End Of The Journey: Reflections And Summary

I'm back home now and I've had a chance to process and reflect upon my trip. I can now write this blog entry giving a summary of my trip and final thoughts. I wrote 55 blog entries for this trip (including this one), but those were only some of the highlights. It still doesn't cover the total range of experiences I've had.

This has been a truly epic journey for me, exactly four months long and the longest trip I've ever taken. It's definitely one of the best if not the best trip I've ever taken. In fact I run out of superlatives when trying to describe it to friends and find it difficult to convey just how great this trip really was. I saw so many new things, went to so many new places, met so many new people, made so many friends, and had so many great experiences that I will certainly never forget it, and I feel that my life has been so very much enriched because of it.

In some ways it was also a personal test, to see if I could handle being away from home for so long -- and I passed the test! Four months seemed like a long time to me, but then I met several others who were traveling for much longer periods of time: 6 months, 8 months, 1 year, even 2 years!

On any trip of this this length there are usually things that go wrong, such as losing important or valuable items, losing luggage, getting sick or injured, getting robbed or pick-pocketed, getting scammed, major delays in transportation, or having bad experiences with other people. But I was extremely lucky not to have any significant mishaps at all! I did have several close calls, but they all turned out OK in the end. I lost several items, but always recovered them. In Vietnam my camera fell out of my pocket in a jeep and I didn't notice it until I got back to the hotel and the jeep had left. Fortunately I was able to get a hold of them and get it back. In the same place my phone stopped working when I was caught in a heavy rain and it got wet. But the phone magically came back to life after a couple days. My camera broke in Thailand, but I found someone who was able to repair it (something unheard of in the US)! Twice I left my card in the ATM machine, but was able to recover it later each time. Parts of my suitcase broke a couple of times to the point of becoming unusable, but I was able get it repaired each time. Except for getting sick once near the beginning of my trip, I was in very good health for the remainder of the trip. In fact with all the activity I did, I was quite a bit more fit and in better physical shape than normal.

Here are some statistics regarding my trip:

• I traveled well over 25,000 miles (greater than the circumference of the Earth) in total.
  
• I touched 11 different countries, of which: 2 were merely in transit; 9 I spent a significant amount of time in; 7 were new countries I had never visited before.
  
• I took over 2400 photos and videos, including about 200 underwater.
  
• I made 38 hops (point-to-point transfers), of which: 20 were by plane; 9 by bus (including a sleeper bus); 6 by boat (of which 4 were ferry boats); 2 by train; and one by car
  
• Besides the above modes of transportation, I also rode:
  
  
  
  • tuk-tuks
    
  • elephants
    
  • motorbikes
    
  • jetskis
    
  • cable cars
    
  • mountain bikes
    
  • kayaks
    
  • inner tubes
    
  • ziplines
    
  • swings
    
  • bamboo rafts
    
  • a skywheel
    
  
  
• I ate the following: buffalo, crocodile, fried insects, ant larvae eggs, hundreds of hot Thai peppers
  
• Visited at least a dozen islands
  
• Met 3 friends from before: one in Chiang Mai, one in Langkawi, one in Fiji.
  

I started my journey with a quote from Science Fiction writer Ursula K. LeGuin. I now end it with another quote, from architect Anthony Lawlor:

The pleasure of the soul appears to be found in the journey of discovery, the unfolding revelation of expanded insight and experience.

--Anthony Lawlor, "A Home for the Soul"

My Amazing Cambodian Sandals

I did not bring a pair of sandals with me on this trip so I decided to buy a pair at the first opportunity, which was in Cambodia. They had normal sandals for about $2-$3 (after bargaining). I saw another pair of the sport sandal type that looked to be more durable and better quality, but much more expensive: $8. I decided to splurge and bought that pair. Now I have worn those sandals every single day ever since (the one exception being during my Mt. Kinabalu climb, when I wore my walking shoes). I have easily walked over a hundred miles in them, over asphalt, cement, dirt, sand, rocks, hills, valleys, all sorts of rough terrain, through rivers, lakes, streams, beaches, grassy plains, meadows, rainforests, caves, climbed trees, towers, and thousands of stone steps. They have taken quite a lot of abuse. I almost lost them several times, but always got them back. My trusty sandals served me admirably and lasted my entire four-month trip! They are well-used, but still in wearable condition today! I have never had a pair of sandals withstand that kind of use and last this long. Hooray for my amazing Cambodian sandals!

