Post #270 23 October 2023

 Gentlefolk,

This post describes our overses trip 15 September - 16 October 2023.

Our itinerary was as follows:

• 14 September train from Canberra to Sydney.
• 15 Sept flew Garuda from Sydney to Bali; 4 nights at the Jayakarta Hotel, Legian.
• 19 Sept flew AirAsia from Bali to Bandung; 7 nights in Bandung, with Andre & Iis and at the Green Forest Resort for the Simadibrata Family reunion.
• 26 Sept flew Turkish from Jakarta to Istanbul and on to Amsterdam; 3 nights at the City Hotel, Amsterdam.
• 30 Sept train to Enkhuizen / Medemblik to meet Etha & Jurgen and Laura & Marvin; stayed 3 nights at the Kleine Vliet B&B.
• 3 October train to Montabaur (near Bonn); stayed 2 nights with Maria & Wilfried Losem in Wittgert.
• 5 October train to Munich-Pasing; met by Conny who took us to Weilheim; 4 nights in Oda's apartment (she was with Marion & Moritz in Cyprus).
• 9 October flew Thai from Munich to Bangkok; stayed 5 nights at The Quarter Hualamphong.
• 16 October flew AirAsia from Bangkok to Sydney; Murray's bus to Canberra. Home sweet home!

Highlights of our trip? There were many. Always great to see family again, in Indonesia and Germany. We loved Amsterdam, and Holland!!

Here are some photos of our trip.

SYDNEY

Saying goodbye to Eddie and Jay in Sydney. They will travel to Europe in 2 weeks.

Boarding our Garuda flight from Sydney to Bali.

LEGIAN, BALI

We stayed at the Jayakarta Hotel, Legian. Good facilities and just across from the beach; great location.

Our favourite breakfast bar at the Jayakarta Hotel. We usually went for a walk along the beach, before enjoying a big buffet breakfast here.

We watched sunset every night on Legian beach, just across a road from our hotel. 

Sunset at Seminyak Beach.

Some of the signs on the beach.

Good advice at Bali Airport. 

BANDUNG, West Java

We stayed with Andre (Vera's younger brother) and his wife Iis. They are always so welcoming and hospitable. They invited the extended family for dinner. From left: Frans, Yanti & Gary, Chapung & Sherry, Vera, Masca & Arbi, Iis, Andre, Ita.

With Vera's brother Frans and his wife Tience. Frans had an anuerism about 15 years ago which affected his speech and mobility.  Tience has looked after him so well.

The Sim Family reunion was held at the Green Forest Resort, near Lembang (about 15km from Andre's place).

Sim Family (or Simadibrata) 4th reunion.

About 100 relatives turned up for the Sim Family reunion. Vera's father, Sim Guan Siew, came from a big family with 9 brothers and sisters in Temanggung, Central Java. So there are lots of relatives, now living mainly in Jakarta and Bandung.  Krisna and his daughters were the main organisers and did a great job. Lots of fun activities; they made different coloured T-Shirts for different generations.
It was a memorable weekend; thanks for everything, Krisna and Committee!!

With David Simadibrata (Jakarta) and Adrian Sim (now living in Los Angeles).

Close family at the Reunion: from left Yanti (Gary's wife) and son Gavin, Tience, Vera, Errol, Farida, Frans, Gary, me.

Saying goodbye in Bandung: Fauzan (he is in the final stages of Hospital Management), Iis, Vera, Andre, and me.

Saying goodbye at Jakarta Airport: Ita (Andre's daughter), Vera and Iis.

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands

We loved Amsterdam with its canals and old houses.

A street in Amsterdam's Old City. Usually crowded. Look out for bikes!!! Restricted access for cars, lots of bikes like everywhere in Holland (fortunately very few motor bikes which are noisy).

Amsterdam is famous for its "coffee shops" which sell drugs for personal use.

Many shops selling cheese - the Dutch love cheese!

Every visitor to Amsterdam does a canal cruise - great fun.

We had a beer while watching the boats on the canal - always something going on.

 

A cafe on the edge of a canal.  Great for people (and canal/boat) watching. 

We spent a few hours at the Rijksmuseum. A lovely old building and what a wonderful collection!

MEDEMBLIK, ALTMAAR, ENKHUIZEN (North Holland, an hour from Amsterdam)

In Medemblik Vera & I stayed in a great B&B called Kleine Vliet.

The B&B was a one-bedroom studio in the back garden. Everything here was so neat and tidy.

Our B&B hosts Paula and Rob were most hospitable, lovely couple. Their daughter (and new grandson) live on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

Vera with her sister Etha, in Medemblik. Etha and Jurgen live in Munster in north Germany, but had booked a holiday at a resort in Medemblik so we met them there.

Medemblik is on an inland sea. Lots of marinas. People here love boating. 

Coffee time in Egmont, and town with a nice beach - strong winds and lots of para-sailors. From left: Jurgen, Vera, Etha, Marvin, Patricia (an American nun), and Laura.

We visited Altmaar, a lovely old city.

Vera, Jurgen and Etha in Altmaar.

