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Up and Over

Posted August 11, 2013

PART 15 (DAYS 33-35): “How’s everything here?” I asked Chris, the manager at Southern Laughter Lodge, when I arrived back in Queenstown for a day in order to catch a homeward bound flight early the following morning.

“Oh, it’s quiet. It’s finally slowing down,” he answered.

“Oh, is the ski season over?”

“No, the season can go all the way until October,” he told me. “But all the Aussie kids have gone back to university.”

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Excess Baggage

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 23, 2004

DAY 430: To the uninformed, the Philippines may seem like “just another southeast Asian country,” with people that look like the people of other nearby countries. This is a complete falsity, of course. As my Let’s Go guidebook perfectly puts it, “the Philippines has been permanently thrown out of sync with the rest of Southeast Asia.” The Pacific archipelago nation has a history unlike any of the others around, as it was a former Spanish colony eventually sold to the United States. Catholicism is the dominant religion, not Buddhism, and traditionally, no one uses chopsticks. Let’s Go continues:

Described as a hodgepodge of “Malay, Madrid, and Madison Avenue,” Filipino culture fosters a range of ethnicities, languages, and lifestyles among which natives have found unity and an unparalleled love for life. Their willingness to drop everything for a basketball game or a cockfighting match reflects the national philosophy of bahala na, roughly translated as “whatever will be, will be.” At the heart of the Filipino tradition is a strong sense of community; Filipinos can’t bear doing things by themselves and, above all, value family, friendliness, and personal loyalty. This cheerful attitude, along with convenient transportation, numerous English speakers, and inexpensive locales, makes the Philippines a budget traveler’s paradise.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Welcome to the Philippines.

M.M.B.B. (the Many Meetings Back in Bangkok)

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 23, 2004

DAY 429 (18 days since last Thailand entry): It kind of feels like I’m going to my second home, I thought as I flew over Cambodia on my way back to Bangkok. It was to be my third landing in Thailand’s capital city, one of the region’s major transportation hubs. As I stated once before, on the independent travel circuit in southeast Asia, “all roads lead to Bangkok.”

Each previous experience was different. The first time I simply caught up on writing during a one-day layover en route to Kathmandu. On my second time, I did the “backpacker thing” of beers and banana pancakes with Manchester backpacker Paul. This third time would bring another kind of experience, one I was really looking forward to. As the saying goes, “The third time’s the charm.”

Mekong Enterprises

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 23, 2004

DAY 428: The Mekong, one the world’s great rivers, touches six countries — Tibetan China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam — and has provided prosperity for those places in terms of trade and agriculture for centuries, as most rivers do. If you recall from your geography classes in grammar school, rivers usually spill out into a larger body of water, and the place where they meet is called a delta. Deltas provide a wealth of opportunity for business; they are “showcases” if you will, of the labor and services of the river within. Such is the case with the Mekong Delta at the South China Sea.

Blame America

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 21, 2004

DAY 427: Allow me to reiterate a statement from a previous entry: “History is written by the winners.” In Vietnam, “history” has painted US Troops of The American War in Vietnam as heartless, imperial scumbag bad guys, the same way the Germans are painted as in Hollywood World War II films, and aliens are painted as in the movie Independence Day. To be fair, the Vietnamese can say whatever they want in Vietnam; it is their country after all. As a visitor, I wanted to be respectful of it; besides, it’s always nice to hear the other side of the tale.

