Looking Back

June 7, 2010

It’s been a pleasure to photograph Asia, a wonderful discovery to film it, and an exasperating labor of love to write about it. I’ve toiled away not days but weeks in front of the keyboard to craft a record of my experience for my own personal satisfaction and your mild entertainment. At times this effort has been as easy as tying your shoes and at others as vexing as filing your taxes, so believe me when I say I’m ready to give the keys a rest. So how do I summarize an experience like this and put on a neat little bow on nine months’ worth of highs, lows, friends, dirty bathrooms, and memories? Simple, by looking back…

Blog This When I board that plane on Wednesday I will have filled well over two hundred pages worth of blathering nonsensical ramblings, so I begin this recap with a look back at some of my personal favorite and finest.

Planes, Trains, Automobiles…and Ships

Kiefer Sutherland, The Rolling Stones & Central Java

Trans-Sumatran Highway: A Game of Inches

Day 51

  • Of all the writing sessions I logged none matched the satisfaction I felt afterwards while walking home down an empty dirt street through the black Burmese night. I felt I descriptively nailed the experience in every sense and did complete justice to both the events and emotions. Perhaps my favorite of all.
  • https://indefinitewalkabout.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/day-51/

Planes, Trucks, Bikes & Whiskey – An Epic 24 in Asia

From Prison to “The Beach’

Southeast Asia on a Shoestring

  • I knew my departure from Southeast Asia would mark a line in the sand. I knew India would be different from everything I’d experienced in SEA, and I wanted to bring closure to the region. It took hours of reflection and writing in a Khao San Rd café in Bangkok before I could comfortably put a stamp on the First Act and lower its curtain.
  • https://indefinitewalkabout.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/southeast-asia-on-a-shoestring/

Holy #@!&ing &%(!

Pomp, Circumstance & Pakistan

  • The settings in which I wrote drove the writings almost more than the events themselves. PC&P was composed on the roof top of a hotel at the foot of the snowcapped Indian Himalayas, as the sun sank into the flat Indian breadbasket below. The events I had to describe were as colorful as the setting in which I wrote them, and the words flowed.
  • https://indefinitewalkabout.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/pomp-circumstance-pakistan/

Soul of India

Morning Extractions

An Everest of a Man

Urumqi Surf Forecast: Flat

What I Learned About Russia Today (Part I)…

With East In Mind

.

Days & Dayz In case you haven’t realized by now I’m a bit of a meticulous and nerdy historian when it comes to travel detail, so the following should come as no surprise. Here’s what my three quarters in Asia look like:

