Bill and Catalina's world tour

Departing Central America

billandcathy — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:36:22 +0000

We are now in South America, in Bogota. Let me bring you up to date with our travel experiences. We stayed for two months and three days in Costa Rica. Most of this was in Tibas, which you can think of as a suburb of San Jose, although it is a separate city as far as administration. We lived over the road from a football stadium so we spent some time watching soccer matches live, and sometimes more interesting the training sessions. The first training session only had about twenty spectators, and I was the only male. It was so obvious that the audience was made up entirely of girlfriends of the players! And it was also obvious that the young ladies had no interest in football.

I was fascinated by their activities, from shaving their legs, plucking their eyebrows, putting on make-up, combing hair, or reading glamour magazines, but all the time keeping an eye on the player of their choice, so that if he scoured a goal and looked up into the grandstand, they were ready with rapturous applause.

We had read about the trains in Costa Rica and were looking forward to a train-ride from San Jose to the Pacific Ocean and to the Caribbean Sea, as illustrated in the tourist brochures. But when we asked about trains we were told to take a bus. We knew there were trains because we had seen one while walking around Tibas. So on our next walk into San Jose we set off to find the central station. It was quite a walk but worth it because it was a quite imposing building, but there were very few people about. And the only tickets for sale were for a train excursion to the railway museum! We were given instructions on where the old station is, where we to go to catch the only suburban train to Heredia with a stop at Tibas. It was explained that the trains only ran from 2pm to 6pm. So we walked the couple of miles and found the station, a very decrepit eighteenth century building completely boarded up. We did find a locked gate with a notice that the gate would open at 3pm. As we could walk to the bus stop and be home by 2.30 it seemed pointless waiting around for a train.

We decided on a different tack. We used Google Earth to find where the train line ran through Tibas and crossed the gorge to Heredia. As we did this, I was intrigued by a notice on the Google map beside the bridge over the gorge, ’1926 tragedy’. So I went surfing the internet and found photos of the train disaster in which 360 people died when the train became derailed crossing the gorge. We decided to walk the few kilometres to the bridge and then walk back along the railway line to find the Tibas station which we had not been able to find by googling. Yes we found the bridge, I touched it but because I had developed a ‘punta phobia’ or ‘fear of bridges’ we did not cross the gorge. We walked back along the line. Two trains passed us, one carrying railway workers with shovels, and one was just an engine testing the line. This confirmed that there really was some sort of functioning rail network. And we found the Tibas station, and it became obvious why we hadn’t been able to spot it on the map; it consisted of one broken down carriage parked beside the rail-line, probably a relic from 1926. We never did get to ride a train in Central America.

I was amused by some of the yarns I came across about the train service. They say that there are some towns that came into existence in isolated parts of Costa Rica, when a train with several hundred passengers broke down. The passengers could not get help, struck up friendships, intermarried, and gave birth to a new town, and if you visit the town you can see the children playing on the rusting train.

A train-driver noticed that a span of a bridge was missing. The passengers were reluctant to return, so the driver consulted with them and they dismantled the engine and two carriages and carried them across a raging river and reassembled the train on the other side. The rail company was so delighted with this initiative that they decided to not repair the bridge but to offer a discount to passengers agreeing to help carry the train over the river!

While in Tibas there was the Haiti earthquake and a 4.1 earthquake near Heredia which caused some alarm in our house but Catalina and I had not noticed anything until it was pointed out to us that the hanging light was still swinging. The biggest Costa Rica disaster news while we were there was when a crane-truck passed under a rail bridge and scraped the concrete and steel structure and brought it down on top of the truck.

I have never been scared of walking across a bridge before coming to Costa Rica, but close to our home the main highway crossed a very deep gorge. We set out to walk across the bridge, using it’s quite narrow footpath. The railing was less than waist high, a very strong wind was blowing up the gorge, I was scared that I would lose my hat, the bridge shook violently when a vehicle crossed, and what was really terrifying was that some of the spans of the hand rail were missing!

Well we did cross the bridge when we departed San Jose by bus for the Caribbean coast to a village called Punta Viejo. This was our first visit to the beautiful surfing beaches of the romantic Caribbean. This tourist town is all rasta hairdressers and dreadlocks,and loud and constant Bob Marlow music. We made enquires about getting a bus to the Panamanian border, and the girl in the bus office advised us to pay, not for the regular bus, but for a mini-bus which would actually drive us across the bridge linking Costa Rica and Panama. She explained that many people were too terrified of the rickety bridge to cross. I decided that I would opt for the considerably cheaper regular bus, and if I became too scared to walk across the bridge, then surely I could hire a taxi or something. We did walk across the bridge, but it was a nightmare. The bridge had no surface. It had a train line down the middle on railway sleepers, and on the outside of the lines loose planks, ill-fitting, and just wide enough for the twin tyres of a semi. We each had luggage with wheels, but the wheels kept falling in the gaps between the planks, so I was forced to carry both Catalina’s and my luggage. I had to give that up after a short while, and simply live with the loose planks, and all the time hoping that no semi would make the crossing because there was nowhere to step aside.

Eventually we made it. I think the border police regulate the traffic on the bridge so that pedestrians and vehicles are never together on the bridge.

Now on the Panama end of the bridge was the immigration office, and a notice saying that you must have departure tickets from Panama or you must pay $200 if you are returning to Costa Rica, or $1000 if departing to another country. We hadn’t reckoned on this. But keep cool, and hand over the passport! The immigration officer examined my passport, and I expect it was pretty obvious we are back-packing around the globe, because when she asked me how we were departing, and I replied that we were going to get a sailing boat from the San Blas islands to Colombia, she waived the regulations and waved two very grateful tourists through immigration.

We caught a minibus to Amirante, where we caught a fast taxi boat to take us to Bocas del Toro. There we had eight days of swimming, chasing dolphins, and watching the carnival. This caribbean festival lasts a week and is quite the opposite of the rio festival. This festival is based on the religious notion that you need to have your sins removed, so every evening about 6pm a dozen men dressed as black monsters with whips would parade down the main street, and viciously whip the devil out of anyone who taunted them by stepping off the footpath on to the street. I was told that it was a sort of macho game, but from what I observed there was real hostility. And this was borne out when on the last day of the festival a large group of youths armed with nulla-nullas attacked the monsters. Looking back I guess I can laugh at the sight of monsters fleeing pell-mell down the street chased by a gang of youths, but at the time it wasn’t funny, and the flogging one poor monster received when caught didn’t look like any religious ritual to me.