The Touts Are A’Changin’

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 21, 2004

DAY 426: In 1973, the Paris Peace Accords put an end to The American War in Vietnam. The US conceded to North Vietnam and eventually pulled out its troops so that Vietnam could begin the road to recovery. Two years later, on April 30, 1975, North Vietnam hammered the proverbial “nail in the coffin” into the south when, using a big military tank, they stormed the presidential palace gates in the former South Vietnam capital of Saigon. Vietnam was reunified under Communist rule and after that day, the official name of the southern city was renamed after the Communist leader and became Ho Chi Minh City, often abbreviated in print as “HCMC” to save space and decrease writer’s cramp. Verbally, “Ho Chi Minh City,” is a mouthful in itself, which is probably why people still just call it Saigon. “Saigon” just rolls off the tongue.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average Is Down A Quarter Of A Point

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 20, 2004

DAY 425: It has been brought to my attention that there are people out there who use travel Blogs (such as this one) as a informational resource for making their own travel plans. Can you believe that? People actually read this thing other than for its stories of misadventure and self-effacing poop humor. Ha!

I know this bit of trivia about travel Blogs as informational resources because I was interviewed by a reporter from The Wall Street Journal who was doing a feature about the business of travel Blogs. The interview with New York-based journalist happened over a series of back-and-forth e-mails that started way back when I was traveling through Morocco with a Canadian named Sebastian. If you recall the comment I posted from Tokyo about the outcome of that interview, in the end, the article failed to mention me or The Blog at all. I sighed and moved on. (This wasn’t the first time this had happened to me; a CNN reporter once interviewed me for a feature about my on-line New Jersey Turnpike-inspired t-shirt store, but that too went nowhere.)

I understood completely, figuring that my Blog wasn’t exactly WSJ material — until this entry, that is.

The Vietnamese Version

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 19, 2004

DAY 424: When I was fifteen, one year short of being able to get a legal work permit, friend and Blogreader wheat and I made some cash to buy music cassettes (yes, I said “cassettes”) by working off the books at a local family-run chicken take-out place that, because of its crappy location, didn’t get much business. To suffice for the lack of customers, the Filipino-American owners of the place made a living by setting up food vending stalls at just about every summer street fair in the metropolitan New York City area. Wheat and I went from fair to fair every weekend that summer of 1990, to grill up chicken parts and pork shish-kabobs under questionably sanitary conditions that would make Upton Sinclair turn in his grave.

The job paid us though, so I could get that latest tape from Information Society (yes, I said “Information Society”), which is why we dealt with it: riding in cargo vans on top of grills, booth equipment and spoiling pork pieces, and dealing with pushy bosses. It was especially an experience when we’d work the New York Gay Pride Parade and get approached by male customers flirting, “Hey boy, you sure have a lot of meat on that stick!”

Temporary Ceasefire

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 19, 2004

DAY 423: When historians think of Vietnam, chances are they immediately think of The American War from 1965 to 1973 — well, that’s what I think of at least. In each entry I’ve written about Vietnam so far, I’ve eluded to The War with subtle literary devices, but for a change of pace, let’s turn to another part in Vietnam’s history. Call this a temporary ceasefire if you will.

Good Morning, Vietnam; Bad Evening, Vietnam

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 18, 2004

DAY 422: There was a peaceful, quiet darkness in my cabin near the engine room on the boat in Ha Long Bay, just before the break of dawn. My German cabinmate Andy and I were snug under our covers in our respective beds. Then, just a little passed 6 a.m., the motor kicked in to move the boat farther along and provide electricity to the ship. The loud rumbling was incessant and inescapable.

“Oh yeah, I like that sound,” Andy said with the sarcasm one has after such a rude awakening.

“Good morning, Vietnam,” I added, also with the same kind of sarcasm.

“Yeah, ha ha! Goooooood morning, Vietnam!”

A Plan To Be Spontaneous

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 17, 2004

DAY 421: My “platoon” that I had arrived with in Vietnam two days before was on a much more relaxed schedule than me; they were after all in Vietnam with vacation/holiday-mentality, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I on the other hand was merely rushing to cover the only-in-Vietnam sights before heading to the Philippines for Christmas. The night before, I bid my platoon farewell for I would be transferred to a new unit in the morning.