-1 9/9/2009 Transit
0 9/10/2009 Transit # Beds
1 9/11/2009 Seminak Bali, Indonesia 1
2 9/12/2009 Seminak Bali
3 9/13/2009 Seminak Bali
4 9/14/2009 Seminak Bali
5 9/15/2009 Seminak Bali
6 9/16/2009 Seminak Bali
7 9/17/2009 Seminak Bali
8 9/18/2009 Ubud Bali 2
9 9/19/2009 Ubud Bali
10 9/20/2009 Ubud Bali
11 9/21/2009 Ubud Bali
12 9/22/2009 Ubud Bali
13 9/23/2009 Gili Trawangan Lombok 3
14 9/24/2009 Gili Trawangan Lombok
15 9/25/2009 Gili Trawangan Lombok
16 9/26/2009 Gili Trawangan Lombok
17 9/27/2009 Gili Trawangan Lombok
18 9/28/2009 Rinjani Lombok
19 9/29/2009 Rinjani Lombok
20 9/30/2009 Seminak Bali
21 10/1/2009 Seminak Bali
22 10/2/2009 Overnight Bus to Yogyakarta Java
23 10/3/2009 Yogyakarta Java 4
24 10/4/2009 Yogyakarta Java
25 10/5/2009 Yogyakarta Java
26 10/6/2009 Jakarta Java 5
27 10/7/2009 Jakarta Java
28 10/8/2009 Medan Sumatra 6
29 10/9/2009 Danu Toba Sumatra 7
30 10/10/2009 Danu Toba Sumatra
31 10/11/2009 O.N. Bus to Bukittenggi Sumatra
32 10/12/2009 Bukittenggi Sumatra 8
33 10/13/2009 Bukittenggi Sumatra
34 10/14/2009 O.N. Bus to Dumai Indonesia (34)
35 10/15/2009 Singapore Singapore 9
36 10/16/2009 Singapore Singapore
37 10/17/2009 Singapore Singapore
38 10/18/2009 Singapore Singapore (4)
39 10/19/2009 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 10
40 10/20/2009 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
41 10/21/2009 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
42 10/22/2009 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
43 10/23/2009 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
44 10/24/2009 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
45 10/25/2009 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (7)
46 10/26/2009 Yangoon Myanmar 11
47 10/27/2009 Yangoon Myanmar
48 10/28/2009 Yangoon Myanmar
49 10/29/2009 O.N. Bus to Bagan Myanmar
50 10/30/2009 Bagan Myanmar 12
51 10/31/2009 Bagan Myanmar
52 11/1/2009 Bagan Myanmar
53 11/2/2009 Mandalay Myanmar 13
54 11/3/2009 Mandalay Myanmar
55 11/4/2009 Mandalay Myanmar
56 11/5/2009 Hsipaw Myanmar 14
57 11/6/2009 Hsipaw Myanmar
58 11/7/2009 Hsipaw Myanmar
59 11/8/2009 Kalaw Myanmar 15
60 11/9/2009 Kalaw Myanmar
61 11/10/2009 On Foot to Inle Myanmar
62 11/11/2009 On Foot to Inle Myanmar
63 11/12/2009 Inle Myanmar 16
64 11/13/2009 Inle Myanmar
65 11/14/2009 Inle Myanmar
66 11/15/2009 Inle Myanmar
67 11/16/2009 Inle Myanmar
68 11/17/2009 Kengtung Myanmar 17
69 11/18/2009 Kengtung Myanmar (24)
70 11/19/2009 Chiang Rai Thailand 18
71 11/20/2009 Chiang Mai Thailand 19
72 11/21/2009 Chiang Mai Thailand
73 11/22/2009 Phuket Thailand 20
74 11/23/2009 Phi Phi Don Thailand 21
75 11/24/2009 Phi Phi Leh Thailand 22
76 11/25/2009 Ko Lanta Thailand 23
77 11/26/2009 Railay Thailand 24
78 11/27/2009 Railay Thailand 25
79 11/28/2009 Ko Pha Ngan Thailand 26
80 11/29/2009 Ko Tao Thailand 27
81 11/30/2009 Ko Tao Thailand
82 12/1/2009 O.N. Bus to Bangkok Thailand
83 12/2/2009 Bangkok Thailand 28
84 12/3/2009 Bangkok Thailand
85 12/4/2009 Bangkok Thailand
86 12/5/2009 Bangkok Thailand 29
87 12/6/2009 Bangkok Thailand 30
88 12/7/2009 O.N. Train to Chiang Mai Thailand 31
89 12/8/2009 Chiang Rai Thailand (20) 32
90 12/9/2009 Pax Beng Laos 33
91 12/10/2009 Luang Prabang Laos 34
92 12/11/2009 Luang Prabang Laos
93 12/12/2009 Luang Prabang Laos
94 12/13/2009 Luang Prabang Laos
95 12/14/2009 Vang Vieng Laos 35
96 12/15/2009 Vang Vieng Laos 36
97 12/16/2009 Vientiane Laos 37
98 12/17/2009 Vientiane Laos
99 12/18/2009 Vientiane Laos (10)
100 12/19/2009 Hanoi Vietnam 38
101 12/20/2009 Hanoi Vietnam 39
102 12/21/2009 Halong Bay Vietnam 40
103 12/22/2009 Halong Bay Vietnam
104 12/23/2009 Hanoi Vietnam 41
105 12/24/2009 Hanoi Vietnam
106 12/25/2009 Hanoi Vietnam
107 12/26/2009 Hanoi Vietnam 42
108 12/27/2009 O.N. Train to Hue Vietnam 43
109 12/28/2009 Hue Vietnam 44
110 12/29/2009 Hoi An Vietnam 45
111 12/30/2009 Hoi An Vietnam 46
112 12/31/2009 Hoi An Vietnam
113 1/1/2010 Hoi An Vietnam
114 1/2/2010 Quy Nhon Vietnam 47
115 1/3/2010 Quy Nhon Vietnam
116 1/4/2010 Doc Let Vietnam 48
117 1/5/2010 Doc Let Vietnam
118 1/6/2010 Doc Let Vietnam
119 1/7/2010 Doc Let Vietnam
120 1/8/2010 O.N. Train to Saigon Vietnam 49
121 1/9/2010 Saigon Vietnam 50
122 1/10/2010 Saigon Vietnam
123 1/11/2010 Saigon Vietnam (24)
124 1/12/2010 Siem Reap Cambodia 51
125 1/13/2010 Siem Reap Cambodia
126 1/14/2010 Siem Reap Cambodia
127 1/15/2010 Phnom Penh Cambodia 52
128 1/16/2010 Phnom Penh Cambodia
129 1/17/2010 Phnom Penh Cambodia
130 1/18/2010 Phnom Penh Cambodia (7)
131 1/19/2010 Bangkok Thailand 53
132 1/20/2010 Bangkok Thailand
133 1/21/2010 Bangkok Thailand
134 1/22/2010 Bangkok Thailand
135 1/23/2010 Bangkok Thailand 54
136 1/24/2010 Bangkok Thailand
