If You Can Dodge Traffic You Can Dodge a Ball

If Patches O'Houlihan is to believed, ESPN8 "the ocho" ought to start filming dodgeball games in Southeast Asia. No crosswalks, no traffic lights or signs, and sidewalks that exist solely for parking; as of this writing, I have not seen an accident or near miss. The difference seems to come from a recognition by drivers that the road is not personal property. It is a space shared by cars, motorbikes, bicycles, pedestrians, vendors, and animals. My observation is that the maximum speed for any given vehicle on a stretch of road is much lower than what an American driver would hit; the difference between the minimum and maximum speeds for the American would be much larger. Drivers here don't stop but they seem to be aware of their surroundings so it is safe for a pedestrian to cross eight lanes of traffic while no driver is inconvenienced. Traffic moves much more fluidly.  There are many motorbikes on the roads and they are able to dodge pedestrians much more effectively than cars and trucks.  It seems to terrify most of the people that I have tried to cross the road with, but I am continually amazed at just how fluid it is.

Although I can handle the traffic, it does make it much more difficult for those who are not as agile.  Near my hostel in Chiang Mai there was one pedestrian light.  You had to call it yourself and it would give you a 15 second red light to cross four lanes of one way traffic.  Usually, once the drivers didn't see anyone else crossing the street, they continued on, regardless of the light.  One night I saw a three legged dog trying to cross the road.  The curbs are over a foot high and there is no shoulder on the road so it was difficult for him to cross one lane at a time which is what I often did.  Instead, he patiently sat by the crossing button until someone came along and pressed it, allowing him to cross.  Although it took him longer than the allotted fifteen seconds to cross, drivers still waited for him.

Being in Singapore for the last few days has made me realize just how much I missed orderly traffic.  As much as I got used to dealing with dodging traffic, it is so much less stressful when you are reasonably certain that someone won't run a red light and kill you.

Thanksgiving, Cambodian Style

I'm one of the few Americans who does not particularly enjoy Thanksgiving. I find it stressful, I'm not a huge fan of traditional Thanksgiving foods, and it is placed so close to both Veterans Day and Christmas on the calendar that I think it would be more useful in March or August when you've been in long period of no days off.

I haven't met many Americans so far in Cambodia so I didn't find anyone who was longing for a Thanksgiving. This is the third time in the past four years that I have spent the holiday on my own so I wasn't too upset because I didn't have my turkey.

S-21

I arrived in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. On Wednesday I went to the museum at the site of the former S-21 prison of the Khmer Rouge. The site was a school that had been repurposed as a prison and you could still see how it looked like a school. The buildings still were set up as classrooms, except for lines set apart every few feet, indicating where a cell wall had been located; one of the buildings still had the cells intact. The playground equipment was still in the yard. Only later is it revealed that the equipment had been utilized as instruments of torture. The area is full of flowers and palm trees; the complex is still surrounded by double metal walls and barbed wire. The museum was emotionally draining and I went back and had a pretty low key evening.

Excavated graves

Memorial stupa

The next morning I rented a bike and rode an hour through Cambodian traffic to the Killing Fields at Cheung Ek.  I was shocked at just how small the complex is. The prisoner drop off, detention center, and office were all within ten meters of each other. No buildings were left after the war so the complex is just fields, along with a memorial near the entrance. As I looked out, the fields are marked with depressions in the earth. It looked a little strange at first but I later learned that these were the sites of graves not massive enough to designate with extra signs. I spent a few hours taking in the area and learning about the Khmer Rouge. At the entrance (and the end of the tour) is a memorial.
This stupa is filled with bones so high that it was impossible to stand in it and see what was in the levels near the top; a photograph could only capture maybe a quarter of it in any given shot.

I had an hour ride back to Phnom Penh in the early afternoon heat to contemplate everything I had learned in the past 24 hours. This genocide is so recent that I have met Cambodians who are not too old and remember relatives fleeing the country. I have never been one to take account of what I have; this is the first Thanksgiving where I felt compelled to think through what I take for granted in my daily life. This trip as a whole has made me much more aware of what I have come to assume is normal but is actually a sign of privilege. However, spending Thanksgiving seeing the mechanisms of genocide first hand was by far the most thankful that I have ever felt for all that I take for granted in my life.

Scuba weekend

The only hard dates that I had for this trip was 9-23 Dec I had a massage course in Chiang Mai. I had almost three weeks from when I left Bangkok until the start of the course so my original plan was to spend a few days in Phnom Penh, another few days in Siem Reap (near Angkor) then the rest of the time in Laos. It always seems like there is so much time when you write plans down.

