The Yeagers’ Experiences

Tapas and toros

Hopefully the weather holds out for this trip to the southern part of England

This one should be a blast!

Sorry for posting so many in a row, but we seem to do things that way. Here’s another one for you: my long-awaited blog about my trip to Asia. As the story goes, my company came to me and requested that I spend 2 full weeks in Asia to tour 4 cities and meet many customers and prospects, and of course I couldn’t refuse. I went with a co-worker who had never really toured around the area, and we had a great time. The cities were (in this order) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Singapore, Singapore; Bangkok, Thailand; and Hong Kong, China. I left Friday at 5pm and arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday at 6pm… it was a lot of flying. I had a 12.5-hour flight into Hong Kong, a 2-hour layover, and then another 3-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur.

After I arrived, I had Saturday night and Sunday to enjoy Kuala Lumpur — but that’s all I needed. There’s nothing to do in KL. I went and saw the Petronas towers (the tallest towers in the World), took a tour bus around the city, and went on the Malaysian Eye, and that was enough for me. It was a billion degrees outside and I did not bring any shorts (DOH!) so I had to buy some to survive. The hotel was incredible, and the business meetings went well. If you want to see Malaysia, go to Mexico. I swear it is nearly identical.

It only took 45 minutes to get from KL to Singapore. That’s right, we took a 45-minute flight. The maximum height we achieved was 10,000 feet, then we immediately started descending. For those that don’t know, Singapore is what is called a City-State. That is why it is referred to as “Singapore, Singapore.” Basically, the entire country is a single city… and what a big city it is. We went to the top of a 70-story building and the city stretched as far as we could see. We had a rough schedule of meetings, so we were exhausted most of the time… but we did have Saturday to tour around a bit. It was your basic modern-day city, with tons of shopping malls everywhere. Thankfully they have embraced air conditioning because it was soo hot the entire time. We had to take several breaks to grab a drink ;). Oh, and for some odd reason there are hundreds of watch stores everywhere.

The next city on the list was Bangkok, Thailand and it couldn’t have been any more different than Singapore. These two cities are complete polar opposites. I had no idea what was coming but nothing could have prepared me for it, actually. This is the stuff you read about but you have to experience to really understand it. It all started by us being greeted by about 200 people asking if we wanted to go in their taxi. When I say, “asking,” I mean the only English word they could speak was “taxi.” They also loved to waive official-looking badges as well, which we found out (later) were not so official. The conversation went something like this:

• Them: “Taxi!!!”
• Me: “How much do you charge to go to the center of the city?”
• Them: “Taxi!”
• Me: “Yes, ok, how much?”
• Them: “Taxi?”
• Me: “How much to the Westin Grande Sukhumvit?” *Points to name of hotel on paper*
• Them: “Taxi!!” *Points to a run-down car*

Oh well, we somehow made it to the hotel but I think we paid double what we should have. The next objective (as it was Sunday) was to do some touring and, thankfully, one of the guys from the company we were meeting was nice enough to show up on a Sunday to show us around. Since it was a billion degrees, I wore shorts… which apparently meant that we could not go into any of the awesome places like the palace. Oh well, we were led onwards where they had some plan for us. We arrived at a market which was unlike any market I had ever seen. There were so many locals selling anything from strange looking animals, to unknown fruit, to something they made an hour ago. I felt like I was on the Discovery Channel in Africa looking at the local village market, but in reality I was in a thriving capital city. It was odd. I followed on through the market into some back alleyways, walking on planks that had water under them and people doing their laundry out in the open… in what I believe was their ‘house’. I was absolutely astonished but we hadn’t even gotten to the river yet.

The river had several floating docks where boats would come flying up, people jumped on and off, and then they took off. I just sat and stared. There’s an entire transportation network similar to the London Tube network… for this river. Boat comes up, people jump on and off, boat takes off. Another boat comes up and so on. The strangest part was that people somehow knew which boat they needed, when all the boats looked exactly the same to me and weren’t marked whatsoever. There was even a complete timetable, although with all the madness I cannot imagine they stick to a strict schedule. It was simply amazing though. Oh, and I bought a can of Coke while waiting and it was less than 20 pence (40 cents).

We jumped on one of these boats and rode up and down the river. It was nothing like I had ever imagined. This was no riverfront prime real estate. The level of poverty was astounding; I only wish the pictures could convey it better. Unfortunately since we were on a moving boat I had difficulty catching a steady shot.
The city itself wasn’t much better. It was extremely polluted, mainly from the black smoke pouring out of most of the buses, cars, and tuk tuk exhaust pipes. Apparently they have very lenient emissions laws. In addition, the buildings were falling apart and many were only half-built, I believe because the company ran out of funding and left the building to rot for 10 years. There is no room for highways so they build them on top of everything — just simply have posts next to houses on which highways flow through the sky… maybe they should call them skyways?