Kingdom of Tonga - Where Time Begins

The marketing slogan for Tonga is "Where Time Begins". This refers to the fact that Tonga is the first country west of the International Date Line, so each day officially starts here ahead of the rest of the world.

For some reason I expected Tonga to be more primitive than Fiji, but it turned out to be the opposite. Tonga is more advanced and developed than Fiji. In fact the shower in my hotel room was the most technologically advanced shower I had ever seen! It was electronically operated, with a control panel to control the lighting, radio, jets, and water temperature. Tongan culture is also more distinct and advanced than Fiji culture.

I arrived in Tonga on a Saturday night. This turned out to be the worst possible day of the week to arrive. Because the plane was delayed by two hours, it was too late to do anything that evening. No problem, I thought, I can schedule some activities the next day. However it turns out that the entire island completely shuts down on Sundays, and I mean completely. Of course all shops and businesses are closed. But also all transportation - airline flights, buses, even taxis are unavailable. Even the hotel was shut down, closing the restaurant and front desk and all hotel staff left the hotel, leaving the guests in their rooms but with everything else closed. So an entire day was wasted. They even turned off the wireless routers before leaving, so I couldn't even pass the time on the internet.

[Update: After walking all through town I finally did find one place that was open -- a pretty good Chinese restaurant, and had dim sum there]

[Update: A nice guy took me on a tour of the island (you can drive around the whole island in about 2-3 hours), so the day wasn't wasted after all!]

Giant Manta Rays!

Swimming with a Whale Shark at Sail Rock was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. Another highlight occurred today, while swimming with giant Manta rays! I had seen Stingrays before while swimming and scuba diving, but never a Manta ray, and I had no idea that they could get that big. The biggest Stingray I had seen before was about 4 ft. wide. The Manta rays I saw today were up to about 13-15 ft! And they have been known to grow up to 25 ft! My friend Patrick took the picture on the left. I took a video of the Manta rays with my new underwater camera!

Fiji - Yet Another Tropical Paradise

When I started my trip I hadn't the remotest idea that I might end up in Fiji. The idea was planted in my head by my friend Pat, who was going to spend some time there after sailing from New Zealand. As I was winding down my tour of SE Asia, I decided it would be cool to meet up with him on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific. It also made logical sense, since it is sort of on the way home.

It was also harder than I thought to get to Fiji from where I was at the time (Borneo). But I'm really glad I decided to stop in Fiji.

Climbing Mt. Kinabalu

On May 29 (1953), Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary conquered the summit of the mighty Mt. Everest. On May 29 (2009), I conquered the summit of the mighty Mt. Kinabalu! It was one of the toughest hikes I've ever done. Now Mt. Kinabalu is only 13,435 ft, less than half the height of Mt. Everest (29,029 ft). But that's still a respectable height, and it's the tallest mountain in all of SE Asia. Since I was touring all over SE Asia, what better way to cap and already epic journey? So I set my sights on conquering this magnificent peak.

The trail is relentless, with no flat or rolling sections, just steps all the way up! Every hiker is required to go with a guide. It's about 6 km to the base Laban Rata lodge at about 10,000 ft. -- doesn't sound like much, but it takes about 5-6 hours to get there due to the steepness of the climb and the altitude. There you eat dinner and take a nap til 2 AM, when you wake up to hike another 3-4 hours of even steeper rocks in pure darkness (you absolutely need a flashlight) to reach the summit by dawn. The last 100 meters is even steeper and you have to use the cables to pull yourself up.

