July 2006 Archives

Today is my final day at GE. Wow. Since starting there back in March 2005, I wouldn't have thought just such a little while later that I would be taking these steps. But there you go.

As for now, I'm looking forward to my next adventure in employment.

Koh Samui Scooter Sequelae
See more images by timbeckenham at flickr.

While I'm still raving about Thailand, I should point out Lin's little scrape with Lamai Village's road while riding falling from her scooter. ;p

It's ok, she's fine. Lin's pretty tough & soldiered on through it. However, I am getting wearisome of visual updates of the now rapidly-healing knee on occasions. Can be gruesome at times.

But I bear no grude. Its amazing what you do for love.

This entry was posted with flickr

It's been over a week since Linda and I returned from Thailand. Man o' man do I wish it was a longer stay. We decided that this trip was going to be a special one since its probably the last time for quite a while that we'll share an uninterrupted holiday together in the coming year (considering Linda's impending dual lifestyle in 2007 as Shanghai Jewish Center's administration worker & as a full-time Chinese student). It was definitely special and exactly the holiday that we required.

We flew into Bangkok on a Sunday afternoon and promptly checked into our hostel, KS Guesthouse. I was a bit underwhelmed by the place, an old 1960s/1970s boarding-house style of place that was probably a bit more expensive than what it should have been. The rooms we had were rudimentarily clean and not really a class backpacker's establishment. However, it was just a few minutes walk from Bangkok's backpacker focus Khao San Road. We walked around this area, enjoyed a few quiet drinks while watching the streams of people walk by. One thing that struck me in light of my 18 months living away from Australia in Shanghai was the amount of counter-culture present in Thailand. To borrow a phrase, you couldn't swing a dreadlock in Khao San Road without hitting a hippie, a ladyboy, or a highly-pierced individual. A welcome contrast from the relatively homogenous appearances of the citizens of Shanghai.

The next day we popped off to Bangkok's Domestic Airport to arrange our trip to Koh Samui. Yep - that's right we hadn't pre-booked a thing. We heard that in the off-season there's no risk in doing this, except when there's a long-weekend in Thailand and there's a Full-Moon Party due on Koh Samui's nearest neighbour, Koh Phangan. Yeah, that was the weekend we arrived. Due to this, there were no flight's that day to Koh Samui! Bu hao! We had to take Plan B to get to Koh Samui which invovled a flight to the mainland city of Surat Thani followed by a 'quick' ferry ride across to our destination. On paper it looked like a maximum transit time of 3 to 4 hours. In reality, it took closer to 8 hours due to flight delays, long transit in an express bus from Surat Thani Airport to our ferry. I wouldn't recommend this route to those with small amounts of time at their disposal.

We caught a taxi from the ferry terminal on the west side of Koh Samui to our accommodation located conveniently on the opposite side of the island. We chose to stay at The Samui Yacht Club which is located in a tiny cove that is nestled between the famous Chaweng and Lamai Beaches. Bungalows on the beach. Tidy. Very nice. Linda and I both loved this place. I've later found out that it was not to everyone's cup of tea, however we liked it due to it being quiet, secluded and quiet. The restaurant food was great (our room included an awesome breakfast too), and the resort staff arranged tours and transportation for us and placed in on our bill. Everything was easy. Another plus was the King Size+ bed in our room. Changing from our usual double to a King-size meant acres of room for sleep. Dead-set, I hadn't had such blissful sleep in quite a while (Linda's a massive space hog when sleeping - terrible).

Over the course of our 4 days on Koh Samui, we visited Ang Thong Marine National Park (an area consiting of over 40 beautiful and unique islands that has been made doubly-famous due to it being heavily featured in the movie "The Beach"), walked to see waterfalls, ate great Thai food, lazed on beaches, swam in the waters, snorkelled, kayaked, received great Thai massage, ate great Thai food, rode scooters, fell off scooters, and most importantly, rested. Did I mention the great food?

I can really appreciate why Koh Samui is loved by the world. It has great nature, great climate, its relatively easy to get around, cheap and all tastes are catered for. Unfortunately, due to these aforementioned attributes, it is also disliked. There appears to be a lot of uncontrolled development (particularly in the Chaweng and Lamai central areas), over-charging (in particular by taxi drivers), and then there's the inevitable ugly expat/tourist groups that are found in popular places like Koh Samui. Another detractor from our trip was rain and overcast skies that frequented our stay.