After spending a depressing few days in Phnom Penh and realizing that I had no beach plans until Christmas, I decided to pull out my scuba referral from last winter and finally get my open water certification. A dive shop in Sihanoukville, Scuba Nation, had an overnight trip that worked perfectly with my schedule and they were very accomodating of my last minute plan to get certified. So, Saturday morning I hopped on a bus and a few hours later I was in a pool. A few hours at the dive shop doing drills, written work, and talking to the instructor and I was cleared to go on the boat the next morning.

The boat ride out was a little rough but I was fine at first. Almost everyone else was feeling a little sick so they skipped breakfast, leaving only a few of us to eat it. I should have remembered how pineapple makes me sick. It is one of my favorite foods but it makes me sick every time I eat it. So, after eating at least two thirds of a pineapple in pretty rough water, I decided I needed to lay down. Of course, I had been applying sunscreen but every place to lay down on the boat was sunny so I laid with my back to the sun. I think you can figure out how this story ends. I hadn't been sick my entire trip but the combination of pineapple, rough sea, and sunburn proved more than my stomach could handle.

Soon we arrived at the dive site. One other diver was also doing his open water dives so we were paired up. Actually being in the ocean was so different from being in the pool. The water was warm and we had over 20m visibility. We did a few drills at the beginning of each dive, then floated along for the next 45 minutes or so, doing two dives each day.

Aside from the burn (which seemed to bother everyone else more than me at the time) the trip was exactly what I needed: time to sit in the sun, float around in the water, and let my brain be overwhelmed by something crazy, such as breathing underwater.

Bangkok: Not the Hangover

Full disclosure: the Hangover 2 formed almost all of my pre-arrival perception of Bangkok. Thankfully, that was not my experience.

I came to Bangkok to eat and get cheap massages. I succeeded on both counts, and was pleasantly surprised by the rest of what Bangkok had to offer.
My first full day was spent sightseeing: the palace, Wat Poh, Arun Wat. Everything was so shiny that it was hard to see in the sun. I was surprised by how close together the buildings in each complex are. Individually they are quite large and would be impressive; together they are crammed in so tightly that it is difficult to appreciate the buildings in isolation. This may be intentional so that one doesn't place a higher value on one building than the complex that it supports, but I still kept finding myself wishing that I could see each for its own merits.

The next day I took as a rest day since I was pretty beat up from the heat and sun the day before. I planted myself in one of the malls and got some good people watching in. Later I saw the new Bond movie, Skyfall. I was very confused when buying the ticket at the counter because I didn't understand what the girl was asking me. She kept showing me a seating chart for the theater; I finally worked out that you buy a particular seat, the same way you would for most other venues in the US.
My final day in Bangkok was spent wandering around, starting at the Independence Memorial, past the zoo, palace, Golden Mount, Ratchanatda temple and the Giant Swing. I'm not sure why it is called the giant swing. I was expecting something pretty epic, but it was basically just a gate, not a giant swing set :-(  I walked through what appeared to be the Buddha market district on my way back. It was shop after shop of Buddha statues of all sizes and colors.

My hostel was located near the red light district so there was always good people watching. In particular, at night you could plant down at any street facing bar and see lady boys strutting around, as well as the female prostitutes and, primarily, older white men. In fact, I was kicked out of a bar one night because we didn't place our orders quickly enough for their taste and we were informed a group of prostitutes needed the space.
Unfortunately, this scene has been pretty common everywhere I've been so far. Most of the time they are young Asian prostitutes and older white men; occasionally the two are married. I was told that it was becoming such a problem that the Cambodian government enacted rules regarding the age difference between a native and foreigner attempting to get married. I have yet to see an Asian man and white woman (I have seen plenty of Asian American men who, after eavesdropping, are definitely American). It is something that really bothers me every time I see it and I'm still trying to reason out why. I'm normally okay with letting people do whatever they want to as long as it is not harmful and non-destructive. It's definitely not the age difference since I have no problem with couples with large age gaps and I don't think it is a racial thing because I don't think I'd think twice if I saw the same couple walking around in the US. I keep getting flashbacks to my history textbooks and their images of old colonial officials. I think it is the implied power differential that exists that is very unsettling to me.

I'll update this post once I have my pictures. They are currently zipped up on my memory card and I can't access them.

I'm Totally Not a Shoe Girl But...