Above 10,000 ft you really start to feel the altitude and the difficulty of breathing due to the thin air. My heart rate went up high and I'd go anaerobic every 100 meters or so and had to stop frequently. I honestly thought of stopping and turning around several times during the climb, but I just kept driving myself forward and upward, step by step. It was also freezing cold, and I did not have suitable clothing. The best I could do is layer 2 t-shirts together.

But it was totally worth it!! The sense of accomplishment, the spectacular views from the top, and the feeling of being on top of the world, all make it worth the Herculean effort.

It was definitely one of the (many) great highlights of my trip.

Hanging With The Sultan of Brunei

Just kidding! I didn't really hang out with the Sultan, though I did want to meet him. I found out that I could meet him and shake his hand, but only at the end of Ramadan when he opens his house to the public and holds a buffet for everyone one day a year. The rest of the time you can't even get near the Palace. I found Brunei a somewhat strange place, a tiny country in the middle of Borneo, surrounded by Malaysia (in between Sarawak and Sabah). It's an Islamic country so there is no alcohol allowed, even in the hotels, and no nightlife.

But Brunei does have a beautiful rainforest, with a great rainforest canopy walk.

Lounging Around In Langkawi

I went to Langkawi, an island just off the west coast of Malaysia near the Thai border, mainly to meet up with my friend Derick. He kindly let me stay at his house, which made it very comfortable for me. Normally this place would be full of tourists, but this is low low season, so it's deserted.

I also went parasailing here.

Kuala Lumpur

Yesterday was my last day in Thailand. I stayed in Thailand for about two months total (although I entered Thailand 4 separate times!) but I finally left and moved to Malaysia. Though I had been to Malaysia earlier on the Star Clipper, I didn't see much and so decide to make a second pass.


My first stop was Kuala Lumpur (everybody here calls it KL), and my first stop in KL was the Petronas Twin Towers and took the free tour to the skybridge connecting the two towers. Kuala Lumpur is known for having the world's cheapest five-star hotels. I stayed at the top hotel in KL (Shangri-la) and it cost me about $150/night. Other five-star hotels were $100 or less.

I was amazed at the variety of food available in KL. Just about every Asian cuisine is represented there. KL also has a Chinatown section (Petaling Street), where you can get good Chinese noodles, and cheap goods. I got my feet massaged by fish here!

KL has two main transit systems: a monorail above ground and a light rail underground. There are also express trains and buses to and from the airport.

Full Moon Party at Koh Phangan!

I did the infamous "Full Moon" party on Koh Phangan. It's a massive dance party on the beach, with lots of drinking, debauchery, and body paint. Perhaps it was cool at one time, but it's too over-hyped now. They also now have "Dark Moon" parties, and "Half Moon" parties; basically a party every week so there's nothing even special about it any more. Still, it was useful to check it out if only to check it off my list.

Beach Bungalow on Koh Samui

I had a lovely luxury beach bungalow on Koh Samui. I've stayed in several beach bungalows on this trip, but this was definitely the nicest one.




I loved the outdoor shower.




Included a mini-fridge.




My living room.




The bathroom was nice, with separate room for tub and shower.



My own Spirit House, probably the nicest one I've ever seen!

Swimming With A Whale Shark -- Dreams *Do* Come True!

Ever since I got my scuba certification last summer it's been a dream of mine to swim with (and photograph) a whale shark. I selected the whale shark for the photo on the back of my Advanced Open Water card. It even became a major goal for this trip. Well that goal was accomplished today!!

I did a dive at the "Sail Rock", a circular coral reef formation near Koh Tao (even though I started from Koh Samui). We were not in the water for five minutes when a huge whale shark came swimming by within about 20 feet of me. I was stunned at first, in awe and amazement at the sheer size of it. It's by far the biggest thing I've seen while diving. I estimate the length to be 5+ meters (you can get an idea of the scale by the divers in the background). In spite of its bulk, it glided through the water with silent grace and stately elegance. What a beautiful creature!

