Only 1 more week until I head back to the States!  Sort of sad that the trip is coming to an end, but exciting at the same time :)

Vietnam was one of my favorite places of the entire trip.  Promise to post when I have a chance to upload pics.

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

I’ve been staying with my good friend Rob’s brother, Rich.  Has a great place with a view, pool, and gym, so I’ve been taking advantage of the luxuries for sure!  He also has the first scale that I’ve seen in a few months.  I weigh 165 pounds right now, which is by far the skinniest I have been since I played college soccer…  I’m like a stick figure and I can’t help it…  I’m telling you, it is almost impossible to be overweight over here with portion sizes.  Additionally I’m always on the move, and all the food is healthy relative to most options at home…

My cousin Kris, his girlfriend Katie, and friend Cord are flying into HCMC tonight at 11pm.  Really looking forward to seeing them, should be fun.  I’m interested to see how Katie reacts, this is her first time abroad and HCMC is not a “gradual introduction” to SE Asia, she’s going straight into the heart of the fire baby!

More on HCMC later.  Trivia:  HCMC is also called Saigon as it was known before the “American War” and Communist takeover.  Yes, all of Vietnam refers to the “Vietnam War” as the American War.

Also Facebook is blocked here.  Which is very funny/annoying…  Rich brought up a good point though, FB would be a pretty great way to organize a revolution or rebel group.  Or just share information freely.  Which is frowned upon.

When I arrived in Siem Reap I was taken care of immediately.  My friend Veasna’s parents, Randy & Nan, picked me up at the airport and drove me to their hotel.  I got the “local rate” and the staff treated me like a white Cambodian from the start…  (not really, but they at least acted like it)  The Kuchs live in Elma, about an hour outside of Olympia, WA.  And they come back to Cambodia each year for a couple months to visit, very cool that they stay so close to family and their roots.  After checking in, we went out to lunch at a local joint, then gave me a personal guided tour of the Angkor temples.  Randy was actually in the Cambodian Army in the 70′s during the Pol Pot era, which was a horrible horrible time for Cambodia.  It was clear that he didn’t want to talk about it, and I can only imagine the awful things he experienced and witnessed during that time.  The country has still not recovered from the devastation caused by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.  (Quick History:  Pol Pot rose to power and killed anyone in opposition to Khmer Rouge rule, millions of people.  This was mostly intelligent, educated people so they effectively wiped out the upper echelon of society, killing the values of education normally passed down through families.  Cambodia is still consistently ranked as one of the most corrupt government in the world.)  On to happier events then…  We went out to dinner at a local Thai restaurant where Randy was a local celebrity!  The owner wanted to take pictures with him for the memorabilia wall and all the kids loved him.  The Kuch’s visit continued the next day and they left for Nan’s mother’s home.  Great people!

On my own, I spent two full days touring the temples, then a day on in town.  The temples were breathtaking, see separate post…  The town of Siem Reap though was just another cookie-cutter SE Asian tourist trap.  There were some good restaurants and a road called Pub Street where people go out until the wee hours.  Lots of fun to be had, but a tourist town to the core…

On my last day in town I was having a late lunch and started talking to a nice couple, Erich (French/German guy about 50) and his wife Sway Not (Cambodian and 30).  Great conversation, they offered immense insight into the Cambodian culture, history, and lifestyle.  We ended up extending happy hour into the night and drank many a pitcher until about 10pm.  We went to 3 different bars/restaurants and a night club, including some eccentric local joints.  Here’s how it goes down when you’re in SE Asia though:  It took me 3-4 hours to let my guard down and trust these people.  If anyone is overly nice here, you have to be suspicious, it’s just the way of life.  So for 4 hours I was chatting and having a great time, but also watching every little mannerism, nuances of conversation, making sure my drinks weren’t drugged, and answering questions vaguely.  At one point, we got in a Tuk Tuk to go to another bar that Sway Not suggested, and if that thing had veered off down a side road or into a sketchy part of town I was ready to jump out, tuck & roll, and start running…  But turns out they were just very nice people!  Erich is a French teacher and had a bad week, so they went into tourist land so he could talk to westerners.  Sway Not even tried to hook me up with her 16 year old cousin, no joke.  When I gave my email to Erich at the end of the night, Sway Not took it and gave it to her cousin, telling me she’d be in touch.  At no point did her cousin and I have anything resembling a conversation, she didn’t speak a word of english.  Different world…