137 1/25/2010 Bangkok Thailand (7)
138 1/26/2010 Mumbai India 55
139 1/27/2010 Mumbai India
140 1/28/2010 Mumbai India
141 1/29/2010 Mumbai India
142 1/30/2010 Mumbai India
143 1/31/2010 O.N. Train to Jaipur India 56
144 2/1/2010 Jaipur India 57
145 2/2/2010 Jaipur India
146 2/3/2010 Jaipur India
147 2/4/2010 Pushkar India 58
148 2/5/2010 Pushkar India
149 2/6/2010 Udaipur India 59
150 2/7/2010 Udaipur India
151 2/8/2010 Udaipur India
152 2/9/2010 Jodhpur India 60
153 2/10/2010 Jodhpur India
154 2/11/2010 Jaisalmer India 61
155 2/12/2010 Jaisalmer India
156 2/13/2010 Jaisalmer India
157 2/14/2010 O.N. Train to Jalandhar India 62
158 2/15/2010 Amritsar India 63
159 2/16/2010 Amritsar India
160 2/17/2010 McLeod Ganj India 64
161 2/18/2010 McLeod Ganj India
162 2/19/2010 Mandi India 65
163 2/20/2010 Chandigarh India 66
164 2/21/2010 Delhi India 67
165 2/22/2010 Delhi India
166 2/23/2010 Delhi India
167 2/24/2010 Agra India 68
168 2/25/2010 Agra India
169 2/26/2010 Kanpur India 69
170 2/27/2010 Varanasi India 70
171 2/28/2010 Varanasi India
172 3/1/2010 Varanasi India (35)
173 3/2/2010 Lumbini Nepal 71
174 3/3/2010 Lumbini Nepal
175 3/4/2010 Tansen Nepal 72
176 3/5/2010 Pokhara Nepal 73
177 3/6/2010 Pokhara Nepal
178 3/7/2010 Pokhara Nepal
179 3/8/2010 Jhinu (ABC) Nepal 74
180 3/9/2010 Dovan (ABC) Nepal 75
181 3/10/2010 MBC (ABC) Nepal 76
182 3/11/2010 ABC (ABC) Nepal 77
183 3/12/2010 Chhomrang (ABC) Nepal 78
184 3/13/2010 Pokhara Nepal 79
185 3/14/2010 Pokhara Nepal
186 3/15/2010 Kathmandu Nepal 80
187 3/16/2010 Kathmandu Nepal
188 3/17/2010 Kathmandu Nepal
189 3/18/2010 Kathmandu Nepal 81
190 3/19/2010 Monjo (EBC) Nepal 82
191 3/20/2010 Namche (EBC) Nepal 83
192 3/21/2010 Pangboche (EBC) Nepal 84
193 3/22/2010 Dingboche (EBC) Nepal 85
194 3/23/2010 Thokla (EBC) Nepal 86
195 3/24/2010 Gorak Shep (EBC) Nepal 87
196 3/25/2010 Gorak Shep (EBC) Nepal
197 3/26/2010 Namche (EBC) Nepal 88
198 3/27/2010 Lukla (EBC) Nepal 89
199 3/28/2010 O.N. Flight to Shanghai Nepal (27)
200 3/29/2010 Shanghai China 90
201 3/30/2010 Shanghai China 91
202 3/31/2010 Shanghai China
203 4/1/2010 Shanghai China
204 4/2/2010 Shanghai China
205 4/3/2010 Shanghai China
206 4/4/2010 Shanghai China
207 4/5/2010 O.N. Train to Xi’an China 92
208 4/6/2010 Xi’an China 93
209 4/7/2010 Mt. Hua China 94
210 4/8/2010 Xi’an China 95
211 4/9/2010 O.N. Train to Urumqi China 96
212 4/10/2010 Ulumqi China 97
213 4/11/2010 Ulumqi China
214 4/12/2010 Ulumqi China
215 4/13/2010 Ulumqi China
216 4/14/2010 O.N. Bus to Almaty, KZ China (17) 98
217 4/15/2010 Almaty Kazakhstan 99
218 4/16/2010 Almaty Kazakhstan
219 4/17/2010 O.N. Train to Taraz Kazakhstan 100
220 4/18/2010 Sarykemer Kazakhstan
221 4/19/2010 Skymkent Kazakhstan 101
222 4/20/2010 Skymkent Kazakhstan
223 4/21/2010 Zhabagly Kazakhstan 102
224 4/22/2010 Zhabagly Kazakhstan
225 4/23/2010 Zhabagly Kazakhstan
226 4/24/2010 Turkistan Kazakhstan 103
227 4/25/2010 O.N. Train to Almaty Kazakhstan 104
228 4/26/2010 Almaty Kazakhstan 105
229 4/27/2010 Almaty Kazakhstan
230 4/28/2010 Bolshoe Lake Kazakhstan 106
231 4/29/2010 Almaty Kazakhstan 107
232 4/30/2010 Almaty Kazakhstan
233 5/1/2010 Almaty Kazakhstan
234 5/2/2010 Astana Airport Kazakhstan (18)
235 5/3/2010 Tomsk Russia 108
236 5/4/2010 Tomsk Russia 109
237 5/5/2010 Tomsk Russia
238 5/6/2010 O.N. Train to Barnaul Russia 110
239 5/7/2010 Gorno Altaisk Russia 111
240 5/8/2010 Onguday Russia 112
241 5/9/2010 Chibit Russia
242 5/10/2010 Kosh Agach Russia (8) 113
243 5/11/2010 Olgii Mongolia 114
244 5/12/2010 Olgii Mongolia
245 5/13/2010 Khovd Mongolia 115
246 5/14/2010 Khovd Mongolia 116
247 5/15/2010 O.N. Van to Bayankhongor Mongolia 117
248 5/16/2010 Bayankhongor Mongolia 118
249 5/17/2010 Bayankhongor Mongolia
250 5/18/2010 Arvaikheer Mongolia 119
251 5/19/2010 Kharkhorin Mongolia 120
252 5/20/2010 Kharkhorin Mongolia 121
253 5/21/2010 Kharkhorin Mongolia
254 5/22/2010 Ulanbaatar Mongolia 122
255 5/23/2010 Ulanbaatar Mongolia
256 5/24/2010 Ulanbaatar Mongolia
257 5/25/2010 Kharkhorin Mongolia 123
258 5/26/2010 White Lake Mongolia 124
259 5/27/2010 White Lake Mongolia
260 5/28/2010 Battsengel Mongolia 125
261 5/29/2010 Mongol Els Mongolia 126
262 5/30/2010 Ulanbaatar Mongolia 127
263 5/31/2010 Ulanbaatar Mongolia
264 6/1/2010 Ulanbaatar Mongolia
265 6/2/2010 Ulanbaatar Mongolia
266 6/3/2010 O.N. Train to Beijing Mongolia (24) 128
267 6/4/2010 Beijing China 129
268 6/5/2010 Beijing China
269 6/6/2010 Beijing China 130
270 6/7/2010 Beijing China
271 6/8/2010 Beijing China
272 6/9/2010 Beijing China (6) 130
1 India 35
2 Indonesia 34
3 Thailand 27
3 Nepal 27
5 Myanmar 24
5 Vietnam 24
5 Mongolia 24
8 China 23
9 Kazakhstan 18
10 Laos 10
11 Russia 8
12 Malaysia 7
12 Cambodia 7
14 Singapore 4

