Alicen's Take - One Month Review

January 21, 2009
Hey there World, Alicen here!
Today is exactly one month from the day we landed on soil that was previously completely foreign to us on this long way home. With our travel monthaversary, and after staying up late to watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama (yes!!), it feels like a perfect day to add a little of my input on our blog, and reflect on our trip so far.

Let me first give you a quick recap of our itinerary from when we arrived in China (via slow boat from Osaka, Japan) on December 21st, 2008:

Shanghai, China - 3.5 days stay, then overnight train
Xi’an - 3.5 days, then overnight train
Beijing - 6 days, then overnight train
Hong Kong - 4 days, then flight to Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand - 1 night sleep, then morning flight to Cambodia
Phnom Penh, Cambodia - 3 days, then 5 hour boat ride
Siem Reap (Angkor Wat area) - 10 days, then 6 hour bus ride back to Phnom Penh

So, our trip so far has been about 2 weeks in mainland China, then a few days in Hong Kong, then about 2 weeks in Cambodia, which catches up to present. I am now typing this while on the bus back to Phnom Penh, where we will then catch another flight back to Bangkok in a couple days. Our first entry to Thailand was only a bouncing off point to get to Cambodia, so this time we will stay in Thailand for a couple of weeks, hopefully island hopping on our way down to Malaysia, to then catch a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Perth, Australia!!

Todd is awesome at writing his nearly daily blog entries, and I, like many of you, anticipate and thoroughly enjoy reading Todd’s hilarious and remarkably insightful perspective on our trip. Todd is a fast writer and decisive thinker, and is brilliant at capturing our experiences as we are on the go. I have a much slower processor, so my monthly blog entry will be more themed-based, mostly on what we have learned over the course of the trip, after we have had some time for more introspection and for things to really sink in a bit more. So, here we go…

Shaken, Not Stirred

Todd and I are no stranger s to culture shock. We had a bit to deal with when we away from all our friends and family to California, and certainly during the first year we lived in Japan, as well as some reverse culture shock on our visits back to the States. We well expected we would go through some on this trip, but it works in funny ways, and we are having different incarnations as we go. I would say the biggest identifiable symptoms so far have been overall increased anxiety levels, with occasionally completely irrational panic, as well as a fear and lack of trust in new surroundings and people… slipping sometimes into pretty serious paranoia. This has translated into having unfairly negative feelings about our first points of entry in the both China and Cambodia. All of that sounds pretty serious, but once we got the hang of all the little differences in local behavior and scenery, we were able to relax, and have since had beautifully rewarding experiences. It is just a really strange realization of the crippling effects of fear, and how easy it is to get scared in a new situation. “People are strange, when you are a stranger” from the Doors song, keeps getting stuck in my head when I get in a new town, and I guess that’s a good reminder that once I get to know my surroundings, suddenly it is all quite normal and cool.
I really realize now how difficult it must have been for Todd when he first arrived in Japan and knew none of the language. Neither of us speak the local languages, so it has taken a few days for us to get accustomed to the way people communicate, both with the way they pronounce or use English, and their non-verbal cues, which don’t always translate well. After we get used to that and meet enough people who we have good experiences with, everything gets much better... Hopefully by becoming more seasoned travelers we will be able to better control our fears, and recognize when they may be appropriate. I imagine we will get to test that out again in India.

Same Same, but Different

A previous expectation that has certainly contributed to our culture shock is the idea that Japan is an “Eastern” country, and so must have many similarities to the rest of Asia. I was an East Asian Studies major in university, but really had no concept of how the rest of the region is living outside of Japan.
As Asia’s largest economy, Japan has huge wealth and a very developed infrastructure that clearly sets it apart. China is getting closer by the year, but they are clearly not there yet. When we arrived in Shanghai, we were blown away by their port, and all the development that was happening in the city. Shanghai has a really cool skyline that was impressive to our Tokyo sensibilities, but we found ourselves soon very uncomfortable. It was in the little things. Spitting in the streets, extremely loud ring tones, talking on cell phones in trains, and shouting in angry voices to express seemingly simply transactions were all not acceptable behaviors in Japan. But after we came to think of it, there was a lot we were used to in our lives before we can to Japan that just doesn’t work there. Japan has a lot of rules and systems that allow them to live and work in extremely close and populated proximity, while maintaining amazing efficiency (this statement should have a footnote about some of the frustratingly bureaucratic inefficiencies there as well, but compared to what we have seen in our trip…wow, Japan is efficient). Japan’s efficiency and fast, friendly service seem unequaled outside of its boarders in East Asia, and perhaps the world.

