Interesting instants... captured through a lense

The good, the bad, and the ugly: India

Since beginning this voyage I have done some weird/cool/amazing things… here are a few.

- I have been in a car, moped, and rickshaw accident (all on the same day)

- I had my first big mac ( Chicken Majarha Mac (India))

- Had the national beer of 6 different countries

- Swam in 2 oceans (Indian, pacific)

- Worn a seat belt 0 times

- Been to 5 cities with more than 10 million people (8 cities with 7 million or more)

- Been bitten by a cobra…and a deer

- Rock climbed on one of the “new wonders of the world” (Angkor Wat)

- Seen the sun rise and set at a another wonder of the world (Taj Mahal)

- Flown 8 times

- Paid less then 50 cents for a meal 5 times

- Seen monkeys in 4 countries

- Read 5 books

- Climbed a mountain… and the great wall

- Rode on a sleeper train, a second class train, a bullet train, and several subways

- Visited mosques, temples (Hindu and Buddhist), shrines, and churches

- Had a drink on top of the tallest building in Japan

- Had diarrhea once, and constipation… once

- Been offered a prostitute 3 times

- Played Frisbee once

- Slept in hostels, hotels, bungalows, and hammocks

India was India… I say this because this is the first country that has been pretty close to my expectation. It was a full assault on all of my senses. At times, I would be coughing, while seeing blurs (both due to the insane amount of air pollution), smelling sewage and piss, and hearing nothing but a constant barrage of honks (The use of the car horn in south east asia is interesting. See, in the US we use it as a reactionary tool, and here they use it proactively to warn, communicate, or simply out of habit for no good reason at all. They refrain from honking when someone cuts another person off, because it is hard to hear cuss words and yelling when your horn is going off…). Anyway, India possessed the dirtiest of the dirties, the prettiest of the pretties, the most real and most money hungry people … My India:

Day one:

I got off the ship around noonish. The port where we berthed was characteristic of the country for sure. You get off the ship, and there are tons of stray dogs, heavy machinery (in use), and a half mile walk to the exit of the port. Today I went with a small group from the ship to the YMCA of Chennai. In India (and most of the world), the YMCA is an organization that serves as an orphanage for mostly able bodied and minded kids. The kids live there, take classes there, are job trained there, and leave when they have been through the program. We visited a campus that had about 420 kids (all boys) that lived in communal houses (their only possessions were their beds), that was located in the middle of a wasteland. Their grounds had a huge pack of stray animals, a swamp with rotting trash in the middle, a playing field with broken glass, and had no clean water source. Every day they had to go out and buy water, and then put it in a huge tub for all of the kids to use the same cup to drink. This is where the “Hundred Dollar Solution” comes in. Rotary International teamed up with a professor (Strendecky) to initiate this action plan that solves big problems using little amounts of money. So we went to this place with 100 dollars and asked “What is one thing that would make the lives of the children here better?” and the answer we got was “A water purifier would be nice”… so for 150 dollars, the kids now have a permanent and reliable water source. More than 400 of them! That’s pocket change you know. It’s insane that the UN and USAID and other groups use millions, and even billions to solve “large problems” and some of them can be solved with pocket change. So, I played thumb war, slaps, tag, and Frisbee with some kids for a couple hours (there were two interesting things… one, they wanted serious matches… like “USA vs. India for pride” and two, they were obsessed with my camera, one kid took my camera, took like 100 pictures and then pimped it out to his friends). Anyway, after tea at the YWCA working women’s home, we went to Marina Beach, which is the second largest beach in the world. Picture this: there are thousands of people on this beach, whole families, teens, young kids… and not one is in the water… not one is showing any skin at all. I brought my Frisbee and I was waved down by this older guy around 50 or so (his name is Boscar)… so I threw it to him. He dives, rolls, gets up and throws a really nice throw back. I was amazed. I threw with this guy, and his 2 kids, and his neighbors 3 kids for about an hour. Turns out, this guy has been to the beach every day for the past 11 years with his family, teaching them aerobics, gymnastics, karate, cricket and Frisbee. They were really nice and reflective of the general population of India (they would applaud when I jumped, or made a nice throw)… it was a nice first taste. Most people are really nice, the ones that are not so nice though are the people who are interested in your money. This population is a little more than half of the population. People will try to charge you for directions (that you don’t ask for), watching them doing handstands, taking pictures of the street they are on… everything. Anyway, Boscar now has a Frisbee from the Texas Ultimate, and I bolted that joint, had dinner, and headed back to the ship early.

Day 2:

I got about an hour of sleep (I had 13 hours the 4 nights I was in India) and woke up at 3 to catch a early flight in the morning. There are a few things in India that you cannot go more than 100 yards or so without seeing.

1. A guy peeing
2. a cow eating trash
3. a dog sleeping
4. an std (international phone)
5. Someone sleeping on the street (this was more like every 20 yards, and in hotspots every yard… tons of people just lay down without a blanket on the bare street and pass out for the night)

The people I saw sleeping on the way to the airport was no doubt in the thoudands. Anyway, we got our flight to Delhi, and went to a park in Old Delhi. This place was cool, but nothing worth talking about (it did have a 3 thousand year old steel pillar that was pretty sweet (I ditched the park for a while to go over to this abandoned field where some kids were playing cricket and played with them for a while, I hit their ball into the woods and felt bad, but one of the kids was a stinking monkey and retrieved it)). After being hustled by some rug shop and watching about a dozen of my friends buy thousand dollar oriental rugs (they said it was a good gift for their families, I however am not a fool), we went to the Train station to catch a train to Agra. The train station was a madhouse. There was an infestation of rats that led to suggest that they were in running the station. The trains were wicked. They had bars instead of windows, people slept and lived in the spaces between the 2 cars, and they were ridiculously unreliable. Our 4 hour train ride took about 7 and a half, and we got into Agra late. Today was spent mostly traveling so I don’t have much feedback.

