Thursday, December 07, 2006

Commenting problems?

Hey people,

I've heard that commenting might be a problem on my blog since I moved to blogger beta? While I'd like to think that you all aren't commenting because of some obscure blogger bug, as opposed to you know, the alternative ;). But hey at any rate if so, email me and let me know.

Moi

Saturday, December 02, 2006

All your world are belong to us

How awesome is this? And this? I first heard about Hospitality club from Mir from Barcelona whom I met in Vientiane. I happened to check them out today, while doing some research on Portugal. She's a super warm and friendly girl with a kick-ass consumer products design job back in Barcelona (sadly, not fashion. I was hoping for some Zara discounts, sigh), but decided to postpone going back to take a freelance job in Bangkok. I've heard of house swapping before, but I think these are more targeted for the backpacking community. Argh, I'd do this in a heartbeat if I had my own place, but I don't know how thrilled Walter & Co. will be if I start hosting random foreigners at our place. I'll try to give this a try for Portugal though. It'll be great just to get away for a while.

Man, I have some serious wanderlust going on. I don't know what's up w/ me. Obviously not a good sign 3 months in a new job, eh?

Recently I've been thinking a whole lot about my twenties coming to an end. Here I am,
27 going on 28, with the big 3-0 no longer in a deniable distance. I am no where close to where I envisioned myself to be, professionally, inter-personally, or spiritually. What am I doing? This cloud of existential angst is perpetually hanging over me. Will I look back on my twenties a mere few years from now and be satisfied with how I spent it? Have I had impacted the world in a positive way? Have I seen the world? Have I learned how to be a Man? I don't want the usual platitudes of "carpe diem" and all that shit.

I am reminded of the last scene of Garden State when the main character decides to throw off his shackles and live life. Fully. I somehow yearn to throw off the same shackles. But I don't know what shackles me. I am not centered. I just know I don't like IT right now...

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

I'm still alive

Hello folks, yes I'm still alive. Hard to believe, I know. Barely, but yeah, it's me. I haven't disappeared into the abyss, though it's been about the same. Work has absolutely consumed my life, I haven't worked this hard since grad school, and I never thought I'd relive those days again...

It's sad, I am re-reading my blog posts from SE asia just two months before, and it's as if I was reading someone else's posts. I can't believe it's only been two months, those memories are so vivid in my mind. I can still close my eyes and recall all those moments, the vibrant colors, the pungent smells, the sweltering heat, the side-splitting crazy stories...but most of all, the people. God, I love the people, I miss my friends from around the world. And I call them "friends", because I really feel like they are my friends, even though the longest I've known most of them is a few days, maybe even shorter. But there's something about traveling that brings people together. To say kindred spirit is to be so cliché, but it's so true. I feel like I've known them for years, that although I may not see them for years, I'll still be able to swing by at the drop of a hat, and say, "Hey, I'm in town in Barcelona/Vienna/Dublin/Oslo/Hamburg/Godknowswhere for a few days. Want to meet up?" And I know they will. And I know they'll put me up, show me around, help me out. It's the bond. The unspoken code of travelers. To a certain degree, being in a foreign land is a great equalizer, where the usual dividers like class, color, money, love, politics, and gender takes a backseat to getting to know yourself, and the world around you. There is something about traveling that forces you to live in the present, because there is no past and no future. So you focus on the person next to you. Because you never know what his/her story is, where they've been to, what they've seen, why they're here. And you also don't know how long you'll be w/ this person, and whether you'll ever see them again. So all you have is now. Now now now. Each "Hello" is precious; each smile an implicit nod, an acknowledgement of "Yeah, I feel you man. I can't believe I'm here too!" Each moment is a unique experience never to be repeated again in the same place at the same time. And so you learn to live in the present, because that's all you have. Sigh.

I miss them so much. I miss traveling. I miss being on the road. I miss the humanity and the human interaction. It's not like I don't interact w/ people now; I deal w/ people every day. Writing hundreds of emails, having dozens of conversations across multiple (3) continents. Yet when I get home at 3am in the morning, I feel like there's something terribly artificial about this. It feels unreal. Maybe because all these interactions are not human-driven by the need to have a relationship, but product-driven to accomplish a goal - to launch a product, resolve a dispute, or come to a decision. 99.9% of the world do not care whether it's better to use bigram or unigram statistics to calculate log likelihoods for a Bayesian learning system. Really. I know, because I've been to places where taking a shower means bringing a bar of soap to the river. They can give less of a flying wombat's shit. Yet this consumes my world, my entire world right now. It feels absurd! I feel like I'm caught in the Matrix, where slowly you forget what real life was like before the virtual life. And strapping on that backpack with that ticket in your hand is like periodically taking the red pill, flushing you out into the darkness, unknown but full of possibilities. Terrifying, but exhilirating and enlivening.

