My bike goes to Nepal!

I've been dealing with Trans Air Cargo to air-freight my bike into Nepal. I had been dealing with Kittima which is who everyone else mentions on Horizons Unlimited. I started the process just before I entered Thailand. I crossed the border on the 1st, had the required documentation to her by the 3rd, and by the 9th it was all crated up and booked on a flight for the 12th. The only delay after I had all the documentation together was the dangerous goods certificate, but that only took a couple of days and then I got notice from Kittima that I should be at Trans Air Cargo on the 8th at 10am with the bike.

So on the morning of the 8th, I realised I didn't know where to go exactly. So I checked their website to see if I could figure out where, and spotted the head office address in the middle of Bangkok, a main warehouse and a customs warehouse near the airport, and two other office addresses. I tried calling Kittima a number of times that morning to verify where exactly I should go but she would not answer. I called Trans Air Cargo but no one wanted to commit to an address without Kittima being there. I thought this may delay my shipment because it would be a dangerous goods inspection like in Australia when they must be present to check the bike over before shipping. If I missed this appointment I figured I may have to hang around for a week for another appointment to be booked. 

As it as getting closer to 10am I just decided I should just get to the warehouse address, that's the most reasonable destination to go to, but I miss-underestimated how hard it would be to set my GPS to navigate me there. After trying to find the location via eyeing similar locations in Google maps, and then matching the streets in the GPS I eventually found the warehouse location. 

Just as it hit 10am Kittima arrived at work and responded to an email and gave me the head office address in the center of Bangkok. I called back quickly and asked what happens if I miss 10am, which I already had, and she said it's OK, just come in at 3pm. I thought that was curious... But I asked where exactly where I was going, and she said she would send a map. The phone coverage at the hotel here is terrible too so it was hard to understand what she was saying, she probably couldn't understand my broken Australian English either. Through the conversation I'm trying to verify if i'm going to the warehouse, and she said yes. So I get my gear together and got ready to head out towards the airport. 

After a few minutes I get the email on my phone and I decided to check it, just in case. I find a map and directions to the head office address in the middle of the city. Now this made me wonder, I called Kittima back and asked why she sent a map to the office. Well it turns out they have a packing facility there and that's where I should be going...

Right. I headed there, an hour through Bangkok traffic. It's not to bad, it's like driving in Melbourne, maybe like it was before the police started cracking down on all the lane-splitting by motorbikes. It has been nine months since I was there though, I could have forgotten entirely!

Finally I get to the office location...

Taking the freight elevator up to the second floor.

After I get to the packing floor they ask if I want to start disassembling the bike now or tomorrow. I said now is OK and get to it. I took the panniers off, the front wheel, front mudguard, the mirrors, my extra PVC tubes, and loosened the bark busters. Fairly minimal disassembly.

Here is Mr Ano measuring for the crate, and his assistant draining their free fuel.

After the battery was taped up and the fuel gone it was all done.

This is everything.

There was still some space left in one of the panniers after the yellow tool box was out. I had some other gear back at the hotel that I was going to put in there. I knew I'd be paying the volume rate as the bike is quite light compared to the space it takes up. I went back the hotel and packed up anything I wouldn't need in Nepal for a few days so I could ship that for "free" too.

Once I got back to Trans Air Cargo the next day (right near one of the BTS stations too) this is how I found my bike:

Well... I won't be putting anything else in that pannier.

I had my blue bag filled with riding gear and other items so I just jammed that in the corner of the crate to go with it. It was dark in the box too, so who knows if they actually packed everything. I guess I'll find out in Nepal.

Here is my crate! If they knew how expensive they were they wouldn't fill games with them.

So all that was left was to pick up my Carnet that had been sent to customs and to pay!

The crate is 100x200x114 but the bike could have been packed down a lot less. If I'd taken the rear wheel off and handlebars too, and then put everything that's not a bike into a second crate I wouldn't be shipping so much air. But there's only so many things that are convenient to take apart and then put back together.

The actual shipping weight should have been somewhere around 200kg, but they charged by volume weight because it was higher and that worked out to 372.5kg

Costs were:
Thai Airways Freight charge = 29800
Handling = 3500
Transport = 1000 (truck to the airport)
Dangerous goods certificate = 700
Wooden case = 9000
Fork lift fee = 500

So that works out to just over $1300. Plus my $400something airfare to Nepal. I read up on some forums before doing this and the only charge I could have really bargained for was the crate cost but that was all done over the phone and I didn't know until I had the final cost in front of me. That might have only saved $150 though. 

