Things Are a Little Harder in Russia

     Ok, so I think I have come to the conclusion that everything is harder in Russia because it can be. This is to say I believe a culture in which twelve vowels is standard and each plural adjective has as many options as a birthday card the expectations are just higher. Yet just like a birthday card only the correct plural will be accepted. So how can you tell I am getting into the second part of my Russian education? Inga is a great help, letting me study and keeping me hydrated and full as I devote hours to class trying to get the sticky grey matter to absorb at least a little of what my teachers are patiently showing me. Inga and I are speaking more Russian at home and I am finding that my daily responses are coming first in Russian in some cases. I hope it doesn’t mess with my writing, but I shall leave that for you to decide and tell me. Some things are helping my writing. We tend to take for granted sentence structure and now as I sound out a word, that I may or may not know, I have to find clues as to ‘the what’ based on the structure of the sentence. Thankfully Russian grammar rules are very strict and absolute in most cases, unlike sloppy English.

     So my Saturday finds me down on the beach, doing a little studying, and enjoying beautiful Anapa. It is a gorgeous hot day and like the locals I am enjoying a glass of beer or three and relishing a culture mature enough to allow a casual beer on the beach. No draconian law enforcement, chastising us and treating us like children for enjoying a beer here! It is normal and perhaps one of the reasons this country is not Muslim.  Back when Russia was forming into an actual self-determining country a choice had to be made. The choice was between being Orthodox Christian and Muslim and the ruling King, for lack of a more accurate descriptive, is quoted as saying; “It is the joy of every Russian to enjoy a drink.” Henceforth the Russian people’s official faith was Orthodox Christianity, as it didn’t have rules against casual drinking.  This was called the Byzantine Empire and happened in 988. Let’s think about that for a second, before America had anything resembling an organized society and Canadians of the time were worried about the size of beavers, Russia had an organized society! If we look at these people from within this framework, it is easy to see how they are a little reluctant to accept that the West knows best ideology bantered about with impunity. This country has been built, or perhaps forged is a more correct word, by revolution. We have learned from Marx that only true change comes from violent revolution. Russia has had more than a few of these while America has had, but one and we Canadians have had none. When you have paid for your current society with blood and death, you cannot help but respect it more. To add a little spice, most Russians remember the last revolution clearly while their American counterparts of the same age are digging up relics of their own or reenacting them in costumes.  I guess the difference is like the taste of a cake your Grandfather told you about and the one you ate in New York twelve years ago. One is significantly more real.

     Ok, so what have I learned in my courses? I have learned the alphabet and, for the most part, the different sounds the letters make. I never sounded out words in English. Rather I learned them on sight and I’ve had to change this process in my learning style. Sounding out words is difficult if you are unsure of the word you are attempting.  Add to this the insecurity you have with the new alphabets sound and you get my difficulty. Some of these sounds are entirely different, even alien sounding. Others letters look like English ones yet have different sounds. Multiple syllable words are the norm as well. For example, the word fridge is one syllable in English and in Russian it has five. Russian has 33 letters and believe me they use them, well except for the one letter that has no actual sound of its own. This letter looks like a B and just separates the sound of the letters on either side of it. Plurals are a new horror. If I designed an English test for plural rules and the students added an S to each answer, they would be right about seventy-five percent of the time. But this is Russian and as far as I can tell it seems that they have about sixteen different plural adjectives that depend on masculine, feminine, or neuter. It gets complicated past that as different letters modify different parts of the sentence, not just the noun or verb equally. But this is normal here and no one thinks about it. Just like in Canada when I get asked why I used an emotive adjective in my crash description and I have to think; “Shit ok which is the adjective again?” Here is a good example of some of the sound differences the SHH sound. There are two different yet close sounds to SHH. Borscht is a great example, as well as an excellent traditional soup, The last letter that looks like an upside down w in printed form has a tail and that makes it a hard sign. Like the great sports car Porsche, there is no t or ta sound after the shh sound. With such a challenging language, it is no leap to understand how accepting a little more difficulty in getting things accomplished is normal.