Well, enough of waxing philosophically. I do want to write a more lengthy exposition about my experience at The Company (sorry, I'm paranoid) so far, but I'm just too tired to do it justice. Suffice to say, there are things I really like about this job, that I wouldn't trade for the world. And there are things I'm not so thrilled about. It's very different than what I expected, but I guess that's part of the learning too. Well, till next time then...

Friday, September 08, 2006

Sabaidee!

Laos is just absolutely fantasic! I cannot say enough good things about this place. I feel like I've finally found the SE asia that I was looking for. Laotians are unbelievably nice, even at major tourist destinations like Ventiane and Luang Prabang. While tourism is rapidly growing into a mainstream industry here, it has yet to affect Laos the way it has taken over Cambodia or Vietnam. Vietnam is perhaps not a fair comparison since it has a growing economy, especially as a manufacturing outsource destination. I think the closest comparison is Cambodia, and the contrast I see is that while both countries are equally destitute, Laotians are generally much happier and nicer, and if I may, optimistic about their future. Granted, I did not have time to venture off the well-beaten track of PP and Siem Reap, but in general the Cambodians struck me as weary and jaded from the tourism. Understandably, there is so much hardship that one cannot blame them from trying earn a buck or two off a falang like me. But there is no joy in their eyes when I step into a shop, museum, or street - only money. It's sad. I've heard that things are much better out in the provinces like Battambang, but it's quite difficult to get out there without actually knowing people, due to the lack of infrastrucutre.

Conversely, it was such a welcome relief to not be mobbed by drivers, kids, and vendors peddling everything from rides to marajuana the minute I step off the bus in Laos. People here are genuinely happy to see tourists, amazingly enough. The locals would smile and say hello ("Sabaidee") as I walk through the streets and shops, answer my questions genuinely, and no one has yet tried to hard sell me anything. It's been really wonderful. I can't help but be saddened by the inevitable loss of innocence, that in 3-5 yrs Laos will grow into a well-oiled tourism machine, rolling in tourists by the conveyor belt and presenting a polished but fabricated experience. Am I too pessimistic? "Responsible" and "sustainable" tourism is suddenly no longer a catch phrase but a very real problem faced by these countries and us, the traveler community. As we travel the world in pursuit of that last undiscovered beach, lost ruin, or hidden village, are we helping these people and places or expediting their extinction? Will people a hundred years from now lament our imprudence, much as how we shake our heads at the brute who clubbed the last Dodo bird to death? I don't know, I have no good answers. Thus far I've tried as much as possible to respect the local customs, support the local artisans, and in general avoid being an ugly tourist. I'd like to think that everytime I step out to a new country, I'm in a small part being an ambassador for Taiwan, for Chinese people. It brings me as much joy to point Taiwan out someone on the map as it does to see a magnificient temple, to tell them about our customs as it does to learn about theirs. But yet, I cannot avoid this nagging feeling that what I give is pitifully little compared to what I've received in their magnanimous generosity and hospitality. Sigh.

I just got back from a two day trek through the Laos jungles in Luang Prabang, which involved a 50km bike ride the first day, and 15km kayaking trip the 2nd. I am sore as all hell, but it was absolutely fantastic. We biked to a remote village to watch a provincial dragon boat race on the Mekong. We were extremely fortunate, as the boat race is an annual event that brings villages from all over the province together in celebration, so we really got to see a slice of the local life. Afterwards, we biked for another hour and stayed overnight w/ a local family, then kayaked back via the Nam Ou and Mekong river.





My Tour de Lao team, sponsored by Lonely Planet


Giving new meaning to the term "Garage Band"


Disco, anyone?


Row, row, row your boat


Saturday, September 02, 2006

More pics from the road

My crowning achievement in SE Asia thus far -


OK, j/k. Just couldn't resist :) But guys, really. It is _that_ good outside of Seattle (or should I say it is _that_bad in Seattle?)

Pics of other good friends from the road


Jeff from DC. A great, great guy all around. We traveled for almost a week in Vietnam. Totally reminds me of my freshman roommate Jonah. Carved out of the same mold, and even plays a mean axe just like Jonah. I got to relive some memories as we did a little dual jamming on our Ha Long bay trip, entertaining the boat w/ some sing-along. Though we did find out it's much tougher to find common music that everyone knows w/ an international crowd :)


Jen and Pete from Pittsburgh - the only few other Americans I've met so far. They fit the all-American archetype to a T and just great fun to hang out w/. Funny enough, Jen's obsessed w/ Google btw. I swear girl knows more about it than I do!


