Journal Entry 31

March 18th, 2004

"Asia and Me"

 

Having spent 22 months (almost 700 days?) in Asia (OK, technically I think parts of Indonesia east of the Wallace Line and Papua New Guinea fall into Australasia or Oceania but I'm not going to nitpick), I think I have experience enough to make some generalizations and comments. Basically, I want to share some thoughts, not only about Asia but about life and me in general. It is not a well-organized or overly informative email, and is probably a more serious update than usual, so feel free to stop here if you wish.

Time. The first guy I knew to do a trip like this was Joe, at the time the boyfriend of a girl friend of mine. Ten-month trip. I thought that was both outrageous and unreasonable. A few years later, my friends Derek and Eva gave me a book, 'The Happy Isles of Oceania'. I do believe that this book played a role in a mind-state switch that ultimately ended in leaving everything behind and beginning this journey. Anyway, in this book the author, Paul Theroux, spends eighteen months in Oceania. This, to me, was unspeakable. How someone could spend that much of their life just "travelling" was incomprehensible. It seemed an impossibly long time, something I'd never do. Things change.

Subsistence. One thing Asia's taught me is not to take myself so seriously (I don't think this was ever a problem). How? Seeing so much subsistence living is a large part. People really don't tend to have means to make money. The crops grown are worth nothing in hard currency, so it's nearly impossible to ever save money for Western goods. The only thing you can do is sell what you grow, and use the money to build a home from local resources, and buy other similarly low-priced local produce. In other words, by our standards, there's no way to "get ahead."

...and truly, people seem happy living in this simple matter. As Westerners, we don't need to change them, I don't think. There's a quote from 'War and Peace' that I like: "'...you want to raise him' (pointing to a peasant who passed by them taking off his cap) 'from his animal condition and awaken in him spiritual needs, while it seems to me that animal happiness is the only happiness possible, and that is just what you want to deprive him of. I envy him, but you want to make him what I am, without giving him my means.'" I don't fully agree with the quote, as it almost alludes to the peasant as being a lower being and I do think there's lasting happiness other than "animal happiness," but you get the idea. People who lead simple lives seem very happy with that life, until they learn what we have, and feel dissatisfaction that they can never achieve it.

The Punk Factor. In my opinion, you can tell a lot about a country by its "punk factor," rather the behaviour of its teenage kids. I'd say China and Mongolia and Brunei have the most respectful youth. Worst? Indonesia. Most places somewhere in between.

Diversity. Or complete lack thereof. As a foreigner in Asia, you continually get gawked at. "Hello!" These countries, or regions within countries anyway, are very homogeneous. So as a white dude, you're different and get attention. Even within countries (say a man from Bihar, India--very dark skin--in any other part of India), people stand out and are tacked and treated as very different. How different from Western society, or metropolitan areas thereof anyway! Imagine if I saw an Asian in Minneapolis and said 'nee hao' (hello in Chinese), assuming they'd understand. Or if I stared constantly at any non-Caucasian based on their looks. Not a thing you'd do, because you can't recognize someone as being a foreigner in a multicultural society.

Environmentalism. The trees are all cut or being cut. My lungs are probably black from the horrendous exhaust (esp Indonesia!). Water is horribly polluted. You throw trash everywhere. No recycling. They have not yet figured out it's important. Maybe it's because they have better things to worry about, like having enough money to eat. Maybe they're where we were a half-century ago, not yet realizing that we should take care of the land. At the same time, I'm more convinced that when all is said and done, the planet will reclaim itself. The palm plantations on Boang, five years abandoned are already returning to bush. Everywhere, the jungle is reclaiming man-made edifices, even huge ones like at Angkor. Someday...

Public Transport. Outstanding, if you lose your standards. It goes everywhere, because so few can afford their own. Something to be proud of. You can get anywhere.

Mosquitos. I can positively, 100% say that Minnesota has bar-none the most vicious mosquitos of ANYWHERE I've been in my life. Asia has malaria, but we have more pests.