.

Getting Around The navigation of fourteen countries in nine months required planning and patience, but most of all endurance. Asia is overflowing with creative means of moving people and I’ll be damned if I didn’t test just about every one: jets, prop planes, trains, tuk tuks, rickshaws, marshukas, sedans, trucks, buses, vans, SUVs, motorbikes, canoes, skiffs, ferries, junk boats, horses, Dutch Fokkers, and one Silver Tuna.

Flights (within Asia): 13

  • Longest: Kathmandu to Shanghai
    • Give it up for the birthday flight.
  • Shortest: Lombok to Bali (Indonesia)
    • A 777 for a 25 minute flight? Strange.
  • Most Unforgettable: Kathmandu to Lukla (Nepal)
    • Prop plane. Himalayan airstrip. Yeah.
  • Most Surreal: Heho to Kengtung (Myanmar)
    • Flying high over the prohibited eastern region (think opium production) while playing low-stakes blackjack with Lucius Polk for handfuls of Burmese kyat.

Trains: 12

  • Longest: Ulaanbaatar to Beijing (31hours)
  • Shortest: Yogyakarta to Jakarta (Indonesia)
    • The calm before the Jakarta storm.
  • Most Unforgettable: Bikaner to Jalandhar (India)
    • Stuffing a 500lbs Royal Enfield motorbike into a packed freight car at 2am at an obscure railway station 70km from Pakistan.
  • Most Forgettable: Xi’an to Urumqi (China)
    • Three words: Instant. Noodles. Slurping.

Boats: 7

  • Longest: Bali to Gili Trawangan (Indonesia)
    • Two hour ferry ride across the calm blue Lombok Strait. So good to leave Bali.
  • Shortest: Thailand to Laos
    • Two minute skiff ride across the murky brown Mekong.
  • Most Unforgettable: Huay Xai to Luang Prabang (Laos)
    • Two day slow boat ride down the Mekong.
  • Most Forgettable: Bali to Java (Indonesia)
    • A traumatizing claustrophobic ferry ride experienced with inside a locked bus.

Motorbikes (countries ridden): 8

  • My love of the two wheels was born on the roads of Bali, Java, Sumatra, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, but matured on those of India, Nepal, & Mongolia.

Anything Containing Three or More Wheels: too numerous & painful to count

One last time: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&start=0&num=200&msa=0&msid=113857108228539669434.000475cd617df8978ac81&z=3

.

Nine to Remember The only dependable constant in life is change, and perhaps nowhere is that change more constant and tangible than living on the road out of a bag. Change has come in many different forms to my experience: company and currency, language and latitude, faces and food, and through that change comes with it the ebb and flow of travel highs and travel lows and the eventual realization that your best or worst day is always just around the corner waiting to be discovered. That said here are the fifteen best and worst of my nine months:

Day 14 – Gili Trawangan, Indonesia

  • The perfect Robinson Crusoe fantasy come true on a heavenly droplet of sand just under the Equator’s belt…somewhere in the Indonesian archipelago.

Day 51 – Bagan, Myanmar

  • Touring the ancient temples of Bagan from the back of a local teenager’s motorbike before serving as honored guest at his family’s primitive dwelling for a traditional Burmese dinner by candlelight. It never got more authentic and real than this.

Day 68 – Kengtung, Myanmar

  • Lucius and I relished two pickup trucks, two motorbike taxis, and three separate take-offs/landings during an epic travel day from Inle Lake to the heavily restricted Golden Triangle. The day ended by shaking hands with the police chief…from inside Kengtung police station. Male hijinks at their absolute finest.

Day 75 – Phi Phi Leh, Thailand

  • Living the ultimate Southeast Asian backpacker beach fantasy with an overnight camping session on an empty “Beach.”

Day 91 – Luang Prabang, Laos

  • Ascending the stairs in near darkness from the Mekong’s edge having just spent two long, slow days drifting down it, neither Meghan nor I could contain our excitement at the overwhelming beauty and serene charm of Southeast Asia’s most romantic locale.

Day 138 – Mumbai, India

  • The day I awoke in Bangkok and fell asleep in Mumbai might be the day I’d choose if given the chance to relive just one. It had everything: crossing oceans, tears of joy, crippling sensory overload, and much more that will forever remain on tour.

Day 199 – Lukla, Nepal to Shanghai, China

  • The emotional rollercoaster of events that transpired between when I awoke at the mountain airstrip of Lukla to when I fell asleep on a Shanghai-bound plane ultimately conspired to produce the best birthday present I could have received: a standby seat to China.

Day 220 – Sarykemer, Kazakhstan

  • Where did the rabbit hole ultimately lead? To an unforgettable twenty-four hours of Kazakh hospitality alongside an Uzbek, Kazakh, Russian, and Afghan.

Day 250 – Arvaikheer, Mongolia

  • Tagging along for a 230km slice of an around the world motorbike journey. The stuff of dreams. Well, at least my dreams.

Six to Forget

Day 31 – Overnight Bus to Bukittenggi, Indonesia

  • The original long distance overnight ride from hell. There would be longer and more uncomfortable bus journeys, but you never forget your first.

Day 49 – Overnight Bus to Bagan, Myanmar

  • Crowded, hot, and miserable. Fifteen hours complete with smelly feet in close proximity.

Day 71 – Chiang Mai, Thailand

  • Coming off the travel high of Myanmar, the tourist-heavy landscape of northern Thailand made for a rude & unwelcoming transition.

Day 95 – Vang Vieng, Laos

  • After four incredible days in Luang Prabang, Meghan and I suffered an agonizing five hour bus ride through the pot-holed roads of northern Laos only to arrive in ugly, hot, and tourist-manufactured Vang Vieng. Heighted stress on my part, ants in our room, and a Lao football loss to Malaysia in the Southeast Asian Game semifinals set the stage for a near altercation with a fiery hotel staff member. Perhaps the most forgettable day of them all.

Day 156 – Jaisalmer, India

  • One jolly hotel owner and two bottles of military grade Royal Stag whiskey later, I’d find myself horizontally incapacitated for an entire day. Alcohol poison be damned! Day 156: the hangover of all Asian hangovers.

