For the last 3 hours, I have been trying to book an airline ticket out of Thailand to Vietnam. The problem is that the company I am booking though (Air asia) requires a secure code for my card before accepting payment.
Well the problem is that I had never heard of it before and the website they kept on redirecting me to is something called www.securesite.com which is mighty suspicious by my standards. After aborting the transaction several times, it appears that my credit card is now locked and in accessible. Fortunately I carry a second credit card which is not on me at the moment and I am going to have to go back to the hotel to fish it out and do the transaction again.
I have called mastercard and it seems that the site is legit. When it comes to putting financial details online, I tend to be very cautious. It seems in this case, it has bitten me in the rear. Today is a Sunday so I am going to have to wait till the offices open up to make an international call via skype to sort things out. Grrr
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Planning my Next Leg
Still in Thailand at the moment. I am here much longer than expected, nearly 2 weeks into my trip and currently planning my next leg of my trip.
Right now, I am hanging out at the resort island of Koh Phangan, famous for the Full Moon Party that happens every week. I saw about 5000 people on the beach dancing to a variety of tunes. I've also tried my hand at fire poi, something that I've been working on in Japan. Suffice to say, I got through 2 sets of fire poi without getting burned. Will be looking to buy a fire poi set for myself before leaving Thailand (very cheap, at about $10 for a set!)
I am planning my next leg of the trip and it is probably going to be Vietnam. My original plans were to take a bus to Cambodia and spend some time there, realizing that I am going to be spending about 2 weeks in Thailand, I will be spending something of that magnitude in Cambodia and probably Vietnam where I had initially budgeted about 24-28 days in total for Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
My main goal for Cambodia is to visit the Angkor Wat temples. The problem is that there aren't many cheap flights that I can find from Thailand to Saem Riep. I can find cheap flights from Bangkok to Hanoi for about $90 and will take that because I have a 1 month visa starting on Oct 28th for one month and decided that it would be prudent that I get to Vietnam first. I can make it into Cambodia later on with some cheap flights from Singapore or Malaysia, about $90 one way.
It seems a little pricey to just head in to Cambodia for just the temples in Saem Riep, costing me at least $200 there and back. I have heard from the parents that Cambodia is a little dangerous in the capital of Phenom Penh. I have run into some other travelers that have been there that have told me that it is rather run down and fairly dingy, but there is something to be said about being able to walk and observe all plains of human existence. If I have some time to spare, I will make a trip out there.
Pictures to follow later on!
Right now, I am hanging out at the resort island of Koh Phangan, famous for the Full Moon Party that happens every week. I saw about 5000 people on the beach dancing to a variety of tunes. I've also tried my hand at fire poi, something that I've been working on in Japan. Suffice to say, I got through 2 sets of fire poi without getting burned. Will be looking to buy a fire poi set for myself before leaving Thailand (very cheap, at about $10 for a set!)
I am planning my next leg of the trip and it is probably going to be Vietnam. My original plans were to take a bus to Cambodia and spend some time there, realizing that I am going to be spending about 2 weeks in Thailand, I will be spending something of that magnitude in Cambodia and probably Vietnam where I had initially budgeted about 24-28 days in total for Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
My main goal for Cambodia is to visit the Angkor Wat temples. The problem is that there aren't many cheap flights that I can find from Thailand to Saem Riep. I can find cheap flights from Bangkok to Hanoi for about $90 and will take that because I have a 1 month visa starting on Oct 28th for one month and decided that it would be prudent that I get to Vietnam first. I can make it into Cambodia later on with some cheap flights from Singapore or Malaysia, about $90 one way.
It seems a little pricey to just head in to Cambodia for just the temples in Saem Riep, costing me at least $200 there and back. I have heard from the parents that Cambodia is a little dangerous in the capital of Phenom Penh. I have run into some other travelers that have been there that have told me that it is rather run down and fairly dingy, but there is something to be said about being able to walk and observe all plains of human existence. If I have some time to spare, I will make a trip out there.
Pictures to follow later on!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Thailand so far
It ha been 5 days since leaving Japan and arriving to Thailand. I spent the first 4 in Bangkok and decided to get out to the countryside to for a while to see something different. The countryside is very nice and I am glad that I made the move out, though I can only spend a few days out here.
In a few days, I will be heading south of Thailand to the Phuket area to relax and sample some of the very nice beaches over there. Though I have been uploading my pictures to the intenet daily, I haven't had the time to write any indepth article as of yet since I am at an internet cafe and it does take a good while for me to write my posts, though I am keeping a travel log.
For the time being, the photo albums I have been making will have to suffice for now and I've provided links to them below:
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5
I am very happy that I made it out here. The country is very fascinating and I had the chance to make some friends that were willing to show me around and teach me the culture. I will go into detail, but that will have to wait for another time (ie. when I am not too busy having fun, then coming home late to download pictures and have to get to bed early for an early start the next day!)
In a few days, I will be heading south of Thailand to the Phuket area to relax and sample some of the very nice beaches over there. Though I have been uploading my pictures to the intenet daily, I haven't had the time to write any indepth article as of yet since I am at an internet cafe and it does take a good while for me to write my posts, though I am keeping a travel log.
