Tear-Gas-Free Bangkok

A very quick note to let y'all know that I made it to Bangkok and so far have not been caught up in any of the street protests. I wonder if tear gas is any less effective in a city where the air is so bad that it makes your eyes run on normal days? Anyway, if there are no repeats of airport-closing protests, I should be home this Friday! Crazy!!

More later soon...

-erik

No rest for the road-weary

Well, didn't take the day off yesterday as planned. Went to the waterfall instead. The fall was incredible, one of the nicest I've every seen. Huge. (the pict on left is just a little place that I swam and played around with camera shutter speeds after hiking the falls...). Today is the rest day, although I haven't been resting too much. The alarm woke me up at 8AM (oh, the humanity!) and I quickly turned on CNN to catch the VP debate. After I had about 30-40 minutes of that, I needed a break, so I went and had breakfast, and then came back for the end. The idea of Palin with her finger on the button is not only scary, but just bazaar. Shouldn't we have more safeguards than that in place? I think she probably thinks that Russian troops tried to invade Atlanta last month... I caught the clip from SNL where Tina Fey spoofs her by saying exactly the same thing (word for word) as in her Katie Curric interview. Classic. Anyway, enough of that.

After the debate, to the internet, then lunch, then walking around, then cafe. Then internet again (now), soon massage, back to room for nap (time permitting...), and then hopefully to see the evening monk prayers. Also, tonight I might sign up for a 2 day/1 night trek to hill tribe villages (starting tomorrow). We'll see what's available/interesting. The overnight should be very primitive, maybe more so than my camping was in Borneo. But 1 day should be OK.

Can't believe I'm just 1 week out from getting on a plane back to the States. Reentry is going to be strange. Please forgive me if I have forgotten who you are, who I am, what I do, how to speak English, how to drive, what side of the road to drive on, how to dress when I have more than 3 shirts to choose from, etc. Gonna take a little time I think. Am looking forward to somethings though:

• seeing friends and family (of course!)
• seeing Mocha and Zipper (of course!)
• my own bed
• Peets coffee
• cheese and good bread (although I'm getting both in Laos)
• low humidity
• Mexican food
• Mt. Biking
• Cal Football
• Leech free hikes (I broke my "no more leeches" pledge with one sucker yesterday and can expect many more if I trek tomorrow)

Things that I will miss though from SE Asia:

• Strangers that are actually friendly
• cheap, quality food
• cheap, quality massages
• cheap, quality most things
• the predictability in which unpredictable things happen
  

Probably many more for each list, but that's it for now as the massage calls. One note about massage that I meant to write before: I think I mentioned that I got a massage from a blind lady in Cambodia that was awesome. What I'm not sure if I mentioned or not was that sure was ridiculously strong and just about ripped my (very tight) hamstrings apart. I certainly like a strong, deep massage, but if someone is working your hamstrings and you can feel their fingers on the underside of your quads, they are pushing too hard.

Lastly, I've slowly been adding more pict to my site. There is now an Angkor Wat folder that is slowing getting filled. Pictures are trailing my by about a weeks I guess...

-erik

Be Here Now

This morning started early. I got up at 5:30 to give offers (sticky rice) to the over 200 monks that live and study in Luang Prabang. It was a pretty special experience. (but not a single one said thanks! monks today, geez!!) The monks come out of their various temples around the city and walk a circuit around town where towns people line up with food. I went with my hosts from my guesthouse - they go everyday. I am probably going to go to the afternoon/evening prayer session today too. Each evening, you can hear the Buddhist chanting in various parts of town and certainly only enhances the overall "cool" that the town already has.

Really trying to take it slow here with moderate success. This is a great place just to be, but there are also alot of tempting sites and activities in the area too. Yesterday I took a boat trip up the Mekong to a cave that has 700+ Buddha statues inside. The day before was mt. biking (pretty mellow...), waterfall and swimming (nice!), kayaking back to town (fun, but rained the whole way, which got old...). Today I really want to get some quality cafe-time in, but being tempted by the sunny day and a potential trip to another (supposedly better) waterfall. What to do, what to do...

Can't quite believe I'm coming home in a week! Does actually feel like I've been gone for a long time though. I certainly will need time to reflect (probably when I get back) but as far as I can tell right now, the trip has been exactly what I hoped it would be. I had fun adventures, I got lots of rest, I ate strange foods, I met nice people, I spend long periods not thinking about work. Right now, I think one of the biggest take-aways is that travel has a way of forcing you to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. I've definitely gotten there. This is something that I hope to bring back and transfer to my everyday life. Also, I do feel ready and excited to jump back into work in a way that I don't think I've really felt for years. I was really hoping that would happen and relieved that it did (it was either gonna be that or a realization that I never wanted to work again, so the "I'm ready to work again!" road should certainly be less disruptive...)

OK. Gonna run for now (partially because this is the 2nd worst keyboard of my trip....) but Ill touch base again soon. Just added some more pictures from Phnom Penh to the site, but seems like it didn't load them all...grrr. But that's OK, I'm comfortable with that....

