Of Rice and Yen

Youth in Asia

Grace was alive and at large in Asia. Yes that happened. Yes we did see a baby in ass-less chaps riding the subway. He was totally from the mainland. Apparently that’s the norm up there. No need for diapers just squat your offspring over the nearest ditch and let it rip.

Anyways, the point is: Grace came to Hong Kong. Though her plane broke down in Chicago, she safely arrived in China a mere 24 hours overdue and just in time to go see Dr. John do his thing voodoo style. The dude’s still got it. He was shaking medicine rattles, shuffling around the stage and double fisting the piano.  It was the first “real” music I had heard in months and it encouraged me that there is life beyond the smog. A few chicks with mardi gras themed parasols started gettin’ down around the stage and I nearly had to handcuff myself to the chair to keep from jumping over the railing. People acting ridiculous?! Holy cow I forgot that humans had actual souls and weren’t all blank faced robots making out with the screens of their iPhones. I even spotted a few locals let their guard down, crack their nearly impenetrable outer shell, and move their body a little bit, even if it was offbeat.

It was so good to have a fellow Raleigh-ite in Asia. It was a wild week, during which I fell asleep during school nearly every day. But it was so worth it.  Upon initial observation of people from home, newly arrived in the land on the other side of the world, I die a little inside.  It happens because I’m reminded of how much I miss “normal behavior” and good old strangerly (not a word I know) kindness just for the hell of it. When Reeves was here I would wince with pain as he smiled at random passersby to no avail. Why smile at a stranger? Well, that’s just what you do, right? Not here. Oh no. And watching Grace become engulfed in a sea of stampeding Asians filled me with nostalgia remembering when when I first arrived. As she clawed her way to the surface and gasped for air, I shared in her terror that she would be knocked out cold by a small woman wielding a Louis Vuitton bag and vying for a spot on the escalator.  

The first morning of her youth-in-Asia adventure, Grace got to experience the traditional HK breakfast of dim sum. She claimed not to love it but for some reason snuck back for round 2 when Jennifer rolled back into town.  Let’s face it Grace, it doesn’t matter what’s inside that rice paper, if your fry it, it’s dank. One of our best days was the one we spent sailing with the Payne family around some of HK’s island territory.  An outing upon which we caught a rare glimpse of nature in all its glory, and just when I thought I would never feel its presence again, the sun presented itself back into my life. My heart was ready for its debut one more day of gray smog and it may have shriveled like a prune.

We hiked the Dragon’s Back, lounged on the beach at Big Wave Bay, and braved the billion steps up to the Big Buddha on Lantau. Grace rocketed up those suckers while I almost blew a gasket on the ascent. If it had been a track, she would definitely have lapped me. We raged in LKF with gorilla men and humans in light up bunny ears. We attempted a night in Wan Chai, leaving the flat with the best of intentions, but inevitably ended up in a pizza bar with a family size pie not long after midnight. Grace indulged in some serious retail therapy and I was quite impressed with how quickly she acquired superior bargaining skills at the various markets. In case you’re wondering, your best bet is to react with horror at their suggested price and run in the opposite direction until they chase you down and offer you the price you had asked in the first place.

Eventually, Jennifer landed once more in Hong Kong, on her way back stateside from Sri Lanka. We found the bronzed friend a few beers deep after wandering the streets of Tai Kok Tsui solo all day, spilling mad stories of 12-hour bus rides and diaper thieves from the Sri. All for of us Raleigh people had 2 nights together in Asia, which is just ridiculous to think about. Who would have ever thought? I think we got a photo…

Grace lived with us for a week; experienced life K & O in HK style, and was way more chilled out about the entire experience than I expected. (No offense G-baby) You never know how one may respond in certain situations. Chicken foot anyone? She stuck around for my day of birth, which made it all the more exhilarating, and even pretending to love the soy cheese on her “pizza” at the vegan organic restaurant I drug the lot to that night. A lot of laughs happened and maybe a tear or two, and though she had been fending me off for a solid week Grace finally heeded my advances and let me hug her. Success. I didn’t even get a bruise in the process. Grace…I know you secretly love affection. Just stop trying to hide it.

 

 

Vietnam

Trip #2. So good. Reeves and Jennifer swooped into the Kong a few days before the Chinese New Year holiday began. It was a whirlwind impression of the city, tourist style, and it involved checking out the majorly cheesy laser show from the harbor, downing Thai curries at the street market, shooting straight upwards on the peak tram to Victoria Peak, hopping every mode of public transport available, winning cash at the Happy Valley horse races, and boozing in Lan Kwai Fong, where the eve inevitably ended with everyone doing the monkey arm swing dance in front of a Buddha statue. I mean what did you expect?

