Its disappearance is the most significant aviation mystery since disappearance of Amelia Earheart 

It happened 11 years ago in March 8, 2014. There were 227 passengers and crew of 12 on board for a total of 239. It was a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, a 6 hour flight. 

They were to fly in NE direction over Vietnam then pretty much over land in China. At weigh point IGARI…. Vietnamese air control was to take over from Malaysian air control. The captain said “Good night Malaysia” as it crosses into Vietnam control 40 minutes after departure. It disappears off the screen, no longer having any contact with anyone. Vietnam tried to contact plane. The plane had 8 hours of fuel on board. Searchers found nothing in the area that it disappeared. Nothing was seen by anyone. One possible thought was that the plane was downed by something in cargo. There was a large amount of lithium batteries in cargo.  Could it have been something to do with that??? Then they thought it might be cyber hijacking possibly, or a secret landing, the Bermuda Triangle… abduction by aliens???  International searchers found nothing including in the Indian Ocean. Malaysian official were surprisingly quiet….not very transparent which made others suspicious. Primary radar at the disappearance picked up that it went in different direction….a more complicated theory by Inmarsat mobile satellite company. Data suggested for 7 hours that it has been flying south and subsequently lost off the coast of Australia… an all-silent flight. The plane flew at oscillated altitudes. It had to have a human perpetrator??? The captain began to be suspect because he had marital problems, had a flight simulator at home with exact route on it and he had asked for extra oxygen in cockpit. The sharp turn at IGARI had to be done manually. It then crossed along the border between Malaysia and Thailand to Andaman Sea (where each country would think the other was aware of the airplane), then south for 7 hours until it crashed into the southern Indian Ocean off coast of Western Australia …after running out of fuel. 

The Ocean Infinity, a search ship checked the sea bed off Australia that is very deep & very mountainous…. 13,000 feet deep. 

In Jul 2015 piece of metal  debris (a flapperon… part of wing)  washed  ashore on the east coast of Africa. It was not damaged suggesting a controlled landing.…. 

The presence of barnacles indicated the location off Australia. It could have coasted on the sea currents to its African location. 

The search is still on. 

We actually met the speaker coming off the elevator when we were heading to the solo meet up. He also happened to be joining the group. His name James Grant-Peterkin. 

The Portuguese were the first of many to “discover” & colonize this area.  The Dutch influence in Indonesian (Melucecas islands) and French in Vietnam. This area had British influence but Thailand had never been ruled by Britain nor any other country. Mostly the explorers came because of trade…. silk, gold, spices, etc. Because of the expeditions there was also an exposure to & exchange of religions.  

The book Travels of Marco Polo, written in 1298, inspired exploration. Polo purposely didn’t tell all because he thought Europeans couldn’t accept all the knowledge he had acquired. 

The Straits of Melacca, a highly active route… is the key to international trade to this day. Spices that they were in search of  back in that era, was not just for flavour but to hide the taste and smell of rotting meat…. also for making perfume, creating wealth. Spices were used also in making health concoctions. Indonesian has 17,000 isles of which 

Moluccas, a group of Indonesian islands formerly known for their exclusive production of nutmeg, mace, and cloves. They opened the sea route on return to Asia by land, because of costs charged to go both directions.  Dias was first to find east route…. around the tip of Africa. Dias did not venture farther though but others did. 

Christopher Columbus used the writings of Marco Polo to find his way to the Americas in October 11/1492. He was actually searching for the East Indies. The people that he saw though didn’t look like the East Indies peoples he was expecting nor did they have the spices, etc. Amerigo Vespucci actually named Americas. Vasco de Gama found a route to India, Magellan, then Francis Drake circumnavigated world. 

Because of these attempts to find the best routes to the Spice Islands, the globe was explored. 

Here we are sitting in Starbucks at Old Siam Plaza where we were to join the tour yesterday to Ayutthaya. This one is to the floating market and the train market. Got here in plenty of time today. Yesterday was a disaster getting to the meeting place. Our meeting place was to be Old Siam Playa…at 8:30 am.  If you have ever been to Bangkok and tried to get anywhere during the morning rush, you will know that the traffic is unbelievable obscene. The taxi driver couldn’t find how to get there, the traffic was horrendous. He couldn’t understand us and we couldn’t understand him. We ended up having to go to another meeting point cuz the bus had to leave. OMG!  He felt so bad that he refused to take payment even though it took almost 2 hours out of his time to make money. Getting to the pick up point was an experience unto itself. 

Damnoen Saduak floating market

Then to train market

I wanted to attach a couple of videos of the train coming down the track as well as the removing of merchandise off the track before it gets there but I don’t seem to be able to do it. If you want to see it you’ll have to visit me when I’m home.

This was a trip not to see the sights so much but to visit with friends and family. In some cases, I hadn’t seen in years.  It was filled with wonderful visits and guess what, I saw some incredible sights (sites), too. Personally, I recommend that you enlarge the pictures to really see the beauty of our country.

First, lucky me, I drove right on the ferry without booking a reservation, even though I left home later than I was planning on.  (One thing I resent is having to pay for a reservation. The ferries are part of the highway system).

First stop was Chilliwack (25th), then up the Fraser Canyon to Kamloops (26th and 27th)

Then to Prince George (28th,  29th and 30th).  Along the way between Kamloops and Pr. George, I had a visit from an RCMP officer…..Oops!

From there it was driving on Hwy 16 to Jasper, then hwy 93 and the Columbia Icefields, turning at the Saskatchewan River Crossing onto Hwy 40 to Lacombe, Alberta. 

Next, I spent a few days (July 1-4) visiting a friend in Lacombe and doing a little exploring.

Next it was driving through lots and lots more florescent yellow fields of canola on the flat prairie highways of Alberta and Saskatchewan.  I stopped at the airport in Saskatoon to pick up a friend coming from Victoria.  Together we travelled to see our friends that live in Prince Albert, Candle Lake and Waskesui Lake. We had first met them in Guayabitos, Mexico.  For a time it looked like we wouldn’t be travelling to those northern reaches because of forest fires but they managed to get them under control .  So much of our country has had wildfires, each year it seems, getting worse and worse.  We did experience some smoke but it was not too bad.  One thing I was expecting was that temperatures would be stinking hot.  Because of the smoke in the air, even though low, helped to keep the temperatures down.  We spent July 5-10 in Saskatchewan then I travelled back to Alberta  on the 11th, this time to visit friends in Red Deer.

I spent July 11-13 in Red Deer with friends, then to Carstairs (July 14) to visit another but with a detour down to the badlands of Drumheller and the amazing Tyrrell Museum of Dinosaurs. I had never been before so needed to go.

Next day (July 15th) I drove on through the Rockies again (Hwy 1), this time through Banff, Yoho National Park and Rogers Pass to Kamloops. 

July 16th I left Kamloops on Hwy 5 (the Coquihalla), dropping off to see a friend to pick up the jacket I left behind in Chilliwack.  Then it was onto the ferry (again no reservation and driving right on….yeah, and home.