Travis' Travels

One of my heroes just died

2008-11-06T00:55:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I don't have very many heroes in my life. But one of my heroes just died, Michael Crichton. He was my favorite author and sold over 150 million books. He became an amazing expert on every topic he approached and backed up his opinions with facts and was never afraid to buck the popular trends of his day. In fact, he is the only person to ever have the #1 TV show, #1 bestselling book, and #1 movie simultaneously in America. His success was not happenstance but emerged from the talent and character of this amazing man.

You can read more here.

Living in Thailand

2008-11-06T00:42:00.000-08:00

I am a lazy blogger, I admit it! I returned to the USA in late June after a memorable trip to Colombia. I definitely plan to return there next year!

I have been in Thailand for over two months now. I spent my first month learning the Thai language at Piammitr language school in Bangkok. Then I moved to Chiang Mai where I am living now. I researched language schools before arriving and indeed the instruction at this school was absolutely first rate. My four week course, three hours per day, was 5700 baht (about $163). The class size was 2-3.

Do I speak Thai now? Absolutely not. I know perhaps 500 words and can make a few sentences. For a native English speaker, Thai is about twice as hard to learn and use as a romance language (but only half as difficult as Japanese, Arabic, Mandarin, or Korean). If you are curious about how difficult any particular language is to learn for a native English speaker, see this link.

Most people that I deal with in Chiang Mai speak some English. However, the difference between knowing something and nothing is big! I feel confident enough to travel around, can talk to a taxi driver, order food at a Thai-language-only Thai food stand, etc.

Off to Coffee Country

2008-06-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I have not blogged much from Colombia. You will just have to come see for yourself, ha ha ;-)

Tomorrow I am off to coffee country. I am headed to Salento, a beautiful small town surrounded by amazing landscapes and coffee ranches. Hey, someone has to do it! I plan to hang out and down a few "tintos". Tinto literally means red in Spanish, but in Colombia it also means a black coffee. Vino is also tinto here. Coffee is an important part of my life and I want to examine the process up close!

Anyway, I will be writing up and posting some notes on Colombian culture soon (dancing, regionalism, machismo, economics, etc.). I have talked with and observed the people here and learned a lot. Unlike Asia, I can communicate with everyone here and it makes a big difference.

I have been doing a lot of dancing over the last week (both lessons and real dance places). Luckily, the girls that took me dancing were very patient! Also, I took some videos of people dancing here including a stop at a "fonda" which is a traditional countryside dance place. I wish the video quality was better so I am not sure if they are blog-worthy.

I have really enjoyed Medellin -- enough that I might come back to live here for awhile next year.

Every time I think I have advanced in my Spanish something happens to humble me. A Spanish-only speaker calls me on a cheap phone and I can barely hold a conversation. Or I have to ask the waitress to repeat something several times. Sometimes the simplest stuff can be hard to understand in a foreign language.

Colombia is rapidly improving

2008-05-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

The policital and security situation in Colombia has radically improved in the last five years and even in the last year. The paramilitaries, which were privately created armies to maintain order in chaos, have largely disbanded. And now FARC, the revolutionary resistance to the government for years, is getting weaker by the month. The USA now has a strong ally in South America with rapidly improving political instititions and a 7% real economic growth rate.

Here is an excerpt from an article in todays WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121193344829024641.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

Rebels Flail in Colombia
After Death of Leader

By JOSÉ DE CÓRDOBA
May 28, 2008; Page A1

BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- Last November, a guerrilla commander in the jungles of Colombia wrote a despairing note to his superior, the legendary guerrilla leader known as Manuel Marulanda.

"The [army] operation doesn't let up. The number of troops is enormous," wrote Iván Márquez. "Sometimes we eat once a day."

Mr. Márquez's flagging morale, and that of the broader Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel group, known as the FARC, has probably deteriorated much further in the past few months. This past weekend, it emerged that Mr. Marulanda, whose given name is Pedro Antonio Marín, died of an apparent heart attack in late March. He was the FARC's leader for four decades.

Mr. Marulanda's death is only the latest blow to the FARC, Latin America's oldest and biggest insurgency. Having been at the gates of Bogotá just five years ago, the group finds itself on the run from an invigorated Colombian military that runs nightly bombing missions. By most estimates, the rebels' ranks have fallen from an estimated 18,000 fighters to about half that level -- ravaged by desertions. The group's command and control structure has been disrupted to the point where rebels hardly ever use mobile phones for fear of being overheard, relying instead on a system they used in 1964: couriers on foot.

The turnaround is a triumph for Colombia's military and President Alvaro Uribe. A driven man whose father was killed by the FARC in a botched kidnap attempt in 1983, Mr. Uribe was elected Colombia's president in 2002 and vowed to bring the Communist group and other insurgents to heel. His success on that score is a big reason why his approval ratings top 85%.

It is also a largely unsung victory for the U.S., which has lavished nearly $4 billion in mostly military aid on Colombia during the past five years and helped retool the country's army from a demoralized and static force into a powerful fighting machine. At a time when the U.S. has struggled to defeat insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, the progress in its own backyard against a powerful drug-fueled Communist insurgency is a noteworthy achievement.

"The U.S. took us by the hand and showed us how to do things," says a high-ranking Colombian military officer. "None of these successes could have been possible without the United States."

March may have been a tipping point for the rebels. During that month, the FARC lost three members of its seven-man ruling Secretariat -- a stunning development considering the rebel group had not lost a single member of its Secretariat to battle in 44 years of warfare. Aside from losing its founder, the FARC's second in command, Luis Eduardo Devia, known as Raúl Reyes, was killed in a controversial cross-border bombing raid in Ecuador by Colombia's army. A week later, Iván Rios, a rising star in the FARC, was murdered by his trusted bodyguard, who then cut off his hand to ensure he would get a $2.5 million bounty offered by the Colombian government.

Another blow was the recovery of thousands of incriminating files found in the computers of Mr. Reyes which show a relationship between the guerrillas and several regional leaders, especially Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez. The files suggest that Mr. Chávez has a strategic plan to put his oil-financed political muscle and millions of dollars in economic aid behind the FARC. The Venezuelan government has denounced the files as fake. But Interpol has analyzed the computers and declared that the Colombian government hasn't tampered with them. In any case, the uproar over the files would likely discourage major gestures of aid from Venezuela in the future.

Colombia update

2008-05-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Friends, it has been awhile since I updated my blog and for that I apologize. Life has kept me busy and a little lazy here!

OK, I finished three weeks of Spanish school in Cartegena. And I also learned the basics of Merengue and Salsa dancing but probably not quite good enough to just show up at a discoteca and start dancing with locals -- although I did dance with some gringas who were also learning the dances. Cartagena was very hot, even for a tropical boy like me, with a high each day of about 35/95, although the nights with the cool breeze from the ocean were just gorgeous. The Colombian family that I lived with was nice and I was able to communicate with them much better after a few weeks.

I made so many good friends at Spanish school, both Colombians and other foreigners from all over the world studying here just like me. We took some trips out of town together and I hope to post some pictures soon.

A bit over a week ago I moved to the beautiful city of Medellin which has a much more moderate climate. The high temperature each day probably averages about 23/74 this time of year, the rainy season. But it has been raining a lot here, especially in the late afternoon.

My Spanish has definitely improved. I can read magazines and newspapers pretty easily. And I can watch a Spanish subtitled movie and watch it and understand it. I can communicate most ideas in Spanish pretty easily. But I cannot understand Colombians talking at full speed, not even close really, nor can I watch a Spanish movie without Spanish subtitles and understand most of it. But I can have long conversations without much pause if they are willing to slow down.

It is probably easier for me to get around a country like this than the USA because there are more buses and transportation options here, I can communicate and ask questions even if I have to ask them to repeat what they just said, and transportation and lodging are cheaper. That being said, I have found Colombia to be somewhat more expensive that southeast Asia. And many fewer people here speak English. I could not imagine traveling here without at least basic Spanish.

Yes, the rumors are true, the women here are gorgeous. And they tend to paint on their clothes, especially jeans which seem to be the outfit of choice. On Friday evening four of us are going out (two guys, two Colombian girls) for a dancing night on the town. Hmmm . . . I am thinking of taking more dancing lessons before then as they are really good!

So far, it has been generally safe here. About what I would have expected. I do know two foreigners who got drugged (drinks spiked) and then got their wallets stolen (they woke up hours later in a random hotel lobby, they are fine now) but, then again, they got into the car of someone they met at a bar at 1 AM in the morning. There does not appear to be much police corruption here compared to other countries. Generally, people can walk at night here without issues. Based on my travel experience, I think that Quito and Rio de Janeiro are both much more dangerous. OK, that is it for now, more later.

Telecommunications for Frequent Traveler

2008-04-13T23:38:00.001-07:00

How does an international traveler handle telecommunications on the cheap?

First, I use Skype. Skype's basic service is free and allows you to call anyone else using Skype on their computer. However, I pay Skype $5 per month for their combined SkypeIn and SkypeOut plans. This gives me the ability to call any phone in the world from Skype, landline or mobile phone. It also gives me a USA phone number (which is indistinguishable from an "ordinary" phone number). I can forward that phone number to any other number in the world. And I can retrieve the voicemail from that number anywhere I can get online. When I am originating a call in the USA, all long distance calls within the USA are free. While traveling, I can call anyUSA phone from any internet cafe (or from a laptop) for a little over 2 cents per minute. In fact, I am so happy with the service so far that I intend to keep my SkypeIn USA phone number for the rest of my life. It is the one number someone can know that can always reach me, no matter where I am traveling.

When I am at home in the USA, I use a Philips Skype Phone This slick device rings at my house when someone calls my Skype USA phone number. I do not need to have my computer on or running Skype in order to send or receive Skype calls. I use it at home just like anyone else uses an ordinary landline.

Since I seem to only be in the USA a few months per year, I got a pay-as-you-go mobile phone plan from T-mobile (10 cents per minute). For $40 I got a sim card and and excellent quad band phone from them. After I had used it a month I asked them to "unlock" it for me. This means that I can use other sim cards in that same phone, not just sim cards from T-mobile. By having a pay-as-you-go plan, I pay no charges when I am outside of the country like I would on a regular mobile phone contract. Most phones bought in the USA from a telecom provider come locked to that provider and you must request for them to be unlocked.

When I call friends from home, I just use my Skype phone instead of using my mobile minutes on my mobile phone.

When I visit another country, I take out the T-mobile sim card and purchase a local sim card. This costs anywhere from about $1 to $7, in my experience, and usually includes some talk minutes. So then I have a local phone number in the country I am visiting. I buy call time on a per minute basis by buying mobile phone cards for whatever telecom provider I am using at a 7-11 or wherever they are available. So then I have an easy way to keep in touch with locals and to call ahead for hotel reservations or whatever I need. When I have traveled in developing countries, the mobile phone is really the only way to keep in touch with locals -- many do not have an email address or regular internet access. Instead, they use text messages and mobile phone calls to keep in touch.

Then I will usually forward my USA Skype number to my mobile phone number. I will incur Skype charges from the USA to the country where I am visiting. Usually, this is pretty cheap. For instance, it is about 10 cents per minute to call Thailand or Colombia this way. So let's say a friend is calling me from the USA on their mobile phone. They dial my US Skype number and my phone rings in Colombia. My total cost will be the Skype USA to Colombia charges plus my per minute charges on my Colombia mobile phone. This will probably total about 15 cents per minute. This also means that I do not need to notify friends of new mobile phone numbers for each country that I visit (or explain how to dial into that country), there is one easy way to reach me by calling my regular USA Skype number. This is also a good phone number to give for your financial accounts.

Project Colombia

2008-04-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

I have enjoyed seeing many friends and family since I returned home to America last month. OK, enough of the easy life, time for some more adventure! I am leaving again in ten days for the country of Colombia, in South America. I plan to stay there for about 8 weeks.

Why Colombia, of all places? Well, there are a lot of reasons.

One of my longtime goals has been to become fluent in Spanish. I speak it OK now but I would like to move up the curve significantly. So a couple of months in a country where few speak English should really help me to speak and understand better. I will spend the first couple of weeks in Cartagena in Spanish language school. I will also be living with a Colombian family and taking daily dance lessons (salsa, samba). After that, I plan to tour the country independently by bus.

Colombia is much safer than it used to be. A decade ago Colombia was probably one of the most dangerous places in the world to visit. However, since President Uribe was first elected 6 years ago (and reelected by a huge landslide two years ago), there has been a complete turnabout. Violent crime has plummeted. The murder rate in Medellin is down over 90%. The groups who were in violent opposition to the government are shadows of their former selves. Tourism has almost tripled in the last three years. The secret is out and many more people are visiting. In fact, I would say that Colombia is probably about as safe as an average South American country now (which means, however, that it is still much more dangerous than the USA or Southeast Asia).

Colombia has the second largest population in South America after Brazil. Colombia has the second largest Spanish speaking population in the world after Mexico. Colombia is America's closest ally in South America and has enacted policies that have reduced economic protectionism, crime, and corruption. Economic growth has accelerated to 7% per year.

I plan to "go native" on this trip. That means no English language reading material except for a guidebook (since it is only available in English). I will still think in English sometimes when I talk with fellow Anglo travelers, use the internet, and write my blog, but I intend to keep to Spanish as much as possible. In fact, I just bought my first Spanish novel the other day -- an interesting book targeted at middle to high schoolers rather than adults which makes it mostly comprehensible to me. OK, wish me luck! This trip is a stretch for me and I will need all of your support!

I am coming home soon

2008-02-26T05:45:00.000-08:00

I have received a number of emails in the last few weeks of the flavor -- gee, Travis, I know you are having a great time and all -- but are you ever going to come back home? Well, I am pleased to announce that I have bought a return ticket to the USA and will arrive on Thursday, March 6. This will be about a 30 hour door to door odyssey and the cost was around $700. My first destination will be the San Francisco Bay Area to see some friends and then a few days later I am flying "home" to the San Diego area.

My main priorities will be spending time with family and friends. Logistical life issues include doing my taxes, setting up a proper mail forwarding address, making some minor portfolio tweaks, quickly getting a pay-as-you-go mobile phone plan set up with a new quad band phone, and planning my next few trips this year.

My brilliant and beautiful sister Pam has signed me up for the Carlsbad 5K (50 kilometers north of San Diego) in early April -- a race that her and my cousin Michelle will also be running. This will give me an incentive to get back in running shape right away (self respect and shameful hubris wouldn't allow me to lose to girls from my own family!).

I flew back to Chiang Mai, Thailand (in the north of the country) yesterday and I have already been having a blast here with friends. I definitely love this place and it will be hard to leave. The people and the weather are just wonderful here.

It is hard for me to describe my experiences in a blog. I really only touch the surface here and it makes me feel like I am cheating readers, not to mention that I really don't take that many pictures, and if I tried to document everything it would be a book and then some. I really don't describe many of my ordinary day to day activities, like wonderful time spent with friends, as I should.

But I do hope to add a few more stories and pictures after I return to the USA where I will probably have more spare time. I still have some amazing experiences from Myanmar to share.

Playing with the kids at a Myanmar monastery where we spent the night:

Also, I am sure that I will have some serious reflecting to do as the culture shock of returning to the USA and leaving Asia hits me head on. And I guess I might have to wear long pants sometimes, at least if my weather.com checks of California weather are not lying to me.

