Politics in Texas

I hadn't really intended this site for politics, but the Texas govenor and legislature have done many things lately which make me feel like I should lend my voice in every way I can in opposing them, so here goes:

Texas has a legend which you may have heard of: The Alamo.

Let’s discuss a very brief history lesson: Back when Texas was still part of Mexico, a large group of settlers within it decided they did not want to be part of that union anymore. They chose instead to break off to form their own country. As one could expect when a section of a country announces its intent to take its land and resources and go, Mexico object, and it dispatched a mighty military under General Santa Anna to bring the separatists to heel and keep Mexico whole. A group of these separatists, sporting some well-known names at the time, decided to hole up in a local church mission known as Alamo.

This is where History might have taken a different turn. Santa Anna knew these rebels were sealed away in the grounds of this old church and had a choice. He could have set siege to the grounds, cut off their supply lines, and demanded the surrender of separatist leaders in exchange for the safe passage of those others within. With little hope of fighting their way through enemy lines and dwindling supplies, these leaders might even have been forced to give in, where they could have been returned to the capital to face justice for their crimes against the state. Had this occurred, it is entirely possible that those who really did not care much either way if Texas was under Mexico or its own leadership may have taken the easier path and just allowed Mexico to retain control. As history is written by the victors, ours could be very different.

That, however, was not the choice Santa Anna made. Santa Anna was full of righteous anger. These people were taking the land of his countrymen and deserved to be made example of. With overwhelming odds on his side, he chose to use what could be described as a vulgar display of power to crush and execute all those who stood in his way. The intent was to show that any who stood against what he felt was right would not be tolerated.

The problem with using examples, however is that it is difficult to control the lessons learned from them. Rather than being cowered, folks that were on the fence became incensed. As stories of the atrocities committed at the Alamo spread far and wide, those who would have remained neutral instead joined the opposition, and those already with the opposition renewed their passion with a fervor that would have otherwise been non-existent. “Remember the Alamo” became the rallying cry that turned a battle won into a war lost.

Now, close to two hundred years later, General Santa Anna’s righteousness resides in our Governor Rick Perry. His Lieutenant David Dewhurst is leading the charge to pass a law that they believe just, but that the majority of Texans oppose. They could have compromised, passed something most people didn’t like but that they were willing to put up with, and history would continue to be uninteresting. Instead they have chosen to use a vulgar display of power. They have suspended the senate rules that state 75% must be in agreement to bring a bill forward. They have allowed their supporters to speak while denying the same rights to those who oppose them. They have broken senate rules, made illogical and unsupportable decisions, and even threatened to arrest those who oppose them, making it clear that those who stand against what they feel is right will not be tolerated.

In doing so, people who would have otherwise stood on the fence, are joining the opposition. Those who were on the other side have renewed their passion with a fervor not seen in the Texas Democratic party in close to two decades. It is nearly impossible for those supporting women’s rights to win this battle, but in losing the battle they may very well win the war – pushing Texas from a Republican stronghold back to the Democratic.

It is said that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Perhaps if Rick Perry and his followers hadn’t spent so much time cutting education, they may have avoided this.

Bangkok Ending

So, since Dad’s usual hotel was booked we stayed at the Prince Palace in a pair of very nice suites. The Palace seems apply named. It’s a massive multiple tower structure with beautiful ornate hallways, an 11th story bar with a terrace overlooking the city, beautiful wood carvings and statues, comfortable beds, and a fantastic view from our 37th story window.

Statue at the entrance of the Prince Palace

 That being said, it had some oddities to it as well. For starters, it had no free internet, which seemed odd for a place this high end. It also odd that your room key doubled as a power source for the room. When you unlocked your door, there was a slot just inside the room that you then put your key into which turned on the lights, AC, etc. This had two big issues. #1, if anyone left the room they would have to do so without the key if anyone else inside wanted to have any power. Number two it meant that when you left your AC went off. Not a huge issue, as the place was well insulated, but it meant that the rooms weren’t as cool as they could have been given the near hundred degree days. 