After eight days we returned to the mainland and caught a bus to Panama City. We enjoyed Panama City, and its main tourist attraction, the canal. We boarded a boat that took us through three locks and halfway across the Panama isthmus. Then on another day we caught a bus to Colon which is beside the canal entrance on the caribbean side.

We were advised that it was dangerous to travel near the Colombian border, and so, reluctantly we flew from Panama City to Bogota. One memorable experience was our visit to a salt mine just north of Bogota, in which is built a huge cathedral deep underground. The guide took us down to the cathedral, but then left us to our devices. We had a drink at a restaurant and then had to make our own way to the surface. This we did but not without a few flashbacks of getting lost in the Vietcong tunnels in Vietnam.

Central America

billandcathy — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:28:06 +0000

While we were in San Cristobel in Mexico, I purchased a Mexican hat. Not one of those huge Mexican sombreros, but a ranch style black leather one. Everyone wears one of these in Mexico. You can purchase them in the open markets for under $10, but when I tried them on, I found them rough on the inside, and lacking finish, so I went to a men’s clothing store and purchased a much better quality, for $30. I very soon began to realize, that I may have made a mistake. Part of my philosophy of travel is to be inconspicuous. Now I stood out, and people were coming up to me in the street, and asking how much my hat cost, and lads would take it off my head, and want to try it on. I fear that it won’t be long before it goes missing!

The next country south of Mexico is Guatemala, and we caught a bus from San Cristobal to the border, and then another bus from the border heading to Antigua, which is near the capital, Guatemala City. These buses are known as chicken buses. They are all school buses purchased second-hand from the US. They often have school notices still stuck on the windows! We wanted to see Antigua, because it is the ancient capital of Guatemala, until it was destroyed by earthquake and the capital moved to Guatemala City. Antigua sits at the bottom of a huge volcano, with small villages on the lower slopes of the volcano. This one is dormant, but a couple of hours journey by car there is an active volcano, and the tour operators advertise their tours to the rim. Catalina and I wished to look into an active volcano and we approached an operator to buy tickets. When she told us that the minibus would only take us two-thirds of the way up, and that we had to climb the rest of the way, we chickened out. I had read that in El Salvador there are active volcanoes with a road right up to the top, so this seemed more our type of volcano.

After a few days in Antigua we caught a bus to take us to El Salvador, the capital of San Salvador. When we purchased the tickets we were told that under no circumstances should we hand over our passports to anyone unless they were uniformed immigration officers. At the time I thought this strange advice because we were not in the habit of doing that, but when we arrived at the border and stepped off the coach, we were literally besieged by attendants, demanding our passports quick, quick, come this way , quick, passport quick. I was glad I had been forewarned.

When we arrived in San Salvador there was a hotel above the bus terminal and because of the convenience, decided to stay there. We thought it would be nice to stay a month on the unspoilt beaches of the Pacific, so we caught a bus to the beach and walked along the beach looking in at the various resorts and enquiring about the cost. On the whole the beach was deserted, and the resorts were unoccupied but the costs were prohibitive. And the thought of going into the surf alone on a deserted beach deterred us from going on with this idea. So we returned to San Salvador, and made arrangements to catch a coach from our hotel to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. This would involve passing through Honduras.

It was Saturday, and unknown to us was a very significant day in Honduras. It was election day for the new president. I don’t know how conversant you are with Honduras’s recent politics. I was aware that last year the army had deposed the president and would not allow him back in the country. He actually turned up at the border, and was greeted by a band of supporters and by the army who told him to go away. Then he tried to fly in but the runway at the airport was clogged up with planes so that failed. But under pressure from the US, the army decided to hold elections for a new president, freely elected and this was how we were caught up in banana republic politics. After travelling about three hours towards the border with Honduras, an announcement was made, The border was closed and the coach would return to San Salvador, and try again tomorrow to make the trip. Our tickets would be good for the morrow. Or, we were told, because persons on foot could cross the border, we had the option of leaving the coach and forfeiting our ticket, and make our own way to Managua. Returning did not appeal to us so we opted to make our own way. The coach did at least agree to take us right up to the Honduras border, and we left the coach and walked over the border without even having to show our passports or having them stamped. We caught a chicken bus travelling to the Honduras- Nicaragua border, and were on our way. But when we arrived at the border, things continued to unravel. It was obvious from the miles of semi-trailers parked on the Pan American Highway that the border was closed. When we got off the bus we were besieged by locals who informed us that the Nicaraguan government had closed the border in protest against the free election of a new president, and the border would not be opened before Monday. We had been misled by the coach company! It was not Honduras that had closed the border but Nicaragua. But the locals assured us that this was no problem, one could simply wade across the river that is the border and then catch a bus to Managua. The locals assured us that it would be easy and they would accompany us. So six of us went with our guides to the river, rolled up our jeans, took off our shoes, I paid a couple of children to carry my bags across because I found the pebbly floor of the river rough on my feet, and we waded across the 50 metres to Nicaragua. Put on our shoes, walked up the bank, to be met by two policemen, who informed us that we had entered the country illegally. They gave us two options. Either return immediately, or pay a fifty dollar fine and continue. I was all for paying up but our fellow refugees started negotiating for a reduced fine. At this, the policemen explained he would have to consult with his superior, and he called him up on his mobile. A few moments later, the head of police arrived on the back of a motorbike, and he told us that we did not have any choice, we had to return to Honduras. So back we went wading across the river and paying the children again to help us cross. There was one hotel in the border village so Catalina and I rented a room for Saturday and Sunday.

Staying in the hotel was another Australian couple, from Buderim. All sorts of stories were circulating. We were talking to them on Sunday at dusk when a chicken bus drove down the main street towards the border. Our two Aussie companions jumped into life and made enquiries. It seemed that this one bus was going to be allowed to cross the border, and yes they would be allowed to join the bus passengers. Mad rush to get their luggage, pay off the hotel, and race down the road to join the bus. Not for us all this frantic rushing about, and besides we had paid for Sunday in the hotel.

When we awoke on Monday morning it was to the sound of semi trailers manoeuvring. The border must be opening! We packed our bags and made our way to the bridge across the river. To our surprise, our Australian friends were sitting on the footpath. They explained that only the Nicaraguan bus passengers had been allowed to cross the border and they had had to return to the hotel. The army still weren’t allowing anyone across, but hinted that maybe in half an hour we could cross. Eventually we were permitted to cross. Caught a minivan and were on our way to Managua. A trip to Central America would not be complete without getting involved in dictatorships or politics or the polizi!