-erik

Looking for office space

Luang Prabang is so nice, that I've decided that this is were I'm going to base my consulting out of. OK, maybe that isn't realistic. (or is it?...I just spent an hour being interviewed via Skype by a company that paid me an ungodly sum as an expert (suckers!) to help when with a marketing study....) But I really do like it here. Am pretty sure that I'm gonna more or less spend the next 10 days here with maybe some 1-2 day side trips in the neighborhood. Leaves alot (almost all actually...) of Laos unexplored, but I'm happy here and it seems like a good point in my trip to start winding down. Planning on flying directly from Luang Prabang to Bangkok where I'll probably spend a few days (and hopefully get a dental check-up from my favorite dentist!) before flying home. So looks like no more 10 hour bus rights for me.

As you can see from the photo, as well as enjoying a croissant, cappuccino, and beautiful Wat view, I'm also still working my way through Walden. I'll dedicate a blog to Walden at some point as it is awesome and a perfect travel read, especially for me at this "transitional" period of my life. He certainly knows how to "enjoy the now" although he also can seem to a bit of a jerk sometimes too. But I'll save the book review for later. I think I'm on pace to finish it, especially if i can make myself lay-low here. That said, I think I might go whitewater rafting tomorrow. sigh...Off to night market and cheap eats now....

-erik

Goodbye Cambodia, Hello Laos

All I can really say upon arriving in Luang Prabang (Laos) is "wow." The change between frantic & chaotic Cambodia and sleepy & beautiful Laos could not be more striking. As opposed to falling asleep to discos and waking up to honking, last night I fell asleep to...silence...and woke up (at 4:15am?!) to mellow Buddhist drumming and chimes (which soon stopped and I went back to sleep, but it was actually a pretty awesome way to wake up). The French influence here is strong with beautiful buildings, great food (great bread!), and superior coffee. I might not venture far from here for the rest of my holiday, and although there isn't much to do here beside eat and sleep, I think that will be just fine. This really is the perfect antidote for Cambodia, as well as to 2.5 months on the road. (I say that even though I really enjoyed Cambodia and being on the road in general.)



I have a very nice room with a balcony overlooking the Mekong River ($30/nt, includes breakfast...oops, sorry...) where I might just settle in for a long relaxation. Speaking of relaxation, did have a "lao massage" last night (of course) and it was pretty good; very similar to Thai as you might expect, but a little different. And only $4/hr (ok,ok, I'll stop!!). There are suppose to be alot of outdoor activities and trekking options from LP, and I'll probably do something in a few days. Might be nice to do an overnight or 2 somewhere (hill tribe village, etc), then come back to my cushy hotel. I'd like to do a mt. bike trip, but so far the ones i've seen all look like they are "fun for the whole family" and we all know that's not what I'm looking for (I want a trip where most of the family break collarbones...).


Finally, a few final thoughts on Cambodia (see Angkor Wat below...), before I forget about them:

Cambodia really does seem like a place you could just disappear in. I mean that in pretty much every possible way: you could just be abducted and no one would bother to look for you; you could hide from your creditors/government/family/etc and the lawlessness would help keep you hidden; you could lose yourself to your own demons with all the vice that is offered by the kilos on the streets daily. I happy to report that I made it out though!

• Drunk driving is not a problem in Cambodia. I don't mean that they don't drink and drive, I mean that when they do, it's not a problem. This is mainly because everyone there already drives like they are drunk, so any actual difference is just lost in the noise. I discovered this on first hand on one night of vice I had (mainly just Angkor beer...lots of Angkor beer...) in which my tuk-tuk driver was drinking with me eventually could not walk straight, but fit in with Cambodian traffic just fine. Note: do not try this at home...
• I really don't think I stress enough the overall impressiveness of the temples, so let me say this again: They were very impressive.

Ok, maybe that's enough for now. I'm currently doing a walking tour of LP and taking a brief timeout here as the mid day heat is killer (I thought is was suppose to be cooler here?). But I should be back to it. At least until I walk past a french cafe with some good looking chocolate pastries...

-erik

Angkor-whelming

I've spent the last two days ruin-hopping around Angkor Wat with one more day to go tomorrow. I have a little of the inevitable "it all looks the same, I just want to go back to my room and sleep" feeling, but to a much larger extent, I'm in a perpetual state of awe. Angkor Wat was of course ridiculous. Not the highest temple ever, but the footprint is gigantic, and the entire perimeter of one of the interior walls is covered in non-stop, detail carving: I think about 1 kilometer! But more than that is just that fact that Angkor Wat is really just one of many. Many many many. Ever new temple just adds to the overall effect. Why can't we have infrastructure projects like that? I think the new Bay Bridge would be sweet if it had seven-headed sea-serpents along the whole length of the bridge. It is pretty strange though seeing all this stuff in a country that is so underdeveloped and poor. While Cambodia is clearly developing fast (almost certainly too fast), one has the sense that visitors and locals both see this as a land whose greatest days occurred 1000 years ago. And in a much more dramatic way that Greece or Rome, just because of the current state of things here.

