A Chance to See Beyond Oneself

Here are a few pictures from my time in SE Asia:

http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/gallery/size/M/users/lost%20again/tags/asia/

The Story

What a pleasant surprise Laos has been, it is tied with New Zealand for being my favorite country of the world. The people are incredibly friendly and laid back and the landscape is spectacular. It is an incredibly poor country though, very sparsely populated, communist, and is the most heavily bombed country in the world. The weather has been perfect though: warm sun during the day and a cooler breeze at night.

I believe it was the 6th of March I took a 20 hour bus ride from Hanoi, Vietnam to Vientiane, Laos. I met a fun group of people (five Swedes, two Turks, and two Aussies) on the bus that I would end up traveling with throughout most of my time in Laos. After the tiring bus journey we arrived in the capital city and decided to combine our efforts in finding a guest house. As we found the capital city to be fairly small and not very impressive, we booked a bus for the next day to the infamous southeast Asia chill-out town of Vang Viang. The next day, after exploring a little more of what we agreed to be the smallest capital city of the world, we all headed off on the bus.

Vang Viang's highlight is the river that flows right next to the very small town lined with guest houses, restaurants, and bars. Across the river are large vertical rock hills that spring up through a dense jungle canopy creating a spectacular view from the river. What makes the river so great is that the locals have set up a variety of very high rope swings and zip lines for travelers to stop over and use while tubing (using an inflatable tire tube to float on water) down the river. There are also plenty of bars along the way playing lots of loud music selling a variety of very cheap alcohol (as well as other substances); they also setup volleyball courts next to some small restaurant huts which makes for quite an overall entertaining location. One can imagine what this place turns into when there are groups of 20-somethings all floating in the same direction looking for a day of fun. It was quite the wild place but the aspect I loved most about, other than the 10+ meter high rope swings, was that everyone had the same feeling of amazement at where we were and what we were doing. We were all independent travelers having the time of our lives in this tiny town in the middle of Laos, we came from all different parts of the world with various ways of life and yet we were collectively blown away by the beauty and opportunity we were having in this one day of our lives. No one had to say it, we simply just saw it in each other's smiles and knew everyone was thinking the same thing.

After a few days in Vang Viang I was pretty ready to keep moving. Its a fun little party town, where you can get literal buckets of alcohol for dirt cheap and just about any drug you fancy off a menu at a restaurant, but the place traps people. Many people go expecting to stay three days and end up staying three weeks: partying till all they can do is sit exhausted and watch a Friends marathon all day at one of the TV restaurants. I took a little hike into the jungle with a group of people on the afternoon of my last day and was absolutely amazed at the jungle scenery. The Australian girls we were traveling with decided to stay longer, the Swedes took a bus to Thailand, and the two Turks and myself moved on to Luang Probang.

The bus ride was one of the most beautiful journeys I had taken in Asia. We drove through many rural villages, by jungle laden rivers, and looked over vast cone-shaped rock mountains covered in vegetation. But also on this bus trip, I saw some sights that reminded me of the countries drug problems. (For the readers information, SE Asia is notorious for being a drug tourism region; its pretty easy to get any drug you want for probably one of the cheapest prices in the world). Every once and a while you would glance out the window and notice a dirt road leading up into the jungle and see several men (sometimes kids) standing in front of the road with AK47's around there shoulders - that is a pretty much a sure sign they are likely growing opium poppies, coca plants, or cannabis. The further north you get in Laos, the closer you get to the Golden Triangle. This refers to the triangle border of Burma, Laos, and Thailand where a lot of drug trafficking takes place, especially with opium.

In Luang Probang, the two turks and myself met a french woman who joined us for our explorations. One night, as I was wandering the streets, I met some Laos guys playing guitar on the street side and was able to join in. I mostly just played along to the thai and laos pop songs they were playing but it was quite a fun experience. After two days of seeing the city sites which was mostly composed of more temples (Luang Probang is a significant religious site for the country) and visiting the beautiful 7 tiered waterfall outside of town (which also had a bear sanctuary there, we all went our separate ways. My two turk friends made there way to Thailand and I arranged for my transportation to get to the much anticipated Gibbon Experience (more to come on this).

