Link to THIS TRIP PHOTOS and VIDEOS
Link to ALL PHOTOS and VIDEOS
So...... Every once in a while when traveling, you get one of those "Oh Crap" moments. You leave the plane and realize you left something on it. You think you lost your passport. That kind of thing.
I have a ticket to fly to Labuha, Indonesia. The plane lands, we get off..... Well me and most of the people on the plane. I look at my Google map and I am in Ternate, still 100 miles north of Labuha. Oh crud.
Well, they were used to this at this tiny airport. They pointed me in the right direction, and pretty much every person on staff figured out what I was hurrying for. They would have tracked me down..... Probably.....
You would think there would be a sign, or someone would have mentioned it. Or announced it. The only announcement that I could understand was that it was illegal to take the life jackets from the plane. I really hadn't planned on doing that, but it must be a thing.
It all turned out fine.
The last place I was at, the transportation wasn't there when I got there. I had to call, and the driver was only 10 minutes away, even though my plane was late. I could have gotten a cab cheap enough, so there were options.
Here, I wasn't even sure how I was getting to my destination. I only knew that I was supposed to be picked up, and there would have to be a boat at some point. I had no reliable immediate contact to call. Fortunately they were on the ball. Me and a couple were picked up and driven to a boat in a car that I was sure was going to start drifting...
This area is pretty remote. There may be internet, but don't hold your breath. The next place is even worse, or better, depending on your point of view. This one has a Starlink on order, but it has to come from Germany. Delivery date unknown.
Each of these photos has a frog fish. The purple color is pretty well true to form. It's the same frog fish in each, in two different locations. I named him "Tricky Dick", as you can see why from one photo. ... Well, those of us who are a little older will understand why. You young'ns will have to review your political history.
TRICKY DICK
Getting a rental car for the week in April that I am back in the US. This is the image of the car...... Always wanted one.
I hope the Flux Capacitor is working.
My boy needs a bigger home. Can anyone help him?
See if you can find the octopus in this video, be sure to start the video at the beginning.
Where's Octo
If the Video does not show up, you can download it here:
Where's Octo Video
When the nice gentle current starts to pick up, and you look out in the blue and see a tornado of bottom sand, then see one diver kicking like mad to stay down, while another is kicking to keep from being dragged down, and another swimming hard into current to the right, and another to the left....... Then everyone switches..... You have entered a Washing Machine.
The tides and currents here are crazy at times. If they choose the dive site correctly, there is only a light current, often switching directions mid dive. At the dock where the boat picks you up it can be still, or moving like a fast river. On your way to the dive site, you can see places where the water is rolling, and practically boiling. Upwellings, down currents, whirlpools.... I was wondering what diving there would be like.
Now I know. It's a lot of fun, but this kind of current traps a lot of garbage and debris. It is hard not to be dragged down or pushed up. Getting caught in debris such as a net would not be fun. Best to avoid it.
Unfortunately I did not get a video under the water, I was getting ready for my safety stop when we hit this, so my camera was put away. And my hands were busy holding on to some dead coral to stay at the proper depth.
I did get a video when I got to the surface. It doesn't do the maelstrom justice.
If the Video does not show up, you can download it here:
The Maelstrom Video
In a Pastry/Coffee Shop in Mexico... Lots of gluten free and other specialty desserts, along with normal ones. I was looking at a delicious looking creamy dessert. The owner very proudly stated there was no dairy in it.... I tried it anyway. It was so good I had to ask what was in it. It was mainly Carnation Sweetened Condensed Milk. But no dairy ?!?!?!
In a hotel in Indonesia. As usual you need a key card to go to the floor your room is on. Swipe it, and the elevator automatically lights up your floor and goes there. None of that pesky hitting the button, then swiping, then hitting the button again, repeated until you get the right combination of presses and swipes.
Why can't they all be like that?
Airports, subways, busses ..... There is often really important information that is coming out of the speakers ..... Completely uninteligable.
There is always at least one TV style screen in the gate area. On rare occasions they will put up valuable information on them.... Very rarely.
Normally it is them butchering peoples names that need to come up, or them saying something about gate changes, or saying what section is boarding now, but since no one can understand, everybody gets up and in line.
I have seen, in low tech places, where they hold a sign saying what section is boarding, and if you get in the wrong line they send you back to wait until your section is called. Pretty awesome.
How about putting this info on a screen, or maybe the airline app that is usually mostly useless. How many times have you settled into your seat before the app says NOW BOARDING?
You could even have it so the app could get info in.flight, so no one would get off the plane at the wrong stop.
And while we are at it, WHY does the control tower communicate with planes via voice? With different languages and accents, there are tons of dangerous miscommunications. How about for most things just some simple text commands that can be seen in whatever language the pilot/tower understands. Almost everything can be communicated that way. It would take minimal band width, much less than voice. Use the voice only for true FUBAR situations.