Traveller Types. It is amazing the diversity of the people you meet in fellow travellers. People from a specific country do tend to have some similar attributes in some ways, with obvious exceptions. But what's more interesting than that is that in certain regions of the world, you meet people of completely different character. The guy you meet in Mongolia compared to one you meet in India, or the girl you meet in Thailand compared to the one you meet in off-beaten Indonesia...they're world's apart. I won't publically generalize the specifics of what I mean, because they are stereotypes (though founded by experience).

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Asian Food Guide. In my opinion, the only way to judge Asian food is to judge Asian street food. Fancy restaurants are not where the populace eats (and I can't afford to try them). So here goes. This is roughly in order from best-to-worst:

* Indian subcontinent (India/Sri Lanka/Nepal). Consistently good. Variation from region to region. Not as tasty or fancy as in Indian restaurants in the West, but excellent yet simple food. And dirt cheap. Good use of local resources. Plenty of dairy.

* Thailand. Very hit-and-miss. If more consistent, it'd rate up there with India. Some curries are delicious. Of all the places, this one has the biggest discrepancy with what you get actually being in Thailand, versus what you get in the West or at nice restaurants.

* Malaysia/Brunei/Singapore. Conglomeration of Chinese and Malay and Indian. Great for variety. Bonus for me was being there for Ramadan, where the gerai (markets) were full of tasty and creative snacks only available at that time of year.

* Laos. Sticky rice is awesome, and so is fried seaweed. So Laos gets a much higher grade from me than other people would maybe give it. Simple, and often similar to Thai, but good. Big bonus for the thick coffee!

* Vietnam/China. OK, but Chinese street food isn't so exciting, though I love Chinese back home. Loaded with MSG and oil. Most unhealthy food I've encountered. Vietnamese is very similar to Chinese with some added twists that make it perhaps a bit better. And cheap baguettes on every corner give it the slight edge.

* Tibet. Have little. But they do OK. Tsampa (flour with yak-butter tea and sugar) is good, and so is tongba, the alcohol they brew from what we use in the West as bird seed. And of course raw slabs of sheep. Not exciting or fibrous fare, but it gets the job done.

* Mongolia. They could be more creative, but they have little to work with. Countryside food diet is simple but OK (though lacking in lots of nutritional areas) once you get used to it. 'A+' for ingenuity for figuring out how to ferment milk into alcohol.

* Papua New Guinea. Not so great, but they do the best they can with what they have I think. Few diners, so my experience in PNG is based on the food I ate when staying with families. In the highlands, sweet potatoes and veggies and little else. Coastal, coconut milk goes in everything.

* Cambodia. Similar to Thai, with lower quality and less variation.

* Myanmar. They get a poor grade because of the fact that they put very fishy fish sauce in almost every dish. Otherwise the food would be simple, but pretty good.

* Indonesia/East Timor. Poor use of resources at hand. Only widespread notable exception is gado-gado, veggies with spicy peanut sauce.

Final note on food...it can be hard to balance. I think I do a pretty good job, but a few months back, my teeth started hurting when I brushed. I looked at them closely and they were bad, seemed very fragile, not so white, little lines everywhere. I bought calcium tablets, and a month later they were healthy looking and feeling again. Little things like this must be terribly common among locals, from place to place, depending on what vitamins and minerals the local diet is lacking (and they can't afford supplements like I can).

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Favorites. Hard to say, as I truly tend to like everywhere. But if I must (in no particular order)...

Favorite cities: Hanoi (Vietnam), Hong Kong, Lhasa (Tibet, China), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Kathmandu (Nepal), Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei).

Favorite towns: Kuching (Malaysia), Xiahe (China), Udaipur (India), Da Lat (Vietnam).

Favorite villages: Aukana (Sri Lanka), Haputale (Sri Lanka), Wogo (Flores, Indonesia), Kyi (India).

Favorite dots on the map: Najingdingma (Nepal), Boang Island (Papua New Guinea), Bokor (Cambodia), Valo (East Timor).