More mates from across the Isles, Deutschland, and Norway!


Man and Boy

Amazing views from Ha Long Bay


Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Random thoughts from the road

I just can't say enough good things about other travelers in SE Asia so far. People have been so awesome, I've been making friends everywhere. On the plane, on the bus, on tours, in guesthouses...you name it, I've met people there. I also met one friend on my last trip through Europe, but I just have to say I really like the SE Asia crowd. There are a lot of kindred spirits out here, lots of people who are at a crossroads in life, so they've quit their jobs, stopped out, or postponed whatever it is they're doing to come out here to figure out where they're going in life. I really enjoy that.

I really love the traveler's credo. Not that there's an explicit one, but in general I've found that most travelers out here share a similar mindset - Leave things/people as you find them as much as possible; Help another traveler as you'd like to be helped, etc. I really like it.

Other random thoughts from the road

- Things worth its weight in gold in SE Asia: Toilet paper and mosquito repellent. Laugh, you say? You'll thank me someday. Trust me.
- Thai mosquitoes >> Cambodian mosquitoes >> Vietnamese mosquitoes (thus far)
- Kareoke videos are just as cheesy in Khmer as they are in English. Except they're a lot more violent! I saw one typical boy-girl breakup song video which proceeded as usual. Just when I was about to fall asleep, the dude pulled out a gun and shot the girl in the head at the end! Definitely woke me up.
- What is it w/ SE Asian's love of Kareoke videos on long bus rides? It's only amusing for maybe the first hour!
- Always, always ask about what services are included while looking for a massage. Always
- When standing in a river, should you ever notice Cambodian folks pointing at your feet in horror and moving back, RUN like all hell and don't look back. (Generally it means there's a snake moving toward you at high speed)
-
Ticket to SE Asia: $1160
Cab ride: $2
Apocalypse Now (one of Saigon's biggest clubs) admission: $5
Rocking to 'Ice Ice Baby' w/ fellow Vietnamese hipsters: priceless. Did you ever think Vanilla Ice will be back in vogue again?!

Friday, August 25, 2006

Technical difficulties

I've been having technical difficulties trying to post, hence the lack of posting lately. I'm able to login and publish posts, but I can't access anything from *.blogspot.com domain, so I can't see my own or anyone else's posts. I don't know if it's a Vietnam-specific issue (seems unlikely), but it frustrates me to no end. Blogger really is a pretty crappy solution, maybe when I get to Google I can help make it better. Until then, sigh. But apparently the posts can be seen in the US, so I'll just post blind and hope it turns out ok :)

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Me mates

Interestingly, I've been traveling for almost two weeks now, and I have still yet to meet a single American. I've met people from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Israel, and just about everywhere else, but not the US. Sadly, it seems to confirm the stereotype that Americans don't get out of their backyard. I read a stat once that something like over 90% of Americans don't even have a passport?! How sad is that?

So far I've had no trouble meeting people at all. It seems that SE asia circuit is much more social, even compared to Europe. I haven't had a single night by myself when I didn't want to. Some nights I've basically had to decline going out or else I just wouldn't be able to get up the next day. It's certainly been a welcome change compared to certain days when I was traveling through the Baltics last year and I'd go a couple days without speaking to anyone, literally. That was character building, but also a bit challening at times. Still, SE asia circuit is definitely a great place to chill and party, and I think you also get further away from the obnoxious American frat boys on the European circuit.

I was talking w/ a woman from the UK and she just raved about the S. America circuit - Chile, Argentina,

Shout outs to some of the people I've been hanging out w/ so far - surprisingly, a whole lot of British people. I just got on a tour bus today again w/ a bunch of Brits, they were all totally awesome. Completely shatters the stereotype that Brits are cold and reserved.

Me mates - Matt (Australia), and Lina and Sarah from UK


More mates - Sara, Binit, Becky, and Ashley (all UK)


Yun Jeong from Korea - her English wasn't great, and obviously my Korean was non-existent, but we had a blast anyways. Hand gestures gets you a long ways


Hey HC, I met a couple of cute Malaysian girls at the airport, btw. Sorry I didn't get their contact info, otherwise I'd totally hook you up ;)

Other pics

Sunrise, Ankor Wat - unfortunately, it was very cloudy that day, so the picture could've been much better


Carving, Ankor Wat




Monk, Ankor Wat




Old woman, Ankor Wat

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Mixed feelings

Being in SE Asia evokes mixed feelings in me, and Cambodia only reinforces and intensifies them ever more so. To co-opt Dicken's words, "it is the best of places, and it was the worst of places". There are things I love about this place, like the amazing food, beaches and jungles, simple country people (when one can find them), and the rich history and cultural heritage. On the other hand, there are also things that just make me angry or sad: the blatant commericialism and consequent exploitation and callousness, the income disparity and utter depravity, and the sheer corruption and apathy at times. I now understand how HC feels about India; our love-hate feelings must be pretty similar in this regard.