I snapped several photos, then jetted straight toward it (abandoning my buddy and dive group in violation of normal diving protocol!) until I was close enough to touch it. It then occurred to me that even a casual flick of its powerful tail could send me reeling, so I backed off a little but continued to follow it, taking several more photos. It obligingly turned towards me at one point so I got a good look at the head and mouth. It wasn't spooked at all and seemed totally at ease with the divers in the water. It's hard to describe the feelings I had at this point, but it's something I'll never forget.

Who says dreams don't come true??

Ao Nang, Krabi

After Phuket I took a bus to Ao Nang beach in Krabi. This was quite a pleasant place, with more perfect beaches and good pubs and restaurants. Here I went on a longboat ride around some of the islands, and a kayaking trip to the "Garden of Eden". You kayak up a river and then into a low rock tunnel. It gets completely dark in the tunnel, so you have to kayak blindly for a while. Then, you emerge into a lush river lagoon with no other exit. We also kayaked to a cave containing petroglyphs from 2000 B.C.

I also went to the Cobra Show, involving several hissing Black Cobras, and the biggest King Cobra I'd ever seen! (bigger than the previous biggest one I'd seen in Penang)

Koh Phi Phi

Koh Phi Phi is another beautiful island with gorgeous sandy beaches and clear blue-green waters near Phuket. I took a day cruise out to that and neighboring islands. Visited Phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Lei, Viking Cave, Monkey Beach.

Thai Cultural Program - A One Man Show

I went to a One Man Show tonight. Not that there was only one performer; there were in fact a couple dozen performers. But there was only one person in the audience -- me! Let me explain. It was a Thai cultural music and dance program at the Phuket Cultural Center and Orchid Farm. This was some distance away from the part of the island I was staying at, so you had to take a motorbike or taxi. I had come here earlier on a Sunday, only to find that was the only day they *didn't* have a performance. So I came here again on another day (making sure it was not a Sunday). However when I arrived the place was again deserted and the theater was empty. Finally a woman came by and explained that they canceled that evening's show because there were no attendees! Bummer. This is the second time I made the trip all the way out here, only to be denied again. She must have seen the disappointed look on my sulking face, because I saw her make a few phone calls and after a few minutes she informed me that the show was on again. They would put on the whole show just for me, a one-man audience! One by one the performers came on stage and performed a traditional Thai music and dance number. I began to feel a little guilty that they had to perform just for me and hoped they weren't resentful, but I really appreciated the effort. The dancers are supposed to make eye contact with the audience members, but since there was only one person they all had to look at me! After each item, I applauded as loud as I could to make up for the lack of audience. In the end I have to say I really enjoyed my first one-man show!

Oh, and the orchids were pretty good too.

Fantasea

This is not your typical dinner show, but a high production values extravaganza comparable to one of the big Las Vegas shows, featuring live animals (elephants, goats, even chickens!), aerial acrobats suspended from the ceiling, and stage magicians. There is a theme park built around it with the usual carnival games, rides, and vendor booths. They also had a huge and magnificent white tiger. I was so captivated by the beauty and raw power of this animal that I just stayed and watched it for more than half an hour. For some reason my camera flash always reflected in his right eye as orange light, and in his left eye as green light!

Butterfly Garden

Many places in Thailand and Malaysia have Butterfly Gardens which house hundreds of beautiful species of butterflies (often including rare ones) and provide an opportunity to see them up close. These are generally worthwhile to visit. I had missed a chance to see one earlier in Malaysia, so I went to one in Phuket. I actually wanted to go to the Cultural Show but it was closed, so I went here instead. I rented a motorbike and rode into town, to the Butterfly Farm.

Oh, Phuket (Revisited)

This is my second time in Phuket. The first time we zipped right through from the airport to the clipper ship in the marina with no time to spare. So I came back here to do it right.

Phuket is a hotbed of decadence. If Pattaya is Sodom, then Phuket is Gomorrah. A friend described it as "too touristy and overrun by Eurotrash". This is certainly true, but there are still lots of good things about Phuket. For example, there are beautiful islands you can visit just off the coast of Phuket, such as Koh Phi Phi.

