{"id":7743,"date":"2019-08-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-06T20:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pinncomp.com.au\/wb\/?p=7743"},"modified":"2023-08-27T14:35:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-27T04:35:05","slug":"bankok-uk-and-usa-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pinncomp.com.au\/wb\/?p=7743","title":{"rendered":"Bangkok UK and USA 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, dear readers, as I write this to you, I am 2 hours away from landing in Bangkok.
\nI wanted to share with you one of the few benefits of \u2026
\nBeing deaf as a post<\/strong>
\nI refer specifically to the ability to live in a world of my own at 40,000 feet from the sea.
\nI have recently taken delivery of the latest and greatest pair of hearing aids. They are connected to an app on my phone which controls them. One can select one of 4 hearing environments like general speech and music etc. The program options have been available with the hearing aids I have used for quite a while. Only recently have I used aids that are controlled by an app. It tells me the % life of the battery, changes the volume level. I can also mute the microphones. This is a godsend in a noisy environment like an aeroplane. I have also recently been introduced to a black box called a TV adapter. It connects to a sound source like a TV or an aeroplane’s entertainment system’s headphone output. The really neat thing is that the Tv adapter sends the sound, by wireless, directly to my hearing aids.
\nSo, my world on the plane was:<\/p>\n

  • TV adapter powered by a power pack. No mains hum or interference.<\/li>\n
  • Phone in “Airplane” mode but with Bluetooth on. Airlines are happy about this.<\/li>\n
  • Phone selects TV adapter mode.<\/li>\n
  • Mute the microphones.<\/li>\n
  • Entertainment audio and flight announcements crystal clear with no engine noise or crying infants\/adults.<\/li>\n

    Perfect!
    \nAussie passports don’t like water<\/strong>
    \nI found this out when I checked in at Coffs Harbour at 5:30 am last Thursday. My photo page had become damp around the edges \u2013 it had an old photo sepia look to it. The Qantas check in agent had to phone Sydney to see if they thought Bangkok immigration would let me into their country if my passport had an aged look to it. I thought that it was a bit unnecessary as I am an old man and a sepia look was rather distinguished. Anyway, she came back and said she thought I would be OK. I was not worried because being a belt and braces man I always carry a spare *.
    \nMy arrival<\/strong>
    \nAfter I arrived in Bangkok I took the monorail from the airport to Makkasan station which is closest to the apartment that I have rented.
    \nI exited the station using what I thought to be the right exit, alas, the Thais all, without exception, drive on the other side of the road to us in Australia. So, all the taxis were going in the opposite direction to the way I wanted. Well, that is not totally true. All the taxis were standing still in traffic facing the wrong way. I asked a young lass if she knew of a good spot to get a taxi. She asked me where I wanted to go and she said I was a longish walk and she would help me with my cases. She lived nearby. Off we set, it turns out she sold drugs, just like my taxi finding friend in Madurai in India a few years back. I should clarify, before the young people who read this newsletter get excited. The drugs she sold cured things, like, diabetes and cholesterol etc. She was a nurse turned sales rep for a drug companies who sold drugs to hospital.
    \nSo, I found the way and it was about 2kms over reasonable tracks and pavements.
    \nYesterday, after I settled in I found and up market supermarket that sold products that I could understand (A lot were in English) I bought the essentials like eggs, bread and milk etc.
    \nToday I found a different supermarket with some English text products but the best bit was that I joined their loyalty scheme which gave me some extra bargains. The best was 2 pineapples for the price of one and one cost AUS $ 1.95. In fact, I got some chicken (3 nights) noodles, pineapples and cooking oil all for Aus $7.50. I wish somebody at Woolworths would read these newsletters and take note.<\/p>\n