Hobo Traveler

2008-02-21T00:39:00.000-08:00

Before leaving for Myanmar, Dave and I met Andy, the man behind the well known hobotraveler web site (and the hobotraveler blog). Who is Andy? Well, Andy quit working a normal job around 11 years ago when he was about 40 years old. He decided to start traveling and he has never stopped since then. He comes back to the US for a few weeks every year. He documents his travels and budget travel tips on his web site. At first he was traveling on the super cheap, like maybe for 5000 dollars per year. But he started generating income from his web site and now he is able to travel much more comfortably. Andy's web site now gets over 10,000 unique readers every day!

I first looked at Andy's web site about five years ago. It opened my eyes to the fact that international travel did not have to be expensive at all -- in fact, it is often cheaper than just living in one place in the USA. I had always wanted to travel more and realized that it was easily within my grasp to see the world. People in the West have this idea that vacations have to be expensive or luxurious -- but for me that is not the best way to travel because it would mean that my vacations would have to be short and spending all that cash creates a barrier between me and the local people. Most package tourists end up spending a lot of money and only meeting English speaking hotel staff without much exposure to the local culture.

Well, naturally, I had always wanted to meet Andy -- but he refuses most meeting requests since he gets so many. But we had some interests in common and had communicated over time on a number of topics and so Dave and I met with Andy and his girlfriend in Bangkok. Andy is starting a new web site called hobohideout that allows hotel owners to easily catalog their hotels on the internet and he wanted to bounce some ideas off of techie travelers.

Andy is a person who says exactly what he thinks and is never, ever politically correct and so the conversations can get entertaining! I should mention that there is no picture of Andy here since he has a no picture policy -- when he criticizes places or people he will sometimes get threats and so he chooses to maintain some privacy.

I met with Andy several more times after Dave left. Andy knows everything about how Google's cataloging of web sites works and he even outsources most of the techie work to a programmer that he has groomed in India giving him lots of spare time. I felt like he had a good head for business and was a good salesman like most successful businessmen.

After meeting with Andy, I realized that I am sometimes too introverted when I travel and I am often not frank enough in my own writing and speaking. Well, those are things I need to work on ;-) Anyway, I felt like Andy really enjoyed talking with us and he made plenty of time to discuss whatever we wanted. Thanks, Andy!

Elena smokes a Myanmar stogie

2008-02-20T01:47:00.000-08:00

Myanmar makes some interesting little cigars called cheroots that some folks there seem to relish. They are made everywhere. Elena decided to smoke one (I have never smoked even a single cigarrete and was not about to start now!). She said they were actually OK! Well, you be the judge:

We encountered these in a hut in a small native village near Lake Inle.

Cheroot is one of the distinctive icons of Myanmar. These cigars are made with a blend of tobacco and fragrant wood chips, then rolled up using a dried green leaf called the 'tha nat phet'. After adding a filter made of corn husks, the cheroot is ready to be smoked and is without the addition of harsh chemicals. They are mostly hand made by women in the Inle Lake region.

Anyway, as we were leaving Myanmar, in Elena's baggage I could not help but notice a wad of carefully wrapped Myanmar stogies!!

Meeting D.J. and Catherine in Yangon

2008-02-20T01:26:00.000-08:00

Our trip to Myanmar was bookended by dinners with D.J. and Catherine. D.J. is principal of the International School of Yangon and Catherine is the librarian. They have worked their way around the world by holding teaching positions in many countries. We first met through the couchsurfing web site.

Here we are for our first dinner in a fancy Yangon Restaurant (total bill of $32, including tip, that is about as expensive as it gets in Myanmar ;-):

Here is our dinner at their house on our last night in Myanmar:

There is just something about meeting Americans on the road that I love (and I meet so few). And D.J. and Catherine had great insight into Burmese culture and what it is like to live and work around the world. They also both speak passable Mandarin. Their next post is Hong Kong starting in late summer. Thanks so much for your hospitality!

By the way, I have had various friends over the years who were teachers in the USA. One thing that I have suggested to them is that a great way to make money and expose your kids to different cultures and a great education is to make a living as international teachers. You can save most of your salary since the schools usually provide your housing (and many other things) in addition to providing you with a generous salary. Most worldwide international schools teach their curriculum in English. They get the summers off (and usually a plane ticket home is provided for you and your family).

The power is out again

2008-02-18T04:38:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned earlier, consisent power is a problem everywhere in Myanmar. So at night it can gets quite dark around town. Here is a picture of the night market in the large town of Mandalay. The market had a few portable generators for power and used fluorescent lighting:

We scored some decent winter caps (Myanmar can get cold!) there for the equivalent of 60 US cents.

Many small restaurants do not have generators. Elena and I were desperate for Indian food (OK, it was mostly me!) and the only one open in the small town of Nyaung Shwe did not have a generator -- but the food was great! Here I am sitting at our table waiting for the food (we were the only customers) -- hey, you gotta have a sense of humor about these things . . .
A typical scenario in a smaller town was that a restaurant would be dark until someone showed up. As we were being seated, we would hear someone start the generator in the back and the lights would go on. We expected that to happen at this restaurant but we realized after awhile that we would be eating by candlelight.

Hair cut and transport in Yangon

2008-02-17T21:16:00.001-08:00

In Yangon we met Kaun, a tour guide looking for work:

As we toured the country, we were approached by several people who were tour guides. But unlike in some other countries that we visited, none of them were really scam artists. They were genuinely trying to help and make a little money in exchange for useful information. The decline of tourism has really hurt the ordinary people here. In fact, it was a unanimous opinion of both the Burmese and expats that we talked with that the economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar do nothing to change the political situation and only cause suffering among the local people.

The real irony is that this was probably the best time possible to visit Myanmar. Myanmar is actually a very safe country, much safer than many other countries that I have visited. If you want good reasons to not visit Myanmar, transportation hassles, lack of reliable electronic communication, and power outages would have to be at the top of the list whereas safety is not an issue at all.

We went for a tea with Kaun (a common activity here; tea shops are everywhere and we partook frequently) and he offered to help us with any of our needs at no financial obligation (naturally, we ended up giving him something). He also wrote us a list of recommended accomodations at each of our future stops in Myanmar. Well, I desperately needed a haircut -- I was so busy in Bangkok in my last few days there that I failed to get one before leaving. Elena wanted to call her father to let him know she was OK (her father does not have email). So first we went to the hair stylist:

Hey, at these prices, let's throw in a wash, too!

Long distance calls out of the country cost in the neighborhood of three dollars per minute (even more from our guesthouse). Elena wanted to call her dad to let him know she was OK since he does not do email. Well, she called and got some French guy, but definitely not her dad (or his phone, it was a different number). They verified that the correct number was indeed dialed so we paid the three dollars anyway. Communications are just not reliable here.

During our initial tours around Yangon, we found that we could get just about anywhere in the city for less than two US dollars in Khat. We took a picture of one of the cabs -- hey it got us from Point A to Point B! (Techie note: that is NOT a GPS on the front dashboard but just a picture ;-)

You just gotta love this transportation! I must be smiling because of all that money I am saving! Cheap, comfortable transport -- I am in the zone!

As our trip progressed, Elena started counting different forms of transportation that we took on this Myanmar trip and she counted at least fifteen. We pretty much took every form of land and water transport powered by motors, animals or humans.

Let's meet some locals

2008-02-17T20:39:00.000-08:00

Elena and I visited the city of Mandalay near the center of the country. It is a mostly flat city with a single hill overlooking it called Mandalay Hill. And sitting atop the hill, as on almost every majestic hill in this country, is a Buddhist Pagoda. And there are numerous pagodas on the way up the hill. Buddhist culture runs deep in this country and there are pagodas and monks everywhere. According to tradition, one can make up for a lifetime of sins if you build enough pagodas . . . and so you can see why there are so many . . .

We met two lovely 12 year old girls there at the bottom of the hill who were selling postcards:

These girls went with us up the steps of the hill and the temple, about an hour walk. What struck us about them is that they were so incredibly joyful about life. They both no longer attend school due to lack of funds and so raise money for their families by selling postcards. So many people in the world who have so much more are unhappy but these girls really lifted our spirits by their wonderful attitude about life and you can see it in their pictures. Here they are with Elena and then me:

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that that white substance on so many people's faces. It is called Thanaka

Thanaka is a yellowish-white cosmetic paste made from ground wood. In Myanmar, it is commonly applied to the face and sometimes the arms of women and girls and to a lesser extent men and boys.^[1]^[2]^[3] The use of thanaka has also spread to neighboring countries including Thailand.^[2]^[3]

The wood of several trees (collectively called thanaka trees) may be used to produce thanaka cream; these trees grow abundantly in central Myanmar.

Thanaka cream has been used by Burmese women for over 2000 years. It has a fragrant scent somewhat similar to sandalwood.^[2]^[5] The creamy paste is applied to the face in attractive designs, the most common form being a circular patch on each cheek, sometimes made stripey with the fingers known as thanaka bè gya, or patterned in the shape of a leaf, often also highlighting the bridge of the nose with it at the same time. It may be applied from head to toe (thanaka chi zoun gaung zoun). Apart from cosmetic beauty, thanaka also gives a cooling sensation, provides protection from sunburn, helps remove acne, promotes smooth skin, and is an anti-fungal.

As we were lingering on the top of the hill in the temple, we met a monk named Nan Shave. He approached us as he is learning English and wanted to talk. He had been a monk for many years and his family would come from the countryside to visit him from time to time -- they were currently visiting and he was showing them around the temple. Well, Nan Shave wanted to show Elena and I his monastery a few kilometers away so we could not resist.

Here I am sitting next to Nan Shave near his room at the monastery. In the background are his family, some novice monks, and other visitors that day.

Basically, everyone in this room except Nan Shave was afraid to speak and they hung on every word that I would say. No one spoke much English except for Nan Shave and he would try to translate. What we found in Myanmar is that men are very friendly but that women do not speak to strangers much.

Here are some students learning Pali from a senior monk. Pali is the ancient sanscrit language used to record the Buddhist scriptures:

Some pictures of the monastery:

No one can wear shoes inside a pagoda, temple, or in many areas of a monastery.

Nan Shave actually took us to several other directly adjacent monasteries and introduced us to several other English speakers. I felt like a rock star at times as people peppered me with questions about English and America. My French friend, Elena, felt quite left out at times!

We asked where we could give a donation to help the local people and Nan Shave walked us to a school for orphaned and abandoned girls where we were able to donate money after they gave us a tour through the school. Afterwards, we ate a modest dinner together. It was all quite moving and a day that will not soon be forgotten . . .

Off Topic: Literature on the Road

2008-02-17T02:28:00.001-08:00

One thing that I have enjoyed about traveling is that it lends itself to reading some solid literature. There is always downtime while traveling as you rest and relax or while you are on transport. I have done a lot of reading on this trip. I just finished George Orwell's Burmese Days, his first novel, during my trip in Myanmar. It was brilliant and helped me understand that country and its people better. Michael Crichton's autobiography, Travels, helped me to understand how travel might open one's mind to the ideas of different cultures via first hand experience with them. I am currently reading Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian, a brilliant historical novel about life in the British Navy in the early 19th century, etc.

But my favorite piece of writing has always been the following, written by Sullivan Ballou to his wife during his service in the American Civil War. It simultaneously evokes a sense of duty, honor, patriotism, love and eternity, and it has never left me:

July 14, 1861
Camp Clark, Washington

My very dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more . . .

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt . . .

Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness . . .

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights . . . always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again . . .

Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the first Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861.

Initial Impressions of Myanmar

2008-02-16T05:19:00.000-08:00

As our guesthouse mini-van brought us from the Yangon airport to our guesthouse across town, the alien sights of this country attacked our senses. Men going about their business wearing long skirts called longyis, faces plastered with a white paste I had never seen before, a mixture of cars with steering wheels on the left and right sides, pot-holed roads, monks walking about in their robes, and the sweaty temperature of this city as the morning sun quickly rose along with the temperature. I could tell this was going to be an adventure, I just was not sure whether it would be an epic adventure or one to forget.

That afternoon we made our way down to the central market to change money. The "official" exchange rate is a joke and no one actually exchanges money except on the black market. And the only money generally accepted for exchange here is the US dollar, preferably large denominations for the best rate. There are no ATMs in Myanmar and we never did see anywhere that accepted traveler's checks or credit cards (apparently the latter can only be done by proxy by a Thai affiliate for the few businesses with such a capability). So the US dollars that you bring into the country on your person, all in cash, are all that you are going to be able to spend on your visit here -- there is no other way for a tourist to get money from outside the country. In fact, it is not even legal for Myanmar citizens to save dollars although this is ignored by everyone. For our first money change, we changed a single US $100 dollar bill for 124,500 Kyat (pronounced like Chat). So we received 124 bills of denomination 1000 and a single bill of 500 denomination. This amount of money does not fit into your pocket and you feel like a Colombian drug lord carrying around such a wad of cash.

The wad of Khats in the picture below is worth less than $50 US dollars. We never did see any larger denominations.

One of our early observations was that there are almost no foreign brands here. Even Coca-Cola is imported from Thailand and the words on the can are in Thai sanscrit writing. We never did see a Western chain store of any kind during our visit.

The power was out for most of the day at our guesthouse (which was quite nice at $10 per night), but they have a generator that they often run which is fine except that it does not power the A/C. Any business worth their salt here has a generator. That first evening when we went out, we were shocked to see that the city is mostly dark. We could hear generators which were apparently the power source for most of the scant lighting that we saw. Power is a scarce commodity here, especially consistent power. Even routine walks at night require a torch lamp (thankfully provided by my former co-workers as a going away gift!) If it was like this in the country's wealthiest city, where the Burmese generals who control the country live in relative opulence, what would it be like in the rest of the country?

Although during the anti-government protests in September the media and internet were mostly shut off, I was able to view BBC broadcasts in our guesthouse. Internet access is spotty in the country and accessing email sites requires using proxies which every internet cafe we visited knew exactly how to set up. A mobile phone sim card costs about US $2500 here meaning that almost no one has one. In reality, more outside media broadcasts are allowed here in Myanmar than in a tightly controlled country like China which I discovered during my visit there still maintains a shocking amount of control over the fundamental freedoms of its people.

As we toured the country, the Myanmar that began to emerge is a country where the people are incredibly warm and friendly, a people who have a deep and special admiration for the USA and the beacon of freedom that it represents to them, and a people that thoroughly understand the situation with their oppressive government even if there is nothing that they can do about it.

Off to Myanmar expect Radio Silence

2008-01-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I am off to Myanmar in just a few hours. I doubt there will be much internet access there, especially to blog sites, so I do not expect to be able to post any entries until I return to Thailand around February 12.

I have been in Bangkok for a couple of weeks but have not posted much about my time here! That will change after I return ;-) I did meet several times with Andy of hobotraveler.com and his personality is truly larger than life, more on that later ;-)

Today, I met my travel partner, Elena, for the first time. Previously, we had only communicated over the internet starting way back in August -- Elena had been interested in finding a travel partner to Myanmar instead of traveling alone and the timing of our visit matched perfectly.