And then there's the airfare. Nepal air have a cheaper flight on Mondays and Fridays but I'm going on Tuesday, and for $100 less than the Thai Air flight you can get 1 or 2 stop flight through India with Jet Airways but it takes about 12 hours and I'd possibly need a transit visa. 

But anyway. For similar costs to the Darwin-Singapore freight I'm doing the same Bangkok to Nepal! I think the next shipment will have to be sea-freight though (India to Turkey perhaps?). Just depends on how much "Phase 3: South Asia" costs.

More Bangkok Stuff

So far I still haven't seen a lot of Bangkok. Just what's near the train lines and shops. Haven't really been to see any of the non-shopping sites here yet.

Market food haul from the other day. Pork+rice+egg, fried chicken, and bbq'ed pork. $2

I was on Gmail the other day and saw that a friend from uni (Lets call him Jeff, because that's his name) had "BKK" in their status, I queried them about this, because I was also in Bangkok you see, it was odd. Turns out he's here for a few days before heading south, so we met up and wandered round the city for the day. Which inevitably turned into drinking.

Ending here:

Soi Cowboy

More Soi Cowboy

This is one of the many streets in Bangkok that has go-go bars. As you walk down the street there are girls out the front trying to get you inside. There were four of us so there was discussion over which bar everyone was happy with and we went in. Once we entered, we found lots of Thai girls sitting around and doing nothing, and us being the only customers in there. We were quickly made to order a drink, and then we sat there while a set of girls danced on stage, and another set sat in front of the stage, and then a third set sat around in bikinis and looked at themselves in the mirror. I might add that they were all looking at themselves in the mirror, not just the bikini girls. They'll rotate the girls through the bar, some of them stand outside and try to get people in, some dance, but we couldn't figure out what the girls in bikinis were supposed to do. They Just seemed to sit there and study themselves. Then after a while they got up on stage, and then took their bikini tops off. Now we know what they're there for!

After this brief introduction to Soi Cowboy I had to head off and organise shipping for my sprockets so they would get here by Thursday. Friends in Melbourne had managed to find some in stock after searching round a few places, all at very short notice from me. But they packaged them up with a few other items I needed that I'd left in Melbourne. They have been rewarded for their efforts!

DHL and UPS sites were both quoting over $250 to ship to Bangkok. After two hours of very very slow phone internet I managed to find another place (ship2anywhere.com.au) which booked through DHL anyway and charged half the price. Good to know for when I need tyres.

And then... The morning after that finally one of the places I'd emailed over the past week got back to me and said they could get them to me within a day for about $50... Just five hours too late. I still needed the other things sent because some of it was thermal underwear and I see it's still quite cold in Kathmandu.

The next night I was meant to meet up with Jeff to go to some rooftop bar they had mentioned the day before. After getting on the train to the building I thought they meant, I found out they meant the one that was in the Hangover 2 (which curiously the night before I met them they had to go through photos to see what they had actually done, which is the plot of the movie by the way, if you haven't seen it).

So stuck at the train station with fifteen minutes to the next train that would get me to the second train that I would need, which in turn would get me to the third train I'd need to catch to get to this bar. I decided to try and walk across to the other line, which would have been doable, but there was just too many people to try and walk through. I made very little progress before I told them I wouldn't make sunset at this bar, so instead I headed to the tallest building in Thailand which was where I was still near so I get get photos of Sunset.

Buildings.

Roads and buildings.

The sun disappearing through the layer of smog.

Wider view...

Clouds.

In the center left is the Victory monument.

Lit up roads.

More lit up roads.

Looking towards all the big shops, Siam Paragon, Discovery, Central World etc. Pantip plaza is in there too.

Roads.

More roads and buildings.

Then finally I started to head back to the hotel because some of that market food in that first picture may have had a slight impact on my digestive system.

From the railway station.

Same intersection, different view.

Today I got my bike cleaned because tomorrow it goes to the shipping place to have all the customs formalities worked out, and measurements taken for the crate. Tonight, meeting up with Jeff and crew again as they're heading off south tomorrow to start their Tuk Tuk race/drive thing through southern Thailand Malaysia and Indonesia. But there will be no grog tonight, it's a Buddhist holiday and all the shops have cardboard coverring the grog with signs up saying you can't buy it.