Managua was hot. This is winter, but unlike most of the other capitals in Central America Managua is not in the mountains, so we sweltered. We walked down the main boulevard to Lake Managua. About every hundred metres there was being erected a platform with a statue of Mary and the nativity. That night we were attracted by the thousands of people queued up at these statues. The people were being given treats such as plastic buckets or bags of treats, similar to show bags. When we made enquiries we were amazed to learn that all this had very little to do with the church. It was promoted by the government. I guess one way for a dictator to keep the people under control is to have them spend the day queuing up for a free handout that commenced at six o‘clock each night for the three weeks prior to Christmas. As soon as the people got their gift, they would race along the street to join the next queue for another gift. I had just a few days before been reading a Spanish proverb which says ‘a dictator requires the population to be stupid’. I was also reminded of Marx’s saying that religion is the opiate of the masses. Put the two together and one has an explanation of the extraordinary Christmas celebrations promoted by el presidente.

We decided to look for a house to rent in Cost Rica, the next country south of Nicaragua, and found one advertised in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. This cost US$200 per month, and included WiFi. The owner emailed me precise directions to give to a taxi-driver, and I explained that we should arrive at 7.30 in the evening in San Jose and would come straight to the house. I negotiated a fare of $6.00 with the taxi-driver. But the taxi-driver was too smart for us. He took us to a different address, and we were unable to find the house. He suggested that he take us to a hotel for the night, and then in the morning, in daylight, we try again. We really didn’t have much choice! So he took us to an hotel. Cost of taxi was $14. The next morning, we got a different taxi for $2 to take us to the house. We liked the house, and will be here for at least one month.

Happy Christmas
Bill and Catalina

Japan

billandcathy — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:29:41 +0000

Catalina and Bill are on the move again! We are at the moment sitting on very comfortable padded benches designed for stretching out and sleeping, at the airport in Guam. When a plane is about to depart it becomes busy and noisy. Then for a couple of hours it returns to peace and quietness. We know because we have been here for fourteen hours. We have a further eight hours before our connecting flight to Saipan.
Catalina is stretched out on the bench beside me and is asleep. I have my laptop plugged in and am typing away.

I was not sure if my laptop would work. In the USA and this includes Guam, the power is 110 volts and I was not sure if my charger was the correct one, or if I had the correct power plug. So when we arrived at 4.30am in Guam, and were looking for a comfortable bench to spend our waiting till 2am the following day, I noticed one bench with a power-point beside it. So I got out my battery charger and went to plug it in. There were quite a few airport officials with us who had taken an interest in the confusion we had created because we assumed we were in transit, but when we tried to enter the transit lounge we were refused entry because our flight was for the next day and we were told we would have to pass through customs. Well we did this and then re-entered the airport and went to the counter for our boarding pass. Armed with this we then attempted to enter the departure lounge, and this is where we were advised that in the departure lounge there were only chairs and we would be unable to lie down, and we would be much better off staying in the waiting area in front of the baggage inspection. So we took the advise and looked for a good bench. The group of officials watched as I plugged in my charger. The plug fitted. It was now right on 6am. I unplugged it. And all the lights in the airport went off. A look of shear panic came over me. What disaster had I created by plugging in the wrong voltage? The head official saw my fear and calmly explained that the lights were programmed to switch off at 6am.

Talking of baggage inspection another panic moment occurred last night when we were departing Manila. I have been through many airport security systems and although I haven’t flown for twelve months, I was confident I knew the ropes. And so as I stepped through the metal detection frame I was thrown off guard when I was told to remove my shoes! Well what does a tottering 72 year old do but lean on the detection frame for balance as he tries to take off his shoes. Well may I use the word tottering, because that is exactly what happened to the flimsy metal detection frame. Luckily the woefully inadequate structure was saved from disaster by quick action from inspectors and I was helped to a seat to remove my shoes.

It is now 7pm, only seven hours to wait! All very quiet!

I am now typing away in my room at the hotel in Osaka. We left Guam and flew to Saipan. Once again even though we were transit passengers we had to pass through immigration and customs. But we only had a six hour wait for our flight to Japan. Now our ticket showed that we were flying to Tokyo and would then have a six hour wait for our flight to Osaka. When we landed in Japan everything went haywire! Firstly it was not Tokyo, but Nagoya. And We were transit passengers who should have immediately proceeded to the transit lounge to immediately board our flight to Tokyo. I can only explain my stupidity by noting I had not slept for forty-eight hours, but thinking I was at Tokyo airport, and had six hours to wait and that at every other transit stop we had passed through customs and immigration, I proceeded through customs and immigration. I am a little surprised no one pointed out our error even though we showed our boarding pass to some officials. After these formalities we made our way to the airline counter to ask directions to the departure lounge. Then the panic started! Our flight was about to depart. We of course could not understand what the panic was about, because at this stage we thought we still had six hours to wait! But we went along with them because we thought they were trying to help us by getting us on an early flight to avoid the long wait. Well we tried to go along with them, but the two girls taking us were actually running through the terminal, And it was to no avail, because when we arrived at our boarding gate they had closed the door of the plane. We had missed our flight!

The girls now said that it would be best to catch the bullet train to Osaka, and we would be there in a couple of hours. The thought had occurred to me that this would be better. But I said that we had paid for our flight to Osaka and we didn’t want to now spend money to go by train. The girls said that the airline would pay for my train ride. It was at this stage that I learned that we were in Nagoya and not Tokyo and that we had missed our flight. I don’t know why the airline felt responsible for our stupidity, but we accepted their offer, and so had six train rides, including the famous bullet train to arrive at a metro station about two hundred metres from our hotel.

Living in Osaka for two months we got to know the city intimately. And the trains are such a brilliant way to get around. As well as all the crisscrossing subways, there is the Osaka loop line, which is elevated above ground and goes both ways in a huge circle around the city. The cost of a trip depends on how many stations you pass through. So I wondered if I purchased a ticket to go one stop, what was to stop me getting on the train going in the wrong direction. This would mean that for the price of one stop, I could have an hour sightseeing trip right around Osaka. The idea appealed to me, and so in fear and trepidation we set off. I noticed an umbrella on the seat near us, which didn’t seem to have an owner. We were able to confirm no one owned it, because everyone had got off while we remained sitting beside it. So when we finally arrived at our destination, we took it with us. But now the moment of truth. Would the ticket machine accept our tickets? Because we had taken so long to travel one station would our ticket be invalid? I felt somewhat guilty as I slipped the ticket into the machine that opens the gate. Suddenly my worst fears were realised. A large sign lit up in red. It read in English ‘Thank you’. Smile of relief and wonder how they knew we spoke English. We took the umbrella with us when we left Japan, but the cursed umbrella was stolen from our room when we were in San Francisco.