    We went out for a BBQ the other day. This prevented me from doing my homework and so my walk to school was very reminiscent of my high school days when I often walked to school without doing any. The difference being I rarely had to apply myself in school while here, pushing 50, I most certainly do. Luckily for me it was State holiday and the school was closed when I arrived so I was saved by the state and didn’t have to show disrespect to my teachers by not doing my lessons. My friend Vladimir and his wife Irene brought their kids and the newest addition to the family a grandchild. Lova wrestled some time from his very busy life to attend and our friend Natalie came with her brother and his wife and kids. Natalie’s little nephew is ten and has been taking English in school and greeted me in English and then had loads of fun practicing his English. He was jubilant to hear about the ease of plural adjectives in English! The BBQ was held in a little out of the way place that the locals call Snake Lake. I have never seen a snake on the three times I have been there. Drinks and food were plentiful as was catching up and enjoying each other’s company, as is the culture here in Russia. During a swim in this man-made lake, I lost my glasses and while I tried several times to find them, I was unsuccessful. Dejected I gave up and returned to the table to eat and made the statement that it was impossible to find them in the murky water and it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Vladimir’s boy didn’t give up and searched further out and found them for me! This was an impressive demonstration of this polite and attentive culture. A guest lost something and this would not stand until it could be rectified. It also showed the never give up Russian attitude. Meanwhile, Lova was organizing a recovery team that it used to pull bodies from the lake to suit up and come help the stupid Canadian that forgot to take off his glasses! It is just the way things are here! Many people and family ask why I love it here and am working so hard to stay…this is why, friendship and comrade mean so much more. As with anything English, there are exceptions and I have friends like this at home as well and you to a person know who you are. You are in my thoughts when I go to sleep and again when I awake. I long to see you here so you can experience this wonderful Russian lifestyle personally. Russia it is not just sitting on a gorgeous beach with incredible views and cold beer. It is the ethnically diverse culture that shares the ideologies that respect and hospitality are far more than mere ideals. I am typing this and four Kavkaz boys in their late twenties are dancing to traditional Kavkaz music and trying to get their girlfriends to join them. The girls are traditionally a little more conservative and are shyly being lured into the dance. Now to go order another beer from my Armenian bartender and host at my favorite seaside bar and answer questions about the price of cigarettes and booze in Canada and watch his eyes raise in disbelief and then wonder if I understood his question. Yes, my friend I understood and understand Russian pretty well. I long for the day I can express my thoughts to you in Russian. One day I will.

Back in Anapa Russia and going to school.

       So life finds me back in Anapa and back in kindergarten. It also finds me alone. I see it as a vote of confidence that I can make my way in this city without Inga’s help. Well, I have always been a little overconfident. In reality, it is all-good and I get to practice my language skills and when that fails charades and re-enactment sound effects. Inga and I were planning on visiting our parents on our return to Russia. But like all plans things changed. Russia now requires any residency applicant to write, read, and speak Russian. So I had to start school right away as I only really have three months to master this exotic tongue.  This meant I had to stay at home and as much I hated this, I miss my Russian parents as much as Inga, it was unavoidable. Russian is hard as it has an entirely different alphabet and while Russians have had to learn English in school for years, they fail as much as I do in mastery. However, I have great and motivated teachers that are enjoying teaching me as much as learning from me. My history teacher is a Radio personality here in Anapa and used to be on TV. Her degree is in Psychology and my English teacher is even more qualified, or over qualified with Ph.D., as is the case but it makes for a rich and rewarding learning environment. They all are very intelligent and accepting of me as I struggle to learn with encouragement.  This new law came into effect in January and while I totally agree with the requirement, I wish it came with a few months to learn. I hate it when Canadians can’t speak the language, especially when employed in the service industry. I recently had an issue understanding a Canada Customs Officer. She wasn’t speaking French either!! Inga had said I was hard on her when we got loaded on the plane and now…Well, Karma is a bitch! So taking a little time to enjoy the beach while I listen to the phrases over and over learning how they sound and feeling a bit odd about the children’s workbook on my lap. Finger following along as Google reads it.

Yeah, I am heavy rolling prime beef on the beach! But I am learning it and remembering it and at fifty that is an accomplishment in itself. I was going to do a bit of a change in style on this installment and write this in the travel writer style but I am no longer holding out hope for an easy out to this Visa issue by getting a job doing travel writing. So life is a little in the wind and both Inga and I are practicing our Thainess by just accepting the things we can’t change and roll with the punches.

My Russian is actually improving, as the signs that accompany me on my walk to school are slowly starting to catch my attention and I understand them. I have been putting in the effort two or three hours of school and then four or so doing exercises on the computer in the evening. It has been cutting into my writing time to be sure and this blog is evidence of such. When I started it, Inga had just left and tomorrow she comes home. So almost two weeks have passed.