There have been a lot of protests in Myanmar recently and so internet access is severely limited there. I had heard that they are rejecting one in five visa applicants (if they even suspect your visit is press-related you are rejected) so I was relieved that I got a proper tourist visa without any problems. So if I do not break radio silence for awhile please do not be concerned.

Myanmar is a country where time has stood still. There are virtually no ATMs there or locations where credit cards are accepted. One needs to enter the country with a pile of US dollars and that is how much you will be able to spend because there is really no easy way to access outside funds there. Even the local currency cannot be used in many places and can only be exchanged for a fair rate at local markets with US dollars. But this is part of what makes Myanmar so interesting -- it is a chance to see a place in the world as it was fifty years ago. And the temples built on the plains near Bagan almost a millenium ago rival Cambodia's Angkor Wat as the greatest ruins of southeast Asia.

Future of travel: sharing information?

2008-01-13T23:44:00.000-08:00

The US and Canada share their complete criminal databases with each other -- Canada pulls up a complete background check on every border crossing. Is this the future of cross-border travel?

"Going to Canada? Check your past. Visitors with minor criminal records turned back at border "
Article link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/23/NEVIUS.TMP

Going to Canada? Check your past
Visitors with minor criminal records turned back at border

There was a time not long ago when a trip across the border from the United States to Canada was accomplished with a wink and a wave of a driver's license. Those days are over.

Take the case of 55-year-old Lake Tahoe resident Greg Felsch. Stopped at the border in Vancouver this month at the start of a planned five-day ski trip, he was sent back to the United States because of a DUI conviction seven years ago. Not that he had any idea what was going on when he was told at customs: "Your next stop is immigration.''

Felsch was ushered into a room. "There must have been 75 people in line," he says. "We were there for three hours. One woman was in tears. A guy was sent back for having a medical marijuana card. I felt like a felon with an ankle bracelet.''

Or ask the well-to-do East Bay couple who flew to British Columbia this month for an eight-day ski vacation at the famed Whistler Chateau, where rooms run to $500 a night. They'd made the trip many times, but were surprised at the border to be told that the husband would have to report to "secondary'' immigration.

There, in a room he estimates was filled with 60 other concerned travelers, he was told he was "a person who was inadmissible to Canada.'' The problem? A conviction for marijuana possession.

Canadian Government link (which confirms the surprising information in this article):
http://geo.international.gc.ca/can-am/seattle/visas/inadmissible-en.asp

How hard is it to learn a new language?

2008-01-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting link on how long it takes to acquire fluency in particular foreign languages for native English speakers with a good aptitude for language acquisition:

http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/learningExpectations.html

If you go to the link, they carefully define fluency levels. It appears that there are three classes of languages when analyzed as to how difficult it is to learn to both speak and read them for a native English speaker. The easiest class of languages (mostly romance languages) takes about 600 hours to achieve fluency. The second class of languages takes about 1100 hours and the third class of languages takes about 2200 hours.

Thai, like the majority of languages, falls into the second class. However, it has an asterisk next to it, meaning that it is a bit more difficult than most languages in the second class. But it is not nearly as difficult as Mandarin, Korean, or Japanese, for instance.

So, according to this chart, it takes about twice as many hours to achieve fluency in Thai as it does to achieve fluency in a romance language.

Goodbye Dave!

2008-01-12T07:30:00.001-08:00

Well, Dave and I had a great time in Thailand and Malaysia. Unfortunately, all good things must (?) come to an end so Dave flew home on Friday from Bangkok to return to the good old USA after five weeks of travel together. Dave called me from the airport and said he had had the trip of a lifetime. And it really was!

Like good software engineers, here we are carefully studying the documentation before entering the temple: A little sweat in this picture taken in warm Thailand. It takes a typical person 5 to 7 days to accomodate themselves to a hot climate. Among other things, after your body adjusts your sweat will contain less salt. Dave called me from Northern California after his return to the USA and mentioned how cold it felt there and was surprised at how much his body had adjusted to the warmer temperatures in Thailand and Malaysia.

Thanks, Dave, for all the great friendship and memories!

The Oracle and the Shaman

2008-01-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

During our time in Chiang Mai both Billy and Don had great advice for us on almost every aspect of Thai culture and living abroad -- the kind of detailed, worldy advice you just can't get from a book. When Dave and I would be discussing things later, we noticed that we kept referring back to their advice. At one point, we started referring to Billy as the "Oracle" and Don as the "Shaman."

Here I am receiving some words of wisdom from the Oracle on USA tax residency issues over Mexican food. This took place during a weekly ex-pat luncheon that takes place in Chiang Mai.

Here is the Shaman during a nice dinner out with the gang. OK, maybe his advice was a little erratic after a few glasses of wine ;-) We had walked to this local family restaurant but it was closed. We knocked on the door and they recognized Don and they opened the restaurant up just for us. The food was wonderful!
Here I am holding one of the Shaman's sacred implements during one of our chat discussions in the foyer outside of his guesthouse room:

Thanks to the Oracle and the Shaman for all the great advice!

Working out again

2008-01-12T07:17:00.001-08:00

I have started working out again. When I left the US for this trip, I was in top running condition. But, for various reasons, it is hard for me to go running while I am traveling from place to place and especially if I am traveling with someone else. I can't run within two hours of eating, I need to find a mostly traffic free and safe path to run, I can't run when it is too hot, I need to shower and change afterwards, etc.

But when I settle into a routine at one location, I can usually find a proper place to run and fit it into my schedule. I found a great location in Chiang Mai and my fitness really improved after running about five or six times. Here in Bangkok I found a nearby asphalt track to run on that is over a kilometer in circumference and I went running there earlier. Although it is much warmer in Bangkok, I can still get a good workout here.

I tend to run in the very late afternoon or early evening time before it gets dark. It has cooled down a bit by then. I think most Thais run in the early morning. In fact, at the asphalt track in Bangkok I saw perhaps a thousand Thais out and about but not one other person running besides myself. And when I run I basically work out at top speed -- my race times are not much faster than my workout times -- and I am much bigger than the average Thai male. So I think when the Thais see this Westerner running lap after lap at top speed in the late afternoon heat they are thinking that perhaps he is a bit loco.

New Year's Eve in Chiang Mai

2008-01-12T02:33:00.001-08:00

We spent New Year's Eve in beautiful Chiang Mai. We started the evening off with a wonderful dinner at Pom Pui Italian restaurant, eating under the stars (almost all Thai restaurants are open air). Here are Dao, Don, Travis, and Dave:
Then we walked over to Taepa Gate which is like a super-mini-Times-Square. The atmosphere there was wonderful!

The sky was filled with these "fire balloons" and naturally we had to join in on the action:
Then we strategically located ourselves on the second floor of a Starbucks overlooking the action. They had a patio where we could see everything. There were fireworks bursting in the air; everyone was excited but well behaved and it was a wonderful experience!!
By the end of the evening we were a bit tired but happy that 2008 was upon us:
One year ago I never dreamed that I would be seeing in 2008 in Thailand in perfect weather with both familiar and new friends. 2007 was a huge year of transition for me: quitting my job, moving from the Bay Area, taking a long trip abroad . . . what a year 2007 was! I thank God everyday for the many blessings in my life.

Institutionalized piracy

2008-01-12T02:04:00.000-08:00

Southeast Asia is a place where you can "get things." One of these things is pirated movies and software. We found an entire mini-mall in Chiang Mai pretty much dedicated to pirated goods. In fact, there are several malls there like this:
You can walk the aisles of these stores and get expensive software packages for an average of about 100 baht each:

Have you downloaded a trial version of software that expired? Don't worry, these gurus will make it work permanently for a very low price. Do you have an illegal copy of Windows? Yes, that's right, there is "Windows Legitimizer" available for a small fee.

You can purchase a CD of music for about 10 baht (US 30 cents) and 7 baht per CD in quantity. There are huge English and Thai language printouts which list virtually any music you could want and from these books you can assemble a portfolio of music to be burned on CDs. Any movie you can think of is a bargain on DVD. Whatever they don't have will be prepared for you by tomorrow.

Felling guilty yet? Don't worry, even the monks are doing it ;-)

Of course, trademarks are not protected as well here, either. This one is from Malaysia:

But this image from Bangkok shows that even McDonald's is changing a little with the times:
Dispensing with the humor, this really is bad for Thailand's economy in the long run. It reduces their chances to participate in the information revolution. And there is not much legitimate stuff for sale here -- it is not even available. So Thailand's appeal as a target market for movies, music, and software is vastly reduced.

It reminds me of this exchange from the Shawshank Redemption, a movie about a man who was incarcerated after being falsely accused of killing his wife and her lover. In this exchange, two prisoners discuss a much older prisoner who has spent so much time there that he would not be able to survive in the real world:

RED: Heywood, enough. Ain't nothing wrong with Brooksie. He's just institutionalized, that's all.

HEYWOOD: Institutionalized, my ass.

RED: Man's been here fifty years. This place is all he knows. In here, he's an important man, an educated man. A librarian. Out there, he's nothing but a used-up old con with arthritis in both hands. Couldn't even get a library card if he applied. You see what I'm saying?

FLOYD: Red, I do believe you're talking out of your ass.

RED: Believe what you want. These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. After long enough, you get so you depend on 'em. That's "institutionalized."

JIGGER: Shit. I could never get that way.

ERNIE: Say that when you been inside as long as Brooks has.

Thailand is completely dependent on piracy to supply movies, music, and software to consumers -- it has become legitimized and institutionalized -- and that dependency will hurt it in the long run.

I am in Bangkok now. Here on Khao San Road I can get a diploma from any university I want, a press pass, a student ID, a Driver's License, etc. Hmmm, I am thinking that a press pass and a student ID for hostel discounts (Professor Travis) might just do the trick for me . . .

Some random Chiang Mai memories

2008-01-07T01:18:00.000-08:00

Well, Dave and I are leaving Chiang Mai for Bangkok tomorrow but we will never forget our wonderful time here.

What makes Thailand so special is the warm people here. We have experienced such kindness that I am at a loss to describe our experience in words. So I wanted to just post some random memories here.

Elephant preserve

2008-01-07T01:08:00.001-08:00

Dave and I visited an elephant preserve about an hour's drive outside of Chiang Mai. There was an interesting show showcasing some of the advanced elephant training. But, of course, what we really came for was a chance to ride an elephant!

Along the ride you are given the opportunity to buy some food and feed it to the elephants. We bought some bananas and some sugarcane. The elephant eats a whole bundle of bananas in one bite, banana skin and all. The sugar cane is as hard as a wood log and the elephant eats about six at once in one quite loud chomp! I was pretty hungry that morning, and what is not shown here is me sneaking a few of the bananas for myself before feeding them to our trusty elephant.

Cooking school

2008-01-07T00:18:00.001-08:00

One of my goals in Chiang Mai was to get the professional help that others have told me my cooking so desperately needs ;-) So Dave and I decided to attend all day classes at Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School the day before and the day after Christmas. We prepared about five different Thai dishes each day and then ate them all. So a warning to all friends and family -- be prepared for beta testing of my Thai cooking skills when I return to the USA!

The first part of the course involved a trip to the market (about one kilometer up the road) to purchase our ingredients. I wish I could also send you the smells and sounds but pictures will have to suffice!

Each person is given the recipes for all the Thai meals that the school teaches, even the meals you are not preparing on a given day. Each dish is demonstrated in a classroom by the teacher.

And then we all run to our individual cooking workstations to prepare the meal ourselves before the preparation steps fade from our feeble cooking-challenged minds:

On the first day of class, we were being shown how to prepare a particular curry dish. As the teacher was cooking the curry paste in the wok, the mist of the spicy curry began to fill the air. In the classroom, eyes were swelling, noses were sniffling, and there was coughing because those fumes can get strong. The instructor could hear what was happening and he suddenly looked up and spread his arms and said, "Welcome to Thailand!"

OK, now it is time to eat my own cooking, no time to pose for a picture, I am hungry!!!

Life is easy on the road

2008-01-06T23:42:00.000-08:00

I really have not shared that much logistical information about traveling since I posted my original equipment list since my family and friends seemed more concerned that I was not kidnapped or hopelessly lost in a strange country.

But I thought some readers would be interested about laundry on the road. When I first started this trip, I imagined that I would be doing a lot of laundry by hand. And I do, in fact, carry a bit of laundry soap, a universal drain plug, and a tiny clothesline. But, for the most part, I have not done any laundry since I left the USA four months ago.

In most developing countries, you can get your laundry done for about one dollar per kilogram (2.2 pounds). Hey, I would pay several times that. One of my first items of business when I change locations is to identify the nearest laundry!

So I just put my dirty laundry into a plastic bag and drop it off a couple of times a week and I come back the next day and pick up my freshly washed (and often ironed) clothes. My average cost for this is probably around 50 cents per day. Gotta love it (1 dollar = 33 baht)

Another thing that is difficult for travelers in developed countries like the USA is the expense and trouble of transportation. Taxis are expensive and sometimes difficult to find. Renting a car is a major hassle and cost -- especially when you consider insurance. But in developing countries you just walk out to the road and quickly flag a tuk tuk or taxi.

This morning I needed to extend my permission to stay in Thailand stamp in my passport so I had to visit the immigration office which is located on the other side of town. I just walked out of my guesthouse room and instantly got a taxi. When I was finished and ready to leave I instantly got a tuk tuk. I paid about US $5 for the round trip. And it was much more convenient than having to park a car, etc. since I do not even know my way around well enough to quickly find these places whereas the locals know exactly where things are located.

Today I went out to lunch with Billy and Akaisha. We walked about 100 meters to a local restaurant and had a delicious meal for about 35 baht per person (about 1 US dollar). It hardly pays to cook for yourself when such inexpensive and delicious food is so readily available. Life is easy here.

Dave and I are flying to Bangkok tomorrow, Tuesday the 8th of January. It will be tough to leave Chiang Mai!

Making new friends in Chiang Mai

2008-01-05T02:16:00.000-08:00

Dave and I have made some wonderful new friends here in Chiang Mai. We met Yui and Dao at an expat luncheon within 36 hours of our arrival. They have showed us all around Chiang Mai! We could not have met two nicer ladies. There is no way that I can cover all of the places that we have visited together in this blog. We will never forget our time together here.

Here we are posing together one evening enjoying some live music together:
We visited a Thai farm owned by Dao's family.

Here we are at one of the buffets we all went to together. From left to right we have Travis, Yui, Dave, Dao, Maurice, Billy, Akaisha, and Don (more on Don later! ;-). By the way, this buffet was amazing (Western, Chinese, Thai) and the cost was about US $5 for all you can eat.

Here are Dao and I overlooking the city:

A retire early board meeting shot ;-) :

This is the first Christmas that I have ever spent apart from my family. But this year was still special as we all attended an orphanage fundraiser together. The School for Life is located a few kilometers outside of Chiang Mai and it was fun to meet some of the kids!

Other friends Ploy (center) and Dao (right, same name as our Dao) also joined us at the orphange:
Later in the week, we celebrated Yui's birthday together. Happy Birthday, Yui!!

Meeting Billy and Akaisha in Chiang Mai

2007-12-27T23:02:00.001-08:00

Dave and I have been in Chiang Mai for a week and a half already! We are having a great time here and one blog post or even two is not going to cover some of our incredible experiences here!