Here’s some of my favorite quotes from them, the main themes being how difficult life is in Cambodia, how people have no value for education, and that the value of life is directly attached to how much money you have.  Some of the things they said were so striking I would write them down when I went to the bathroom…

“If you have money, you are king.  If you don’t, you are a dog, and you’ll die like a dog.”

“Don’t try to understand here, it is impossible.”

“People see you with ATM on your forehead, they’ll try to get money out of you any way they can.”

“Cambodians think you can buy knowledge.  Instead of going to school and learning, they buy jobs.  Many people in high-status jobs paid their way there and do their jobs extremely poorly.”

“Sometimes these people are like children, they can’t help it.”

For those of you not familiar, from roughly 900 AD to 1300 AD, the Khmer Empire ruled much of SE Asia.  The kings were intent on building the most grand and impressive cities/monuments/temples in the world.  It is pretty much agreed that at the time, Angkor Thom/Wat was the most extravagant city in the world, boasting over a million residents.  The Khmer were defeated and the city was abandoned.  The entire city and the area was actually lost, completely forgotten, for a period of time until a Frenchman stumbled upon it.  Now people flock there like those little flies to a cantaloupe.  It’s crazy to think that something so powerful and successful and grand was conquered, forgotten, and now crumbling back to nothing at all.  Everything that goes up, always comes down…

This is another where pictures don’t really do it justice.  But I’ll share them anyway, because they’re pretty dang good.  I have 163 pictures, probably deleted another 150 after seeing they were only “good” and not up to my normal standards :)

Was in Laos for just over a week.  It is pronounced “L-ow” and the Lao people spell it “Lao.”  I never have figured out why we have to change the spelling of city and country names in other places, and would we want to make it easier to pronounce?  Why would we just add a silent letter?  Anyway…  I did just the main areas of Lao, entirely due the time I had available.  But those areas were really enjoyable.  Super mellow and very “local”.  Luong Prabang was very small, I’m talking walk from one side of town to the other in less than 10 minutes small.  All old french colonial architecture, temples, and monks in the Old Town.  Seriously, that’s it (maybe some white people with cameras also…).  Then the rest of the town was a non-developed, but well-kept place full of local activity.  I rented a bike and got lost one day (these types of things almost always turn out well, sometimes I consider not planning anything at all…)  rode up into the countryside and saw some beautiful landscape and farmland.  The town is right on the Mekong River (China conveniently dammed the river at the border, so the water was too low for the famed “slow boat” rides.)

I met two german girls on the plane ride into Laos and we ended up staying at the same Guesthouse and having dinners together.  Good girls, but every day I verify how different women are…  Women have to do everything in groups, can’t ever be alone.  Yet they are very picky and opinionated.  They get upset and pout when they don’t get their way.  And I’m convinced women are biologically programmed to dislike other women.  How do these things all work together?  They don’t.  How do decisions get made?  They don’t.  Like I said, good girls, but I had to do my own thing during the days, otherwise I may have resorted to drinking at 8am…

I took a bus from Luong Prabang to VanVieng and then later from VanVieng to Ventiane.  If I had the choice to do that again or put szechuan peppers in my contact solution, I am not sure which I’d choose.  Of course the bus broke down and we sat at a closed restaurant for 4 hours waiting for a new bus.  Oh, the new bus also had no A/C and was sort of like a really large Chevy Astro Van with not enough seats for all the people.  No one apologized for any of this at any point.  Eerily like it happens all the time…  The positive is that I got to see a lot of the country and people along the way.  Laos struck me as being pretty poor in general, but not overpopulated, quite clean, and the people seemed like they all had something to do and where happy about it.  Even the villages with no luxuries at all seemed clean and well kept, except the lifestyle was as simple as could be.