    The next issue we had with it was that, unlike our hotel on Sukhumvit, the Prince Palace was not on the BTS route, so we couldn’t just walk out and catch the train. This is a bit of a headache since taxis and tuk tuks require much negotiations to get where you want to go (the taxis want to charge you a large flat fee rather than using the meter, and the tuk tuks want to take you by a tailor first to get measured for a suit... go figure). Still, the Palace is listed as one of the top hotels and if you’re going to be staying at your  hotel a lot and have your own transportation, it isn’t a bad place to stay. If you’re just looking for a place to crash I have to say the City Lodge Sukhumvit 9 Hotel is probably a cheaper and more convenient bet. 

      We left the Palace mid morning, roaming out to seek some breakfast. Dad negotiated with some taxis until he found one willing to use the meter to take us to our first destination, the Siam Paragon mall. Wow. If you’re ever looking for an amazing high end shopping experience, this should be your destination of choice. From Lamborghini to Louis Vuitton, if it’s high end then it’s here. Cars, clothes, bikes, handbags, make up, electronics, groceries and toys of all kinds, this mall had pretty much every major name brand I could think of in its own store. Even its food court was full of high end gourmet dining. We initially laughed when Barb decided she wanted to try a mexican food place for brunch, then glancing at the menus Crys and I noticed they had fish tacos made with red snapper. We decided perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea after all and we all roamed over to join her. The tacos were very tasty. The mexican rice and beans were good too, though I will say they didn’t really taste much like tex-mex. 

Surprisingly the Chips and Salsa were very tasty

    After some more window shopping in the Siam, we decided to catch the train to Chatuchak. Crys and I had both found a few clothes there the first time that we really liked, but since you can’t really try things on there we were unsure at the time whether they would be as cool on as they looked. Having confirmed now they were we went back in search of extra copies of them. I picked up a thai shirt in Indonesia about six years or so ago, and have been looking for more of them since. Unfortunately it appears they’re hard to find outside of Thailand itself, so I definitely wanted a few more to hold me over until our next visit. Chatuchak was as we remembered it, almost the equal and opposite of the mall we started our day in. A sprawling twisting endless array of shops that sell pretty much any and everything you can think of. If you ever get a chance to go, do so. The people watching alone is fun and the sheer variety of what is available for sale is staggering. Just remember if you do that you are expected to haggle. Prices are actually reasonable, but in most of the shops they’re priced well above what the proprietors actually expect to sell them for. 

     After a few hours of shopping, we successfully found all that we were looking for and eventually decided to roam off to a new destination. Barbara had forgotten an item at the hotel the last time we were in Bangkok and was curious to see if they still had it so we decided to wander back to Nana station to Sukhumvit and check back into that area. As we remembered, the streets were full of more shopping stalls, as well as all of the stores, restaurants and services we had roamed past before. 

    This seems a good place to mention the laid back attitude Bangkok seems to have towards sex and vulgarity. During our initial foray around Bangkok I noticed periodically we would hear songs like Lily Allen’s “Fuck you very much”.  We thought at first that they just didn’t know what those songs meant. Now I think that they do, they just don’t care. Roaming Sukhumvit, it was not uncommon to see condoms, viagra and sex toys at some of the stalls, with labels that you would normally not see outside of adult stores here. Sex and nudity attracted no more attention than T-shirts or kids toys. Another interesting note is that throughout all of Thailand and Malaysia, everywhere we went there was something somewhere for sale with Psy doing his Gangnum style. It’s amazing how much that song has infiltrated pop culture over there. 

   After wondering about doing more exploration of the surrounding areas, we were discussing what we wanted to do to finish up the day. Sadly, we were a good distance from the cool temples, so we decided we probably were going to make it to any of those on this trip. We weren’t very hungry yet so Dad offered a way to kill a little time prior to dinner: Thai foot massages. Crys is normally extremely against anyone (including me) touching her feet, but to my surprise decided since were in Thailand we really should give it a try. So we agreed and wandered into one of the many places just off the street that offered haircuts, shaves, and massages. We each sat down in a line of recliners against the wall and were quickly attended to by masseuses who washed our feet before going to work on them. They spent the next forty five minutes rubbing, stretching and gently poking our feet and legs, mostly with their hands but sometimes with a strange wooden tool I suspect to be part of some kind pressure point type tool. They then moved on to our arms and shoulders, finishing up with what was at times awkward or painful stretches. The end result was extremely relaxing though, and changed Crys’s opinion on the idea of professional massages. She’s ready to go back and get some more as soon as possible. 

