The first leg of our journey has brought us back to Singapore, an island nation of the First World, surrounded by Indonesia and Malaysia, both Third World nations. And although I didn't talk about it much in my previous posts, Bali which is a state inside Indonesia, is in the Third World. It was evident again this morning, when we were driven to the Bali International Airport. The streets were crowded with people on motorbikes, sometimes complete families of four on one bike. Another sure sign of a third world nation is corruption which we witnessed upon arrival at the airport. We could avoid a long walk by bribing a policeman, so that we could drive right up to the front entrance. Upon leaving the country, we paid $15 each so we could get out of the country. Now having said all those things we loved the island, the culture and the people of Bali and we stayed at the nicest resorts that either of us have ever experienced.
You worry about Bali though. If Bali is the 'Island of the Gods', then the gods must be napping because the Balinese people, although probably better off than the average Indonesians, have a ways to go before they can enjoy everything that Mrs. Gym and I are used to in our privileged North American lifestyles. In Bali, you guarantee some prosperity by having at least 4 children. We talked to a number of Balinese people that we met and they all agreed that the goal was at least 4 kids, that way, they are assured of an easier retirement because their children will look after them when they get older. In a First World country like Canada we look after ourselves in retirement and hopefully our adult kids can just look after themselves.
I have to stop here, and jump on another plane...
As I continue my ramblings on the state of the world, I find myself seated in the Royal Orchid Lounge in the Hong Kong International Airport, a few feet from where Mrs. Gym and I sat just over two weeks ago, at the beginning of our trip. I am happy again to report that the interface between my machine and the Thai Airlines lounge wifi worked flawlessly and I just continued tapping away like I hadn't moved. We have now completed two legs, both on Singapore Airlines and our next leg will be the longest one, the one which crosses the Pacific Ocean and that International Date Line.
I have to run, Air Canada No. 008 awaits us at Gate B31...
I am now seated at Gate C50, in the Vancouver International Airport, after a long haul from Hong Kong. On Leg Three we had a tremendous amount of turbulence starting from somewhere near Japan and not really ending until we were almost all the way across the Pacific and into Canadian airspace. The big bounces weren't really all that fun though because it was hard to experience a really solid sleep throughout the night. The coolest thing about this leg is that we actually got to re-live most of Friday all over again. We left Bali at 6:45 in the morning on Friday and after traveling more than 26 hours, we arrived in Vancouver at 2:30 P.M., on the same day. Its sort of like time travel. Going east across the International Date Line in a modern jet literally sends you back in time.
Oops! I have to get on Flight AC220...
I conclude this entry and The Second Sojourn in Southeast Asia, sitting in my kitchen. We saw the sun set for the second time on Friday, November 16, 2012, during the fourth leg of our journey. I got a little primed at dinner on my first Friday, November 16, 2012 but didn't have anything to drink during my second dinner on Friday, November 16, 2012 because I had to drive home from the airport. Soon we will bed down for the second time on Friday, November 16, 2012. We are hoping that it will be Saturday, November 17, 2012 when we wake up.
Bye from Mrs. Gym and I. We had a great time on this trip and we hope you had some fun reading about it. Our next trip will be in the springtime, next year. We may need to brush up on French and Spanish for that trip. Until then, Cheers!
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