Day 3:

I woke up at 5 to see the sunrise at the Taj Mahal. The place in the morning is not very touristy and my experience was pretty good. The place actually lives up to the talk. Its splendor is amazing, and even from up close it looks like a mirage. Its right on this river that is infested with trash and the old remains of people (at least it looked an awful lot like it). I had no idea that it was a Muslim building, or for that matter, that most of the cool buildings and historical sights in Northern India were of Islamic background. I think India, and I don’t think Islam… anyway. I went into the inner sanctum, and for my time in there I was alone. The place had an eerie light that put weird shapes on the walls, and birds were flying around, and there was a constant moaning sound. The Taj effectively freaked me out. Anyway, we went back to our hotel. And I left the group for the rest of my time in India. I headed out alone for mid day in Agra. I hopped in a Tuc Tuc and asked the guy to take me to the interesting part of the city. He took me to a local slum which I thought was pretty cool and then things went awry. You see, these guys get money when they take their passengers to textile and handicraft stores. So the next hour was this guy taking me to all of his friend’s stores. One store had about 10,000 square feet and about 30 employees and had one customer… me (from the looks of it, I was the only customer they have had for weeks). I got harassed, and hustled… but didn’t spend a penny (and got the hell out of there). He took me past monkey street (with massive amounts of baboons playing in the actual road), and back to this spot that had a snake charmer. I played a flute for the snake, and hung out with this charmer for a few minutes… and I noticed that this thing kept trying to strike his hand. So I got down with him and asked him this question “KILL?” and he said “NO KILL” so I began the process of trying to get this snake to bite me. I had to punch, poke, grope and irritate a KING COBRA for about 30 seconds to get him pissed off… and then he struck me on the hand. It was awesome, and I got away with paying the guy like 50 cents for it… the most entertaining 50 cents of my life. I went out to lunch with my friend Sebastian (where I had this dish that had huge chunks of cottage cheese in gravy… freaking money, it has been my favorite dish of the entire voyage, actually Indian food has been my favorite because of this flat bread called Parantha that is stuffed with vegetables and cheese). I went to Agra Fort (where I was a stinking celebrity, about 30 people approached me for pictures, they love the girls though… sometimes they run ahead and stand near them while their friends get the shot, other times they grope and fondle while their buddies commemorate the memory) which was kind of cool. I was outside of it where I was approached by this woman holding a baby, and begging for food. This is the point where I gave serious thought into what sort of action I should or even could take. For instance, I could give this woman money right… but where would it go. I could give her nothing, but I can afford it… The “what would Jesus do” guide to life says nothing about circumstances like this. Do the helpless deserve help from us… or is it even helpful. This was a struggle I had throughout India, because I could never decipher my own feelings. I bought her some bread and gave it to her… it seemed like the best solution. In India I was particularly proud of semester at sea for doing stuff in the community. Every person I know went to an orphanage, and did service, and had hands on experience with making somebody’s life better. This ship board community is going to take home an attitude reflecting the ideology that even a little bit of help can do a lot of good. Anyway, I went back to the Taj to see sunset. Spent about an hour reading Acts in the one nook of the place without tourists (the passage about Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch and Paul’s story), and met up with a few friends to take a van back to Delhi. I had my first big Mac on the road (it was chicken and the sauce had curry in it), sat in traffic for about 2 hours (some points we parked and our driver left for 10-15 minutes at a time)… saw a bus push a car out of its way ( seconds after we hit the very same car), and arrived in New Delhi around 2 AM.

Day 4:

This was the most exhaustive, effective and fun day I have ever had traveling. My objective of the day was to be a citizen and not a tourist. Here’s the story.

