I’m heading to London next weekend.
My family’s been planning this trip for a while and I’ve known that there are penny machines in the city forever, still it came as a surprise how absolutely unprepared I still am. Where are these places? What type of coins do they use? Should I write down some addresses? Does it matter since I’ll have no idea where I’m at half of the time anyway?
Since I’ll be there for over a week, I guess there will be time enough to figure out the tube system, draw a traveling salesman map, and collect change from a bank.
Wendy gave me these around Christmas last year. I think Kurt was the one who actually pressed them when he was in New Orleans. In return, I gave her this quilting book I picked up when I was in Taiwan. Quilting, believe it or not, is pretty much the same there as in the US…
New ECs from Audubon Aquarium of the Americas New Orleans, LA
I also scanned in the only EC I pressed in Las Vegas, last time I visited with Suhail and Yucif.
New EC from Riviera Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, NV
Austin got me this coin from Puerto Rico!
I have no idea how people get to travel so much. Or how they can still remember my absurd hobby on these trips.
Not that I’m complaining, but there are a lot of problems trying to incorporate Puerto Rico into the system… Do I categorize it as a US state? It obviously isn’t… Let’s say it’s a country of its own, but it’s too small to have any meaningful administrative division… My SQL database just isn’t very PC.
In the end, I made a country called “US Territories” and a state within that’s called “Puerto Rico.” I’m hoping someone would travel to the Virgin Islands to press me a coin, just so the whole arrangement doesn’t seem so forced.
New EC from Mi Casa Coqui Gift Shop Ponce, Puerto Rico
New Year Resolution: Post more often… (Also, learn to delegate to my manager at work.)
So, I was changing my password on this site when I realized that there are subscribers… Wow~ How is it possible that I never learn this before? If I knew people were reading this, I would have sorted material for my autobiography here. Well, it’s never too late - Chapter 1: I Am Born… just kidding
I’m looking over my desk, trying to remember where all these coins come from. I have the last batch of ECs Jason, Jessica, and Derek pressed for me on their trip to Monterey, CA. There are a couple of coins from New Orleans, a gift from my quilting buddy, Wendy’s, husband. Suhail, Yucif, and I also went on a trip to Vegas a few months ago and there were some coins from that trip. One of my trades landed me coins from Korea, Germany, and Australia. I still haven’t figure out whether these coins from Taiwan, marked as “Bubble Electric Company” is from an actual electric company… And, last but not least, there is a bag of dirty zincs that I need to sort through (don’t drink and bid, otherwise you may end up with a bag of these as well.)
The place where Jason, Jessica, and Derek visited was called Mackerel Jack’s (not Monterey Jack’s).
I’ve also added the last two coins from the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung, Taiwan
More later…
Finally got the other ECs from the National Museum of Natural Science. Little further from Taipei, so there are less traders 
All over Taipei, there are advertisement for the 2010 International Flora Exposition.
My trip coincide with the opening day and I got some ECs from the shows. There are some characters developed for the Expo, but I can’t tell apart from the other on the coins.
New ECs from Yuan Shan Expo Showroom Taipei, Taiwan
I know I’m missing coins from this set. Not surprising since I sent everyone in every direction, pressing whatever they can find. Hopefully I’ll be able to get more details later.
I also got a key chain that holds a single EC, designed as the Expo logo.
The material is made of soft rubber and there is a groove inside the oval opening so the coin easily fits inside the key chain, covering the boarder.
Normally, I don’t like the zodiac EC designs the Taiwan manufacturers make. However, this new set from the Taipei Zoo is adorable! Extras are available, but unfortunately not for the full set…
New ECs from Taipei Zoo Taipei, Taiwan
Yup, part 1 of many…
I know I need to get started on these, otherwise 100+ coins will stay permanently in the bag. First thing I can do is to list the extras of the ECs I’ve scanned in already.
I have the zodiac set from the Taipei Astronomical Museum. The non-zodiac coins are all retired from this location.
I’ve also got two extra coins for trade from the Guandu Nature Park. Personally, I think I’ve only pressed one or two extra ECs from this location, so there hasn’t been a lot of this design floating around.
There is a new zodiac set from the Taipei Zoo. At this point, I’ve only updated the available trades from this location.
I started mentioning the Thailand trip a couple of weeks ago. Now I’m finally putting up the scans of the bounty 
Jason’s been pressing coins for me all over for months now, from Seattle to Monterey. Before I landed in Bangkok, he’s already got this set of Museum Siam coins ready for me!
New ECs from Museum Siam Bangkok, Thailand
I didn’t crack the spine of a single tour book before landing in Bangkok, so it was a bit of a miracle that I saw anything other than the landing strip in Thailand.
Jason arranged for us to stay at Arun Residence during the first couple of days.
It’s a small inn with around half a dozen rooms, a few restaurants/bars, and a gift shop that never seems to be open… We had a great view of Wat Arun though. Museum Siam is close by the hotel.
I arrived around midnight, therefore missed the first evening’s event where Jason went to see a game of Thai boxing. The next morning, we set out to see the Grand Temple. Our visit was at the tail end of the rainy season. I purchased an umbrella on my first day but, luckily, never had a chance to use it.
This is also where the Emerald Buddha is housed.
Next we visited Wat Pho
One place Jason was really keen on was the Oriental. It’s the second hotel we stayed at and it’s absolutely amazing. Upon check in, we were shown into a suite fancier than any model home I’ve visited. A man introduced himself as the floor’s head butler, presented his card, and asked us not to hesitate to call on him or his staff for any needs. I must say we abused this privilege quite often (from peeling exotic fruits to taking group photos… I pressed the butler call button for a lot of things…)
If you’re interested, I can forward you our itinerary, which includes a lot of other places and night activities we went through on this trip.
I also have an extra EC from the Museum Siam for trade. Please take a look at the trade list, newly improved with shorter run time by Joey!
Watermarks set! This is absolutely amazing, I couldn’t have done it on my own for another decade.
I went back through the blogs, as far as I cared to, to correct the images in the previous posts. Next will be changes to the trade list setup
I’m trying to find a time to get in touch with the EC manufacturer in Taiwan. I wish there was an easier way than physically going to the closest machine and jotting down the contact name and number. However, I can’t seem to find the official website… It’ll be such a pain, climbing up the SK Tower again…
