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Mei Beh
I apologize to all those who asked me about rock climbing in Mumbai. I did not respond because I did not know I received those messages through TravelBlog. I will answer all questions from now on (July 2012).bimae
Please be informed that I'm a hardcore budget backpacker. I do not hang out at beaches, visit tourist hotspots, etc. I travel to meet people and to experience how other people on this planet live. I write travelblogs for a few reasons: 1, to inform other budget travellers, in the hopes of saving them from hassles I experienced; 2, to inform my friends or anyone interested in my travels; and 3, to get a perspective on my experience of a place, so a lot of it is personal rants. Take everything with a grain of salt.
There are no photos because 1, I can't multi-process: I'm either doing photography OR travelling; 2, there's no need for me to crowd cyberspace with yet another photo of whatever city I'm in, googling for images of these places will probably yield better photos anyway; and 3, I travel light and simple, a camera is cumbersome.
Travel Blog Posts
August 20th 2012
At the end of summer in 2011 in Edmonton, I got a ride to Vancouver with a friend. We stopped at Mount Robson and did the Kinney Lake Trail. On this hike, I saw Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridus) for the first time and we measured the diameter of a huge cedar. It was about 1.7m. After the hike, we drove a bit more and camped at Blue River campground and I remember it was really cold. The drive to Vancouver was very beautiful. We were going along the river most of the time. We passed by a town called Little Fort. It had the most idyllic scene with horses grazing by the river, quaint little houses, and trees swaying gently in the background. At Kamloops, you can take the toll highway which is faster or you ... read more
Havana, Cuba (March 2011)
Published: August 20th 2012Central America Caribbean » Cuba » Oeste » La HabanaAugust 20th 2012
The taxi dropped us off in downtown Havana at the square near the Plaza de la Revolución where all the buses pass by (so you can go anywhere in Havana from that square). For the first night in Havana, we went to a part of town near the Plaza (toward Chinatown) where there were many casas particulares and stayed at this really small one. It was pretty dingy for $25 per night. The owner also offered to make us dinner at a reasonable cost. It wasn’t great but much more edible than any food we found outside. Internet was only available at major hotels downtown but connection was slow everywhere. The next day when we met up with a couchsurfer, he recommended a casa particular that belonged to the mother of a friend of his. We ... read more
Santa Clara, Cuba (March 2011)
Published: August 20th 2012Central America Caribbean » Cuba » Centro » Santa ClaraAugust 20th 2012
In March 2011, a friend and I went to Cuba for a week. I can’t remember how we got the booking but it was around $380 return per person. We flew to Santa Clara on Westjet and flew back from Santa Clara on Air Canada. I found it interesting that they do not stamp your passport when you enter or exit the country. When going through customs (entering), I observed that a lot of people had brought food and all fresh food were confiscated. I had dried fruit and nuts which I don’t think were a problem but I also had a whole bag of fresh kumquats but they didn’t find them. After we exchanged some money at the airport, we found that Santa Clara is 12 km away and that the only way to get ... read more
August 20th 2012
In October 2009, a guy friend and I hitchhiked from Toronto to Gaspé and back to Montreal. We read that it’s very hard to hitchhike in Ontario and even harder from Toronto to Montreal which turned out to be quite true. We took a TTC bus to Rouge Hill and got off at 401 and Sheppard. We stood at a spot that led onto the ramp of the highway. It took us one day to go from there to Cobourg (85km) which took two rides. The next day we started again on the highway but it was raining and nobody stopped. We decided to walk to the next exit and take the bus to Montreal. As we were walking, a couple in a minivan stopped and gave us a ride to a rest stop in Kingston. ... read more
June 26th 2012
India is a place where everything exists at the same time, even the most opposite extremes can be found side by side. For example, you can find villages or people still living like in the stone age while others are pushing the frontiers of technology, and everything else in between. Colaba is an area in Mumbai where the most expensive real estate in the world is found but 18 km up the road is Dharavi, the biggest slum in the world. Walking down any street in Mumbai, you’ll find this kind of contrast side by side. A super modern building can be next door to rubble, and an ultra slick Nike store can be right beside a shanty shack. Staying alert at all times is crucial when walking down any street as well-paved sections are interspersed ... read more
June 26th 2012
As society evolves, one would logically think that impractical things are weeded out and that there’s a general tendency toward improvement, making things more efficient and practical. But that doesn’t seem to be the general trend in India. I find that it is the general characteristic of people in India to make things more complicated. People can’t seem to function without complications, impracticalities and inefficiencies. For example, I go to buy a bottle of water. It’s a simple transaction. I give him the money, he gives me the bottle, done. But no, things can’t possibly be that simple and straightforward. We must create something extra. We must prolong every experience. What should have taken less than one minute took what felt like forever. Every single thing I tried to do that involved interaction with an Indian ... read more
June 26th 2012
Every animal has a built-in sense of self-preservation. Our bodies have automatic responses such as immediate withdrawal from a hot stove, not eating something that smells bad or looks bad, and avoidance of dirt and disease. In northern India, the level of dirt that people can live in is beyond anything I could possibly imagine. Apparently, on average, 1440 persons share a toilet in Dharavi (of Slumdog fame). However, I believe that one can be poor but one does not have to live in filth. That sense of avoiding dirt and disease for self-preservation seems to be absent among the poorest in the north. When I was in Kerala, on the other hand, I was so surprised to find slums where not a single piece of garbage was lying on the ground (maybe I happened to ... read more
June 26th 2012
Everywhere I go, I watch people like an anthropologist doing research on racial origins. I do it instinctively as if programmed to do so. Here’s my report. The people in India are absolutely fascinating. I’ve seen people of all races on earth in India. There are Indians who look Arabic or Middle Eastern, East Asian/mongoloid, southern European/Mediterranean (olive skin, green or hazel eyes), African (minus the afro), Southeast Asian (especially the tribals but they’re related anyway), Polynesian, Aboriginal (Australia), Indigenous people in South America, hispanic, etc., etc. Near the end of my trip, I thought, well, I haven’t seen anyone who looks Scandinavian and just as I was thinking that, a guy walks on the train. He looked like a lightly-tanned Swede with sandy brown hair and very fine features. I thought he was a foreigner ... read more
June 26th 2012
Spirituality is big business in India. Mega loads of people go to India for yoga, meditation, ayurvedic treatments, etc. Many Indians are cashing in as there are tons of spiritual and healing centres all over India and they all charge big money. It doesn’t cost that much to live in India so where does all that money go? I’m no exception and initially, I also wanted to visit some of these centres but what I saw were just huge money grabbers. I guess since I’m Chinese, I’m very aware and weary of any place where most of the customers are foreigners. I wanted to find authentic places to where Indians or locals go. They may have existed long ago but once the foreigners started pouring in, why would anyone charge 100 Rs for locals when they ... read more
June 26th 2012
The cheapest rooms listed in the Lonely Planet were 300 Rs. There was an establishment, right at the very beginning of Joshimath just as the bus enters the town, that charged 200 Rs per room but it was horrendous. They changed the pillow cases but they were still dirty, the bed sheets were dirty and the toilet was so small I had to sit sideways to fit. Internet in town was 60 Rs/hr. Downstairs from the place I was staying was a restaurant but the food was awful. In fact everything was awful, the bus ride, the town, the people, the guesthouse and the food. The only amazing thing was the nature. On the way there, the bus passed by really really deep gorges and we went mostly along the river. There were mountains and peaks ... read more
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