunch at all.  The dish was so foul smelling that we asked for the dish to be removed from the table.  Jim and Elizabeth's lunch dishes seemed ok at the time however they both ended coming down with tummy troubles immediately after the lunch which lasted the better part of a week.  John and I totally dodged that bullet!

We visited the Royal Palace, several Wats, waterfalls, fed Elephants at a sanctuary, rode bikes around town, was successful at Geo Caching and had a magical evening out at the Royal Ballet.  Other things of note for Luang Prabang: I managed to get my iPhone repaired after it bounced off the bed, I had my hair coloured ink black at a "salon" miss communication regarding colour and was reunited with John's lost iPad which was couriered from Japan...it was a joyful reunion!

Elizabeth and John rafting on the Mekong

John and Elizabeth feeding their new friends

John peeking out from a gilded statue at a Wat.

The royal ballet if Luang Prabang

After dinner smiles.

One month mark reflections and Laos

We are now entering unchartered territory in my estimation and a true test of our resolve to soldier on when the going gets unfamiliar or tough.  Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia will be a challenge but after a month on the road we are still alive and up for the adventure.

I cannot believe that it has been over a month since we left Ottawa as in most ways it seems much longer. B.C., Japan and Thailand were an absolute frenzied whirlwind with a new and exotic experience everyday.  I do not believe we were prepared for the extreme heat however.  We knew it would be hot in South East Asia, that was just a certitude but it was also unexpectedly hot in Japan and heat exhaustion especially for Elizabeth, remains a real concern. 

The children have been real troopers keeping us on our toes and in most cases stitches.  From the start they embraced the adventure and assisted with the planning.

John brings his type of crazy to everything he does.  His ups and downs for the most part are related to hunger so keeping his belly full and his blood sugar levels up are a constant challenge.  For John it is about video games, animals and all things modern.  He is a big city guy and was sad to learn that there are no large shopping malls in Laos.  He left his iPad in Tokyo on the limousine bus to the airport and only figured this out during the first 10 minutes of an 8 hour flight to Bangkok.  He cried all the way.  Anyhow I was able to get a hold of the limousine service and they sent the iPad to Laos.  We are still waiting for delivery to our hotel in Luang Prabang - fingers crossed.  We have tracked it to Vientiane but no idea if it will make it to Luang Prabang prior to our departure next week. 

Elizabeth has exceeded my expectations especially in the food department.  I was concerned that her aversion to all fish and sea food as well spicy food would make dinners a challenge but it has not been a problem at all.  She was a great sport accompanying us to the Tsujuki Fish market in Tokyo and besides having a sour look in most of the photos she was generally interested in the fish and sea creatures. The heat is her big challenge so we make certain to get in air conditioning or in a pool during the heat of the day.

They both are gaga for animals.  Dogs, cats, elephants, frogs, chickens, roosters, fish, geckos, crabs,  I have so many stories of the children and their new found friends.  It has been hard on them especially in Thailand and the poor state of some of the cats and dogs.  Most cats that we encountered in Bangkok had either a severed half tail or no tail at all due to scooter or accidents with cars.  Thais were taking pictures of my children petting the cats as they found this strange.  At the Fishermans' night market John and I heard the loud cries of a small kitten, we could not walk away  We found it under a bag in the flatbed of a truck belonging to one of the night market food vendors.  The poor kitten was about three weeks old with no mother.  John was upset at the state of this kitten.  We purchased cat chow and brought a make shift water bowl, return to the truck a few hours later and fed the kitten.  We fed another clutch of kittens around the corner from our Air B&B.  There are not as many dogs in Laos and almost no cats.  

Many people we encountered felt that 10 days in Luang Prabang was way too much time but I see this leg as a time to slow down, take it easy and a time for reflection.

Luang Prabang is very unique.  French colonialism permeates through the architecture and food, you will notice smatterings of French signs on all the official government buildings and banks.  The Laotians that we have met are gentle and quiet.  Less used to tourists, I feel, than the Thais.  They are most happy when I tell them that we are visiting their beautiful country for three weeks as I guess most people do a relatively quick fly by on the way to or from Thailand.  

We are staying in this lovely converted French Villa walking distance to the old town.  The large room is all done in mahogany including polished wood floors.  The place is immaculate and as is the culture in the Far East you have to remove your shoes prior to walking in the hotel.  We have two rooms adjacent to each other and on the second floor balcony in front of our door are two small breakfast tables well appointed with fresh cut flowers.  The large breakfast of fresh cut fruit, banana pancakes, eggs or omelette and French baguettes are something that we look forward to every morning.  All this for $28.00 a night per room.

There is a ton of activities and sights to take in with over 33 gilded Wats, museums and colonial architecture.  The Mekong itself is a marvel, it looks serpentine from the sky, the colour of chocolate milk.  It is the 12th longest river in the world and a major transportation route in South East Asia. 

Sunset boat rides and dinner cruises abound but for now we will take it easy.

Creepy Japanese robots at the Miraikan

The Miraikan is Tokyo's Premiere Emerging Science and Technology Museum.  Japan and Robots in my mind just go hand so it's was no surprise to find several robots at this museum...but why are they all so incredibly creepy?