Somehow I always seem to have transportation issues when travelling. I managed to score a super cheap flight from BKK to Phnom Penh (PP) for $50 total, including taxes. Before I could congratulate myself however, I didn't realize that Thai immigration takes forever to process, with multiple stages before and after security screening. As such, I went through the first stage thinking I had plenty of time, so I did what I naturally do when I have time - eat. After a leisurely breakfast at KFC, I went in again, then realized I needed to go through immigration again, then two security checkpoints, and take a bus out to the plane! Needless to say, I missed my flight and was kicking myself all morning. Then I had to go buy another flight out, which fortunately did not cost an arm and a leg, but did make me wait for almost 6hrs at the airport. Lesson - no more KFC at the airport from now on.

After that fiasco, I finally landed in PP and I felt like I was transported to another world. Despite my "acclimatization" period in Thailand, I was still not fully prepared for Cambodia. While perhaps not as bad as parts of Africa where there're no running water or electricity, this is definitely a 3rd world country. The abject poverty in parts of Phnom Penh asserts itself in your face, and it's difficult to ignore. Coming into town on the back of a moto, the road is equally shared by motos, bikers, cows, naked kids, hand carts, and a million other moving things. Backpackers inevitably stick out like a sore thumb with our signature tevas/flip flops and backpacks, and so as soon we step out onto the road we are mobbed by drivers throwing themselves at us yelling, "taxi/tuk-tuk/moto, sir?" or "hey you, where you go?" (the singularly most annoying expression in all of SE asia). And we'd be assaulted by beggars and street children, some of whom make your heart ache, but others who just blatantly guilt you into giving them money. And though I know they're guilt-tripping me, I still can't help feeling guilty, and I hate that. Things are old, broken, dirty everywhere, and the streets are littered with trash. When you turn the corner beyond the tourist areas, I feel like I'm walking into the slums that I've only seen on TV; children running naked without clothes, rolling and playing in the dirt. Shacks assembled from driftwood and metal pieces, burning trash in the streets, animal feces splattered on the ground It's certainly an unglamorous side of travelling, but I'm very glad I get to see this side of SE asia. Without this I would simply be another naive tourist who roll in for the sun and beaches, and head out without a look behind the scenes.

If I had to describe PP in one word, I'd say "hard". I feel like PP is a hard city; its people are hard, its environment is hard, and its fortune is hard. I don't think I mind the poverty so much as how it's changed people. For example, my tuk-tuk driver kept pushing me to go to a shooting range, which is a popular tourist stop, after I came out of the Tuol Sleng museum, where Pol Pot interrogated and tortured his prisoners before sending them off to the Killing Fields. After the museum, the last thing I wanted to do was touch a gun, and here was this guy getting in my face, pestering me non-stop to go to the range, so he can earn his commission! I wanted to yell at him so badly for his insensitivity, then restrained myself, since I figured he's just trying to survive and make money however he can. It's also sad to see how the street urchins have honed their craft so well, they know exactly who to target (female Westerners in pairs or groups), how to close ("you not give me, you make me sad") and what to ask for ("food for my brother/sister/mother/family"). I really can't blame them, but at the same time, it's disheartening. I'm pretty sure if I was in their place, I would probably be doing the same thing. Civility is often a luxury only practiced by those who can afford it. Yet I wonder, and this applies to all nations striving to catch the great capitalism train, like China, if a little something is not lost during this mad rush to modernize and capitalize?

Well, on a lighter note, I think the market is a wonderful place for photography. The vibrant mix of colors and lighting just creates all sorts of opportunities that can make even an amateur photographer like me look good :)

Mmmm...breakfast


Shopping heaven for ladies


A simple, wonderful woman who sold me some scallion pancakes. I bought one from her for breakfast, and after making an entire round at the market, I decided it was so good I just had to go back and get another one. When I went back, she recognized me immediately, and her face just totally lit up. Despite us not being able understand a word from each other, I feel like she was one of the few locals with whom I really connected. She was genuinely delighted to see me because I liked her food, not because she saw flashing dollar signs screaming "easy tourist money". These are the little moments that keep me from becoming totally jaded while on the road.




