jonathanchaoDOTcom™

When I was a child, I always liked getting postcards from friends when they traveled. If you’d like to get postcards from random locales when I travel, please email me your name and address and I’ll add you to my mailing list. If you’ve already received postcards, there is no need to email me unless you’d like to get more.

Please email me at:  postcardATjonathanchao.com (replace AT with “@” symbol)

Gotta love it.  Going to my favorite restaurant TODAY.

www.seafood.co.th

It’s always been my dream to play with the big cat…and I did.

Feeding and playtime with a 4 month old baby tiger.

Walking a 7 month tiger.

I have more pics–some of which of are me holding a 450 pound tiger…but I’m not sure if I’m going to share as of yet.

I love beaches.  Something about the warmth, sun, and water make me relaxed.  I’ve been to a few of the top beaches of the world already (Hawaii/Cyprus), but I want to visit the following beaches:

Paradise Beach (Mykonos Island)
Red Beach (Santorini)
Phang Nga Bay (Phuket)
Sanur Beach (Seminyak, Bali)
Sanur Beach (Seminyak, Bali)
Saline Beach (Saint-Barthélemy)
Eleuthera (The Bahamas)

The Transportation and Security Administration would like to remind you that the current threat level is ORANGE…

I don’t believe the threat level was ever below orange. I know for a fact that the threat level has been continually set at Orange for at least a year, if not more. Now, doesn’t that strike you as odd? If there was such a high risk for an attack, wouldn’t it have happened by now or would Kip Hawley or his comrades have mentioned exactly WHAT risk we are facing by now? We’ve seen the attention go to from the silly items as toenail clippers to perceived threats of Knives, ID checks, to liquid bombs.

Now lets look at the facts: On 9-11, America saw terrorism from an outside source hit home. Four planes were hijacked. Of those, three were crashed into buildings and the last one crashed into a field. The hijackers were armed with pepper spray, box cutters, and an outdated action plan of of dealing with hijackers.

The tools used in the 9-11 attacks were allowed by the airline and authorities to be carried on board. Even if on 9-11, the items were caught by the private security firms, the items were perfectly legal to be brought on board and thus not confiscated. We all know what happened then. Those exact same items were used in 9-11 and and required new thinking in the process of dealing with terrorists.

Previous to the 9-11 attack, the standard operating procedure during a hijacking was to follow the hijackers demands. Why? Well previous to 9-11, with one notable exception, the standard hijacking demand was “bring me to XXXX (insert any city here).” To protect the passenger and a multi-million dollar plane, the demands were met. Most of the time, the planes and passengers remained unscathed. Bring me to Cuba!

Now, lets see what the TSA says is the REAL threats are and preventing another attack on our transportation system. Lets look at this objectively and put some rational thought behind this.

First it was knives.

Sharp pointy objects. Sharp objects (box cutters) were used to hijack the planes on 9-11 and could be used to kill. With enforced steel cockpit doors on all planes, it is sort of difficult to “storm (a.k.a break into)” the cockpit with knives, kill the pilots, take control, and crash planes into buildings. Lets face it, a 9-11 style attack won’t happen again. Fellow passengers now will do exactly what happened on flight 93- fight back. For the past couple of years, there have been documented incidents where airline passengers have fought back at unruly passengers deemed a risk, subdued them, and arrived safely at their destination. They have done this even if it wasn’t a credible threat.

Analysis: Having a knife really doesn’t change the outcome. If terrorist cannot get into airplane cockpit = Airplane doesn’t crash into tall building and kill thousands. It can be a passenger safety issue, but no longer becomes an aviation security issue. The threat is neutralized between passengers willing to help, reinforced cockpit doors, and a new procedural resistance to hijacking.  Risk Level: Same as Michael Jackson getting plastic surgery to look like he did when he was 8.

On to the next threat, the SHOE BOMB.

In 2001, Richard Reid attempted to ignite his shoes lined with plastic explosives to take down a plane. Not exactly so shocking as a 9-11 style attack, but still a threat. The TSA reaction? Everybody take off your shoes! We’ll scan the shoes for explosives. Do you feel safer? You shouldn’t. Four years later, in a 2005 TSA report concluded that the X ray machine cannot detect explosives. Now three years after the report, I haven’t heard them broadcast the fact that they cannot detect explosives. The only accurate ways to detect explosives as A) the explosive swab test B) a special trained explosives scent dog C) the explosives particle test. However, as it stands you STILL need to take off your shoes at the X-ray. I asked a few screeners earlier this week why the shoe carnival removal requirement was in place- the reply was, “To detect explosives.” One more off topic thought- have you thought about how nasty the floors are? Thousands of dirty feet walking over the same area that is cleaned maybe once a day. Bleh.  Threat  level- Same as a black man joining the KKK.

Analysis: You cannot detect explosives via an x-ray, use a method that actually works. Don’t implement foolish bureaucratic procedures that actually waste time for the ILLUSION of security(read: taking off shoes for x-ray), aggravate travelers with procedures that actually detract from security. Either A) swab all shoes B) have a dog sniff everyone’s feet C) run EVERYONE through the particle test. Just feel worse because you probably just picked up a nice foot fungus on your last trip through security.