    OK, more later bye for now.
    \n* \u00a0The spare passport is actually for the UK but it works in Thailand as well. I am not sure how long my UK passport will work for as it has EU on the cover. You may have heard that the UK want to take their bat and ball and not play with Europe anymore.
    \nI think that soon the UK will have one less topic of conversation when they finally decide whether to leave from or stay in the EU.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>Getting into a routine.<\/strong>
    \nNow I have been here in Bangkok for over 4 days I can safely say I am into a routine. The weather here is hot and humid, as soon as one ventures out from the air-conditioning the humidity hits you.
    \nBy the time I return back to the apartment all my clothes are wringing wet, so then I …<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Empty my pockets.<\/li>\n
    2. Lay out the banknotes on a bench to dry, they are soaking wet. I did thing of giving them a wash before I dry them but that, of course, would be illegal. i.e. Money Laundering.<\/li>\n
    3. Remove all clothes and lightly wash them.<\/li>\n
    4. Into the washing machine, rinse & spin cycle, 1200rpm 20 minutes.<\/li>\n
    5. Hang clothes to dry in bathroom. They are all dry in 4 hours \u2013 shirts in less time.<\/li>\n
    6. Drink copious quantities of water.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Thai cooking course.<\/strong>
      \nBy now I hope you will have seen the photos so here is what happened. The course was run upstairs above a bicycle hire shop. The owner Ray, a dutchman found less and less people wanting to go for bicycle rides in 36C heat. He got larger premises and opened a cooking school as well as the bike rental.
      \nI was fortunate in that there should have been 3 students but 2 cancelled so I was the star (only) pupil.
      \nThe chef was Cherry, a young lass, who got married to a German trainee doctor 2 weeks ago. She had just come back from her honeymoon in Germany. She and her husband hope to live together in Germany but before she can get citizenship, she has to pass a German language exam. “We have way of making you talk” comes to mind.
      \nI won’t bore you with the menu as you can get that info from the photos. The cooking course was excellent, the food was a typical tourist selection but no less good for all that.
      \nWhat is the collective noun for a number of cancellations?<\/strong>
      \nOne of the collective nouns for giraffes is a “totter”. I am going to adopt that word for the collective noun for cancellations because I like it.
      \nNow, it will not surprise you to know that I have had a totter of cancellations lately.<\/p>\n

      1.\tThis was a flight cancellation. It was my flight from Bangkok to London. I originally booked with Jet Airways. They are the second largest airline of India. About a week after I booked the flight, I read that they were in financial trouble. They could not afford to pay all their pilots. The pilots kept working but since then the money situation has become worse. Now over 20% or more of their planes are grounded so they were forced to cancel flights. Until they pay their lessors, their total debt is $1 billion US, they can only fly domestically. So, sadly, my flights came into the firing line. I was promised a full refund which has since been paid. I booked an alternate flight with Air China via Beijing. On the Beijing to London leg I think I have the last seat available. It is in the last row of the plane; I may even have to help serve the meals.<\/p>\n

      2.\tThe second cancellation was a full day train and river trip. The reason given that it the New Year. Perhaps the tour company did not know when the new year was this year, maybe it was surprise. Again, a full refund was promised.<\/p>\n

      Today was a great day, I visited the Grand Palace and it lived up to the name. You will see the photos in the usual places.<\/p>\n

      Yesterday I saw my first Thailand rodent. It was a rat up a drain pipe. The old saying, indicating fast speed, in action.<\/p>\n

      I am now at the Miracle airport hotel near Bangkok airport. I am here for few hours before I check in at the airport for the flight that leaves at 1am! I picked this hotel as it was near to the airport and it had a free shuttle.
      \nI caught the Rail Air monorail to the airport and followed the instructions that said the meeting point was between arrival gate 3 and 4. I saw 3 such meeting points and mine (3 and 4) had 35 name boards of hotel pick-ups. I think there was over 100 pickup boards plus numerous other people with boards randomly walking the airport. Amazingly it seemed to work<\/p>\n

      I am sure things will happen in England and when they do you, dear readers, will be the first to know.<\/p>\n

      Just a quick word about airports and how to recognise them. <\/strong><\/p>\n

      You know you are in an airport when \u2026<\/p>\n

      \u2022\tThe shops are equally at home in Regent St or 5th Avenue.
      \n\u2022\tCadbury chocolate is Aus $23 for 33gm and not $5 for more than 300gm in Woolworths.
      \n\u2022\tWater is 91 baht and not 10 baht in the 7-Eleven.<\/p>\n

      The Rail-Air coach from Heathrow to Reading
      \n<\/strong><\/p>\n

      I have caught this service many times before, it is convenient to get from Heathrow to Wokingham via Reading. The coach leaves every 20 minutes from the main coach station at Heathrow terminal 2-3. There is an indicator board in the waiting area. One waits until the coach arrives and the bay the coach has arrived at is displayed and then one walks to that bay to board the coach. The coach arrived at 1:30pm and I and 2 others immediately went to bay 10 as indicated and the driver had shut the door and was about to leave. There was another Rail Air employee at the stop and she told the driver to wait. She apologised to him for holding him up. He said he was due to leave but he reluctantly opened the door and let us on. He said to me he was late. I asked him how I could get to the coach any quicker as the bay had only 2 minutes ago been displayed. The indicator board said wait in the lounge. He said we should be at the stop 5 minutes before the bus left. I told him that was impossible as the bay number was not displayed until he arrived.
      \nBy his logic we would never get on the coach as we would always wait for the bay and always miss it.
      \nHe grumbled a bit as more people got on the coach that I had delayed. He was even more sighful (new word) as there was a lot of people at the next stop at Terminal 5.
      \nI was completely surprised when he wanted to carry my bag off the coach at Reading and got my bag off first also. He then apologised for his remarks at Heathrow, I said we saw the situation differently. I shook his hand and we smiled. We both lived happily ever after.<\/p>\n