Finally after an absurd Chinese New Year party at Kindergarten (yes they did the dragon dance), and leaving J and Rice to cruise the city solo for a few days while I entertained children, the day came to depart for adventure. Jennifer set off for Sri Lanka to help people, and Reeves and I transported ourselves to Vietnam. At this point we had no notion of what would occur during our time there. At all. I mean, we had a plane ticket to Hanoi and a place to slumber the first night, but after that there was absolutely no plan to what we were doing. Always good to fly into an unknown, semi-communist country with no clue what’s happening. It was 100% awesome. You MUST do it.

 

The first day we basically just let our minds get blown by the bustle of Hanoi. Live chickens were relaxing in baskets on the side of the road, unknowingly awaiting slaughter; old women on bikes zoomed around town pestering bystanders to purchase mangos, pineapple, and fried dough balls. Of course we bought them all. You have never seen so many motorbikes in your life, and it’s truly a miracle that one of us didn’t get our limbs mowed off by a speeding Vietnamese. It would not be uncommon to be gallivanting down the street beside a rooster on the loose, just crowing like mad at any time of the day.  The city was super lively and there was so much to experience, and experience we did, just wandering the gloriously dirty lanes of the old quarter, not believing what we were seeing and generally being confused. Markets and shops lined the streets and Reeves really got into the fake name brand goods, and was especially enamored with the “Nake” jackets. That’s right. “Nake”, not “Nike”.

We hit all the main tourist attractions and historical sights. The museums were amazing and exceeded expectation. The history in that place is insane and our favorites were the Museum of the Revolution, and the Army Museum. There was a downed US fighter plane and all sorts of other aircraft and weaponry from the war. The wreckage of the plane and all its contorted, twisted metal was there displayed monument-like. They were so proud of it. It was weird to see things from the other side. Pretty surreal. It is only natural to view history from the perspective of your own country, because that is what you are taught. It was cool to see things from the other side, where we are the enemies and they are just doing their duty protecting their country. I wouldn’t exactly say it was villanizing the US, but definitely putting us in a negative light, which obviously makes sense. History is biased. You need to look at things through the other side’s eyes sometimes to get a clear picture of past events.

The Ho Chi Minh mausoleum was another highlight. This place was totally communist. Hammer and sickle flags out the wazoo. So you have wait outside this large stone complex and wait for an armed guard to march you inside. There is absolutely no talking allowed, and you are definitely not allowed to put your hands in your pockets. Reeves was reprimanded in the presence of Uncle Ho himself for breaking this rule. So there is the dude, dead as a doornail and chillin in a glass box surrounded by guards. A glorified communist leader there for all to ogle. It was crazy. You could also tour his house and the grounds to see where he hatched all plots, and check out his mini-shrine to Marx and Lenin.

 

Mass amounts of street food was consumed and I was quite comforted concerning the sanitary aspects of the grub when I found a dirty dirty cigarette butt floating in my noodle soup and also watched a restaurant washing their dishes on the street using muddy buckets and questionable water. Whatever. Just don’t think about it, I’m sure we have all eaten worse. What you don’t know won’t hurt you. It tasted delicious, especially the late night fried rice, post-bar.

 

After two days in Hanoi we boarded an overnight train to Sapa, which is in the mountains in the very Northwest of ‘Nam. It’s so close to the border of China that Facebook didn’t work up there. The first day in Sapa was super beautiful, unusual for this time of year when it is usually covered in thick thick fog.  We hiked up/down mountains and through valleys of the most insane terraced rice paddies. Our guide was an H’mong girl, and she led us to ethnic minority villages in the hills. We felt like we were in a Nat Geo segment as we passed water buffalo chomping the rice paddies, children eating fruit off the ground in front of their wooden shacks, and tiny restaurants advertising dog meat for lunch. The hill tribe women were decked out in incredible colored fabrics of all colors and textures, lots dyed with indigo. Of course I was obsessed and I think I went a little overboard buying textiles and fabric good that I have absolutely no use for. We made friends with them and they made up tiny horses out of grass, which we thought was the kindest thing ever until we realized it was all a ploy. We were accosted a little down the dirty road to buy their hill-tribey goods. I caught Reeves almost purchasing a ridiculous wall tapestry I knew he did not want, as an H’mong woman was backing him into a ditch. He’s way to kind for those wiley merchants.