We left Koh Samui on a Friday night for Bangkok. Again we suffered from a flight delay and arrived at our hotel just after midnight. We stayed at the Ibis Siam Hotel on Rajaprarop Road for the evening, rose the next day and hit Bangkok's famous Chatuchak Markets for a few bargains. You can spend serious amounts on money there on wide variety of high-quality items. It is was a refreshing change from the Chinese style of markets that seem to keep on spruiking the same ol' stuff. We picked up a few home-wares and for me, the most important thing, a Thai floor couch/roll thing. The ground-dweller in me now has a serious comfort device akin to the bean-bags I used to frequent back in Brisbane. Yay!

We flew back home and arrived at our pad around 1am in the morning. Our flight back was uneventful, however we are 100% certain we encountered Shanghai's worst taxi driver. A man that for the 90 minute (yes 90 minute trip) from Pudong Airport accelerated and decellerated constantly, drove only in 3rd gear, took 'creative' routes, talked on the phone, and on top of all this - drove a jallopy. Maybe it wasn't all that bad, but considering the 1 week of bliss we just went through, well - it wasn't a nice reintroduction to the Shanghai I know.

Of course I posted a lot of images across three different sets on my flickr page. Just click on these Bangkok and Koh Samui links to see my photos. You can access my Ang Thong Marine Park photos through this link.

As usual, feel free to leave comments or make notes on the pictures too. ;)

Just to whet you're appetite, here's a collection of thumbnails from the Ang Thong Marine Park set.

People at Chatuchak
See more images by timbeckenham at flickr.

Time flew, it was a great trip. Wow, the beaches of Koh Samui were pretty awesome, as was our last day in Bangkok that we spent spending money at Chatuchak Market.

More later - work is super busy leading up to my last day.

This entry was posted with flickr

I'm out of Shanghai and off to the sunny (?) beaches of Thailand for a week.

See you soon.

The Shanghai Daily has linked to another podcast (apart from ChinesePod) that appears to be catering for the science-curious residents of Shanghai. The podcast and accompanying files can be found at their Science Podcasting website. I hope there's less emphasis on trains in following episodes and more emphasis on broader topics. I might suggest one here. How to find a decent science job in Shanghai.

Footpath
See more images by timbeckenham at flickr.

Everyone has one of those little things that sends them bonkers about trying to get around Shanghai on foot. For many expats, its the slow, meandering walkers of this city. For others, its the incessant car horns, people blocking walkways with a 10 storey building's bamboo scaffolding piled on the footpath, cupboard-width footpaths with even smaller bottlenecks, or forced engagement of a survival-induced Frogger-like athleticism while crossing roads on green pedestrian lights. I have to admit at times this gets to me, but really they are minor inconveniences in my day.

What really pisses me off are Shanghai's footpath tiles. Confused? Let me explain.

These inconspicuous tiles can be found all the way around Shanghai, but unfortunately for myself, I encounter these little demons on every trip to my closest Metro station at Jiangsu Lu. I refer to them as demonic, as they appear mundane, inert or inconspicuous. Little colourful geometric devices that are designed to make your walking experience as uneventful as possible. They do this function, until water is added. After which they turn into fouled water spitting devices that coat the lower half of your body with Shanghai sludge splatter as you step on them. And of course with all things demonic, its always the red ones you have to look out for.

Normally, trickles of liquid from the neighbourhood noodle stand, water condensation from buildings or broken piping seep out onto the street over the top of the sealed footpath. However, in the places where these tiles are situated, the water erodes away the sand base underneath the tiles, leaving sets of inconspicuous Shanghai street sludge-landmines. In fine weather, you may infrequently step on one of these and jar your knee or ankle, or at worse get a little flick of mud on your person. Following a downpour of rain however, such footpaths become akin to walking across a room littered with mouse-traps. Hit one, and they might all go off.

Throw in a few hundred Shanghairen with umbrellas both setting off these nasty surprises and crowding your path down Yuyuan Lu, and you can expect the worse for your work pants and newly polished shoes, or alternatively your knock-off jeans & street sneakers.

Bloody tiles.

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It's about my job. But I'm drunk, and should write more about this when I'm actually sober.

But stuff that. I just spent the last few hours with my Shanghai friends, talking about this. I don't know if I've been humoured, revered, or held in awe. I'm just happy. Simply, I'm happy. Its a great feeling. I haven't felt this way for quite a while. Clear and pure happiness.

I just resigned from my job. The reason I came to Shanghai. And I'm not upset. I'm not disillusioned. I feel content.

My eyes are wide open.