Rebel Without A Clue

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 17, 2004

DAY 420: If there’s one distinct memory of Hanoi that Western tourists will bring home, it’s the image of Hanoi’s crazy traffic, a majority of which is comprised of motorbikes. Hanoiites (Hanoiers? Hanoians?) zip around the streets, sans helmets, to get to where they have to go in any way possible with only a few intersections with regulatory traffic signals. Most Westerners I met found the madness of it all sort of terrifying, and thought it crazy to ride on the back of a motorcycle taxi, let alone drive one.

The War Between Tourists And Touts

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 17, 2004

DAY 419: “Did you ever see the movie Speed?” I asked Brit Lisa in the back row of the bus gunning us from Vinh to Hanoi that morning. Unlike the rest of the bus, the back row was elevated in a way so one could see the oncoming traffic ahead.

“Yeah,” she said. “You’d think it’s like that.” Our bus was almost out of control, weaving in and out of traffic like it’d explode if it went below 50 miles per hour. Often it’d speed down the opposite side of the road towards oncoming vehicles, and at one point, it swerved in and out of a closing railroad barricade.

Platoon

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 12, 2004

DAY 418: “I really feel guilty being here,” said fellow American Dara at the border crossing into Vietnam. “I gave my form [to the customs officer] and he read it and said, ‘American’ and just gave me this look.”

Journalists In The Minefields

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 12, 2004

DAY 417: The infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail, the secret route that ultimately led Communist North Vietnam to victory in the Vietnam War, crossed through a portion of northern Laos. Because of this, the US military dropped over two billion kilograms of bombs on Laos between 1964 and 1972, making it the most heavily bombed country in world history. Reminders of this turbulent era in Laos’ past is still seen today, from the bomb craters in the landscape to the active land mines still present in the ground, a danger for both Laotians and the tourists the Lao government only recently let into the country.

Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 11, 2004

DAY 416: I am going to parallel this entry to scenes and quotes from the movie Forrest Gump, a movie I will assume most of you have seen (perhaps not as often as I have), since certain elements of the day set itself up for it. (Besides, I can’t think of another angle for the day.) It started the night before when I saw an unexpected familiar face.

More Misconceptions

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 11, 2004

DAY 415: My name is Erik, with a “K” for the fourth letter, which is the uncommon spelling in North America. I was never a fan of pre-made personalized key chains and mugs growing up; most of the time they only had “Eric.” “Erik” is the Dutch/Danish/Scandinavian spelling of the name, the name of a Viking (i.e. Leif Eriksson, Erik the Red), and my father says he chose it for that reason — although my suspicion is that I was simply named after Erik Estrada when my dad was watching an episode of CHiPs in the 1970s.

Yes ladies, I may quite possibly be named after the heartthrob that played Ponch.

Pousi Galore

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 11, 2004

DAY 414: I’ve been going through southeast Asia thus far with a sort of sardonic attitude; as nice as it is, “southeast Asia” has become a sort of cliché in my mind, although I have no right to be a cynic, it being my first time traveling through (the continental southeast Asia anyway). My attitude comes from the fact that in the traveler circles I’m a part of, almost everyone talks about their “big trip” through southeast Asia, how they’re going to go, or have come back already.

“I’m going to backpack through southeast Asia!”
“So this one time, when I was traveling through southeast Asia…”

I swear, from the amount of times I heard people talk about “backpacking through southeast Asia,” I expect to look up “beaten path” in the dictionary and see a map of the region.

Accents On The Mekong

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 08, 2004

DAY 413: Sue, the woman of the Phonethip Guesthouse in Pak Beng, was making the sandwiches we pre-ordered the night before, so that we could bring them on our long slow boat ride down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. “You want banana? Buy from me! Ha ha!” she said in her thick Laotian accent with perhaps a bit too much energy for 7:30 in the morning.

“No, that’s okay.”

“You want pineapple? Very good. Buy from me, buy from me! Cheap cheap, ha ha!”

Her daughter (I assumed) Ponti wasn’t nearly as high energy as Sue that morning as she sat nearby to see the latest round of nightly guests. “You look very handsome,” she said.