I woke up at seven, hopped in a Tuc Tuc and arranged to have the guy for the whole day (for 20 bucks). I went to eat at this food cart that was packed full of people. For a mere 50 cents I had flat bread, Chai, and red bean casserole for breakfast alongside the working class of Old Delhi. I went out to a mosque in the morning to spend some time sitting and observing. The mosque had a beautiful courtyard that was elevated and overlooked the whole city. It was in a food market that had whole goats heads and about 500 lime sellers. I met a women named Fiona there, and had to be her temporary husband while she was being harassed by some locals. I hopped in the Auto and went to another mosque that had a large pool that was believed to have healing powers. The place had a welcome sign that said “ spend some time absorbing the teaching of the guru, cover your head, and do not talk about any other subject” that was kind of cool. I washed my head in the pool, sat in the inner sanctum for about half an hour, and hit the joint. This is the point where my driver started being a dick. He took me to a gas station and demanded that I pay him all 20 bucks, and tried to take me to a place an hour away from the city for double the pay, and to some of his friends shops and blah blah blah. So I left him a fair amount and ran. That has been my problem solving solution for south east asia thus far… and I have to say it works pretty well. I wound up in this market called Chandi Chok, which is like the locals place to go. Its in the middle of a housing district that is very slummy and shady. Most of the alleys were dead ends so one second I was near a shop, and the next in somebody’s living room. The streets were dark, dirty, and full of “interesting people”. The spice market street was aromatic, but laced with dog shit… so… yeah. I ate lunch at a street vendor (parantha and dipping sauces (50 cents)), and talked to its owner for a while. I mentioned to him that I was interested in going to GB road ( the sex road in town) to do some observations for my studies. Even though he understood I was a student and did not want to purchase a hooker, his cordial tone shifted from being welcoming to “get the hell out of my shack right now”, he verbally (with force) made me leave. The shift in his attitude was really interesting because I think it encompasses the shame that the country has for the stigma it caries. I mean, the largest democracy in the world… with some of the most religious people in the world… it makes a lot of sense that he would be pissed about a foreigner bringing up the fact that there is a really bad sex slave problem down the street. Anyway. (I just shook my head from shoulder to shoulder… it’s the Indian way of saying yes, maybe, no, I don’t understand and everything in between… I have grown to habitualize this) I went to the cinema after lunch and saw Bhool Bhoolyion, a scary movie (except for one character that got laughs every time he entered the frame ( I think he was the Will Ferrel of India)) that was made a whole lot scarier because I had no idea what was going on at any time. Anyway, I left at intermission… and found a hostel to stay in for the night (YWCA international guest house… which was shady beyond belief)… and headed to the India Gate park. The India gate is a large Arch De Triumph looking monument that overlooks the parliament houses and the “white house of India”. I spent a couple hours at the park watching and talking to some teenagers from Punjabi. One of them bought me tea, which was pretty cool. I then headed out to GB street. GB street is the busiest market I have ever been to. On one side is a rail road, and the other is a 3 story constant row of buildings that intermittently has staircases that lead to the upstairs. The back alleys of the market were busy, and dirty. The senses overload scenario from earlier happened here. I blew out snot that had black speckles in it… and wiped the brown/black gook from my eyes by the minute. At one point, a guy came up to me and offered my some young beauty queens. I did not say anything to him… so he ran me through my choices. For one, I could choose the age (from 14-21), and the number of girls (1-as many as I would like), and his price never exceeded about 10 bucks. Ten freaking bucks. I could feel my heart breaking. This market place, amidst the filth had plenty of religious buildings and temples… we are in the middle of a festival where women come out and do rituals at night, so less than a block away from my pimp friend were dozens of women praying. As it got dark there were a few trends I noticed. For one, there were obvious areas and spots where the foot traffic lacked women (decent looking men for that matter). Most places had no lights on… some did (these were the “open for business” places). As I walked across the tracks and to the other side I notices a ton of hotels with strange names… with way to many male employees working the front. (I had dinner, and talked to a guy named Feruk for about 15 minutes about God, Love, and parental obligation). I took an Auto back across the bridge (the guy asked where, I told him GB, and he couldn’t stop saying the F word for the next 3 minutes and making his hands into the shape of a vagina) to check out the scene. I walked down the streets and peeked up the aforementioned staircases and saw young girls lining the halls. Tons of them, waiting for a job. It was terrible. (I really wish I could understand the culture around the trade… I mean, why do these girls do this… do they have a choice, is there any other way… do they get any of the money… who owns them… why is this sort of thing allowed to happen, even regulated by the government) I couldn’t handle it so I went to a carnival nearby. They wouldn’t let me in with my camera, so I walked away feeling dejected… and this cop waves me down. This guy doesn’t speak a word of English so through a series of grunts and hand gestures he figures out that I want to go to the carnival. So he grabs me by the hand (with fingers interlocked (men are really big on public affection, in fact this guy was really feely with me all night) leads me through security (he was the head constable), past the ticket booth… and up the back stairs of an attraction that had a super long line. It was one of those shows where cars and motorcycles drive up on the side of a round wall. These guys were flying, and standing on the roofs of their cars… it was nuts. At one point, the cop asks me if I smoke… I told him no… and he says “you smoke” and watched me smoke his cigarette. I could tell that he wanted to see me cough, I guess we all are entertained in some way. Any who… We spent the next hour or so together… me and him (his son joined us for a while, and he kept kicking his son out of the car so he could sit with me). We didn’t wait in line (by the way, this was the most irresponsible carnival ever… for one, the rides were operated b hand breaks, two, people were dangling off of the sides of the Ferris wheel, and there wasn’t a seat belt in the house), and had a great time. At one point he pulls out his gun and somehow tells me that it is made in America. He hands it to me… I hold it… and he doesn’t think twice of it. At the end of the evening, through his son… his blood, he tells me that I am no longer his friend… but his new son. It was an unthinkable end to a good day. (I spent less than 2 dollars on food and beverage for the day)

Day 5:

After getting to the airport, realizing I don’t have a flight…. Buying a ticket, and catching a plane… I wound up back in Chennai. I got back to the ship, dropped off my bags and went out. I went to a temple market called mylapore and hung out there for a few hours (the temple had a huge lake surrounded by steps). I tried to find an orphanage… I had the name of it, and some descriptions like… mother Theresa (she founded it), kids (well…) and so forth… and not a single person had any idea where it was. So I made due. I went to a hospital. Had a twelve cent meal (2 samosas, a cookie, and a bag of water). And went to a local park. I spent about 3 hours at this park hanging with kids. Hundreds of them. They were playing cricket, and making fun of each other, and singing… and being kids. They were all real poor and kept asking me how much everything I had on was. I joined a Guile team (primitive form of cricket) and met a computer science student who actually speaks decent English. I scored some points for my team, caught an out… and had a lot of fun. The English speaker told me that kids asked how much my sandals were because they “hate people that spend money on sandals”. I could tell this. For instance, one kid asked me how much and I told him 1000 rupees (about 25 bucks (they really cost about 90))… he looked at me with disgust, told me that his cost 40 rupees and got very upset at me. He ignored me, yelled at me when I made an error, and generally shifted from nice to mean… because I waste money. That was India for me; A realization that our daily lives are complex, and abundant, and extravagant… and unfulfilling. These kids study all day, and for a few hours play cricket. They spent a dollar, or maybe 2 per day. They wear outfits that cost 2 dollars… but still enjoy their lives richly. These kids didn’t have anything other than each other, and hope. The student said that he will get his degree in 4 years and move to another country where he will make more money. He might end up in the US where his world view will inevitably shift. Mine sure did… and I was there for 5 days. I went to a shopping bazaar, talked on the phone for a little while… and got back to the ship.

Day one in India I thought that this would be the only time I ever wanted to come to India. I don’t know if I want to come back to be honest. I loved the downtime, and the kids, and the food… but felt awkward all of the time. I felt like my intentions were wrong, and that my values and materialism are unwelcome. India was a learning experience, one that I will never forget. I felt like I did India right. I would love to come back and see Varanasi, and perhaps the mountains in the north. But every big city looks the same, and all of them combat the same problems. I don’t want to come back to India, or Bangkok, or Ho Chi Minh, or Madras… until I can do something… i felt like I did something in interacting and playing with kids. I got a lot out of it… and I hope they did too (I got asked about 20 times if my eyes were real, that was funny).

Today I slept in, played quake, had 3 solid meals, went to the schphitzer (steam room), attended a lecture (that turned into a verbal argument between me and a professor) on religion, had a supplemental snack time… and was comfortable all day. Its going to take a while to process the uncomfortable nature of India. I hope that day comes while I have a chance to do that something… aka… now.

I know you don’t read this to hear my ramblings. But I hope that it is clear that I am changing. With every country and story I am molding into a new man. There is a solid group of men on this ship that have blessed me with great discussion and prayer… this has had a lot to do with my change.