Anyways, the landscape was preposterously beautiful. During our stay in Sapa it was Tet, which is the Vietnamese version of Chinese New Year. It is the lunar New Year, and pretty much an Asian version of Christmas, Birthday, and New Year all rolled up into one grand holiday. Everyone turns one year older during this time of year. It was really crazy to experience this because it was such an authentic view of the local lifestyle during this culture’s most important holiday. On day two in Sapa it was cold and real misty so we rented a motorbike to cruise the mountain road. Neither one of us had ever driven one before so it was extra exciting.  After flying down rocky roads through the hills for a while, we had crashed once, were bleeding a little bit, shivering and wet, and had almost rammed into one too many potbelly pigs. It. Was. So. Good. But deciding it would be best to take a breather for a few, we stopped in at a little café like place in a village. It was dead in the town, because of the holiday, but the family welcomed us into their meager New Years celebration where they served us tea, sunflower seeds, and gifted us red packets (traditional gift of money during Tet), around a sizzling bowl of red-hot embers. If there is one phrase you need to know here it is “Chuc Mung Nam Moi!” (“Happy New Year!”) And breathe easy that we did utter this sentiment as much as humanly possible.

After another night train back to Hanoi, we departed on the next journey. This time to beautiful Halong Bay, one of the natural wonders of the world, and for good reason. The place was spectacular. It is pretty much a huge bay of water with thousands of limestone karsts and mini-islands dotting the H2O for as far as you can see.  We booked the trip through a backpacker’s hostel in Hanoi so on our boat there were young travellers from all over the world, which made for an interesting night aboard.  There were Aussies, Kiwis, Euro trekkers, and a couple Americans.  We were all trapped together on this boat for the night in the middle of Halong Bay, so things got interesting. People swam in the chilly water  (Reeves) and we kayaked and crawled around in dark caves. Exploring the earth. At night drinking games ensued. The night ended with everyone Russian dancing to dub step in the dining room of the boat and generally acting a fool while a 30-year-old Brit decked a Scottish fellow in the face for hitting on his girlfriend. There may have been a little Bernie-ing and monkey arms involved too.

The next day we exited the bay, and returned to Hanoi to chill and eat veggie burgers for rehab.  We had one more day in Hanoi so we did a some bargaining, bought a cobra in a bottle, and checked out an old prison where they kept American POW’s during the war, including John McCain. His uniform was in there and it was pretty wild.

Soon our journey drew to an end and I may or may not have had a minor meltdown in the Hanoi airport when contemplating the bro’s eminent departure. Then it was back to the HK to slumber before sending Reeves upon his way back to the states. I’m still a little bit in shock over the ridiculousness that ensued during our journey.

It may seem questionable at first glance, but take my word for it; you have to check out Nam.

(pics to come)

The Trip (part 2)

THALANDIA. I’ve decided to start calling it this because some lonely traveler, I think Scandanavian or something, had a travel book that I spied on a bus. It was entitled Thailandia, and it sounds so much more eloquent than Thailand. The land of Thai. Is that even a real place? I’m still not really sure. What I do know, however, is that they love the king so much. Seriously. Every few feet you are guaranteed to stumble upon a shrine of sorts to dear old King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Oh come on, its really not that hard to pronounce. The shrine comes complete with a gigantic painting of the man himself enrobed in all sorts of jewels and flamboyantly gold get-up. The frame is also completely and utterly gold. There are probably flowers and other offerings places around the frame. Sometimes a tiny temple stands near. Ok this a god-king? Are we in ancient Egypt right now? I guess being American, the idea of any sort of monarch seems rather fictional to me. But, you better check yourself. You will not talk smack about this man, or you may just end up in the slammer.

Buddhist Monks. Another group I’ve grown fond of and subsequently vowed to begin to take fashion advice from. I mean, have you ever seen a more vivid hue of orange? Am I allowed to enter a Thai monastery? As a pupil I mean, not a visitor.  Ok, my real question is, where can I get one of those robes? And where was that fabric during high school dance season?

Green curry. My new best friend. Now don’t get your panties in a wad, I still love you all. But I can see me and green curry are at the start of a beautiful relationship. I would leave, it would call my name, and I would find myself returning to it over and over again. However, I didn’t feel the same kinship with the crispy fried grasshoppers drenched in soy sauce I purchased for a snack. They were better than the grubs though.

Elephant rides- it ain’t what it cracked up to be. Don’t do it. For your own sanity. It’s a disguised form of cruel and unusual punishment for these wild wild beasts. They are beautiful and they are kind, and they don’t want humans on their backs. Especially when that involves a metal lounge chair digging into its skin and a local with a steel hook bouncing around on its head. Its just not natural.

Thailand was perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Clear blue water, white sand, colorful fish, bright sun, and NON-SMOG FILLED AIR!! Glory glory hallelujah. I didn’t want to leave. But all good things must come to an end, so with a scorched body and a few thousand love bites from my new insect friends, I borded a plane back to the Kong.