Maybe I forgot to mention but in Thailand restrict the sales of alcohol through the day between 11am and 2pm, and then 5pm to midnight. It's supposed to stop drink driving, so you stock up in those hours instead.

A positive review

To balance out the previous post :)

I replaced my Hifiman RE-0's! They're a very very good sounding earphone for moderate money. To me they sound very good, but with little bass so some people may not like that. But the biggest selling point is they sound as good or better than earphones that cost $300. They were about $85, but you can get them cheaper online.

I got my first pair a couple of years ago, they had some problems though. The cloth covered cable was constantly getting knotted, and also if it dragged over your shirt you would hear that in your ears. It had a small plug which was quite fragile and that's the part that eventually died on them. Also back came off the earbuds, that was because the helmet tried to rip them apart every time I took it off, but this was fixed with sandpaper and superglue.

However the new ones have fixed two issues at least and they come in different packaging now. The cable is now plastic coated, and the plug is now much chunkier. I'm yet to test the durability with my helmet. I think they also sound slightly better now too.

I got them from Munkong Gadget. They have two outlets that I've found so far. One in Digital gateway (go out the opposite side of the Siam BTS station from Siam Paragon) and another in Pantip Plaza (on the ground floor, towards the back, head right and it's near the Bangkok Bank branch that's hidden away there). Small store, but they had a good selection of headphones and amps.

I went to get these because the Logitech headphones I got in Cambodia were excellent fakes but sounded horrible. The box, the pamphlets inside, even the earphones themselves all looked right. But they sounded just like any other boring earphone, nothing like what the reviews said about them and no where near Hifiman territory. The box was missing a few things which I saw in photos on some reviews so that's why I figure they were fakes and not just bad sounding headphones. So I stuck with a lesser known Chinese brand instead of going for another big name brand that's probably going to be a fake anyway.

A negative review

I'm still having trouble finding sprockets in Thailand. I know they are made in a factory here somewhere, however, I don't know where or how to get them here. I'm resorting to getting them posted from Australia with a few other things that I need.

Rant mode activated.

In the meantime I tried contacting a place I've used several times before. The place is Procycle and I think half the parts on my bike are from them. It was always straight forward dealing with them in the past: put the bits you want in their cart system, pay via paypal (which has been disabled now), and then it arrives a few weeks later. They are a good supplier for DR650 parts, they have everything. But I probably won't use them anymore.

So the other day I sent off this email to them to see if I could get the parts sent via UPS, as the normal postal service in Nepal is apparently unreliable (lots of posts on the lonely planet forum about things going missing etc). Now I know it's going to cost me a couple of hundred just for shipping by using UPS, but it's my only option when it's a critical part. However on their site they say they use USPS for international postage, but that isn't good enough for me, too slow and things to missing at the other end.

This is what I sent:

Hello, Is it possible for you to send a few items via UPS to Kathmandu with their wait for pickup option? I've heard the poste restante in Kathmandu is very unreliable so I'd prefer to use UPS over USPS for this shipment. I'm having no luck finding parts for my DR650 in Thailand, so my best option is to use you to get parts into Nepal for when I arrive. I've used Procycle multiple times in the past when I was back in Australia building up the bike. This is all for a 2009 DR650. So far what I need: - Fuel tank vent cap - Remote choke cable kit - DT Triple Layer Air Filter - Sprockets for front and rear, both 14+15 for front, 42 for rear, and 525 chain (or 520 if it's cheaper). - Sprocket retainer for 14 tooth sprocket. Can you give me a cost with/without the chain? I can pick up the chain locally and just throw it in the crate for shipping. Regards, Ryan Beales

So I'm emailing because I need to. Obviously I've tried other avenues, and I need them to help me out here.

And I get this back:

HELLO RYAN,, WE ONLY USE U.S.P.S. FOR SHIPPING. WE OD NOT HAVE ANY MEANS TO USE UPS. THANK YOU,  CARL.

The formatting and spelling is all theirs. So I think they obviously haven't read the previous email past the first line, or even past the subject. I can read their website, I know they use USPS, but I need them to help me out and ship via UPS. Also, they don't have the means? Really? Uhh... Anyone anywhere can send via UPS, yet these guys are unable to for some reason. I understand the parts may be in a warehouse somewhere else, but here's a solution: Get it sent to yourselves and then get UPS to pick it up (or I can even organise a pickup from here online), I'll gladly pay all the extra costs. I have a need for the parts anyway, cost obviously isn't an issue if I'm asking for UPS. There's not a huge amount of extra thought or work here.

