I’m not a believer in conspiracy theories; I have a few friends that will consume the social media nonsense and regurgitate it without thought. I very rarely post or follow this stuff. Mind you, it would be quite easy to fall into the rabbit hole of Antisemitism.

Freedom of speech is a myth. My beliefs will no doubt be very different to yours and I might even get locked up if the thought police arrive. I don’t like any religion; they are all used to control and justify an action. These books and texts that are used all around the globe are just words written down, they are not hard facts. There is very little proof that any of the stories are true, of course the locations are real at times. People’s perceptions thousands of years ago were very different to ours of today and I have to add a caveat to that. We still have many sheep out there that will blindly follow the leader. More people today have an understanding of how the world works. We know that illusions are everywhere and that we can not always believe what we see, our brain likes to fill in the gaps in the information received. However, more folk these days will question. And to add to the mix, we now have AI video which can look very convincing.

If you are brought up to think in a certain manner then most likely you will continue on that path until something one day feels as if it just does not fit. Then you begin to question and look to other areas for your answer. Instead of looking at books that you know for the answer, you go to the library and discover that there are more ideas and possible answers to the questions in your mind.

Today many look a Facebook, Tik Tok and X to get information on world events. Some of the information on these platforms is accurate. It’s lightly sprinkled through the diatribe, and the quagmire of shit. Once you have found a source that aligns with your thought process you latch on a feel content, knowing that you are not alone. It can get quite vocal on these platforms at times and I do have a friend that spends too much time on “X” and I feel that their world view has been distorted somewhat.

In the UK last year, there were many protest against the war in Gaza, my friend shouted that they should all be locked up. I asked him why? For him the war was justified, he said “How can you believe any of the information coming out of Gaza? it’s all shit”. “Why would we believe a terrorist organisation like Hamas?” I asked him, “Why do you believe the Israelis?”

He just looked at me in disbelief! “Did I not see the news?”

I’m saddened that he looks at the same TV channels that feed him what he wants to hear. I’m saddened that he spends too much time on twitter getting fed more shit to justify his thoughts. At the end of the day, what happened in Gaza and is still happening in Gaza is disgusting and no one will call it out. Why is that? Do I feel a conspiracy coming on?

So, you cannot criticise the Jewish religion or Israel it seems. Why can’t we criticise? Why do we have to live in fear when we supposedly live in a free country with freedom of speech. If you were a conspiracy theorist then you may think that this has been engineered over the years as to give Israel carte blanche.

Why have they been allowed for months to bomb innocent people? And continue to do so today, even although there is a ceasefire in place. Why did America help Israel go into Iran? A big mistake indeed. America is no more than a puppet of Israel. Mr Narcissist himself might have just realised he has been played, and not only by Bibi. There are powerful religious forces at play in America, more so today as they have publicly stated that the State and Church should be together. This is no more than a modern-day crusade being fought by the rich and powerful at the expense of the innocents.

For months now there have been side bets being made by the rich and powerful. Members of the American government have been guilty of this. It seems that war can be beneficial to you if you have inside information on the timing of a new bombing campaign. Betting on the day it will start and then also betting that the price of oil will reach $100 a barrel. Of course, not all of this can be proven, but there is a lot of credible information at hand if you look!

So, is Iran really the problem here? I’m not sure it is. For over 40 years we have heard the same stories from Israel that they will have a bomb in two weeks. Same was said about Iraq, they never found anything. All that happened was that millions were killed and the rich got richer. The world is less safe today because of much of the American interference in the world. As my mother used to say,” They shoot first and ask questions later” Nothing has changed there.

This unnecessary war has been brought on by a small group of people that are more interested in self-preservation, maybe even fame or notoriety rather than stability. They will lie and cheat and say just about anything so that the shit does not land at their feet.

They underestimated Iran’s capability to retaliate. They underestimated the consequences. Global trade has been upended. Almost every country has been affected. I was in Thailand three weeks ago and I saw many petrol stations with queues of vehicles and of course the price of fuel has gone through the roof. Every product is more expensive.

How many people will have been killed?

How many people will be injured?

How many lives ruined?

How much pain and suffering?

And the legacy, when the retaliation begins, and what form will that take? And do we start bombing once more?

How long will it take to recover from this?

Who will be held accountable?

Well, I have a feeling that one country will get away Scot free because you cannot criticise them or you might just end up with the thought police.