Day 247 – Overnight Van to Bayankhongor, Mongolia

  • The ultimate long distance overnight ride from hell. 800kms. 30 hours. 200% occupancy.

.

Q & A

I’ll save myself some air and jump the gun on a few questions:

Favorite country?

  • What I accomplished and experienced during my thirty five days in India (most in any one country) is ultimately impossible to top. I gotta say it really is !incredible India.

Easiest country to travel in?

  • Got to go to Thailand. The tourist infrastructure and systems are so well established and in place you get the feeling you’re more cattle than tourist after awhile. Everyone speaks English and you can’t walk more than a kilometer in any one direction before running into a booking agent who can get you a flight/train/message/tour/ship/joint/room. All of which helps make Thailand my least favorite Southeast Asian country.

Hardest country to travel in?

  • Got to go to China. For a people who count to ten on one hand, the Chinese can’t communicate in the most basic of universal sign language. Nothing is written in English and no one speaks it. Caution: China Ahead.

Best value?

  • Got to go to India. No country packs in as many sites, sounds, & smells and delivers a more rewarding cultural punch than India. Despite its size it’s relatively easy to navigate the one-third of the country which most tourists visit, and no country tastes better and can accommodate you for as little. India delivers.

Worst value?

  • It was more expensive to eat, drink, sleep, and travel in Russia than in any other Asian country (the solution: a Trans-Siberian railway journey). Also in the running is Kazakhstan. It’s not Russian expensive, but it’s not Chinese inexpensive either.

Return to first to?

  • I would return first and foremost to central Asia, as the ‘Stans hold great appeal. Next would no doubt be Indonesia, as the warmth of its people coupled with the ability to completely lose yourself among its 10,000 islands makes for an unrivaled experienced in Asia. With enough time and means you could visit islands where no tourist has ever gone. That’s something special. Third, I would travel back to Vietnam. Incredible food, incredible history, incredible service, and incredibly cheap. Motorbiking through Vietnam definitely finds itself on the Bucket List.

Strangest food?

  • Drinking horse milk in Kazakhstan only later to learn it was horse milk takes the cake over fried duck head. Sorry, no scorpions, spiders, or snakes.

Biggest Regret?

  • No regrets but if I had to do it over again I’d have shaved off two weeks out of China and Mongolia and dipped in Uzbekistan.

Top 5 favorite countries (in order)?

  • India, Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Vietnam.

.

If I had a nickel for every time I…

  • Used my jacket as a pillow cover…
  • Unzipped my camera case…
  • Made a green handkerchief disappear for an Indonesian child…
  • Unscrewed my malaria pill bottle…
  • Retrieved my passport since I can’t for the life of me remember its ­nine-digit number…
  • Listened to a Dutch, German, or Swiss traveler incorrectly say “make a picture” instead of “take a picture”…
  • Listened to So Cool…
  • Squeezed a clutch…
  • Pointed to a stranger’s plate of food to order a meal…
  • Was asked to pose for a photograph…
  • Buckled my pack’s waist belt…
  • Watched Fashion TV because it was the only English language program…
  • Pressed on a bed mattress to inspect its give…
  • Watched Inglorious Basterds (Inglorious Walkabout? Indefinite Basterd?)…
  • Toggled to my phone’s calculator function…
  • Placed a bottle of water on a sales counter…
  • Slept in my jeans, just because…
  • Recounted my in-country travel route for a local…
  • Shook the unsanitary extended hand of someone I really didn’t want to…
  • Incorrectly changed tense, inadvertently omitted a word/letter, or unnecessarily used a comma, semicolon, or parenthesis during the construction of these blogs…I’d have:
    • US Dollars: 664
    • Indonesian Rupiah: 6,144,313
    • Singapore Dollars: 930
    • Malaysian Ringgit: 2,192
    • Burmese Kyat: 664,250
    • Thai Baht: 21,920
    • Laos Kip: 5,526,560
    • Vietnamese Dong: 12,620,750
    • Cambodian Riel: 2,793,171
    • Indian Rupees: 31,220
    • Nepalese Rupees: 49,155
    • Chinese Yuan: 4,537
    • Kazakhstan Tenge: 96,981
    • Russian Roubles: 20,392
    • Mongolian Togrog: 919,986

.

Theft, Loss, & Health There were scores of ‘______ almost happened’ on this journey. I almost dumped my motorbike on a sandy road in Sumatra when I took my eyes off the road to look at a waving child and the front wheel went sideways (it was the closest I came to a vehicular accident in nine months). Almost. My film project was nearly compromised at the thieving hands of Thai scumbags had I not heeded the advice of an old lady who advised me not to leave any valuables in my bag during a five hour bus ride. Almost.  I almost slipped on a bathroom floor in India, which would have resulted in blood and a trip to an inadequate hospital. Almost.

There were countless occasions where the almost could easily have turned into a crippling disaster, but through good judgment, a lot of luck, and Pam O’Neil’s daily prayers I was thankfully able to avoid any serious hiccup. I’m proud to report my injury list as follows:

  • Stolen: One bottle Listerine mouthwash (Thailand)
  • Lost: One USB transfer cable/one pair socks (Mongolia), one t-shirt (China)
  • Health:
    • Stomach viruses: 0
    • Head colds: 0
    • Fevers: 0
    • Bouts of diarrhea: 1 (Bangkok, Thailand)
    • Broken bones: 1 (left pinky toe – Jungle Beach, Thailand).

The Sum Total I learned more than a few things about the way the Asian world works and in the process a few things about myself, but at the end of the day it all boils down to seven lessons or truths:

  • When all else fails the solution can be found at a fancy hotel.
  • Asians don’t rock the boat, they avoid conflict at all costs.
  • Mobile phone technology has penetrated every corner of the world.
  • Asians hold hands. A lot.
  • Sometimes you can’t put a price tag on the value of a hot shower.
  • No one particularly cares for China.
  • The naïve and curious innocence only found in children is universal the world over.