      Beware! The perils of shopping in foreign lands.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      I was in the Dairy aisle of the local Sainsbury\u2019s supermarket and I was looking for some low-fat Yoghurt. I saw a brand that I recognised from a previous visit. I choose the 3xCherry and 3xStrawberry packet. After dinner I picked a Cherry tub and when I opened it, I was greeted with a Cherry flavoured Rice pudding. I did not know such things existed. I have let a sheltered life. When I checked the packaging, I did spot the tell-tail hint in capitals, namely \u2018Rice\u2019. Caveat Emptor which one will know as Buyer Beware.<\/p>\n

      I love American Airlines!<\/strong>
      \nLet me tell you a story to explain.
      \nThey board the plane in groups from 1 to 8. Group 1 is 1st class, Group 2 is Business class etc. down to Group 8 being the cheapest economy seat. Needless to say, I boarded in Group 8. I checked in online 24 hours ahead of the flight departure. I was offered to choose my seat but the cost ranged from GBP23 to 88. I decided to let the computer pick a seat for me. This it did, in terms of the seat position there are 304 seats on the Boeing 777-300ER. The best seats are first class and the worst last row of economy. I think I rated mine 300 out of 304. When I arrived at the baggage drop, I asked if the check in lady could find me a better seat. She soon came back and said “You have bought the cheapest economy seat and we cannot reallocate those”. She suggested I try at the boarding gate but she doubted if they would reallocate either. I contented myself that if the plane crashed it is generally acknowledged that the last row of the plane is the safest.
      \nAs you know I like to do things in a timely manner so when the departure gate was announced I high-tailed it to try my seat changing luck. I asked the young lass who checked my boarding pass if she could give a very old man a better seat near the front. (Better for flying but not so good for crashing). To my surprise and delight she allocated me an aisle seat in the economy 2nd row. She said there was also and empty seat next to me for extra storage.
      \nThat, dear friends, is why I love American Airlines.
      \nI was surprised when they did not offer any classical music albums in their list od audio offerings.
      \nThis, of course, did not phase me as I travel with more technology than you can poke a stick at. I was able to listen to hours of my kind of music direct into my ears with no nasty noise of engines or children being tortured.
      \nThe Joy and Pain of the New York subway.<\/strong>
      \nYes, dear readers, the New York subway is both joy and pain.
      \nThe Joy is that it is the largest subway system in the world with 472 stations on 27 different lines. On many lines there are local trains that stop at every station and express trains that miss some stations. Many of the lines run 24 hours. Times Square has interchanges with 11 lines.
      \nThe pain (see Joy)
      \nI made one mistake, I got on a N line train which I thought was a Q line train. I only went one stops and caught a Q line train at the next stop.
      \nSome stations do not have ticket offices only ticket machines. These do not dispense tickets to old men at $2.75 for 2 rides but only $3.00 tickets to under 62s.
      \nIn 3 days, I did not master the subway system but, in the end, we rubbered along together.
      \nI walked up the Empire State building (a bit)<\/strong>
      \nI had planned to visit at 8am when it was not too busy. It took a while to find the building because it looked like all the others in the block with the top half shrouded in mist. I did not think that $35 to have my head in the clouds was a good buy. Judy often says “Your head is in Cloud-Cuckoo land” (That it would appear, is also in the clouds)
      \nI did a major replan and went to the Guggenheim museum and then the Metropolitan museum of Art instead.\u00a0 I took a free impressionism tour which lasted 1:15 and was great.
      \nBy the time I had seen these two and walked in Central park the day had turned out sunny so I returned to the Empire State. The queues to the Observation deck on the 86th floor was quite long by this time. There are two sets of lifts involved, one to 79th floor and the other from there to 86th floor. Having queued for a long time to get to the 79th I opted to walk the last 7 floors to the 86th. There is an observation deck on 102 but it was closed. The views were great, lots more people that in the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I am very glad I did get to the top as the views are fantastic.
      \nOne of my New York highlights.<\/strong>
      \nHas to be my visit to B&H Photo at 9th and 34th street. They have been trading since 1973 My first purchase was a pair of Sony wireless headphones from them in the mid 90’s when wireless headphones were not available in Australia. The shop spans a whole block and is at least 3 floors of goods. They stock a wide range of photographic, computer and home entertainment items. They even have a department devoted to drones. They are Jewish owned and therefore cease trading on Friday afternoon until Sunday morning.
      \nI wanted my camera checked for a moisture stain on the focusing screen. There are 20+ staff at numbered sections of the counter. The chap I talked to was very friendly (like all New Yorkers I met) he was also practical as his advice was do nothing. We chatted a bit and we parted friends.
      \nI looked around for a while and then decided to buy a couple of lens cap tethers to tie the lens cap to the lens. I decided on 2 as the cap of my long lens is quite heavy. $3 each plus tax \u2013 the last of the big spenders I hear you say. The lady who served me gave me a ticket. I had to pay on the ground floor and when I had a payment ticket, I collected the goods from the downstairs also.
      \nI walked around for a while longer, I watched an 8K TV. This is the latest standard of high-quality TV. It is said that there is no point in developing any higher standard as the human eye will not be able to detect and higher quality than 8K.
      \nBy this time, I had decided to get 2 more tethers for my wide-angle lens and as luck would have it, I saw the chap I talked to first. He made me a present of the 2 tethers so saving $3 plus tax.
      \nA good end to my pilgrimage to B&H photo.<\/p>\n