I can’t talk too much about Ventiane because I wasn’t feeling well when I was there and it was something like 95 degrees every day so I didn’t spend a whole lot of time walking around during the day or going out at night.  This is the first place I saw citizens with machine guns though…

Pics below!

This is Van Vieng, the river just as it comes into town.

Van Vieng also.  The huge limestone karsts.  This is a field I wandered into…  I did some hiking down a local trail at the karst’s base, until I realized that Laos has some of the deadliest snakes and other animals you’ve never heard of.  Then I went home…

Van Vieng again, not sure what this lady was collecting in the river, and I hope I never ate any of it, but it is likely I did…

Children playing in the river in Luong Prabang.  I thought about joining them, but didn’t want to embarrass them by scoring too many goals.

This is actually a Songthaeuw, not a Tuk Tuk, but you get the idea.

Streets of Luong Prabang filled with French Colonial architecture.

Mekong River farming

One of the fields that I found when bike riding

Best bus ride EVER!!!!  This is us in the middle of nowhere.  We continued sitting in the middle of nowhere for the next 4 hours.

It came about because of a lot of factors, many good ones and some frustrating ones, but at the heart of it all I just wanted to be in a comfortable place with people I love and trust.  Where I can listen to bad commentary on the CBS coverage of March Madness, mix in some Spring training highlights on Baseball Tonight.  Where I don’t have to assess everything I do, go through a full day and don’t experience a single new thing…  Eat at the same restaurant I’ve gone to 20 times before or go to the fridge for a snack.  Make a joke to the waiter and receive something other than a blank stare (it really was funny!)…  Sleep in the same bed that has molded to my body.  Find my way around town without a map.  Maybe even wear some clothes that I haven’t worn 20 times in the last 2 months…

It was sort of nice to be really homesick for a bit actually.  I had a bit of a cold as well, but kicked it.  Flying to Siem Reap tomorrow, back on the horse! :)

How can I help?  I wonder what I can do.  There are so many who deserve so much.  A few more comforts, a little more luxury.  A better education (any education…).  Better infrastructure.  Better food.  Better clothes.  More play and fun.  But what can I possibly do to help so many people?  What can anyone do?  The area has been in turmoil for the last few centuries at least (I’ll never claim to be a historian) and they’ve fallen behind as a result.  How can I help them catch up?

Do they want or even need our help?  The people of SE have such a rich, traditional, interesting, complicated, and yet simple culture.  And here we come with our Western ideas of what is right and how to live.  We force these ideas, belief systems, and ways of life on the people when I’m not so sure they want to change at all.  There’s a vibe in the air when you get outside the main tourist areas that people are quite content with their humble way of life.  They are relaxed, spiritually content, and have enough comforts to raise a family by traditional methods.  I am not positive these people have any desire to strive for a “better” life.  You walk, bike, drive around in some places with no power, no running water, no sewer, and I can’t honestly say that they look any less happy than an average suburban Westerner.  The fact that people here can be so nice, joyful, and content with what they have makes people in the US look greedy, spoiled, and unappreciative, to be quite blunt.  

Once you get over the notion of Western standards of cleanliness, you see that because a child has not taken a bath in a few days, walks barefoot, and ate rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner does not necessarily mean their quality of life is poor.  They are most likely part of a tight, loving family, and what else do children need?  How many children in the West would trade possessions for a loving, stable family? 

I’ve met a few people here that are in the Peace Corps, a very honorable undertaking no doubt.  But it is easy to come off as pompous and manipulative in this role.  Having a 22 year old inexperienced white girl come into your town and tell you how to live your life doesn’t always go over well.  I’m not sure that I would appreciate being told how to live by a young girl from God knows where.  As a 40 year old father of 3, who has seen more in the last 10 years than this girl could read in 100 text books, she’s going to tell him how to care for his family?  Imagine some posh young British girl coming into your home and telling you you watch too much TV, that you eat unhealthily, that your work-life balance is prematurely aging you, that you need to exercise more, that surfing the web isn’t improving your life…  What reaction would you have?  She may be right, but even if she is, you’ll resent and probably resist her.

