#traveltales from #kualalumpur :
* Street cleaners stop and wait to warn tourists about a snake that's on the side of a path; they stayed there for easily 30 minutes, just waiting and warning
* A street vendor sharpening his knife on a street lamp post
* Cleaner carrying and lighting _massive_ firecrackers to scare away the monkeys
* Street vendors selling bananas to feed the monkeys with (it was fun)
#traveltales from #kualalumpur and #bangkok
* Motorbike police escorts for VIP cars do not give any fucks, they will whip in front of traffic driving one-handedly, trusting in all other cars to emergency brake
* Under-armour, a clothing brand many desperately masculinity-signalling men seem to wear, make sneakers with easily 5cm lift. I can't help but notice the similarities to SUVs and lifted pick-up trucks...
#traveltales from #kualalumpur and #bangkok
* Grab, the Uber of Asia, has so. many. papercuts. and it makes me wonder about their complete lack of UX QA, and by extension the global readiness to replace traditionally US-centric tech
* Petronas towers are absolutely *packed* with Korean influencers trying to get a photo in. It seems to be en vogue to spread your arms in all directions at once to show how much space you can take up/other photos you can ruin
Meta #traveltales
#tusky has a weird bug in which replies to public posts are made local by default. No setting to change it either. So I just deleted two posts and re-posted them with correct settings
#traveltales from #kualalumpur and #bangkok
* KL: Bad public transport and almost zero electric vehicles. Might be because a liter of gas is 0.42 € over there
* KL: Pretend-racing cars with exhausts so loud that you wake up on the 29th floor seem to be tolerated
* BKK: Having ridden #BYD cars a few times now, even their lowest models have better materials and production finish than #tesla s, to say nothing of the 3. And more buttons.
#traveltales from #thailand
* The cab driver almost got offended when asked if all the construction workers are Thai. They are from Cambodia and Myanmar, and he made certain that was understood
* I can feel the gears shift on the diesel #train to Maha Chai and eventually Mae Kong
* The windows open fully! But you need to be careful as the trees are growing right to where the train shaves them off
* Seems to be the right train, as there are two guided groups (three tourists total)
* Gerry (#FOSDEM staff friend) and myself are rocking this without guide; seeing guides is both reassuring and annoying
* #Train ticket for one hour ride is 10 Baht or 0.27€
* There is no train bridge. We will get out, see about catching a ferry, and board a different train
* End stop is going to be Mae Klong. So we will see the railway market fold up and spread again every time a train passes. For the first run, we see it from the train
* Spare space along the railway is just filled up with banana plants and the occasional mango tree
* Train doors just open while rolling into the stop, and close some time after starting again. No warning or anything; everyone just stays away
* Those black plastic gravel/concrete tubs? They use the same plastic for low and wide fruit market stacking undercarriers and for actual rowboats. Makes sense, just never thought of it as food safe or sturdy enough to be a boat.
#traveltales #bangkok Klong Toei market
* Motorbikes driving through the smallest footsways all the time
* Deep in the bowels of the wet market's meat choppers, a tiny bar. Sit down for coconut water with cane sugar juice (and maybe some pandang?). After some time,. realize a man, an adolescent, and a child are rolling blunts for sale. Once the work is done, the adolescent scoops up the leftovers for a hit or two with his bong
#traveltales #bangkok Klong Toei market
* Once we walk again, less than five meters away, a rat surfaces and scuttles away from one of the ~100 liter barrels filled with meat refuse, fat, and water
* Maybe six meters after that, a man is sitting there, taking chicken feet from a tub, clipping off the claws with gardening shears, and tossing the finished feet into another bucket. If you don't know, deep fried chicken feet are a delicacy in China (I don't love them. Too fatty)
#traveltales #bangkok Klong Toei market
We buy some coconuts to drink from and walk to a geocaching location. It's a nice bridge, with wide berths for sleeping in the breeze. Three local drunks/drug users are chilling in the breeze. One talks to me for 10+ minutes (no exaggeration, I timed this from photos taken before and after), explaining something in slurred Thai, seemingly unable to comprehend I don't understand Thai..
#traveltales #bangkok Klong Toei market
He might be encouraging us to throw the empty coconut into the river and telling us how long it takes to get to the sea, we will never know. He takes and gives back the coconut several times, making throwing motions. At the end, he takes my coconut and throws it triumphantly into the trash. The second drunk looks very unhappy. Gerry offers him his empty coconut and both fall over themselves with thanks, breaking it open to eat the coconut flesh...
There's so many stories about the wet market...