I managed to order a Gyro and understand the spoken amount the other day returning from school. The little Armenian guy who has opened a new shop on the corner was a bit perplexed until I told him I was Canadian. He was patient and together we got it done and paid for. He asked why I moved from a great country to Russia, we have a rep Canucks, and I told him I loved Russia and the sun. He smiled and nodded his agreement and understanding although I think I switched up the genders of the two. Russian has three gender assignments for adverbs and the noun changes the word before and after. It also changes the sounds of both these words as well. They also assign gender to numbers and hierarchy or proper, polite speech. Yeah, it is confusing as hell but I am slowly getting it with the help of my teachers. Inga is back tomorrow so we will get to practice live instead of drool computer speak. Google isn’t as good a translator, for Russian, as Facebook is. I know my Russian fans and friends are enjoying the struggle and proud of my effort.

The other day I was walking down the street and an old women stopped and asked me directions to the post office. She had no doubt noticed my tan and assumed I was a local. I managed to explain I was from Canada and a tourist. Her eyes went wide like she was witnessing a rare animal species. I stumbled through saying I understand Post Office and then gestured and said let’s go in Russian. We walked in silence, slowly as she weighed the cost of getting lost with this strange creature against her energy level. I walked her to the post office and then asked her if this was correct. She smiled and nodded her head and I noticed she had tears in her eyes. She saw the concerned look on my face and took my hand and in very slow Russian said; “Thank You May 9.” May 9th is a holiday in Russia commemorating the Allied victory over Germany. I was confused at first and then got it. The only connection to Canada she had was our help during the Great War as it is called here and while she didn’t look old enough to have personal experience from that time, she must have been. The look in her eyes was the same look my Father used to have on Remembrance Day. I nodded my understanding and said in Russian “your welcome.” I watched her old eyes dart back and her brow creased as she searched for a memory. Finding it with a smile she said in English “welcome to Russia” let go of my hands and shuffled off towards the doors of the post office.

I walked back down the street named after Lenin towards my school and remembered the 22.6 million Russian lives lost in that conflict. My mind making the connection that at home our vets struggle to forget that horror while paying tribute to those that were lost and reminding the community to remember. In Russia the community never forgets and are grateful each day for the sacrifices of the defenders of their Mother. Rodina!

Sea Monkeys gave me trust issues. Vancouver to Anapa Russia

   

    I think my trust issues came from Sea Monkey advertising. We all remember the ads in the back of comic books, fun little creatures playing instruments and wearing cool hats. How was this in anyway “truth in advertising”? Targeting the most vulnerable in western society for their hard earned little cash. I remember sending away for them as a kid and getting a yeast-like package. I poured this into a fantastic sea monkey playground and got a few live brine shrimp in a week. I was disappointed. But I learned a lesson far more valuable than the money I spent. I learned that all that is advertised does not show up as advertised! Big corporations could not be trusted to have my best interests at heart and would steal from me if I were stupid enough to believe them. They didn’t take my money they stole the time it took me to earn that money. Back then, a buck to mow the lawn was good money, and it took an hour. Later in life I wouldn’t chase a dollar coin into the gutter, but then…It was perhaps money well invested. I learned the dream of exotic pets cascading in crazy shenanigans was false. I extrapolated that and looked at the Western dream of a white picket fence home.

    You learn to see the fallacy in ads in life and use them to warn you. We have all heard; “If it is too good to be true it probably isn’t”. Could this be the case for the Western Dream? Well, What exactly is two point five kids? Is this one of those warning signs? Is this dream an unattainable reality? It is for many, and I believe many more to come. Does this condemn us to an unhappy life staring at the bowl of bouncing brine shrimp? It doesn’t have to.

 I have a choice to spend my time slaving to pay for that seven hundred thousand dollar mortgage or spend time experiencing life with friends and family. It took me a while to decide to get off the Carousel of stupid and risk everything to live my life and my dream. It took me several tries to find someone bold enough to follow me as well. People advertise what they think you want to have so the created dual delusional non-truth reality is an easy trap to fall into. How many couples divorce after the 2.5 kids have grown up and left? The breakfast table truth that they have spent their time and lives acquiring and paying for a dream designed by the ruling class elite and not one of their own. The new apparent reality as disappointing as dipping a Chocolate Chip cookie into your coffee and realizing it is a Raisin cookie.

Some people like Raisin cookies. I know I love them. My Mom made equally excellent Raisin and Chocolate Chip cookies. She made Raisin more often because they were healthier. So before I took the risk of getting hit with the wooden spoon for stealing one, I always checked. Chocolate Chip was worth getting caught and punished for while Raisin was not. Nothing was more disappointing than getting caught with a mouthful of Raisin cookie when you expected Chocolate and getting a spoon spanking for it!