Don’t get me wrong, I still had a great time. Why? Well, the best part about Thailand HANDS DOWN is the Thai food. Those people can cook! I thought the Thai restaurants I had been to in London and Atlanta had probably been Americanized because all the food tasted so good… but actually authentic Thai food tastes better! And the best part? It’s cheap as hell! We would get an entire meal for 4 people, several courses, stuffing ourselves, for about 30 pounds ($60). Everything I ordered was absolutely fantastic.

The next best thing in Thailand than the food is the Thai massage. Now, I know what just popped into your head and I am definitely NOT talking about those kind of Thai massages. I love my wife and would never do anything like that… and I tried to tell a cabbie that once when he was recommending some great ’special massages’… but he would not listen and insisted on handing me 3 business cards. It had to be one of the most awkward conversations I’ve ever had. Anywho, my ‘real massage’ lasted for 2 1/2 hours, and cost 6 pounds ($12). She twisted me, bent me, walked on my back, and made muscles hurt that I didn’t know I had. It was fantastic. We were planning on going out for a solid night on the town but after that we all went back home and slept like a bunch of babies.

You’re probably wondering why I wrote so much about Thailand and the answer is simple: it was absolutely fascinating. Nothing I have experienced in all my travels comes close to it. Seeing all those people living in poverty, a city that looks to be in shambles, pollution so thick you could breathe it. But yet in all of this, a culture with food so good it melts in your mouth, and massages that are unlike anywhere else in the world. It was truly an eye-opening experience unlike any other and something that words can definitely not express. Go to Thailand.

Unfortunately the next leg I don’t have very much to write about and I wish I did. We literally flew into Hong Kong late one night after a long day of meetings, walked around for an hour, went to bed, got up and went to more meetings, got lunch, and got on a plane home. We did get to see some seriously large packed-in buildings which was completely fascinating to someone from Atlanta and who hasn’t been to NYC. Even London and the rest of Europe doesn’t have commercialism like Hong Kong. The city was freaking huge! We took an express train to the central station which flew past miles and miles and miles of city before we got anywhere near the center. Just check out this map. It is a very expensive city too (the Hong Kong Dollar is quite strong). I did get to see some cool streets I saw while going to lunch that looked Hong-Kongy, but I didn’t get to see the really well-known stuff like the billions of DVDs you can buy for like $1 or meet an actual cloner. I really wish I could have stayed longer. It is definitely on my list of cities to return to.

To sum it all up…

• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Feels like Mexico, hot, not much to do
• Singapore, Singapore: Good for tourists, real clean, elegant
• Bangkok, Thailand: Great food, great massage, very cheap, dirty, amazing
• Hong Kong, China: Awesome (I think), huge, expensive, want to go back

Pictures should be up fairly soon. Yes I know it has been 3 months and yes the reason I have waited so long is procrastination and YES Stacey has been the one to finally put her foot down and make me write this and YEEES I’m happy that it’s finally done. Are you even still reading this post? It’s freakin huge!

Bergen is Norway’s second largest city, and is renowned for its preserved old town and as the gateway city to the fjords. Rather than go to Oslo and see lots of statues and museums (typical capital city stuff that we see everywhere in Europe), we chose instead to spend our time in Norway exploring its fabled natural beauty.

Bergen is a wonderful small city, located right on the coast and nestled between many mountains. It must be an adventurer’s paradise, with lots of kayaking, hiking, and rock climbing available. We chose to come here in June because we thought that it would actually be hot in England (fat chance) and coming up north would be a nice relief. As it turns out, the weather here was perfect and we enjoyed sunny skies and temperatures around 70F.

We took a tour called Norway in a Nutshell. I’m not sure if it lived up to its billing, but the day we spent going through the fjordlands by bus, boat and train was well worth it. It wasn’t like normal tours, in which a guide takes you everywhere and explains what you are seeing, but more like a self-guided trip organized for you. We had to find our way to the various modes of transportation and were left on our own to appreciate what we were seeing. Given that about 70 other tourists (mostly Japanese and American) were doing the same thing, it wasn’t too difficult.

We cruised through the Sognefjord, the 2nd largest fjord in the world, and it was spectacular. We enjoyed a pint on board and just relaxed; that is once Joe was done snapping his pictures. Come to think about it, he didn’t ever stop until his battery ran out. I can’t say I blame him since the scenery was so amazing, but we couldn’t recharge the battery for the rest of the trip, so all of our pictures of Bergen were taken with my distinctively less capable small camera. Both cameras combined left me with almost 1,000 pictures to sift through and edit, but somehow I was able to reduce this to “just” 250 pictures on the website.

Bergen itself was really nice. The center of Bergen is called Bryggen, which is the old part of town built of wood in a very distinctive style. It was all very Scandinavian One of the coolest things about being in Norway in the summer is that it didn’t get dark until around 11:30. If we had been just a little bit farther north we could have experienced the midnight sun. It was a weird experience partying until the wee hours in a sort of dusky glow.