    Our much more relaxed crew then left and walked down to Dad’s favorite local restaurant there, the Lebanese place from our first Bangkok outing. We ordered roughly the same meal, which wasn’t a bad thing at all, and enjoyed one last group meal together. Afterwards we again set about finding a good taxi to get us back to the hotel. The one we finally settled into was a very nice driver who spoke pretty good English. He had recently moved to Bangkok from Northern Thailand with his wife to try and make more money than he could where he was from. His kids were still living with family back his village since schools were apparently far pricier in the Bangkok area than his village. We had a good chat with him on the way back, and he told us he could actually pick Crys and I up at 3am for our trip to the airport, and he could do so for 500 baht, including the toll. Given that we’d paid 2200b to leave the airport that was a great deal. It meant we were paying the equivalent of about $17 to take the toll road from South Austin to Georgetown. 

   We returned to the Prince Palace, said our goodbyes to Barb since we knew she wouldn’t make it until our leaving and then set about cleaning ourselves up and packing. It was close to 11pm by then and since we had to leave at 3am we saw little reason (despite our bodies’ objections) to try and go to sleep. After getting our bags settled in we decided to roam around the hotel one more time. When we had arrived at 11pm there had been much in the way of New Years celebrating going on, but here closer to 2am all was quiet. We roamed down to the 11th floor to the outside deck overlooking the city and enjoyed the view for awhile. Looking back towards the outside pool and bar area, however, we saw what I would say was my last strike against the Prince Palace, three ROUSs roaming about. Granted they were not quite Princess Bride level, but these Rodents of Unusual Size really were close to cat sized and looked more like brown opossums than rats. It was a bit creepy, though I doubt they are seen much during the daylight. A strange finish to the night. 

    About 2:30am, Dad came over to our room and we spent the last part of the eve talking of the trip and of hopes for future trips. Finally at three we went down stairs where we found that our driver from earlier had sent one of his friends to pick us up. The new driver was just as nice as the first, so we said our goodbyes to Dad and set upon our final drive for the trip through Bangkok. 

   If we have anything to say about it in the future, however, it will not be our final drive through Bangkok ever. Many people see South East Asia as rice patties and small villages, and while those places still exist there it is amazing to think of all of the sites and experiences we saw on this trip in both Thailand and Malaysia. Both have extremely modernized cities with experiences available you couldn’t hope to find in the states and incredibly awesome people at every turn. If you are ever looking for a vacation destination, I would suggest either country be added to your list of options. We could spend another month easily in just Bangkok and not see everything we wanted to see, and looking at the options of other cities there as well as the surrounding islands opens a near endless amount of possible options for exploration. I’ve been lucky enough to do some amazing things in my lifetime, but this trip ranks high on the list of most interesting. If any of you get the chance to go any of these places, take that chance as fast as you can.

Day of Travel

We left Langkawi by ferry at 1:30pm. I was glad that we had gotten our tickets early this time. While our ferry ride in had been only a quarter full, the big holiday meant the ride out was packed to the gills. We didn't bother going outside this time, instead enjoying the cold AC of the inside; watching the islands pass by while playing Scrabble on the iPad and watching odd Thai pop videos play on the ferry's tv. 

    After about forty-five minutes or so we arrived in the port of Satun Thailand once more. We headed for immigration, where we received 15 day visas for the country.  Interesting note: if you come in by plane, you are granted a far longer stay than if you cross the border by land or sea. This is apparently designed to keep people from just crossing the nearest border when their Visa expires and sticking around for long periods without applying for a residency or work visa instead. 

  After passing by customs, we began the fun of finding and negotiating a taxi for the day. It took some time to get one locked in, and apparently even then they could only get the ride to Hat Yai rather than for the day. This left us with the choice of negotiating another taxi in Hat Yai or heading for the airport. Since we had a plethora of bags, it was decided we would head for the airport in hopes of getting an earlier flight. 

 The drive was very nice. We passed through a few towns as well as the Thai countryside. It is an absolutely beautiful area. It is interesting to note that both Malaysia and Thailand are kingdoms. Langkawi had many photos about of the King and Queen, but they were nothing in comparison to the pictures and paintings Thailand has of its king. At 85, he is apparently the longest serving monarch in the world, and his visage is everywhere. Some with the queen, but often on his own. His age in the photos ranged drastically with many showing him in what appears to have been his thirties, others ranging up to current day.  Most show him looking on in a kind if sometimes oddly nerdy fashion. He is apparently a very popular figure in Thailand. 