…my Asian experience in a nutshell.

Posted in China, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Looking Through The Lens: IV

June 7, 2010

CHILDREN…

(Indonesia)

DSC00267

———

(Malaysia)

———

(Myanmar)

———

(Laos)

———

(India)

———

(Nepal)

———

(China)

———

(Kazakhstan)

———

(Mongolia)

Posted in China, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

BJ

June 7, 2010

I’m not sure I feel the same way about the rest of China but I absolutely love Beijing. There are countless Asian cities in which you just be, as there is little in the way of tourist attractions to see. Beijing, on the contrary, is a city in which you do. A trip to Beijing delivers the Oriental goods. First, there are the sites:

  • There’s that little old infrastructure project that can’t be seen from space: The Great Wall
  • There’s that small urban gathering space (OK, it’s the largest on the planet), where no less than 50 surveillance cameras monitor your every step. Tanks are allowed but bikes are off limits: Tiananmen Square
  • There’s that modest piece of central real estate that happens to have been off limits to the world since before Columbus landed on San Salvador: The Forbidden City

There are the ever present reminders of China’s discipline and muscle: the legions of baby-faced young military men standing stone still at attention outside most every municipal building. There’s the technology. I can only recall three moments in which a visual stopped me dead in my tracks. Call them Wow Moments. First, watching an elephant split rush hour traffic in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Second, stumbling across the outdoor pool ‘hall’ in Olgii, Mongolia. Third, observing a digital ad projected from our moving subway train onto the concrete Beijing subway wall. Didn’t see that one coming. There is the food. Over the last three days I’ve downed steaming noodles, street dumplings, the most incredible duck on the planet, and loads of other delectable morsels. And that’s not getting into the various street snacks I could have enjoyed: scorpions, beetles, worms, and snake. Snake? Snake. A choice exchange from the Dong Hua Men night market last evening:

Me: What’s that on the stick?

Him: Lamb testicle.

Me: You got to be kidding me.

Him: How many would you like?

Me: None.

Him: OK, just one [as he reaches to grab a skewer].

Me: Stop!

Unlike the high-rise cityscape and commerce-centric feel of neighboring Shanghai, Beijing truly looks and feels like the historic and political beating heart of the country. It looks and feels like China at its finest, at its most mesmerizing, most ordered, most charming, most friendly, and most captivating. I’ve had more than a few moments standing still surrounded by hordes of tourists from the globe over, where I’ve truly felt at the center of the Asian universe. I feel like I’ve just tattooed North America for the first time and I’m ending in Washington, D.C. on the 4th of July.

Early June in Beijing: simply fantastic.

———

It’s 10:32pm on Monday night on my 270th day in Asia. I’m inside 48 hours and counting so here’s a question: How the hell am I and where the hell is my head at? To start I’ve had more than my share of Steve-O moments while wandering Beijing where everything kind of slows down, I slip into a momentary trance, and the gravity of what’s about to happen hits me…hard. At those moments I get that heavy sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, the kind you get while watching your last sunset of the summer. It’s the feeling of ending.

I first experienced this sensation about a week ago in Ulaanbaatar while wandering among the thousands at the city’s largest market. Without warning I was overcome by a flood of emotions triggered by the realization that my world of Asian chaos was rapidly slipping away. I got choked up and hid a few tears behind my sunglasses as the river of human traffic swept me through my final market. That feeling of ending has reared its head numerous times here in Beijing over the last four days, but I don’t fight it because I’m ready and its time. For eight months, three weeks, and five days my world has been as different from yours as black from white, so there is no way I can prepare myself to leave Asia and simply slide back into America overnight. It’s just not going to happen. So I’ll savor what’s left over here, and play it by ear over there. I’ll savor the final dumpling, the final sunset, the final hostel bathroom, and most certainly the final tears. I’ll savor and smile, but the reality is I’ve been savoring for a long time now…eight months, three weeks, and five days to be exact.

Posted in China, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Looking Through The Lens: III

June 6, 2010

FACES…

(Indonesia)

———

(Myanmar)

———

(Vietnam)

———

(India)

———

(Nepal)

———

(China)

———

(Kazakhstan)

———

(Russia)

———

(Mongolia)

Posted in China, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Mongolia

June 6, 2010

(Chenghis Khan: the original pitchman, long before George Foreman.)

(Markus x 2)

My final four days in Ulaanbaatar were surreal and leisurely. I wrote, hung around a crowded hostel, visited a museum or two, enjoyed a pint or two at the Grand Khaan’s Irish Pub, enjoyed a brilliant Indian meal with a Frenchman and German, marveled at the national holiday spectacle that was Children’s Day, visited one of Asian’s largest markets, reunited with Swiss friends, and said many goodbyes. When it was time to leave I boarded a 7:30am train and set in for one final long haul transit journey, but the thirty-one hours from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing couldn’t have been sweeter. Brand new train, well stocked dining car, solid company, and all the golden Gobi scenery one could handle. So, what else do I have to say about my time in Mongolia? Well, lots but my tank is nearly empty so I’ll close with these final findings:

  • At the end of the day Mongolia is one big empty nothing.
  • The west is mountainous, cold and rugged. The center is postcard beautiful. The east is flat as a table.
  • The people don’t haggle over price or attempt to rip you off. The price you get is the price everyone gets.
  • The Mongolian language has been described as sounding like two cats fighting until one throws up on the other. This description couldn’t be more fitting. The sounds are unlike anything else in Asia and simply amazing to listen to.
  • Mongolians enjoy a surprising degree of sass.
  • From my observations I’ve concluded there are no spiders in Mongolia.
  • If China is a rice & noodle country, Mongolia is undoubtedly a meat & potato nation.
  • It may be east by geography, but Mongolia is most certainly west by temperament.

