I promised pictures last time. They're on Facebook. Look me up.
Cheers, everyone!
Rich
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Full Circle (Hong Kong)
My abbreviated tour of Southeast Asia has now come full circle; I am writing, once again, from Hong Kong, en route to New York tomorrow. (So this will be my penultimate post).
***
Derek and I arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos, on the afternoon of May 12th. I spent the first two hours there figuring out my travel plans for the next two days (that is, determining the optimal route to Hong Kong before the 16th): I ultimately settled on a night bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane on the 13th, then a morning flight to Bangkok, and finally another flight to Hong Kong on the night of the 14th. I saved about 100 bucks doing it my way, and not that of the travel agent. Since I'm currently unemployed, my time is worth less today than when I was working; it made sense to spend time scraping for those extra dollars.
***
As I've written previously, I detest night buses. The one I took to Vientiane two nights ago (right after my awesome day in Luang Prabang; see below) trumped them all. Although I had the luxury of fully lying down across the aisle (the bus was only a quarter full), I got no sleep. The roads in Laos are slow and windy (there are no expressways), so the rolling jerkiness of the ride prevented the inertia it takes to achieve a sleepful state. Moreover, in order to keep himself awake (it seemed), the bus driver kept a looping track of awful Lao music on full blast the entire time. Finally, there was no restroom (typical) or air conditioning (atypical). Whatever could have been designed for a person's discomfort on a bus ride, was.
***
On our first (and my only) night in Luang Prabang, we went to dinner at Indochina Spirit, touted by Derek's guidebook as "the best restaurant in Luang Prabang, if not all of Laos." Sorry to say, I wasn't impressed. I ordered the special "Lao Plate," a multi-course sampling of Lao cooking: fish soup, fried bamboo shoots with minced pork, Lao "sausage" (essentially fried pieces of pork, and not sausage in the traditional sense), and dried Mekong seaweed with sesame seeds (eaten like potato chips). Derek's pepper steak (there was a Western menu as well) looked like a better choice, but not by much.
Fortunately, Day Two in Luang Prabang fully made up for the prior day's lost time (associated with travel, an unavoidable friction cost) and unsatisfying dining experience. Derek and I hired a guide to take us on a motorcycle tour--each man to his own bike--of the countryside surrounding the city.
Outings like this are what make a trip special. Better writers than I have communicated the poetry of riding a motorcycle; I don't have such a gift, so I won't try to compete with them. I'll be more prosaic. The precarious boundary between physical freedom, at high speeds, inches from the earth you're exploring, and painful injury (if not worse), is a thrill that very few things in this world can provide. Skiing down a steep mountain also comes to mind--it puts you in a place you'd never ordinarily go, were it not for the highly specialized tools (and sense of adventure) in your possession. On a motorcycle, you approach that boundary when, for example, you fishtail after braking too hard on a loose pile of gravel, or accidentally accelerate when you meant to slow down. Scared shitless for a moment, and then all is well in the world again.
And, a propos of motorcycles, fierce beasts, strange and potentially dangerous foods, and societies with no discernible rule of law ("What are...things you may encounter in Southeast Asia?"): With youth often comes the notion that the world owes you the chance--and sometimes multiple chances--to be reckless. I've never subscribed to that notion as a way of life, per se, nor do I still consider myself a youth, but I must admit that I've enjoyed the chance to be a tad reckless over here. I'll try not to romanticize the experience too much (this is but a vacation, after all), but I am grateful to have had it, if only for a few weeks. I realize that quotidian reality beckons, and when I am honest with myself, I know that I desire a structured version of that reality, complete with potable tap water and modern healthcare.
***
As I prepare to return home, here are some other things I am most looking forward to (in no particular order):
- Patsy's pizza (Patsy's is a restaurant, for my non-New York readers)
- A shave and a haircut from Yuri, my barber on East 52nd Street
- A pot of coffee and two newspapers every morning
- Tim Keller's preaching at Redeemer
- Baseball season
- Living out of a proper bureau and closet, not a backpack
- And of course, seeing all of your friendly faces around town
I fly tomorrow morning at 9:30. Big night out in Hong Kong tonight. I'll set two alarms.
***
Derek and I arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos, on the afternoon of May 12th. I spent the first two hours there figuring out my travel plans for the next two days (that is, determining the optimal route to Hong Kong before the 16th): I ultimately settled on a night bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane on the 13th, then a morning flight to Bangkok, and finally another flight to Hong Kong on the night of the 14th. I saved about 100 bucks doing it my way, and not that of the travel agent. Since I'm currently unemployed, my time is worth less today than when I was working; it made sense to spend time scraping for those extra dollars.