One is how animal blood is sold in plastic bottles. Every organ, every part of the animals is for sale, even chicken beaks (which apparently are crunchy when deep fried). And honestly, that's better than wasting anything.
Or the two guys, one chopping up pig legs, and the other crookedly standing on the chopping table in rubber boots shoving everything into a gigantic meat grinder, bones and skins and all. One slip, and his hand or arm is gone...
One for my US American followers...
40 Baht for 12 eggs. That's 1.09€ or $1.19, for 12 eggs.
Spontaneously took a trip to cockatoo island to shake out the brain after work, and saw dozens of sailboats criss-cross each other. Four boats drove basically a hashpund pattern with a maximum of 3-5 meters distance, at speed.
Currently 1932 local, and I am watching hundreds or maybe thousands of humongous #bat fly East towards the ocean. It's like a Hitchcock movie, just with bats
Walking up the stairs to watch the city from atop the rock, I am now standing under a few trees in which dozens of bats are resting and fighting for space. They are so preoccupied with each other, I might be able to reach out and touch them as they glide past less than a meter away from me
I'm in #Tokyo #Japan riding the local trains. Masks are not really all that common any more. It's kinda a trope by now that the seats near The Big German remain free. I'm used to it. And if anyone sits down near or next to me it's almost exclusively men.
I'm wearing my #mask as I do on planes and public transport, and for the first time ~ever in Asia the seats right next to me were taken up very quickly, both by women, one wearing a mask, one not.
1/2
* At 0813, someone comes and yells, the music changes. Staff come back -- and smile and wave for two minutes
0815 sharp, lets-a go
So, was #nintendo world in #Oasaka worth it?
Unclear. The universal studies around it.. exist. Many people in Terfy Potter world, but everyone crams into NintendoWorld. The rest of the park seemed deserted at times.
The Minions ride is frustrating. Everyone hypes it, but it keeps you waiting in obnoxious (not smart like #MarioKart) ways. I'd avoid it even though we had express passes.
1/n
Flying dinosaur is nice. It tilts you forward by 90 degrees for the whole ride and some non-trivial G but mainly inwards not outwards. I get why to not make people too scared, but I'd have preferred outwards.
The ride you see at the beginning toys with negative G repeatedly, but otherwise it's kinda nin-thrilling.
If you're tall, flight of the hippograph won't fit you and you get two express passes as a mea culpa. Worth it if the wait is short or you could not buy a fitting Direct-In without giving money to a TERF.
IMO, Nintendo is used to cross-sell Terfy Potter by Universal.
So, that brings us to #Nintendo World:
Go on Wednesdays if you can. Least busy. They also show it on the website
Arrive at 0700 or earlier. Walk briskly, do not run, into NintendoWorld. Get in line for Mario Kart. Ignore Yoshi and Donkey Kong. Or do Donkey Kong first. Yoshi is good as a second ride. Not because it's good, but because it's got the shortest line.
The area is tiny. Unless you buy the wrist band, you will not have a lot to do other than taking photos and standing in line for the rides.
You can buy Mario etc merch, but a Don Quichote will have similar or the same items at 1/2 to 1/3 the price.
All in all, for a group of four people we paid over 1,000€ for the day. Entry, Direct-In, some wrist bands, food, souvenirs.
Not counting accomodation, transport, Shinkanshen.
Worth it? Unclear. Once in a lifetime, sure. But still, not sure...
To be clear, the most expensive part was the Direct-In, basically a "reduce the waiting line by 30-200 minutes". Yes, by 200 minutes.
It's expensive AF, but two days would be even more expensive when you factor in accommodations, access tickets, and prorated flight and PTO cost.
Taking the first train at 05:59 in the morning towards Toyosu Market, the wagons are already full. Arriving at 06:15, many tourists walk back already. It's been open since 05:00 after all.
The tuna auction itself is kinda funny. The bidders are super concerned about looking deliberately disinterested and chill; feels like high school or bad poker.
The few sushi restaurants which are open already are full. Mostly japanese men, drinking heavily this early in the morning
So, on how the bus payments work..
In Osaka you have to get on in the back and pay while leaving in the front. Tokyo is the other way around. Kyoto is a mixed bag. This seems almost as random as when you're supposed to walk on the left, the right, or a wild mix which changes every few hundred meters.
In #Osaka, there are two fares posted in the bus: 210 (or 230?) yen for adults, 110 for children. Other rates are not posted, but as everyone sees both how much someone pays and how much balance is remaining it's easy to deduce.
Seniors pay 50 yen.
Disabled seniors pay 0 yen. There's a bright green line around the display to signal this.
