November 2005 Archives

or more appropriately, "How I Pack".

Plane leaves on Tues AM. Got a new, 26" roller expandable suitcase (because a 22" roller carry on dun hold everything on an overseas trip) and now need to fill it.

Remember how I had the 22" roller AND the red monster with a duffle inside? I looked like the glam traveller (not), lugging both bags down from the hotel, down the street, up and down the overpass, around the construction zone and up into the JR Station. Yeah right.

So this is how packing begins.

And this is how it continues. Notice how much the pile has grown?

It's especially difficult because this is one of those "am on the other side of the planet, let's see how many places I can visit". Note to self: This method of travel is fine; just make sure all destinations are similar in climate!!

And we're STILL not done...

Why so much stuff? Tokyo is having San Francisco weather right now. It's a bit chilly. 15/3 degrees c. But HKG and SIN are in the high 20s. HIGH 20s?? That's frakking hot!!! That means shorts and what not. But Tokyo calls for jeans and jackets and long sleeves. Gotta carry that stuff wherever I wind up.

One of the reasons why I have this big case now is so there's room inside. To stash a pea coat. And long pants. Cuz I dun like being coooold!

In the hours since the last entry, the skies cleared up and it's nice and sunny outside.

Of course, 12 hours of rain followed by sunshine = weeds in the backyard. And, of course, I just pulled a LOT of the weeds.

Sigh.

Also, I need to remember that wonderful nugget of wisdom that I've quoted before in this blog: "Frequent Flyer miles dun accrue interest!"

Let's see if I can get to SIN next weekend...

Sigh....

This has been a tough month. So many changes.

Ever have one of those life-altering events that just throws your life and everything you hold true into disarray? I had one last month. And have been dealing with the aftereffects and pain ever since. You wanna know? Email me.

The first clue was the posting of "Cemetry Gates" for almost a month. I generally dun post song lyrics, since I 'm usually better expressing myself than some random songwriter. I haven't been online, haven't done any MSNing or anything even close to routine. And on top of that, I see that one of my fave blogs shut down because of the jealously of petty people.

Next week, I'm off to HKG, via NRT for a week and a half. I had a ticket I had to use or burn. Because of the quick time that this trip entails, I kanna head down to my favourite city-state, even though it's sooo close! Singapore will have to wait until next March....

The HKG trip will be more business now. I'm planning to caucus with some frens there about finding my way to Hoi-Ping (which I understand is called "Kaiping" City now) in Guangdong Province. If I can get there on this trip, that would be good. If I can get there after before Ching Ming next year (cuz Ching Ming is at the beginning of April), it would be better (I'm still a sucker for planning) AND I can swing down to SIN and visit my dark chocky lovin' fren.

During this past month, we had our two weeks of "summer". It was nice. Today is "Black Friday", or the first shopping day after Thanksgiving. It's raining and cold. Fun for all those people who actually queue up in the wee hours to get into a mall...

Priorities, people!!

There is one ironclad rule that all international travellers should abide by (maybe through a blood oath or something goth like dat):

You respect the local laws, customs and traditions of wherever you visit.

Examples: you can learn how to bow properly in Japan or catch up with happenings in Hong Kong and by extension, the PRC. Or even the food scene in Singapore.

But most importantly, you need to observe what laws are important wherever you are. Especially when it's printed in big red type on your arrival card. Like this.

Think of visiting other countries like visiting people's houses. You in their house, you follow their rules. And don't expect special "rights" simply because of the color of your passport (or the "rationale" for breaking this kind of law).

The freedom to make your own decisions is the most precious of freedoms. The responsibilty for the aftermath is, again, borne by the individual.

Pretty deep for THIS blog, eh?