ferry to Ko Samui

Taking ferry to Koh Samui for some beach time.

Kanchanaburi

Drove from Thong Pha Phum to Kanchanaburi. Visited Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum. The museum and walk commemorate the deaths and suffering of Allied prisoners of war while building the Siam-Burma Railway (aka Death Railway) for the Japanese military.

Also visited Muang Sing Historical Park, home to Khmer ruins from the 13th and 14th centuries. An earlier burial site is from the Bronze Age.

Thailand travel

 I hooked up with my friend and college classmate, Brian. We visited sites in Bangkok. He has a car and graciously took us on a tour west of Bangkok to Kanchanaburi Province. His sweetheart, Siripan is from Nong Pru. We stopped to visit Siripan's friends who operate a fish farm. Then we visited her mother and brother who live on a farm. Nong Pruis a small town with one hotel.   As a day trip, we visited Tham Than Lot (Chaloem Rattanakosin) National Park and a wat at the top of the mountain. An unusual limestone bridge with several large holes in it is the highlight. There are also caves and waterfalls.

From Nom Pleu, we drove to Thong Pha Phum where we rented bungalows on the shore of Khao Laem Reservoir. It is quiet with lots of kingfishers and other birds. At dusk, fishermen make their way to fishing

Bangkok, water

 Bangkok is actually built upon a marsh. Klongs or canals define reclaimed land. I took a water taxi through some neighborhoods. Everyone lives on the water. The Chao Phraya provides transportation. In addition to normal water taxis, an organized ferry system acts much like a subway with scheduled stops and even express boats. Boats run both upstream/downstream and across river.

 Lodging--P&R Residence Hotel provides friendly, clean and secure lodging near the Sheraton and Chao Phraya River.

Watching Obama on Thai TV at midnight in

 



Watching Obama on Thai TV at midnight in Nong Pru with Columbia classmate, Brian.

Chao Phraya River in Bangkok

Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Take boats everywhere.

Singapore sights

?????? While in Singapore, I visited several museums, took the harbor tour and ate at Little India and Chinatown. I visited Funan Digital Life, a six story shopping mall devoted to electronics of all kins--a veritable Fry's on steroids.

Asia Civilisations Museum--A perfect introduction for my trip. One gallery detailed the history of Singapore while the main exhibit described the culture of each major civilization in Asia including the Middle East, India, China, Japan and Siam, Vietnam and Laos. An exhibit, Asians in Monochrome displayed large format photographic portraits from around the turn of the (last) century. The clothing and props were outrageous. See www.acm.org.sg. A short exhibit of Mao's Propoganda Machine included a large portrait of Mao. The light of the museum's windows bounced off the portrait.

The National Museum of Singapore was

Singapore

Singapore is very easy to visit--clean, orderly and interesting. The airport, Changi, is probably the nicest airport I've ever visited. Customs was a breeze; if you have nothing to declare, walk under the green arrow and you are outside security.

I haven't seen a beggar or panhandler. There is no garbage on the streets. The city seems prosperous with lots of new construction and many contemporary buildings. The culture is a multi-ethnic brew that has been bubbling for centuries -- Malay, Chinese, Indian, Arabian, Portuguese and British.

The food is Asian fusion and delicious. The food courts hold so-called "hawker stalls" with abundant, cheap and tasty food. The food is an art form with its own exhibit at the National Museum.

Lodging--The Strand Hotel has good accommodations with a great location right by the Art Museum and Singapore Museum. It is in walking distance to Chinatown and Little India.

2 shirts, 3 pr socks, 4 cameras

Everybody has their priorities. I am taking two changes of clothes and four cameras. My cellphone for stills and video. My Pentax Optio for stills and video (and underwater). My Nikon D200 with three lenses for high quality stills. And, my new Flip Mino HD for high quality, high def video!

Next stop: SE Asia

I fly to Singapore in a few days. Plan to visit. Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and maybe other countries.

[caption id="attachment_402" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Map of southeast Asia"][/caption]

blog, twitter and flickr

Many visitors enjoy following my blog as my travels unfold. I've upgraded my capabilities here. This website is the classic best way. Assuming my Quad-Band world phone works, I will be text messaging updates, photos and video to my website. When I have Internet access, I will be posting and uploading images.

pd.com supports RSS. Just click on the RSS page and my posts will download to Outlook or where ever you get your RSS feeds.

If you like text messages, you can set it up so you receive my text messages. Just click on What I'm doing... more updates -- or go directly to twitter. You need a twitter account to receive my text messages by mobile.
http://twitter.com/patrickdowd

If you just want photos, you can get RSS from Flickr
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site maintenance complete

I made the following upgrades:

• wordpress version upgrade


• flickr plug-in upgrade


• added twitter functionality


• added video capability


• added mobile content capability


• added past and future post navigation


• custom favicon


• changed my theme.

Thailand

A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power. A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy. In alliance with Japan during World War II, Thailand became a US ally following the conflict.

Malaysia

During the late 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain established colonies and protectorates in the area of current Malaysia; these were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. In 1948, the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula formed the Federation of Malaya, which became independent in 1957. Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the former British colonies of Singapore and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo joined the Federation. The first several years of the country's history were marred by a Communist insurgency, Indonesian confrontation with Malaysia, Philippine claims to Sabah, and Singapore's secession from the Federation in 1965. During the 22-year term of Prime Minister MAHATHIR bin Mohamad (1981-2003), Malaysia was successful in diversifying its economy from dependence on exports of raw materials to expansion in manufacturing, services, and tourism.

Singapore

Singapore was founded as a British trading colony in 1819. It joined the Malaysian Federation in 1963 but separated two years later and became independent. Singapore subsequently became one of the world's most prosperous countries with strong international trading links (its port is one of the world's busiest in terms of tonnage handled) and with per capita GDP equal to that of the leading nations of Western Europe.