Notes:

• I'm sick again with a cold. Sucks, but if I end this trip with nothing worse than 2 colds, I will certainly count myself lucky.
• Being sick, I had Khmer chicken soup today for lunch and it was great! There was a bug in the soup though and realizing that it would be somewhat awkward complaining about a bug in my soup in a place that bugs are commonly eaten on purpose, I just fished it out and kept eating...
• The temples here are completely overrun, not only by encroaching forests, but by encroaching touts. Most are very cute little girls (between 7-12 years old?) selling t-shirts, bracelets, scarfs, water bottles, pineapple, etc. They are relentless. I'm actually the worst type of tourist for this, because I am teaching them that some people will say "no" 5000 times and then still buy something from them. (Don't get too excited Katie: I mainly just bought water...)
• These kids all ask were I'm from and when I say America, they say "which state" and when I say California, they say, "the capital is Sacramento! Now will you buy something from me!?" Then i say no again. Some times they tell me that Arnold is my governor. Sometimes they tell me the population of the US. Sometimes they name other capitals. Sometimes they count to 10 in several different languages.
  
• Tomorrow I will have counter-measures for the kids: Candy! "I will give you this is you leave me alone..."
  
• Finally getting my first real bout of home-sickness and road-weariness. The cold probably helps. Back in just 2 weeks from tomorrow. It really does go fast. Before I know it I will be at home weed-whacking the yard, just like I was never gone.
  
• Speaking of weed whacking, they literally weed-whack here. Lawns are moved by men on the knees swinging machetes. I will try to stop complaining when I do our lawn (but I'm sure I'll complain anyway...)
• Massage update: Something that I've always dreamed about finally happened yesterday during a massage. No, not that. Yesterday I had a "4-hands massage". 2 masseuses at once for an hour. At times it was confusing and at times it seemed like one of the ladies was just killing time on the legs because she couldn't get anywhere else, but there were moments of true inspiration. They were like synchronized swimmers: when they were in sync, they were more beautiful than they possibly could be alone, but when they were out of sync it was obvious and awkward. Anyway, for $10/hr (only $2.50/hr per hand!) it is definitely something I'm going back for...
  

OK, much more, but I'm tired. Hmm, 4 hands...

-erik

Swimming in Cambodia

Phnom Penh (which I now believe I've learned how to spell...) has lived up to all its contradictory hype and warnings. On my first day it blew my mind (which it's general craziness) and broke my heart (at the Killing Fields and genocide museum). As much as I think I will be eager to leave here in a day or 2, I can honestly say this is one of the most interesting places I've ever been. I seems like so many cities are the same, even here in Asia. Well, Phnom Penh is like nothing I've ever seem before. Probably the closest thing is Bangkok, but in comparison Bangkok seems orderly and comprehendable, which is funny to say because it really is neither.

Flying in to Phnom Penh, I was struck from the air how similar it looked to Sacramento: long, wide valley, big winding rivers surrounded by houses and flood planes. But as I got closer to the ground and realized all the roads I could see were dirt, I got my first indication it would be pretty different. Maybe more like West Sac! (Haha. Sorry, inside joke for us "valley people.") I believe that PP is over 1.5 million, but it feels smaller as there no buildings over 4 stories or so. I never thought I would say this, but the craziness on the roads exceeds anything I saw when I visited China. Almost no lights or stop signs at any intersections with only marginal slowing down through intersections for anyone. They drive on the right side of the road here (yipee!!) except for sometimes when everyone seems to switch sides for no apparent reason (oh no!!). All sorts of vehicles on the roads together (from pedistrian and bikes through Semi-trucks) with all sort of passengers and cargo (I saw a guy on a scooter yesterday with no less than 50 dead (i hope?) chickens.)

For the most part things are cheap here and you know exactly what you spending. The currency of choice: US Dollars! Pretty surreal getting greenbacks out of an ATM in the PP airport...Even though it is pretty cheap, everyone really is out to make a buck (literally this time...) off you. I have found that it is somewhat less frustrating it consider this a "service fee"rather than being ripped off. (Example: my tuk-tuk driver helped me get a new SIM card. he acted like he was just being helpful. The reality is i paid more than normal at the phone shop and he got a kickback. this rip-off pissed me off, but this "service fee" was more understandable...)

Yesterday was pretty active with the genocide museum (which is at a site where over 20,000 people where tortured to death) , the Killing Fields, and the Royal Palace. Like I said, the genocide museum/Killing Fields were stunning. I did everything I could before to prepare myself, but you just can't be prepared. You walk through there and all you can do is say "Why? Why?"to yourself over and over. It was truly haunting and heartbreaking. The evil of man and the fear it can create is still tangible here some 30 years later. I'm not the most intuitive person, but I could even feel it just stepping off the plane. That said, the people here are remarkably friendly and upbeat. Not surprisingly (since 3 million people died between 1974-79) most of the people you meet are younger- most under 30 and thus born after "the events."

Today, I'm going a little slower - catching up on a few things and then maybe going to a massage place where all the masseurs are blind. Suppose to be really good and supports blind people. Also hopefully going to a market and the city's main temple. Tomorrow or the next day (haven't decided yet...) heading off on a long bus ride to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.

More later. Sorry not too many jokes this time. Hard to do when talking about genocide I guess...

-erik