Macau Tour Guide
This is Ian, our Macau tourist guide. She was a perky young lady who gave tours in English and Mandarin. I thought that was quite an accomplishment. She switched between the two languages effortlessly. At least she made it appear effortlessly to me. She must have liked Chinese better because she laughed a lot when she spoke Mandarin and didn’t laugh a lot when she seemed to say the same thing in English.
Melaka Duck Tours
They had duck tours in Melaka. I didn’t go.
Melaka Tourist Center
This is one of the rooms in the local tourist information center. It wasn’t very busy when I came. I wanted to go in and see the room, but I didn’t have the heart to wake the old guy.
Melaka Tourist Central
It’s the town square. I sat there quite a bit during my stay in Melaka. The reason why I sat there quite a bit was the large number of Japanese and Chinese tourists who came like invading armies, armed with the best in photo equipment, nice clothes and fistfuls of yen and yuan. The tourists were great. Typically between the ages of 30 and 50, mostly couples, always in groups, they sometimes rented whole herds of the trishaws that were parked around the town square for the purpose of taking them on a one-hour tour of the UNESCO heritage area. They often took off from the square in groups of ten or more. I love a good parade.
Foot Fetish
These are the two machines at the Singapore Visitor’s Center that tired visitor’s with achy feet could use to try and restore some of the vigor they had lost during the day to their feet and calves. I had never seen machines like this in Tourist Information Centers before. It was a nice touch. I didn’t try the machines to see how well they worked. Maybe I should have. Next to the machines was a water dispenser that dispensed c-o-l-d water. That machine I tried.
Angkor Wat Tourists
This is a picture of Angkor Wat and some Angkor Wat tourists. There were significantly more tourists from SE Asia in Siem Reap than Europeans or Americans, including blacks and Hispanics of whom I saw very, very few. The main point that should be grasped about this picture is the vastness of Angkor Wat. It is said to be the largest religious structure in the world. If I were a bettin’ man, which I am, I’d say it is. But, as large as it is, it pales in comparison to the Anchor Archeological Park in which it sits. The park is 155 square miles in area and contains somewhere around a bazillion temples.
On Tour – HCMC
This is our Ho Chi Minh Day Tour. It cost $8 plus $2 admission to two museums. They did feed us lunch, however. The guy that everyone is looking at is the guide. Guides in HCMC are a strange breed. All of them learned their english from TV programs and movies. They use a lot of cliches. A whole lot. Being with them is like being in a sitcom from the 1960′s.
Sapaco Tourist
This is how I made my getaway from Saigon. These signs were everywhere. One day I walked past the Sapaco office and thought "Hey, this is the palce with all the buses." So I bought a ticket. It cost me $20 to go from HCMC to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
City Tour
They are called cyclos and the picure shows 10 or 15 or them moving a group of tourists around central Hanoi. These guys were everywhere and each and every one of the asked me at one time or another if I needed a ride, sometimes following me down the street trying to induce me into their cyclos.
She’s Smiling Because Someone Else Mows the Yard
My wife mows the yard at home. Sometimes. My son mows it every once-in-a-while. My yard is small. The building behind Ethels is the United States Capitol. The yard is overwhelming. The Capitol Visitor Center is open 8:30 – 4:30 Mon – Sat except for a few holidays. U.S. Representative or Senators can book tours and many offices have their own staff-led tours. Tours can also be booked over the internet. 10/2007