“Thank you,” I said.

Meanwhile, Markus was buying a piece of cake from Sue since he’d been around the block and saw the same things elsewhere. “Same same. Very good! You buy from me! Ha ha!”

The Wrath of Khan

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 07, 2004

DAY 412: Perhaps the most popular Laotian, at least in American pop culture, is the animated character Khan from the animated series King of the Hill, created by Mike Judge of Beavis and Butthead and Office Space fame. Khan and his family live in Texas surrounded by a quirky group of stereotypical Texans, and don’t often see eye to eye. Laotian immigrant + Texas redneck = hilarity. In one of the first episodes, when Khan is introduced to main character Hank Hill and his beer-drinking friends, the dialogue goes like this:

Hank: So, are you Chinese or Japanese?
Khan (in thick Laotian accent): I live in California last twenty year, but first come from Laos.
Hank: Huh?
Khan: Laos. We Laotian.
Bill (Hank’s friend): The ocean? What ocean?
Khan: We are Laotian. From Laos, stupid. It’s a landlocked country in southeast Asia. It’s between Vietnam and Thailand, okay? Population 4.7 million.
(Blank stares from Hank and company.)
Hank: So… are you Chinese or Japanese?
(Khan screams in a fit of anger and frustration.)

I suppose to the uninformed person, all Asians look the same and blend in with each other, and I suspected that with my Filipino skin and face I’d be able to blend into Laos when I arrived.

The Power of Geography

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 06, 2004

DAY 411: My family has a history of geography contests. When I was in the seventh grade, I was chosen to represent my middle school in the statewide Geography Bee, proudly run by New York Knick-turned New Jersey senator Bill Bradley. I made it to the semi-finals, a written test with a bubble sheet answer form, but didn’t advance because, from what I suspect, I used a No. 3 pencil instead of the required No. 2. Either that, or my Power of Geography simply ran out of steam.

The Occidental Tourist

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 05, 2004

DAY 410: In independent travel culture, some would argue that booking any sort of a tour is a cardinal sin (right next to eating at McDonald’s), as it is counter-productive to experiencing the real reality of a foreign culture. Lot, Claire, Hans and I were interested in seeing the Karen hill tribes of the north, near the Thai/Myanmar/Lao border, known for its long-necked women with bronze rings around their collars. We explored the different options of seeing them independently but in the end, the most cost-effective way to see them was just to book the standard one-day tour with an agency, which not only included the hill tribes but all the tourist traps on the way to break up what would otherwise be a boring four-hour drive.

Chiang Mai In The News

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 05, 2004

DAY 409: Everyone in my little Chiang Mai clique decided to “take a day off” to rest and recuperate in the city after being in the jungle for three days. Despite the beautiful weather outside, I spent most of the day indoors at the desk in my room writing and sorting out photos, all while listening to my eclectic music collection: the Linkin Park Live in Texas CD, Stevie Wonder’s greatest hits and an assortment of MP3s like the underground hip-hop classic, Akinyele’s “Put It In Your Mouth.”

Whingeing Down The River

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 05, 2004

DAY 408: Of the many uses of bamboo — panda food, decoration and crafts, scaffolding for Hong Kong skyscrapers — one of the most fun is raft making. When I originally heard that Day Three of my northern Thai jungle trek would be spent mostly in a raft, I imagined it being the inflatable rubber kind. I was mistaken when I saw the bamboo rafts at the river on the edge of the village, which Boon and Sawit prepped up that morning by adding on extra bamboo to support our group’s weight.

Pineapples and Four-Legged Friends

From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 04, 2004

DAY 407: I have faint but fond memories of my parents taking me to New York’s Bronx Zoo as a kid, about twenty-five years ago. Not only was it one of America’s more decent zoological preserves where I got to pet animals in the petting zoo section, but it was the place where I had ridden an elephant my first and only time — until Day Two of my “non-tourist trek” through the jungles of northern Thailand.

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