The only positive from all of this I feel. is that countries are finally distancing themselves from America. I’ve never liked how they have exported their problems around the world. Made the world a less safe place to be. They have polluted the world with their stupid ideas and philosophies.

Of course, at the heart of all of this are the righteous nutters. The ones that are looking for the “End of Days “And right now the stars are aligning for them. The Four Men of the Apocalypse are riding into view. I’ll keep that for another day.

I’ve been back two weeks and I don’t think Mother Nature realises that it is now Autumn and she needs to turn down the thermostat. 35C yesterday, and I thought that this would be the perfect time to go and get a cube of woodchip to put along the top of the retaining wall near the west side of the Hoose. Mind you, I did get up and out before 8am to try and beat the heat.

A m³  is just over $80 these days which I feel is a little bit criminal, yes there are high fuel costs and I think some folk are taking advantage as usual. Anyway, I got the cube and spread it along the side of the Hoose and then discovered that I will need another cube at least to finish all that I want to do. I’m going to spread the rest around the shed.

I was finished by noon and then retired to the air-conditioning with my pizza which I thought I deserved after a very busy morning.

The first week I returned to work, it was only a four-day week because of the school holidays and so the last week I have been able to take it easy and when I could be bothered, I did a few jobs. I had to get up on the roof because the Pigeon’s seemed to be getting quite excited at times, and I hate pigeons. The noise they make, makes me feel queasy at best and sends my blood pressure through the roof. They make such a mess if they decide to reside around your house. For some reason they love to nest under solar panels and I have had to move them along for many years now. When I came back from China and returned to the hoose, they had obviously been nesting under the panels for some time. There was a huge nest and the amount of shit everywhere was just disgusting.

I got a large pole and tried moving it that way, because I could not quite get to it physically due to the location. I would have ended up falling through the patio roof. In the end I got the hose and turned it on full and blasted them and their nest. I could not believe how much persuasion was needed to remove them. I can understand why of course, I was destroying their hoose, but left alone it would eventually damage the roof or the solar panels. And so, I have had to try and bird proof the panels and what I have done has been quite effective, however the storm a few months ago has caused a bit of damage to the bird proofing but not enough for them to move back in. It’s just been too hot to venture up on the roof and to be honest I don’t enjoy being 6m up in the air these days. This week the temperatures are supposed to drop, so I will venture up there and do a few repairs.

Today is Sunday and I went out on the bike this morn. My third ride of the holidays so far. I’ve been keeping it to around 22km or so because I have lost a bit of fitness because I was away on holiday. As we head further into Autumn the temperatures will fall and I’ll be able to head further afield. I have one more week off and I’m hoping to fit in a bush walk and finish the list of jobs that need to be done.

It seemed to be such a long day. I got up early, around 6:30, so that I could get in and get breakfast without having to wait too long for me eggs. I had a lazy morning till I checked out around 11:30am.

I had lunch at the hotel before heading for my evening flight. At Singapore I only had around 90 minutes to change terminals and get onto my next leg to Brisbane. I was feeling exhausted and by the time I got on the plane I just wanted to sleep.

I had a window seat. I put my noise cancelling headphones on and then just shut my eyes while everybody boarded. The staff were a bit grumpy to be honest, which is unusual for Singapore Airlines staff I thought. This guy told me in no uncertain terms to “Remove my headphones and listen to the announcements” I said “I can hear them” But he insisited.

The next thing I know I’m getting pulled up again because my backpack was not tucked under the seat far enough, I thought ” For Fucks sake Man!, is it pick on the old guy whose ready to pass out at any moment”

I didn’t take dinner, I was trying to sleep, however the turbulence was very bad once more on the return flight. I guess this is because of the recent cyclones in the north and west of Australia.

Brisbane Airport is being renovated and it took for ever to get through to the outside world. I was going to get the train, but I was feeling absolutely knackered and so I opted for an Uber to finish my trip. So glad I did.

The house was still in once piece thankfully. The grass was tall, well apart from the grass verge which had been cut by Mick. I made a cup of tea and found some biscuits and then I just had to go horizontal.

After a couple of hours I popped out to the shops for a few essentials. Me Olde Ford fired up no problem and we headed off. That was it really, watched TV until about 7pm and then bed until 9am next morning. I’ve been home all weekend ’cause I’m going back to work for a week and I just wanted to rest. I did the washing today and cut the grass and that’s it.

The school holidays begin next weekend for two weeks which is just marvellous.