    Thomas Wolfe said; “You can never go home again.” I loved that book as a teen but until this year never really understood the meaning. I thought I did, like so many other things I thought I knew in my teens. But that topic is a far too long of topic for a blog. I went home, to do one of the two absolutes in life. I am writing this so it wasn’t to die. I needed to do my taxes and like each year I’d left it to the last minute to organize all my receipts. We flew direct from Hong Kong to Vancouver and breaching the gray clouds of the most beautiful city on the coast did not bring the feeling I thought it would.

    Familiarity is a comfortable couch but as in relationships ruined by life and with love lost Vancouver failed to stir my emotions. I landed with relief, both of a long flight home completed, and the city I have known my whole life. I was looking forward to seeing friends, family, and reconnecting with many.  This goal was not adequately achieved, and not for lack of trying on both parts.

Western life is so focused on attaining the Sea Monkey Dream that I found it near impossible to meet everyone that had expressed desire on Facebook to do so. I am not putting anyone at fault for this, rather I am raising it as a check and balance. Is this reality really your Chocolate Chip Cookie? If it is then great, live the dream. If it is not, then change it before that Monday morning breakfast realization!

    We did see and stay with many friends and family and had an incredible time sharing stories, Vodka, food, and emotional connection time that is sadly missing in this digital age. Skype is great, but it is a pale replacement for that beautiful lull in every communication between friends. You know the one the comfortable quiet that occurs when two people, comfortable with each other can just be. Without words or physical contact and feel fine with that moment. I had many of those experiences and feel very blessed to have had so.

    A very rainy two am had us heading back to the airport in Vancouver. We had a six o’clock flight and had to drop off the truck before the airport. Hugs exchanged between friends we were once again traveling, this time to LA and then a few hours later to Russia, and home to Anapa.

We met my nephew Mike in LA and went for an excellent lunch down in Venice Beach. It was the first time he had met Inga and both enjoyed the experience. The long, nearly 13 hour, flight was looming ahead yet I forced myself to relax and be in the moment rather than stress about the flight. I learned this skill in Thailand and was glad for the knowledge. The boarding process was smooth except the US requirement to check boarding passes every thirty-five feet. I am not exaggerating in the least. I think my boarding card was looked at a dozen times and three times in the line to go through security! I could see the confusion on the faces of the Russian travelers around me.

Landing in the afternoon in Moscow was a treat as I usually come in after the sun has vanished for the day. It really is an incredible city and while now familiar didn’t have the comfy couch feel. We made our way to a nearby airport hotel I usually stay at and relaxed and showered. Morning again started early and had us out of bed before sunrise. The process home only a short hop away, and with it the promised Anapa sun.

Out of Thailand and into the Hustle of Hong Kong

  It is not my real intention to write a travel blog. I do it more to let friends, family, and fans tag along on the exploits. Often these are private musings that spill out onto the page that perhaps shouldn’t have. But then it usually makes a good copy so I leave it. Three months in Chiang Mai rolled past much faster than I thought possible. Inga finished a month long course in Massage Therapy specializing in the Lana Thai method and I got a good solid fifty thousand words completed. The writing is moving along very well and I think I’ve managed to strike a good balance between the styles. I actually enjoyed getting it down to this fourth edit something I didn’t like before. It drives forward and while I yearn to add rich details to every scene I only let myself once in a while. One of my test readers commented positively on the third edit and I tightened it a little more before I received the critique. In short I have been writing and the Sequel is coming! Promise.

I didn’t get to play tour guide for anyone, but Inga, this trip as life, got in the way of the plans for some to jet to South East Asia. I guess that worked out ok as it did allow me to really relax and decompress even further than I thought I could. Things make me laugh more than piss me off anymore. Actions and activities that in the past would have me thinking WTF now just makes me shake my head and think; “leaves fall from trees, why worry.” Not that I have adopted a Buddhist or Zen lifestyle but I have really honed my own attitude towards life. Something that is impossible to do I think unless you get out of your comfort zone and take a hard look in the mirror over several months.

Inga and I got to enjoy Song Kran before we had to focus on leaving. Song Kran is Thai New Year and proves some cultures still allow human sacrifices in religious ceremonies. Now I am not talking about the heart ripping kind of sacrifice made popular by the Incas but death none the less. Many people die each year in this three-day water fight. Sometimes fueled by alcohol sometimes just by misadventure but suffice to say if 10 percent of the numbers happened in one of Canada’s big cities it would be canceled and the people that organized it would be imprisoned. In Thailand, it is a three day free for all and we witnessed nothing but happy fun. We got soaked and had a blast. The owner of Weatherspoons café ordered a truck for his best clients and set us off with a stern warning to be careful. We weren’t but we didn’t get killed either.