***
As I've written previously, I detest night buses. The one I took to Vientiane two nights ago (right after my awesome day in Luang Prabang; see below) trumped them all. Although I had the luxury of fully lying down across the aisle (the bus was only a quarter full), I got no sleep. The roads in Laos are slow and windy (there are no expressways), so the rolling jerkiness of the ride prevented the inertia it takes to achieve a sleepful state. Moreover, in order to keep himself awake (it seemed), the bus driver kept a looping track of awful Lao music on full blast the entire time. Finally, there was no restroom (typical) or air conditioning (atypical). Whatever could have been designed for a person's discomfort on a bus ride, was.
***
On our first (and my only) night in Luang Prabang, we went to dinner at Indochina Spirit, touted by Derek's guidebook as "the best restaurant in Luang Prabang, if not all of Laos." Sorry to say, I wasn't impressed. I ordered the special "Lao Plate," a multi-course sampling of Lao cooking: fish soup, fried bamboo shoots with minced pork, Lao "sausage" (essentially fried pieces of pork, and not sausage in the traditional sense), and dried Mekong seaweed with sesame seeds (eaten like potato chips). Derek's pepper steak (there was a Western menu as well) looked like a better choice, but not by much.
Fortunately, Day Two in Luang Prabang fully made up for the prior day's lost time (associated with travel, an unavoidable friction cost) and unsatisfying dining experience. Derek and I hired a guide to take us on a motorcycle tour--each man to his own bike--of the countryside surrounding the city.
Outings like this are what make a trip special. Better writers than I have communicated the poetry of riding a motorcycle; I don't have such a gift, so I won't try to compete with them. I'll be more prosaic. The precarious boundary between physical freedom, at high speeds, inches from the earth you're exploring, and painful injury (if not worse), is a thrill that very few things in this world can provide. Skiing down a steep mountain also comes to mind--it puts you in a place you'd never ordinarily go, were it not for the highly specialized tools (and sense of adventure) in your possession. On a motorcycle, you approach that boundary when, for example, you fishtail after braking too hard on a loose pile of gravel, or accidentally accelerate when you meant to slow down. Scared shitless for a moment, and then all is well in the world again.
And, a propos of motorcycles, fierce beasts, strange and potentially dangerous foods, and societies with no discernible rule of law ("What are...things you may encounter in Southeast Asia?"): With youth often comes the notion that the world owes you the chance--and sometimes multiple chances--to be reckless. I've never subscribed to that notion as a way of life, per se, nor do I still consider myself a youth, but I must admit that I've enjoyed the chance to be a tad reckless over here. I'll try not to romanticize the experience too much (this is but a vacation, after all), but I am grateful to have had it, if only for a few weeks. I realize that quotidian reality beckons, and when I am honest with myself, I know that I desire a structured version of that reality, complete with potable tap water and modern healthcare.
***
As I prepare to return home, here are some other things I am most looking forward to (in no particular order):
- Patsy's pizza (Patsy's is a restaurant, for my non-New York readers)
- A shave and a haircut from Yuri, my barber on East 52nd Street
- A pot of coffee and two newspapers every morning
- Tim Keller's preaching at Redeemer
- Baseball season
- Living out of a proper bureau and closet, not a backpack
- And of course, seeing all of your friendly faces around town
I fly tomorrow morning at 9:30. Big night out in Hong Kong tonight. I'll set two alarms.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Star Trekking (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
I last posted just before getting onto a boat to cruise among the islands around Koh Phi Phi. That afternoon, we went snorkelling (the water was a bit cloudy from the previous night's rainfall), fed pineapples and bananas to the macaques on Monkey Island, and hung out on the beach at Maya Bay (where "The Beach" was filmed). (By the way, watching monkeys interact with each other makes a pretty convincing case in favor of evolution, by my reckoning at least. Eerily humanlike behavior.)
After more beach time on Phi Phi, Derek and I hopped a flight back to Bangkok. We spent the next day touring Bangkok in a "tuk-tuk," which is an odd 3-wheeled hybrid vehicle, fairly common in Southeast Asia--part motorcycle, part pickup truck, part taxi. And after one day, we'd breathed enough of the polluted city air that we decided to take a bus westward to Kanchanaburi.
For the next two days around Kanchanaburi, we did some more of the outdoor stuff for which Thailand is known: riding elephants, playing with tigers, swimming underneath picturesque waterfalls, and so on. We also took a train trip along the "Death Railway" near the Burmese border--so named because of the large number (100,000+) of Allied soldiers, Burmese and Malay captives who died during its construction in WWII.