      Times Square beat me!<\/strong>
      \nI have had a great time in New York, I found the people of New York friendly and polite, always helpful and I loved their accents. Now I go via Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited #49 train to Chicago. I checked out of the hotel and took myself plus 2 suitcases and a backpack by subway to catch the train. My hotel was in Flushing, the home of the US tennis open. It was a short walk to the station so I hauled my luggage with no problem. Flushing Main Street is the start of the line but the train was already full when I got on so I stood\/staggered for the 30-minute trip. I had intended to change trains at Time Sq. but the 11 lines that intersect there were too much so I took a cab. I think the driver was a bit startled when I wanted to sit in the front. He said most people sit in the back as it was the law but he was happy to break the law for a chat. The fare was $9 and half that was the luggage cost. After booking my large suitcase through to Chicago I went in search a supermarket for supplies. I found a $2 shop near the station in West 32nd street which sold food, groceries and all the $2 items one expects in such a shop. Next door was “The largest buffet in New York” or so the sign said. You can see a photo. You filled a container from the hot cold and salad bar, it was weighed and one paid $10.99 + tax per lb.
      \nI had a good window seat on the train with a spare seat beside me (again \u2013 it is my charisma?)\u00a0 I began to wonder if it was a subway train as it did not emerge from the tunnel for 12 minutes. We hugged the shore of the Hudson River for over 2 and a half hours. The river was were US Airways flight #1549 landed after a bird strike in Jan 2009. The event was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the movie “Sully”<\/p>\n

      The Art Institute of Chicago<\/strong>
      \nI really liked the interesting collection of Paperweights; you can see some examples in the photos I have posted.
      \nThe Chicago Symphony
      \nI attended their performance of The Overture to The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart. He composed the overture literally just before he conducted its first performance from the piano. The Mozart Piano Concerto No 20 in D minor, K466 with Mitsuko Uchida, Piano and Riccardo Muti Conducting was beautiful. I was struck how unaffected Mitsuko Uchida was, she just sat played the piece without any undue emotion. There was also a couple of pieces from The Fairy’s kiss and the Firebird by Stravinsky.
      \nI sat next to Patricia, a Professor of Art History who said that Riccardo Muti was much more down to earth than the last conductor Daniel Barenboim. Sir George Solti was conductor for 22 years prior to Barenboim. The musicians all seemed to enjoy themselves. I wonder if it had anything to do with their winning pension concessions after a 6 plus week strike? There were some nice touches, the lights were left on during the whole performance so one could read the free 63-page program. The orchestra is 128 years old and supported by donors (21 pages of them in the program). Many gave in excess of US $150,000 annually. I had a great view of the piano keyboard from the 4th row.
      \nIn the interval Patricia and I had a discussion about hearing aids and we exchanged cards and I have sent her some information and thoughts.<\/p>\n

      I still love American Airlines <\/strong>
      \nOne of my abiding interests is the weight of my luggage when I travel by plane. I spend much time packing and repacking my 2 suitcases and back-pack. I do not subscribe to the “Travel light” school of thought. The trip from Chicago O’Hare to Albuquerque had a normal baggage limit, ) which I was under of 23kgs (Cost $30 at the airport). The self-service boarding card print, luggage tag print and baggage payment were easy and efficient. I waited in line (you do not queue in the US of A) at the baggage drop, when I arrived at the front my case was whisked away, sadly I blinked and missed it going. Well done American Airlines.
      \nI browsed the magazine stand on the way to the departure gate and I noticed a publication called “Weed”. It had an hairy man on the cover with a kind of glazed smile. He looked a lot like the presenter of the ABC gardening show, Costa Georgiadis. There were three copies of the magazine, none were in the gardening section so I did my good deed for the day and moved them to the right place.<\/p>\n