Some people flash a card or something to the bus driver or simply put both hands together and bow and do not pay at all.
I am a somewhat frequent traveler for work reasons. If I have leg space, I always sit on the window, away from the sunny side. This is one of the tricks to a calmer flight and night.
Flying back from #Tokyo #Haneda to #Munich, only the right side was free. Good if we fly under Russia, OK if we fly over the Artic. Decent enough sun activity to have a chance at #Northernlights. It's a night flight. Or so I thought...
The #boeing787 has dimmable windows, not physical shades. It's summer solstice.
It's noon in Alaska where I am currently North of. ANA217 if you want to track me.
The sun is burning with the intensity of one thousand^W suns... It's summer solstice so the sun will not even set on the geographical North Pole today. The window is doing its best, but it has to absorb the energy. No off-grey plastic to reflect light. It's so hot it's unpleasant to touch and is radiating so much heat I am sweating in my normal "slightly too cool for most people" travel sleep set-up.
Science...!
The Japanese guy next to me entered the plane masked. Medical mask as ~usual with men in Asia (women tend to wear FFP2 / [K]N95 maybe 66% of the time). I always appreciate people masking.
He started coughing shortly before food. Now he's sleeping with the mask off for several hours already.
I'm masked with FFP3 / N99 so whatever, but...
And also I am still (rather successfully) staying on top of an infection I got during a badly-ventilated KubeCon. Two coworkers coughed, I should have masked...
But for anyone who doesn't know them: Laryngomedin and Ocentident are near magic for viral infections of the respiratory system. You can feel your throat getting better because your immune system noticeably gets the upper hand for a few hours. Absolute game changer.
Not available in the US though, so people there need to get creative.
If you can't taste the salt,
and aceto tastes bald,
that's the cove...
that's the cove...
Second time in my life I have a positive #COVID #COVID19 test.
And I _THOUGHT I SHOULD HAVE MASKED AND I DIDN'T_
Oh well. At least I have a prescription for #paxlovid this time, but I don't think I can get it filled before Monday...
Continuing my #traveltales #travelnotes, and staying on the topic of #masks
I'm in #Hyderabad for #KubeCon #India and forced myself out of the hotel on my arrival day at least once. Even walking to the ATM around the corner, I already put on my mask against all the dust and smog. Taking a tuktuk across town, I was immediately forced to put it back on and keep it on.
I love the buzzing and chaos on the streets, but I am also quite happy about my place with quiet and good air..
I always take tuktuks (called auto, here) where feasible. Cheaper, quicker, and generally more fun. In a real car now, because other than one time in Iceland and one time in Moab, I've never driven through as much and deep water in my life.
We're stuck at an intersection trying to turn. The waves from the car passing by are rocking the car back and forth
One fascinating aspect is how, being with six Indian coworkers for food, when one of them chooses a restaurant serving their home food, none of the others know the dishes. I know #India is large etc pp. Still, this drives it home even more.
#India was way too short, as always. I love the bustle, the colors, the smells, the spices, all the chaos which somehow just chugs along.
On the negative side, I don't think I will be able to not wear a mask outdoors in any major Indian city for the foreseeable future.
One small and almost invisible aspect of Asian countries is how even low quality goods will have high quality cases, lanyards, etc. in Western country, you regularly need to buy expensive stuff to get nice auxiliary goods; in east Asian countries you will get nice auxiliary goods even for giveaways.
I received a battery powered fan someone got for free and didn't need; and the lanyard it came with is nicer than most lanyards I recently got with any but the most quality goods.
@RichiH Yep, not a fan of the LCD windows for that reason.
Window on the north side of the plane (assuming I'm in the northern hemisphere) is always my strategy too.
@matthew thanks!
One old person who could barely walk definitely tapped it. That is when I saw the green border flash up around the zero.
One lady bowed and thanked, one man looking very rough and somewhat unkempt flashed something. Both were alone. The driver looked after the lady rather critically and for a long time, to the point of clearly missing the time frame he would normally resume driving within.
@RichiH we had a similar experience past year. Mario zone was very cute for pictures, but for doing anything else, Mario Kart. The rest of the park, a bit of meh. I think the second thing we enjoyed most was the 4D cinema with a Chainsaw Man film...
For Mario zone, you could make a reservation via their app, and you can get into the zone. But expect a long wait for doing anything there.
Richard "RichiH" Hartmann
Marcus Müller
Michael Hunger 🇺🇦
mirabilos
Andrew Zonenberg
Royce Williams
turmoni
Ariadne Conill 🐰
Matthew
kfekete
Carles