I took a long bumpy cramped minibus ride to Luang Namtha, arriving at 2:30 am, and planned to quickly hop into bed at the guest house right near the bus station; I had to catch a bus in the morning to Houayxay which was right next to the Thai border. The few other foreigners and I on the bus came to find the guest house full. So myself and three Israelis wandered the streets looking for a guest house that was still open. Finally we just kept knocking at one and we all got a chance to sleep from about 3:30 am till 6:30 am when someone can knocking at our doors seeing if we wanted a massage. I had to get up at 7 anyways to go and book a bus ticket before it filled up.

Another bus nightmare was about to begin though. There were three small buses all going to Houayxay and far too many bus tickets sold. After about two hours of waiting for our bus drivers and having people rearrange the bus passengers, I was able to sit on the side of a storage area in the bus, luckily near a window to get some ventilation. After a few hours of driving our bus stops to let us buy some lunch. We also find they have to change a tire which takes end up taking about an extra hour. After several more hours of driving the bus pulls over to give us a toilet break on the side of the road. We find again our bus has a problem. No one really tells the few foreigners on the bus what is going on, we just see the driver getting out his tools, crawling under the bus, and begin taking apart the engine. The locals and foreigners on the bus realize after about two hours of waiting, there is no hope for the bus. So an Irish woman I was sitting near, two germans, and I decide to start hitchhiking. We eventually get a lift with a very slow truck heading the direction we need to go. Myself and the Irish gal find out we are both going on the Gibbon Experience and remind each other that we have to check-in in Houayxay before 6 pm to be able to reserve our spot. Eventually we get to the small town before Houayxay and have to thumb another lift. We get picked up pretty fast and luckily find that the Gibbon Experience office is still open (even though its 8 pm now) and so we are safe for keeping our places for the adventure the next day. It was a long day of almost 12 hours of transportation.

The Gibbon Experience is part of a conversation project in the Bokeo National Forest Reserve. What the experience consists of is sleeping in tree houses about 30 meters off the ground deep in the Laos jungle, zip lining (some almost as long as a kilometer) from one platform to the next (sometimes as high as 100 meters off the ground), and hiking through the jungle with local guides. We were a group of 12 that is split up into three three houses, separated by several kilometers. We took a bus from Houayxay to a remote village and then trekked into the jungle where we met our Laos guides who introduced us to our home for the next three days. Our guides wake us up early in the morning to go and attempt to spot the endangered gibbon monkeys which make an incredible howling, almost siren-like, sound. Our whole group meets up for breakfast which is brought via zip line from the guides kitchen and then we are off to go out and zip through the jungle and hike as we please. We meet for lunch as a group and then have our own dinners in our tree houses and then get to do it again the next two days. The zip lines are quite a thrill as you feel like you are utterly flying, sometimes you are high above the jungle canopy and other times you are soaring between trees barely missing you on each side. It was an amazing experience that each one of us will never forget. One highlight was the ability to play with a baby bear that the guides had rescued from poachers as well as the pet monkey they had; the monkey especially liked me because of my hairy arms and legs. She would jump up on me and pick through my hair looking for lice as if I was another monkey - quite a humorous encounter. The majority of the money we spent on the experience goes towards preventing slash and burn farming and keeping poachers out of the reserve, its a highly renowned eco-friendly experience that can't be missed if you are in laos. Its widely known among most travelers in laos and is almost always full unless you have booked two weeks in advance.

Laos has been spectacular, I wish I could see more of the country. I am back in Thailand now (which I actually, at first, illegally crossed over into without knowing - thats how loose their border system is) and will soon be leaving for Bahrain and then Eastern Europe. I will dearly miss South East Asia, it is such a special place in the world; I love so many things about this place. I am out of time as usual and no time for sharing reflections. Pictures to come soon!

ciao!
Karl

From Phom Phen in Cambodia, I took a combination of bus and boat to the border town of Chao Doc in Vietnam. It took over 20 hours of travel to get to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), the first of my many long bus trips in Vietnam. While in transit, I had an interesting experience that hopefully I will remember for some time:

There was this one man on our bus who certainly stood out from the rest. He was quiet, traveling with a german friend, dressed in mostly black, long hair, tattoo's all over, an array of skull rings and sharply pointed necklace ornaments, chain smoking whenever the bus stopped, and a pair of eyes that you simply wanted to avoid. He looked the type that you might find to be a serial killer or a deranged heavy metal fan that has drawings of dead (or dying) people on their walls. He and his german friend kept to themselves and didn't really interact with the other passengers. After the bus stopped in Chao Doc (border of the vietnam side) we had two hours till our bus left to Saigon so I found a bicycle taxi and asked for a place for dinner. After chatting a while with the driver, I arrived at a restaurant where it happened all bicycle taxi's brought tourists (that means the taxi drivers receive a commission from the meals). When I walk in, I see the two german fellows as well as a fairly average english bloke sitting next to them. As I walk in, we recognize each other and both nod and say hello. Before I sit down at an empty table, the three of them ask if I want to join them. I take the last available seat next the supposed mass murderer figuring dinner conversation will be about new places to pierce one's body or etc. But I was soon shocked to find a man with the most pleasant of personalities, laughing about cultural differences in SE Asia and always ready to add a humorous annotation to all conversation topics. He completely contradicted my first impressions. It is amazing how many learning experiences traveling exposes one to; you learn that people you assume to be one way, due to certain characteristics, end up rejecting your assumptions by their other character qualities. You learn to suspend your judgements of people and come to realize that what you think might be contradictions in personalities, lifestyles, or appearances, are really just unique lifestyle choices that make people beautiful in their own manner.

Vietnam was overall pretty rushed. I spent only one day in Saigon: I visited and crawled through the underground Chu Chi tunnels (spelling?) that the Vietcong used during the war, went to the War Remnants museum, explored the city sites, and saw an amazing jazz band play in a posh downtown club.

From Saigon, I went north to the small beach side fishing town of Mui Nei and explored some of the beautiful beachs and amazing sand dunes on a rented scooter. I then went on to the mountains of Da Lat where I spent a day (with the company of a dutch girl I met) seeing the markets, a very odd hotel being built similar to the Madonna Inn in San Louis Obispo, some small minority villages, coffee plantations, and waterfalls. The next day I had a great experience abseiling, which is similar to rappelling but down waterfalls instead of just rock faces. It was a beautiful sunny day as we climbed through the jungle and waded through river streams getting from one waterfall to the next.

From Da Lat, I traveled on by myself (my dutch friend wanted to see more of Da Lat) to the old capital city of Hue where I randomly met the other people I went abseiling with in Da Lat. We wandered around the town, visiting old imperial palaces, and other historical sites. We had a great dinner at this restaurant who's owner was deaf and mute but still able to always make us laugh and had such an enjoyable personality - all, of course, communicated through body language. The next day the four of us hired motorcycle taxis to take us around the outskirts of the city to some beautiful countryside villages which were surrounded by rice fields; we also went to some ancient tombs of past emperors and old palaces.

I took an overnight bus to Hanoi and upon arriving at 6 am, arranged for an immediate trip out to Ha Long bay. It is a world famous site where there are almost three thousand little limestone vegetation covered islands that spring up all over a region right off the coast of north vietnam - it was a peaceful and quite beautiful place to spend two days. I met a fun group of english blokes and canandians on our boat; we all spent the night on board playing cards and drinking to celebrate one of the canadian's 22nd birthday. It was amazing to see, hidden within many bays, small floating fishing villiages composed of multiple houses where families would live, send their kids to school, and prepare fish to sell.

Upon returning Hanoi, I wandered around the town and hired an english speaking motorcycle taxi driver to show me the sites of the city, which ended up being the craziest ride I have ever been on - one of the first times I was actually afraid for my safety on the ride. He knew I was taking a bus in a few hours to Laos and so he decided to make sure we could fit in all the sites that he enthusiastically encouraged me to see (especially the old prison where John McCain was a prisoner of war). So we raced through the streets, weaving in and out of traffic; down side allies almost running into people and all the while he was making jokes and telling me about the city.

I had to rush Vietnam as I am getting low on time in SE Asia and still have Laos and the north of Thailand to see. I am currently in the capital of Laos, Vientiane. I am quite content at this time in my life and am traveling with a group of people from Sweeden and some people from Turkey I met on the 20 hour bus ride from Vietnam here. No time to share my reflections but many new topics keep me busy ranging from mysticism to pluralism to relativism of values etc etc. - I do miss the wise input from friends. I wish you all peace and joy in that which you pursue.

Thank you for your interest!
Karl Smerecnik

The Story

Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in Asia, has been a beautiful and educational place to visit. It was my fourth stop in Asia and has been just as fascinating as my other stops. A good friend who I traveled with in New Zealand and Australia, waited for me, with his girl friend, in the city of Siem Reap. He and his girl friend where also traveling in SE Asia and we had planned for over month to meet somewhere over our mutual travel times here; Cambodia was our country of crossing paths. After spending a night in the Thai border town (forgetting the name at the moment) I took a hired taxi with three japanese guys I met at the border over the worst road I have ever been on. Imagine a dusty dirt road filled with large pot holes, rocks, and far too many cars; each time a car passes going the other direction so much dust is thrown in the air you can't see if there are any cars in front of you for several seconds. The road rules, like most countries in asia, are rather flexible, if defined at all. I must say though that I was thoroughly impressed by our little speeding Toyota Camry and the way it handled such a harsh road (the suspension was raised a little higher than normal).

In Siem Reap my friends and I spent two days exploring the beautiful ancient temples of Angkor Wat, which are best imagined as temples seen in an Indian Jones film. Parts of the movie Tomb Raider were filmed in one of the temples here. One of unforunately aspects of such a beautiful location that is visited by pretty much all tourists to Cambodia, is that you are constantly hassled by street children trying to get you to buy books, bracelets, drinks, postcards, etc. It is a good opportunity to empathize because after being asked by five children in a row (even though they see you say no to the other children, they still follow you and ask if you want to buy), you start to get a little annoyed. It was important for us to remember that the children were either forced to do this by their parents or needed the money for food (and some for drugs, as many of the young street kids start early).

To explain the title of this entry, when at the markets and you compare quality or prices with other vendors, they will often use the term, "same same" to indicate how their product or service is just as cheap or just as good as the others. And if you ask why their is more expensive if the quality is the same, they will say "oh but it is different." In short, like I have stated before, you never really know who to trust but it is the price a tourist pays for getting everything so cheap. Interesting fact as well, in Cambodia, they use the US Dollar for most transactions and instead of US coins, they use their currency, the Riel (it is 4000 Reil to the dollar).

From Siem Reap we traveled to the capital city of Phnom Penh to see the many historical sites related to the brutal Khmer Rouge. It has been a very sobering experience to learn about the many genocidal acts that occurred doing the Pol Pot regime and how so few people around the world are taught about it in school. Another unfortunate fact is that many of the Cambodian schools, by pressure of the government, are no longer teaching the students about the khmer rouge so many children will grow up never knowing of the atrocities that took place in their country. We also learned about how Cambodia still has several million unexploded landmines in the ground and how at one time the amount of landmines exceeded thenumber of their population. While we were in Siem Reap we went to an unofficial landmine museum where landmine victims told us about how their organization is working to teach villiages how to clear landmines as well as the progress their founder has had clearing landmines since he was 15.

After Phnom Penh, we embarked on an exciting trip we had all wanted to do for some time. We had heard there were many uninhabited islands off the coast of Cambodia and after seeing the movie The Beach, we all wanted to go explore our own island. We found a diving company that would be driving right next to a particular island that we decided we wanted to go to. So after negotiating a price and shopping for supplies we headed out to what we thought was Ko Rong. When we arrived, we realized they had misunderstood us and brought us to Ko Rong Salem, the island right next to it. We found that this island actually had a small fishing village where the boat dropped us off at. There was an english speaking Cambodian on our boat who also was stopping off at this village, which turned out to be a great addition. We started walking off down the coast line to find a secluded beach where we hung our hammocks and setup camp. Little did we know though a few locals lived in the jungle several hundred meters off the other end of the beach, so we had plenty of passerbys. Often people would come up and just sit and watch us and we would try to communicate as best as possible using body language. Eventually the english speaking man, Bora, came and began sharing his story and telling us more about Cambodia. We learned so much from him about corruption in the government and military, as well as the many problems of poverty in the country. We spent our days swimming, exploring, reading, napping, and cooking. After several days the boat came back to pick us up, all of us departed sad to leave our beautiful beach and turquoise ocean view as well as the generous locals who were always offering us alcohol and food.

I am back in Phnom Penh getting ready to leave tomorrow for Vietnam and depart from my close travel friends (but I will see them again in Germany).

The Reflection

My mind has been deeply occupied lately. After finishing Robert Pirsig's second book and currently reading The Power of Now, I see endless possibilities of valid perspectives on life. Where do our value systems come from? What type of filters do we use when presented with new knowledge? If the knowledge rejects our perspective because it is not highly valued, then we are presented with a crisis. We either change our belief or maintain it, somewhat of a flight or fight reaction. But how do we justify what is valueable and what is not? Our experiences are so limited and how many times in our life have we been sure of things we later reject?

In our daily activities, we so often are quick to judge those who choose different lifestyles or hold different beliefs. But what makes our belief any better than theirs? Traveling opens your eyes to so many different ways people see the world. I never cease to be surprised by the amount of superstition in Asia. For example, on the island I was staying on in the south of Cambodia, the English speaking man (Bora) was telling us that there were king cobras on the island (highly venomous snakes) but that the villiagers believed that as long as a person acknowledged the spirit of the cobra, that they would not harm any humans. He said the cobras only came into sight once a year and that was to remind the villiages of their spiritual prescence on the island. The villiagers would not understand a scientist coming to them and explaining the the nature of snakes based on observation. Spirituality is part of how they see the world, they wouldn't understand any sort of "objective" science. I can't remember the other stories right now but I have heard so many superstitious beliefs that are stricly held to the same way scientists relentlessly hold to their views.

Right and wrong belief? Perhaps thats a myth. Right and wrong ways of believing? Maybe there is no such thing. Objectivity? That could be a word we created to give priviledged people more power. If more people would allow space for subjectivity in their outlooks and admit their experience has limited them to a very narrow realm of belief, we would have a world where conflict was no longer a method to disprove the other. Perhaps I am wrong though, perhaps there is a right and a wrong. But everything I have learned leads me further to believe that those terms should only be used in considering our own actions or the actions of those who seek our wisdom. If we started to think less of how the other person is wrong and more about how we could be wrong, we would create so much more room for growth and allow ourselves to learn from others. If we wish to prove to others that our experience is worth hearing, we must first live that example by open mindedly hearing out other people and be more concerned with how they came to make those decisions than if those decisions fit our value system.

...Perhaps

what do you think?
Karl

The Story

Thailand has been so wonderful. I arrived in Bangkok on the 29th of January and spent a few days exploring the city, eating lots of wonderful food (I love thai food and its so cheap), visiting many temples, seeing the Grand Palace - which consists of a variety of grand and beautiful architecture, and meeting interesting thai people (as well other travelers). After a few days in Bangkok, I went out of the city to visit Kanchaniburi (west thailand near Burma) which was such a joy to get out of the bustling city. I visited the bridge over the river kwai and a variety of other war related museums and historicaly significant sites. The significance of the bridge, beyond a film being made of it, is that the Japanese forced the thai and war pow's to build this bridge in the 1940's for them to be able to bring supplies throughout the country and into Burma. The bridge was bombed several times and eventually finally destroyed, with many thai workers forced to stand on it to attempt to persuade the pilots to divert their course (in short, a lot of people died for this supply line). It was quite sad to hear about all the harsh treatment of the thai and pows working on the bridge and nearby railways.