I love my FiveFingers.  I think anyone who knows me already knows this, but since I'm travelling and trying to get better about blogging, the world is getting this post.

Hiking to Lantau Peak in Hong Kong

Reasons FiveFingers are Awesome Travel Shoes:

1. They keep your feet much cooler than sneakers but are much sturdier than flip flops.
2. You can wash them in the shower.
3. Given that outside of DC and stair races they aren't very common, they're a good conversation starter.
4. They take up very little space in a bag and weigh next to nothing.
5. When flying in the United States, I've only ever had to remove them once at airport security. I don't know if this is a TSA policy or if they just don't see it often.
6. Better grip on slick roads and sidewalks. I heard this from a fellow five finger enthusiast so I can't personally vouch for this but he said when he was in Singapore during the rainy season his fivefingers were the only shoes he had that allowed him to walk without slipping everywhere.


Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments.

Hong Kong

Cal, the master of promoting all things Cal, wanted to me to clarify that this week in Hong Kong is not actually part of my sabbatical, but rather, my sabbatiCal.  (He's been letting me crash on his couch so I'm not in a position to deny this request).  Now onto slightly less Cal related things...

Given that I really needed a chance to recharge after a hectic couple of months, easing into travel by first crashing in Chicago for a few days and then spending a relaxing week in Hong Kong has proven to be a good decision.  I was able to get over jet lag quickly, take my time wandering around the city, and still tie up some loose ends back in DC without feeling like I was wasting limited time.

The weekend was spent hanging out with Cal and his friends and was pretty low key in general.  I was exhausted for most of it, although I think it had more to do with me being run down than with jet lag.  Sunday morning I decided to run the stairs in Cal's apartment building.  Given that the weekend before I placed fifth in my age group at the Willis Tower race, I thought a twenty eight story residential stairwell should be fine.  In fact, the stairwell wasn't much longer than my office stairwell, but it was so dusty and the air here is so miserable that I was struggling to breathe by the top.  Given that I think I'm in better aerobic shape now than I have been in a long time, I now understand why there isn't much of a fitness culture in Hong Kong.  Later that night Cal and I met up with a friend of his to hike up to the Peak.  From here we could see over the whole city.  I got gelato at the top, breaking my almost 48hr chocolate fast.  We took the tram down which reminded me of a slow roller coaster but was actually a pretty neat experience.

Before planning this trip I wasn't aware that Hong Kong is a city with the country just on the edges.  I heard that one of the islands, Lantau, had good hiking and a giant Buddha.  It was enough to sell me on the idea so I hopped on the MTR and within forty minutes I was queued for the cable car that goes to the big Buddha.  The Buddha sits on top of a hill and is huge so it could be seen from the cable car; up close it was even more impressive.  There is a monastery nearby, so I wandered over there for some vegetarian dim sum.  I then continued onto an art exhibition called the Wisdom Path which is a series of wooden stakes with passages from the Heart Sutra painted on them; these stakes are arranged in an infinity symbol on the side of a hill.  I was feeling pretty adventurous so I decided to hike up to Lantau Peak.  I had read this was a strenuous hike, but I am in pretty good shape so I decided to go for it.  The peak sits at 934m and the hike itself was pretty vertical on stone steps.

You thought I'd go to Asia without them?

YIt took about forty five minutes and I was so hot that my pant legs were rolled most of the way up and I was in just a tank top.  I passed a lot of people near the bottom of the trail.  Most were only hiking up high enough to get some good photos.  I don't think I saw anyone for the last twenty or thirty minutes of the hike up.  Since I didn't see anyone on my way up and I was drenched in sweat, I was very surprised to find two guys dressed in jeans and flannel shirts at the top.
They were both from Hong Kong and very surprised that as a tourist I chose to leave the city and go hiking.  I opted to go down the other side of the mountain which, while rolling, was preferable to the vertical climb down which was my other option.  I reached the bottom of the mountain, continued on the trail for a little bit longer, then hit the highway.  I hopped on the bus and was halfway across the island in twenty minutes.

The next day my legs were dead from my hike so I opted for a beach day.  I headed down to Stanley which is a beach town on the south side of Hong Kong island.  It reminded me of the Mediterranean.  I felt at ease for the first time since I arrived in Asia; for someone so pale I have a real fondness for the beach.  I wandered through a park that goes along the water for awhile, spent some exploring the woods off the path, then headed down to the beach.  The beach was kind of sandy but mostly slightly larger rocks; they weren't rough to walk on and they weren't so small they got into everything.  I slept, read, wrote up some notes, and ate chocolate.  The water was warm and clear; I somehow forgot to bring a swimsuit and the beach was not at all secluded so skinny dipping was out of the question.