After Kanchanaburi, we took the bus back to Bangkok and went immediately to the train station, where we boarded a night train to Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand. We arrived in Chiang Mai around 7 AM and met up with the rest of our trekking group (outdoor trekking is the thing to do in Chiang Mai) around 10 AM. By early afternoon, we were on the trail. The first day's hike was a tough one, almost entirely uphill. It rained during the last half hour, just before we reached our camp--a bamboo hut located in one of the tribal villages. Once in the village, we were able to dry off, drink beers, start a campfire, and enjoy a dinner of yellow curry. We also saw some people smoke opium that night--a weird thing to see for the first time.
I woke up the next morning with dozens of welts on my body, mostly on my left arm, but in other spots as well. I suspect that ants or some other creature were the culprit (probably not mosquitoes, however). The itching and swelling have come down in the last 24 hours, but it's still annoying (and surprisingly, it's the first notable health issue I've had over here; nothing to worry about, though). Other casualties of the trek: a scratched watch and bruised hip, both suffered while sliding down a waterfall.
We hiked downhill most of the day yesterday, and concluded the trip with some whitewater rafting (though there wasn't much "whitewater" to speak of, given that it's the dry season) before heading back to town. I tried to lead the group singing effort on the way back. It worked for about 10 minutes.
Last night, we were too tired to go out in Chiang Mai, so Derek and I went to see the new Star Trek movie (the second reference in this post's title). The movie was fine, but the most entertaining thing happened during the previews, when everyone in the theater stood silently to "pay homage to his majesty the King." I suppose it's akin to singing the National Anthem before a baseball game, but it was bizarre. They still take royalty seriously over here.
We leave today for Luang Prabang, Laos, which will be my last stop before returning to Hong Kong (from which I'll then fly back to New York). I expect that my next (and likely final) post will be written from my apartment. Complete with pictures, too.
After more beach time on Phi Phi, Derek and I hopped a flight back to Bangkok. We spent the next day touring Bangkok in a "tuk-tuk," which is an odd 3-wheeled hybrid vehicle, fairly common in Southeast Asia--part motorcycle, part pickup truck, part taxi. And after one day, we'd breathed enough of the polluted city air that we decided to take a bus westward to Kanchanaburi.
For the next two days around Kanchanaburi, we did some more of the outdoor stuff for which Thailand is known: riding elephants, playing with tigers, swimming underneath picturesque waterfalls, and so on. We also took a train trip along the "Death Railway" near the Burmese border--so named because of the large number (100,000+) of Allied soldiers, Burmese and Malay captives who died during its construction in WWII.
After Kanchanaburi, we took the bus back to Bangkok and went immediately to the train station, where we boarded a night train to Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand. We arrived in Chiang Mai around 7 AM and met up with the rest of our trekking group (outdoor trekking is the thing to do in Chiang Mai) around 10 AM. By early afternoon, we were on the trail. The first day's hike was a tough one, almost entirely uphill. It rained during the last half hour, just before we reached our camp--a bamboo hut located in one of the tribal villages. Once in the village, we were able to dry off, drink beers, start a campfire, and enjoy a dinner of yellow curry. We also saw some people smoke opium that night--a weird thing to see for the first time.
I woke up the next morning with dozens of welts on my body, mostly on my left arm, but in other spots as well. I suspect that ants or some other creature were the culprit (probably not mosquitoes, however). The itching and swelling have come down in the last 24 hours, but it's still annoying (and surprisingly, it's the first notable health issue I've had over here; nothing to worry about, though). Other casualties of the trek: a scratched watch and bruised hip, both suffered while sliding down a waterfall.
We hiked downhill most of the day yesterday, and concluded the trip with some whitewater rafting (though there wasn't much "whitewater" to speak of, given that it's the dry season) before heading back to town. I tried to lead the group singing effort on the way back. It worked for about 10 minutes.
Last night, we were too tired to go out in Chiang Mai, so Derek and I went to see the new Star Trek movie (the second reference in this post's title). The movie was fine, but the most entertaining thing happened during the previews, when everyone in the theater stood silently to "pay homage to his majesty the King." I suppose it's akin to singing the National Anthem before a baseball game, but it was bizarre. They still take royalty seriously over here.
We leave today for Luang Prabang, Laos, which will be my last stop before returning to Hong Kong (from which I'll then fly back to New York). I expect that my next (and likely final) post will be written from my apartment. Complete with pictures, too.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Land of the Ladyboys (Koh Phi Phi, Thailand)
After Nha Trang, I spent two days in Saigon before finally concluding the Vietnam portion of my trip. In total, I spent two and a half weeks in Vietnam--several days longer than planned, and at the expense of other locations. Totally worth it. The highlight of my trip.
