Recollections of My Trip

Some "Shout Outs" and Fond Memories from 3 months in Asia

I've returned to Seattle, after about 85 days in 5 countries, numerous bus rides, and a final stretch of travel that involved 4 flights from 3 countries over 40 hours between leaving an island in Malaysia and reaching snow-bound Seattle.

No, I didn't blog as much as I had hoped to, but got some posted. The last few weeks of the trip were quite active, with multiple plane rides and spending time with friends. It was nice that I didn't spend much time on the computer - meant more time traveling. Here's a post trip entry.

Recollections from my trip, more of a list than an essay...

First, some highlights:

Meeting up with 6 friends in 5 different countries!
Glad Ali and Sirima and Joyce and Jason from Seattle were able to switch their flight to Hanoi when Bangkok's closures canceled all our plans there. Fun to share your first experience of Vietnam with you.

Huyen and her friends in Hanoi (Hang+Paul, Thang+Trang, and the Dutch karaoke stars!) were certainly the best part of Vietnam, as expected. Our hot pot dinner was my first home-cooked meal in 2 months at that point.

Book partying with Karen in Laos - at a small Hmong village in the mountains. Those kids had the most expressive smiles, even though they were extra shy.

Painting Shuba's "walk-in closet" dedicated room in her and Paul's fabulous new house. If I had too many design ideas (something about "soft-hued hanging textiles to compliment the French window shades), never mind them - I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with your place. And no, I wasn't "coming out of the closet" as we say in the States - straight guys can be excited about custom-mixed fuschia wall paints with purple trim too.

And making new ones as I went - (Part of the appeal of backpacker's lodging* [confession follows below], you get to be social with the other travelers):

You Chinese ladies (Joyce, Fiona, and Laeti) are quite the dancers and chefs. You paid me the ultimate compliment for a chef - by consuming the grilled fish I cooked before I got more than a 1/2 bite of it! I'll have to make it again, next time I'm in Guilin. Keep up the salsa dancing and hip-hop moves - I will too.

You Brits are quite the travelers! And, impressive vocabulary usage. Maybe the US should hire some of you chaps to teach English here. And quite entertaining - telling stories of selling fancy suits to rich princes while waiting up all night at the airport after getting hustled out of the Buddhist monks' prayer room... thought I could get away with that more than I could pass myself off as Muslim to use their prayer room...
Mim and James - carry on the kung fu practice. To paraphrase Yoda "our training is not yet complete;" I'll make it back to Yangshuo to train on the riverbank again.

Family from Belgium, babysat for them in Laos, saw them again in Hanoi. Proof that traveling with young kids can be rewarding and enjoyable for all. When I asked the 7 and 11 year old girls what their favorite part was so far, they replied "everything."

Thuy, in Hanoi, for taking me to some great tea houses for some proper tea, with some assortment of roots, bark, and berries. Good luck getting to the US to study business.

The methodical German Magnus I met in China and again in Vietnam, out on a year-long journeys through places like Tajikistan.

The intrepid fellow American (not many of us out there... what's up with that?), Maia, also on a multi-country, multi-year journey towards India to work. Hope you made it across the border without further hassle, and had the last laugh leaving VN.

There were many others who I came across who offered the conversation of the day, or a tip on the best spot to bum out on the beach, or shared a meal so that my stomach wasn't the only one braving it...that way we can pinpoint the trouble foods or the stronger constitution - "you ate that and got sick, I didn't."

Finally found a great bakery in Hanoi (on last night of my time there)... it seemed to only open at night, since I'd looked for it several times during the day and didn't even see a hint of it... Some sort of smuggling operation run out of it, perhaps??

While waiting at the airport in Narita, Japan - treated myself to the bulls-eye on target toilets that spray water on certain parts of your body during the rinse cycle. They must have borrowed the eye-tracking technology from Canon after they stopped using it on their line of cameras.

*Confession: Towards the end of my trip, I stayed at several 3+ star hotels... with monogrammed towels and bed linens. Okay, I even wore the bathrobe... I know, I know, against backpackers' code of ethics. But lived it up!

Then, some lowlights, though can now be considered humorous/"just call it an adventure?"...:

I fought off:
2 stomach issues - including 7 trips to the bathroom in one day, only the first public toilet (tip - find the older public toilets, in this case, at the bus station) had deep troughs to handle "splashage."

2 groups of bullies - breaking up 2 fights in Vietnam, 2 v 1 and 4 v 1 weren't fair fights. Mostly just shouting at them (in English) was effective way to make them disperse, almost looking embarrassed.

2 sunburns - okay, they weren't critical, but thought I'd rub it in for those of you in dreary northwest weather. I was on a beach in 90 degree heat and sun in Malaysia in mid-December, when it was snowing heavily in Seattle!

2 white spots on bottom of feet - not sure what that was all about... either "it's" gone now, or burrowed deeper into my foot.

3 left items: most importantly a bag with toiletries- but returned to find it waiting for me at the hotel in Hanoi. In the meantime, I grew out my beard and toweled off with a t-shirt. Later, cut it to a goatee, and got my ears pierced for good measure - to complete the look that a friend called "menacing," that lasts until I start talking and sound so gentle and sweet. The shirt had sentimental value - left it to dry on a bus that I got hustled off of in the pouring rain to be relayed to the bus that would finally get me back to Hanoi (see border crossing from Laos passage).

5 border crossings - no fewer than 3 into Vietnam, and 3 passing through same checkpoint, (yes, bit of an inefficient itinerary - see point 1 of highlights (meeting up with 6 friends in 5 countries), so, 3 opportunities to smile at the "greencoat" official who pulled me off the bus b/c I didn't have the right red stamp on my visa application...

Overall, the trip was, at times, both:
eventfully active and engaging (found a place for most of my active hobbies, from badminton, ping-pong, and ultimate frisbee to swimming, hiking, rock-climbing, and the Chinese version of hacky sack, played with a feathered birdie), meeting old friends and making new, discovering new elements of each culture I visited (might need a seperate post to review that)
and, occasionally, eventlessly mellow without even a book to occupy my thoughts, where the biggest decision and destination for the day was where to find breakfast...those were the days when I hit the wall and was tired of traveling- at least it would pass, faster if I picked a new place to head or smiled and started a conversation with someone who smiled back;

scenic (karst formations in China and VN, and jungled mountains of Laos, the rivers - I love the rivers),
and same-same (still getting lost on the streets of Hanoi), but, as I would make new friends, I could introduce them to the best of the town wherever I happened to be...;

gastronomically grand (Malyasia's curries and whole-fruit drinks, China's dumplings and stir-fries, breakfast wraps, tea-infused eggs, and innumerable other concoctions, Vietnam's noodle soups, steamed buns, grilled meats and fish with noodles, French style cakes, VN style che and sinh to(sweet beans etc and mixed fruit desserts), anything with fish sauce..., Thailand's standards, and Laos' new offerings (dried riverweed, tree flavored soup),
and gastrointestinally grueling (no need to go into detail here- hopefully it won't last for several months after my return, like last time);

So, I'm home for the holidays now, and probably will be in Seattle for awhile. Will be nice to catch up with friends here. Let's get together and I'll cook some of the new dishes I encountered on my travels. Don't know when I'll hit the road again, but know I'll have more travel adventures soon :) If I don't post much until I revive it for my next travels, then I want to thank you for reading thus far. Happy holidays and safe, exciting travels to us all.