Today for me… not for yall… is the day that signifies the two and half year mark in my relationship with Dava. I love her greatly. I just wanted to share that.

That’s all I got… subscribe soon for another installment.

Tal

An essay

The world is small right? We are all connected, and related, and have a general understanding of how this world works… right? There are too many coincidences and 5 degree of separation rules to prove this wrong…right?

Wrong.

This world is not small.

My world is small. Our worlds are small.

I have been to 7 countries in the past 5 weeks. I will hit 5 more in the next month. I have climbed the great wall, and danced in the streets of Cambodia, and rock climbed in southern Thailand… and seen nothing.

My small world is expanding at a very rapid pace, but is still confined by my own mind. I have seen enough to recognize that our physical world has a limitless number of faces. These faces can be described by adjectives galore, or photographed to help the memory stay sharp. But, these faces are a glimpse, a temporary recognition of beauty or rawness. Happiness in the recognition of beauty is a mechanism that presents itself defenseless against non-pleasurable things. So these faces amount to little more than notches on a belt. These faces are finite… these faces are not the world.

The world is a collection of people, thoughts, and convictions. The world is war, and hate, and genocide, and brotherly love. The world is people; imperfect people that make mistakes, and sometimes bring out the best in themselves and others to correct them. The world is thoughts that transcend humanity. The world is socialism, and capitalism. The world is a series of convictions. It’s a hate for those who are unlike you (because they are different), and an admiration of those who are unlike you (because you should be different). It’s a love for wealth, stuff, God (or all of the above). The world is loving life because it’s simple, and a longing for the complex. The world I am experiencing rises above the world I see. The faces of the world are put to shame by the minds and hearts within it. Humanity is indivisible, and the hearts and minds of the world are infinite.

In this big world there are big problems, and with big problems comes big responsibility to those who have the means to do something about it. It’s too bad that normally those with these means think the world is small. Or at least prefer to make their world small. My world is growing daily. So is my responsibility.

Traveling is funny because it’s an addiction. It’s an insatiable desire to see and do. I have seen and done, and will see and will do a lifetime worth of things this semester. However it amounts to nothing if I remember the faces of the physical world, and forget the faces of humanity. Humanity demands a heart and mind that are changed. Minds and hearts undergoing the same progress that it wants to see in the world. Minds and hearts that are addicted to seeing change more than sight seeing (sight seeing is the gateway drug to this addiction). This heart is developing. My mind is expanding.

Time to stop sitting on the bench, and to get in the game; the world is too big to not get involved.

Tonsai not Bonsai

When a story is told, there always seems to be a major emphasis put on “see” and “did”. As if the other 3 senses (smell, taste, hear) cannot sell the scenario. I am going to stick to the same format, however what I “saw” and “did” cannot easily be described by words. Because I saw things that are normally only imagined, and did things that would be commonplace in dreams. Thailand was indescribable. After this trip, I harbor this need to do dangerous things. At first, with this voyage, I was comfortable with safety… now it seems that only if a hazard is present, will I have fun. Here is my Thailand.

Day 1:

I was supposed to be traveling with a group associated with the ship for this whole destination. I spent the first 5 hours with them. There are no highlights. I will resume at the point where I spurned the group, and went it independently. They got me to Phuket sometime around 530. I left them at 535.

So I wanted to go out to this place called Krabi. This is where I was going to meet up with some friends for the week. But, Krabi was a 3.5 hour bus ride away, and the last bus left at 630… from a city 1 hour away. Take a second, do the math. Now, imagine the Tuc Tuc (open air taxi) ride that got me to the bus in time for me to catch it. INSANE. This guy was swerving, passing, flooring and occasionally braking. He got me there on time, and I got on the bus. I spent the time reading Freud’s “Civilization and its discontents”, which is a piece about the civilized and social man and his state as an individual. His essay about the sources of happiness is freaking priceless. Anyway. I put down the book for a while to talk to this guy beside me on the bus. His name was Lionel. He is a prosecutor from Vancouver. Lionel and I spent the rest of the evening together talking about law, adventure, and sharing stories. It was a pretty good time, and since we were going to the same place… we took a tuc tuc together and had dinner. I gave him my blog address so he is inevitably reading this… (I hope the rest of your trip went well…), he talked a lot about his cases (not too much) as a criminal prosecutor, and since I am highly interested in taking on that as a profession one day, I soaked it in. It turns out that DA’s get a lot of vacation time… anyway.

After dinner I found a cheap bungalow to stay in for the night. Five bucks, and five hours of sleep later…

Day 2:

I didn’t like the idea of spending the whole day traveling so I woke up early to A)see the sun rise, and B) go for a run… It was incredible. Southern Thailand is famous for Cliffs that rise out of nothing; I mean… shear walls that pop up like stand up posters out of the earth. I ran up a mountain (and played with some monkeys), and worked out on the prettiest beach I had ever seen.

I met up with Kyle (my room mate), Ryan and Brandon Gratias (a couple brothers from Walla Walla, Washington), Matt (who goes to Purdue), Steven (a missionary from northern Thailand), and Lukai (a Kirin refuge from Burma that was a student at Steven’s school), and we got a long boat from Ao Nang to Ao Tonsai. Ao Tonsai (AT) is a peninsula, but it completely inaccessible from land because of the massive cliffs that completely circumvent the land. There were about 50 inhabitants (as far as I could tell) and about 20 tourists there. It’s the middle of the rainy season; in paradise. AT is the mecca of rock climbing, nobody was there to do anything else. We waded through the main roads mud, past a hammock store, and to Wee’s climbing school where we booked a trip for the next day. Then we went to Dream Valley Resort, which sounds nice… but IS NOT. Our bungalos for 2 nights ran for 2.50$ per night. SO I paid 5 dollars for 2 nights, and I got what I paid for. The rooms had mosquito nets, which were nice… but had electricity hours (late evening to early early morning), no hot water, and massive amounts of algae around for us to conveniently slip on. The bathroom was a toilet, and a spray faucet… that was used as both a means to shower, and to clean our bums (toilet paper was not available). We spent the rest of the day as follows.