Then, I flew to Bangkok and ultimately caught up with Derek in Phuket, Thailand, a few days ago. Before I write about Thailand, however, a few closing thoughts on Vietnam:
It is necessary to realize that a visit to the country requires a significant relaxation in Western standards. The place is dirty. Rules of the road as we understand them do not exist. Socialism, black markets, and the country's bribery culture make it tough to run a profitable business.
Yet the system works (according to non-Western standards, anyway). It's useless to try to compare the level of happiness of a typical Vietnamese person with that of an American, for instance, because our philosophies on freedom, individualism, and natural rights are derived from wholly different underlying assumptions. (I'll refrain from pontificating on why our system is better, and more consistent with the dignity inherent in being a human. Leave it as an accepted truth for the moment). But overall, they do seem happy, and they genuinely appreciate visitors' interest in their country. This is all the more impressive in contrast to the tragedy that's befallen Vietnam for a large part of its history.
(While I am on the subject of tragedy, I made sure to visit the Vietnam War Remnants Museum in Saigon. It was graphic, candid, and tough to stomach. I was reminded of a quote I once heard, though I can't locate its source (paraphrased): "There is no evil of which the human mind cannot conceive.")
***
On the brighter side, you'll be pleased to know that I can see the white sand and emerald waters of Kho Phi Phi (an island off the coast of Phuket) from where I'm currently seated. Derek and I are taking off for an afternoon boat tour of the surrounding islands in about an hour.
My first two nights in Thailand, in Phuket town and Patong Beach, respectively, were uneventful. Patong resembles a sad combination of Bourbon Street in New Orleans and the Strip in Panama City Beach--the two most distasteful spots on Earth, in my opinion (Times Square in New York gets my vote for third place). And it is crawling with so-called "Ladyboys." Google the term if you don't know (or can't guess) what it means.
Kho Phi Phi (pronounced "Ko Pee Pee") is an infinitely nicer spot, and the crowd composition here is more consistent with what I might care to be associated in real (non-vacation) life.
***
The countdown to the 16th is getting louder. Derek and I will spend a week or so in Thailand, and then choose between Cambodia and Laos to close out my part of the trip (Derek's staying on after I return to the States). Until next time...
Then, I flew to Bangkok and ultimately caught up with Derek in Phuket, Thailand, a few days ago. Before I write about Thailand, however, a few closing thoughts on Vietnam:
It is necessary to realize that a visit to the country requires a significant relaxation in Western standards. The place is dirty. Rules of the road as we understand them do not exist. Socialism, black markets, and the country's bribery culture make it tough to run a profitable business.
Yet the system works (according to non-Western standards, anyway). It's useless to try to compare the level of happiness of a typical Vietnamese person with that of an American, for instance, because our philosophies on freedom, individualism, and natural rights are derived from wholly different underlying assumptions. (I'll refrain from pontificating on why our system is better, and more consistent with the dignity inherent in being a human. Leave it as an accepted truth for the moment). But overall, they do seem happy, and they genuinely appreciate visitors' interest in their country. This is all the more impressive in contrast to the tragedy that's befallen Vietnam for a large part of its history.
(While I am on the subject of tragedy, I made sure to visit the Vietnam War Remnants Museum in Saigon. It was graphic, candid, and tough to stomach. I was reminded of a quote I once heard, though I can't locate its source (paraphrased): "There is no evil of which the human mind cannot conceive.")
***
On the brighter side, you'll be pleased to know that I can see the white sand and emerald waters of Kho Phi Phi (an island off the coast of Phuket) from where I'm currently seated. Derek and I are taking off for an afternoon boat tour of the surrounding islands in about an hour.
My first two nights in Thailand, in Phuket town and Patong Beach, respectively, were uneventful. Patong resembles a sad combination of Bourbon Street in New Orleans and the Strip in Panama City Beach--the two most distasteful spots on Earth, in my opinion (Times Square in New York gets my vote for third place). And it is crawling with so-called "Ladyboys." Google the term if you don't know (or can't guess) what it means.
Kho Phi Phi (pronounced "Ko Pee Pee") is an infinitely nicer spot, and the crowd composition here is more consistent with what I might care to be associated in real (non-vacation) life.
***
The countdown to the 16th is getting louder. Derek and I will spend a week or so in Thailand, and then choose between Cambodia and Laos to close out my part of the trip (Derek's staying on after I return to the States). Until next time...
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