Mexico

billandcathy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:32:16 +0000

Let me bring you up-to-date with our travels since leaving Las Vegas. What is it about Americans that they have to be the greatest in everything? While travelling from Las Vegas to Hollywood I noticed how so many tiny towns we passed through would have a sign proclaiming that it had the biggest this or that in the whole world. One town was ‘world famous’ for having the tallest thermometer in the world!

In Hollywood we did all the touristy things. We went first to Catalina Island from Longbeach, and passed the Queen Mary. Had a very enjoyable day on the island. Next day we did the tour of the stars homes. It is really quite weird how their lifestyle is so different from normal people. For example we passed one shop that was closed, and our guide explained that to shop there you had to be a star and make an appointment and then they would open up the shop. Just around the corner from the shop that Julie Roberts was refused service at in the movie ‘Pretty Woman’ was a shop that we went into. We had been told that if you had to ask the price of any item, then you would not be able to afford it! Well we did enquire as to the price of a small suitcase, because in Las Vegas we had bought two of them for under $20 and we were curious about the price in an exclusive shop. I must say that I was shocked at the price of $2340.

The tour of Paramount Studios was interesting for where I sat and Catalina sat. They have the bench on which Forest Gump sat and ate his chocolates, so I sat there. On the tour we went to the famous theatre in which Howard Hughes had his breakdown and refused to leave it for several weeks. And it was in this theatre that Marilyn Monroe famously had her casting couch and showed the directors her great talent! Well while we were looking over this building, Catalina wanted to go to the toilet urgently, and the guide graciously opened up the toilet, so Catalina has sat on the toilet that Marilyn used. You don’t get much closer to the stars then that!

We left Hollywood to travel to Guadalajara in Mexico on Friday 10^th September. I was surprised that the bus did not stop at the border and go through the usual customs and integration. The trip south through the mountains and deserts with acres of cactus agreed with our notion of dusty Mexico. But as we approached beautiful Guadalajara we thought we were in Europe with the green valleys and rolling countryside. We stayed there a week and then went on to Mexico City for a week. The great collection of pyramids outside the city was spectaluar. These pyramids differ from the Egyptian ones in that they have external stairs so one can climb to the top, which is flattened and originally had a temple on the top for the human sacrifices. We decided not to climb the Pyramide de Sol, because there were too many steps leading up to the base on which it stood. So we walked the half mile to the Pyramide de Lunar and began the climb. We reached the second bottom step, and called it a day!

We arrived in Oaxaca, and immediately fell in love with the place. The centre of the city has these ancient cathedrals and large squares, and the people use them in a way that I haven’t seen anywhere else. We sat and listened to an orchestra for an hour. We were given a brochure on Spanish courses available in Oaxaca, and we decided to check it out. So on Monday we went to the college, and ended up enrolled for a month. Catalina and I are in different classes but in grade 1. I have three other students in my class, all girls and the professora is a female,so I really enjoyed myself. For example on the last day we each had to give a ten minute talk in Spanish on a subject chosen by la professora. My subject was ‘Mezcal’ and I was given the subheadings ‘How it is made’, ‘Types of Mezcal’, and ‘Differences between Mezcal and Tequila’. Well when I started my talk I explained that I was going to add a fourth heading and I wrote up on the board ‘Behaviour Erotica from Mezcal’. That got a great laugh but it backfired on me because la professora absolutely insisted that she wanted me to continue on this fourth part, which I hadn’t prepared, and had to resort to just talking about the use of Tequila in the Margarita cocktail.

Our classes were from 9am to 1pm. Then we had what were called intercambios. These are Mexian students studying English, who we talk with for an hour, half in Spanish and half in English. Then we have our classes in Mexian culture. Catalina did two weeks of Mexian cooking, one week of weaving, and one week of Salsa dancing. I did the same except for the cooking. Through the college we found a beautiful apartment with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, dining room and lounge at a cost of $20.00US per day.

When we enrolled at the college we were asked for our Mexian tourist card. We explained that when we entered Mexico by Greyhound coach, we didn’t stop at the border and had no tourist card. We were advised to fix this up, and we heard all sorts of stories about people being put in prison for not having the correct visa, and we were told that we would probably have to return to San Diego, and make a fresh entry into Mexico. I decided that it might be best to not approach immigration until our course at the college was finished, just in case our studies might be interrupted by immigration red tape. Well it finished on Friday and on Monday we fronted-up to immigration, fearing the worst. Well they couldn’t have been more helpful. Everything was fixed and we were told to return on Friday to pick up our new tourist card. We have decided to stay in Oaxaca for another month.

Las Vegas

billandcathy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:36:07 +0000

We left Edmonton at 1.30pm on Tuesday for our three day coach ride to Calgary, Vancover, Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City, and finally Las Vegas.

Unfortunately our coach broke down after we left Portland which delayed our arrival in Salt Lake City by over four hours and we missed our connection to Las Vegas. So we had to wait overnight and leave at 8.30am. Thus we arrived in Las Vegas at 3.30pm on Friday 31^st July.

The Golden Gate Hotel is just over the road from the Greyhound terminal which is very convenient. It is also at No 1 Fremont Street, and this street is historically famous as the original main street of Las Vegas, and the Golden Gate Hotel is the oldest hotel in Las Vegas. But this street is now famous as the Fremont Experience. What has happened is that a canopy has been placed over the street for four blocks. This canopy is made of LEDs, which is what a TV screen is made of. Thus we have a TV screen for four blocks, and this with Hi Fi sound is really spectacular. Every night thousands of people pack the street for a light and sound show. As well there are two stages with live entertainment. Yesterday a German TV program along the lines of the TV show Idol was televised. And wonderful personalities appear. Yesterday it was Sharon Osborne!!! Can you imagine that, If we hadn’t been so tired Catalina and I would have been within metres of Sharon Osborne!