So a little annoyed that a place I have dropped $1000's into in the past won't help, I send back my sarcastic reply:

You don't have a phone or internet access? Thanks for helping me out and giving the standard answer, I'll be shopping elsewhere from now.

Of course that's not going to help anything, but I'm annoyed that the customer service is really that bad.

I get this response back anyway:

HELLO RYAN, WE DO HAVE INTERNET ACCESS, THAT IS HOW WE ARE TALKING NOW, AND WE DO HAVE PHONE SERVICE,, 541-688-9543. GOOD LUCK, AND THANK YOU,  CARL.

Whooooosh... Looks like Carl still hasn't found his capslock key. I had an email from him about a year before this for another order and it was all in caps too.

There are other people working at Procycle, but Carl is the sales manager. Way to make a sale mr sales manger. If he'd helped me out I would have gladly added their sticker onto my bike and ridden it all over the place. I've posted photos of my bike on other sites too so they would have got free advertising when I do that. Instead the only mention of their name from me will be attached to this crankypants rant now.

Bangkok

Bangkok is... Quite big. This is the first really big city I've been in since Kuala Lumpur. So far It's not the best...

I'm staying in the Nasa Vegas hotel which is right next to a stop on the new airport rail line. I thought that would be convenient for getting my bike shipped out, but mostly it's just noisy when the trains go past. The average budget hotel here is 700baht/night, I booked this one for 400baht/night so I can't complain too much. But that's only until Sunday and after then I have to re-book until the 11th, and probably at the normal 890/night rate.

Just near the hotel a couple of expressways meet over the top of an intersection.

So far my plan is:
8th/9th - Take bike to Trans Air Cargo for crating and then shipping
11th - Fly to Nepal
12th or later, pick up bike!

But nothing's really set yet, If I book everything the bike might not be able to go to the cargo place until after I want to fly to Nepal, it all depends on the dangerous goods certificate which I'm trying to organise now.

In the meantime, I get to wander around Bangkok. So far I've seen some of the big shops, but that's all. Siam Paragon is big, and ridiculous with it's Lamborghini and Maserati shops mixed in with various other big European (mainly Italian) brand shops. Siam Discovery is better. MBK is huge, but that's the place to go if you want a mobile phone, or a watch, or jewelry, or clothes, or furniture. But I still can't find shoes that I want. The shoes I got in Chiang Rai are killing my toe and feet and are almost warn out but still have a new shoe smell! I'm also trying to find winter gear for Nepal to see if it's worth getting my stuff sent from Australia, no luck there yet.

The Pantip plaza I went to (there are two) is multiple floors of electronics madness, much like Low Yat in KL but bigger. I only looked at a little bit because I'm just trying to replace the headphones I bought in Cambodia (which were good fakes) with the same as I had before. I managed to find what I'm after but they're $85, about the same price as Australia. Maybe later. There's lots of pirated software/movie/game stalls in there, most of them try and shove a porn DVD in your face as you go past. There's the same problem here as with Low Yat in KL and Funan in Singapore, there's just too many vendors selling the same crap. It's very difficult to find something specific which you can find easily on the internet. You can be guaranteed though that if you want an SD card almost every single place will have one. Australia still has the variety and price advantage most of the time. A lot of people buy laptops here because those models are just not available in Australia, but you can order most from Amazon these days, and for cheaper than you can get here. There's really no point to come here and shop for electronics.

So the other thing I'm trying to find today is sprockets for my bike. Since this model isn't sold in Thailand no one keeps stock of sprockets. I tried about five places today, but all were unsuccessfuly because they didn't speak English and I don't speak Thai. The one's that do speak English said they'd have to order them in from Japan (but I'd prefer the cheaper British made aftermarket sprockets).

While riding from Red Baron (didn't have anything) to Siam Superbike (didn't find it), I got pulled over by the police. There were groups of police out today, one pulling over trucks, another pulling over buses, and the one I got caught up in was pulling over motorbikes. I was in the right hand lane while riding along and a few waved and got me to pull over. There's about 10 policemen on this side of the road and another 6 or so on the other side.

What I had done was ride in the right hand lane, which is apparently wrong. There are signs up in other parts of Thailand for bikes to keep left but I'd never done it and never been hassled at any police stop before. I asked if there was a sign on this road but they didn't understand that. One of them asked for my licence so I got it out for him (I have another one in my luggage if they take it), and then they pulled out a card with all the differnent infringements and fine amounts. It was all in Thai of course, I think the other side had translations but they wouldn't show me that.