Phuket of course will always be remembered as one of the major sites hit by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. It sustained heavy damage and widespread flooding, but there aren't many signs of that now. It's been rebuilt so that the obvious signs of the tsunami are gone. But the legacy of the tsunami remains with the many "Tsunami Evacuation Route" signs all over town. And of course the memories of the tsunami linger in the minds of the locals here who lived through it. I talked to some of them. One of them described lots of gold jewelry floating in the streets, due to the tsunami hitting the jewelry shops and washing their inventory out.

Songkran -- The Mother Of All Water Battles

Songkran (derived from the Sanskrit word "sankranti") is the Thai New Year (by the Thai Lunar Calendar) Festival. It last 3 or 4 days and is the biggest festival in Thailand. Activities include a Miss Songkran beauty pageant, sand temple building contests, parades and processions from the temples. But by far the biggest activity is the water fights. Everyone throws water on everyone else. If you are outside during this time you will get wet. And I don't mean a little wet. I mean totally drenched. And this is totally expected. The only way to avoid getting soaked is to stay indoors for 3 days. I cut my trip to Vietnam short (only spent 2 weeks there) because I wanted to return to Thailand in time for Songkran. I did, and had so much fun!

Lessons learned from Songkran:

1. On the tuktuk ride from the airport to my hotel I got splashed with water 4 times. This is well below the national average.
   
2. Nothing, not a squirt gun, a supersoaker, or any other high tech water weapon can beat the good old fashioned bucket.
   
3. It's the only time when you can pour a bucket of water over someone's head, and they will smile and thank you
   
4. Ammo (water) can be enhanced by placing a huge block of ice in your supply barrel, or with food coloring
   
5. Keep essentials (money, cell phone) in a waterproof pouch; then you're good to go.
   

Notes On The Vietnamese Language

Vietnamese was the hardest for me to learn even a few words than any of the other SE Asian languages. There were also several other factors that made it even harder. One was the extreme difficulty in pronunciation. Vietnamese has many sounds that are utterly unpronounceable by the Occidental tongue. So learning a word from a phrase book is of no use, since you still don't know how to pronounce it properly. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that pronunciation changes markedly from city to city. Another difficulty was the fact that it bears no linguistic connection to the Thai or Lao languages, so I could not use my knowledge of those to gain any leverage. It does bear a distant connection to Chinese, but they long ago abandoned the Chinese system of writing, in favor of an incredibly retarded transliteration system devised by incompetent French linguists. In fact it took me more than a week to get over my anger at the French linguists before I could settle down and start learning some Vietnamese words. To date, no competent linguist has looked at the Vietnamese language and devised a better transliteration system (this is something I could do, but I don't have the time). This last item was by far the biggest barrier to learning Vietnamese.

Vietnamese has a number of unique features that I have not seen in any other language. One is the use of titles in place of personal pronouns in many cases. For example, to say "I love you" you would not use the pronouns "I" and "you", but replace them with titles. So you would say "Anh yeu em" (man speaking to woman). This means something like "Mister loves Miss". If she returns your affection she would say "Em yeu anh" ("Miss loves Mister").

Here are some more Vietnamese phrases I learned:

gam an	thank you
sin jao	hello
dam biet	goodbye
khong go zee	you're welcome
sin loy	sorry

Halong Bay - Natural Perfection Ruined

Halong Bay is a serene fantasy-like seascape of stunning limestone karsts and stone structures in bizarre unfamiliar shapes, jutting vertically out of the water, rising high above it and shrouded in dreamy misty fog. Unfortunately, the natural beauty is rapidly becoming spoiled by overtourism. The bay is crowded with hundreds of noisy tour boats and thousands of tourists, destroying the inherent peacefulness of the place. Never once during our cruise were we alone -- we were always surrounded by at least a dozen other boats in view. The promotional pictures and postcards always show a single junk boat with the Chinese-style sails in an otherwise empty bay. Such a picture would be impossible to take today, as it would always contain a plethora of boats within the frame. It turns out the Chinese-style junk boat sails are also fake. While beautiful, they are fake -- just for show. None of the boat actually uses the sails for propulsion; they have large diesel engines instead. The bay is also becoming extremely polluted, with all the boats dumping all their raw sewage right there in the marina. The signature shot of Halong bay is a pair of stone structures called "The Fighting Cocks", vaguely resembling two roosters facing each other. However we were not even able to approach it closely as there was a major boat traffic jam all around it (and even one boat collision).