- spent about 2 hours bouldering

- a few hours spilunkering (cave exploring)

- open water swimming (I did a half mile open water swim without goggles or fins, through sea bridges and caves and coral… which may very well be the most dangerous thing I have ever done)

- geocaching (using a GPS to find hidden boxes in the ground)

I could describe all of these, but I will spare you. I will however tell you about one cave I found with matt, steven and lukai. We were walking down this random beach in Railay (which is a moderately hard trail hike away) and we crawled through this path in the trees that looked slightly traveled… and around a large mountain face… and up a ladder… and into a massive cavern. From there we followed this cavern (this was definitely not on any map we could find) through chamber after chamber, avoiding bats (sometimes narrowly), crawling through Guano (bat chit), and up rinky dink latters until we saw light. And then we came out on the other side of this MASSIVE mountain, about 120 feet in the air, looking straight down the face of a cliff. Ridiculous.

We had dinner at our restraurant (the place we had every meal at… pad thai (thai noodles) were ordered by all of us… for breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and went to sleep at 9pm.

Day 3:

We woke up early, had some breakfast and went over to Wee’s school to do some deep water solo climbing. For 500 baht (15 dollars) this guy would take us out all day to random rock faces to climb. His 14 year old assistant had approximately 15 tattoos and chain smoked. Tagging with us for the day was an Israeli named Jonathan… who was pestered by our boat driver for not being a Muslim. The religion in Thailand is extreme. The main two factions are Buddhism and Islam, and both are radical. I don’t think the guy could comprehend the fact that Jonathan was Jewish. I find it interesting that in areas where there are extreme religions in the US (bible belt), that there aren’t necessarily other extreme options… rather, people seem to shy away, be defensive and worship in a less dominant house. I guess that there are not many facts to base this observation on… but I don’t see radical Catholicism to combat radical Protestantism… but in Thailand, there is no option for a less pushy or extreme sect.

Anyway, this guy would took us out into the ocean, and stopped the boat about 50 meters away from a cliff, gave us climbing shoes… and let us play. We would climb up this rock face (the first 10 feet or so was barnacles and coral… neither of which if hand friendly… and thus I have 58 cuts and scratches on my two hands alone) for about 30 feet (it was freaking difficult to get any higher), back flip off (or front flip… there were options), and then swim back to the wall and do it over again… FOR HOURS. It was awesome. We had lunch on a local beach and played Frisbee, and hit the rocks for the afternoon hours. It rained pretty much for the entirety of the day, but the adrenaline and doubtless badass-ness that filled us overcame any such worry about weather or pain or fear. The day cannot be easily described… I mean… we swam to a cliff, climbed it, and then flipped off… that’s like the most absurd movie intro scenario I can think of. Oh well. WE were beat in the afternoon, so we went over to Railay (the already mentioned trail proved pretty freaking hard when raining, dark, and in flip flops), had fried ice cream and regaled ourselves with stories from the day. The cliffs, and the beaches, and the jungle were the most amazing cliffs, beaches, or jungles I have ever seen. And they were all in the same place… the same island, islands, or every stinking island in the whole bay. We did this geocache in the afternoon that was called “don’t be a chicken”, it was on a boulder, sticking out of the ocean… crazy huh.

Day 4:

Today (after sleeping outside in a hammock), we took some sea kayaks early in the morning to an island about a mile or so away that had a Geocache on it. This island was all rock face, all steep, on all sides. So getting off the kayak and onto the island was difficult, but dragging the canoe and balancing it on jagged coral was a whole other story. Kyle and I took about 20 minutes doing this, and survived. We then climbed up a rock face, through some jungle (only about 50 feet or so) got bit by red ants (which freaking hurt atleast 50 times more than your generic fire ant), and found the geocache resting on the islands lone and towering tree. We then Backflipped off of the thing… into unknown waters, for the sake of adventure. One of the Kayaks we took had a hole in it, so moving 7 men… one mile… with one sunken canoe was a pretty daunting task. We then packed up, said goodbye to our restaurant staff (who lost their only customers), and headed into Krabi. We were planning on heading over to a fresh water waterfall, but heard about the travelers special V.I.P. bus from Krabi to Bangkok for 13 bucks… (16 hours) and were sold. After some wood fired pizza, we hitched a tuc tuc to a “bus station” about an hour away (which was just a shack in the middle of a rice paddy), and then caught another 2.5 hour bus to some random town (we atleast got to see 80% of spider man 3), to an even shaddier and crappy bus station, and then we were transported 200 meters to another bus station… waited an hour. And hopped on the 9 o clock V.I.P bus to Bangkok; there was nothing VIP about it.

It was supposed to get into downtown Bangkok at 6am (4:45 and let out on a side street, next to 50 sleeping bums who woke up, and harassed us in attempt to sell us on “their” taxi).

It was supposed to cater to sleeping (it was more like driving 80mph through 4 foot pot holes for 8 hours).

Clean water? (cloudy and tinted re-filled bottles)

It was nothing as advertised… but it was wickedly cheap.

Day 5:

After arriving in BGK early in the morning, we hopped on the city bus and made our way over to the Seventh Day Adventist Mission Hospital where Steven got us a day room. Since he works as a missionary in one of their schools, they allowed us to set up camp there for the day (in a vacant hospital room next to the maternity ward). We had breakfast at the cafeteria (where I took a fire challenge with Brandon… he eats a spoon full of chilli powder and I chug a glass of Yellow Chilli liquid with chunks of peppers floating around in it… I vomited in the street next to a hospital, and still (36 hours later) taste and smell the stuff) and we all showered and hit the town. We first went to the largest electronics store in the world (not officially, but it was massive), where I bought an external hard drive (that isn’t really working), and where Kyle and I split off from the group. Kyle and I took a tuc tuc over to the Grand Palace, that was in a word… grand. It had golden spires and some really beautiful tiling that covered the outside of all the buildings. It also had the temple of the emerald Buddha, which housed a gorgeous jade Buddha. I took an illegal photo of the kings throne and almost got thrown out of the place. We then had lunch on the river, and took a ferry to the other side. We wandered around this market for a few hours, and went to a temple that housed a solid gold MASSIVE Buddha. Everyone in the market, and on the street wore these yellow shirts that had an emblem on it, and in writing said “long live the king”. It turns out, that every Monday about 50% of the population wears these shirts to show their love of the King. I bought a wind jacket that says, “love the king”… and Kyle and I, after the market went to a street that sold only King propaganda. Im talking, 30 stores that sell flags, posters, clothing, fabrics… you name it, they had it, with a picture of the King on it. The peoples love of the King was so deep that every street corner from BGK to Ao Nang had his picture and a shrine in his dedication… it was eerie and ridiculous (because he is simply a political figurehead). Anyway, he got back on the bus, took it out to our ship… and boarded. Next up, Singapore on our way to Chennai (by the way, the straight of Malacca is the most dangerous pirate straight in the world, there is an article in the National Geographic right now that talks about pirate attacks on ships in this straight. So we have a 24 hour pirate watch in effect). Here are some more thoughts.