He pointed to one with a 400baht fine, and said I had to pay it. So I'm questioning this, wondering if this is a rule for all roads or just roads where the bikes keep left sign is up, but he didn't quite understand this. After a bit of him saying "400 baht fine for not keeping left" and me trying to claim ignorance, it was clarified to "You pay 400baht now, or I write ticket and you pay 400baht at Rama road". So I asked "What happens if you write the ticket?" knowing that I'm leaving the country in about a week and could easily not pay it. But he didn't understand that, and kept saying to pay the 400 baht. Eventually I said that I may not have that much and he immediately dropped it to 200baht (Ha! Jokes on you policeman! I had 6000 baht in my wallet and $100US). I said "fine" (HAHA GET IT? FINE?) got out my wallet, and then he starts covering my wallet with his book as I'm getting the money out. Ah, I seeeee, this wasn't actually a fine, this was me paying you to not write a ticket. I then get back on my bike and hoon off out of there (in the right hand lane).

I figured It was best to leave it at that rather than pressing him to write the ticket since I remembered all the paperwork for the bike was back at the hotel. They could have asked for the temporary import permit and then made up some ridiculous fine for not producing it when asked and I wouldn't have known any different. Maybe they'll get wise to that one day.

I've been stopped a couple of times by the police in various road stops. One laughed to the others when I got closer and said "falang" and waved me on. Another wanted my phone number so I could show him round Australia when he goes there. And another couple wanted to come with me into Cambodia. So yes, they're not all like that, there's just a few bad ones out there.

Also driving here isn't too bad. There's some idiots on bikes (hey I'm probably one!) but it's a lot like Melbourne traffic otherwise.

So in summary: Bangkok isn't my favorite place. Only been harrased by a mototaxi once though, no tuktuks, tailors, massages yet!

Last batch from Cambodia

Yesterday I went and looked at the Rolous group of temples, just east of Siem Reap. So yes, another big, photo heavy update... I promise this is the last from Cambodia!

Lolei

First temple stop on this short tour.

Here's what it looks like.

So, it's an older base with some older towers on top, surrounded by newer temples and houses for the local monks.

Old and new.

 

Another one of those things! I think this is the base of the linga? Or something to do with it.

Writing in the doorway.

Another view.

Fake door, and rock stacks!

Now while I was here, one of the monks came up to me and started talking English. This was a bit odd because everywhere else in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand the monks have ignored me or not made eye contact (except for the younger ones, rarely). I talked to him about where he lives and what he does and told him about how I'm travelling. He has been studying English at university, and also runs a small school under one of the buildings here to help the local kids learn more English.

Hun, meet everyone!

Hun showed me around his classroom and small library and told me it is all run from donations from tourists. He has a small collection of books in the library of mainly reference, some fiction and some globes and posters which had been donated from tourists. There was a small pad with peoples names who had donated money too (ah ha! that's why he started talking to me! No really, I didn't mind, I got to see all this!)

This is it, where he teaches. In the back there behind the posters is the small library.

He said he had only seen Siem Reap, never traveled outside of the area. He likes to look at photos from other areas, so I gave him a link to this blog of course! I gave him $5 to help out, but I didn't write in the book. What he teaches was in addition to the public school, so the kids do go to another school (if they are able too I guess) but can come and learn from him while he studies at university. I have his email address so I can clarify that, but I also have if you want to find out how to send him more things for his library!

There are donation boxes all around this temple to pay for food or other items for those that live there. But there was one other one that I noticed (well, hard not to).

Just near the stairs on the way in was a donation box for the nearby orphanage. Next to it were two very cheerful girls who would say hello to everyone coming in, they handed me a pamphlet on who they were. One who watched me curiously as I cleaned my filter and lens. Anyway, the orphanage is called PACDOC, and here is their website which has a bunch of other information that I can't be bothered repeating. I only donated $2 though, Hun got more cause he had a story and a tour (but then why do I feel I need something in return to donate?).

Now briefly back to more temples.

Preah Ko

Here is the temple, and a tour group that arrived at the same time.

Four of the towers and two Nandis!

New brickwork.

Decaying.

Face.

 

Old false door.

Nandi! (I'm calling him nandi now because that's how the museum was spelling it)

Then off to...