I spent a few nights sleeping along the kwai river on some floating huts which was very relaxing to finally be in nature. One night I had a great time hanging out with some aussies, a french, and two germans who were also staying at the same place I was. We had some great conversations about life in a world so full of so many differences yet so many similarities along people, cultures, countries, etc. The next day I visited the Tiger Temple, which is a monastery where they have a variety of animals ranging from water buffalo, boar, peacocks, horses, tigers, and plenty of other animals. All the animals roam free, except for the tigers. But if you visit you can have a chance to go up and sit next to and pet the tigers. They are all chained down but it certainly wouldn't stop them from being able to pounce on you if they desired it. It is actually quite safe though, the tigers have been raised by the monks and so they are not hostile towards humans in the least bit. While in the area I had a chance to ride an elephant and go bamboo rafting down a river.

When returning to bangkok I took a trip to see the floating markets outside of the city. Set among multiple canals shooting off in every direction, there is specific canal that has markets set on the land as well as on a number of small boats selling everything from fruit, to poultry, clothes, a variety of Thai trinkets, etc. As the markets were a little overpopulated with tourists, I was happy to go exploring around several of the waterway neighborhoods near the markets. It was fascinating to see the way of life on the water. People drink the water, drive their boats in it, wash their dishes and clothes in it, bathe in it, some shit in it, but regardless of how dirty it may appear to a westerner, it is the source of life for these people. Later that day, as I was exploring Bangkok, I came across a temple where a monk was being ordained (I believe that is the right term); I sat in midway through the ceremony to see the last hour of his ordination, which was quite fascinating. The next day I took a ride up a more secluded neighborhood with a private boat to see some more of these unique neighborhoods built along the waterways. I joined a new york photographer, and fellow couchsurfer, who has been living in Bangkok for almost a year now. She is working on doing a photo exhibition of life on the waterways, so it was a treat to go with her and her usual boat driver and hear about life on the river.

The next day I took a bus and ferry to Ko Samet, an island off the coast of eastern Thailand. Before I got on the bus, I ran into a girl I met in Australia; its funny how there are usually at least a few travelers that have very similar routes and it is almost inevitable that you will run into a few that you have met somewhere along the way. I spent the three days I was there, in the company of an Australian girl I hung out with, relaxing on the beaches, reading, and exploring the island by motor scooter - which was quite the adventure as the roads there were terrible: filled with large rocks, potholes, sand, and loose gravel. It was a beautiful place that I will certainly miss.

After Ko Samet, I took a bus to Cambodia on the 11th of Feb., where I am currently traveling (updates to come hopefully soon).

The Reflection

Time is short, so I must be fast. Thai people are very friendly, usually always smiling and interested in foreigners. If you are in a larger tourist area, as usualy, they are always trying to rip you off, giving you overpriced quotes for their services. It can get annoying to walk down the street and constantly have people calling after you to buy this and that; but after being in Asia for over a month now, I am pretty used to it. Compared to china, SE Asia is so easy to travel in; so many people speak english and the culture is so much more laid back than china. It is nice to have so many cheap options for eating and sleeping yet as a foreigner, you pay the price of always having to be suspicious of the information you are given. It is fascinating to see the religious influence in Thailand as there is majority of Buddhists. There are beautiful temples all across the landscape which is interesting to see their unique style of architecture. When I end my trip in SE Asia, I will return to Thailand and see the northern portion of the country.

All is good, besides the occasional upset stomach with the food. And some great news, I just found out I was accepted to the grad school I applied to in Paris. So hopefully within the next few weeks I will hear from the other grad schools I applied to and make my decision, giving me some direction for the future.

ciao!
Karl