Our room is absolutely luxurious. And it only costs $20.00 per day. The shows are very expensive, but we have managed to see one for free. It happened as follows. We were walking along Fremont Street when a fellow approached us and invited us into his office, and asked us if we would like to have a free dinner and see a show and go up to the revolving restaurant in the Stratosphere tower. We said yes and asked what the catch was. He explained that we had to agree to be picked up by a shuttle bus from our hotel and be taken to a fabulous hotel/casino and spend three hours there listening to a presentation on time sharing. We agreed and on Sunday our adventure began. The presentation is done individually, and I guess because Catalina is Filipino, a Filipino American was assigned to us. First we had a buffet lunch. Then the presentation started in earnest. It was interesting, but when he asked us how many weeks in the year we vacation and I said “Fifty-two”, he said “No, no, not how many weeks in the year, but how many weeks do you go on vacation?” At this stage he realised that we were somewhat different from the typical vacationer. He suggested that by buying a time share unit for one week, we could then holiday at any time share unit anywhere in the world and only pay $27.00 per day. We explained that we had never ever paid more than $20.00 per day, in fact in the Philippines it was closer to $20.00 per month. He then took us to see what a time share unit looked like. We were impressed! The unit consists of two identical apartments, each with a Jacuzzi, two huge TVs, and an enormous microwave, a bed that must have been bigger than emperor size, and the most luxurious decor. It is at this point in the presentation that people weaken and agree to purchase a time share. I agreed it looked beautiful, but couldn’t believe that after twelve months and fifty-two occupants it would be so immaculate. It was a room for display, not for human occupancy. I explained that Catalina would be absolutely terrified living in such a place, terrified of damaging the microwave, or breaking one of the ornamental vases. At this stage the poor guy became desperate for a sale. Despite bringing the price down, he now trotted out his most telling argument. In our conversation he had explained that he had trained for the priesthood, thus establishing his honesty credentials. Now he looked at Catalina, obviously Filipino, so obviously catholic, and explained that by buying a unit and bequeathing it to her children, then after death the children would be so grateful to her legacy that they would pray for her immortal soul!!!!!

We did not buy a unit, but we did collect the tickets for a free dinner, show and lift tickets to the top of stratosphere. Catalina was terrified at the top of the tower, and I also wasn’t comfortable at this height with only a sheet of glass stopping one from falling a thousand feet below. Then we went down to the restaurant for our free dinner. And what a dinner. It was buffet but unbelievably many dishes spread along over one hundred metres. Then we went to the show “American All Stars”, and saw Elvis Presley (and some people think he died years ago!) and Michael Jackson do his moon walk (and some people think he died, huh, where’s his body then?) and Brittany Spears and so on.

I have been having difficulties getting on the internet, nothing here is for free, and I have paid for one day internet access, and hope that it will be connected for 24 hours.

Oops, something went wrong and my internet connection lasted for a fortnight, in fact until we had to leave our hotel and find another. I asked the manager if we could extend our stay until September, but he said not at the special rate that we had found on the internet. So we searched the internet and found a hotel within a couple of blocks for $9.00 per day but jumping to $33.00 on Friday and Saturday, so this costs less than the Golden Gate. This is called the Gold Spike, and the room is actually bigger and more luxurious than we had at the Golden Gate. And when we checked in we were given a ticket for $5.00 to gamble on blackjack plus the usual tickets for half-price meals. Now begins the saga of my gambling career!

First of all let me explain that we had not come to Las Vegas for gambling. Instead it was just the opposite: we had come to take advantage of special rates and promotions that make Las Vegas the cheapest place in America for a tourist to live. Although 60% of tourist say they are not coming to gamble, 90% do gamble, and this is where Las Vegas makes it’s money. But after a dreadful experience I had decided to never gamble my hard earned money. That dreadful experience occurred when I was ten. I had purchased a chocolate, I still vividly remember it, a Violet Crumble bar. And decided to raffle it. I made twelve tickets and sold three of them for sixpence each. With nine tickets I was sure to win, so I would not only have my snack, but almost cover the cost. And I lost and my gambling career ended.

But now I had $5.00 for Blackjack, and realised that Catalina and I knew nothing about the game. Nearby is the Golden Nugget Casino where they give lessons, so Catalina and I presented ourselves for the lesson on blackjack. There was so much to learn: from the signal to indicate one wished to join in at a table, the signal for requesting a card, how to put the cards on the table so as to not block the cameras watching overhead, and how to place the bets and strategies for winning. It was an hour long lesson, and our heads were reeling at the end. I wished we had been given $5.00 to spend on roulette because it seemed a much simpler game. I didn’t expect to win, but I thought we might have some fun loosing the casino’s money. We also obtained a specialist weekly newspaper for gambling to get advice from experts!

Sure enough the paper had an article advising how to play. I quote from the expert Johnny Hale on page 5 of Gaming Today.

You must be honest with yourself and keep a good accurate journal of each day’s play.

Yes, Catalina and I decided we would make an extra special effort to be honest with ourselves, and as we only expected to play for under ten minutes, keeping an accurate journal wasn’t going to be a great burden.

You must know when to quit the game. You are playing to win money; you are not playing for fun.

Well we were going to quit when we had had our fun and returned the $5.00 to the Gold Spike. This commandment puts the whole business on a new footing. We agreed to get serious and to play to win money.

Game selection: You must select a game in which the players are not as good or as lucky as you are. Then you can go on home and count the money there.

This was very sound advice. We would stand back from the table and watch the players to see if they were better players, almost certainly would be, but more importantly, if they were luckier than us. I must confess that I couldn’t quite understand the relevancy of this commandment, since it seemed to me that each player was in fact gambling against the dealer! But it had been stressed in our lesson how important it is to choose a table where the ambience of the table is to your liking. That is do you want a table where the players are dead serious, or a table where people are laughing, or a table where the dealer is in a bikini and doing pole dancing albeit without the pole. So Catalina and I decided we would be selective about our table and we would then go home to count our money!

In some cases, you must make decisions with your heart and imagination. Rely on the latter because they will be the difference. Until next time remember to stay lucky.

For us this was welcome advice. All this knowledge and study and instruction was not so important. We could use our imagination. And Catalina and I clenched our fists and determined to stay lucky.

So now we were ready and we fronted up at a blackjack table with our match play $5.00 ticket to begin this serious business of winning. We were completely honest and told the dealer we had never played before, but we had studied the game in depth and were determined to stay lucky. The dealer explained to us that match play meant that we had to put down $5.00 of our money and the casino would match it with another $5.00. This threw a whole new light on our adventure. We never did play blackjack.

Because we have been here some three weeks we are beginning to see the reality of life in Las Vegas. We walked along Main Street, passed the Plaza Casino, passed the Californian Casino, passed the huge Main Station Casino (which also functions as a railway station) and then came to all the vacant cleared sites. Before the credit crunch these sites had been cleared of small businesses to make way for new casinos and hotels and convention centres. Now they stand vacant. And even some huge hotels, one in particular being a forty storey skyscraper and 80% completed in a prime location on the strip , that is the Las Vegas Boulevard, have gone bankrupt, and all building work ceased. This abrupt halt in building activity resulted in 14% unemployment, so people left resulting in the housing market collapsing and loan defaulting. The banks stepped in and foreclosed on thousands of homes, and the homeless clutter the streets, but are kept well away from the tourist spots. As we walked along Main street away from the casino area, we saw the reality of a city built on a single economy. There are so many homeless sleeping on main street, that the council has brought in portable toilets and placed on the footpath. Also there are portable barriers down the centre of the footpath, I presume to make one half for sleepers, and one half for pedestrians.