I have been in communication for a couple of years with Billy and Akaisha Kaderli who started the web site called: http://www.retireearlylifestyle.com I casually helped them promote their book and we share many traits in common. We finally got a chance to meet in person here in Chiang Mai! In fact, we have gotten together a number of times during our stay here.

I can't begin to tell you how nice Billy and Akaisha are and they have had a lot of good advice for us about Thailand. They both retired at the age of 38 and live in Thailand about half the time and spend the rest of the time at their home base in the USA or traveling around the world. I encourage you to read more about them on their web site. They are the real deal and live what they teach.

Well, I will have a lot more to post about Chiang Mai soon . . .

Penang, Malaysia

2007-12-22T23:36:00.000-08:00

Dave and I took the five hour bus ride northwest from Kuala Lumpur to the city of Georgetown which is located on the island of Penang. The island is about 295 square kilometers and is connected to the mainland via a long bridge. Georgetown is one of Malaysia's major cities and is known as a food mecca. There is a lot of history here because this is where the British first established a beachhead in this region. The island's population is roughly 700, 000.

As a sign of the level of diversity on this island (and in Malaysia), the taxi driver that took us to our hotel was a Roman Catholic Indian who had once lived in Britain and spoke fluent English. He was a real character and a very honest fellow who gave us lots of good tips on the way. We were asking some questions about Malay politics. Although this is very safe country, there have been some racial tensions recently. Apparently, the root cause is that there is some discrimination against non-Malay minorities (jobs, university placements, etc.) and this is enshrined in the Constitution. He was wondering aloud about American politics and figured that President Bush was a shoe-in for a third term. I patiently explained to him that a third term would violate the 22nd amendment of the US Constitution which limits a US president's tenure to two terms.

Our cab driver also pointed to an Indian restaurant named Jaya near our hotel and in his Indian accent said: "You will go to this restaurant and you will never want to go to another restaurant in town." Those words proved prophetic as we found Jayas, pictured below, to have cheap and tasty Indian food, as good as any Indian food I have ever had. We ate there four or five times.

In fact, I am developing a mild Chai Tea addiction (Teh Terik, I think) -- I can't resist their wonderful spicy hot Indian tea here, available at most restaurants, at only about US $0.30 per glass. I have been downing about three glasses in the morning and three in the evening and, well, some in between, also ;-)

We stayed in the unbelievably misnamed Modern Hotel -- the name was probably more appropriate 70 years ago. Dave and I had stayed in a nice place in KL but I wanted to introduce him to the more typical Asian hotel so we stayed in this place with shared bathrooms and a private (but cold) shower (and our room did have A/C, not just a fan). We had a large room and the hotel did grow on us after a few days and it was perfectly located downtown (about $12 per night). Here is a picture from our balcony:

Dave has a Malaysian friend in the US and her mother lives on this island! Her name is Joanne and she offered to show us around. Joanne's friend, Connie, joined us later. Joanne took us to a Chinese food court and the food was fantastic. There is a large Chinese population on this island.

We also tried Malaysian White Coffee for the first time and really enjoyed it. Coffee beans in Malaysia are typically roasted with sugar and margarine. But White Coffee, which uses the same type of coffee beans, are only roasted with margarine. This makes the roast less dark. When the coffee is brewed, the white coffee is mixed in with some regular dark roasted Malaysian coffee beans. There are chains here that serve White Coffee for a fraction of the cost of Starbucks.

Here is a picture of Joanne and I:

Later we all went to an all-you-can-eat Japanese place. And then we ended the evening at a live music venue. Here is a picture of Dave and Connie there:

The song "Hotel California" has followed me around Asia. I had to actually sing this in front of an audience in the Philippines and the locals always seem to like to request it for us at various live music venues. Dave says it is sort of a theme my Asia trip: "You can check out, but you can never leave". ;-) After spending a few weeks with me, Dave seems to think that I won't be going back to the States anytime soon.

By the way, I keep getting email questions about the safety situation for foreigners in Malaysia. We found absolutely no issues about safety in the places that we visited and no discrimination against us as foreigners. In fact, I found the people to be warm and incredibly friendly and I can't wait to go back for a return visit. It might be a little different in the eastern part of the country away from the big cities. We did not visit there because it is the rainy season in that part of the country.

Awesome Kuala Lumpur

2007-12-15T23:38:00.001-08:00

Dave and I met up in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (KL). I have been traveling alone for about two months, so it is nice to be traveling with someone again.

Of course, KL is famous for having the world's highest twin towers (Petronas towers) -- there is only one building in the world higher than these towers. Lit up at night, they are astonishingly beautiful:

We stayed in chaotic Chinatown where street stalls are everywhere and you can buy anything from shirts to Chinese donuts to satay (seasoned meat on a stick) dipped in spicy peanut sauce to a sim card for your phone (and actually we did buy each of these things!):
I was able to buy a sim card for the cheap Nokia phone that I bought in the Philippines for about US $2.50. I topped that up with about US $6.00 of talk time and suddenly I had a mobile phone with a local number and plenty of talk and text time in Malaysia.

On our second day we attended a local couchsurfing party put on by Elma. Elma likes to meet new people and travelers and I had been in communication with her for a couple of months. There were probably 50 people at the party -- it was a great mix of travelers and local people that like to meet travelers. Dave and I brought Elma some nice souvenirs from the USA.

At the party we met so many nice people including Shelly and Mei. We spent the following day with them and they showed us all around KL! Here is a picture of Dave, myself, Shelly, and Mei inside the largest Batu cave. The Batu cave complex is a set of famous Hindu pilgrimage caves located just outside of KL. One look at Dave's shirt and you can tell that he is still acclimating to the heat!

Here is a picture from the outside. One has to climb 271 steps to reach the inside of the largest cave:

Each year around the month of January thousands of Hindus make a pilgrimage here. They come to worship deities and many of the pilgrims also severely flagellate themselves as they process up the steps in order to atone for sins they have committed during the past year.

The four of us later visted a forest reserve outside of the city. As we were leaving there, we noticed that a traditional Malay wedding was taking place inside one of the buildings. Mei Yee's sister, Mei Kuan, had just joined us mid-day and mentioned that we should crash the wedding because this was the "opportunity of a lifetime!" Well, I was pretty shy about entering or even getting out of the car but then someone who was leaving the wedding came up to us and told us to go inside as the main part of the ceremony was over and things were just winding down.

We slowly walked up to the front of the building and the bride suddenly came outside and asked us to come in and eat! I was pretty leary about being an ugly American dressed in shorts and crashing an otherwise civilized proceeding but she insisted that we come inside and eat. Mei Kuan kept repeating that this was an "opportunity of a lifetime" and that they were amazed at what they could get away with when accompanied by two American tourists ("with you guys we can do anything!"). The Malay food was delicious. They gave each of us decorated eggs which is a key part of the Malay wedding ritual. After eating, they insisted that we take a picture with them!

We have found the Malay people to be so friendly and this wedding story and the kindness of Shelly, Mei, and Mei-Kuan is just a small sample of the warm hospitality that we received.

Later, the five of us went out for Chinese desserts, yum!! These are some sort of ice flavored sweets and the lower right is a peanut sauce that tasted like melted peanut butter except that it was sweeter and tastier:

I wish I could tell you exactly what these Chinese desserts were, but they were all good! The little white ball you see in the dishes is a sweet dumpling:

The following day we met up with Jessica, another friend that we made at the couchsurfing party. Fellow American Matt, also from the Bay Area, joined us and we had a nice traditional Malay meal (sorry no pictures). Thanks, Jessica!

The day after that we met up with Febri and Nanie:

We had a wonderful Malay meal together. After that, we toured the most modern part of KL, Bukit Bintang. We randomly chanced upon a live performance of a well known Malay singer and we were able to stay near the stage and attend for free. What a night! Thanks so much ladies!

If you can't already tell, I loved KL. This place has it all from the modern to the old, from First World to Developing World. It is an ultra-modern city, yet despite such Western comforts, food stalls and night markets are never far.

Here is a picture of a local mall, all decorated up for Christmas (more Christmas music heard here in this Muslim country than in the USA!):

And Malaysia is simply food heaven for me. It is tops of any place that I have visited on this trip. The mix of Malay, Chinese, and Indian for a spicy food lover like me is simply irresistible. Dave and I even had a wonderful Indonesian meal on our last night in KL.

It is astonishing how widely English is spoken in the capital. In fact, during my entire time in Malaysia, I heard almost no live entertainment in the Malay language. It was either in English (75% of the time) or in Mandarin (15%) and perhaps in Malay 10% of the time.

I hope to come back through here on my way back to the USA and maybe more often in the future ;-)

Itinerary Change

2007-12-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

I am writing from Georgetown, Penang Island, Malaysia (northwest part of the country). I met Dave in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia last week and we have had a great time together! I will be posting more stories and pictures soon.

Dave and I have decided to fly to Chiang Mai, Thailand tomorrow instead of working our way up through the south isthmus of Thailand. Chiang Mai is way up in the north of Thailand. We were able to get plane tickets there for about US $145 each.

And we are planning to meet some friends that we met in KL for New Years in Bangkok. So we will work our way south from Chiang Mai to Bangkok during the rest of December.

Writing from Malacca, Malaysia

2007-12-06T01:34:00.000-08:00

I am posting from Melaka (also Malacca) Malaysia, in the southwest of the country along the coast. Melaka became famous as one of the world's busiest commercial centers starting around 500 years ago. It is strategically located along the narrow strait of Melaka through which today about 20 to 25% of all world ocean commerce passes, and along the ancient spice trading routes between India and Southeast Asia. It is also located where the monsoon winds change directions so traders could safely moor here. Early in its history, a fair set of commercial trading laws was developed, further encouraging traders to stay here. The original village converted to Islam early in its history and so Melaka also became a regional center for the Islamic faith. The city has a population of over 600,000.

The region was strategic enough to be of great interest to the Western colonial powers. The Portuguese succeeded in taking it in the 16th century. In the 17th Century the Dutch took it from the Portuguese and finally, in the 19th century, the declining influence of the Dutch caused them to hand it over to the British. British rule did not formally end until 1957 and this year Malaysia celebrated 50 years of statehood.

From what I have seen so far, Malaysia is a true melting pot. Here in Melaka, Malay is the primary language but almost everyone speaks some English and most signs are in Malay and English. English is not spoken nearly as much here as in Singapore. In Singapore English is the lanuage of instruction whereas here it is just a required language class that pupils typically start taking at age 7. There is a big chinatown here because many Chinese came here when Melaka was a trading center. In fact, this region and China traditionally had very close ties. There is also a somewhat smaller Indian population and a Little India section.

Malaysia is definitely cheaper than the Philippines or Singapore. My guesthouse here is just US $5.50 per night and I can eat a nice breakfast or lunch for about $2.00, including tea or coffee. I love the food here -- Malay, Indian, and Chinese are abundant. I have been able to buy Chinese donuts off the street, too, something that I had missed for awhile.

Due to the rich history of this area, there are museums galore here. And so I have been able to satisfy my curiousity about Malaysian history. In fact, I have noticed that my rate of learning has accelerated now that I am traveling and not working. Before, when I was working on my job, I was not really able to satisfy my intellectual curiosity because I didn't have the time or I was too mentally tired after working all day or week. Now, I am reading much more and learning more about a wide variety of topics and meeting a lot of interesting people from all walks of life around the world.

I have met a couple of interesting early retirees here at my guesthouse. One became a permanent resident here in Malaysia through the Malaysia My Second Home Program which makes it pretty easy for individuals to gain permanent residence status if they put some money in escrow to show that you have means to support yourself. These folks live part time in Thailand and part time in other countries like Indonesia. A nice residential hotel room in some nice parts of Thailand off the tourist trail might run a little over $100 per month. Here in Malaysia, a much wealthier country, the cost might run 3 times that. But they are able to live quite a bit cheaper than they could in their home countries (UK and New Zealand, respectively).

The Malay language has a Roman alphabet and is the easiest Asian language for a native English speaker to learn. It is only a little more difficult than a traditional Roman language, like French or Spanish, according to US State Department statistics. Malay is nearly identical to Indonesian except that it has incorporated more English words.

Well, tomorrow I hope to meet Dave in Kuala Lumpur so that we can begin our adventure together, slowly traveling north through Malaysia then Thailand and possibly Cambodia and/or Laos. It will be nice to be traveling with someone again. We hope to travel together for about five weeks. Then, in late January, I will be meeting up with my friend Elena (who lives in France) in Bangkok and we plan to explore Burma together. I just bought my Burma plane tickets a couple of days ago.

Singapore

2007-12-01T23:56:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Singapore from Manila and secured a dorm bed in a great hostel for about US $14 per night. I had expected to meet Dave but I checked my email and discovered that he had suddenly delayed his trip overseas by one week in order to leave his work project in better shape. So Dave and I will meet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, instead of Singapore.

Public transportation here is the best in the world. With a single card I can ride the subway or the bus and add money to my card at many locations. I found it so easy to get around that I ended up seeing many different parts of the city. Here is a picture of metro entrance near the city center:

Upon arrival I made a beeline for the Little India section of town. Indian food is my favorite and the few times I have tried it so far in the previous three months of my trip it has not been good at all. Well, that was about to change -- the Indian food is great here! I have been gorging myself nightly on it. I didn't mention this in my blog, but I was really losing weight after a couple of months of traveling. I think I may have lost as much as 4 kilograms (9 pounds). Part of the reason, I think, is that I don't snack as much between meals while on the road, I will sometimes miss meals due to traveling, and I am exerting myself with a lot of physical activity (primarily walking many kilometers everyday). So, about a month ago, I started stuffing myself silly at every opportunity and my weight seems to have stabilized. And it is so much fun! ;-) I have waiters ask if I am really sure about what I am ordering -- yes I am and I never leave food on my plate, either!

Here is a street scene from little India, about 14% of Singapore's population is Indian:

In this part of town, I mostly see only Indian men, not Indian women -- especially at night when no women seem to be out but there are hundreds of men milling about. I am not entirely sure why. I asked one of the locals but I could not really understand his response.

Here is the beautiful Clarke Quay area (unfortunately, the gorgeous night scenes did not photograph well on my camera):

I was having dinner down in this area one night and met Rego (on the left), an Indian who was raised by caucasian parents. He sings on the street for a living. We talked for a long time and he struck me as being a very sensible person. Later, we went down to where he sings, and he trains other people in his art (one is pictured on the right), also:

Singapore is a shopping mecca and the Orchard shopping area is where the most high end shops are located:
But these places were actually pretty expensive. For cheaper shopping I toured Mustafa's in downtown Little India. He is an Indian equivalent of Walmart's founder Sam Walton having come to Singapore with nothing and now fabulously rich by providing Singapore shoppers with great retail value.

I was at the Mustafa's money exchange (which is located outside, facing the street) to get Malaysian Ringits. There are several other money exchanges nearby. I looked and could not see one policeman or guard anywhere (in the Philippines there would have been half a dozen armed guards, at least). This is one of the safest cities in the world. There is less freedom here -- some restrictions on speech, gum was famously banned here until recently, smoking/eating/drinking on public transport is banned and subject to large fine, etc. But the system seems to have brought about a great deal of safety for local citizens. There are signs reminding people to: remain vigilant low crime does not mean no crime.

