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Published: November 17th 2007
An entry with (GASP!) no photos. How
did I manage?
I'm in Bangkok for the 6th time now and about to take that uber-slow airport bus for the last time. I thought I was appropriate to write a bit about the following topics:
First...some concluding thoughts on my nearly 3 months in South East Asia.
Second...what's up next.
Third...a PM Checkpoint (I should be hearing a collective Motorola groan at this one)
So to get on with it...
Part I - Summing It Up A Bit
These thoughts had been written just in a note to myself in my personal journal, but figured that it was worth sharing with the world. Apologies for the lack of capitalization...when it was originally typed it wasn't intended for distribution and those of you who have gotten emails from me know that's just how I type normally.
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this region has brought me through the range of emotions and experiences. i've had times of serious cultural and historical learning and i've had times where i've been floating down a river in a tube with a beer in my hand. i've been sad, angry, and depressed...and i've been elated, carefree, and thrilled about life. there were the times that i couldn't imagine ever moving on or ending my travels and there have been times that i've been on the brink of booking that flight home.
it's helped me to continue to get to know myself better as i've always had to take a moment to reflect and understand why i feel the way i do. and thanks to this understanding, i'm still here...otherwise i probably would have gone home by now due to not knowing that my emotions were amplified by exhaustion, hunger, or whatever.
i'm fascinated by the similarity and diversity of the cultures here. in the philosophically deep words of the thais...it's "same same...but different". it's a silly phrase...but when used to it...it's so useful. many things really are the same but different. i suppose in proper english one would just say "similar". oh well...that doesn't make a very good tag line or t-shirt.
the thais are just basically happy folks and don't have much historical scarring to deal with. they have great national pride, love their king (even wearing that yellow 'king' shirt every monday), and are ardent buddhists...to the point that nearly all men are expected to be a monk at some point. the variety in the country is amazing as well...from the chilled out north to the hustle of bangkok to the fun and sun of the islands...i felt like i was in completely different places.
the cambodians have a much more difficult past and have been pushed around from outsiders and destroyed from within. yet they are blessed with a rich ancient history which has fueled their budding tourism industry...thus helping spur on their economy and brings a great sense of pride and identity in the angkor/khmer culture. below the happy surface, the scars of war are still there and there is still an element of fear and mistrust of those in power. i hope that the government there becomes less corrupt with time and their sense of stability and safety continues to grow. i fear that the cambodian travel experience is changing rapidly and certain areas will soon become a bit nutty and less "real". all in all, the poverty, dirt, craziness, and latent fear/mistrust couldn't dampen my experience or love of cambodia and the khmer people. i suppose that in another 10-20 years cambodia will be much like thailand is today in terms of how developed it is.
vietnam was a bit different than i expected. this was the one place that i did believe the anti-american warnings and figured i'd at least experience something of the sort. not only did i not come across it, but in asking about it, people told me that it's no big deal and the older generation teaches the younger generation to look to the future rather than the past. granted almost all those i interacted with were in the tourism industry...but i still didn't ever have any sense of anti-americanism. vietnam is also super-busy and crazy...with a rapidly growing economy which has drawn more folks to the urban centers. though it's officially communist, i struggle to find any real traces of communism...people must pay for education & medical care, there is no social security program, and people can have land rights (not to own...but to have rights to work and trade the land). so i'm not sure where the communist part comes into play. i believe this all changed in 1986 when they dumped many of the government programs. the country also brought some of the most beautiful scenery that i've experience in halong bay and sapa. the robbery was a bit shady...but i suppose it happens. this was the only country without loads of monks walking around...a strange change from the norm of the region. despite the insanity of the traffic...this is one of the few places where it might be safer to close your eyes and cross the street rather than trying to dodge the traffic.
laos is hard to fully comment on because i was only there for 1 week and didn't do much culturally. the capital is the sleepiest capital i've ever seen and everything in the country just seems really chilled out. a perfect place to relax and recharge. being back in a place with monks wandering the street was somehow comforting (not right word...?) and made me feel like the place was more peaceful. i fear that this place will follow in the footsteps of cambodia and develop into something different than it is today. though perhaps at a much slower pace and more limited in the penetration of the development.
the heat and humidity...i don't know how people live here all the time. i even used to profess that i like heat and handle it well. perhaps that's only when i'm mostly inside at work, home, car, etc with air conditioning at hand. in any case...this midwesterner is ready for autumn.
the food in thailand takes the cake by a big margin. i had decent meals in other places...but give me thai food any day of the week and i'm a happy camper. throw in a bowl of vietnamese pho from time to time and i won't complain.
back to my personal experience of things...i wish i would have gotten off the beaten track a bit more...but it can be hard to do when it sounds like all the standard things are worth it. in many cases they were...but in many cases i wouldn't have minded missing them (the mekong delta probably being the leader of this category). hard to know going into it. i'd certainly say that my favorite times were when i had some freedom to explore on my own - such as renting motorbikes or just wandering around. there are times when the tours are nice to do...but in general it's more enjoyable to explore. will see how i incorporate that into the rest of the travels.