In spite of this, it was still impressive and enjoyable. There is a massive cave, a little floating village (complete with a local bank branch), and a kayak-able sea tunnel. My cabin onboard was fairly luxurious -- better than many of the hotel rooms I had been staying in. All in all, it was a worthwhile trip. It's just a shame that such a beautiful natural wonder is being spoiled by over-exploitation.

Staying At The Hanoi Hilton

Hanoi is a bit cooler than the other places I've been to in Vietnam. By "cooler" I mean under 80F, maybe as low as 75F. But under 80F is not considered "cool" by the Vietnamese; they consider it freezing. As soon as the temperature drops below 80F, they don thick sweaters and snow jackets.

They actually have a Hilton hotel in Hanoi, and I stayed there one night just for fun so that I could say "I stayed at the Hanoi Hilton (and escaped!)".

Gulliver in the Land of the Lilliputians

All SE Asians are small but the tiniest of all are the Vietnamese, and you really notice it here. Probably because everything here is downsized for the Vietnamese body size (much more so than the other SE Asian countries): houses, doors, furniture, vehicles, utensils, everything. Shower heads are often at chest height. See the table and chairs in the photo on the left? The table is at knee height and the plastic chairs are the type we buy for small children. But it's not a children's playset. It's found in every restaurant and is perfectly sized for the Vietnamese adult. There are no decent bicycles anywhere in Vietnam. In fact there is only one type of bicycle here -- a girl's frame single-speed cruiser with a basket in front, like the old Schwinn bikes from the 1950s. Even with the seat raised to maximum height, my knees were hitting my chest. Even so, I must have been pedalling unbelievably fast by vietnamese standards, because I always drew amazed looks, and motorbike riders would turn around and marvel that I was going nearly as fast as them.

In general the whole country is appears to be constructed for an eight-year-old American child, which is the same size as a Vietnamese adult. I am not tall by any means -- just average height -- but I positively *tower* over everyone here. I now know what Gulliver must have felt like during part of his travels.

Maria's Birthday Party

Maria turned 23 today (though here they call that 24), so Stefan and I took her out for her birthday. Stefan is a nice fellow from Sweden whom I befriended here in Mui Ne. Maria is a girl who works at Gecko, out favorite bar/restaurant in Mui Ne, owned by a Frenchman. Her real Vietnamese name is Thanh, but like a lot of young Vietnamese girls these days, she's adopted an English nickname. She mentioned yesterday that her birthday is today and that she really, really wanted a birthday cake. Stefan and I discussed it and we decided it would be fun for the three of us to go out and celebrate Maria's birthday.

There's not much in Mui Ne, so we hopped in a taxi to the next bigger town. First stop was the bakery, and Maria picked out the biggest cake they had. We had them write her name and age on the cake. By then it was lunch time. I love goat meat, so I picked the restaurant -- a place called Lao De (Goat Soup), and we ordered the Lao De and also BBQ goat. We went to an outdoor fair and took some birthday photos. Then we went to the mall to buy some small gifts for Maria. Stefan bought her a pair of earrings, and I bought her a book and a balloon and a photo frame. Finally we went to the Karaoke place. They give you a private room and your own karaoke machine. We alternated between singing Vietnamese and English songs, and ate some of the cake. All in all it was a fun day, and Maria was thrilled and very, very happy. Of course Stefan and I paid for everything. Maria makes about $68/month in her job. We probably spent about that much in total today, so she'd never be able to afford something like this on her own.