Favorite scenic places: sand dunes near Dunhuang (China), rice terraces near Longsheng (China), Guge Kingdom ruins (Tibet, China), Ama Dablam mountain (Nepal), view from Mount Kinabalu (Sabah, Malaysia).

Favorite monuments/archaeological sites: Prambanan (Java, Indonesia), Angkor (Cambodia), Great Wall (China), Bagan (Myanmar), Mandu (India), Ritigala (Sri Lanka).

Favorite cultural spots: Mugi Valley (West Papua, Indonesia), villages near Waikabubak (Sumba, Indonesia), Golden Palace (Amritsar, India), Tibet (non-Chinese parts), rural Mongolia, rural India, northern Laos.

Favorite trips/journeys: my Nepal trek, voyage up the Mahakam River in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), India by motorcycle, hitching in Western Tibet, the 5-day ferry ride from Kupang to Jayapura (Indonesia), journey across Mongolia.

These are not exact, just what happened to be places that popped to mind while writing this.

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Some concluding remarks on travelling in general...

It may sound sometimes like I'm the only person who's ever been to some of these places. Not true. Perhaps a couple times. But for the most part, I'm on a path that's been tread before. I do try to pick the paths that are barely travelled though, and I try to do the regularly-travelled paths in different ways than the "norm." But I'm not on a first-contact expedition. Few places in the world are still culturally truly pristine in the traditional sense, and I probably haven't seen them. But I do my best.

One of the bits about travel that is maybe even a drawback in certain respects is that it makes the world more real. I like fantasy and adventure. When you think Papua New Guinea, or Mongolia, etc, not having been there the land (in your mind) is probably more fantastical that it is once you've been there.

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Some concluding remarks on myself...

One of the highest complements I've received was from a Korean girl, over a meal in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Talking and sharing stories, she stated that from her point of view, many Western tourists see Asia as a bit of a playground: beaches, cheap beer, package trips, the lot...but that I seemed different: truly interested in the people, culture, etc. I was happy to hear that I come across this way, because it is true. I have fun, but in fact I've probably drank less times on this trip than I have fingers. I enjoy walking around normal cities and visiting markets more than going to see a waterfall or a nearby mountain. And I always try to travel by local means, not by plane or tour bus. Not that this is better, but it's just what makes me happiest.

My last email prompted some replies from people commenting on my language, some positive, some negative. I don't write these messages with a particular audience in mind. I just write for those who may be interested in what I'm doing, in a way and style that best reflects my mood at the time, or my feelings at the time of the story.

An unexpected side-effect of my travels has been that I know many of the people from back home better than I used to. My true friends are distinguishing themselves. I've become much closer to my brothers and friends who've visited me as well.

That said, meeting new people has been one of the absolute highlights. It's interesting to continually meet people like-minded to you in at least the fact that they love travel. In an average week, I meet more new people than I'd meet in a year if I was back home working, or doing my later years in University. It's always interesting learning their life stories, motivations, and plans, both for travel and the future in general.

While I've made many new friends on my travels, both local people and fellow travellers, everything seems so transient. It seems that what I do in life now is walk into and out of lives. Sometimes I wonder if it's what I've always done.

Asia has affected me. Externally, I think I'm probably more laid-back, definitely less hurried. Internally, probably more peaceful. I'm almost perpetually in a state where I want to be nowhere other than where I am now, doing what I'm doing now. This seems to me a good thing.

I do look forward to returning to life in the U.S.A. I often think of spring mornings when I was a child, with damp green grass and a low morning sun shining brightly and birds chirping outside my window. Or that magical first snow every Minnesota winter. And that dry refreshing coolness of an autumn breeze and the day you have to put on a jacket for the first time of the year. And summers with their freedom and sunny skies. Life back home will be exciting, and I do miss it at times, and greatly look forward to my return.

Me. I think that my narratives perhaps say as much about me as they do about the places I go. One way or the other, I hope that people enjoy what I've written and what I've left to write.

"Kim dived into the happy Asiatic disorder which, if you only allow time, will bring you everthing that a simple man needs." (-Kipling)

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