Singapore has been ruled by the same party (People's Action Party) since it gained full independence from Great Britain in 1959 and its first Prime Minister, Lee Kwan Yew, ruled for over 30 years and was Prime Minister until 1990 (his eldest son is now the country's third Prime Minister). Since Singapore declared independence from the Malaysian Federation in 1965, the standard of living has skyrocketed and Singapore has become a center of finance and education for Asia thanks largely to free market policies.

I was also amazed at how widely English is spoken in Singapore -- it is the official language in practice and I would say there is more English spoken here than in San Francisco. I thought that Mandarin and Malay would be more common but that is in fact not the case. In fact, when I visited the zoo and other places where I could observe families interact, I noticed that many parents, whose first language was obviously not English, spoke to their children only in English.

Here is a photo from the upstairs patio of my hostel. I really enjoyed staying in my hostel -- it was the first time on my trip I stayed in shared quarters and I may try that more often now. Hostels tend to have much nicer common areas than hotels and I meet a lot of interesting travelers there. Just before I snapped this photo the call to prayer went out for the mosque in the center of the picture. I love these gritty, colorful urban scenes and with the mosque in the center it is like a scene from the movie Syriana:

Some more pictures of the city center area:

I am really impressed by Singapore. They have the best public transportation, the best airport, the best zoo, the best botanical gardens, some of the best food, the cleanest city, they are trying to be America's most reliable ally, etc. As my friend, Surendra, told me, it is an underdog city trying to be the best in several things and I think they actually succeed.

Back to Manila for a week

2007-12-01T23:45:00.000-08:00

Well, after that nice visit with Tom and Fhona and a one day stopover in Cebu City, it was time to fly back to Manila. There were plenty more sights to see on the big island of Luzon where Manila is located, but I never did get time since I spent most of the week with friends. Paolo showed me around some of the awesome malls in Manila.

In fact, Greenbelt Mall in Makati section of Manila is the most stylish mall I have ever seen -- the coffee culture is alive and well there! Paolo and I also took a trip to some mineral hot springs outside of town. Paolo even took me to a kickboxing match -- his friend owns the kickbox training gym. And he introduced me to some new Filipino foods. Since he is also a budding chef, he cooked me an Italian dinner, also. Thanks, Paolo!

I met several times with the friends that I had traveled with earlier. We seem to have a thing for cemeteries, so we visited the American Cemetery in Manila:

I was not sure where my Great Uncle Travis had died or was buried. He died in World War II in late 1944 and never got to see his son, Travis (after whom I was named). I did not see his name on the walls. We went to the office and got an official printout and found out he had died in France. However, Helen found her father-in-law's name on the wall. She had not known that his death was recorded here. She immediately called her ex-husband to let him know. Here she is pointing to the name:

The entire World War II campaign is explained by about 20 stone murals. The artwork and historical detail is quite amazing:

The Filipino people are quite thankful for America's sacrifices that led to their liberation from the Japanese after World War II. It is one of the reasons our countries continue to have such close ties today.

I did not take many photos during the times we went out but here is one of Helen, Liza, and Ara:

Later in the week we also went to a Karoake Comedy bar north of Manila. Basically, there are two men dressed as women on stage who crack jokes, sing, and require virtually everyone in the bar to come up and sing, too, at some point during the evening. This was far enough outside of the main part of Manila that they had apparently never gotten a regular tourist there before. So they spent about a third of the night making me the butt of their jokes, which was actually a lot of fun. Their routines were in Tagalog, but they would use English when joking about me ;-) I also sang three songs, something they required of me -- oh, the humanity! I am not sure if I have ever heard a worse rendition of "Hotel California," I think I will be getting some more practice back in the States. Karaoke is a big part of Filipino culture -- it is almost the default entertainment wherever you go, so be prepared!

I attended an Asian music contest very similar to American Idol. Wow, some of the singers were so good -- filipinos can really sing! Also, there were some distinctive Asian sounds that were really refreshing.

My new friend, Leah, and I also met through couchsurfing and after having lunch together she took me to a Chinese massage place in Chinatown. I had never had a proper massage as it just something that is not very common in America. Massage is definitely a part of the Filipino culture and is a common topic of conversation. Thanks, Leah!

Now I am off to Singapore to meet up with my friend Dave and begin our adventure together!

New Friends on Cebu Island, Malapascua Island

2007-12-01T23:34:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine is a Christian missionary abroad. After I told him that I was visiting the Philippines, he mentioned that his father (Tom) had retired there and asked if I would be interested in meeting him. Tom and his wife, Fhona, live in the very north tip of Cebu Island, about a 5 hour bus ride north from Cebu City. I stayed with them in their beautiful home for several days and had a great time. Although they live in a small town, this is a more rural area and so I got to see the agricultural side of Filipino life. Tom and Fhona also gave me a lot of insights about Filipino life and culture. Fhona's extended family lives nearby. Before moving to the Philippines five years ago, Tom and Fhona lived in the States for 10 years.

On the first full day of my visit we roasted a pig at Tom's little beachhouse (which is a couple of kilometers from his house). I have some pig roasting experience and let me tell you, these guys know what they are doing! I met the extended family that day. Most of the family speak English, but many of them only know the basics, so anything beyond simple communication is not easy. It is not like in the city where most young people speak English quite well -- English is now the medium of school instruction for virtually all schools (public and private) in the Philippines. Many of Fhona's brothers and brothers-in-law have taken jobs abroad -- some of them as far as the Persian Gulf. This is common in the Philippines and can create strains on families when the mother or father or husband or wife is away for long periods of time. It is not an easy life.

On my last evening as Tom's guest, they finally relented and let me spend some money and so I took everyone out for a special dinner. Here is the extended family along with Tom (the caucasian) and Fhona is seated next to him (on the right when looking at this picture):

This is a picture of Vanesa and I. Vanesa is Fhona's niece. Wow, what a cutey!

During my visit at Tom's place, I took two days out to visit Malapascua Island on my own, which is a 30 minute ferry ride from there. I had a great time there! The island was gorgeous, probably the most beautiful scenery I have seen in the Phils. It is a tiny island known for diving and shallow coral reefs -- it is only about 1 kilometer wide and 2.5 kilometers long.

I hired a small boat to take me around the island snorkeling. I also explored the island on foot and walked through several villages (permanent population of about 4000 people) and met some locals while searching for the lighthouse on the island. I was having trouble getting to it, and so one of the locals helped me. Soon, we were joined by two curious little boys and finally by another teenager who could speak some English. They were showing me around including some things I would have missed on my own.

I was interested in a boat ride back to my hotel and I asked them how much -- they said they would take whatever I wanted to pay them. I said please tell me a price, so they said 100 pesos (about $2.40). I said I would pay them more, don't worry about it. They showed me several of the local sites. The boat owner, Toni, had lost a father to dynamite fishing. This used to be a common practice but is now illegal. Unfortunately, the practice of dynamiting has wrecked a lot of the corals around the island. Fhona's brother also lost a leg to this practice. Anyway, after showing me all around (there were a group of 5 of us now) and sitting down and talking and then taking me back in a boat right up to my hotel on the other side of the island, I paid them 300 pesos ($7), much more than they had asked for. This is a typical Filipino experience -- the people are kind and always willing to help. That amount of money is actually about 1.5 days wages -- there is a huge gap in income and wealth in the Philippines.

Also at Malapascua, the gorgeous(!) girls from my hotel invited me to the disco. There was some kind of fiesta on the island -- they could not explain to me exactly what was being celebrated, however. As part of the celebration, there were cockfights in the afternoon (a local took me as his guest) and then in the evening came the disco.

The girls had told me they would arrive at the disco about 10 PM, but I ended up arriving early at 8:00. The disco was basically an empty basketball court outside that was all lit up. When I started dancing, I was suddenly surrounded by about seven dancing transvestites. From where did they all come? They were fascinated with me and some of them were dancing uncomfortably close and in an alluring fashion. I started talking to one of them. He was only 17 years old! He said they were all there for a gay beauty pageant that was to take place in two days. OK, that explains it. He also said they like to pick up on foreign men. It turns out there is a big gay scene in the Philippines. I had no idea before arriving. Anyway, this is definitely not my cup of tea but they were friendly enough once I explained that I was not interested -- as always, I tried to maintain a good sense of humor throughout and that is the Filipino way! I also got to dance with the girls and we all had a nice evening.

After this last cockfight experience, I now realize that cockfighting is an insidious influence here. Many of the men sneak away from the family and lose a lot of money there. I have decided that I have attended my last cockfight.

I returned from Malapascua island to Tom's place for one final evening there. A typhoon came later to the area just as I was leaving Tom's place the following morning. The bus ride back to Cebu City took a long time and when I arrived it was dark and there were no taxis available because it was still raining. So I ended up walking from the Cebu City bus station to my hotel, about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles). Here is a picture of what was left of my umbrella, shown fully extended, which I promptly threw out. It had served its time . . . and I could only laugh about the whole situation! ;-)

I had a great time with Tom and Fhona and the extended family -- what great memories! They showed me unsurpassed hospitality and stimulating conversation. I hope that I get the chance to visit again.

Iloilo City and Cebu City

2007-12-01T23:26:00.001-08:00

I visited Iloilo City which is located on the south of Panay Island. It is the second largest city in the central Philippines (also known as the Visayas) and has around 300,000 people. I definitely enjoyed this town although it is more of a nice place to live than a tourist destination. It is big enough to have lots of amenities but small enough to be easy to get around and there is not much pollution. I did not take many pictures, but you can see some pictures here taken by an American expat:

http://www.pbase.com/hammerslag/iloilo&page=3

Since I didn't meet anybody at Boracay island, I decided to finally give couchsurfing.com a try. This is a web site that allows you to register your profile and meet up with other travelers and hosts who live in particular cities. It is safer than randomly meeting people since people post information about themselves and get vouched for by other travelers and hosts. Anyway, I met Frank, who owns a local IT school, through couchsurfing and he showed me all around one evening. What a great host! Although he is Filipino, he used to live in the Bay Area, too, so we had a lot in common. Frank showed me all around the night life of the town and I could see how this place was small enough that you really could know a lot of the people that you ran across during an evening out. Frank invited me to a party at his house a couple of days later, but unfortunately my schedule required that I leave one day before that. I have discovered that Filipino hospitality is simply legendary.

I then visited Cebu City on Cebu Island. I think Cebu City has a population of around 2.5 million. It is a more manageable version of Manila with less pollution and traffic. Cebu City is where Magellan planted his cross when he "discovered" the Philippines for the West (he was killed not long after that) and also the location of the Spanish fort that was erected a few decades later when the Spaniards returned in force to take the islands. Anyway, I liked Cebu a lot more than Manila. I also think that this is where many of the foreign expats live -- I saw more of them here.

I am beginning to see that the malls in the Philippines are as nice or nicer than their counterparts in the USA. There is real mall culture here. And American franchises dominate everywhere. People like to hang out at the coffee shops -- the coffee culture seems to be as strong or stronger here than in America.

By the way, when I was in a taxi cab in Cebu City we passed a placed called "Big Bucks Cafe" with a logo amazingly like the Starbucks logo -- I asked and was told that the trademark laws are not as strong here. I did not get a chance to go back -- but I imagined a good photo would have been me sipping a latte and smiling at the camera in front of the "Big Bucks" logo. Well, I hope that just imagining it brings a smile to your face.

Well, I am only in Cebu City for a couple of days before heading to the northern tip of this island to meet Tom, an American expat, and his wife and her family.

Boracay Island, Philippines

2007-12-01T23:18:00.000-08:00

The small island of Boracay is a world class beach resort and the most popular tourist destination in the Philippines. I ended up spending three full days (and four nights) there. I had my own cottage, bathroom, and small kitchen for the bargain price of about US $9.50 per day. Boracay has the kind of beaches that you would imagine for a wonderful tropical destination:

This beach (White Beach) stretches for perhaps 3 kilometers and behind the palm trees is a row of restaurants, bars, and stores the entire length. Also, motorized vehicles are forbidden in this section. All in all, Boracay is a wonderfully relaxing place.

Here is a flavor of travel in the Philippines. . . to get to Boracay from north Mindoro island I had to take a jeepney for about two hours to a larger town. The coastal road was astonishingly beautiful. Then I took a hired van that had stopped along the road to another town 3 hours further down the road from which I could take a ferry. Then I took the four hour ferry journey to Caticlan, which is at the tip of Panay Island. Then a short but somewhat treacherous 20 minute ferry ride to tiny Boracay Island, then a tricycle ride from the Boracay pier to my cottage. Yes, transportation can be an adventure here.

For the first time in my trip, I didn't really make any new friends in a place. I mostly spent the days alone on the beach and reading my new book on randomness and algorithms and their application to financial markets (OK, I needed a small break from fiction).

But I did feel "in the zone" here. By that, I mean a place where I am enjoying my time and not spending much money. I did a quick calculation on what I have spent on my trip so far, including all internal flights, immigration fees from before I left the USA, and my flight back to Singapore, and it is about $53 per day -- including my one-way flight to Hong Kong (reasonable since my trip is a little less than half over) it is about $61 per day. This includes all my SCUBA fees, too. I could have traveled much more cheaply (for instance, I have never stayed in dorms yet). That said, traveling in the Philippines is much more expensive than either Vietnam or China (or Malaysia or Thailand).

Diving again

2007-11-13T03:19:00.000-08:00

It was sad to say goodbye to my new friends. But we agreed to meet up again when I return in a few weeks to Manila. So I took the ferry from Luzon island (where Manila is located) to Mindoro island. Here is a picture from the side of the ferry on my way. The scenery in the Phils is just gorgeous.

I ended up in Sabang, part of the Puerto Galera area in the north of Mindoro Island. Sabang is a beach town catering to divers with a population of around 20,000 people. I dived here for a few days, paying around US $25 per dive. It was a lot of fun. I got to explore coral reefs, steep dropoffs, shipwrecks, etc. Also, it was a great chance to polish some of my diving skills. What I had forgotten was a lot of the prep stuff before I get in the water -- once I am under the surface I am fine. But making these dives really helped me to hone my diving skills. And the diving sites were all near our beach -- basically within five minutes of leaving the beach on our boat we were underwater.

Toward the left side of this picture, if you look carefully, you will see a "floating bar" out in the water.

Barbeque at the Lake

2007-11-13T03:09:00.001-08:00

The largest lake in the Philippines is nearby Pagsanjan Falls and called Laguna de Bay Lake. We actually had to increase elevation to go up to the lake, which is quite large, generally shallow, and has good water quality.

My friend knew about an old abandoned house on the lake and so we went up the day before to see if we would be able to use it for a grand barbecue. Here we are in our transportation for the lake reconnoitering mission:

Picture of a part of the lake itself:

We took a boat out to see the abandoned house and we found it! The owner mysteriously disappeared seven years ago. There is a caretaker on the small island who has his own place and takes care of this larger house. He also raises Talapia fish encased in nets about 60 meters offshore.

We found a farm that had a bunch of extra vegetables. We talked to one of the workers, and they said we could have all the veggies we want for 30 pesos (about US $0.70).