Now if I can just remember to take my malaria pills…

The Trip (part 1)

The Trip. It was badass. It was the trip of a lifetime. At least for this month.

The adventure began as Olive and I turned the key in the lock of our miniscule flat and set of into the massive and thrilling unknown, oversized packs upon our backs.  We first hopped a plane to Bangkok to spend a wonderful 8 hours curled up on faux leather chairs in the public lounge, awaiting our next flight straight into Cambodia.

Arriving in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, we were hustled through the line to receive our visas and then stuffed into a taxi to maneuver through the throngs of motorbikes and tuk tuks to the bus station.

The bus ride north to Siem Reap was probably of my favorite legs of the trip. Though the bus was 6 hours long, besides the fact that I may have fallen in love with the water boy, it provided a view of the Cambodian countryside which I may not have otherwise gotten.  As we passed rice paddy after rice paddy, and ox cart after ox cart, I began to watch the people outside their thatched huts. Fathers playing with babies, little children running along the dirt paths holding hands, coming home from school, and walking alongside their mangy dogs. It was as if I had been sucked back into another time. It was fascinating and it was beautiful. They seemed very poor and they seemed very happy.

Upon arrival in Siem Reap, our tuk tuk driver was waiting for us. A tuk tuk is an open carriage pulled by a motorbike. We need to bring these things to the states. They are so good. You hop aboard, without so much as opening a door, yes I’m lazy, and have a slightly life-threatening but always thrilling ride to your destination for $ USD. Can you say “yes please!”?

Our time in Cambodia was amazing. By day we explored the ancient ruins of the Hindu + Buddhist temples of the Angkor Empire, beginning with the most famous, Angkor Wat, at sunrise. This is something you MUST do. I really don’t care who you are. There is no way any human being with a soul could NOT love this. Other major temple sights we visited were Angkor Thom, Preah Kahn, Bayon (with its giant face carvings), Bantey Srey (with its ornate carvings and sculpture), and Ta Prohm (where they filmed the Tomb Raider movie). I was on like an Asian Art overdose, and in a good way. I was seriously getting giddy. I had been pining for a solid art and history fix for a while now, and boy did I get a substantial one. The Hindu and Buddhist bas relief carvings and sculpture were ridiculously ornate. I could have ogled for hours.

By night, we feasted on Amok fish (a new favorite) and haggled at night markets, collecting shadow puppets, Cambodian karma scarves and handmade silk.

 We were lead throughout the land by Nay Toum, a mildly inappropriate Cambodian tour guide who likes to read English joke books in his spare time. Bring on the cheese. Nay’s favorite tourists are Americans because they “don’t care about anything”. Hm. I can’t decide if we should take that as a compliment or an insult. According to Nay, French people are assholes, but we already knew that, right? By the end of our time together Olivia and I really wanted to take Nay home with us to be our new best friend, but he preferred to stay in Cambodia. Dangit.

I bought a load of postcards and other worthless objects that I did not want or need from the most beautiful children I’ve ever seen in my life. Would it be bad if I stole one? Eventually I canned my kidnapping scheme, convince myself that I didn’t need 2 bamboo flutes for $1, or any more palm frond bracelets, and headed to the next temple.

Along the way, Nay told us stories of the Khmer Rouge and the dark history of Cambodia. The country’s violent civil war and genocide that occurred in the not so distant past, has left its mark on the country.  The time we spent at the Cambodian Landmine Museum was sobering.  It is a quite common sight to see people missing arms and legs. It was interesting to hear the story from someone whose friends and family had first hand experience of such unimaginable events.

Despite their past terrors, we found those we came into contact with in this country to be the most welcoming, warm and friendly people we have ever experienced. They were incredible, and it was difficult to leave.

Christmas eve found us watching a touristy Apsara dancing show at a restaurant (traditional dancing in Cambodian costume) and getting hour long foot massages for $1 USD at the night market. I was able to talk to the Peeler tribe on both Christmas eve and day, and it was a happy time. I wasn’t sad, as I think I got all my stress out in anticipation of it all.  It never actually seemed like Christmas, since I was so away from everything traditional, even though I did rock my Santa hat at the temples the next day.

We explored the floating village of Chong Kneas on the Tonle Sap River. This was quite an interesting place, and the most absurd situation we found ourselves in was when our guide boat was overcome by two wooden canoes bearing small children draped with live snakes and asking for US dollar bills. Of course we gave it to them and got a snake round the neck in return.

Cambodia was strange, insane, beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. In short, I adored it.