Saying goodbye in Medemblik: Vera, Marvin, Laura, Etha, Jurgen, and me. The weather was just starting to change: cooler, with rain forecast for tomorrow.

WITTGERT (near Bonn)

The Inter City Express train from Amsterdam to Koln. Smooth and fast. Germans complain about Deutsche Bahn (DB), but we found the train service very good. They even sent passengers a text message if the train was running more than 10 minutes late!

We stayed with Maria and Wilfried Losem in Wittgert. Wilfried was at the German Embassy in Beijing in 1984/5 when we were there too, and we have kept in touch. They were looking after their daughter's dog. It was fun reminiscing about Beijing days, almost 40 years ago! Maria and Wilfried are great hosts and we had a lovely day driving around nearby towns and a monastery; Germany is so full of history.

Losem's nice house in the village of Wittgert. It is full of Chinese art - wunderbar!!!

We travelled first class from Montabaur to Munich - very comfortable!

WEILHEIM, Oberbayern

Weilheim is a town of about 25,000 between Munich and Garmisch. Picturesque countryside, the foothills of the Alps. Weilheim celebrated its 1000th birthday 20 years ago. My mother and her family fled from Dresden to Weilheim at the end of WW2. She met my father here (he was a prisoner of war of the Americans) and the rest is history, as they say!

Beautiful countryside, rolling hills up to the Alps in the distance.

The first Catholic church in Weilheim dates from about 1200 AD. It was rebuilt in Baroque style is 1624.

We attended Sunday mass in the main church in Weilheim. Bavarians are devout Catholics and the church was full.  We (my sister, brother and me) were baptised here. The church has just replaced its organ at a cost of 1.1 million Euro.

A 1km defensive wall was built around Weilheim between 1320 - 1350 AD. About one-third remains. 

An State election for the Bavarian Parliament was scheduled  for Sunday 9 October and the competing parties all had information booths in the main square. 

The election result was as predicted. The main Party CSU got 37% and will continue to govern in coalition with FW (Freier Wahl) which got 16%. The Greens lost a little ground with 14%; the right wing Party AfD improved their vote with 16%. The main issues seemed to be illegal immigration and cost-of-living.

Weilheim's main square. My mother loved Cafe Kronner, we do too, so stylish!

Oda was away, and she allowed us to stay in her wonderful apartment, very close to the centre of Weiheim and beautifully decorated. Thanks, Oda, we loved staying in your apartment!!!

Vera having lunch with Heidi at Cafe Kronner.

Claudius, Marion's youngest son, popped in. He is working for a consulting company. An impressive young man.

Conny and Joe (and sons Lorenz and Gabriel) hosted a family gathering at their home in the village of Mauern.

From left: Joe, Walter, Conny, Michaela, Michi, Clements, Josie.

The view from Conny and Joe's back yard.

From left: Annie, Vera, Michaela, Alex (Annie's son) and Heidi.

Conny and Joe built a pizza oven; their boys kept up a steady flow of delicious pizzas all night.

Back row: Alex, Paul (Julie's partner), Michi, Walter, Conny, Clements, Joe, Olivia, Michaela, Martin.
Middle row: Max Winter (friend of Michi), Annie, Josie, Heidi, Vera, me.
Front row: Lorenz, Julie, Laura, Lena, Gabriel.

We had lunch in the Post Hotel in Eberfing, about 7 km from Weilheim. The family stayed here for a few weeks when they first arrived in this region in 1945, while Onkel Duv sought accommodation in Weilheim. He managed to get a block of land in Lienhartstrasse, and started building a house; showed amazing strength and fortitude under very difficult circumstances.

Eberfing is only 7 km from Weilheim. Distances are so small in Germany, compared to Australia.

Conny and Heidi took us to the S Bahn in Herrsching, which has a service to Munich Airport. Worked well. Thanks for all your help, Conny and Heidi, you made our visit to Weilheim so enjoyable!

An appropriate "hello/farewell" sign at Munich Airport. 

BANGKOK, Thailand

In Bangkok we stayed at The Quarter Hualamphong. It turned out to be close to the Central Railway Station, and also an MRT subway station. Bangkok's Chinatown was not far away.
This was our first visit to Bangkok in about 30 years (we had a short-term posting here 50 years ago, just after our wedding, which we enjoyed immensely). 
Bangkok is now a huge, bustling city with impressive infrastructure (trains both subway and above ground, and toll roads).

The hotel had a pool, which we used every day.

The Hotel building contained a "High Society" shop which sold cannabis. Last year the Thai Govt legalised small amounts of cannabis for personal use. Interesting, because all other Asian countries have very strict anti-drug laws. Smoking cannabis in public is still prohibited in Thailand. This shop had a back room where people could smoke in private, or they can do so at home. 

The view from the top of the hotel, looking toward the Traimit Buddhist Temple and Chinatown. There must be hundreds (or thousands) of Buddhist temples in Bangkok. All seemed to be very well patronised. Thais are devout Buddhists. All young men spend time as monks.