We started making plans to leave Chiang Mai and I wanted to fly back for a pair of birthdays that happen around the middle of April. The best flight out of Chiang Mai to Vancouver, Canada operates through Hong Kong. It is a Cathay Pacific flight and I wanted to book it direct but noticed it was a code share. My experiences with code shared flights have been less than positive. Alaska Air and Horizon leap to mind immediately. Alaska Air is a good airline, but Horizon is shit. They have stranded me in Bellingham, more times than they have actually managed to get me to my connecting flight in Seattle. Then they give a voucher for a free flight next time and take three weeks to reimburse the flight they stranded you on acting like they are doing you a favor and showing great customer service. I never use them anymore and will not take an Alaska Air flight with them involved. But I digress. This Cathay Pacific flight left Chiang Mai to Hong Kong and then forty-five minutes later took off to Vancouver, Canada.  One of the problems you encounter traveling are cultural differences I have discussed these in depth in many blogs, but let's be Thai specific. So does the checked luggage check all the way through to Vancouver or do I have to collect it in Hong Kong. Yes, yes no worry no worry. Sorry, Cathay Pacific you need to a little work on this end. Nothing on the website or response to email inquiries to ensure this was the case as I can’t be certain that the eighteen-year-old agent for Lion Air that has never been outside of Thailand looks and says should be fine.  I wanted to see Hong Kong anyway. So I booked the flight with three days in Hong Kong. So as an agent when a client has discussed the luggage in detail, you’d think that you might say something important like if you break the travel you only get one 20KG bag instead of 2!! Nope this is Thailand Man Piin RYE (Relax it all ok)

So it was very lucky we had a great gate attendant who understood the issue and made some calls to let the huge overage onto the code share flight without charge. It wasn’t that the booking agent didn’t care. The country just rolls with the cultural expectation it will work out. Sometimes it does. Just to give credit when due Cathay does meet that flight from CNX and fast tracks the connecting passengers for the onward flight. So book it without worrying about the connection, and luggage transfers, it is all-good.

I booked an industrial conversion hotel in Hong Kong. I had done some research and decided that this place would be cool to stay at and provided the best value. Not cheap but value! It had the distinction of not being in the photograph my father had from 1938 as well. My Dad had this stack of old photographs from the war and I remembered going through them when he died. In that stack was a picture taken from Deep Water Bay and another from Victoria Harbor looking up the peak. No skyscrapers in that old photograph. So I booked a beautiful view suite so I could look towards the past into Deep Water Bay. Saying a silent toast to my Father for his sacrifice so I could have the life I enjoy now.

So enjoying Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a very organized and ordered place. People wait for light signals, the chaos of scooters and general devil may care attitude of life and death gone. We arrived and navigated our pile of bags out to the cab and arrived for the free Happy Hour. Yes, the Ovolo serves drinks and tasty treats to all, no charge. Relaxed Inga and I enjoyed a glass of wine. We decided to stay in and eat at the hotel and I am glad we did as the food was incredible. Savoy London incredible at about a fifth the price. I had beef cheeks, as I had never eaten those before and Inga had a special salad. WOW! I am not sure if it is being in Chiang Mai and dealing with all gone or…? Don’t get me wrong the food in Chiang Mai is great. But it is different and not quite in that same, same kind of way. Often things are “all gone” or “no have today” and that’s ok as it means they keep things fresh. But even at sit down dining style restaurants service standards have to be adapted to a ‘village’ kind of expectation. So it was with incredible shock when they had everything and it arrived in stages hot and not altogether with dessert. Perhaps it was the culture shock seasoning the food but it was better than my dinner at the Savoy a few months ago!

We spent the day doing the walk thing and probably walked twenty miles yesterday. Seeing the sights and savoring the cultural flavor of this hub of Asia. The buildings are impressive and vast; skyscrapers compete with the clouds and again with the stars at night, dressed in neon and spotlights. The feel of the city is very safe and the police are quick to chastise simply parking infractions. Very orderly and diligent yet polite, at least in tone. English is spoken in most places and people are keen to practice. We used the transit system as much as we could and even spent some time on the old Double Decker narrow trolley busses. Designed for the tight streets these pass oncoming busses with inches to spare. The markets had tons of fresh seafood, many in tanks swimming as we wandered by. In the city, you see loads of exotics. Exotic cars are everywhere, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and Astons compete with other one of a kind rarities. In the couple of hours, I’ve been sitting and writing I’ve seen ten and I am not counting Porsches as they are as common as BMW’s.