Here is the scene after he told us the price:

Well, the next day all of us went out to the abandoned place. My friends made a special Filipino vegetable paste out of the veggies we gathered and it was really good! I swam out and we netted some Talapia fish (we paid the caretaker). We barbecued the Talapia and they were so good! This was all polished off with some San Miguels, the national beer of the Philippines. I have never been much of a beer drinker but those San Miguel Lites are actually quite tasty!

It turns out that most Filipinos cannot swim, much to my surprise. I can swim like a fish, so I even gave a few swimming lessons for those willing to try. It was a great and relaxing day!

The Falls

2007-11-13T02:59:00.000-08:00

After visiting the Tagaytay area, my friends and I went by bus, tricycle, and jeepeny to Pagasanjan Falls, located about 92 kilometers south of Manila. One the way I got to try a buko pie, which is a special coconut pie for which this area is famous. I don't like coconut in the USA, which is usually shredded, but it is different here -- chunky and apparently made from some special kind of small coconut. Well, it was great and I had an extra piece!

The Falls are famous here in the Phils, and many of the river scenes from the classic movie Apocalypse Now were filmed in this part of the river on the way up to the Falls:

Unfortunately, the bigger upper part of the Falls is closed this time of year, so we stopped at the smaller Falls downstream:

Some of us also opted for the special raft pull that takes you directly under the falling water. The water is coming down so hard that it can be a bit painful, but fun nevertheless!

Cockfights

2007-11-07T03:12:00.001-08:00

My late uncle raised fighting cocks but I never got a chance to see a real cockfight since it is illegal in most of the USA. Most of the folks interested in this sport from the state where I come from, southern California, either go to certain parts of Arizona or Mexico for the fights (where they are legal). And most of them are Filipinos -- it is part of the culture. Even though I know this is a cruel sport, I have always wanted to see what it was like up close. Well, I finally got my chance!

On the way back from Taal Volcano we happened by chance upon a cockfighting ring that was holding fights. I had told my companions of my interest the day before. So three of us popped in for about 20 minutes to see what it was like. Until recently, women were not allowed inside, but this has now been changed. Actually, none of my Filipino friends had ever been to a cockfight, so they were also curious!

The way it works is that a sharpened blade is attached to at least one of the rooster's legs. Then they are both put in the ring together. What often happens is that they prance around for a few seconds, sometimes pretending not to even look at one another:

But then the feathers start flying when they attack:

What drives this sport is gambling. I think there was a fight about every 5 to 7 minutes, and you can see the frenzy of people placing their bets before the roosters are released in the ring:

I actually found this sport crueler than I had imagined. One rooster always dies and sometimes they both die. After each flurry of attacks, the roosters are reset in front of each other until one has made the other completely helpless (and bound for death). Even if the roosters can no longer stand, they will place them close to each other in hopes that one will regain strength to kill the other:

Here is a close up shot at some of the prize money offered for an upcoming day of cockfighting. There are around 43 pesos to the dollar, so one thousand pesos is equivalent to about 23 US dollars. The prizes range from a refrigerator down to 1500 pesos for the fastest kills. Also, notice that there is a 5000 peso prize ($115) for the *slowest* kill:

Well, I am glad I went for the experience, but I think this will be my last cockfight for awhile!

Tagaytay City and Taal Volcano

2007-11-07T03:05:00.001-08:00

We all went to Tagaytay City (by combination of jeepney and tricycle), which is about 55 kilometers (35 miles) from Manila. Jeepneys are smoke belching trucks with a bench on each side in the back that provide transportation in the cities and shorter distances between many cities in the Philippines. The fares to ride the jeepenys are very cheap (typically less than 20 US cents for shorter distances) and you can stop them almost anywhere on the street as they are driving. You just look for a jeepney with a sticker for where you are going. Here is a typical Jeepney:

Tagaytay City is next to Taal Lake and in the center of the lake is Taal Volcano which has another lake inside it. It is quite spectacular!

We rode horses to the top of the volcano. Here is a picture of Aru (center) on her horse:

Here is a picture of Michelle and I with the lake inside the volcano in the background:

We had such a great time around Tagaytay eating local food and our place had a private picnic bench with a great view of the lake. I can't believe how friendly the Filipino people have been to me!

Meeting people in Manila

2007-11-07T02:40:00.000-08:00

I was randomly walking along a tourist area of Manila (Intramuros) on my first full day in Manila when I ran into a grandma (Liza) and we started talking. She offered to show me another tourist site and taught me to ride the jeepneys. Liza wanted to invite me over for dinner but I already had a dinner commitment to a couple of nice Filipinas that I had met earlier and I had offered to take them out for dinner that evening. So Liza said let's meet at a certain location tomorrow.

Anyway, the dinner with the Filipinas went great (6 hours we stayed there!). The next day I met with Liza and her son came and then her sister-in-law. Little did I know that this was the start of a week long adventure with all the friends and family! We visited a local tourist site, the Chinese Cemetery (below), then went to a friend's place for lunch and then went to a karaoke restaurant/bar until late into the night (yes, they endured some of my singing!). I ended up staying at their place. The next morning they offered for me to join them on their vacation which was starting that day! So I retrieved my things back at my guesthouse and we headed for Tagaytay and the volcano there (more on that later).

The tourist site we saw in Manila was the Chinese cemetery. It is a large area of maybe 1 kilometer by 1 kilometer (at least) of what looks like houses or condos. But it is really a graveyard and the local rich Chinese people get buried there along with their familes. If you didn't know better, you might think it was a (very!) quiet suburban subdivision. Mostly there are just some security guards going around.

Here is a picture of one of the graves from the street (yes, there are streets just like a subdivision):

Here is a picture inside a typical "grave house" for lack of a better term:

Here is a picture down one of the "streets". For the most part, I saw only maintenance and security people during our visit (those are their cars in the picture):

Many of the "grave houses" are air-conditioned!

So is this elaborate burial rite only a Chinese practice in the Philippines? I have not seen anything like this elsewhere. What beliefs (Buddhism?) drive this behavior and why?

Loving the Philippines

2007-11-06T03:26:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post a quick update from the Philippines. I love this place! It is easily the most interesting place that I have visited so far.

I randomly met a grandma in Manila, and then her family and then their friends and spent a week with them on vacation. I have attended cockfights, sang karaoke, eaten Balut (cooked chicken embryo) and other local foods, gone diving at exotic destinations, and am currently staying at one of the world's best beach resorts, Boracay.

I hope to post more details and pics soon!

Crossing the road in Hanoi

2007-10-31T22:41:00.000-07:00

My friend from the Netherlands, Daan, did this video of crossing a busy road in Hanoi, Vietnam. The key is to walk, don't run, so that the drivers can avoid you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjGU8xtce6U

Most traffic in Vietnam is actually motorcycles, not cars. There was a free taxi ride included when I bought my train ticket through my Hanoi hotel. I have to admit that I was a little surprised when a motorcycle, and not a taxi, pulled up to take me to the station.

But after carefully observing Vietnamese traffic, my theory is that it is the most efficient system of transportation possible if human life is not a major consideration in your traffic model!

Vietnam War

2007-10-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

I did a tour of both the DMZ area in central Vietnam and the Cu Chi Tunnels 40 kilometers from Saigon in southern Vietnam. The Vietnamese people endured horrible hardship during the war of resistance against the French and then the Vietnam War (known as the American War here). Unfortunately, the official Vietnam displays and historical information is completely controlled by the government and it is so biased against Americans as to be cartoonish and completely lose what otherwise might have been an effective message. It is interesting that the French, Vietnam's colonial occupiers, were not really even mentioned that much.

The informational films in the exhibits were nothing less than propaganda. However, I was just a guest in the country and just tried to learn something without complaining.

The tourists from other Western countries all said the same thing about the cartoonish bias. Most of the exhibits are labeled something like this one, of which I happened to take a picture and the caption reads "The American soldiers panic at Lang Vay base. What's President Johnson thinking? "

The Vietcong lived secretly in the "Cu Chi" tunnels for many years just 40 kilometers from Saigon. The south Vietnamese knew they were in that area, but it took them years to figure out that they were living in tunnels during the daytime. They were very small and cramped and all dug by hand -- we got to squeeze through some of them. Cu Chi is a local tree that grows fruit that tastes sweet but is poisonous to humans.

You can also fire weapons at Cu Chi -- the Vietnamese are converted capitalists now and they have found this is a good way to make a buck. Naturally, I had to take a few shots with an American M-16 rifle (6 rounds for $6). I later found out that the ammunition used for the guns is left over from Vietnam War era stockpiles, meaning it is not really safe to use. But I had blast knocking off a few rounds!

Below are some of traps that the North Vietnamese "were forced to build" by the Americans. This first one, the green ball with long blades sticking out, would swing down from a tree:

This next one was buried in the ground. Once a leg was caught in it, it could not easily be removed -- trying to do so would embed the needles more. And the Vietcong used their human waste and other products to cause infection when the needles of any of these weapons penetrated flesh:

This one is the folding chair trap. Ouch:

One thing that I liked about the historical displays was that you could actually experience them. In a country like America, there would be too much liability to allow people to go into tunnels, to see any traps that were not in a glass display, or to fire M-16 rounds for fun.

Finances on the Road

2007-10-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

Various people have asked me how I handle finances on the road. I need to take extra precautions because 1) I am traveling a lot of my trip by myself, 2) moving around to a lot of countries and 3) away from home for a long period of time (> 6 months).

I maintain three separate bank accounts (not brokerage accounts) with three separate ATM cards. I can transfer money among these accounts via the internet (I will have a separate post later for "Technologly on the Road"). I do a monthly auto-transfer from a brokerage account to one of the bank accounts (e.g., if one of my accounts got cleaned out by a hacker or some kind of fraud, it would not hurt that much). I also have one credit card which I rarely use due to high fees and fraud issues related to using any credit card in a developing country. All of my banks are aware that I am traveling in Asia.

I try to never carry all of my ATM cards at once. I usually leave at least one locked up in my room -- my pack is always locked when I am not with it and or anytime I am carrying it outside of my room. And usually I carry an ATM card on my person but not in my wallet.

As a backup, I also have traveler's checks that I hopefully won't need to use on this trip. I also keep some US dollars at all times -- this is the international currency. If you arrive in a country and have trouble with the ATMs or can't get cash before you need to pay for a taxi to your hotel room, you can almost always pay in dollars as a backup. When you are moving around countries, having some US cash available when you first arrive is much more important than I first realized.

A couple of folks have assured me that they could quickly wire me money in an emergency if all of my money and cards were stolen (thank you!).

I also maintain a Paypal account that funds my Skype account. And I figure it might be handy if I need to pay a fellow traveler or receive money from him. Also, the one time on this trip that I reserved a room in advance before arriving in a town I used Paypal to pay for it (that was all that they accepted, which was fine with me).

I keep photocopies of all my documents in a secret email account that I never access from internet cafes. I also keep a written record, all in code, of all of my card numbers and the phone numbers for contact for things like American Express for each country I am visiting as well as the direct phone numbers for my various brokerage accounts.

My "overhead" back home, which includes health insurance, car insurance, car storage, car depreciation (car is sitting there decreasing in value a little every month), etc., is around $150/month or $1800/year. All my bills are on-line and automated. I paid my estimated income taxes via snail mail before I left the US, although I plan to put these payments on-line when I return.

Later, I hope to add some figures for actual spending for my travels. But it is not that high -- so far, I am spending less traveling the world than when I was living in the US and not traveling.

Surprise Itinerary Change

2007-10-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

Well, my recent ventures into the world of SCUBA were enough to convince me to change my travel itinerary. My next stop will be the Philippines islands! I fly to Manila on October 23 and I plan to stay on the islands until late November when I meet up with Dave in Singapore to explore Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and a bit of Cambodia. My other option, if I didn't go to the Philippines, was to explore Cambodia and Laos. But I decided that the Phils would be more culturally distinct from the other countries I will be visiting and I have always wanted to visit there.

I bought a pirated Lonely Planet Philippines book here (the only kind available) for $6.50. I don't really have much of an itinerary yet, but that is part of the adventure. The Philippines is a somewhat more expensive location than Vietnam or Thailand because the tourist infrastructure is not as well developed and transport between islands tends to cost more than purely overland journeys.

I booked all of my tickets on the internet. In order to get the best prices, and because Saigon (my current location) has such bad flight connections, I will have to do an overnight on the way there in Singapore with an 11 hour layover. After a little outside the box thinking, I have decided to spend the night in the Singapore airport:

http://www.sleepinginairports.com/asia/singapore.htm

It is rated #1 by sleepinginairports.com . . . wish me luck!

Meeting friends on the road

2007-10-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

I was quite leary of traveling by myself once Helen had to return home from Hanoi after our travels together of about a month.

However, on the train from Hanoi, the same day that Helen left me, I met up with Misty, a technical editor from American taking about seven months off to travel through Asia. Misty and I hung out for about four days and had a great time exploring Hue, the old Vietnamese capital, together.

In the next town, Hoi An, I met up with John, an Australian investor. John was very interesting and tried hard to get me to deviate from my passive investing strategies ;-) But we had a lot of fun over a couple of days and reaffirmed my affinity for all Australians!

In the next town, Nha Trang, I met wonderful friends Gary, Lorraine, Louise, and Daan in our diving class. Gary, Lorraine, and Louise are traveling together for a year around the world tour -- they are from Britain. Daan is taking a couple of months break here in Vietnam -- he is from The Netherlands. Wow, we all had so much fun together. And we met up several times for dinner in Saigon, also. The fact that Lorraine and Louise are identical twins made for some interesting travel stories!

I am now a SCUBA diver!

2007-10-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

After passing a about a week in the lovely town of Hue, with tours of the Vietnamese emperors' tombs and the former DMZ zone, and then the old town of Hoi An seeing some ancient ruins and also taking a Vietnamese cooking class, I found myself about two-thirds of the way down the coast of Vietnam in Nha Trang. This is a wonderful beach town of about 300,000 people and the diving capital of Vietnam. It has picturesque palm-lined beaches and the kind of laid back feeling you expect from a real beach town. Four islands beckoned from just a few kilometers offshore to be explored.

I have always wanted to SCUBA dive since I was a kid but I just never took the time to do it. So I decided to literally take the plunge! For $280, including all dive and equipment fees, I took the four day PADI-certified Open Water Diving Course from a 5 star rated outfit, roughly half the price as in the US. The level of instruction was nothing less than outstanding! Grant Martin at Rainbow Divers has done over 7000 dives and teaches other instructors how to teach and it shows! And there was actually one instructor per student for each dive. Now I have a PADI card that I can use to dive anywhere in the world down to 18 meters.

The PADI Open Water Course, which is standardized around the world, involved five pool dives the first two days and four open water ocean dives the last two days. There was also a lot of coursework the first couple of days including, gasp, some physics problems -- but I found that my physics wasn't too rusty after all . . .

I also had the pleasure of meeting fellow students Gary, Lorraine, Louise, and Daan. We had many get togethers during and after the course and we even met up a number of times in Saigon the following week.

Learning to SCUBA dive has definitely been the highlight of this trip so far. And, in fact, this has led me to change my itinerary and my next country destination . . . I also added a couple of underwater photos below that we took during our dives.