We often walked past the Traimit Temple enroute to Chinatown. it was always busy,

Many pictures of the previous King Bhumibol (Rama 9th), who was much loved. He was King from 1946 to 2016 (70 years).

Young King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikat.

King Vajiralongkorn (Rama 10th) succeeded his father in 2016. He was 64 when he became King, but his public images, such as this one at the Traimit Temple, show him younger. He did an officer training course at the Royal Military College, Canberra (1972-76). 

Chinese Buddhist temple in Chinatown. Always busy too.

The main street in Chinatown was incredibly busy at night. They actually closed two lanes (one on either side) to make room for pedestrians. 

Our favourite restaurant in Chinatown. Great food and service.

As we became more comfortable we tried Bangkok street food - delicious and cheap.

The "4 faced Buddha" shrine at Erawan. We lived nearby, in Soi Ton Son, and often passed this shrine which is one of the most popular in Bangkok. Actually, about 20 years ago Moslem terrorists planted bombs here and many worshippers were killed.
We looked for our old house in Soi Ton Son, but it is now a huge high-rise block of apartments. That's progress! 
The concrete structures are for the BTS Above Ground Railway (aka "Sky Train"). Ugly, but efficient! 

 

We visited a number of Temples, hard not to in Bangkok as they are everywhere. 

The "Big Buddha" is 80m tall!

Behind the Big Buddha is a pagoda (also 80m tall) full of Buddhist memorabilia.

Sleeping or Reclining Buddha.

Sitting Buddha is a more common image.

Another Buddhist shrine; each one is different and fascinating.

Street market in Patpong. Fifty years ago the Australian Embassy Trade Office was located in the Thai Farmers Bank Building on Silom Road, just around the corner from Patpong. 

Friends advised us to visit the IconSiam shopping centre which opened in 2018. It is truly amazing, full of designer label shops, lots of food outlets. We haven't seen anything as modern and fancy in Australia. Prices of food seemed similar to Australia, perhaps a bit cheaper. The Mall was crowded with people and families - even on a weekday - shows how Thailand has developed, with many people able to afford such prices.

We did a day tour to a "train market" and also a floating market. Here you can see visitors walking along train tracks. When the train comes (4 times a day) the vendors move their stalls back, out of the way.  When the train has passed, the stalls are put up again.  It is all a bit cumbersome, but has become a tourist attraction and good business for the vendors.

We then went to a "Floating Market" where we spent about an hour in a boat going along canals (klongs) lined with shops. It was all pretty contrived, but good fun.

We caught up with our friends Bob and Siri who were visiting Bangkok; went to a local market and then to their house (close to the old airport). Thais, like most Asians, prefer shopping for fresh fruit and vegetables in "wet markets" rather than in supermarkets. 

With Bob, watching the count of the Referendum.

The Referendum to recognise an Indigenous Voice in the Australian Constitution was

 held today, and we watched the vote count on ABC TV.  The polls closed at 6pm AEST and counting began then. At about 7.30pm Antony Green projected that the "No" vote would win.  In the end all six States recorded majority No votes (Victoria was the closest with 55% No, 45% Yes). 

An amendment to the Constitution to succeed requires an overall majority plus a majority of States, so the Referendum was lost. ACT was the only jurisdiction to record a Yes majority (61%).

 

Bob and Siri own the duplex on the right which is occupied by her daughter Jimini and husband Stephen. Siri's other daughter Jum 

bought the Duplex on the left and renovated it. They had a "house warming" the following day.

Four beauties: Jimini, Vera, Siri, and Jum.
Thanks Bob and Siri for your hospitality and for showing us another side of life in Bangkok!

Stephen and Siri kindly picked us up from the MRT, and later took us back. Thank you both! Next time we will be able to manage by ourselves. The train system is impressive and busy. Lots of young people on the trains, a fast and inexpensive way to get around a big city.

A typical back street near Chinatown. People live above their shops.

Thais playing a kind of foot-volleyball; impressive skills.

Our last night, before heading to the Airport for our flight to Sydney, we had dinner at the Naam 1608 Restaurant right on the river.  Good fun watching all the boat activity; a nice way to say farewell to a great city.

"Danny" was our tour guide from the hotel, and took us out to Bangkok Airport for our flight home.  His wife works as a cook in a Golf Club in the south of France (their daughter, a teacher, is hoping to join her shortly). 
Last year the AFP flew him to Sydney for a week, to give evidence in a drug case. It was a great experience for him, flying to Australia, being put up in a 5 star hotel, and given a generous daily living allowance. Nice guy, I'm glad he got a lucky break!

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On arrival in Sydney we caught Murray's Bus to Canberra; all worked well. We were away for just over a month. A bit rushed, luckily everything went well.

But we are struggling with jet lag - waking up at all hours - surprising because the flight from Bangkok to Sydney was only 9 hours. 

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That's it for this post. I'll try to do another at the end of October, before we drive to Brisbane.

We are having new carpet laid today and tomorrow,  so have been busy the last few days getting organised. It sounds simple, but is actually quite a big job. 

Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Vera & Alex Olah

Canberra, Australia

Monday 23 October 2023