It’s been six years since I’d visited Thailand and I was really shocked by the amount of rubbish everywhere. In Bangkok I didn’t see many bins. At a street market with food, there are no places for you to dispose of your packaging after you have finished your food. I’m just not used to the amount of plastic being used once and then discarded. Every so often there will be mounds of rubbish either left at the kerbside or on the pavement somewhere and all you can really do is add to it.

If you buy a few kebabs, then you might get one or two bags and then if you buy a drink it’s put into a plastic contraption to make it easier to carry and they give you a plastic straw. The only place that made an effort was a drinks stall in Surat Thani that used a bamboo holder, which I returned after I finished my drink, but the straw provided was plastic. I don’t use straws, it’s just thrown in for good measure.

Fly tipping is rife. The day I hired the moped and I was able to venture further afield I came across many places where truck loads of plastics in all forms was mixed with nature.

I often refused the packaging if I could.

Almost nothing is recyclable, it’s very sad. Mind you the hotel in Bangkok that I stayed at used glass bottles for drinking water and I remember that being more common years ago. Now everything is plastic. Convenience is killing our world.

Four days is enough time I feel to enjoy Penang, but it is not enough time to savour the abundance of food that is on offer. I have never been to a place where there are just about every type of food you can think of. I’ve never been to a place where I see queues of people stretching sometimes 100 m down the pavement waiting for their turn to stuff themselves full.

I have had Chinese from Shanxi, Indian food twice and Korean food, which I may add is the cleanest and healthiest on the menu. Everything is fresh and raw, well apart from the meat and the fried egg, but it isn’t saturated in some kind of oil or Ghee or sauce, it’s presented to you with all the ingredients on show.

Last night I had Beef Masala, Garlic Naan, Mango Lassie and Pakora; absolutely delicious but my stomach felt as if it was going to explode as the food and stomach gases began to immediately prepare it for an exit. The Korean food allows you to enjoy, get up from the table and it takes its time to navigate your intestinal track before emerging the next morning without the slightest hint of urgency.

Come here thin , and you’ll go home fat if you do not have discipline, it is as simple as that. And there are a lot of fat people here. My hotel that I am staying at is very posh, one of the more sought after places to stay at. I was lucky enough to find a Junior Suite for about $100 AUD a night, which is well cheap. I am of course talking about the Royale Chulan Penang.

The breakfast is of course a buffet and the selections are too many to name. Again, I think that everything and anything is possible here. But then again you get those individuals that just have to go back again and again, plates piled to the rafters, and we have high ceilings mind.

Last night I went to Batu Ferringhi. I jumped on the bus and it took almost an hour to get there. The bus was hoachin’ and a bit sweaty. Oh yes be prepared to sweat when you come here., that’s Penang I mean, I came here for two reasons, one to see if the old resort that my cousin Ann went to is still here, and it was , and also to see the night market. Don’t come here for the night market, it is shit! And I think most of the tat on sale originally comes from China, so it is a bit ironic trying to sell it back to the Chinese that make up the abundance here.

This what the majority of young Chinese girls do when they travel, getting the perfect picture, the perfect angle and as I have mentioned before that this seems to be more important to them than the reality of the situation. It’s only to show off when they return home, to show that they have the perfect life and that they are not the complete and utter narcissist’ that they are 🙂 Oh that might upset a few readers….

The hotel is vast, it is actually a resort and not the kind of place that I would not stay at and especially due to the many Chinese tourists that were here. In fact this whole area seems to be very popular with them. Mind you they might not all be tourists because there are a lot of Chinese here in Penang. The problem comes when rich tourist meets civilised world and brings their PRC ideas of how to treat people and navigate in a world where there is courtesy and queues. Two things they excel at not doing well. I was thinking of going to China for a few weeks at the end of the year, mainly to go to a few places I haven’t been to and to see a few friends and I might still go, however I will not go for as long as I was thinking because having this short interaction with Chinese tourists brings back a lot of things that I detest about them.

But don’t let that put you off coming here. It’s great place to come to. The history, the cultural diversity, the food of course. It’s cheap to get around, either by Grab Taxi or bus. In fact the Grab I got last night was only about 22 MYR for about a 40 min ride. It’s hot here and I would bring the appropriate clothing, one of those things needs to be a hat. So many westerners that obviously don’t see the sun at home are basking in the midday sun, UV+++++ So many looking nicely cooked. Some don’t even where sunglasses, which is madness. The sun is strong here and I’m used to this kind of weather, the past summer in Australia was really hot.