- Lukai, the student traveling with us, is an amazing kid. He plans on going to University next year to study management. I asked him why, and he told me so he could go back to Burma to make a difference. I asked him if it would be safe, he laughed… and said “I guess”

- This was also Lukai’s first time to travel south or swim in the ocean, I could tell that he was not used to spending like we were (3 dollars for a meal, and splurge a dollar or two for a shake or some ice cream)… but his energy and excitement was incredible (he’s 19)

- I did not really get a good taste of Thailand, I mean… I had a lot of fun, but I did not see or experience more than a little bit. I would love to come back and study the sex trafficking, and the religion here… perhaps the religion of sex traffickers

- I am reading through Isaiah right now, and I find the prophecy to be amazing. I cannot believe it that someone can read such predictions, followed it up with the gospel, and not believe in the divinity of Jesus. I think that the gospels (on their own) are strong, but not sufficient for the recognition of Jesus as the Son of God. The prophecies and later fulfillments fully have put into perspective Jesus as “the truth” in being that he is the fulfillment of all of Gods promises for his people( I know this statement it loaded, but that’s what my current thought is.. for me, as an individual… not necessarily for someone who has never read either).

- Freud says that there is an interesting case “in which happiness in life is predominantly sought in the enjoyment of beauty, wherever beauty presents itself to our senses and to our judgments… this aesthetic attitude to the goal of life offers little protection against the threat of suffering, but it can compensate a great deal” à I have thought a lot about what sources of beauty lead to my happiness. Surely, its hard to find the slums of Bangkok beautiful (where hundreds of homes are found under the same sheet steel roof), or the hand of an deformed orphan child reaching out for a cookie… which I think he refers to as the little protection. I find these things interesting and poignant… but I am having a hard time figuring out why. I hope it’s because I am planning on doing something about it. I didn’t do anything about it in Thailand, I hope that I can break out of my sight and action induced coma to be more than a spectator in India.

- All big cities look the same. This I have determined. Bangkok looks just like Beijing and Beijing looks just like Tokyo. I am kind of sick of big cities, even though there are pockets in these cites that are original and distinct…

- I did laundry today for the first time since before China. That was like a month ago.

Well, that’s all I got. I thank God daily for the chance to see, to feel, smell, hear and taste… and thank him for the people that actually care about what I am up to. Thanks for reading this, and I’m sure that if I am special enough to take up some of your time, than you are special enough to take up some of mine. So feel free to email me at taldbch@mail.utexas.edu. I would love to hear from you.

tal

pictures say a thousand words (and my last post was several thousand)

This is the big face temple. There were like 260 of these guys everywhere, in this massive open temple. I climbed up (way illegally) and sat next to this guy right before being yelled at for climbing down.
This is one of the entrances to the Cu Chi Tunnels.

This is me at the same temple that Tomb Raider was shot at (Ta Prohm). THis is a massive thousand year old tree, growing out of the side of a stone building.

The monk holding the rock is my new pen pal Sophan. He is a baller. This was at the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh

Pitt, Jolie, and DeBauche (the most famous people to have visited the Kingdom of Cambodia)

There are certain binary emotions that do not naturally fit together. Love and hate, joy and sadness, freedom and suppression… and so forth. I have never in my life looked into my own heart and seen a kaleidoscope of muddied but strong emotions at one moment, I had never been to Cambodia. The gut-wrenching beauty (the mutually exclusive relationship alluded to above) of the place was deep and impacting, and my life will never be the same. Here is my Vietnam:

Day One:

I woke up at 5:30 AM to watch our ship travel down the Mekong (I think?) and into the harbor in Saigon (the official name is Ho Chi Minh; however, all the locals call it Saigon, and now I do too) after a few hours of this, I went back to sleep. The few hours would prove useful because I did not get much sleep in this port. I met my mom at about 9 am, and she traveled with me for the remainder of this port.

So, after getting off the ship I headed to the market in downtown with the ambition of getting a few cheap suits. What I ended up with was a couple of freaking sweet cheap suits. For my cashmere/wool blend 3 piece suits custom tailored to my body, I paid a whopping 160USD. I will be looking fly next semester in DC. We then got aboard a city bus and headed out to Cu Chi. In Cu Chi, we got hustled by a taxi pimp (he made our driver follow him and then took us the wrong way, so after we coerced our driver into not following him, our driver had to pay the guy like 10 USD to leave us alone), but eventually made our way to the tunnels. The Cu Chi tunnels were constructed from 1948 to the end of the American War in Vietnam. They were used by the VC in their wars against France and the United States. They were this underground system of hundreds of miles of tunnels, all about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide (stinking tiny), that connected a series of rooms and wells and everything necessary to live. The soldiers would spend months at a time buried below ground, and would pop up every now and again to pwn some nubs. The tunnels were a striking remnant of the war, and without a doubt proved that they were way more prepared for us, than we were for them. After catching the last bus back in the evening, we had a nice meal and I bid my mom adieu for the evening.

This night I went out to a club called Apocalypse Now, and it was strange. Dozens of white men, with really young Vietnamese girls flooded the dance floor and bar area, their intimacy was nothing short of uncomfortable. I called it an early evening around midnight, and took a moped back to the ship.