Where are the Americans?

2007-10-18T23:12:00.001-07:00

One thing that I have noticed in my travels is that there are few Americans on the road. I meet so many people from Europe and Australia and it is almost an oddity when I meet a fellow American.

The dollar goes so far in Vietnam and China -- one can vacation in these places at a fraction of the cost of many other destinations. Gang, take some time off to travel! ;-)

Americans (and Australians, Brits) have the advantage that English has become the international language, the lingua franca of Planet Earth. I tend to take half to one day tours to various places as I am traveling. Virtually all of the tours are in English. Often, I am the only native English speaker on the tour. People strive to learn English because they often cannot advance without it and, indeed, international travel is very difficult to impossible nowadays if you do not know basic English. Americans not only are wealthy, but they receive this gift of the lingua franca for free, as their native language, whereby all these other folks must struggle so hard to learn it. Even Asian travelers from different countries usually communicate with each other in English and that is how they communicate with hotel staff, etc.

A couple of evenings ago here in Saigon, I had dinner with a Fullbright Scholarship winner (and another Dutch friend, Daan, that I made on the road) -- via this scholarship the US government will be paying her way for an MBA in the US. She is from a poor Vietnamese family and had to struggle hard to get her education and to learn English. She wanted to practice her English with me, a native speaker, before her TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) test in a week. She is very poor but wanted to pay for dinner which we, of course, refused to let her do. It made me realize how fortunate we are in America.

I remember back when I was a student in Spanish school in Ecuador. I had two different teachers during my stay there and they were both well educated -- one had a PhD in Psychology and the other was married to a successful man. But neither had ever driven a car, flown in an airplane, left their tiny country, had a bank account, etc. In fact, due to visa requirements, it was impossible for them to travel almost anywhere. We talked about the fact that even if they got a visa to go to America they could not afford the plane trip there or the hotel prices nor would they have known how to drive a rental car, etc. I feel so fortunate that I am able to travel and see the world with the Blue Pass (American passport) which lets me enter most countries with ease and minimal hassle. It is something that I no longer take for granted!

You are the worst customer

2007-10-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

I was contemplating buying a shirt with a Vietnam flag on it from a young girl, perhaps 10 years old, working a street stand in downtown Hanoi. I looked at different shirt types for about two minutes (there were no other customers around). She quoted me a very high price, over twice what the shirt was worth. I thought about buying the Vietnam flag shirt but decided not to because Helen, whose fashion taste far exceeds my own, said that my color was not red. When I told the girl this she was very upset and said, "You are the worst customer!" Yes, the Vietnamese are still having some trouble adjusting from Socialism to Capitalism.

In Vietnam you negotiate everything. Especially if you are a tourist because the starting price is two to four times higher. You see, the Vietnamese (and to a lesser extent, the Chinese), believe they are all in this together -- to get money from you, the tourist. This means that if you are sitting in a restaurant, you will usually be bothered by people selling things. The restaurant owner does nothing to stop this because, you see, they are in this together, as fellow countrymen, to get the tourists' money. I am writing this from Saigon and I have been offered the opportunity to buy weed, women, chiclets, sunglasses, cigarettes, lighters, books, et. al. more times than I can remember. I was having breakfast at a restaurant here and counted 10 people in one hour who approached me, or at least made eye contact expecting a nod, and wanted to sell me sunglasses. They all sell the same stuff.

Just like when we got scammed on the Chinese bus by the guy who demanded an overage charge for our luggage, many of the people near us probably knew it was a scam but did not care since I am a foreigner. Being from a country that is so open to foreigners and generally quite fair to them, this has been a big adjustment for me.

Anyway, later the same afternoon as the "you are the worst customer incident", Helen was shopping for gifts and quoted a price of about $6 on a sweater. We counteroffered for about $4.75. The lady got so upset that she yelled at us and kicked us out of the store. We have no idea exactly why, but obviously that lady needs to learn to treat her customers more kindly if she wants to stay in business. We walked to a different store and did the same thing for virtually the same article of clothing, and they were happy to let us make the purchase.

I just walked out of a restaurant here in Saigon where my meal was finished to the tunes of the mother (restaurant owner) and teenage daughter in a loud 20 minute verbal fight -- one at the front of the restaurant and one in the back. Oh well, you have to take the good with the bad . . . . I have had an absolutely fantastic time here in Vietnam, but I promised to dutifully report everything.

North Vietnam

2007-10-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

Helen and I trekked in the wonderful little town of Sapa. The former French hill station, scenically set in the mountains, is a nice little getaway for the residents of Hanoi and tourists seeking peace from the traffic, crowds, and heat of Vietnam. We took a guided hiking tour the day after we arrived through a nearby valley.

Earlier that morning, we found an all you can eat breakfast, mixed Vietnamese and Western, for $2.50. Check out the view from our seats on the outside patio!:

After two much needed restful days in Sapa, we took the overnight train to Hanoi which was quite luxurious and a totally different experience from riding the overnight bus! Hanoi is quite crowded and the traffic and noise can be a real turn off. We did all the usual tourist stuff there and found some good vietnamese restaurants. Below is a picture I took on the return trip from the Museum of Vietnamese Ethnography -- from the back of our moto-taxi:

Yes, Vietnam is the land of the motorbike and this is how you get around. When I left Hanoi, the hotel provided me with a free taxi since I purchased my train ticket there -- but I was surprised when a motorcycle pulled up. Yep, I rode on the back of the moto with all my gear on my back. Now, writing this from Saigon, I think nothing of this and ride moto taxis all the time.

After a few days in Hanoi, we arranged a 3 day tour to beautiful Ha Long Bay ($72 including everything except drinks):

My birthday came on this trip and I spent that morning swimming off our anchored boat in the most scenic destination possible. It was great! So far, Ha Long Bay is definitely the highlight of the trip.

Sadly, Helen must leave and go back home now. We had a great trip together and it was so nice of Helen to show me around her home country of China. But it will be just me, traveling all by myself, from now until my friend Dave joins me in Singapore in late November. I am more than a little tentative about traveling by myself. . . more to come on this subject later!

Hellish bus ride to Vietnam

2007-10-18T05:49:00.000-07:00

John Newton wrote the great Christian hymnal "Amazing Grace". He was a 19th Century slave trader who worked on African slave ships and he was inspired to conversion as he heard the slaves, locked away in desperate conditions in the hold of the ships, praise their Lord with songs during the long, horrific trip across the Atlantic. Eventually, John Newton would become a key part of the small but great corps of men who, under the leadership of the great William Wilberforce, helped overturn slavery first in England, and then in all English possessions, long before the same cancer metastasized in America as the Civil War.

I was reminded of those slave ship conditions, to a much lesser degree of course, during our overnight bus ride from China to Vietnam.

The day began when Helen and I rode the 5 hour bus trip back to Kunming from Dali. After arriving in Kunming in late afternoon, we immediately purchased tickets for an all night bus ride (~12 hours) to the Vietnam border. From there, we would take a 1.5 hour shuttle bus to Sapa, a great trekking location and former French hill station in North Vietnam. Plus, we would pay no hotel bill this evening, since we would be on the bus. It all sounded so good in theory. But, alas, as the saying goes, the difference between practice and theory is greater in practice than in theory.

After a wonderful dinner in Kunming during our three hour layover back at Muslim alley, we returned to board our overnight bus. Unfortunately, Chinese bus tickets are not very informative about the class of bus you will be riding. When we got on, I could see right away this was going to have a bad ending.

The bus had beds and ours were in the very back, with only a super narrow aisle to get to the front of the bus. And unlike the beds in most of the bus, the beds in the back had five people laying side by side across the top in the back. The width of my space was almost exactly as wide as my body. And the length was more suited to someone about 1.6 meters tall (5 foot 3 inches). I switched spots with Helen so that I could at least hang my smelly feet over the ledge, a luxury afforded to two of the five seats. Next to me was a Vietnamese lady who wanted to take up part of my space with her "stuff" and she was not happy when Helen asked her in Mandarin (which the lady also spoke) to get out of my little space. But she did move over, for the most part.

OK, now there is this guy on the bus, and he immediately approaches me. He asks Helen and I to pay the overage amount for our luggage, 30 yuan (4 US dollars) each, since our bags our overweight. This is all in Mandarin. We look at our tickets, and there is indeed a maximum weight of 10 kilograms or, it says, you might have to pay more. I knew that my bag under the bus weighed about 14 kg. The bus was about to leave, we could not get back to the front to verify anything, the guy was demanding the overage money, so we paid him. Well, guess what, it was a scam! He goes around the bus station looking for foreigners to take advantage of, and he got us for 60 yuan (~8 US dollars). We should have asked the bus driver, but our shoes were off, we were trying to negotiate our space way in the back of the bus, and the bus was about to leave. Of course, the scammer knew all this, and knew we would be way out of town and unable to report the scam if we discovered it later (which we did by talking to the driver in our final destination -- we think he was probably in on it -- I will have more to say about this mentality later in a Vietnam post!).

So now we are packed like slaves in the back of the bus, and starting our journey to Vietnam. After a couple of hours we realize that this is actually a 2 lane road the whole way (one lane each way) over a series of high mountain passes! And the road is so bumpy that my body is bouncing several centimeters high at times. And there are very few bathroom stops. Near the end, there were people almost jumping out at quick stops to even go to the bathroom on the road.

We finally arrive at the border, completely battered, and an hour later we are in Vietnam! We are promptly scammed (sort of) as we pay about $5 each instead of $3 each for the 1.5 hour shuttle from the Vietnam border to Sapa. Well, we finally arrive at our destination worn out but much wiser. We secure a great hotel for $6 per night. That is our last overnight bus ride for awhile!!

Below is me at the Vietnam border that morning, much worse for wear -- Good morning, Vietnam!

Yunnan Province in China

2007-10-18T03:46:00.001-07:00

We spent about 9 days in Yunnan province in South Central China which is the province directly north of Vietnam and Burma. Many tourists come here for the attractions of the old towns in Lijiang and Dali. We started in the main population center, Kunming, a city of just over 1,000,000. I loved this city! It is quite liveable, with wonderful pedestrian-oriented districts. The elevation is around 1.5 km (1 mile) so that the climate is pleasant year around. And the pollution is not excessive like you find in many other large Chinese cities.

And the food, oh the food! There is a small Muslim population in Kunming and I promptly searched out the Muslim district upon arrival to sample some of the food! Pictured below are a couple of wonderful meals we got there. Yum! One meal was $7 total between the two of us, the other was about $4 total, and we could not even finish all the food.

I almost can't believe that my biggest fear of visiting China was the food. It all seems so foolish now . . .

After three days in Kunming we left to visit the old towns of Lijiang and Dali. The bus ride to Lijiang was eight hours and passed through Dali. We would stop on the way back toward Kunming in Dali. These old towns are large clusters of old-style architecture buildings with lots of stores oriented toward tourists. The old town in Lijiang, in particular, was huge and took days to explore:

A picture from inside Dali's old town:

In both Lijiang and Dali we rented bikes to ride to nearby minority villages. During our ride in Lijiang, we passed through some wonderful scenery pictured below. Unfortunately, we caught a terrible rainstorm while far away from the city. However, we ran into some local ladies enjoying some ad hoc dancing on the way back as everyone waited out the afternoon rainstorm together:

Dali is an ancient city situated near a large lake that is long and narrow, Lake Erhat. But when we did the scenic bike ride along the west coast of the lake, we could not really see the lake very well because the elevation gain around the lake was so gradual. But we did manage to see kilometers of pastoral agricultural scenes. Also, we hit upon a real legitimate minority village and had lunch there, I think for less than $1 apiece. It was a lot of fun:

We also visited Stone Forest which is several square square kilometers of interesting stone formations that have remained as the earth around them has eroded away. You can see the former horizontal water line across the rocks in the picture below, which was formed during a long period when the water table did not change. The vertical fissures you see on the rocks were formed by water under extreme pressures. I love geology, so I really enjoyed this.
However, we also encountered what became a recurring theme for Chinese tourist attractions: ridiculous prices. It was about US $20 to get into the Stone Forest park, which is not that big. Basically, this makes the place off limits to ordinary Chinese people. In Dali, the ferries across Lake Erhat (just a few kilometers in distance), which used to cost less than one dollar, had all been recently cancelled (permanently) in favor of tourist "cruises" which cost a minimum of US $20. A definite rip off and we passed on that.

Some Chinglish

2007-10-09T08:02:00.001-07:00

Chinglish is everywhere to be found around China and I could have taken hundreds of pictures. English is the only real Western language seen or spoken at all. And language is a much larger barrier to travel here for a Westerner than in Southeast Asia, for instance. At least the Chinese are trying their best to communicate in a difficult language, but it can be a bit humorous at times . . .

Guilin and Yangshuo

2007-10-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

We visited beautiful Guilin in southern China. This is a popular tourist destination for both Chinese and foreigners. Guilin has about 600,000 people. The park in the city has been a tourist attraction for 1500 years! Below is a picture from near the center of the city. We later had tea in one of the pagodas!

The region is famous for its hotpot and it was delicious. We had chicken and rabbit in this one along with lots of veggies. Helen managed to order some horse, too, and had my try a bit before telling me what it was -- it was actually pretty good. At this point, I can't believe how much I am liking Chinese food. It is something that I never would have predicted.

We took the cruise down the Lijiang river to the smaller town of Yangshuo and we viewed the scenic karst peaks along the way that make the region famous. Karst is a distinctive topography in which the landscape is largely shaped by the dissolving action of water on carbonate bedrock (usually limestone, dolomite, or marble -- in this area it was limestone). While we were eating on our cruise boat, some of the locals commented that I had excellent chopstick skills! I have gone from hapless to effective in just a few weeks. I have used a fork only once since I entered China, and that was on an internal flight where forks were the only option ;-)

In Yangshuo we rented bikes to get a good look at the scenery surrounding the town. The bikes rent for about $1.30 per day.

There is an amazing light, dance, and music production called Impressions performed out on the water with lit karst peaks in the background. These pictures do not really capture the scale of the production, which is produced by China's most famous movie producer, Sanjie Liu. It is truly an amazing show! The show is run nightly, and I estimated that there were around 2000 people in the audience. The cost of the show is around $25 and well worth the money. There are over 600 actors and actresses in the production. The show plays out a beautiful love story that shows the courting process of the minority people of the Guangxi region where Guilin and Yangshuo are located. You can see the mountains lit up in the background in the first picture.

My Feet Stink

2007-10-09T03:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I promised to be honest and here goes: my feet stink! By the time I return to the hotel room in the evening, after all that walking in humid and hot Asia conditions, my feet are not pleasant to be around.

I mentioned this problem to Helen, and she immediately recommended an Asian remedy: baby powder. I have been sprinkling my feet with it each morning ever since and it does seem to help some. I have also taken to "feet showers" during the day and evening.

What else did I forget? Well, I needed a plastic cover for my passport. It started to get a sweaty smell as I kept it close to my body on my waist at all times. So Helen gave me her plastic passport cover and that has seemed to solve the problem.

Really, that is about it. I seemed to have had everything else that I needed. I also bought a pair of "sandal socks" over here which are thin nylon type socks that you can wear while wearing sandals that minimize any skin abrasions from the sandals due to a lot of walking.