Mother and child - the kid was bewildered by my camera, but she soon took to it quite eagerly :)


And more sombering photos from Tuol Sleng

Prisoner's cell


Photos of the deceased


Prison hallway

Monday, August 14, 2006

Pics!

More pictures!

Quick post before I get eaten alive by the mosquitoes...

Wat Pho temple


Temple of the Jade Buddha


Men playing some form of checkers using...bottle caps?


Oh beautiful, glorious, CHEAP food! (340 baht, about $9)




A wonderful street vendor who provided me lunch


I had a blast trying to speak to her using my pidgin Thai picked up from the back of my LP guide. It's pretty amazing how far you can get by on facial expressions, a map, and lots of smiles. We managed to chat about my photos, what to see and what to what to avoid (Q: what does gun gesture + south of Thailand equal? A: mafia country!), and she taught me how to count to 10 :) Thai is damn hard, I tell ya. Their writing alphabet seem so complicated. Now I understand why people complain Chinese characters are so hard; to the untrained eye it must look like the friggin' Egyptian hieroglyphs!

Now boarding: flight to Hell!


At the Ancient City






I finally decided to get a travel photography book to actually teach myself how to shoot better photos. Prior to this I had always been a trial-and-error photographer, basically getting by just by shooting a large volume of shots and picking the best ones. While digital photography affords one the ability to do so, it obviously doesn't get one very far, and I bit the bullet and splurged on an actual guide. It was 850 baht (~$21), but I think it's totally worth it. Now I can really consciously work on getting better on this trip. I just picked it up yesterday, but I think (hope) my composition is already getting a little better!

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Touchdown

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this update --

*************

I just touched down in Bangkok after a brutal, 24hr flight (thanks to a 2 hr layover in SFO and 6hr layover in Narita). I'm completely beat, since I haven't slept much the previous couple of nights either, thanks to moving craziness. In total it's been about 8hrs in bed out of 3 days...ouch). I'm staying at the Shanti Lodge, which looks to be really awesome so far.

The craziest thing happened in narita though - I ran into Tim Choi, good friend whom I haven't seen in a long time at the airport!! He was on a flight back to sfo and I was waiting to transit to bangkok. I walked into this japanese food court to get some food, and i heard someone call my name. I was like, "wtf? there must be a mistake." I turn around and lo and behold, there's Tim! Crazy huh? We hung out for an hr while I ate some food and caught up, that was really cool. Talk about a small world.

Thus far, I'd have to say I think Thailand's rumored heat is overrated. Nyc was hotter and more humid. The mosquitoes, however, are not. I've only been here a couple hours and the assault has already begun in earnest. I count half a dozen so far. This must be the new guy welcome...

Friday, August 11, 2006

We're not in Kansas (or Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania...) anymore

Yes, that's true. For those of you who worried, we haven't been perpetually stuck in the twilight zone between Chicago and the cornfields of Ohio, despite what this blog may have you believe. I just haven't had time to write anything halfway decent, and I hate to just ramble all over my blog. So I'll have to give you a brief, whirlwind picture tour of the rest of our trip before I dash off to Thailand tomorrow.

Corn! We are children of the corn!



This is the closest this city boy has ever been to a real corn, outside of Safeway. Naturally, it was quite exciting for me.



Somewhere along the way in Erie, Penn, we found this Nascar-themed Buffalo wings haven, and we just had to go. I mean, that's why people do on road trips right? Apparently people come from all over, including neighboring states, to this place to eat. Besides the over-the-top decor, they also offer about 30 different levels of hot wings, from the mere tangy, to truly atomic. Apparently the atomic version has something like 25,000 units of spice-ness (I don't remember the exact scientific name) per unit of food, which requires you to sign a consent form and liability waiver before they'll let you try it. I kid you not.





Sneak preview at Oct's cover of Hot Rod magazine!

Monday, July 31, 2006

On the road

After an almost too short 3 days in Chicago, we hit the road for small town America, burgers, corn fields, and UFOs. On our way out from Chicago, we hit some massive rain. Now I know why Midwesterners snicker at Seattle rain. Seriously, I thought when people said it rained so hard that it was like pouring water on your windshield, I always thought they were full of ish. But check this out.

Before


After


It was no exaggeration when I say it was like someone was throwing buckets and buckets of water on our windshield. Later we found out that we encountered one of the biggest downpours of the year thus far, causing flooding in Cleveland and a bunch of other cities in the Midwest.

I'm also proud to announce my new favorite chain diner - best catfish fillets and candied carrots ever!


Look, giant Smarties! Only in the midwest!


Pick up lines, 50's-style