Stupidly forgot my swimsuit

I eventually headed back towards Cal's, catching the MTR during rush hour.  I was warned of how crazy it could get.  Maybe I had my expectations set too high, but I didn't find rush hour to be crazy.  Everything was very orderly, albeit crowded, and people were very patient about waiting for the next train.

Mine is much smaller than Jackie Chan's

It was comparatively warm out the next day so I headed to the museum campus.  I started with the Avenue of the Stars which is Hong Kong's version of Hollywood's Walk of Fame.  From there I continued onto the art museum and was underwhelmed.  Hitting the local art museums is something I enjoy doing in a new place, along with climbing to the highest points, and checking out the underground city.  Half of the six exhibition halls were closed and the three that were open were quite underwhelming.  There was very little explanation about the work there and I didn't find myself really getting into anything.  Next was the space museum.  It was small and pretty elementary but I thought it was well done and entertaining enough.  I spent the next few hours wandering down the Kowloon waterfront and eating.

Sha Tin Race Course

That evening I headed to the racetrack.  Apparently horse racing is the only legal form of gambling in Hong Kong so the races are very popular.  There were lots of old men there, many just sitting in the betting rooms watching the race on the tv screens.  It was my first horse race that I remember (my dad tells me he took me once when I was very small and I was terrified by the horses charging towards me) and I thought it was worth the time just to see expats and locals all taking very different approaches to enjoying the same activity.

In summary, Hong Kong was much more varied in its terrain than I was expecting.  You can get to some great hikes and beaches in under an hour on public transit.  The food is good, plenty of variety, and it's much cheaper than most major cities I've been to.  The only real issue that stuck out to me regards traffic.  The city is very efficient at moving people around, but once they are off of mechanized transport, it seems to fall apart.  I think this is the one thing that really bothered me.  There is no established foot traffic pattern, people walk very slowly, and no one seems to think it's a problem if you just stop in the middle of the sidewalk for no apparent reason.  I am generally a fast walker and walk like I'm in a rush to get somewhere so I always think people move slowly, but Hong Kong stands out singularly in how inefficient foot travel is.

Easing into Sabbatical

After a year or so of growing restless I finally took the plunge and decided to get out of DC.  This was a tough decision because I actually like DC.  Of all the cities I have traveled to, DC has always felt the most comfortable and home like to me.  I didn't dislike my job, friends, or life in general.  The problem was that for the past three years I have felt restless.  I wanted to get out and see something different, pushing myself to grow in ways that I wasn't able to in DC.

About a year ago a friend of mine moved to Hong Kong and has been bugging me ever since to visit.  Asia has never been particularly high on my list of must sees; I always viewed it as the type of place that I wouldn't turn down a trip there, but if planning my own I would probably go elsewhere.  About a year ago I realized that a perfect combination of direct flights from Chicago, my sister's birthday (in Chicago), the Willis Tower race, a change in my company's time keeping system, and the best weather of the year occurred in early November.  I decided to bank as much vacation as possible so I could take a three week trip.  In early spring I started to burn out.  I was teaching two to six classes a week, two weekly front desk shifts at the yoga studio, giving two bike tours a week, and working a full time job in addition to still trying to have a social life and stay in shape.  I was enjoying everything but I knew it was unsustainable.  In July I took my sister to the west coast to celebrate her graduation.  My ulterior motive was that I wanted someone to ride STP with me and knew she would deal with a 200 mile bike ride if I just kept telling her it was a good idea.  I decided to burn more vacation time than I planned but after two weeks I still hadn't satisfied my restlessness.

It was around this time that I started to toy with the idea of leaving my job and travelling around Asia for a few months.  As a last minute plan, I hadn't saved up specifically for this trip so the length of my travelling would be capped at a few months and limited to countries with a low cost of living; Southeast Asia fit my requirements perfectly.  I am terrible at advance planning when no one else is affected; organizing events for groups is not a problem but I just can't do it for myself.  So, even as I write this from Hong Kong, I still do not have a good idea of what route I will take.  The rough itinerary, without date projections is:
Bangkok --> Phnom Penh --> Angkor --> Laos --> Chiang Mai --> beach time --> Singapore and Malaysia --> Philippines

I will do my best to upload some photos and trip reports to this blog.  Additional photos will be available at some point on Facebook as well.