Last transmission from Asia.

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 01:12:00 -0700

6-9-2007

Last transmission from Asia.

I had intended to get this post and a detailed tale of Vietnam and the trip into Mainland China up at the same time, but I’ve run out of it. It’s in the works, it’s just not very good. So in the interest of not irritating people I’m going to wait until I’ve got time to make it less boring.

I have had a most excellent adventure to be sure. I’ve been to Hong Kong, Macao, India, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Mainland China. I’m pretty proud of myself. It was certainly not always easy, but I feel like the experiences were all very worthwhile. Billy says I shook up the bag and I feel like I did that. I’m really ready to return to Seattle and get back to work. So the trip accomplished a very important goal. I left my last job entirely burned out on it. I enjoyed my workmates and the cooking; it was the job as a package that I got tired of. I am not altogether sure what is going to happen when I get back, but I’ve got some irons in the fire. It’ll just be another adventure. The good part about it is that I’ll not need to worry about where the next bed is going to be or how I’m going to get to it. There won’t be any touts trying to lead me into their shop or tuk-tuk. I won’t have to say “no” twenty times to get them to leave me alone. I get to brush my teeth with water straight out of the tap and drink it too. The temperature won’t stay above ninety degrees and the humidity won’t stay above ninety percent for weeks at a time. I won’t have to take anti-malarial pills that upset my stomach and make me tired. I most likely won’t get successive cases of food poisoning. I won’t get screwed out of money by porters or guesthouse owners or cab drivers. I’ll not need to wash my underwear in the sink. To some extent I felt like I had to have my guard up at all times. It was good to have done the India trip first. I was able to relax a whole lot more in Southeast Asia because I had traveled where it was really tough. I can crawl back into my American cocoon.

I crawl back into it knowing a whole lot more about the great wide World though. Oh, the places I’ve gone. I can now say I’ve ridden a camel on the Thar Desert, been on tiger safari and seen the Himalayas in India. I’ve marveled at the opulent palaces and temples of Bangkok. I’ve seen pink water buffaloes on the banks of the Mekong in Lao and drank beer, with visions of Colonel Kurtz running around in my head, on the top deck of a barge in its delta in Vietnam,. I’ve slept in a raft house on the River Kwai and ridden on the Death Railway. I’ve prowled around the temples of Angkor in absolute awe of a thousand year old civilization. I’ve been to the Killing Fields in Cambodia and the American War Museums in Vietnam and felt embarrassed. I’ve eaten mind-blowingly hot Thai jungle curries in Kanchanaburi and ridiculously good Macanese African Chicken in Macao. I’ve drifted down the Yulong River in Yangshuo, China on a bamboo skiff amidst amazing limestone peaks and the greenest of rice fields.

I enjoyed just wandering around the cities and towns, down busy streets and through bustling markets. People everywhere are just trying to get along and seem to do it quite well without the things we take for granted. They seem a great deal healthier than most Americans and for the most part they are perfectly happy.

I return to the USA with renewed energy and stories to tell for years.

Mekong Delta

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:53:00 -0700

Our Captain from Cambodia to Chau Doc

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:52:00 -0700

Mekong Delta

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:51:00 -0700

Chau Doc

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:50:00 -0700

Incense Factory

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:49:00 -0700

Near Can Tho

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:49:00 -0700

Taxi Driver

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:48:00 -0700

Floating Market in Can Tho

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:47:00 -0700

Floating Market in Can Tho

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:45:00 -0700

Mekong Delta

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:44:00 -0700

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Temple in Ho Chi Minh City

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:43:00 -0700

Hoi An Market

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:41:00 -0700

Hoi An

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:40:00 -0700

Hoi An

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:39:00 -0700

War Remnants Museum in Hanoi

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:38:00 -0700

Hong Kong Fooey

Last transmission from Asia.

Mekong Delta

Our Captain from Cambodia to Chau Doc

Mekong Delta

Chau Doc

Incense Factory

Near Can Tho

Taxi Driver

Floating Market in Can Tho

Floating Market in Can Tho

Mekong Delta

Temple in Ho Chi Minh City

Hoi An Market

Hoi An

Hoi An

War Remnants Museum in Hanoi