50 With Wonderful Friends

June18
This is a Magical day. I didn't know I would enjoy it so much. Birthdays don't really mean that much to me but this one was very special because of the company who joined me today.

A week ago I got a surprise phone call from one of my dearest friends; Joyce. I lost track of her about three years ago. We used to get in all sorts of trouble when we were in the same spiritual group back in the late Seventies. I was a quiet respectful person before she came along. Don't let that oxygen tank fool you. She just needs it because she lives life faster than the rest of us. Joyce is a Gemini like me, with her birthday just two days before mine.

Ted is also a Gemini, with his birthday on May 26th. He's a loyal friend and I'm lucky to know him. He has been working with me on several construction projects here in Calgary.
The lovely woman beside him is Lilian. She is an energetic woman with a lust for life. She is a retired Art teacher and still does a lot of painting herself. She taught in Africa for 3 years. Lilian has lately become an expert 'Squirrel Catcher'. She's my landlady, and a great friend. The more I know Lilian, the more respect I have for her. It was really fun to see her and Joyce meet. Right from the get go the two began talking. It turns out that they have two friends in common. They carried on like long lost friends even though they only met today for the first time.

Around the table you can see my very dear friend and fellow conspirator; Malcome, on the far right. Next to him is my 'contiguous' friend, Geeta. You may remember Geeta from a couple of Blogs I did last year when Ted and I renovated her basement. She has made my reconnection with Calgary a wonderful experience. She got a call while we were having the party. She had a prospect for her house. It sold that same night for a great price. Now she's moving to Winnipeg to be closer to her family.

This is Belen. She just arrived a month ago from Hong Kong to work as Geeta's nanny. She's a warm gentle woman who has a great way with children. I'm sorry you're moving again so soon, before I have a chance to get to know you better. Be sure to email me. Remember you promised to show me around Manila when I visit the Philippines in the near future.

This is Scott. He's Kathy's daughter's partner. It's great to meet you Scott, but mostly I just wanted to show everyone your tattoos. Wow. I told Scott we have to do a Seminar on his tattoos one day soon. He has twenty-two of them. I'm only prepared to look at nineteen. Some things should be left to the imagination.

And here is my new son, Braden. He belongs to Christine and Scott (Sorry I don't have a photo of you here Christine.) Braden latched onto me when I arrived and stuck like glue.

I got everyone to sing Happy Birthday to me before I did the Japanese Cake ceremony with this very delicious Cake.

And this is the hostess behind the party. I have shown you Kathy before. She is 'Nanna' to her grandson Braden. He adores her. Kathy suddenly went blind last year. In fact she has experienced an amazing series of mind boggling events in the last couple of years. Two years ago her father died. Her daughter had life-threatening surgery. Her estranged husband died a few months ago, and her mother was diagnosed with Cancer on Christmas Eve and died 10 days later. The doctors didn't even know she was sick.
And yet, Kathy decided she wanted to throw me a party for my fiftieth birthday. She made all the arrangements, prepared the food, bought a barbecue and made sure everyone was taken care of. She's blind. She still works full time. She's cheerful. I'm honored to have you as a true friend Kathy. You made this day Magical. You're my hero.

Bus To Kuala Lumpur

Ted, Bee and I take the bus from Melaka to Kuala Lumpur so that they can do some paperwork for Bee to immigrate to Canada.

I don't know what I ate or drank last night, but I am sick as a dog today. I finally get sick on the bus and have to lie down in our hotel room for several hours while my body gets back in balance. Finally, after a good rest, I am able to explore this city with my friends.

I love the architecture of KL. I find the quality of construction to be the finest I have ever seen anywhere in the world. I was blown away by the level of imagination in the construction everywhere; but especially here in KL.

The center of KL used to be the site of a horse-racing facility which was removed. This made it possible for City planners to design a huge complex of buildings and parks that all work together.

The inside of the KLCC shopping complex uses a great deal of stainless steel and glass to give it a modern look and the circular shapes give it a soft appeal.

As we were shopping, we suddenly heard a commotion and saw a giant dragon.

Click To Play

This dragon suddenly showed up while we were shopping in a Mall in KL, at New Year's. It was a surrealistic experience. It's like: 'and now a word from our creator' and this procession marches in. What a magic time.

Ted and I went to the Petronas Science and Technology exhibit inside the complex. Ted is honing up his driving skills. When he was finished, the Malaysian woman in charge of the ride asked that he have himself retested before driving a real car again.

And this is Ted proving once and for all that he IS a legend in his own mind...

Malaysia Tour

Melaka, Malaysia, 2006

I took the train through to Butterworth Malaysia. When I arrived, a man immediately offered me a bus ticket to Kuala Lumpur (K.L.) for 24 Ringit (about eight dollars Canadian).

I was sitting on the bench waiting for the bus and feeling pretty smug until a fellow traveller asked me: "Do you think these are real tickets." Taga san is from Japan and he had heard that there were many crooked people who sold fake tickets and then left passengers waiting for nothing. It turned out this bus was for real though.

When I got on the bus, I met this Malaysian who was on his way to KL for a job interview. There are a lot of people heading for the Capital where the wages are better and the lifestyle fast and modern.

I met Jo (Johannes) from Brussels. We went down the street for a Rotti breakfast where we happened to meet a couple he had met years before. The woman is "Yo-Yo" and her boyfriend is from England.

My biggest reason for coming to Malaysia was to meet up with Ted, who I work with in Calgary Canada, and his new wife; Bee, who was born and raised in Melaka.
The woman on the far left is Bee's mother. Next to her is her maid from Indonesia. Many people come over from that Island to work for Malaysians on contract.