Tourism has really effed many places up.  “Changed” is the politically correct word I’m sure…  I had no idea what guide books meant when they called a place “over-touristed” prior to this trip.  What they really mean is that the place has lost all it’s traditions and culture because the people are chasing the tourist dollar.  It is simple market economics, but it’s sad to see.  It’s the equivalent of “selling out” for money.  And it happens on a mass scale.  Entire regions and towns are effectively ruined and turned into disneyland-like theme parks.  If you pay attention, you can tell that the local crafts in the market are manufactured in an off-shore sweat shop and bought in bulk to sell to tourists.  You see more tourists on cultural tours than you do native people.  And the locals that you do see are actors in a grand tourism play.  Scams become commonplace because people are naive and flush with cash.  Everything morphs into a stripped down version of what tourists really want, which is a discouraging mix of western comforts and media stereotypes. 

There is a lot of business opportunity here.  To say things are not run well is an understatement.  There is not a lot of money in the region on the whole, but with globalization, the physical location of customers and money is less important.  The labor pool is massive, just asking for something to do.  Workers are unskilled for the most part, but talk about low wages…  Even at “high” wages here, you’d pay 1/4 of what unskilled workers in the US get paid.  The businesses here could be run much better, resulting in more money going back into the local economy.  The diversity of industry and product offerings could be so much wider.  There are a vast range of potential businesses that don’t exist, that could flourish if introduced to the market.  It seems like there are a lot of “copy cat” businesses.  People do the same thing, sell the same thing, and the resulting price wars cut profits to a barely worthwhile slice.  Like any blank canvas, it is hard to come here and not see opportunities to make money and improve on current business methods.  There will always be this part of me, I can’t help it…

Charity and AID (not AIDS…) – I think of those sad infomercials you see of the dirty kids and an old white man asking your you to give $10/day.  They pick out the cutest kid in the world, muss her hair and knock out a baby tooth to play at your heartstrings.  What a crock of shit.  She probably was just running around playing with her friends in the river after a bowl of rice…   I don’t really mean that, well not as harshly as that sounds anyway…  I know there are people who are starving, people that need help just to survive.  And if you have the means it is a great thing to do, to give to any charity or AID organization.  But I believe with all my heart that we/I/you or any organization should not force our lifestyle on them.  Give people the tools and allow them to make the best decisions for their own lives.  They may not be educated formally like you or me, but they’re not dumb.  They know where to buy farm equipment, animals, clothes, whatever.  Maybe they don’t want to change anything, they just want to buy a new motorbike so they can go back and forth to town, but the well-intentioned charity company gave them a goat.  What the hell do they need a goat for?  They might not even want to be farmers.  Maybe they want to move to Bangkok and be fashion designers.  If you really want to give, take a flight to wherever and start handing out cash.  It will mean 100% of your charity reaches its intended destination.  At the same time, you’ve allowed someone to take control of their own future, to lead themselves in the direction of their own choosing.  (I’m sure there is a better way than just handing people banknotes in the streets, but you get my drift…)

I’ve been on the go all the time, never spending more than 6 days in one place, usually 3-5.  Each new place is a new challenge; new ways of life, new language, new prices, new money, new transportation, new accomodation, new weather, new activities, new sights.  Nothing is comfortable (I mean that in the best of ways) and I’m always on my toes in one way or another.

If you know me, then you know I’m not one to just sit on the beach and do nothing, or watch movies in the hotel room.  I’m out trying to do things, see things, meet people, and the challenge of accomplishing those things sometimes makes me feel like an inept 12 year old to be quite honest…

So far I would describe my experiences in SE Asia as:  Illuminating, Hectic, Challenging, Rewarding, Adventurous, Full of New Friends, and what is a word that means the opposite of “relaxing?”