In Georgetown the buildings and architecture is very colonial of course, because the British were here along with many others. However the good old British plug still is in use which is nice to see. A legacy which says, ” We wus here!”

This was today’s lunch. Beef Rendang, possibly the best meal of my trip. Absolutely sublime 😍😋

Up at the crack of dawn, headed down for breakfast and was the first one in. I toasted for bits of bread and a dollop of jam followed by two fried eggs, black coffee and fruit and I was set.

Packed me bags and a ordered A Grab to the border crossing, no way was I taking the cheaper option of bus or tuk tuk. It cost about 800 bhat and it was well worth it. My taxi was an EV, so plenty of leg room in the rear and I felt quite the highflyer.

An hour to get to the Pedang Besar train station and this is where I was lucky because I didn’t realise I had to get to the Malaysian side using the train at this crossing. There is another crossing that foot traffic and cars use but I was told to come here. A train came after only 30 minutes.

On for one stop and turn through immigration to leave Thailand and then immediately onto Malaysian immigration. A 90 minute wait for the train to Butterworth.

The train was busy but I had a seat and it was air-conditioned, which you can’t say about the Thai train. There is an immediate noticeable difference between the two countries. Malaysia is a very wealthy country by comparison.

At Butterworth I decide to get a taxi. I have no money only a credit card. The ferry on the other side is a short walk to my hotel, but I don’t fancy carrying my cases, and so I just grab it Grab.

It’s an old driver in an old car and he is scaring the hell out of me at times. Just staying in his own lane would be a start. It’s a relief to reach the hotel.

Not sure what to do here in Hat Yai, it seems that this is a place where many people come to buy. There are many Malaysians here, I can tell because of all the cars with Malaysian plates and of course they are just slightly different to the locals.

In the part of town I’m in, it is very straight. No bars, no massage parlours, however there are a few hair dressers and they sometimes have reputations of being a bit dodgy. Mind you there are a lot of businesses closed because of the flooding that took place here last month.

The telltale signs are all over the place. You can see the remains of debris caught in fences and trees. Still flood damaged items on the kerb. Many cars with tide marks on the doors and roof. A few cars had obviously been completely submerged.

As the wee taxi driver said, her car was flooded and I saw a few others that had the remnants inside on the seats and steering wheels. Having been through a flood myself I can understand just how traumatic it is. And the water marks are still visible on many places and they were well above my head in places.

I went to the street market today and then up to the main shopping mall, mainly to escape the heat and find food but I ended up just having coffee and a muffin. Got a taxi back to the hotel and that was it for a while. After a siesta and a bit of YouTube I had my 200 bhat buffet in the hotel.

Mind you, on a different note… the people seem a little bit chubby down here. The food has way more calories and I can even feel it and I’ve only been here a few days.

Well I feel like I was. When I arrived the other day into Surat Thani I went in search of a bus to Hat Yai. I first of all went to Phantip Travel, however they said that they could not help and they pointed to a street opposite and ushered me to go there. Due to the lack of communication skills on both sides and my misunderstanding, I thought they meant the small place on the corner and not the bus station at the top of the road. If I had walked another 5 mins then I would have got what I thought I was paying for.

Instead, what I got two days later was a small mini van crammed to capacity and I was at the back on the drivers side which was and is the worst place to sit. I was expecting a big luxurious coach, not some old fuckin thing.

5 hours stuck in this god forsaken hell hole unable to move my arse, not even one iota. Cramped because the seat in front was reclined slightly and unable to move. Unable to see out the window because the seat at the rear is higher. Sitting with the sun blazing in the window, I mean, what the fuck did I do to deserve this?

When we finally arrived I ordered a Grab. I couldn’t find it and the driver was calling me and I can’t pick up the call because my Esim is not set up for calls. Next thing I know, this young women is asking me if I was looking for 8182, the car registration, I said “Yes”

She points to her phone and sure enough it’s the correct driver but a different car. Apparently she lost her car during the recent floods here in Hat Yai. She was such a nervous wee character. She said that she needed petrol, was it OK to stop… Sure.

She only put in 300 bhat because that was all she had and I kind of believed her because her car was very old and needed a bit of work. The fare was 80 bhat. She was apologising because of the traffic and so when we got to the hotel I gave her 100 bhat tip. She was very grateful and I have hopefully bolstered my Karma.