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Part II - Deal....Or No Deal?
I've written a bit about the wear and tear of the road taking its toll on me. I've written about missing certain things from home (please oh please won't someone send me some friggin' Chipotle or Giordanos?). The Illini are even winning now...who would've thought? As mentioned above, I've had times where I never thought I'd come home and times when the ticket home was #1 (well...ok...maybe #3 or 4) on the to-do list.
Anticipating the uncertainties of travel, the original plan for this journey was rather loose and open to change. And due to the fact that my leave from work was for 6 months...and I left at the beginning of April...it was time to make the call and answer the question from Howie Mandel...Deal?....or No Deal?
When it came down to it, I decided that I couldn't pass on the opportunities that lay ahead of me on this expedition of mine. The vacation in the tube in Lao and the prospect of a change of scenery & climate has restored some of the excitement and has given me hope that I can press on through this whole gig. Time will tell, but for now I'm not ready to fold the hand I have. So 4 days ago I booked the next flight...and I can't wait to find out what adventures await me in this next leg of the journey. The anticipation has made me forget all about my disdain for the humidity here, the lack of desire to ever see another temple, and whatever else it was that had been bringing me down at times in the past month or two.
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Part III - PM Checkpoint
At work we would have annual plans & goals that we'd review with our managers quarterly. I figured I'd give myself one final dose of the lovely PM (which stands for "Performance Management"...though it changes so often odds are that it's called something else by now) system. I've actually touched on some of this already above in the first section, but here's my more structured version. The fact that I'm even doing this while I'm 1/2-way around the world and not currently working solidifies my status as a loser.
Goals
1 - Variety - Mix things up.
2 - Pace - Don't rush.
3 - Experience with all my senses
4 - Read
5 - Focus on what I've seen/done rather than what I haven't.
6 - Dig deeper than just the touristy things.
7 - Be open and open-minded
Status
1 - Ahead of Plan. Thus far I've been to Fijian villages & beaches...trekking/bungy jumping/ice climbing in NZ...living in a '85 Mazda...SCUBA diving...temples...jungles...and loads of other things. Despite some wearing out on the SEA experience, I'm pretty happy with how I've mixed things up.
2 - Behind Plan...somewhat. It's a constant struggle to slow myself down and not run ahead at full speed. There's so much to see and do that I'm constantly having to keep myself in check. Perhaps the recent exhaustion points to me slipping on this one a bit.
3 - On Plan...I suppose. Maybe this one's a bit hard to explain and evaluate. It basically means to pay attention in many ways rather than just cruising through the experiences and "seeing" things. But I think there are several sights, sounds, & smells that will stick with me for a while.
4 - On Plan. "Arrow of the Blue Skinned God", "Holy Cow", "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "A Short History of Nearly Everything", and a few others. I actually was way behind on this since I didn't get into my first book until the north island of NZ...but have done a decent job of catching up.
5 - On Plan (with a few moments of "Behind Plan"). Other than a couple of times that I've whined to a few of you about how I wouldn't get to see/do something I thought that I would...I think I've been pretty good about being content with what I've done. It's too easy of a trap to be bummed about all the experiences & places I could have done or seen while near them.
6 - On Plan. Again, I haven't succeeded all the time with this, but with Fiji, NZ, and some of my SEA gigs, I think I've done ok with this. Room to improve though as lately I've fallen more and more into the beaten path.
7 - On Plan. Have been open to continual change in my plans and schedule. As for being open-minded...I think my head will be quite full of things to process when I get home.
Summary
Usually there's a section for a summary and then manager comments. Since I'm my own boss now, I think I'll just combine the two into one section.
Regarding the summary...see the rest of this email.
Regarding the manager comments..."I'm mostly pleased with how Marc has performed this year. He's been a bit of a bonehead at times (robbery, losing rain jacket, losing wet suit, jumping off tall poles, etc), but in general has done fairly well. He's not perfect, but I'm willing to live with the deficiencies displayed thus far. I just hope he doesn't get robbed again."
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Right...enough sappy rambling about a telecom corporation and its processes. Back to the fun stuff. Yeah...well...I haven't anything else fun to say...so you'll have to wait for the next installment of (hopefully) fun stuff.
Technically I'm now on the way home...just not directly. Each step along the way now brings me closer to Chicago rather than further away. Here's to a long journey back...
CheersMoto,
Marc
Oh...and a couple of final comments:
Best items in the bag so far: Petzl headlamp. Good flip-flops. Merino shirt (purchased in NZ). Cameras.
Things most missed: Chipotle. My niece, Hope. American sports (though most of my teams are horrible this year). Income.
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Kristin&Hope
non-member comment
Hope loves you too
After explaining to Hope you missed Chipotle more than you missed her, she said "I love food. I love Marc." At least you guys are on the same page there. I am sure she would rank you right after Culver's of things she missed. Not that we would take her away from Culver's.