So tomorrow we do the 12-hour flight home. Home to Canada, although to be honest Anapa Russia, is feeling like home too. But fair warning I am back in town!

Same Same But Different and Chiang Mai

Writing is a funny process. Notice I didn’t say fun. It is funny in the way stories progress and stall and take the author on as much of a journey as the reader. If you follow my blog and Facebook page, you already know I am doing the sequel in two different ways. I am not writing in the first person perspective exclusively and doing it scene by scene rather than following a linear process. For this reason, my outline needed to be much more detailed and should have been written in crayon. The twists and developments have really allowed me to expand on characters you love, hate, and perhaps hate to love, and much more. The freedom granted by an all knowing master of the world perspective has been very rewarding and I think it will be as rewarding for the fans too. To be honest, it has been fun to write it as well.

Milestones are important and fifty thousand words, after a fourth serious edit, is close to a third of the way there. Spine thickness and Military Fiction is a serious consideration unless you are the late Clancy. We lost a great storyteller and a man who could ignore many of the rules for writing this genre. I broke a few rules with Grey Redemption, perhaps too many, and adapted my preferred style of writing to address those and I think it worked. I really did a Maass style revision on this last edit and tightened the prose with an eye on micro tension and pacing. While I know I am biased, I think it is much tighter. It lost the labored detail-rich environment some of you loved and others hated. But I think it balanced out, to a better read. I lack my own test reader rich environment being overseas but my diligent and awesome usual suspect is on the job and I am waiting for her thoughts. I also shared it with two people here in the country and as they hadn’t read Grey Redemption the advice was great for making sure it stood alone and not just a sequel. So step by step, day by day I am writing. I am not going to give you any projections on completion as so much is currently on my plate, but it is rolling along.

Chiang Mai has been home for almost three months and the time is quickly approaching for the long flight home to BC. I am looking forward to seeing family and friends as this three month trip has stretched into a year and I know my Mom is looking forward to Inga and I coming home for a bit. Just like trips you want to take but never do because the life you want a break from gets in the way of the life you want to live the opposite is true. This grand year of travel, cultural lessons, and experiences, has soared by. The research for the book has been invaluable and allowed me to tighten up the prose without lessening the impact of the writing, or so I believe. The proof will be in the response I get from the test readers and what they think. Personally I believe I have.

So we have to leave this Northern paradise around the middle of the month. Tickets are booked, with an added little stop in Hong Kong. The flight was the best for time and stopovers. However, the HK stop was a little tight and so I decided that a little three-day vacation in the exciting city was a good little vacation. Yes, I know a vacation from the vacation Covey? But in reality I have been working pretty hard on this new MSS and Inga really worked hard at her Massage course.

They had said intensive, but this is Thailand, and that brings a different meaning. Or so I thought. Nope intense it was and she pushed through despite coming home each night tired and sore to crash in bed early. I am very proud of her achievement as most people take a break and stretch the course longer than the month. So three days in Hong Kong is a nice little reward for the two of us.

  We have made many friends in this laid back quite little city and have both been enriched by the experiences here and the little bits of Thai culture we have added to our own. Experiences are what you make of them and take from them and we have both learned a great deal. Past the shifting focus of what is important and needed, to an understanding of what is life and what is noise. We are indeed blessed by learning this at such a young age.

Chiang Mai. The second month and writing progress

      I find that I am writing too much on the sequel to Grey Redemption to make the time to sit down and blog. But today the guilt got the best of me. The current MSS is 39000 words after third edit and I think a third of the way done. We all know I tend to get a little wordy! So while a local friend reads through my second edit printed draft, I get to write for you. Let’s all extend thanks to Chris.

     I am sitting in a garden at a Massage school listening the birds compete with the clack clack clack rhythm of the ancient massage technique called Tok Sen.  Inga is enrolled here as a student and I come along to keep her company every other day. She has been learning the basic forms of traditional Thai massage for the past couple of weeks and will finish in a couple more. I get to be a little more spoiled by this amazing woman. The school is called TTC School of Massage and we discovered it after doing a ton of research that involved talking with actual students. It is out of the central part of Chiang Mai and in a very tranquil and beautiful area. So  our day starts with an 820 Tuk Tuk ride to the school and we get to see the local commute. Many students stay at the school and we meet them for breakfast and a many nationality good morning.