Side Note:

Moped travel is a good choice because.

A) its cheap

B) its quick

Moped travel is a bad coice because.

a) you constantly think “I might die”

b) your driver is reckless, and doesn’t care if he might throw you off the back

c) the concept of yielding is foreign, and there are no stoplights whatsoever (which is really interesting, because its all based on merging, even 4 way street corners, people just honk, and go… in Phnom Pen (PP) we spent 30 minutes traversing one block due to the insane system for traffic they have built

The way the right of way works is based on size. Mopeds yield for cars and cars yield for trucks and so forth. However, when you cross the street… you just walk, and hope that everyone will go around you. You never stop; this is guaranteed to get you run over by a car. Hondas are the Rolls Royces of the Roads, on a Job application, they will ask you what kind of Moped you own, and if you own a Honda, then you are given the leg up for the Job… our tour guide says he knows 300 people and not one of them owns a car. Mopeds were freaking everywhere.

Day 2:

I woke up early this morning and got my suit fitted, and then hit the town. After a doughnut breakfast (where I met up with this Moped driver, who followed me for 30 minutes, and when I gave in, he charged me 50 cents for a ride… 1 hours work for 50 cents) I went to the “War Remnants Museum”. The reason this is in quotations is because the name has changed in the past 10 years multiple times. It started out as the “American war crimes museum”, and then became the “War atrocities museum” and now holds the name previously mentioned. The impact of the museum made me feel ashamed of where our country has been. I normally don’t go off on political tangents, but I will say that we were (in Vietnam) involved, and are now involved in unjust wars that contradict both the Christian and moral founding’s of our country. And that while some people can say that they fought hard against the war then, and rallied, and rose up; our generation (myself included) is sitting on our fat asses and not doing any real thing about it. We intellectually discuss just war and how much we hate Bush, but in reality, we (I) are/am sitting around and doing nothing. Our kids will one day be ashamed of us, as I am ashamed of what happened in Southeast Asia several decades ago.

After having a Pho lunch with a guy from Paris, I met back up with the group and hopped a plane to Phnom Penh (PP), Cambodia. This night was really not that eventful. We did a cruise on the Mekong (where we saw the floating shacks on the river, hundreds of meters away from the Royal Palace) and had an all you can eat dinner (which I found really awkward, seeing that we were in one of the poorest countries in the world), and checked in at our hotel.

This evening I did the following:

Had a massage (which was really really awkward… she got “all up in my business” and it only stopped when I told her I had a wife)

Went to the Elephant Bar (and had an elephant beer)

Shared a bottle of wine with 4 friends directly outside the US embassy ( I was almost assailed by the guard, because I went up to the gate and tried to get

Inside, and then took pictures of it)

Day 3:

This morning was the was poignant part of my voyage thus far. I cannot believe I was ignorant of the information I received this morning up to this point… I had a bit of knowledge, but I was blown out of the water.

About 30 years ago their was mass genocide in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge took control of the government and conducted a terrible and comprehensive genocide of the people. They killed MILLIONS, and these millions were the educated, the intellectuals, and the people who could have risen up and done something. These people were the YOU and the ME. They would take them to prisons, and house them like dogs, feeding them vitually nothing, letting them starve to death or detiorate. Then, they would torture them for information, of which… they had none. For there was no real combatency, just an oppressive faction that destroyed its own people. They would then take them out to the Killing Fields and beat them to death. Shooting them required money for bullets, and was too easy. Today, I went to one of these prisons, and went to the killing fields. Some time inbetween seeing a stack of 10,000 skulls, a mass grave of 450 people (with the clothes they were wearing coming out of the sand) and sitting in a jail cell where someone was housed; I had 2 thoughts.

1) how on earth did I not know about this until weeks ago

2) I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS GOING ON IN THE WORLD, right now, AND I CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT… and we as a world aren’t…

I cant really portray this well with words, lets just say… I know the holocaust remnants are striking, but this has to be up there.

After this, we went to the Russian Market, which provided for the most insane shopping experience of my life. The thing is here, unlike China, you don’t really have to barter because the stuff is freaking cheap to start out with. I bought a few ties, a Cambodian soccer jersey, a hammock and a lot of other useless crap. After munch and another market, we went to the Royal Palace. I could say a million things about it… but I will only mention one thing. They have a room, a massive room, with a silver floor. Solid metal silver floor, and a 90kg solid gold statue of Buddha, and on this statue were 2000 diamonds, and a couple of them were 25 carats a piece, and behind this was a solid emerald Buddha statue, and surrounding this were hundreds of solid gold and diamond statues. The room was housed with millions upon millions of dollars in the most precious metals and stones in the world. And outside the gates, were dozens of people, the deformed, the children, the retarded… begging.

After the National Museum (where I met a monk named Sophan, who is my new pen pal (my mom asked him if he wore underwear, and he said no) and paid no attention to art whatsoever) we hopped on a flight to Siem Reap.

After dinner (at another buffet (each meal I felt guiltier and guiltier)) and a cultural dance show (the women were beautiful, and afterwards people went up and took pictures with them… one SAS guy acted like he was kissing one of them on the cheek, and she was so offended she shed tears).

We went back to our beautiful hotel (which was funny, because SR was a very poor town, but had probably a dozen massive and gorgeous hotels) where I went smimming. Met up with a few friends, and hit the town. We got in a Tuc Tuc (motorized cart) where the driver took us to his favorite massage parlor. One hour and 6 dollars later (we were all in the same room, and the massage was really just them beating the shit out of us for an hour) we hopped back in our buddies Tuc Tuc and went to the club street. We went to Angkor What? (the temple in town is Angkor Wat) and the temple club, and soaked in the whore/hooker/street lady vibe atmosphere… before getting back in the same guys Tuc Tuc and heading to Zone ONE. This was the strangest place I have ever been in my life. Let me paint this picture. Have one eye closed for visual effect.

Dark room.

400 people or so packed in like sardines.

200 of them are “women of the night”

200 of them are dudes dancing together.

A few lazers.

SLOW MUSIC, for half an hour.