Oh wait, I forget my backup pair of eyeglasses -- I brought the case thinking they were in there, but when I looked inside during my trip the case actually contained the sunglass cover for my eyeglasses, not the eyeglasses themselves. I really have not been able to wear contacts much over here so I really hope that I don't break or lose my only pair of eyeglasses!

Hainan Island

2007-10-01T05:37:00.001-07:00

Hainan Island is located just south of mainland China -- it is the southernmost area of the country, just east of northern Vietnam. It has become the Hawaii of China over the last twenty years as a getaway from the mainland for Chinese tourists. Helen wanted to visit the island even though it was off season and I am always game for exploring new places, especially places with beaches ;-) So we flew from Guangzhou to Sanya, the main tourist city on the island for some R&R.

Below is a picture from the deck of our $32/night room on the fifth floor.

We spent some time on the beach and had a great time. This is where the Russians go -- there were many Russian tourists in Sanya.

One moto-taxi offered to take us wherever we would like for 25 cents. This was our first lesson in the too good to be true category! He took us to a restaurant a few kilometers away that was a bit of a scam and ended up costing us about $30 -- a huge sum in China. Oh well, lesson learned. We have been scammed elsewhere and I will provide details in later entries!

After a couple of restful days on the beach, we went by bus for about two hours in order to reach a city near the center of the island (Wuzishan or something similar) in a fruitless attempt to investigate some minority groups living in the area a few tens of kilometers from the city -- that effort was mostly a bust despite the Lonely Planet guidebook recommendation to do this if you have a Mandarin speaker and hire a guide (we had both but it was mostly a tourist trap). At least our halfway decent motel room was only about $9.00 per night. Some of the kids in the city of perhaps 200 thousand people would just stare at me as if I was the first ever caucasian they saw and I think maybe I was! I always tried to say hello to them. I saw no other caucasians.

Our final stop on the island was the capital and business center, Haikou. They have a great park that just comes alive in the evening!

There was so much activity: tai-chi, music and dance groups, ping pong, badminton, walkers, etc. And the town was really alive in the evening with street stalls, stores open late, people enjoying the man-made lakes. I am beginning to realize what I like most about China compared to other places and that is the downtown ambiance! I just love to walk through these downtowns and see what is around the next corner, to try out the local cafes, shop, people watch, etc. I lived in downtown San Jose, California before in search of something similar. But there is nothing quite like it in the US, for sure. And China feels real safe, even at night.

I am beginning to give up hope on finding good coffee in China. Even when explained in fluent Mandarin, they seem incapable of polluting it with all kinds of milk and sugar. But I am finding some wonderful Chinese pastries with Helen's help.

Guangzhou

2007-09-25T04:03:00.000-07:00

I met Helen's extended family (whom Helen had also not seen for some time) and to say that they were gracious is really an understatement. For two and a half days they fed us, entertained us, housed us, transported us, and basically made sure that we had a great time. What friendly people! None of them spoke English but we were able to communicate through Helen and hand signals. Hospitality is definitely an element that has at least been partly lost in American culture.

They made sure that I got to try new foods and here I am trying chicken's feet which is an appetizer. Actually, I didn't like them that much, but I liked almost everything else that I tried. Hmmm, I am really liking Chinese food -- but I will leave my overall judgement until after I have tried the foods from other regions (Guangzhou is Cantonese food).

We also met one of Helen's cousins in Foshan, about 25 miles from Guangzhou. It is the ceramics capital of the world. And everything is so cheap! I wanted to send some of these ceramic vases home to my mother, but the shipping cost would raise the price several times over. The art work here was absolutely amazing. I really like ceramics.

We visited the Kung Fu museum in Foshan. Next to me is one of Helen's cousins who so kindly showed us around for a day.

Helen introduced me to a new cuisine, goose, and I really liked it.

I had a hunkering for ice cream, and that big chain with the arches has special ice-cream-only outlets in the area and I could not resist. After all, you do know where ice cream was invented, right?

I really enjoyed the big city of Guangzhou. We visited parks and I even got a chance to play some hacky-sack with the locals. I think I like the feel of Chinese downtowns, but I will need to see more. The negatives are lot of air pollution and traffic. But Guangzhou is a prosperous city that is growing like gangbusters. Many people we met were from all over the country -- many spoke Mandarin instead of the local Cantonese dialect spoken here and in much of southwestern China. Buildings are going up everywhere, and I could see welding happening on the top floors of skyscraper skeletons at 10:00 in the evening.

I was also surprised to find out that China has a big counterfeit money problem. You can be sure that every bill you pass worth more than about one US dollar will be carefully scrutinized by the recipient. Many places have machines through which they run all larger bills (bills larger than about 7 US dollars, usually) to make sure they are not counterfeit.

It is obvious that the Yuan is artficially undervalued (the Chinese government controls the exchange rate). We can eat like kings for under 3 US dollars per person. We can also eat for under 1 US dollar per person when we want . . . and most goods are quite cheap for a foreigner, even considering that China is still a developing country with low cost labor.

Meeting Helen in Guangzhou

2007-09-24T07:14:00.000-07:00

I arrived on my all-Chinese bus in Guangzhou, China on August 31 after leaving Hong Kong 4 hours earlier. The area I traveled through, stretching from the north Hong Kong province border through Shenzen and then Guangzhou, is the manufacturing capital of the planet. This is where all those gizmos you buy at Walmart are produced. The main highway we traveled on was just lined with factories everywhere. Guangzhou and Shanghai are the most important commercial centers in China. Traditionally, Guangzhou was the main contact point of China to the outside world since at various points in history the Chinese Emperor banned all other cities from participating in outside trade.

Most importantly, I safely met Helen in Guangzhou! I know Helen from when I lived in the Bay Area. Last year I invited Helen to join me on the latter part of my Mexican trip. Since I speak Spanish, I did the translations there. Now it is her turn to reciprocate since Helen was born in China and speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin dialects! We plan to travel together for the next few weeks. Her hometown is Guangzhou.

On the first evening, as a favor for offering to shepherd me through her home country, I took Helen out for dinner and a cruise on the Pearl River. Wow, China is fascinating so far!

Day Trip to Macau

2007-08-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

I took a day trip via ferry to the island of Macau (about 65 km each way and US$40 round trip) Macau is a former Portugese colony that served for a couple of centuries as the main trading outpost between the West and China until a couple of hundred years ago when Hong Kong assumed that role. After that, Macau gradually became less and less important.

Since I had to take the ferry from Hong Kong to Macau in the morning and head back in the early evening, I had to explore the island during the middle of the day when it was HOT and there really is no way to avoid a lot of walking on such a day trip. For the locals, motorscooters are the way to go and they are everywhere.

Macau is the Las Vegas of Asia and it is growing incredibly fast. Land is being reclaimed from the sea to build more casinos and expand existing ones. Gambling on this scale is not legal in Hong Kong or China, and so tens of thousands come every weekend to gamble by ferry and plane. The ferry passengers were at least 60% male since men are the primary gamblers. New casinos are going up all over the waterfront.

One of Several New Casinos Going Up

I splurged on an excellent multi-course traditional Portugese dinner mid-afternoon (US$22). The menu was written in Cantonese, Portugese and English, as are many things on the island (Portugese is also an official language here).

St. Paul's Church

Macau was an early outpost of Christianity in Asia. A group of Japanese Christians suffered persecution in Nagasaki when Christianity was banned from Japan near the start of the 16th century. They came here and established St. Paul's church which is now a major tourist attraction. The church is mostly in ruins now, but the front facade still stands and inside there is a mausoleum containing the bones of the original martyrs.

Above is a painting of the original martyrdom in Japan that led to the emigration of the Japanese Christians to Macau to establish the church there.

One of the Many Beautiful Streets in Macau

Macau is a beautiful city. Notice the Portugese-type tile design underlying the street above. It is a great place just to walk around and I really enjoyed the scenery and vibe of the island.

Hong Kong

2007-08-30T06:27:00.000-07:00

Adding a note: This blog is apparently banned in Mainland China (but not Hong Kong) -- so I may not have too many updates until I leave China. It appears that I can update the blog but not view it in Mainland China where I am currently located.

Well, it is hard to believe that I woke up in the morning in California, flew to Asia, and was out exploring Hong Kong later that same evening. A round trip costs less than a week's median wages in the US and when I got to the HK airport, I stuck a little card in a machine and accessed my own funds in local HK currency which were instantly dispensed to me -- Marco Polo would have been impressed.

Hong Kong is just a fascinating city -- think San Francisco but with 5 times the density and commercialization. The street scene is full of life. And the sidewalks are a swarming sea of humanity.

25 Meters From My Hostel

This city is more expensive than most that I will be visiting so I am economizing here with a small and extremely clean private room in a hostel for US$23 per night in an almost perfect location in the Kowloon section of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a very safe place and with seamless public transport -- I can get almost anywhere I want quickly for an average of about 1 US dollar using the underground subway. And I took the long trip from the airport to my hostel by air-conditioned bus for about 5 US dollars.

Both Hong Kong and Macau are Special Administrative Regions of China as of 1997 and 1999, respectively. When ranked as a separate country, Hong Kong has the fifth highest per capita purchasing power in the world. There is every manner of electronics shop here lining the streets for blocks on end and the night markets sell anything you could imagine -- although I have seen most of the same goods already at the Dollar Store and Walmart in the US.

Hong Kong is a great place to shop.

On my first night a storm came out of nowhere while I was out walking. As my five dollar Walmart umbrella popped inside out from the wind/rain burst I felt as if I was holding up a banana skin to protect myself from a hurricane. I thought to myself, I have got to get a new "Hong Kong quality" umbrella able to take this kind of weather. But then I looked and the guy in front of me had the same *exact* umbrella -- after all, you know where all this stuff is made. . . .

Thank goodness for the fact that many speak some English here because my Cantonese is basically non-existent. I spent several hours studying on the plane, but without someone to help me with pronunciation, my efforts are completely useless so far. I couldn't even make a lady at the hostel here understand the Cantonese word for towel -- so I gave up and used a simple hand communication which she instantly understood -- she then said the word which was pronounced quite a bit differently than my attempt.

There is a whole section of businesses run by Indians downtown here selling food, tailored suits and shirts, etc. And yes, my favorite Indian restaurant is expanding (laughs)!

Now for the first time, I fully understand the Opium wars of the 19th century that led to British hegemony in Hong Kong and trade matters and transformed the region. The Hong Kong History Museum really does a great job of communicating the history of the island in what seemed to be a mostly unbiased fashion (although playing down the popular discontent with the undemocratic Chinese adminstration of Hong Kong)

Seeing the sights and experiencing the city of Hong Kong has been a great way for me to ease into China. On Friday, August 31, I am leaving for Guangzhou in Mainland China to meet up with my friend, Helen. It is about a 3.5 hour bus ride from downtown Hong Kong. Since Helen speaks Cantonese, she may be able to tell me what I am eating sometimes -- I think I tried octupus sushi tonight with a mustard and soy type sauce, but I am really not sure . . . . I met up with a couple of Korean girls who wanted to practice English during my last few hours here but I had to get going to catch the bus to the Mainland.

Saying Goodbye

2007-08-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

Mom and family friend Laurie took me to the airport in San Diego for my flight to the Bay Area to visit friends for a couple of days before leaving. Laurie was my childhood babysitter back when I was young enough to not talk back.

Travis and Mom

Travis and Laurie

Good friend Surendra kindly hosted me in the Bay Area for a couple of days before my flight to Hong Kong and Dave joined us for dinner two nights in a row. The final dinner just had to be at Shalimar, our favorite Indian place. Surendra and I refer to Shalimar as our "default eating location".

All of us at Shalimar

Dave and Surendra after satisfying meal

I also spent Saturday afternoon with wonderful friend, Irina, in San Francisco but we forgot to take pictures again -- next time, Irina!

My flight leaves in just a few hours and I am sure that I won't be posting for awhile.

What am I packing?

2007-08-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

It takes a lot of planning to figure out what to bring on your trip. Take too much and you become vulnerable to theft, reduce your transportation options, reduce your trip enjoyment and maintain the obligation to carry a heavy brick everywhere you travel in a tropical climate.

Take too little and you may not have what you need when you really need it and, if it is a specialty item, it may not even be available to buy later on the trip.

I have posted photos and detailed captions of everything that I am bringing at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11703319@N08/sets/72157601607068009/detail/

My final pack and all books weigh about 15 Kg (33 pounds). The size is probably 1.7 times the size of a strictly legal carry on. I really thought I could pack things lighter and more compact than that, but it is what it is. Everything that I own that matters for the next few months will be on my back.

Other things not pictured are all of the paperwork: ATM cards, Credit card, International Driving License (I might rent a motorbike at some point), passport (and paper copies), US drivers license, eye prescription, vaccination records, photos, postcards to show folks abroad what it is like back home, some US dollars, traveler's checks, pictures of loved ones, etc.

I scanned in my important documents and store them in a secure email account. And I have gotten just about every vaccination over the last couple of years, including a few boosters a month ago. I am ready to go!

Life Changes Summer 2007

2007-08-22T16:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, Life Changes

Welcome to my journey through Southeast Asia. You mean you thought that was me!

The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity as I quit my job and then moved from San Jose, California to San Diego County in Southern California. I took some fantastic camping trips with friends to Yosemite Valley and Baja Norte, Mexico. After some extensive research, I acquired good, inexpensive, and portable health insurance. I even took a motorcycle riding class and got my motorcycle license! But my main task this summer was helping my mom move into her newly remodeled manufactured home (just moving her took over a month!) and helping to resolve various unfinished business affairs for her after my father's death last year. I am happy to say that we completed just about everything we set out to do.

Saying Goodbye to Friends

Speaking of downsizing, I sold or got rid of most of my stuff. Everything that I own, except for my car and what I am packing on my trip, is captured in the picture below (there are no hidden boxes or items). My goal was to be able to place all of my possessions into a 2 meter cube -- a space measuring 2 meters of width, depth, and height. I am happy to say that I got it all in about two-thirds of that space. In fact, I cleaned out and rearranged my mom's little shed and then put all my stuff in there -- and there was quite a bit more space left in the shed than before I began.

Travis' Stuff

I also spent a lot of time this summer preparing for my trip to Southeast Asia. The countries I plan to visit include China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and possibly Myanmar (Burma). This will be my first visit to Asia. Nothing is set in stone and I am doing most of my planning on the road. Some friends may be joining me along the way. During my journey I hope to document some travel adventures, mistakes(!), strategies (like finances, technology, etc. on the road) and convince my family that I won't be kidnapped after all.

I am making so many last minute preparations before leaving that it feels like I am in front of the computer during one of those late night coding sessions with disposable coffee cups strewn on my desk as my head turns to view the whiteboard which is now cluttered with ever growing data structures. Boy I miss those days or . . . maybe scratch that! Anyway, I arrive in Hong Kong on Monday, August 27, via a one-way $550 ticket and hope to make the most of it. It is getting real now, more than an idea or plan -- the cell phone account has been turned off for good, there are no keys to carry because I no longer have a home or room where my things are located, my car is stored with a car cover -- it's really happening. But I feel really blessed to have the time and the health to go to such distant and exotic places about which I have been so curious for so long.