For the time being, the photo albums I have been making will have to suffice for now and I've provided links to them below:
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5
I am very happy that I made it out here. The country is very fascinating and I had the chance to make some friends that were willing to show me around and teach me the culture. I will go into detail, but that will have to wait for another time (ie. when I am not too busy having fun, then coming home late to download pictures and have to get to bed early for an early start the next day!)
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Denmark Pictures
I have finally had the chance to upload the Denmark pictures to my Picasa account online. Denmark was a really nice place to visit. The buildings had plenty of character, though I did find them somewhat boxy and rectangular.
The conference I attended in Denmark was the Micro-Nano Engineering 2007 Conference to present some results I had on a electron beam emission device I have been working on and had some good results with (ie. current leader in published literature with lowest field emission voltage and novel fabrication of carbon nanotubes). I had the opportunity to meet researchers from around the world and got mistaken for a PhD student quite often!
The conference experience was great and I was no less honored to be selected to do an oral presentation, which only about 20%~25% of all the accepted applicants are selected to do and that I would stand on the same stage to talk about my work with other world class researchers, as a masters student. I had done my thesis defense without even getting nervous or breaking a sweat, but to stand among these people, I definately got a few jitters. The unfortunate thing was that I spoke exceptionally quick and ended my 15 minute presentation in 10 minutes, leaving plenty of time for questions. In the end, I didn't do too badly as the chairman of talk series (fro Cambridge University) took time out after the talk session ended to congratulate and compliment me on my work. In short, I was pretty happy about how things turned out.
At the end of one of the evenings, we were invited out to a wonderful dinner show that would easily cost $200, but was supplied as part of the conference package. We ate a wonderful 4 course meal and treated to a series of 6~7 performances on stage. The show was nothing short of amazing and those pictures will be posted online.
I should make some comments about Denmark however, their cost of living is exceptionally expensive. A bag of peanuts (100g) will run you over $3, same with a small bag of chips. A steak dinner (with steak not that incredibly good!) ran me $40. It's incredible how expensive things are over there, even more than places in the UK. Of an interesting note, Denmark has a 180% tax on cars (waived for commercial vehicles, though) to encourage people to take public transit or ride bicycles. There are even lanes with traffic lights for bicycles, which I thought were pretty interesting.
I also had the chance to say hello to my friends in Switzerland after taking a quick jump-skip-and-a-hop via a 2 hour flight to Geneva and traveled by train to Neauchatel. Switzerland is an incredibly beautiful place with nice lakes and friendly people. The Swiss are particularly interesting as most of them speak either French or German due to it's proximity to the respective countries. I have to say that the Swiss cheese is pretty good!
Anyways, with out further adieu. I present my pictures from Denmark. Click on the town hall to check out the album. I hope you enjoy it.
The conference I attended in Denmark was the Micro-Nano Engineering 2007 Conference to present some results I had on a electron beam emission device I have been working on and had some good results with (ie. current leader in published literature with lowest field emission voltage and novel fabrication of carbon nanotubes). I had the opportunity to meet researchers from around the world and got mistaken for a PhD student quite often!
The conference experience was great and I was no less honored to be selected to do an oral presentation, which only about 20%~25% of all the accepted applicants are selected to do and that I would stand on the same stage to talk about my work with other world class researchers, as a masters student. I had done my thesis defense without even getting nervous or breaking a sweat, but to stand among these people, I definately got a few jitters. The unfortunate thing was that I spoke exceptionally quick and ended my 15 minute presentation in 10 minutes, leaving plenty of time for questions. In the end, I didn't do too badly as the chairman of talk series (fro Cambridge University) took time out after the talk session ended to congratulate and compliment me on my work. In short, I was pretty happy about how things turned out.
At the end of one of the evenings, we were invited out to a wonderful dinner show that would easily cost $200, but was supplied as part of the conference package. We ate a wonderful 4 course meal and treated to a series of 6~7 performances on stage. The show was nothing short of amazing and those pictures will be posted online.
I should make some comments about Denmark however, their cost of living is exceptionally expensive. A bag of peanuts (100g) will run you over $3, same with a small bag of chips. A steak dinner (with steak not that incredibly good!) ran me $40. It's incredible how expensive things are over there, even more than places in the UK. Of an interesting note, Denmark has a 180% tax on cars (waived for commercial vehicles, though) to encourage people to take public transit or ride bicycles. There are even lanes with traffic lights for bicycles, which I thought were pretty interesting.
I also had the chance to say hello to my friends in Switzerland after taking a quick jump-skip-and-a-hop via a 2 hour flight to Geneva and traveled by train to Neauchatel. Switzerland is an incredibly beautiful place with nice lakes and friendly people. The Swiss are particularly interesting as most of them speak either French or German due to it's proximity to the respective countries. I have to say that the Swiss cheese is pretty good!
Anyways, with out further adieu. I present my pictures from Denmark. Click on the town hall to check out the album. I hope you enjoy it.
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