Bakong

Last stop for this mornings touring.

A view over the moat.

The temple, sort of on an angle.

Ah the temple!

Elephants, looking out.

Reliefs. Possibly mixed up blocks?

Down the stairs past the stapled singha and out again.

Looking back up at one of the singhas.

And that was all. At this temple there were a couple of kids trying to hand people a flower, but they looked kind of dodgy, sort of. Not sure what was going on, like they were marking people with the flowers for something later on. I didn't take it but they're pretty persistent.

Also up the top were a couple of girls in school uniform going after tourists just repeating "one dollar" over and over again. They didn't try it on me but they went after most others. But they were the most persistent I've seen yet, just repeating it for minutes at a time while standing very close to someone. The touts in some of the other temples would try to sell you something at least, and only follow you up to some arbitrary point and then stop, but nothing like this.

There was another tourist there with a bag that handed out candy every time one of the kids asked for something. The look of disappointment was great, it shuts them up because they got something and they can't complain it's not money even though that's what they really want. Wish I'd thought of that!

Also, back at the tuk tuk you get people coming up and wanting to sell ten post cards for one dollar again. I said no all the time, but there was another tourist who showed interest, then everyone ran over to her to try and sell their postcards instead.

Yes... This was an odd temple :)

I got the tuk tuk driver to take me back to the hotel, and then pick me up again at 5 for sunset at Angkor Wat. Here were some photos along the way:

High speed pig transport.

Also on the subject of animal transport. I saw ducks hanging upside down across the back of a bike, I thought they were all dead until I saw the bike go round a corner and on one side all the ducks lifted their heads.

Typical human transport.

Angkor Wat Sunset

I was looking in the other direction at Angkor Wat when the light started disappearing, then I turned around and saw this. Argh! Clouds! Why you gotta ruin it!

Tree.

I was the second last person booted out by security, so this is an oddly empty photo of Angkor Wat.

The eastern gate.

Over the moat. 60D takes awesome night photos, totally worth the upgrade.

Once I got back to my room I could hear this music from outside, couldn't figure out where it was coming from though, I heard it from the tuk tuk too. Then I went out to get food and found lots of traffic stopped on the road and this at the corner:

It was a short parade of 400 kids roaming through the streets with these giant puppets. 

Once they passed the traffic was able to move again and this is the mess that resulted.

Today I just stayed in Siem Reap again. I stopped off here:

And donated blood! I'd never done it before, and just before I left Melbourne I'd learnt I was AB+. There were signs up on the way to Angkor Wat that they needed that blood type. So I gave them some of mine! In return I got this:

Shirt, Biscuits, Coke, two pamphlets, AND A FREE STRAW!

I'm not sure I understood the whiteboard correctly in the lab, but I think they were all out of AB and A. Now they have one bag of AB+ at least... There's some info on donations up on the wall in the place. One graph showed that 1100 tourists donated last year, but only 400 locals. And another showed AB- to be the smallest amount donated (because it's the rarest).

(almost finished)

So for food recommendations in the Wat Bo Road area:
Chomno Restaurant: Pork ribs here. Awesome. Just across from New Aspara Market
Star Rise Cheese Sandwich: It's what the sign says... But get the Chicken Amok, excellent and only $3. All the other food is good too. But beware ordering when the boy is out there, he will get it wrong!
New Aspara Market: $2.50 Bacon and cheese sandwich! If you buy stuff in this place check your change when the old guy is at the till, he short changes you. The lady is no problem.
Upstairs Cafe: Good coffee. Cakes too but I didn't get to try them.
Mr Grill: The beef! get the beef! $4 for a big chunk of meat. But I'd get the beef slices to get more surface area for the sauce the put on it.

Also a story from Mr Grill:

One of the waiters started talking to me, just to practice some English I think. He could speak OK but forgot some words. He learnt English over three months with lessons from his uncle, and whatever else he can pick up when talking to customers. He told me he wanted to visit Sydney one day but couldn't remember the name of it, so he started drawing the opera house. Pretty easy to guess that one! I asked if he would ever be able to go there, he said no and then said that he only makes $40/month (in a place where I'm paying $5 for a meal..) but $30 of that goes to his family at the moment. He has only been working for two months so far. So I gave him a $3 tip (reaching past the $100 note in my wallet). Not sure if that's split with the rest of the staff (that would be better), if not, he got himself a lot of money in one hit.

Tomorrow: Thailand. Again. For the forth time.