The first robot display had fembot lounging on a couch in a typical casual Japanese soccer mom type attire.  She smiled and waved, perfectly coifed and manicured.  Her voice was high pitched and saccharin sweet - the entire tableau made my skin crawl.

The next robot exhibit allowed you to have "fun" with the robots in a singing game.  These robots sang a song perhaps known only to Japanese folks and they sang it over and over, faster and faster.  This song will haunt my dreams now to the end of my days.

The final robot experience was very odd.  You went into this black corridor and to the right was a slit cut out of the wall at eye level.  Through this slit in the wall you could see a bright white room almost glowing and a robot sitting on the side of what looked like a like a hospital bed.  The woman robot in this scene had what appeared to be a white hospital gown.  With no instruction or indicators for interaction we all just stood there waiting for something to happen.  After a few minutes of silence just standing there looking at the robot with all the other visitors, Elizabeth in a rather loud voice asked why the robot was in a white hospital gown. I quickly answered that the robot had just been abducted by aliens and wash happily waiting for the medical experiments to start 😜.

Japan - the toilet issue

So what is this Japanese obsession with bathroom activities ? Yes this is the toilet blog.  Although I had recently experienced new and interesting squirty types of toilets in Turkey, Japan takes toilet culture to an entirely new level.  So many buttons, privacy features, music options, deodorizers, hot and cold water, various water pressures, water aim, heated seats etc etc no wonder there is always a long lineup for women's bathrooms.

This toilet features both hot and cold water.  It took me a few days to realize that the difference between spray and bidet was exclusively water temperature as the pictograms indicates a coverage difference 😜

These images make it look like the force of the water will blast you off of the toilet.

This device provides a sound feature of flushing water for "privacy".  In one toilet I could not figure out how to flush the toilet and kept hitting a button that only provided the sound of a flushing toilet, made me angry 😡.

Most toilets have complicated instructions - giving you the "gist for use".  Do you really want to be faced with this type of tutorial when you have to go or perhaps it is for bathroom reading and not a  mandatory reading before pressing cheek to toilet seat type of guide.

This was a 10 step tutorial on how to wash your hands!  John's method has regrettably only one step wipe hands on shirt.😜

No idea what all there buttons with dot images symbolized.  I like the flower dot pattern the best but what does this really mean in "toilet" speak? 

And if all else fails there is an emergency button which was normally clearly marked.  I suspect that possibly the force of the water shooting up from the toilet or a severe allergic reaction to the deodorizer being unexpectedly spritzed on nether regions, are the number one reason for pressing the emergency button.

At times the toilet seat was heated, a feature I did not want, or need.  Nor could I figure out how to turn off in the +40 Celsius Tokyo weather.  Curse you hot Tokyo Museum toilet! 😠

Hello Tokyo

Crazy to think we are here in Tokyo.  The 10 hour flight from Vancouver was just an appetizer to the full Japan experience.  It was all about the toilets on the plane and electronic entertainment systems with the kids.  The time flew by very quickly however due to so much excitement with movies and multi player games, the children declined my advice to nap and immediately crashed hard in the taxi to the hotel.  They missed an incredible light show that would rival Time Square NYC.  Jim and I were careening our necks out of the cab windows to catch every fascinating site.  John woke up for a minute and then yelled I can 't do it, I am too tired and then went back to sleep.

We were all up bright and early after a wonderful sleep.  We have two separate rooms at the Citadines apartment hotel.  Well equipped modern hotel and super clean - a cool oasis to relax after a hot day of sightseeing and they provide kimono and slippers for all.

Once again the toilets are a hit and automatically play sounds of waterfalls.  There are way too many buttons on these Japanese toilets.  To date I have seen toilets with the following features - sound for both privacy and encouragement, bidet, spritz with cute little icons of where the water will actually hit your under pinnings. Buttons and dials for water pressure, temperature and this afternoon I encountered a toilet at the fancy Rippongi Hills shopping mall that had a deodorizer feature.

Our first morning in Tokyo was spent on a walking tour of Meiji-jinku Shinto shrine and Senso-Ji Buddist shrine.  It was crazy hot and humid - well in the '30's at 10am. Our guide Mitaki was lively and tried to keep it fun for the kids which was much appreciated.  The best part of the tour was that Mitaki gave us a tutorial on the Tokyo metro and the benefits of pay as you go vs pre paid cards such as Suica.  We are now armed and dangerous with Pasimo metro card and disrupting the calm that is the Tokyo subway culture.

Speaking of Tokyo culture...it is so incredibly quiet here.  We are staying in the Shinjuku area a lively restaurant area but we never hear people actually talking, laughing or making any loud noise for the matter.  We went out early dor breakfast around 7:30am and found ourselves walking against a sea of workers all going to their place of employment, everyone pretty well dressed the same in white starched shirts and dark pants or skirts completely in silence.  It was rather eerie.  The same goes for riding the metro, total silence, everyone keeping to themselves.  You can just imagine how easily Elizabeth and John are able to disrupt this silence with their constant fooling 😜.