Fairly typical picture of the King

The second most common site were miniaturized temples that appeared to be set up as alters. These were typically setup in front of houses though you would occasionally see one randomly setup in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain or something. Now and then you would also see outdoor shops that sold these little alters, often with a wide selection of styles and colors. Such sites, along with mountains, jungles, temples and towns made for a fascinating drive that felt far quicker than the time that actually passed. 

  Also of note, being that we were out of the big cities, was just how few signs were actually in English. Dad noted an interesting piece of history in that Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Jakarta and pretty much every other country around the area had at one point been a European colony. No one ever managed to conquer Thailand though. So one of the main Thailand did not have multiple language signs like its neighbors was that it had never really had to. It primarily did so only in high tourist areas for convenience sake. It is an odd looking language to me, but I really would like to learn t read and write it. It would make future trips much easier, and if course make for a nice way to write nearly secret notes :)

 After a couple of hours, we found ourselves arriving at Hat Yai airport. Security was far easier to deal with here, much like security in the states back in the late nineties before it was decided that making things really inconvenient would give people the illusion that they were safer. We put our stuff through a scanner ( note, while I had to take my laptop out they told me to just leave all of my other electronics in the bag) then passed through a metal detector ourselves. No removing shoes, no other hassles, very little muss or fuss. We wondered in to find out that we had just missed the only other Thai Air flight of the day aside from our 8pm booking. This meant about four hours of killing time in a small airport. 

Random Airport Store

   Given that I had eaten a few left over pieces of naan for breakfast, and had a few banana chips at the Satun port, I figured our first order of business was to have a snack. The selection turned out to be small, but did include, of all places, a Dairy Queen. Having not had much in the way of western food on this trip we decided to give it a try. Oddly enough, it turns out that Dairy Queen abroad has pretty much two things: hot dogs and ice cream. A chili dog made for a decent lunch, and a rather tasty (and very Dairy Queen tasting) brownie blizzard made for good dessert. After that it was chatting and wondering about to kill time prior to our departure. Finally boarding commenced and we settled into a short and surprisingly comfortable flight to Bangkok. 

   While waiting for our luggage, I noticed a sign that explained much about our first airport experience. Apparently there were three options for leaving the airport if you did not have your own ride. Option 1 was the MRT, which connected to the same line we took to Chat a Chat. Option 2 was public taxi. Option 3 was a limo. Guess which one we had been given on our first trip? That's right, the limo. And where Crys and I had spent 2400 baht (around $70) to get to our hotel the first time, the four of us managed to get a public taxi SUV for 700 baht (closer to $25 USD). A great deal, or so we thought. 

   Note that taxi drivers at the airport do not get to negotiate their own fees. For efficiency (and to protect against unlicensed taxis) a central booking desk negotiates the price then has you escorted to the taxi you will be taking. Apparently the taxi driver we were given was somewhat miffed at the price we were given since we were taking the larger than normal taxi (and presumably being white tourists had more money to spare).  After dad refused to let her up rate him for airport and toll fees she informed us that the weight of our luggage prevented her vehicle from going very fast and proceeded to drive the equivalent of about 40mph. She also decided to skip the speedy toll road, taking the longer slower route instead. Barb was very annoyed at this, but the rest of us thought it was hilarious. I for one enjoyed the scenic route she was taking, and figured it was only hurting her as the longer she took with us the longer it would be till she got new passengers. 

   Given the holiday going on, Dad's usual hotel was booked. I'll go into detail about our replacement hotel next post, but suffice it to say it was good to end the long day of travel with a comfy bed and good AC. 

   

Year of the Snake

Thursday was our last full day in Langkawi. Dad had a full plate getting things ready for Tami and the instructor Valma to take over the boat, so after getting things packed, then killing time catching up on some interwebs, Crys, Rio and I decided to go catch a snack down at the Jetty. With a Baskin Robbins, a Starbucks, several interesting stores and extremely cool air conditioning, the Jetty was becoming a standard destination for us to walk down to when bored. Since it also doubled as the primary port for people arriving on Langkawi by ferry, it was also a great place to people watch.

Random observation: many of the malls we visited in Malaysia, this one included, had Power Wheels cars for kids to play on. Strange.   