The LIQUID Bomb! This one really makes me laugh. The threat: British intelligence picked up electronic details of a plot to use liquids to create a liquid bomb to destroy a commercial airliner. Since 2006, we have not been allowed to bring on board more than a 3oz containers placed in a zip lock baggie.

Analysis: As this reporter found out, the liquid bomb threat is based more on Hollywood fiction rather than reality. Even if it a liquid bomb were possible, the terrorists wouldn’t do so on a plane. Why blow one up? Terrorism is government by intimidation.  Blow up a plane, no intimidation there.  Shock and awe!  Remember that?  Threat level – Same as finding a live a Jackolope

Apparently we, the American people are OBVIOUSLY intimidated. However, as the saying goes, “we’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater.” The TSA misses all the actual threats, but does just enough to satisfy Ma and Pa Kettle.   I don’t get the orange level, but will say the terror level should currently be in the blue or green.  I miss the America I grew up in.

OH yes, forgot to say: Happy New Year NSA!

I am currently looking for a mid level marketing or sales job.  If you know of any available positions, please let me know.  I prefer small to medium companies (less than 500 employees) and prefer to be located in either San Francisco or an expat package in Taipei, Malaysia, or (Shanghai/Beijing) China paying in USD.

If you find me the job that I can accept, I can award a bounty of one of the following:

Dinner with me or a date at a fine (i.e. expensive) San Francisco establishment
1 Coach airline ticket to either Europe or Asia.
2 domestic coach tickets or 1 FC Domestic ticket.
$200 Cash

Oh yes, my gratitude is free!

Thanks!

After spending the morning going to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, S.R. and I headed to the airport to catch our flight out to Romania.  We hopped the Airport Express train, got our luggage from the storage lockers and checked in.  When I was booking the ticket, I figured that I’d look at Romania on another trip and booked an immediate flight out for the same day.  However when I got to Schpol, S.R. and I were able to change our return flights to get a full two days in Bucharest.  After the ticketing desk, we wondered around duty free, then to the gate.

Arrival in Bucharest:
Pilot- “Welcome to Bucharest, Romania, the temperature here is *long pause* umm…about the same as Amsterdam and the time is 1 hour ahead.”

NOT TRUE!  The temperature in Amsterdam was about 15-17 degrees C, but Bucharest was a full 29-30C!  I must have looked like an idiot with a thick jacket on, dehydrated, sweating like a pig, and trying to communicate to the immigrations officers who probably thought I was a crazy drug smuggler.

So S.R. and I get into a local taxi, ride into town, and start looking for an internet cafe.  We didn’t get a chance to grab the confirmation information from our emails earlier, so we had to check online for our reservation number.  That is when disaster struck!  Our reservation order was taken, but not accepted by the website!  Therefore we were forced to do a bit of tap dancing…of walking between hotels looking for a room.  We settled on a mediocre 4* hotel for 240 USD a night, a complete rip-off, but at least it had a cold shower! 

After getting situated, we were able to wonder around aimlessly looking for dinner.  After asking a few nice and a few not so nice people, we finally made it to a mall since that was the only thing really open at that time.  After eating, we just headed back to the hotel, changed money, and Ko’d a little after midnight.

Jetlag sets in:
I woke up after sleeping for 5 hours…with nowhere to go.  Apparently Bucharest is not an early waking city.  Nothing was open until 8:30 or 9am and those were just the cafe’s and the markets started a bit after that.  Wondering around the hotel, I found an excellent coffee shop.  It reminded me of the many coffee shops in Taipei, Taiwan, good music, fashionable furniture/decor, some light air conditioning, and rocking coffee.  Figuring I had some time, I ordered an iced coffee and sat around looking at the people. 

I noticed a good division of wealth.  Many of the clientele of this coffee shop had a more than decent amount of income in a country, where the per capita income was ~2000 USD, and weren’t shy in spending it.  They constantly tried to show off their newly found wealth, sometimes in a gaudy way, but mostly tried to act cosmopolitan…and not doing a very good job of it.  S.R. and I tried our best to help out the local economy by injecting a healthy dose of USD.

However, looking around I could see that many aren’t adapting very well and still lived in near squalor in Soviet style apartments.

What probably surprised me most was going out clubbing.  Romanians love to party.  Great house music, great trance music…. and completely devoid of rap and hip hop!  Thank God!  It was so peaceful…even at 5am!  It is probably the only city in the world that I had been to where a 1000+ a capacity club only had 3 very bored looking bouncers.  Everyone was having fun, smiling, and dancing the night away.

The largest building in Romania, the parliment building.  It took about 1 hour to walk around the perimeter.

Weird Observation:
Every cab in Romania seemed to play only electronic music OR Lionel Richie-esque easy listening songs.  I’ve learned to be able to rock both.