Ted and Bee took me to see this full sized replica of an ancient Portuguese ship. Melaka was one of the most important Ports for trading in Asia. I have been reading a lot of Wilbur Smith books so I have a great interest in these vessels.

We saw an uncanny resemblance between Captain Cooke and Ted.

Then we went for some traditional Malaysian food. I find that there is a lot more variety to the Malaysian food than I find with Thai food. Malaysians use a lot of rich creamy sauce in their cooking.

Phattalung Plantation

Phattalung, Thailand, January 29, 2006

I have been working my way South to Malaysia to meet up with my buddy, Ted and his wife Bee. My very dear friend Jookie invited me to visit her home town; Phattalung; and see the rich countryside and plantations there.

This is a fertile area of Thailand with many rice paddies and rubber trees. The land tends to be relatively flat with huge rocky deposits like this one.

We started by bringing food for the monks at the local Temple. After they ate their meal of rice, fruits and vegetables, we bowed our heads while a monk sprinkled a blessing of water on us.

Then we had our own lunch. From left to right this is: Jookie, Jookie's brother 'On' and her sister 'Ten'.

You may remember these two; 'Red' and 'Green' (I promise, I'm not making their names up.) They live in Bangkok with Jookie. Jook always calls them her sisters but they are really her cousins. But what I love about Thailand is that there isn't really a distinction made between sisters and cousins. They actually act as if they are Jookie's daughters.

I tell you this because these are their parents; Aree and Pak. The family have a rubber tree plantation and have worked it for several generations.

Jookie also has her own plantation. Her sister; 'Ten' manages it for her.

Here is a tub of the rubber as it looks when it has been collected and poured into aluminum containers. The rubber is dumped out while it is still pliable and it is pushed flat like home-made bread. It is then run through those presses you see, to flatten it out.

Finally, it is hung to dry. It looks like long car floor mats when it is done. Later it is sold in this form and can be melted back down to be made into tires or whatever the manufacturer chooses to make of it. A typical family plantation like this one earns about fifteen thousand baht per month ($500 Canadian Dollars).

The other thing you see here is Water Buffalo. They use them to do some of the physical labor and for their milk (I think).

Pak is harvesting their other crop; Somo; a fruit that tastes like a mild version of a grapefruit.

Chumphun

Chumphun, Thailand, January 26, 2006

Ted and I have been weighing ourselves once a week and we have a bet on to see who reaches his target first. Just so you know Ted, I'm now this weight. Even in Imperial it's not too bad.

'Chumphun' means: "Meeting Place" in Thai, just as "Toronto" Canada is the native term for the same word. Chumphun is a very busy little town that is used as the port of entry for some of the most popular Islands in Thailand; like Koh Tao and Koh Samui. I love this place. I got a room for 150 baht, a wonderful mussel omelet for 20baht (70 cents) and a two hour Thai massage for 200 baht (six dollars).
Then just when I thought I would relax here for a couple of days, I met a retired Dutchman who insisted I check out a beach sixteen km away. So the next thing I knew, I was heading by motorcycle to a secluded beach. I got a bungalow for 300 baht.

Here's the view from my front door.

this is my backyard.

I sat on the beach for a while and went for a swim.

Then I walked up the coast to a little fishing village where I had a seafood dinner from the local market for seventy cents.

In brief; this was Day One...

This was Day Two...
Awwww? Ahhhhhhhhh...

Children's' Day In Ubon

Ubon Rathathani, Thailand, January 6, 2006

Ted and I took a bus from Bangkok to Kohn Kaen and then over to Ubon Ratchathani on our way to Vietnam.

Linly is a 19 year-old college student we met on the bus. She was just heading to Ubon to visit her family and then return the same day. She was very excited to meet two Canadians. She told us she wanted to travel all over the world one day. I asked her where she would like to go most. Linly replied: "My dream is to twah-vell some whay with you!"

This is my very dear friend Joy, who I met last year in Ubon. We arrived on children's' Day so we had a chance to meet Joy's niece at a parade. I can hear my Mom muttering to herself: "Why do they need children's' Day? Every day is children's' day..."

This is 'Oy' (on the left); another woman I met last year. Joy, Oy, Loy, and Coy were giving out free Ice Cream to the children on this day as part of the festivities (okay I made up the other two names.).

These are some of the cutie pies who were dancing in the festival.

The costumes were wonderful and the girls could really dance!

These two girls were crowned as Princesses for the day. They were very excited to get attention from the visiting Farangs. I gave them tiny Canadian Flags just after I took this photo.

And how about this cutie patootie? (as my sister would say). This is another one of Joy's nieces.

This little guy was just too cute to pass up. Thai children are not shy at all at having their pictures taken.

Ayako Meets The Dinos

On Saturday, Ayako started her Canadian adventure with a good Canadian breakfast at Ricky's Restaurant,

where she met her new friend, Jessica.

Jessica is a student who has studied and travelled in Japan.

Then my Carpentry partner; Ted; joined us for a trip to the Royal Terril Museum in Drumheller. We stopped at Horseshoe Canyon to see the badlands, where the Dinosaur bones have been found.

The Museum itself is fascinating and beautiful to see.

But as Ted and Ayako found out; it can be a dangerous place.

It seems that everything wants to eat you here!

Fortunately, Ayako made a new friend here.

When we left the Museum, we went back to Calgary for some Vietnamese Soup with Geeta. Then I took Ayako to an Irish Pub for desert. I said: "If you think those dinosaurs were big, wait til you see the Mud Pie they serve here!"

Ayako has lots of spirit and she is a joy to have here in Canada. She kind of reminds me of a puppy. she is full of energy but when she needs to sleep, she sleeps.