Talking to a Singapore Resident about the government etc.
ME: So can you openly criticize the Government?
HIM: Yes ...... As long s what you say is true.
ME: Who decides What is true?
HIM: The Government.. (he said not in so many words)
He used the example of a highly payed official being fired because he accepted tickets to the grand prix in Singapore. Is it possible that the government official just fell out of favor with the party and that was the excuse they used?
Nope, it must be true because it was shown on state run media. Brainwashed people are happy people.
I am back in internet land so I can start uploading photos again. I am currently in the Lembeh area of Indonesia. Although this area has fantastic coral diving, it is best known for excellent muck diving. Muck diving is basically diving over sand looking for things. Many of the things you find are small to tiny. For example, this is a photo of the end of my muck stick (pointer stick). That blur in the center of the pic is a squid, about 1/4 inch away from the end.
I am so glad I got prescription inserts with bifocals in my mask. Can't say there's going to be a lot of photos from here, but I have a bunch from the last 2 places.
So I'm at this Indonesian tourist hotel. I have eaten a lot of good Indonesian food on this trip (a LOT, my wetsuit has shrunk), but was craving some real food. Ok, the whole roasted pig yesterday qualifies as real food, that was some of the best pig I've ever had, but it's been mostly rice or noodles with fish, chicken or beef. I haven't had bacon since the first week of January.
The fruits are fantastic, but we were talking about real food.
One of the restaurants here had a rack of LAMB....... I was sold, even though it was at US prices.... OK, not US tourist prices, or big city prices, more like out in the country we will kill the lamb if you order it kind of pricing....
I order it, and ask for medium rare. Yes, all is OK, but we cook it well done!!!!!!!!! That's like murder.... Who would do that to fine Australian Lamb? I will report them to the authorities and PETA. Maybe with PETA's help I can get them to see the error of their ways and start cooking Lamb properly.
When I arrived in Menado indonesia a few weeks ago, my ride to the hotel was not there. I was able to get my phone to work, I called the sub-travel agent, that was responsible for this portion of the trip. They got somebody there, but I could have just taken a taxi for $10 and gotten there quicker. The agent met me, apologized and gave me some swag. I was happy enough, no stress.
When I arrived in Bali, again there was no one there to pick me up. Same Sub-travel agent was in charge. I could not get my phone to work so I could not call anyone. It was hot, I was tired and cranky. The hotel was close, so I just got a taxi for about $5. I complained to the hotel just to be sure they knew they made a mistake.
The next morning, management calls me and offers me a room upgrade. It's not a major upgrade, but it is a nicer room in a nicer location in the hotel. I was happy enough in the room I was in, but this one's nicer. And more importantly, management put in the effort to make me happy. Heck, just the sincere apology was enough, a free beer would have been nice, but a nicer room is a fantastic gesture.
And then they stopped by with a nice note and a tray of fancy chocolates.
And then reimbursed me for three times what the taxi cost me.
Considering the trials and tribulations that traveling provides, the occasional gracious gesture is much appreciated.
This was from the start of my latest trip, it made it to Facebook, but I finally got around to putting it here
Should I get nervous??
In logan airport heading to New Jersey. I had an issue and had to go to the "additional service desk". The guy started putting the tag on my luggage and said "You aren't going to Denver and Los Angeles are you?" Fortunately he caught that and put the proper tags on them. I'm going to Newark, then Singapore then Philippines. Not sure where my bags are going.
Update.... Wellllll, we are an hour late leaving now, and are going to a parking area for another hour. I just love travel.
UPDATE 2 ..
GOD, sometimes I hate these third world countries. I'm in New jersey. About six of us are waiting around the baggage carousel. For half an hour. Finally somebody tracked down somebody, we found our bags in a room, at the back of the building, just waiting for us to show up. Seem to I guess too much work to walk the 30 ft over to the baggage carousel and tell us that's where the bags were. Or maybe put it up on the board. Or anything sensible, like they would do in a decent third world country.
Of course, no one seemed to know where the hotel shuttle was. And the app flaked out. Nothing like getting to your hotel 3 hours late when its a short stay and the weather is bad with lots of cancellations.
Note to self..... You are not as young as you used to be. Just because you can throw 50 pound luggage around doesn't mean you should.
Ibuprofen for the worlds longest flight. 18 hours 50 minutes.
Quote:
"Since November 9, 2020, the longest active scheduled passenger flight by great-circle distance is Singapore Airlines’ Flights SQ23/SQ24 using an Airbus A350-900ULR between Singapore and New York–JFK at 15,349 kilometres (9,537 mi; 8,288 nmi)."
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