Money, Money, Money

It certainly helps to make the word go ‘round. Todd and I got to a point of comfort in Tokyo that we could buy whatever we needed, pretty much whenever, without all that much thought about it. One great thing about this trip is that we have a set budget to spend, so it has been fun planning to fit the budget. We have done a great job so far to calculate our daily budget and stay on top of it. So, money is on our minds a lot for that reason, but it is impossible not to be thinking about it anyway in every interaction on the trip so far.
When we first arrived in Shanghai, we could see the poverty clearly, with many people on the streets begging. How they can possibly claim to have a Communist country is still beyond me, and I would really like to learn more. Anyway, before we even got off the boat, we were warned about fake money circulating, as well as scams that involve really friendly people coming up to you and taking you to very bad places and essentially robbing you. So, we were a bit on edge, and unfortunately felt quickly that anyone saying hello was out to get us. Every transaction required fierce negotiation, and that has maintained true on our entire trip so far, which was very exhausting, but we now expect it and are doing well.
The begging in different countries has been a little different. One old woman in Shanghai (we walked by her twice mistakenly), came up to me and literally poked my belly, just saying “money, money, money” until I could get away from her, which is something we have heard now many times from little kids in Cambodia (sans the poking). We have also been approached many times by victims of land mines, as well as other burned and disfigured people, asking for cold hard cash. One dollar can go a long way in Cambodia and we have been often inspired to give. However, we heard of stories in China that mothers would burn there children just to get better earnings on the streets. This is something I really hope is not true, but it can’t help but go through my mind when I see burned kids begging. In Cambodia, we have been told that the Children are essentially pimped out for the day to beg, and all the cash goes back to the adults profiting on the other end. Again, not what I want to be thinking when these gorgeous kids approach asking for help. Todd and I have been giving them hard candies we keep with us if we really feel the need to give. This sort of begging has been a non-stop on our trip when we are in tourist places. Most of the temples in Angkor Wat had kids asking for cash, or at least selling lots of trinkets…very persistently. We bought some things, but the kids kept selling, even when we were all done buying. We respect that they have something to sell instead of just asking for money, but some have terribly selling techniques (and some were really effective). Todd and I have talked about creating a selling manual for these kids to help them close more deals.
We have had some absolutely wonderful experiences with kids in Cambodia over the last few days especially, which has really helped us leave with a great impression of Cambodia overall. After seeing the atrocities that these people have survived, I really respect the tenacious and fun spirit I have seen in my interactions with people here. Todd and I have started planning how we will contribute to Cambodia’s long term future when we get home. This is an awesome place.

Hi-tech Travel

I am typing on a 10 inch notebook computer, with all the fixings (MS Office, WiFi Internet capability, a built-in camera, speakers, etc). We also have my nice digital camera with an extra high-powered lens, plus we have an external hard drive for the computer so we would have enough space to hold all my pics (more on that in a bit). We also have 3 ipods with us - one 60mb video ipod that has our workout videos, my cute little red ipod for all my music, plus an ipod Touch that Todd got as a going away gift from his work, plus a nice speaker set/charger to watch things together. The internet is our friend, although it has not always been fast or dependable, but we have managed to figure out ways to get connected so far. Finding restaurants with WiFi has been a great way to use our little computer. Todd has been an internet junky since before we met, so it has been quite natural to book and plan almost all our travel online, as well as use it as our primary way to keep in touch with everyone. We occasionally marvel that anyone could have traveled the world prior to 10-15 years ago. It would have been a much different experience that what we are doing. We keep them well guarded and don’t use them in certain places, but our gadgets are not weighing us down are we are using them daily.

Frogger

Even George from Seinfeld would have to really focus to get across some of these roads. Our bus just stopped for cows crossing a major highway. Besides the cattle in the road, there are motos (motorcycle taxis carrying 2-4 additional sometimes side-addled riders), bikes, tuk-tuks, children walking with dusty little feet, other pedestrians, vendor carts, tourist buses, hummers, tractor-like vehicles usually carrying huge loads, construction, cars parked on the side of the road, major potholes that need to be driven around if not in a full-size vehicle, huge amounts of sometimes blinding dust, and a somewhat regular array of passenger vehicles. Sheesh! Anyway, the traffic is crazy. No cross walks. As with most things, once we got the hang of it, we have relaxed and it is now part of the daily experience. I like Frogger, so it is really pretty fun.

Doctor Jones and my camera

These are the best travel companions ever! Todd is starting to look a lot like Indiana Jones with his hat and his scruffy looking (who’s scruffy looking?) beard. Oh yeah, and he has the same B-day as Harrison Ford and Jean Luc Picard (well, actually Patrick Stewart, but if you know me I love em all). It has been really great seeing him grow into his new look. Unfortunately, none of you have really seen any of my pictures capturing him and all of our travels yet, but I have them…lots of them!!! So, just know I am doing my daily duty will have a great load of pics to download and share once we get cheap and reliable internet.
Until then, I miss all y’all but am having a great adventure!

Peace out,
Alicen

---

---