Posted in Mongolia, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Looking Through The Lens: II

June 5, 2010

NATURE…

(Indonesia)

DSC00171

DSC00240

———

(Myanmar)

———

(Thailand)

———

(Laos)

———

(Vietnam)

———

(India)

———

(Nepal)

———

(China)

———

(Kazakhstan)

———

(Russia)

———

(Mongolia)

Posted in China, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Looking Through The Lens

June 4, 2010

I’ve taken a lot of film and a lot of stills. Here’s the first look over my shoulder.

SUN…

DSC00100

(Rise – Indonesia)

———

DSC00236

(Rise – Indonesia)

———

(Set – Myanmar)

———

(Set – Thailand)

———

(Set – Laos)

———

(Rise – Vietnam)

———

(Set – Cambodia)

———

(Set – India)

———

(Rise – India)

———

(Set – India)

———

(Set – Nepal)

———

(Rise – China)

———

(Set – Kazakhstan)

———

(Set – Kazakhstan)

———

(Set – Russia)

———

(Rise – Mongolia)

———

Posted in China, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Final Countdown

June 2, 2010

Check back periodically this week before June 9th as I’ll be throwing up a few end-of-season posts in an effort to put this Walkabout to rest. In the meantime I think Europe says it all…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_IKcMl_a9A

Posted in Mongolia, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Congratulations

May 31, 2010

…to Bryan Chapman for summiting Mt. Everest at 6:35am on May 23rd.

Total stud.

Posted in Mongolia | Leave a Comment »

Leg Room, Carcasses & Paul Simon

May 31, 2010

As time is running out and my days are limited I’m going to play super-fast catch up here for the past twelve days. Translation: more pictures…fewer words. I last left off from Nowhere, Mongolia having hitched a ride with the Swiss Motorbike Gang…

60 Minutes Mongolia

Wednesday May 19th: I nearly cried when the boys of With East In Mind rode out of our dingy guesthouse parking lot towards Ulaanbaatar at 8am without me. I was back all alone with a long way to travel and nothing but my thumb to get there, so I walked to the edge of town and set up shop.

Three hours later I landed a ride in the back of a northbound jeep. I never got to the bottom of who exactly the big wig sitting shotgun was, but he was clearly someone of power. He was short, bald, well fed, and did most of the talking. Accompanying him in the back were two aging press agents and one young cameraman from Mongolian TV 7. One of the elder gentlemen could not have looked more like Mike Wallace. I mean the flowing hair, the tan, the sh*t-eating grin. Christ, he was beautiful.

The pieces really came together during a detour to a nearby mountain top for the obligatory Ghenggis Khan vodka break. While milling around I flipped open my camera to pan the scenery. When baldy saw this he rushed over and essentially slapped my camera closed before I could lay a lens on him. With serious suspicion (and broken English) he demanded answers to who I was. After a bit he warmed to the fact I was nothing more than a harmless American tourist and gleefully rubbed a handful of nearby snow in my face. We posed for pictures and downed vodka. God I hope they email me those pics.

Back in the jeep and an hour later the big wig instructed our driver to stop when we passed a nearby monastery. The place was locked down like Fort Knox, but at baldy’s direction the head monk was summoned and we were granted a guided tour. Great experience, call it the fruits of hitch hiking. Upon emerging from the five hundred year old monastery we were greeted by the following:

(Got sandstorm?)

We eventually arrived at Kharkhorin (good luck with that pronunciation) where I found a crash pad, and to my surprise and joy a dozen twenty to thirty year old German archeologists about to celebrate their final night in Mongolia found me. The beer flowed and I accompanied them to a traditional Mongolian BBQ on the banks of a local river where I enjoyed the most barbaric meal of my life and indulged in more than a couple snorts of snuff. But hey, when you’ve hitch hiked all day and you’re standing around a fire on a riverbank in a beautiful secluded valley in central Mongolia having just eaten every piece of meat, fat, muscle, ligament, and cartilage from a goat’s leg, and the local herdsman extends a tiny bottle of snuff towards you…you obviously take a pop or two.

.

The Last Leg

May 20th & 21st were recovery days. For forty-eight hours I held up inside an adequate hotel, extracted tiny pieces of Gobi dust from the depths of my ears, wrote, and rested. On the 22nd I stepped over a flat cat, made my way to the local container market, and purchased a lift to Ulaanbaatar. The seven hour journey to Mongolia’s capital city was typical fare. The van was designed for eight yet we squeezed fifteen passengers in. Good times. I did come to two very important conclusions though. First, Mongolians are not shy about sing-alongs during long distance travel. Second, Mongolians enjoy the most beautiful native music of all the Asian countries I’ve visited.

Arriving into capital cities or any major metropolis is always a unique experience, and I’ve found the response usually follows one of two tracks. Either you’re entering a country via a major city in which case the city becomes your first impression of a nation and its people (e.g. Yangon, Hanoi, Mumbai, Shanghai). The response here is usually one of immediate bewilderment followed shortly thereafter by a strong desire to flee. The other response scenario involves arriving into a city after a long distance haul (e.g. Jakarta, Singapore, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Almaty), in which case the civilized and concrete urban center becomes a welcome oasis of indulgences and comforts (i.e. cheeseburgers, running water, high-speed internet). My arrival into Ulaanbaatar undoubtedly fell into the latter bucket.

Around 9pm, just as the sky was darkening, my van dropped me off at an obscure bus stop on the outskirts of town. I had no map of the city, no sense of direction, and no destination. If I found myself in the same situation back in October I probably would have freaked a bit, but instead I took a breath and got Zen. After struggling to communicate with three sleazy hotel clerks I was finally able to determine the direction of the city center. I hailed a taxi and eventually landed at the city’s pseudo-grand dame hotel: the Khrushchev-era Hotel Ulaanbaatar. After paying through the teeth to use their business center and print out the 20 pages of the Lonely Planet Ulaanbaatar PDF I had sitting in my inbox, I was finally equipped with a map and information. At midnight, with a huge smile on my face, I finally got off the not-so-safe streets and into a comfy dorm room (comfy dorm room – oxymoron?) at the UB Guesthouse. The long overland haul from Novosibirsk was over.