Our Philippine Adventure

billandcathy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:02:38 +0000

Let me fill you in on what we have been doing. We flew to Manila with a one day stopover in Guam leaving Cairns on the Monday 21 April at ten minutes past Sunday midnight. We arrived in Guam at 6am and had to wait till 7pm for the flight to Manila! So we caught a taxi into downtown Guam and walked along the beach and then to the shops. We must have walked at least fifteen kilometres and the thing we most noticed was no one else walked. Of course Guam is administered by the US and Americans love their cars and drive everywhere. I wonder how quickly the price of fuel will change the romance with the auto!!

This photo is of a strange statue in Guam that caught our attention

We arrived in Manila about 10pm and stayed at a hotel in Manila one night. Then we caught a bus to travel to Urdanetta which is a large city not far from Catalina’s home. We were going to stay for a couple of weeks but the next day we visited Catalina’s son and he and his wife insisted that we stay at their home. They explained that they would move into the adjacent house and we would have the home to ourselves. We agreed and so the next morning we left Urdanetta and went to stay in Gani’s home. I was somewhat dismayed to find out that the house Gani moved into was not the home next door owned by his mother-in-law but a tin shed without power or water. This made me very uncomfortable but Gani and his wife Florey insisted that they were pleased with the arrangement. Anyhow we were able to quickly make some improvements by having the town water connected and a shower and basin installed and running water to the kitchen sink. But I still felt it wasn’t quite right so after two weeks we left and went by bus north to Baguio, which is a large city high in the mountains.

Near Gani’s house was a bridge and one looked down on the labourers drying the rice or corn harvest

Baguio is one of the most beautiful cities in the Philippines, Only some 100m from the main street is a lake and gardens and most days we would walk around the lake and watch the hire paddle boats. It was noticeably cooler here and dark and wet so we only stayed two weeks and then travelled to San Fernando in La Union and stayed at a beach resort called China Sea Resort, owned by an Australian. There was nothing unusual about that as every second resort is owned by Australians. One unusual thing was that the beaches were black sand. We really enjoyed our stay here with free wifi available. After two weeks at China Sea we went to the most Northern part of the mainland to a resort called Villa Del Mar at Pagudpud. Here the beaches are white sands! There is huge amount of building construction going on here and it won’t be long before this area is like the sunshine coast. Here the sand was white and from the beach one could see just a few kilometres south a wind farm for generating power. We really enjoyed our stay there but amazingly this resort would not accept credit cards and to get money to stay a second week we would have to travel half a day to Loag to find an ATM machine. They also had free wifi and it occurred to me that I should be able to directly deposit the money into their account using internet banking. Sure enough it was possible but it would take five working days, and that all seemed too complicated so we left to travel south via the east side of the mountain provinces. We stayed a couple of days at Bayongbong before catching a bus to one of the most well known tourist places in the Philippines, namely Banaue. Here one sees the two thousand year old rice terraces built on the side of the mountains

Here are some shots of the rice terraces

and the native Ifugo women.

Even the hotel is built on a ridge and from the restaurant one looks down a shear drop to a village far below and across a valley to the rice terraces. From the hotel we visited a village situated 323 steps below the hotel!! We stayed just one week and then travelled back to Urdanetta.

This photo shows the hotel swimming pool with the rice terraces behind it. And here are photos of the centre of Banuae.

After a week in Urdanetta we travelled to Dagupin with the intention of staying at a beach resort, but when we inspected the accommodation along the beach we decided it was not up to the standard we wanted and so decided to return to San Fernando to the China Sea resort. We had decided that this was the pick of all the hotels in the Philippines. The rooms are luxuirous and breakfast is included with free WIFI and great meals in the restaurant which is within ten metres of the breaking waves, and all at a cost of under ten thousand pesos, that is under $250.00. Because my wife is a Balakbayan, that is a Filipino born we both can stay for up to a year, and we intend doing that, with our return flight booked for April 2009.

EGYPT

billandcathy — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:12:21 +0000

We arrived in Cairo at midday on Friday 4^thJanuary 2008. We had arranged with the hotel Lotus which we had contacted by the internet to pick us up at the airport. But there was no one holding up a placard with our name. Normally we always make our own arrangements for accommodation and transport so I think we will do that in the future. But when we arrived at the hotel they were expecting us so that much was OK. To enter the hotel we had to enter a dark lane, grubby floor and take a decrepit lift to the seventh floor and there to our surprise was a really nice hotel. It is in downtown Cairo on the east bank of the Nile and within easy walking distance of the Egyptian Museum, and Sadat metro station. We went for a walk and as usual there were plenty of locals who approached us and sho ok our hands and welcomed us to Egypt and told us of their brother in Sydney. We were quite used to this but we discovered one novel variation that we had not come across before. One gentleman insisted we accompany him to his shop that sells perfumes. Out of politeness we went with him but kept telling him that we were not interested in buying perfumes. Anyway he showed us his shop and explained how his mother collected the flowers and extracted the essence and made the concentrated perfumes. By this time we just had to be rude and declined the tea he wanted to bring us and left. Incidentally as we were leaving he did offer me one thousand camels for Catalina! Was it a joke? Oh well, we all miss wonderful opportunities in life to change our lives and make a fortune!!! But back to walking around and a few hours later another person insisted we walk with him to see his shop, and it was quite a distance but we went with him, and he led us to his perfume shop. And Catalina and I looked at each other and broke out laughing because it was the selfsame shop the other man was supposed to own!

The next day we set out to see the Egyptian museum, but along the way we met a person who has a brother in Sydney, and he said that it would be a good day to visit the pyramids at Giza and he indicated where to catch a local bus to get there. So we decided that we might as well go. The young man insisted on taking us to the bus station and then said that he would come on the bus with us because he lived in a small village near Giza. So we caught a local bus, ticket cost ten cents and went to the pyramids. The young man got off the bus with us and said he would take us to a government office to buy tickets to enter the pyramid enclosure and this would avoid having to pay exorbitant entrance fees. So we went with him and he took us to an office and the manager explained that he was accredited by the government. We said we just wanted to walk around, but he said that the government don’t allow people to enter on foot. This was a blatant lie as we later discovered, and he offered us a camel ride or on horseback or a buggy. Well we decided to be adventurous and went with the camel. I was terrified the whole time and hung on for grim death, although the worst part was the initial rising of the camel. I was so concentrating on hanging on that I didn’t even look at the camel Catalina was on. She also was terrified and hung on to the penis, as she described it, in front of the saddle. And so we set off for a trip of a lifetime across the Sahara desert, to visit the pyramids. There were no pedestrians in the desert, but when we got close to the sphinx we saw that there were thousands of sightseers on foot! And when we finally got off the camel our knees were so cramped we could hardly walk.

We decided that our pyramid experience was overwhelmed by the camel ride and that we would return and walk around the pyramids so on Sunday we went again to Giza and this time insisted on walking and got our way. And this time we were able to thoroughly enjoy the spectacular constructions. And we avoided paying to have our photos taken on camels, although a policeman invited us to stand right up against a pyramid and invited himself to stand beside Catalina as I took a photo. I was surprised that he also put out his hand for baksheesh after the photo shot. I thought that the police were there to ensure that tourists were not hustled by beggars!!!

We visited the Egyptian museum where most of the contents of the Pharaoh’s tombs are on display. It is really remarkable that the ancient Egyptian religion believed in a life after death, and that the pharaoh must be buried with everything he would need in the afterlife. This included chariots, furniture, clothes, cooking implements, carpentry tools, jewellery and food which was changed each day. The result is an amazingly faithful record of life in ancient times.

We caught a local minibus to the city of Suez, and walked along the Suez canal. It was a public holiday and the path beside the canal was packed with locals. We did not see one tourist, and the locals seemed strangely fascinated by our presence. It was a change to have so many people greeting us, and then giggling to one another at their bravado in talking to foreigners in their English language!

We have booked our passage on a five star four day trip on the Nile. The ship leaves Luxor on Saturday and sails to Aswan. We may stay in Aswan as we expect it will be warmer than Cairo. We were not sure how long our visa for Egypt allowed us to stay, and were pleasantly surprised that it was three weeks longer than the one month we expected. So our tentative plans are to stay in Egypt till towards the end of February and then go to Italy for a few months and then to Bulgaria. ( Still studying Bulgarian but progress is slow.)

Our trip to Luxor to start our Nile cruise began by catching the metro train to the main railway station. This was a disaster! The metro was crowded and one had to push and shove to get on the train, but as I pushed through the doorway the door closed behind me, leaving Catalina on the platform. I got off at the metro station where the railway station is and decided to wait for the next train, expecting Catalina to be on it. But she wasn’t nor was she on the next train. Now I began to panic and contacted the station master and police and had announcements made over the loud speakers. After some time I decided to go to the railway station to see if Catalina had found her way there. I was greatly relieved when I found her on the railway platform; she had had assistance from a kind woman who knew where to go to catch the train to Luxor.

The luxury cruise on the Nile from Luxor to Aswan was all it was advertised. Good five star accommodation, great meals, and well coordinated tourist stops at the Valley of the Kings, etc. Aswan is as far south as one can go because of the high dam. We stayed a couple of weeks in Aswan.

These photos show some of the huge temples along the Nile dating back several millennium.

While in Aswan three underwater cables from Europe to Africa were cut and internet was impossible. Even booking our return flight was delayed a few days because Egypt lost the use of internet flight booking. We decided that Egypt was getting too cold for us and decided to go to warmer places so we booked flights from Aswan to Cairo to Singapore to Cairns.

When we arrived at Cairo airport we had to make our way from the domestic terminal to the international departure terminal. We made enquires and were told where to sit and wait for a free transit coach. We were the only ones waiting and after a few minutes a small minibus stopped and some passengers got off. I went upto the driver and asked if this was the free transit coach to the international departure terminal. He said yes that was where he was going and to hop on board. It was several miles to the terminal and as we travelled I noticed large coaches clearly marked ‘transit coach’, but I said nothing. When we arrived at the terminal, the driver said that this was a taxi and we had to pay. I explained to the driver why I had asked if he was the free transit coach; It was because I was departing Egypt and I had just spent all of my Egyptian money, but if he would drive me to an ATM machine I could get some money. At this stage he realized he had made an error in picking us up and it was not worth the effort and kindly allowed us off.

When we arrived in Cairns we discovered that our timing was good because Merlinda and Stuart were leaving for three weeks holiday to Thailand, and asked us to house-sit. So we are in Townsville, in fact not far from Larry’s place for the next three weeks. Our plans are to then return to Cairns and rent an apartment until it gets too cold for us. Then we will probably return to Thailand which we enjoyed immensely.

Last days in Rhodos

billandcathy — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:46:12 +0000

First of all let me bring you up to date with our travel plans. We fly out of Rhodes on the 4th of January, to Athens and then Cairo. We are looking for a warmer climate and Cairo should be a few degrees warmer than here on Rhodes. Although we can’t complain about the temperatures here. Being right in the Mediterranean Sea we experience mild winters and most days are sunny. Temperatures are always over 14C and we don’t require winter pyjamas.

We are fascinated by the way this city is completely dependant on tourism. When we first came here in October there would be five or six cruise liners in port. Each ship would bring around three thousand visitors, and the city, mainly the old walled town where we live, would be bustling with shoppers and sightseers and every ten metres would be a pavement restaurant. But in winter the ships stop coming. Today there is not one tourist in the town. The streets are completely deserted, the shops are shuttered and there is no restaurant to be seen. And of course the hotels are vacant. In summer the rent on our apartment is €50.00 per day. We are paying €10.00 per day.

This island seems to be swarming with two life forms. The first is cats and the second is Jehovah witnesses. We cope with the first by simply ignoring them. While in Istanbul we found dogs to be the prevailing pet and I made a grave error of judgement one day when we went to sit down on a shady bench in a town square. Under our seat, and it was the only vacant seat in the square, was a large dog lying half a sleep. The dog was in my way and I thought if I gently nudged it the dog would move about a foot and so I gave it the gentlest of prods. The dog’s reaction was completely unexpected! It jumped to it’s feet and began barking in great agitation and snarling. Everyone looked up to see what I had done. People glared at me and came over to pat the dog and speak reassuringly to it. Then the dog went and lay down in the sun! We felt quite uncomfortable with everyone glaring at us so we left after about ten minutes.

Now we inadvertently found a great way of coping with the Jehovah witnesses. Two ladies came up to us as had happened the day before and asked if we spoke English. When we said we did they offered us some reading matter. I then explained that we had had two Jehovah witnesses give us, and I pointed to Catalina and myself, the Watch Tower magazines, and smiled at the two ladies. They misunderstood what I had said and thought I was saying that Catalina and I were Jehovah witnesses. They were absolutely delighted and shook hands with us and talked about the weather and life on Rhodes. We enjoyed talking to them and they were so happy to see fellow believers that we couldn’t possibly correct their error. So now when we are approached by Jehovah witnesses we are happy to bring a little ray of sunshine to them while avoiding any hard sell.

Our main source of amusement here is our laptop. Most days I download a couple of ABC radio national programs to listen to in the afternoon, mainly the PM programs and Late Night Live. By this means we keep up-to-date with Australian affairs. We also hire four DVD’s per week to watch on the laptop while lying in bed at night. Both Catalina and I enjoy doing Sudoku puzzles and yesterday we downloaded from the internet some Sudoku puzzles. It was only a trial version but I think we might purchase the full version and that might work out more economical then buying Sudoku books.

Rhodos Island in Greece

billandcathy — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:19:34 +0000

We went by bus from Pamukkale to Marmaris on the Mediteranean coast. This city has the largest mariner in Turkey, and it is a huge harbour with miles of beach. It was interesting to see so many moslem girls sunbaking topless but of course being good moslems they had their head well covered!!! And the miles of restaurants reminded us of Koh Chang in Thailand with its beach restaurants. We stayed in a motel and were the only guests as this is no longer the summer holidays. Our ninety days allowed by our visas were up on the nineth of October so we caught a ferry to Rhodos.

We found an appartment costing 300 Euro per month, that is about A$480.00 per month. And now I have access to my wordpress web page. This island is called the island of the sun and the days are warm and sunny.

When we go to the supermarket we have to go outside the walled old town. That means going through the gate of the ancient wall and then crossing the moat and then through the outer wall. Here is Catalina crossing the moat with the shopping.

Here we are walking along the harbour side.

Pamukkale

billandcathy — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:06:01 +0000

We are in our last couple of weeks in Turkey. We enjoyed Istanbul very much and have many happy memories. I was in an internet cafe one morning when a girl about twenty came in and set up the internet to talk to her mother in Australia. Fine, but she didn’t talk, she shouted and proceeded to tell everyone what she had been doing. The manager of the cafe tried to drown out her shouting by turning on recorded music, but she glared at him and raised her volume. So we all heard her boast that she was now an expert on Turkish carpets and had purchased one that fitted in her backpack. I just shook my head in disbelief. You would have to live here for years to be savvy in the range of tricks used to sell anything to tourists.

As far as carpets go I found three quite effective strategies to extricate myself from the salesman’s clutches. The first went like this:

Salesman: Hello! Where are you from?
Gullible Tourist: Australia!
Salesman: Oh, Sydney! My uncle has a shop in Sydney! Would you like to see my carpets?
Tourist: No, thank you!
Salesman: You don’t have to buy, just have a look and I will explain how they are made and what to look for.
Tourist: Look, you are a businessman with a family to provide for! So you should not waste your precious time with me because I will not be purchasing a carpet. Before I left Australia I gave away all my carpets for free because I prefer a tiled floor!!

The second went much the same
Salesman: Come into my shop. You don’t have to buy. Would you like a cup of tea?
Tourist: No thank you!
Salesman: Wouldn’t you love to have one of these beautiful carpets in your home?
Tourist: I don’t have a home! I am a nomad!

The third was a more aggressive strategy.
Salesman: Look at this beautiful small carpet! Only one hundred dollars!
Tourist: It is so beautiful. How much did you say?
Salesman: Because you are Australian I will sell it to you for $50.00. It is handmade.
Tourist: Is this from the cottage industries around Kayseri?
Salesman: Yes. I will sell it to you for $15.00!
Tourist: It is well made. How long would it take for a woman to make it?
Salesman: Three months.
Tourist: So you are selling this for $15.00 and I assume you are making a profit of $5.00 and the middleman would also be making $5.00 and that leaves just $5.00 for the woman and she had to pay for the materials. Could you please explain how she is able to make a living on under $5.00 for three months?
Salesman becomes distracted and approaches another tourist.

There was one technique that I did admire used by the shoeshiners. We were sitting on a bench in a park when a shoeshiner went by and dropped one of his brushes. He hadn’t noticed so I sang out to him and drew his attention to his brush. He was so grateful and insisted that he must shine my shoes as a thank-you. I assured him that was not necessary and he left. We didn’t think anymore about it until a few days later we were standing alone on the footpath when another shoeshiner walked past and guess what, he dropped a brush and walked on. This time we did not shout out to him, but after walking about ten metres he turned and began thanking us profusely for not drawing his attention to his missing brush. Again he insisted on giving me a shoeshine to show his gratitude. I sort of wish that I had accepted just so as I could see how the scam plays out.

We left Istanbul and caught the train to Denisli in the south-west of Turkey, near Pamakkale. We are staying in a hotel only a few hundred metres from the travertines at Pamakkale. Because I can’t put my pictures on my web page you will have to do a google search for a pıcture of the remarkable travertines. And when you climb to the plateau above these calcium pools you discover the ruins of the ancient city of Heireopolis. Nearby is the ruins of Antioch so you are really in Asia Minor as it was in Greek and Roman times. There is a thermal pool in what was the main street and Catalina and I spent a couple of hours in the healing waters. Soon after I developed cramps in the stomach and Catalina developed a sore throat and cough. Modern antibiotics seemed better than healing waters!

Here is Catalina in the Travertines at Pamakkale.

The ruins of the temple of Artemis had particular interest to me. Beside the temple is a cave. A poisoneous gas emanates from this cave. The priests of the temple would send birds or goats into the cave and of course they would die. Then the priest would enter the cave and because he knew where there were pockets of clean air, would emerge alive and thus prove that he was indeed the true priest of Dıanna. There have been quite a few tourists who have died going into the cave so now there is a padlocked gate to stop the inquisitive.

It is really idylic here in Pamakkale. It is a Medditerean climate and we sit under a trellis beside the pool at our hotel. If we want a drink we just raise our hand. Opps, be careful we don’t reach to high or we might knock down a large bunch of grapes hanging above us. We have to leave Turkey by the 9th October when our visa expires. Our plans at the moment are to leave here by coach to Marmaris where we can catch a boat to the Greek ısland of Rhodes one and a half hours away. This might be a good place to stay through winter. Once out of Turkey I should be able to access my web page and include some pictures.