This seems to me to be the style the school was fashioned to represent. An environment of supported self-discovery and learning along with dedicated instruction by very skilled masters. Many Japanese people travel to this school to just learn the Tok Sen technique. It came from this area, is centuries old and works on moving and stimulating energy flow and fixing blockages with a small hammer and stick. I know I didn’t really buy it either. But after seeing it done and having it done twice it is incredible and I can understand why various healthcare types travel to learn it here! Inga has had a toe issue that caused her pain if she wore shoes that put stress to the side of one of her toe joints. She has had it for years, and like many pains we’ve had for years she figured out workarounds for dealing with it. This failed in one of the stretching exercises that makes up Thai Massage and she was in considerable pain. Mark, an Australian gentleman of incredible insight and character put her on the table and did a Tok Sen massage. The pain was gone by the end of the session and the area that had been sensitive for years, fine. There is an energy in this place that even a nihilistic cynic like me has to admit. I can’t write any really violent or aggressive scenes while I am here with Buddha watching, me in the garden. The energy of this school is really that palatable.

   

To celebrate International Women’s Day, I wanted to do something special for Inga. I contacted a very nice tour agent here in Chiang Mai called Na and she suggested a private river trip down the Ping in a Scorpion boat. I left her to arrange all the details after explaining to her what this day meant to people of Russian culture. She knocked it out of the park and created the perfect day for us. Providing the perfect balance of couple alone time and doing the tour guide thing explaining history and the like. The Ping River was the main thoroughfare and transportation route in days gone by and still serves today in a much-diminished capacity. It is not a deep river, only a couple of meters in some places and rarely twice that. This changes a little in the rainy season but only for a few weeks.

 It is a broad river and its brown hued water flows past some of the most beautiful houses in Chiang Mai squished beside little fishing hovels.  It was a great relaxing couple of hours watching locals fish and children swim. Na had made reservations at a restaurant that showed the history of farming and that of the river. It was also the place used in the last Rambo installment when we meet Rambo and his riverboat. Past the Hollywood and the education elements, this restaurant grows or raises everything they cook. The meal the three of us shared was incredible. Herbs, rice, and spices added to the dishes, were grown meters away from where they grew. A new idea of fresh, or perhaps an old way of life perfectly transported to the new tourist world of Chiang Mai.

Vientiane and the Visa run to Laos

     

One can’t spend too much time in Thailand talking with expats or visitors of a longer duration without the topic of Visa runs being raised. Everyone has a tale, a story, or as my friend Riz would say; “porky pies." The difference between the stories being the storyteller’s motivation, to regale, brag or instill fear. A search of forums and the web have all sorts of advice on the cheapest, easiest, best way. The problem a researcher runs into is not just the inaccuracy of the story based on the above, but also the when. South East Asia is a quickly growing and changing place. What was “true” on Friday may be not so true on Monday morning? The original story may be slightly embellished, proving the writer's powers of negotiation, or entirely fabricated. Armed with this knowledge and understanding Inga and I set off to Laos on a Sunday afternoon in February.

            While cheap, easy, best, seem at the start to be definitive in nature they are not. What is cheap depends on your budget and what you place value in. I value time and safety over money so for me cheap was a Nok Air flight from Chiang Mai to Udon Thani near the Laos border. Mini Vans do make the same trip at about a third the cost, but I have heard “tales” of horror. Even if these horror stories are not as true as the telling the mere fact of being stuck in a van for eight hours at the mercy of the driver for bathroom breaks on challenging Thai roads made the decision an easy one.

            Once in Udon Thani the options for a ride to the Friendship Bridge and border are varied. Bus, minibus, or “go now limo” are the most convenient. Apparently a city bus style route exists but without a Thai interpreter that option died on arrival. We opted for the ‘go now limo’ and, for us, it was a good value. During the hour long ride thru the city and out to the border, I witnessed three Minibus incidents ranging from close to stupidly tight how did they not just crash.

            The border itself is run very well on both sides. You hand your filled out departure card and with two stamps and a smile your leave Thailand. You leave the building and then run into a modern day sheep herder. His job is to get you into one of the buses that drive across the bridge. I have read you can walk across, but I don’t know how one would do this as the chaos in this no-mans-land area between the two countries is intense. So he directed me back to immigration and Inga spotted the bus ticket seller just to the right of the immigration door. Tickets purchased we were herded onto a waiting bus for the trip. It isn’t a long trip but considering dusk had just fallen, and our mosquito spray was packed, forty Bhat was cheap and easy. On the other side of the bridge, one fills out the forms and the Immigration Officer conducts an on the spot interview in superb English and polite manner. You hand over your passports with the required cash amount for your country and in three minutes you have a cool looking visa allowing you a month in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos.

            We were approached during the process by a young man offering help and smiling I said that my English was pretty good and I could muddle through it. He smiled, understanding, and then offered a ride into town. A short negotiation of how much and what kind of transport and we had our ride into Vientiane. He hovered close and checked how we were doing and politely offered suggestions. The ride into the capital of Laos was comfortable in an air-conditioned minivan with us as the only passengers.

            Arriving at the Lao Golden Hotel had me questioning my decision to book it. I knew it was very close to the Consulate of Thailand and was a three-star hotel. The street appeal of the property is a little lacking. Inside however the staff were excellent and the night manager had enough English to make it all work.  The day personnel and the hotel manager speak perfect English and the three days we stayed were very pleasant. The breakfast included with the stay is good and well executed and the kitchen staff and manager very professional.

            Our helpful driver had told us that Monday would be busy and to arrive at the consulate early.  Inga and I went for a night time walk to find the consulate and enjoyed the cool jungle air. It was only about five minutes by foot and the neighborhood very quiet after Chiang Mai.  We arrived back at the hotel and got an early start on sleep, both of us tired from the travel and wondering how the easier, cheaper routes would have felt.

            The Consulate opened at 830 and we arrived at 7:45 to find a line about fifty meters long. The line stretched along the narrow sidewalk, already crammed with people selling services and food. We were approached by a couple of people politely offering to fill out the forms for us and we declined and then set to watching the spectacle. Many different nationalities surrounded us and most had come on minibusses doing the cheap, easy visa run. They looked tired and happy to be standing in line. We watched one of the service helpers diligently set up his stall. To say the man was detail  orientated would have been wronging thousands with illness. I knew we needed a photocopy of the front page of our visa and had intended to do it at the embassy on the top floor but the price was right and I knew this guy would do it correctly the first time. He offered to look at my paperwork and concluded that we needed photocopies of our Laos visa, and stamps, and I needed a new picture. He also gave us two applications and cut and glued our pictures on them. The price he charged was about 20 Bhat more than if I had done it inside. A great value for a while, you wait service.

            Inside the embassy grounds are beautiful and amazingly so given the enormous amount of human traffic that is seen on a daily basis. A small snack bar provides coffee and treats at a reasonable price and there is even a small smoking area. We stood in line until we reached a covered area to the rear of the compound and then received a number after our documents got a once over from junior staff. Inga and I found a spot and filled out the forms and waited for our number to be called. It is run very efficiently and the staff are very helpful and polite. We left after about two hours total time without passports to explore the city.

       

    Vientiane is very different than Chiang Mai and so are the people. Things are about the same price with the exception of street food being a little cheaper and Tuk Tuks being more expensive. The city itself is charming with the French and Soviet influence very apparent in the buildings and road designs. The people are a little shyer but still pleasant. English is spoken less frequently here and Bhat and Kip used as a single currency. In fact, the speed at which they can do the conversion is pretty impressive. We walked perhaps too far on this day. The weather was sweltering and the humidity very high yet we pushed ourselves to go see That Luang a huge temple complex northeast of the city center.  It was impressive and very different from Thai temples. The return journey found both the temperature and our blood pressure climbing. We relaxed the rest of the day and enjoyed an excellent meal at the hotel.

            The next morning found us again walking, yet this time in the rain. A cloud system had rolled in cutting off the direct sunlight. We enjoyed a long walk to the waterfront and found little shelter points along the way to dodge the greater deluges. This is jungle rain after all and when it comes down it comes down! To be honest both Inga and I remarked how we missed the rainstorms of Vancouver and we found a little café and enjoyed a drink both of us missing BC a little.

            The rain stopped and we took a route down to the Presidential Palace and the Chao Anouvong Park and Monument. We had the entire place to ourselves as everyone had the good sense to stay out of the rain. But to us the rain was warm and the cooler temperature allowed for a longer walk. The morning swept by and soon I had us walking in the direction of the Embassy to pick up our passports and hopefully our sixty-day tourist visas.

         

There wasn’t a lineup when we arrived at the Embassy and we each got a number and waited for them to open the doors to main building. This is the secure side of the Embassy and it is where you paid your fees the day before. The people waiting in the large room were most of the same individuals we had seen the day before. Some looking very worse than they had a short twenty-four hours ago. The system was again smooth and number driven and Inga and I both received the visas we requested.
That good news and stress gone from our day we had a small lunch and recharge before heading once again on foot to the waterfront steps to enjoy a cigar and sunset over the Mekong River before hitting the night market.