I felt like we got a real Scandinavian experience here - it was less crowded and busy than Oslo would have been and there is a more defined culture here, probably because it is less cosmopolitan and worldly. I like to compare it to Northern California, with all its pine trees, healthy athletic locals and their egalitarian attitudes. We loved soaking in this atmosphere; it merely confirmed our theory that the Scandinavian countries, with the exception of Finland, are altogether pleasant.

My sister Rachel and her beau Adam graced us with their company a couple weeks back. By day they explored the many nooks and crannies of London; by night they were our partners in drunk, Wii-playing crime. We managed to get in a few games of canasta thankfully, and spent many a night at our local pubs catching up and playing cards or Scrabble. We introduced Adam to the delights of London’s Indian restaurants, in spite of the embarrassment that invariably follows spilling an entire curry on the table (all Joe’s fault)!

The four of us went to Salzburg Austria for a weekend, which is the home of Mozart, the Sound of Music, and the delicious Mozartkugeln (almond flavored cookie dough covered in chocolate). Even though the words “vacation” and “family” just don’t mix, we managed to have a great time. One of the highlights was going into Germany to visit Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. This was his mountain retreat that he almost never used because he was claustrophobic and suffered from vertigo. Seeing as you had to travel through a long tunnel and ascend in a cramped elevator to reach a small house perched on top of a mountain with panoramic views of the Alps, I can imagine why he didn’t like coming here.

We also took a relaxing river cruise, in which the driver put on some Mozart and made the boat “waltz” in circles as we traveled downstream - it was a stretch to say the least. Similarly, the entire city has embraced its Mozart/Sound of Music heritage and is trying every way possible to cash in. Despite this unabashed commercial exploitation, Salzburg is a lovely city. The architecture is impressive, and if you go at the right time of year (like we did), you have access to world-class classical theatre, opera, and orchestra.

Joe and I were very sad to see Rachel and Adam go, mostly because we had a great time and will miss them, and partly because they were the last of our friends and relatives scheduled to visit us. That means, unless someone else steps up, that Joe and I will be on our own for another 6 months Anyone care to join us?

Joe and I are taking a much needed break from travelling during the month of August. We will be taking a few day trips, notably to Brighton and Oxford/Cambridge, but that is about it. For one, August is really really hot and we don’t feel like walking around a city and trying to enjoy and appreciate it while being miserably hot and sweaty (we already did that in Prague). Secondly, everyone in Europe vacations in August, so not only will we have to deal with the crowds, but things will also be a lot more expensive. Therefore, we should have a lot of time to catch up on our blog writing and picture posting, so be sure to check back soon.

You probably haven’t a clue what ‘Cinque Terre’ means, because we didn’t either. Cinque Terre means “5 Lands”, and is an area of Italy where 5 tiny cities lie in a row along the coast. The cities are amazing because they make due with very steep hillsides and cliffs… somehow nestling themselves right between them or sometimes on top of them.

The cities are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

We stayed in Vernazza, because it was fairly centrally located and had a reasonable amount of hotels and restaurants. While it did not have as many things to do (especially at night), nor did it have a really good beach like Monterosso, it was not commercialized… which is what you go to Cinque Terre for.

An awesome hiking trail links all 5 cities which provides some absolutely stunning views. We tried one link from Vernazza to Corniglia, and it just about killed us. Two of the hiking trails are not for amateurs, or even people in decent shape. We took one of trails unknowingly. Two hours later we somehow made it, out of breath, out of water, and seeking shelter.

We stuck to the train after that, although we did hike one more trail because some people said it was extremely easy. It’s called the Via dell’ Amore, or The Lover’s Walk. There was an enormous amount of graffiti on the trail, but strangely enough it all related to someone loving someone else.

Cinque Terre was absolutely amazing, but there was one problem: Rick Steves. Apparently Steve-o is telling everyone in the states how great Cinque Terre is, and they’re flocking to the area in huge numbers. It was in Cinque Terre that Stacey and I realized a shocking fact… we can’t stand American tourists.

There were frat boys & sorority girls, retirees, families, little kids, and *shudder* American teenagers. See, everyone gives Americans a bad rep for a number of reasons, but in reality it’s a single, simple fact: they don’t know how to fit in. Fitting in while in a foreign country is crucial. You don’t want to draw attention to yourself, nor do you want to disturb the locals or the local way-of-life. Then, and only then, are you able to absorb the atmosphere of the country… the most important part of the experience. It took us a little while to shed our American stereotypical characteristics, but once we did we are much more able to “disappear” into the places we tour around to, and absorb the ambiance that each unique country exudes.

Which brings us to our next bit of fun on this trip — Pisa… the tourist capital of the world (nightmare). The strangest thing is that there is only 1 thing to do in Pisa: head to the Piazza di Miracoli and take a picture of someone holding up the tower. While we had to do it, we were shocked at how many tourists flood into that square. I think every single tourist in Pisa was there all at once. We actually had a hard time getting a picture of the tower without someone in it. There were thousands of people!

Pictures have been up for awhile now:

Cinque Terre: http://www.joeyeager.com/main.php?g2_itemId=69266
Pisa: http://www.joeyeager.com/main.php?g2_itemId=66447