I’m very conscious of maintaining a balance between seeing as many different places as possible and making sure to stay in a place long enough to understand and enjoy it.  But I may also have to take a rest and stay in one place for a week+ just to make sure I don’t get burnt out…

Most Backpackers are travelling with little or no money.  I am not talking Holiday Inn Express type no money, I’m talking about stay in a room with no mattress or fan to save $1 per night type no money.  The type that buys groceries and cooks their own meals on vacation to save money.  Very friendly, a bit hippyish usually, mostly European, sometimes Aussie or Kiwi.  These are the type of people who don’t let money or jobs or deodorant (ironically I am sitting next to a backpacker right now who smells like a foot unwashed out in the jungle for 4 days) stand in the way of seeing the world.  A true backpacker will make a lot of comfort sacrifices in order to afford their travels (3 day bus rides instead of 1.5 hour flights to save $100), but shit at least they’re out there doing it, I respect them quite a bit for that.  Most of the time they are fun-loving party types, but you also get the granola types and the year-off-from-boarding school upper class rebellious types.  Usually a backpacker is 18-26 years old, I am definitely on the upper fringe of allowable age limits.  In fact I don’t really consider myself a “backpacker” because I spend too much money…

We don’t have these types of travellers in the US.  I’ve been trying to work out why and the best answer I can come up with is either 1) We don’t let them into our country because they don’t have money and we’re worried they will stay, or 2) They don’t want to visit the US, or 3) They think they already know all about America because they’ve seen so much TV and movies (this is waaay more likely than you’d think) or even 4) we don’t have the facilities to accomodate budget travellers, they would have to rent cars, pay $40 a night for a Motel 6, take flights, etc and it is too expensive.

So the next time you hear the term “Backpacker” you’ll know what type of person the rest of the world is thinking of.

Rules – There are rules and laws I’m sure, but it is rare you ever see police at all.  Everything seems to operate on the honor system to a certain extent.  And most people are very nice, living good honest lives.  As I’ve said before I probably feel safer here than I do in some parts of the US.  There are definitely people who don’t have quite the same honor in their system as the majority though…

Infrastructure – This is the most obvious and frankly shocking thing for me.  I’m not certain what the people get out of their relationship with local governments in some places.  Major cities are ok, but for example in Bangkok you cannot flush toilet paper down most toilets because it will clog the system.  In Bali, the phone system is borderline worthless.  In Laos the main highway in the entire country looks like an Alabama farm road build in 1975.  Then you get places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lampur that are super modern and have all the luxuries and infrastructure of New York.  It’s as if the governments just decided to give up on the other places and focus all their attention on a couple cities.  Strictly because of this, it is not a surprise that the area is many years behind.  The people just don’t have the tools to succeed.  It’s as if you went to your first day at work and your boss handed you only a pencil and a piece of paper and said, “That’s all we can provide, just do as best as you can.”

Business Regulations – There is no such thing as the Better Business Bureau.  More often than not, if a person/business can hussle you for a couple extra dollars, they will.  There’s a couple ways I look at it 1) oh well, it’s still cheap and it doesn’t matter that much if I pay $.30 more than I should 2) Why bother giving me the runaround, just make the prices higher so that you get more profit, I’d still pay it 3) It’s pretty fun calling someone out when they are trying to scam you.

In the US (which the rest of the world calls “America”, which I still can’t really get used to, it just sounds weird to me) you can pretty much do anything that is offered to you by a legitimate business and feel safe about it.  You can eat most foods and know that the FDA is your safety blanket, you can go on any rollercoaster and know that it has been checked for safety 10 million times and engineered over a period of 2 years.  If a business scams people, they’ll be taken to court.  These safety nets don’t exist here.

Expect the worst – This sounds a bit jaded, but it’s not really.  A cowboy always watches his back, so do I.  I go into every interaction with a local as if they are going to scam me.  After we chat for a bit I can usually tell if they’re legit or not, and it makes the good interactions all the more pleasant.  The majority of interactions are very pleasant, but any exchange of money is an opportunity to be duped…

Sniff out a trap – Like John Wayne in the old western films, I am pretty good at “sniffing out a trap.”  Once I learned how things work a bit and can dismiss some of the immoral people right out of the gate, or know what I’m dealing with at least, it makes nearly every business deal pleasant in one way or another.  Whether it’s a bargaining challenge, a win-win type outcome, or just a friendly transaction based on a set price…  Being pleasant always helps too, it’s like a happy little bargaining dance we do…