Random observation 2: Like most public places in Malaysia and Thailand, you have to pay to use the toilet. Paper is also extra and you pick it up at the front. Strange and often annoying. 

As many of you may know, 2/10 marks Chinese New Year. This is a huge holiday in both Malaysia and Thailand. Everywhere we went was decorated in red and gold, and we were given quite a few oranges, which apparently are good luck symbols. This is the year of the Snake, which happens to be Crys's sign in the Chinese zodiac. She likes to point out thar due to her sunburn, she was also spending the new year shedding like a snake. 

The snake played another prominent role in our final full day, as the three of us decided to walk down to the Giant Eagle statue marking the port entrance of Langkawi, just outside the Jetty. 

As we walked around it, we came across a local guy with a very large constrictor snake. He offered to let us pose with it for a photo for 5 ringets, which was roughly $1.50 or so. I thought it would be fun so I paid him. I really didn't think Crys would get close to it, but despite her very vocal opposition (and threats to me) she gave into the guy's good hearted "is no problem" statements and allowed herself to be photographed with the giant snake.  The guy was hilarious and we probably spent half an hour with him and the snake. 

Rio took several pics for us, but wasn't about to let the guy get the snake within ten feet of her.  I laughed when the guy told her "is no problem!" As he tried to get her to walk over and told him that as far as she was concerned "is big problem". 

We finally returned for our last eve on the Silke, finishing the eve up hanging out with everyone, eating Lebanese take out and chatting together. Good finish to our tropical isle trip. 

Videos

So I did a few videos while I was over there, but the extremely slow interwebs connection I had available meant that I couldn't upload any of them. Instead I've compiled them into one long clip for your viewing enjoyment.

Back in the real world

Quick note for those who don't follow on Twitter or Facebook, we did make it safely back to the real world. Obviously though, there is far more to discuss about this trip. I have a couple of more posts written already and I'm working diligently to document our last few days of travel. I also plan to go in and edit some our pics and put them in an online album for all to see. Keep checking in, there will be more soon!

Do Go Chasing Waterfalls

We woke up yesterday to our second to last day in Malaysia.  After a slow moving morning we wondered up to the Jetty mall and got some food with everyone, returning to Kenny Rogers, which has pretty good chicken and sides. Dad was still focused on getting the boat in complete working order for the class that will be taking it when we leave, so some of the rest of us decided to go check out one of the local waterfalls that Tami and Rio knew of. So five us us piled into a small rented car and took off. The drive was very pretty but very warm. We were experiencing another triple digit day, but noticed the temp slowly falling downwards as we left town and started heading up one of the local mountainsides. The drive was full of jungle views, local housing, and random cows and water buffalo scattered along the side of the road. When we finally reached the end of the road we had been driving on, we found ourselves looking at a couple of little tourist style shops leading up to a pathway going further up the mountain. Immediately it was clear that the temperature here was far more comfortable than it had been below. We followed the path into a beautiful scene that looked to take some Japanese inspiration. There was a meandering stream cascading down the mountain, between a rock staircase on one side and a broken up bridge crisscrossing to and along the other. Beautiful flowers and Japanese inspired rock coverings were scattered about. 

We continued following the path ever upwards, which traced along the stream’s pathway. It finally ended at a waterfall that looked to be around thirty foot or so in height. Massively tall then trees surrounded us, and looking back behind us gave a beautiful view of the valley below. It was a great place to cool down and spend some time. 

  Before we had left, Crys had joked that she may have to “fall in” to the water when we arrived to cool down. Once we arrived she did decide to wade in a ways with Tami and the others, and unfortunately within a couple of steps hit a slick spot and plopped down into the water. While very refreshing, it definitely wasn’t planned. Good thing she had thought ahead and packed some extra ‘just in case’ clothes. We spent a couple of hours hanging out there enjoying the cool water and beautiful view before deciding to roam back down the mountainside. 

About halfway down, we came across a place that sold young coconuts. Tami had been in the mood for some coconut water, so we stopped in and had some fresh. It was a little warm, but reasonably tasty drink, as they took fresh coconuts, cut off the top with a machete, then stick a straw in it and give it to you.

We got back to the boat around sunset and Rio, Crys and I decided that it would be a good to finish up the night with a swim in the pool that overlooks the boats. It was warm water, but still refreshing with the night air. A good finish to the night.