Zone one was the intersection of a JR. high dance, a Cher marathon, and a gay club.

The music sped up after a while, and sure, my desire to stay there was strange… but I got the hell out of dodge within the hour. After hopping in the same motor carriage (our bill was running all evening), we got 4^th meal at the shaddiest restraint in town (a cart with a few tables) and went back to the hotel. For 5 hours or waiting and driving, our Tuc Tuc driver requested like 12 bucks.

Day 4:

By now, I have written more than any other country; I have two days left… bear with me.

After 2 hours of sleep, I woke up for sunrise at Angkor Wat (AW). It was lovely.

After meeting all the slackers at the hotel, we went to Ta Prohm. Which is the place where they filmed Tomb Raider; you know the place, with the mossy temples with massive trees growing out of them, Google the pictures, it was freaking amazing.

We then wandered around Angkor Wat for a few hours, I cant really describe the place other than beautiful and big. Apparently, it’s the largest religious structure in the world. And I rocked climbed on it, followed a monkey for about 15 minutes, and played hide and go seek. It… to me… was the largest play ground in the world.

Outside the gates, I found the most depressing display of children I had seen yet. There was a mass of kids, all selling the same stuff, just yelling and groping and hoping that you would buy the useless goods they had. One boy, asked me where I was from. I said Texas, he said “Capital is Austin, largest city is Houston, borders Mexico, second largest state in the union, big for oil”… and he could do this for every stinking state. That’s probably all he knows, that’s probably all he does. You could see his parents (and allt he parents for that matter) standing close by looking on. They send their kids to do the dirty work; like pimps. Some kids just wanted the plastic bottles, none… none just wanted to talk. We are their lifeline. And no matter how many ones I had, or cookies (I handed packs out, and kids would rip them from my hands) the change I could make would be micro scale at best. This was in the same scene as one of the prettiest places I had ever been. Gut… Wrenching… Beauty.

After lunch, we went to the face temple. You know, the one where all the faces are in the rocks. Stinking massive 15 foot faces in rock, at a gigantic temple. It was sweet. After some more climbing, and more hide and go seek. I walked away thinking the temples of Cambodia were special because they were raw. They were for the most part not renovated, and not protected… you could touch, smell, and climb… Cambodia was hands on and special, not like an artifact that you see from behind glass, but more like a dead opossum in the road. You cant miss, or forget very soon, that its there.

Flight back to Saigon.

Night in Saigon:

I hit the town alone tonight, and did the following. Went to a Jazz Club (where a couple friends from the ship were playing), walked down a side street where I ran into my good friend Brian. They were going bowling, so I tagged. After 30 minutes or so I got bored and did some more wandering. Passing “notre dame” where people were worshiping outside on their hands and knees, and a park where hundreds of people were making out, sitting on the seats of their motor bikes, and eventually winding up in this earths homiest internet café. The women was cooking dinner (midnight), and some kid was playing world of warcraft, and their were about 10 computers, none built after 1985. I did some work, and paid my 25 cents for one hour. I wound up in a park, reading the book of Isiah around 1am. Rats running around my feet, and men constantly berating me to obtain one of their women proved that this was not Zilker park, but rather, downtown Saigon for sure. I talked to dava on the phone, and called it a night.

Day 5:

I woke up early 7AM, and did the Mekong Delta Day trip. Our first stop on the trip was a Cao Dai temple (the religion says there are 4 evolutions of religion… animism, ancestor worship, the religions of the world, and them. They combine the religions of the world under one spirit, Jesus is one of their founding fathers. It does not work, and heres why. Jesus proposed a mutually exclusive religion from any other in existence. You cannot take Jesus as a good moral teacher or even a good guy, because he was neither. He was a radical lunatic, or a liar (CS Lewis calls this liar the Devil of Hell)… if you do not believe he was the son of God. Because saying the things he said, aside from his divinity, he was insane, the divinity and purpose of his incarnation make him worthy or worship. Cao Dai does not work, and neither does any brand that denies his divinity), the second stop on the trip was the delta itself. It was awesome. We took boats on the river, stopped in a Mangrove ish place for some fruit, a coconut candy factory, held a gigantic python, and took tiny tiny boats down a small river in the jungle. I could not help but to think about soldiers crawling through the mud, and how they would raid and pillage the small villages I saw. After this, we hopped back on the big boat, and went into Saigon. I got my suits, had dinner at the nicest restraint in Saigon. (Btw, here’s a list of the things I ate on this day. Fish Tacos, prawns, crab soup, squid, clam, (one day I had eel), soft shell crab and carp) My food arsenal is growing, and I have developed a “if its placed in front of me I will eat it mentality”. After departing from my mom, I went back to the MV exploder and departed for Bangkok Thailand.

HERE ARE MY OVERARCHING THOUGHTS.

Life in Cambodia is simple, and necessity based. I think there are lessons to be learned from this, but what I found most striking was that they are still infected by the junk that happened 30 years ago. The reminders are found in more places than in the bullet holes in almost every random building, they are found in the reeling faces of the people on the street. The population is young, and the children are naive. Children deserve better than to work all day and night, and to make a buck… and draw that buck out to survive. I hope that I can sustain a conviction to come back and do something… anything. Vietnams socialism was present in the form of street gasoline venders, who put a brick out on the street with some paper on the top to let people know they are in business. If someone stops, the fill them up quickly, take their cash and run… getting caught is no good. Capitalism flourishes, but both in the socialist republic of Vietnam and the Kingdom of Cambodia, their was a feeling that the people are complacent, not ambitious. I hope I can learn the difference between these two, and perhaps find a happy medium. Being content would be nice. I met this guy names Vigor in the PP airport and he says its really easy to get a job teaching in a SE Asian country, if you have any sort of college degree. I will be looking into that.

The world is not small. Its very big, and exploring every corner is very difficult. I feel that while I am seeing a lot, that there is so much more, and I cant rest until I have seen it all. God never ceases to shove his wonderful creation in my face, and daily I wake up and think that what I will see today cannot possibly be as pretty as what he showed me yesterday… but beauty increases daily, and so does he.

I hope you enjoyed,

I love you all,

Tal