Cultural Clash:
As I heard the partying in Bucharest was good, I asked the younger front desk manager (female) that we wanted to see Romanian nightclubs, see the locals, and wanted to know where the best nightclubs were.  She instantly started blushing and replied, “I don’t know” and called over a male coworker and started to converse in Romanian.  One turned into two, two into three, three into four and finally they replied that they all don’t go to nightclubs and really wouldn’t be able to recommend any.  Exasperated because I heard that everyone goes, I asked what younger Romanians go to at night, and they replied, “We go to Discos and dance or pubs for beer.”   Confused, I asked what the difference was between a disco and a nightclub. 

The reply was classic and quite embarrassing, “Nightclubs are were you go pay, see, and play with naked girls and discos are where we go dancing.”

I had a great time in Romania, and if given the opportunity, I’d go back for another few days to visit the countryside.  After a quick 48+ hours in Romania, S.R. and I were on our way back to Amsterdam to go to Stockholm, Sweden.

I spent a little over $3USD buying the following in a bakery:
 
Gotta love Romanian Beer!

Next entry….Stockholm, Sweden!

Arriving from Vancouver, Canada, S.R. and I found ourselves “stuck by design” in Amsterdam, NL for 22⅜ hours!

A little known tip in air travel:

On a Domestic USA itinerary may stop for 4 hours without a price adjustment. On an international itinerary, you may stop for up to 23 hours and 59 min with no price differential. Therefore, by staying 22⅜ hours in Amsterdam, we could see some sights, have a beer, and hang out for a day at no charge to us! As I was in Amsterdam only a month or two before, I didn’t want to bother spending too much time here so it was a perfect quick trip!

Our aging KLM MD-11 YVR-AMS.
I would have to say that this flight was quite uneventful. The plane was a standard MD-11, but the seats were TORTURE! It was probably the smallest coach seat i’ve ever sat in. Someone please remind me to use my status and reserve an exit row seat next time. However, for other reasons I will not explain, I wasn’t able to get much sleep. Needless to say when arriving into Amsterdam, I was very very exhausted.

After getting off the airplane, S.R. and I quickly processed ourselves through baggage claim and Immigration. Since I have already been through AMS airport a few times, I knew that there were some handy storage lockers in AMS to hold all of our belongings. We figured since we’d just simply stay awake all night and party, we wouldn’t need our belongings. Running downstairs, we changed and stuffed all of our belongings into the secure lockers, sans one backpack, and hopped on the express train, at 7 Euros for 2, to Amsterdam.

It was a beautiful day. Walking out of the main train station, I exchanged a few hundred USD to Euros and started to enjoy Amsterdam. I’ve found that besides the ATM, the money changers in Amsterdam tend to charge much less than in the Airport.

The streets where there is plenty of shopping.

The beautiful canals and delft houses. (if you look more closely, the canals are quite dirty)

Look, there are Chinese food EVERYWHERE!

More Chinese food…in the Netherlands!

More shopping. Look S.R. ONLY has one shopping bag!

What else? The famous Dutch wooden shoes..err shoe. Too bad it wasn’t a roller skate! That would have been pimp!

Of course, it IS the land of fresh Heineken!

After shopping, S.R. and I went to eat some Italian food then cruised the bars and coffee shops looking for more beer. However, on a Wednesday most parties or bars were open until just past midnight. Bored, cold, and tired, we started to look for a hostel/hotel/flophouse at 1AM. After finding a flophouse, we crashed out until 8AM.

Before we even left San Francisco, we decided on a list of things to see or do on our entire trip.

One of those items on S.R. todo list was to visit the Anne Frank house. After consulting with a map and a police officer, we were unable to locate it. Walking down the correct street, we completely passed it. However, on the return I noticed a very small sign.

The sign I almost missed.

Up close.

Up the STEEP stairs towards the attic. It’s not exactly disabled friendly. Then again, almost all of Europe isn’t.

Our 737, with very comfortable seats which would take us to Romania!

Tired, smelly, and not so hungry…on the way to Romania.

There are some things that are so coincidental that I cannot believe they happen.

Last month:

I fly 2,500 miles to Boston and meet some new people at a random bar. One of those persons I met, who is a friend of another person I had JUST met though a friend of mine, lived in the same city as I. That in itself isn’t very interesting as there are many people who live or have lived in Fremont, CA.

However, it gets more interesting.

Trust me.

This person lived in the same district as I. Again somewhat peculiar, but meeting someone from the same district is quite common.

However, it still didn’t prepare me for the shock that this random stranger… lived on the same street, about 6 or 7 houses down- for a few YEARS.

I never saw this person in my life before.

Question 1- When is a coincidence just a coincidence?

Like in the TV show, Cheers…

I remember at my childhood home where I knew who all my neighbors are. Young and old- I knew everyone.

However, if you ask me right now to name people who live in my neighborhood currently, the truth of the matter is that besides my direct neighbors… I don’t know! Am I a simply a hermit on the Internet or are the children playing Xbox instead of going out? Am I not walking around enough to meet my neighbors…Or is it simply that my neighbors don’t care? Does the concept of a neighborhood still exist or did it die away?

Question 2- I’m curious, do you know who most/all of your neighbors are?

Here is a great link for you:
Find out if your neighbor is a sex offender

My travel this year is currently all personal travel. When I get a corporate job, I look forward to being at home…maybe.