(No Dead Cat Bounce here.)

.

UB Sunday Funday

I’ve learned that most tourists loath Ulaanbaatar (‘UB” for short), but this blocky-Soviet jungle is rapidly becoming one of my favorite cities in Asia. It’s far from a typical Asian city, and if not for the large presence of Mongolians on the street you’d think you were somewhere in the west. UB does possess a certain charm, but it radiates more from its bright inhabitants than from its drab architecture. I drank my first real taste of UB on Sunday May 23rd.

Having traded emails with Markus #1 I met the Swiss Boys in the city’s main square at 1pm sharp on a beautiful and sunny Sunday afternoon. After handshakes and a few laughs we quickly retreated to the nearby Grand Khaan Irish Pub and set in for a long one. By 1:45pm I was staring at a most beautiful image: an American cheeseburger & fries, my first since Southeast Asia.

Like a cartoon runaway snowball our Funday Train gather speed and picked up passengers. With an eccentric collection of expats in tow we migrated to a nearby brew pub where Lady Gaga’s entire videography played on the largest plasma TV I’ve ever seen. Am I in Mongolia or California? The day’s crawl was a grand one: brew pub to Korean restaurant to Irish pub to local expat hangout Strings, where a tall American shocked the local crowd by dancing around a bottle of Ghenggis Khan larger placed on the floor. Great times.

.

An Evening with Tony Stark

The evening of Monday May 24th marked a milestone in my journey; my emergence from the Pop Culture Black Hole Vacuum I’d been living in for four months now since Avatar in Bangkok. For $2.90usd I sat front and center for the 8:50pm showing of Iron Man II. I may end up seeing it again before I leave as I missed the final fifteen minutes with an emergency trip to the bathroom (too much info?).

(Sam Jackson: Best enjoyed subtitled in Mongolian.)

.

A: Leg Room, Carcasses & Paul Simon Q: What are five words never before joined in the history of man?

Sitting in UB with almost three weeks to kill before departing Beijing for home I found myself faced with an extra week to kill (not a bad problem to have). Way tired of making decisions for myself I decided to do what 90% of the travelers in UB do, and join a tour. So on the morning of Tuesday May 25th I put on my tourist hat. For the next six days/five nights I’d be instructed where to sleep, when to eat, and what to look at. Perfect.

My company would include a male driver, a female guide (complete with a 60% mastery of English), a German, a Frenchman, and a Swiss couple. I was a bit worried about unpleasant flashbacks to my thirty-hour Tour de Suffering experience when I stepped into the familiar Russian Furgon van that morning, but the endless legroom suppressed any outburst.

Six days & five nights in a nutshell:

  • We traveled nearly 1,500km, only 700km of which were on pavement. If I never drive another dirt road in Mongolia it’ll be too soon.
  • I saw somewhere between 100-150 animal carcasses in various stages of decay. With springtime only just beginning to yield the necessary grass to fatten up the endless and skinny herds of cattle, horse, goat, sheep, yak, and camel that grzae the Mongolian steppe, the landscape is literally dotted with the rotting bodies of those not strong enough to make it into summer.
  • We slept in four separate authentic gers (pronounced gears) at four different locations throughout central Mongolia. I took over duties of building and maintaining the fire in each one.
  • After three days without running water I bathed nude in the still-frozen White Lake.
  • We stood together in amazement as the sky was bright enough at 10:15pm to read a book.
  • I stood alone in amazement the following morning as the sky was bright enough at 4:35am to read a book.
  • Paul Simon’s Graceland and Little Feat’s Dixie Chicken got time on the iPod. I wondered if Little Feat had ever been played in Mongolia before. I’m gonna say no.
  • We collectively grew tired of eating animal meat for breakfast.
  • After a friendship developed, our driver proudly claimed to know three Americans: George W. Bush, Michael Jackson, and Stephen O’Neil. That’s some pretty money company if you ask me.
  • We enjoyed not a single vehicular breakdown.
  • I drank nearly ten pots of Mongolian tea: water + milk + salt. Salt?

Our final evening justifies more than a bullet. We spent Saturday May 29th at the sand dunes of Mongol Els, also known as Small Gobi. Following a great horse ride at the White Lake, the four men expressed great interest in one final ride. So as the sun sank over the nearby sand dunes, as if scripted out of a movie, a lone Mongolian horseman/cowboy rode into our camp driving something like a dozen semi-wild steeds. Four horses were saddled with razor thin traditional Mongolian riding saddles and the five of us set off west. No picture or film could capture the feeling the four of us felt as we whipped our horses into a gallop towards the rolling dunes. The light, not to mention our guide, could not have been more perfect. When we reached the foot of a large dune we dismounted and the cowboy tied our horses together. Then, without warning, he broke into a sprint up the dune face and we all followed after. When at the top he began drawing elaborate horse and camel pictures in the fine sand with his finger. When this was over he proceeded to engage each of us in an impromptu wrestling match. At 4’6” he could have been the strongest sixty year old man in Mongolia.

The view from the top completed every Mongolian fantasy the four of us had, and the looks on our faces said as much. On our return, half a km from camp, the five of us lined our horses up together and in unison broke into a run to the finish line with leather whips cracking and commands of “CHOO! CHOO!” filling the air. After many thanks were exchanged the horseman rode off into the sunset in a cloud of dust. It was surreal and beautiful. It was travel perfection, and we all shared the sentiment.

(4:47am – Looking east)

(4:47am – Looking west)

Posted in Mongolia, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries